Predictable Sales with Simon Severino: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation! JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire! are brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Success Story Podcast. Today, we're pulling a timeless EO Fire episode from the archives, so the giveaway may not be active, and we'll be breaking down predictable sales. To drop these value bombs, I am brought to Simon Severino and to EO Fire Studios. Simon is the CEO of Strategy Sprints, Europe's leading remote growth advisory. And Simon teaches growth strategy in select business schools and hosts the Strategy Sprints podcast.

0:36And today, Ray Fine Nation will talk about how staying lean and getting lean is essential, how to improve upon what is currently working and make your life easy, and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Simon and our sponsors. The Hustle Daily Show, hosted by Juliet Bennett-Ryla, Rob Litters, Ben Berkley, and Mark Dent, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the ideal destination for business professionals. The Hustle Daily Show brings you a healthy dose of irreverent, offbeat, informative takes on business and tech news, like a recent episode on hackers versus casinos where the hosts talk about MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment and the devastating potential of cyber attacks.

1:13Listen to The Hustle Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world and four-time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free trading where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Simon, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe it takes to become successful that most people disagree with. Hey, Fire Nation, so pumped to be here for the second time. Brother, so cool to be here.

1:52I believe in having only one offer and one price and improve it every week. We do it, we teach it, we implement it And we get a lot of heat for that because the mainstream position right now is diversify. And it's a good idea to diversify, but you should only diversify when you have your one offer and one price dialed in. It runs without you. You do more than one million profit per year and you can have a four weeks vacation without touching the phone. Well, now you can build a second one and the third one. Man, Fire Nation, you know that I'm all about focus, following one course. That's one course until success.

2:41And Simon is a great example of why that is so true. And Simon, as I kind of talked about in the introduction, we're talking about predictable sales. And we're going to be talking about a lot of important things that Fire Nation needs to understand, needs to know at their core to become successful, especially in these new times that we live in. So first and foremost, a lot of people look at, how can I make more money? How can I build my business? How can I do this, do that? But where exactly could we actually be looking at cutting costs? Where could we be looking at becoming leaner in certain areas?

3:14Talk to us about that. So staying lean and getting lean is really important. And one part of growing is keeping the cost position right. So what we do every month is we do the equalizer, which is our monthly strategic differentiation tool. And at the end comes of it a smart budget. So I know exactly as a CEO where to cut costs this month and where to invest more in. And I want to share this with you because to me, entrepreneurship is the play of adults. I used to hate budgeting and now I found a way to like it and even to really enjoy it. I call it the equalizer because to me, it's like a DJ who has this equalizer.

3:56and you know you give more bass, less bass, more snare, less snare, and you create this magic atmosphere. Just by putting more of this, less of this. Now imagine the DJ with a spreadsheet. He's doing exactly this. The budgeting spreadsheet is the equalizer of the CEO. Less costs here, some euro from here to there, some dollars from here to there. What if I take it from there by automizing and I invest it in that technology? Let's do this. So this is what we do every month. And I want to share this process because for many, budgeting sucks and is draining and they just don't do it every month the proper way.

4:37So let me share this with you. I shared it also in a TED talk recently and people found it really helpful. So once per month, one hour, our exec team comes together, plus four to six key people from the organization, and we go through our equalizer. It's four steps. Step one, alternatives. So our clients, if they don't buy our offer, and remember, we have only one. If they don't buy our offer, what else can they do? top three competitors, we list them, but also what else can they do? They can also do it themselves, not do anything, having the interns do it or hire somebody to do it. At least a couple of options also that are decoupled from competition.

5:30That's what we called your competitive arena. It's not just your top three competitors, also other things that they can do instead. So now you have the list of alternatives. Second step, you list the things where the others are investing in. Let's say they are investing in technology, in AI, in dashboards, whatever. You make the list. And then step three, you grade where are you winning, where are you losing. You give a 10 if you are winning and you You give a one if you're losing. And now you grade all these positions. Now, step four, if you use our spreadsheet, it calculates it for you. And the outcome is your budget of the next month.

6:16You know exactly where to cut, where to reduce costs and everything that you have on the left side saved. Now you invest it in doubling down on where you are currently winning. And this is the charming thing about this process. You are not inventing anything. You are not risking anything. You are just observing what's currently working and doubling down on that. So if you use our tool, and you can even have it for free, it's at strategiesprints.com slash tools. It's the equalizer tool. It does everything for you. You are done in one hour. If you do it manually, at step four, you have to bundle these three things.

6:59You bundle together the categories where you're winning, the categories where you are meh, and the categories where you're losing. First one, you will double down on and you will take the money from the one where you did cut expenses and where you did reduce them. Fire Nation, as you can see, Simon just really has systems. He has processes. He has things that actually work in real businesses. I mean, this is the CEO of Strategy Sprints, which is Europe's leading remote growth advisory. So I'm really hoping that you're paying attention to what he's focusing on for his business and for his clients, because these are things that you need to be focusing on for your business and for your clients, if you have any, for your customers, if you're working with any.

7:47So let's shift a little bit here and talk about investing, Simon. And we talked about cutting costs. We talked about, you know, going through the Equalizer template, which we'll be talking about more in a little bit here. But where should we be investing right now? Now, I can give you my perspective. You can also get 700 more perspectives because right now, 700 people are using this tool and they are discussing it in our community. So it's a free community. You can go to the Facebook group Entrepreneurship in Sprints, and there is 700 people discussing exactly this right now. Here, where should we cut?

8:25Where should we invest in? So it will be different from context to context, but the process is always the same. Define your competitive arena. See where you are winning, where you're losing. Double down on where you're winning. So take 20%, 30 % of that budget where you did save it on the left side, you put it now on the right side. For you, the right side will be always something different. You have 1 million people listening right now. you will have 1 million answers. But the process is always that. Get your data and decide based on where you are currently winning. You don't have to reinvent the wheel.

9:05You don't have to innovate anything. You just improve what's currently working. That's my advice, especially in these volatile times. Just double down on what's currently working. Make your life easy. it's stressful enough. So one thing that I'm really a fan of when it comes to you, Simon, is the fact that you focus and you're successful when it comes to predictable sales. In fact, that's the title of this audio masterclass, Predictable Sales. Because Fire Nation, if we can have predictable sales, we can do amazing things. You know, a quick little side note, Netflix has predictable recurring revenue.

9:44So guess what? They can spend billions of dollars on original content because they know they have millions of dollars of predictable recurring sales every single month and they can stay as the leader in their space. So let's talk about predictable sales, Simon. Take those away. Absolutely. So we do only one thing and this is doubling the revenue of service-based businesses in 90 days and that's exactly a 90 days program. 12 modules, 12 weeks, Every week has one focus. And so with these 12 things at the end, you have a predictable sales machine. You are able to go on a long vacation. Everything works.

10:24You have your life back. You enjoy your business again. Now, one of these 12 tools is the brand spread. So in week three, we have found out that it's helpful to do this small exercise and I will do it with you right now live. So the principle is, if you confuse, you lose. You have five seconds to get your message across. So our message, we double your revenue in 90 days. That gets across in five seconds. You get it, even you want it. Either you like it, you want it, you need it, and you go for it. Or you don't like it, you don't need it. Then, wonderful, you hop to the next one. But you get it in five seconds.

11:09And this is exactly the time you have out there right now, because everything is one click away. And 99 % of the customer journeys start digital. And on your phone, you are one click away from everybody else. So let's get this five seconds right. And this is an exercise that in our sprint takes one day, but let's try and do it here in two minutes. So first, who is the hero? You go to your website and check the hero section. Is it clear who this is for? And the picture, when I see the picture, is this the hero, meaning the people you seek to serve, and can I see where you can bring them? So do I see them in the state that at the end of working with you is the end state?

12:05Do I see the promised land? So do I see the hero and do I see the promised land? Usually what happens? There is a hero reversal. You get there and they tell us how great they are and 27 testimonials. So now who's the hero? Are you the hero? The brand is the hero? Because when a hero sees a hero, they say, hey, pal, great to see you, but I got to move on. See you later. I have something to do. I'm going to rescue a princess. Because that's what heroes do. they don't hang out with heroes all the time. They have stuff to do. So make it clear who's the hero and how you can serve them and where you can bring them.

12:45Then next thing, there always needs to be a nemesis. What is this hero fighting against? And what's the plan? Do you have a plan? If you have one, describe it. Step one, two, three, four. And at the very end, the transformation was the character transformation from A to B, like every great story. And then one call to action. Get that across in five seconds. And I can give you an example. So just not to tell too much about our clients, I will give our own example when we do it. Who is the hero? Our hero, a CEO of a service-based business, B2B, high ticket revenue above 35K per month. He hates wasting time.

13:33He is a sprinter. Where can we bring them? We can bring them to a business that runs itself, to twice the revenue, and to enjoy life and business again. What's the nemesis? Wasting time. We all hate it. What's the plan? Guaranteed results, 12 sprints. Each week has three goals and three KPIs. What's the transformation? from struggling to a business that runs itself, from hating my own business because it's eating me up to having a life again and enjoying the growth. Fire Nation, when it comes to predictable sales, you're hearing from Simon, the CEO of Strategy Sprints, and there's a reason why he's able to double the revenue of his clients every 90 days.

14:23It's because of these processes he's talking about. It's because of this hero's journey. I loved hearing you go through the process of the nemesis. And think about that, Fire Nation. How many of you have thought about your nemesis when you're going through your process, your sales process, not to mention all the other parts of that journey that he was talking about? And we have some really specific things we're going to be talking about for you, Fire Nation, when it comes to doubling your revenue in 90 days when we get back from thanking our sponsors. The fourth quarter is here. it's time to hit your revenue targets, finish strong, and win the quarter.

15:00But before you can win Q4, you have to close deals. And before you can close deals, you have to fill your pipeline and nurture prospects, which is oftentimes the hardest part. So how can you get a jumpstart on your Q4 sales goals? What you really need is an easy-to-use all-in-one sales software like HubSpot Sales Hub. It's where sales teams can prospect smarter, grow revenue faster, and mine deeper customer insights, Sales Hub's all-new prospecting workspace gives reps a single cohesive view of their work so they can focus on building relationships with customers. And with a new deal management tool, reps can easily categorize and prioritize deals so they can identify ways to accelerate revenue growth.

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16:53Do you have a message inside that you know is meant to be shared with the world? Giving a TEDx talk is one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world and Thought Leader can help you get there. Thought Leader is a speaker coaching company that has helped over 550 and counting coaches, speakers, entrepreneurs, authors, and experts land TEDx talks. Thought Leader is not affiliated with TED or TEDx, but they're able to get these results because their founder, Taylor Conroy, is a four-time TEDx speaker himself and past EO Fire guest. You might be thinking a TEDx talk sounds great, but where do you start?

17:27Taylor has put together a free training that's going to teach you how to land a TEDx talk in as little as 90 days. Join Taylor to learn exactly what TEDx organizers are looking for in their speakers, how to write a talk that goes viral once it goes online, and more. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor for this free training and get your message out of your head, out of your heart, and out into the world where it belongs. That's thought-leader.com slash fire. So Simon, we're back and we talked about cutting costs. We talked about where to invest. We talked about predictable sales and the whole process you took us through there.

18:04How can Fire Nation specifically double their revenue in 90 days? So we have 12 module. So it takes us 12 weeks, but let me try to tell you the highlights. So one is get people on your calendar. And the second is close them. Part one, get people on your calendar. We like to work in three layers. First layer, and the whole thing is the marketing system. First layer, attract people. Say hello, here we are. Second part, educate them. So create a relationship we use a whole plethora of things that at the end creates 8 to 14 touchpoints very quickly in 11 days because we want to make the sales time shorter.

18:53So from average 13 months that service businesses have when they work with us, we get to an average three months sales cycle. And we do that by intensifying exactly these parts. So there is the first one, attract. Hello, here we are. to educate, involve them, give value, videos, PDFs, checklists, tools, whatever creates value, be generous, give it away, create moments of value, because then they will become more and more open to work more with you. And so you go bit by bit with them and you earn the trust and you earn the authority needed to go the next step. The next step is then ask. Ask for work.

19:44Hey, you know what? This tool helped you a lot. We have more of that. This is where we can bring you. What about the chat? And now they hop on your calendar. We want our clients to have 10 to 15 calls on their calendar scheduled per week. And we help them get the conversion rate to around 50%. We have good experiences with that. And on the sales side, there are two modules that we really like. The one is the sales script. Have a very clear 10-piece sales script. Everybody knows what to say when. The conversation is still a very natural conversation, but you have the blueprint in your mind. You are never guessing what to do next.

20:30That's why you can be relaxed and natural, because you have this blueprint. And the second thing is sales technique feedback. So we have our clients record their sales calls and we have amazing salespeople that were doing sales for Coca-Cola and for Google. And so they really are good in giving you the feedback that you need. Like, hey, this is where you need to shut up. This word, I wouldn't use it. Talk benefits first and then features. And, you know, all the things, all the small things that make the difference in sales. Fire Nation, this is the blueprint as much as we can talk about, of course, on just a podcast episode that we're doing here today.

21:10But these are the proven steps. This is the roadmap. This is the blueprint that you can follow to make these things happen. And Simon, I really want to end with a bane because you have something that's called the equalizer template. And ever since I heard about this, I've wanted to ask you for a further and deeper explanation of this. So break it down. So yeah, the Equalizer template is basically what helped me get from hating doing the budget to loving it and even finding it an art form. I love it. And every month I try to find out, okay, where can I save some costs in a smart way, like outsourcing, automating, delegating, and how can I bring them onto the right side where we invest again?

22:00And the Equalizer is a spreadsheet where we brought together all the four steps that I described at the beginning, your competitive analysis and how you make your monthly budget with it. That's a sprint budgeting. It's not the usual budgeting where every six months you change something. It's really month by month adapting to your current situation and to your current markets. And that's the Equalizer spreadsheet. You can have it at strategiesprint.com slash tools for free. And yeah, it will make your life easier. Fire Nation, it will make your life easier. I mean, last time we had Simon on the show, his giveaway was taken up by a lot of people in Fire Nation and nobody regretted it.

22:44And I got a lot of people reaching out raving about it. So thank you for that, Simon. And of course, Fire Nation, if you want to hear his last episode, eofire.com, just put Simon in the search bar. Both of these episodes will pop up with all of the links that we talked about today and, of course, in the last episode as well. And because this is my second round here, I have a bonus. I love bonuses, brother. Break down that bonus. Fire Nation, this time we will give to the first 15 people who apply, so this is a sprinter incentive, we will give 45-minute sales coaching for free. Whatever your sales funnel knee has in terms of gaps, we will find the gap and give you as much value as we can in 45 minutes.

23:30Just go to strategysprints.com slash fire and we do this. Wow. Fire Nation, one of the very top gifts slash giveaways on Entrepreneurs on Fire in 3 ,000 episodes. That is spectacular because you know this Fire Nation. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with and you've been hanging out with SS and JLD today. So keep up that heat. Simon, give us the final words. What is the thing of everything we talked about here today that you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets before we say goodbye? Stay safe, everybody, and keep rolling. Love that message. And Fire Nation, be one of the first 15 people to sprint over to strategysprints.com slash fire to get your 45 minutes of sales coaching for free.

24:21Only 15 people are going to get this. So make it happen. And Simon, I just want to say thank you, brother, for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side. Keep rolling, brother. Fire Nation, today's value bomb content was brought to you by Simon and Fire Nation. My first traditionally published book hits the shelves on March 23rd of 2021. and I am so fired up to say the very least. The book is called The Common Path to Uncommon Success, Your Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment. Pre-orders are everything, Fire Nation.

25:00So if I've given you any value over the years, even a smidgen, it would mean the world if you would head over to my pre-order page and lock up your copy or copies. You got some loved ones, right? Give them the gift of financial freedom and fulfillment. If you pre-order Fire Nation, I have some sweet bonuses and extras for you. I mean, sweet. And you will also be able to give those to your loved ones when you give them a copy as well. So head over to UncommonSuccessBook.com. UncommonSuccessBook.com. And check out the awesomeness today. I will catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. The Hustle Daily Show, hosted by Juliet Bennett-Ryla, Rob Litturs, Ben Berkley, and Mark Dent, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

25:50The Hustle Daily Show brings you a healthy dose of irreverent, offbeat, informative takes on business and tech news, like a recent episode on Hackers vs. Casinos, where the hosts talk about MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment and the devastating potential of cyberattacks. Listen to The Hustle Daily wherever you get your podcasts. ever thought about giving a TEDx talk it's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world and four time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions