More Than A Few Words

Imagine stepping on to an elevator and the person inside greets you warmly and begins to engage you in a conversation.  Does the prospect of that conversation make you smile or horrify you? The answer will depend on your communication style. Understanding difference in how we communicate can make your next sales call or employee interaction much easier. In today's conversation with Yamilette Williams (Dr. Yam)  explains that when you listen to the type of questions people ask you will find clues to their communication style. 

If you want to be a consultant, you need to write a book.  You may not be a best selling author, you don't have to be.  The purpose of this book is to introduce yourself to a wider audience, to demonstrate your expertise, and establish credibility as a s subject matter expert.  In this conversation, Dr. Cindy Childress outline's the steps you need to take to get ready to write a book.  KEY TAKEAWAY: The book is not the moneymaker.  It is a way to introduce your consulting, training and speaking services.  About Dr. Cindy, The Expert’s Ghostwriter, is a ghostwriter and book editor for coaches and consultants that go on to achieve bestseller status, book TEDx Talks, build coaching businesses, and create nonprofits. She developed the Write Your Book Blueprint™ framework to create reading experiences that encourage reviews and turn readers into lifelong fans of the author. Her best clients want to publish books that make an impact, and she’s committed to write and edit their books to look and feel like any other

Denise Praul is the owner of Whiteboard Learning a training company that provides referral marketing training to service based business people.  Her most popular training is her program that helps business people create a Roadmap to Unlimited Referrals  She has trained hundreds of business people on how to create proactive non-client referral marketing plans to help them accomplish their sales goals.  In this episode she shares some of her favorite tips on creating productive referral relationships. 

In an effort to dominate on social media and in SEO businesses are churning out lots of content.  Unfortunately most of it is crap.   So if you want to attract people, not just search engines, you need to be a better writer than your competitors.   How do you do that?  Our guest, author Erik Deckers explains you need to read more and practicing more.   

Ten years ago when social media was kind of a new thing.  While there was a lot of research about how big businesses were using these new tools, there wasn't much information about small business so we launched our first Digital Marketing Study. A decade later, we're still asking those questions. In this episode we look at some of the high level results from our 2020 digital marketing survey. If you are intrigued after you listen to episode you can download the full report here: www.roundpeg.biz/survey  

Whether you are hoping to rally your team around a strategy or resolve interpersonal issues an off-site retreat or team building session can be an ideal solution.  Our guest, Deseri Garcia of Vida Aventura, outlines several things to keep in mind before you head out to bond.  Define your objectives - What is the purpose to have the event. Make sure your team understands your objectives and outcomes Many people dread team building events because they are afraid they will be asked to do something that makes them uncomfortable or makes them feel silly.  Creating a safe space where everyone can participate by choice helps reduce the tension.  More than a Few Words is part of the Digital Toolbox from Roundpeg

Sometimes, as a sales person heads out to make cold calls, it feels like they are trying to storm a castle.  They prepare to battle their way in the door.  My sales coach, Matt Nettleton says it doesn't have to be that way.  Armed with a series of strategic questions, and a willingness to really listen to the answers, a sales person can actually encourage prospects to lower their defenses and actually invite the sales person in.  More than a Few Words is part of the Digital Toolbox from Roundpeg. 

When you face a challenging situation, before you look outward, our guest Lauralee Hites suggestion you use the process of introspection, to look inward.   She defines introspection as the ability to examine your mental and emotional state.  And the process is easy if you start with three questions.  1) What is the story I am telling myself? 2) What am I doing to contribute to this problem? 3) What tools(s) to I bring to this problem? More than a Few Words is just one small business resource in the Digital Toolbox from Roundpeg, 

You're familiar with Braille lettering on signs and blue rimmed parking spots which make it easier for people who are differently-abled to access traditional physical brick and mortars spaces.  Now we're seeing this same idea of accessibility being addressed in the online world.   In this conversation we look at ways you can make your website more accessible to all people.  In a effort to make this episode more accessible, you can find a transcript on our website

Ready to leave your nine to five job behind? Before you do, our guest Anna Lundberg suggestions you think about the following five elements necessary to create a sustainable business. 1. Create a vision for you business.  And this is unique to you.  Re-imagine success not as defined by others, but what you want your business to look like. 2. Get your mindset right.  This is about developing the confidence to face the ups and downs of your business 3. Create a business model.  Define your services and target markets, and how you will generate revenue.  4. Define your brand.  It is easy to get caught up in the day to day, focusing on the next sale, but some of your effort needs to be focused on building your brand platform.  This platform will set up up for long term success.  5. Find work life integration.  This doesn't mean balance and an even split between work and the rest of your life, but it is about defining how your business will fit into the rest of your life. 

We talk, write and create messages all day long. But do our messages actually create the impact we're looking for? That was the topic of the conversation with Patrick Donadio. We discussed a six step process for communicating with IMPACT! Patrick shared a simple acronym to make it easy to remember the six steps. . I stands for intention. So why am I having this conversation? Or why am I creating this content? M is the message and the methods you will use.  What do you want to say and how will you deliver the information? P is for the person the message is for.  How do you personalize the message based on who the receiver is going to be? The first half the process is all about planning the content. The second half is about how you plan the reception or delivery? A is for activate, bringing the message to life. How do you engage people in this interaction or communication and how you keep them engaged? C is for clarify. It is one thing to deliver the message and something entirely different to confirm the recip

Before we get into the how, let’s talk about the why. Well, the easy answer is that employee profiles are great content! They are the perfect light-hearted, human-interest kind of piece that folks love to see on social media and in email newsletters and they are a great way to regularly inject content into your blog. They really don’t take that much effort, don’t have to be that long and can be finished (from interview to finished article) in an afternoon. The bigger reason to write employee profiles? They are the perfect way to gain trust from your community. An employee profile portfolio is a valuable collection to have at your disposal particularly for businesses in the home service and any other service industry that entails a lot of 1-on-1 communication with customers. By having an opportunity to meet and learn more about your staff through these blog posts, you help customers become more comfortable with scheduling an appointment, inviting them into their homes or putting their trust in you.  So how do

As a business owner,  every day you make choices about how to spend your time, dividing it between the mundane things that have to get done, and the interesting things that move your business forward. If you find that you’re spending too much time on the mundane,  then maybe it’s time for a virtual assistant. In today’s conversation Jennifer Crawford, the founder of Sparent, shares some thoughts and how to decide if you are ready to hire a VA and how to prepare for a productive relationship.  KEY TAKEAWAY: If your growth is slowing down, because you are bogged down with mundane tasks, it may be time to look for a little help  About Jennifer ennifer’s passion is helping people grow their businesses. In addition to business and conference consulting, she is also the co-founder of a recently launched company, Sparent–a virtual temp agency staffed by stay at home moms with skills to spare. When she is not all up in your business, she performs with The Improv Imps, produces the Podcasting Smarter Podcast for Podb

Being a successful business owners depends on lots of things, but this week's guest Henriette Danel says it starts with just three things.  Mindset, Strategy and Action.   In this episode, she explores how these elements build on each other as you develop a strategy to attract new customers and grow your business.  More than a Few Words is part of the Digital Toolbox from Roundpeg. 

Great content does not happen by accident. The more planning you do up front, the better your results will be. In this episode, Lorraine sat down to chat with Sam Von Tobel for a timely conversation about content planning including creating your calendar, a new tool, Sharekit.io to improve the look of scheduled content, setting goals and measuring the results.  As you start your planning, think about the rhythm of the year.  Do you have a seasonal business?  If so you may want to plan content themes to match the seasons or the products that are more popular in those seasons.   Maybe you are going to run an aniversary promotion a calendar will help you anticipate all the assets (images, social share graphics, custom blog posts) you will need to make a large impact.  This conversation was sponsored by Sharekit.io.  More drink recipes can be found here. All reviews and opinions expressed in this episode are based on our assessment of the tool.  Key Takeaway - Make your calendar meaningful by outlining specific o

4-time Emmy award winner, Laura Bucker joins Lorraine for a conversation about stories.  How to pull the details from someone to build a story that will support your marketing messages in a compelling an emotional way.     

A cold call should really be called a new call because your goals is simply to build a new relationship.  Start the conversation with your power presentation. This is short, maybe eight to ten seconds which identifies who you are, what you do, and ultimately, what problem you can help somebody solve.  While you won’t make a sale in ten seconds you need to capture the attention of the other person with a message which will open them up to a longer conversation.  KEY TAKE AWAY -Be prepared for every conversation Bio  Charlie Cina captivates his audiences and teaches them how to master the right mindset, missions, and moves to reach their personal potential to drive massive revenue. Through his writings, speaking, and consulting, he has built a vast group of followers known as Disciples of Sales. Charlie believes that the ability to present and persuade are necessary life skills that everyone needs to succeed. He will teach you that your primary responsibility in business is to expose your brand, expose your pro

On January 7, 2010 we published the first episode of More than a Few Words on Podbean.  We had no idea how where the journey would take us, but we were hoping for a little fun and good conversations along the way.   Today, we are popping the champagne corks as we toast to the first decade.  Sam Von Tobel joins Lorraine as she talks about the roots of this popular podcast as where she thinks it will go from her.  KEY TAKEAWAY: Enjoy the show, then listen to a few more, they are short! 

As a leader it can be frustrating when employees make mistakes but it may not be their fault. Before you blame them, Randy Clark suggests you step back and ask the following questions to be sure you gave them the best chance for success.  Have they been trained?  Were your expectations clear?  Do they have the tools?  Were their actions impacted by something outside their controls Were they following guidance from someone else? KEY TAKEAWAY: Sometimes, there is a perfectly valid reason an employee doesn’t follow instructions.    Randy Clark is an Amazon best selling author (management and business skills) who is passionate about management training. He works with businesses to create and facilitate leadership development. Although he continues to work with TKO Graphix as a consultant, Randy recently left his full-time position as Director of Communications for TKO to pursue his passion, leadership development. Randy gears his training to the needs of the client, offering training for future and current manag

Kerry Kathleen Heaps, founder of Book, Speak, Repeat  joins Lorraine for a conversation about becoming a public speaker. If you want to grow your professional speaking business focus on your story.  Think about the experiences and life lessons which make you uniquely qualified to give a presentation. Structure your presentation as a series of stories, not facts.  Your audience will remember the story long after the presentation is over. Beyond the story, you must identify 3 – 5 takeaways ( action items or relevant messages) which will make your presentation relevant and valuable for your audience. Finally, there are five things every professional speaker needs: A current bio, several core topics. Presentation summaries for meeting planners, specific takeaways for each topic and a current head shot. KEY TAKEAWAY – There are way more speakers than speaking opportunities, if you want to be hired, you need to make it easy for event organizers to work with you. MTFW, hosted by Lorraine Ball is part of the Digital