Selling the way your customers want to buy makes sales (and marketing) so much easier, but most businesses refuse to do it. In this episode, veteran market Kristen Zhivago (and author of Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy) discusses how you can uncover your best customers' buying behaviors so you can align your marke…

AI is all the rage these days (I get lots of pitches, some of them seemingly AI-generated, to come on Sales for Nerds and talk about AI). I decided to go to the source and have a conversation with ChatGPT from OpenAI. It was mindblowing, scary, and uncanny, all at the same time. Take a listen and decide for yourself, plus get tips on using AI for y…

Tim Hyde from Win More Clients shares his entrepreneurial journey and the importance of using a CRM to get and stay organized. Tim also delves into how to find your ideal customers, and why you have to go where they are, because the number one problem solopreneurs face is that their best clients don't even know they exist... Brought to you by Mimir…

Sales may feel "icky", but serving others feels good, and leads to great results. In this episode, Steve Ramona, host of the Doing Business with a Servant's Heart podcast and the Together We Serve TV show discusses how he learned that his network was his net worth, and how you can do the same, even (especially?) if you're an introvert who doesn't l…

A lot of people hate public speaking. But whether you're officially a "speaker", or just someone who needs to talk to a "Zoom room" now and again, speaking effectively is critical to your business. Speaking coach Meridith Grundei shares how she went from shy kid who didn't want to answer questions in class to helping others overcome their fears of …

I recently interviewed Reza Saeedi—a marketing strategist and former Director of Marketing at On Deck—about his transition from employee to marketing advisor to employee again with advising as a side venture. In this episode, we chatted about things like: How Reza got into marketing and eventually, as a mentor/advisor to entrepreneurs How he was ab…

Alistair McDermott sits down with some whiskey to talk about becoming the Recognized Authority in your consulting niche. This leads to easier marketing and sales and less wasted time and effort. Alistair shares his 5 step process for niching down and becoming that Recognized Authority. (An approach that dovetails nicely with the Mission & Positioni…

So, you want to publish content to attract clients. Do you start a blog? Hammer out posts on LinkedIn every day? Start a YouTube channel? A podcast? Good question. I get asked it a lot. In fact, someone in Mindshare asked me about it again today, so I thought I'd break out my mental model for how I think about publishing and distributing content. H…

It's easy to make sales overly complicated. (I've been guilty of that many times.) So here's the simple, 2-step sales process for consultants that doesn't require fancy sales skills or any of the hard selling at all. You can implement it when you're busy with clients or don't have any client work. And it's fun, sustainable, and effective (Naturally…

To perform at our best, we need to fuel and nourish our bodies properly. But most fitness advice has everything backwards. In this episode, learn how personal fitness coach Rachel Nigro flips the conventional wisdom on its head, so you can feel better, look better, and perform better, without crash diets and/or self-loathing.…

While publishing a book is a great way for experts to gain (and broadcast) authority, you don't need to write a whole book to benefit from publishing. Erica Holthausen shares how you can get published in magazines and journals to boost your profile and attract ideal clients. Brought to you by Mimiran, the fun, "anti-CRM" for independent consultants…

Rochelle Moulton has made a career within a career of helping introverted consultants become effective sales people. She has done this with Arthur Anderson (back in the day) and now helps other solo consultants grow their practices without working more. This comes from growing authority, so more people seek you out. Unfortunately, some people try t…

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Brad Hussey—a former web designer turned creator, educator, and community builder. In this episode, we talk about things like: How he made the leap from employee to full-time web designer How he successfully sells web design courses on platforms like Udemy, Awwwards, Teachable, and other places How these…

"As entrepreneurs we're typically in relationship with our thoughts about people, versus people themselves", says Bridget Hom, mindset coach and author of Stuck on Ready. In this episode, Bridget discusses how to hire (and fire) the right mental team inside our own head, so we can have real relationships with people outside our heads, and move our …

The other week, I chatted with former software consultant turned CRM SaaS owner, Reuben Swartz about how to do sales in a way that doesn't feel like selling and instead sets up your relationships for success. In this episode, we chat about things like: Why traditional sales processes don't work How he helps people win clients without being sales-y …

If you want to make more money with less stress as a consultant, it helps to move from implementor to advisor. Philosophy major and accidental "consultant to consultants" Kevin Whelan steps through his journey from building inexpensive websites to advising firms on their digital marketing projects, to advising other marketing agencies on moving up …

Taking good notes is essential for effective meetings, but most of us never learn how to do it well. In this episode, Richard White, founder and CEO of Fathom.video, a Zoom note-taking tool, explains how challenges with note-taking at his previous company led him to create this solution. Reuben wanted to do this episode because he uses Fathom every…

Do you have a proprietary framework or methodology you can build an entire business around? I recently recorded a podcast with Billy Broas, a copywriter, advisor, and educator who has built a business around his proprietary messaging framework, The Five Lightbulbs. In this episode, Billy and I unpack the Five Lightbulbs and then go deep into how hi…

Learn how Tom Jackobs went from almost going broke because he didn't know how to sell to hitting a 90% close rate by selling through stories. Tom's storytelling approach is authentic and doesn't require fancy sales techniques, just being attuned to the prospect and caring about their success.By Reuben Swartz

I recently decided to rebrand the Mindshare franchise (can I call it that?). Listen in for all the details! —kwBy Kevin C. Whelan

How do you show appreciation for your best clients and partners? In this episode, Steve Buzogany from The Appreciation Advocate discusses how to turned around his real estate sales career and turned his gift for gifting into a whole new business, and how you can apply those same techniques to build deeper relationships, get more referrals, and bett…

Do you focus much on optimizing your website for search engines? Personally, I don’t really do much beyond the basic best practices. My strategy has been more focused on email, social media, and Golden Goose tactics to build awareness for what I do. But a part of me feels like I’m missing out—especially as I begin to sell knowledge products to a la…

A few weeks ago, I invited Mindshare member and long-time marketing consultant, Mark Evans, to talk shop with me about the business of marketing consulting and fractional CMO work. This was a really fun episode. We went deep into the nerdy nuances of fractional/interim CMO and advisory work. Some topics we explored include: Mark’s transition from r…

Wayne Mullins, founder of Ugly Mug Marketing and author of Full Circle Marketing: Tranform Your Marketing & Turn Customers Into Evangelists stops by Sales for Nerds to help you focus marketing on what gets results, not what's prettiest or shiniest. Learn how he grew a landscaping business with donuts (and other marketing tricks), why sales and mark…

The other day, I replied to a Twitter friend's (@RodBurkert) open question: My question: What is the 'right next best thing' you should do to create the biggest leverage and productivity boost for your practice? I replied with the following: Taking the expertise in your head and putting it into writing/audio/video, then organizing it into a system …

In this episode, former management consultant turned referrability expert Jay Kingley explains why he doesn't like referrals (seriously), and how to get the right kind of referrals. Jay shares how he became the partner with the best sales results, despite hating sales and the usual client entertainment song and dance. Plus, learn why 98% of people …

It's easy to believe that as advisors, we get paid to have all the answers. We feel like to add value, we need to be able to tell people what to do. What if instead, our value came from things like: Asking good questions Having good taste Running ideas through your filters Pattern matching against your experience Creating visions to consider Clarif…

You don't want "word-of-mouth", you want to put words in people's mouths, so they say the right things about you when you're not around. Michael Roderick shares how he went from high school english teacher to Broadway producer in 2 years, by getting people to say (good) things about him when he wasn't in the room. Michael shares his A.I.M. principl…

If you feel stuck at a job, or even in your own business, wondering why you don't have the passion for it anymore, Franklin Taggart, host of the "Your Own Best Company" podcast, can help you find the right path to create a business (and life) that's engaging and fulfilling (and profitable). More info and full show notes at www.salesfornerds.io. Wan…

Join guest Mark Firth as he shares his journey in digital marketing (and around the globe, from London to Bogota to Florida), and how he realized that posting on social media didn't give long last results. But YouTube's algorithm is different, and can help you connect with an audience. Find out more at www.salesfornerds.io. And check out Mimiran, t…

Doubling your revenue seems like a big task, but in this episode, Michael Buzinksi, author of The Rule of 26, shows you how you can improve 3 key metrics by 26%, to double your business. He also discusses the order to address the different metrics, and how to handle common problems. Of course, this advice pairs well with Mimiran CRM for independent…

I recently interviewed Kevan Lee, the former VP of Marketing at Buffer and currently Senior VP of Marketing at Oyster. Kevan is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to leading tech startups to significant growth. To give you an example, he helped Buffer go from $5m to $20m in annual revenue and 100,000 new customers acquisitions per month. In his fi…

You may be a rock star when it comes to marketing your clients' business. But when it comes to your own, it might be an entirely different story. And you know what? That doesn't make you a bad marketer. It's incredibly hard to market yourself—especially if you don't have a system to follow. In this episode, I break down the three core pillars to at…

What if the way to get your emails read and subscribers to stay subscribed was to lower the bar a little? Not in terms of quality, necessarily. But in terms of format or type. Instead of trying to write a grand theory of mathematics every time you publish, what if we treated email more like social media? What if we aimed for a simple, concise, inte…

Hourly billing is the industry standard, but it creates perverse incentives for consultant and client. Jonathan Stark is a former software developer turned consultant, and host of the Ditching Hourly podcast. He shares his journey from realizing how hourly billing was hurting his firm to making more money with better clients and more success with v…

The most successful businesses have a high degree of customer-centricity. Think Amazon or Google—they're absolutely relentless about the customer experience. And in the consulting world, the most successful advisors are the ones who have a high customer-centricity and low self-orientation. Not sure what this all means? In this episode, I break down…

The odds of you succeeding with new ventures or ideas out of the gate is low. It’s not fun but it’s true. Even if your idea is good, it might be adjacent to the one the market wants. A small set of tweaks and iterations to the format, offer, or audience might just be what it needs to take off. And that’s empowering! It means you’re not alone. Nobod…

Do you ever stop to wonder what it is we are really selling as consultants? Are we selling a website, strategy, or brand identity? Yes... and no. Those are features of our work. And people don't really buy features. Maybe we are selling new customer growth? Better retention? Ease of use? Those are all great benefits of our work. But let's dig a lit…

It's incredibly easy to get sucked into being an employee-like figure when you do fractional leadership work. When I first got started as a fractional CMO, I basically had two part-time jobs. The money was good but I worked HARD. I knew I needed to create better parameters. In this episode of Mindshare Radio, I'll break down the five main ways to a…

Corrie Loguidice was set to inherit the family business, but a series of traumatic events led her to change course and strike out on her own. Applying the lessons she had learned as an art major (you read that right) and a marketer, she built her own consulting practice and now helps other professionals leave the corporate world to start their own …

This post originally appeared at https://kevin.me/ways You can think about niching in a lot of ways. In many cases, the tighter you go, the easier it can be to sell what you offer. People are swimming in options, they want specific when they can get it. So there are two angles to consider when deciding on how specific you should go with your busine…

I don't position myself as a fractional CMO. I might have a fractional CMO service. Or in a sales conversation, I may say that I'm like having a part-time CMO on your team. But I don't call myself a fractional CMO as my top-level positioning. I'm a consultant. I'm an advisor. I help companies with their marketing strategy. But I'm not a part-time e…

What is your quiet inner voice telling you? The one that whispers. You barely notice it at first. But when you do hear it, you're inspired. Should you explore it? Maybe you don't take it seriously at first. Maybe it feels like a pipe dream. It's not always rational. Sometimes it's idealistic. Regardless, when you pay attention to it, it feels direc…

In this episode, I break down where my advisory clients came from. I also compare my niche (Everspaces) vs. general consulting clients came from to see if there was a difference. And let me tell you, it was enlightening. Do you analyze where your clients come from? Give this a listen and let me know what you find about your own business. —k…

Julie Brown lauched never thought of herself as a master networker or professional speaker, but when someone asked her to give a talk on networking and the room was packed and people in the audience asked her to come talk to their firms, she knew she was on to something. In addition to being a captivating speaker, Julie puts in the "work" to build …

Are you having trouble selling your productized service? In this new episode of Mindshare Radio, I break down the four main things to consider when trying to fix the problem. Give it a listen.By Kevin C. Whelan

Companies are hiring in-house and outsourced marketers differently than they did before. I'm seeing less reliance on using a single in-house marketer or even one full-service agency to "do everything" for them. Marketing has gotten too broad with too many specialties to work like that. But there's still a long way to go. In this episode, I share a …

When a client requests your services, it can really help to have multiple options at different prices. You can do this with a product or service ladder at different prices and scope, or you can create multiple options in your custom proposals. In this episode, I break down the reasons why you may want to have multiple options and how to price them …

What do you do when clients give you advice but then do their own thing anyway? In this episode, I talk about why this happens, how to prevent it from happening, and how to both give and get the best possible advice. —kwBy Kevin C. Whelan

We communicate not just with words but with tone and body language. Voice coach Cynthia Zhai discusses how we can communicate confidently by being intentional about voice. We can't all sound like Morgan Freeman, but we can improve how we talk to be more effective.By Reuben Swartz