Lessons

Lesson Info

Involve Multiple Partners

I want to talk to you about the first part of something that just happened on november several you know this was november twentieth when the by small by local campaign happened well, this is the nugget american express is on two things really well among other things and they're not a client but this campaign when you're talking about what happens when you shop small they not only tried to reach out to reinforce loyalty with their small businesses they offered them something specific and concrete that would help the businesses and that's called the mighty bill that means it was a device that enabled me as the local business owner if I wass to network with the other people in my area so we could co sponsor an event or in my town of sausalito ism caledonia it made it easier for us to do that. So we got the halo effect of turning to someone who gave it a company that gave us something concrete there's something else about this is important for many of the people that are watching here he m...

ay be a solo entrepreneur um you may have just a small group but if you partner with a large company you may be the colorful personality to another wise I'm not saying american express is bland but some large companies are more bland than the people in this audience here in the students and the people out there so you could be the colorful face of the brand that reinforces a certain asset they want. So what they did here with shops small is they said, we're going to get to know our people better. It's not an accident when they give you the use of that kind of app, they learn what kinds of people are most like, they use it in the small businesses, so they got all kinds of data in a reasonable way to feel better ways to help those saying people next year that's pretty cool. So when we're thinking about what we want to do, we're moving to a certain stage, and that is what I call the tom sawyer effect. I mentioned it briefly yesterday again. It's popped in my mind when I was driving one day um, it's funny how book she read a long time ago that you didn't think were that interesting. They pop and have specific things. Well, tom sawyer he's out busy whitewashing offense, he makes it look like self so much fun. People come up and say, oh, that looks fun. Can I do it, too, but see it's literal as physical? And he gave a certain emotional, uh, uh, feeling about the experience. So what I want for you all is to be able to be in that position to be a ringleader, so yesterday we talked about going slow to go fast. We talked about dating your partners when you're starting to move in a more full powered partnerships, which will discuss then we get in a position if we're the key person who started it that we can talk with the other partner we bring in or three cause I wouldn't work with more than three and those first low risk things we can say, how can we scale this? How can we be creating something let's? Just watch what we're creating and which part of it could be a platform or ritual or signature event or some tool that we collectively offer so that all kinds of other people say, please, can I be a part of yours next year or next? Whatever it isthe you say, well, I want to talk with my partners about it, um how many of your helpful by nature so that's a problem? Sometimes so I caught the big paws, the big paws of appreciation and the big paws appreciation said, well, I'm really honored you'd like to be a part of it let me think about it I want to go back to my other teammates that pause makes them want to stand up act better and they're going to be a stronger, better partner. I wish I'd learned this a lot earlier in my life does this ring any bells and it's just that pause even if you think they're wonderful just don't jump is so great given the pause and say by the way and you may want to ask him a few questions what I don't what's drawing you to us what's the specific thing that you want to bring to us what's your view of the mutual market we're trying to reach, so let me just get some notes and when you write on your smart device or your, um notebook, you assuring respect to them that you're watching them all kinds of people used to ask me questions were never writing things down I thought so I say do we take out your notebook, please? And you feel sort of pushy saying that, but if they're trying to ask you questions that are not willing to want to take it down that's a sign so let's show the respect that we want to get writing it down is showing accountability and the expectation that they will too and that's a big key and an attitude to do that so if that's too you get to guide the growth of the partnership meant that you get to be influential, you get to be selective and you also get the top billing you may find there's a partner as you go that's so strikingly valuable, and in fact, you think is going to be more valuable and be able to do more work than you during a certain time. So you may think of dual building before you ever say it, you get a watch and observe a partner and think that that company or that individuals offered so much, I want to say let's, talk about top billing I think you deserve to share top billing one we're talking about this and describing it, so you're so reverse engineering and you're thinking ahead about what you'll do there. If that's true, then we're going to talk a bit about that, but I just want to say one example that I thought happened last week, which is a great example of being the tom sawyer effect ironically, had mentioned it briefly yesterday it's tom shoes so what they started out doing was he wanted something distinctive and simple that made his shoes stand out from others, and he also want to see because he wasn't sure whether the pull to give shoes away when when someone bought a pair would be enough. If so, there's really gratified but also narrowed his market so he knew other partners to bring in because they also felt a mission about their business to want to do the same thing so see, whenever you narrow the market, you actually can get stronger, better, easier to identify partners so what he announced last week is tom's marketplace so he's now got the platform he developed originally and he's made it more robust and he gets to sponsor other companies willing to do the same thing but he gets top billing there under him and the visibility eagerly under him because they get attached with a clear brand facet so just thinking in your mind for a moment what clear brand fast what I want to have what would be my hook so, you know, I like to suggest to their books so I might suggest a book here it's called the click moment franz joe hansen wrote the medici effect as well, I won't go into that, but what was powerful to me and I want a column about this and forbes was that france said that you need a hook remember that from yesterday a bit I'm going go fit further what's a hook on which people can attach their own ideas, their own product, their own customer ritual when you have that hook than people gather around it can add to it conduced something with it so we're going to go back to that a bit and several ways sharon did you did that yesterday, shannon when you created a very distinctive style of events so got very concrete in the minds of the people so it's easier for them to say I can picture the pillows on the couch and doing that set of things the more distinctive and concrete you got they say oh then it could also be this added to it or we could take that same situation seminar to people who design boutique hotels, for example so you built you started have a platform and doing that a platform or in fact you may be doing consulting one day about how other people can co create experiences of seminars people pay for to maybe have a limited number of people as you said, but you only need a few because you've got four four clients three four clients out of fourteen I don't know why I remember the number specificity really helps, but I mean that that I remember that I'm several you probably dio and so what you may be doing in a partnership maybe a double bonus that you find yourself pulled and I can see that for several of you and is showing how to use that platform and other sectors and so it's a it's another way to look at what's going on then vividly show your products many used well and more often with others, so I'm talking now about some of the ways that you when you're doing a more full powered partnership with some partners you're now ready to marry you may want a pre nup which is the farmers and what might suggest is this would be where I really agree the social contract and you've agreed on explicitly what you're doing and in some cases with these you may want to have a legal contract in other cases you may not but one of the biggest and easiest and least expensive ways the leverage out is back to a version where you're doing situational selling and when you're showing and demonstrating it it could be in a poster a photo being used together a short video, a demo and I'm gonna work backwards from that since you have more partners one might have the physical place where they want to pull the traffic to it and might be for example unstained well it may be someone that has a clinic with with public space senate actually some banks of public spaces but you want to figure out ok if I want was it stay well r b well that say what's the name of the wellness thing that you were going to focus on wellness coaching so I might say if you're going to do a stay well session and you're doing a tom sawyer effect you've already got one or two partners that are already there so later on we'll talk more about this but I think ok a doctor or nutritionist health food store what are the ways we collectively condemn o or do what I call many, many, many seminar which means it's ten minutes but there's a siri's of tenement things usually with something good to eat that's there and but the lab testing that pardon the lab testing that yes, well, wait wellness effects that does lab testing would go well with my wellness coaching. Yes, yes, well, she's an angela and the two of you together, I'm sure going to spiral out in a couple of ways what? I'm suggesting as remember you want the most number of people that are the right kind of people and you don't know which of your topics the doctor, the nutritionist the miss seuss is the one that's the hot topic that brought people in there's one so you want them to know that they're gonna have a taste of each and then so I call it lean loose and situational sells lean means there's a very specific concrete way you get a share specific information loose means that there's a convivial time afterwards with people get a talk but going back to all those things you want to have it video you want have subtitles you may turn it into one minute groups umm those videos with the text around him you want to multiply the ways that you leverage it so on every one of those ways all the partners air listed every time the partner, the girl, the mention of that because it set familiarity effect you want at least three exposures also, while you're there, you want people going around if possible with their smartphone that know how to use it. I'm not done even that, but we're actually saying excuse me, which specific part of this many, many, many set of sessions today was most helpful to you? Then they'll talk in a generalization could you give me example of that what's your name? So remember, you want to build in bragging rights so you leverage as much as you can at it. Thank you very much and you say their name again so you then got content and a right of way that turns into testimonials how to tips, tips they're cited by other people which makes it more credible they say, well, I give a lot of great tip about fifty I was so cool I was just spot on hot I I mean, me and I just oh, yeah and my partner, this actually happened with a partnership I worked with a month ago. One person talk so long the other people couldn't and it was good that they learned because they just got married, so to speak in this context, so if this is gonna happen in this new thing so in that way you can also create a more seamless service on dh seamless service did you think? What are people focused on saving time saving money, getting better value, getting something that's so uniquely fits some that they otherwise didn't think could be there seamless does that when I say seamless, I want you to think what are the number of steps that takes for people to find and hire me count the steps, reduce the steps second on a continuum which of the steps are boring? No step is neutral, which is fun or satisfying our makes me feel good about myself and look at those steps and say do I want to reduce them? Sometimes you actually want to add step so builds up anticipation so by the time they get to that part yeah, I've got to do it but actually counting the number of steps for people to discover consider and by is a good way of saying how do we make it more seamless together? So we're going to talk more about that a bit later but before we do, I just want you to think, um, if I'm doing a full powered partnership and I wanted to be a tom sawyer yes, if they're female it's made that up that doesn't work, you want to think, ok, what is that second circle of partners? I'm I want to get it's. Sort of like when people do fundraising, when you've got two people or two organizations that are significant, or even one that's, when the flow happens faster. So you're thinking, then, okay, if I build out from that, what might be solos? Other people, that, um, I'd be interested in pulling in.