The Commission Code for Success

The Art of Personal Connection in Business

• The Commission Code For Success from Sims Training and Consulting, LLC • Season 1 • Episode 19

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Mary Cravens shares her expertise on helping coaches create a steady stream of great clients without relying on social media, focusing instead on building relationships and having direct business conversations. She reveals simple yet powerful client acquisition strategies that save time while creating meaningful connections.

• Personal connection trumps social media for client acquisition
• Handwritten notes and small gestures make massive impact in a digital world
• Asking "Can we talk business?" eliminates awkward sales transitions
• Virtual coffee meetings are an effective relationship-building tool
• Focus on psychographics over demographics when defining ideal clients
• Understanding the three core problems your ideal clients face simplifies marketing
• Speaking to groups can generate significant business without requiring a fee
• Follow your natural strengths rather than forcing yourself into uncomfortable marketing methods
• Authenticity in your approach is what ultimately attracts clients

To learn more about Mary's approach, visit simplygetclients.com and take her free "More Clients, Less Marketing" class that shows how to align all your marketing efforts into a cohesive client generation strategy.


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Speaker 1:

And I noticed how positively I reacted to that and I realized, oh my gosh, when we talk to, people say, hey, do you mind talking business? Can we talk business for a minute? It's not like so many of the people I work with. They're like, well, you know, I want them to know that I care and that I want to ask about their kids and everything. And I'm like, yeah, but then you feel like at the end of it like you've got the sneak attack that you've got that you're going to talk about business. I'm like, bring it up front, get it out of the way. Yeah, Nobody cares, they're happy to help you.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Commission Code Podcast. We're here to help you overcome the challenges that most of us face in our business. From time to time, you know things like feeling like you're on a plateau and you just can't seem to grow your business. Or maybe feeling overwhelmed, just trying to make ends meet and yet it seems like you're always working. Or maybe you've done quite well for a while, but now nothing seems to be working anymore. Well, we want to help you solve those problems and many more. Our objective is to provide you with practical solutions so you can grow your business and have more time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Speaker 2:

My name is Morris Sims and I'm going to be your host for this show spent years okay decades really in the corporate world, teaching business owners how to increase their revenue and use professional sales processes and run their business more effectively and efficiently. I started my own consulting and training business about seven years ago, I guess, and I'm helping my clients do just exactly that Get more revenue, increase their revenue and have more time to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But I got to tell you I'm having more fun than ever helping people build successful businesses. So, with all that said, let's get on with today's episode of the Commission Code for your Success success. Mary Cravens is our guest today on the Commission Code for your Success, and I think I say this every time, but I'm really excited about having Mary on the show. She and I have already chatted a little bit and I think we're both on the same page with so many different things that this is going to be a fun conversation. Mary, thanks for being here.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for having me here, Morris.

Speaker 2:

Tell us a little bit about you and what you do and how you do it and all that kind of good stuff.

Speaker 1:

All right, let me see if I can boil down. You know, 20 years of experience. It's a good thing we have three hours to spend together. Yeah, all right. All right, just kidding. So we're good about. So. My company right now is Simply Get Clients, and my specialty is helping coaches life coaches, executive coaches, health coaches really create a steady stream of great clients and getting away from the idea that social media is the right path and it drives them all crazy anyway and they don't want to do it. So we try to build that sustainable plan of how to generate clients in the least amount of time and building it all through relationships, because that's the proven path already. So let's take that one path already.

Speaker 2:

So let's take that one, oh, and it just takes so much of the junk time away that we waste jumping around through social media. And you know, I tell my clients social media is okay, Pick one, maybe two, but don't spend hours a week going through 15 different platforms because you think that's what you have to do. Guys, you don't Just pick one or two. Be visible out there in one or two, maybe, and then let's go to some things that really do work.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, let's go do some lead generation. And of course people think that's the way to go because that's what they see. I mean, we don't see. You don't see the stack of note cards personal note cards that I send out. That's on my desk. You don't see little Starbucks cards that I send out thanking people for referrals. Nobody sees that. So why would anyone logically think that that would have anything to do with getting clients in sales?

Speaker 2:

Oh, it does.

Speaker 1:

Exactly.

Speaker 2:

It does. Oh, it does, Exactly it does. I'm laughing, Mary, because the reason, of course, I asked for your address earlier was you're going to get a note card from me, handwritten with a Starbucks gift card in it. So there you go. I told you we're on the same page.

Speaker 1:

Totally.

Speaker 2:

Oh man. But yeah, and you'd be surprised, I'm sure you do too, but we'll share this with our friends. The response I get from that card is just enough to knock your socks off. It's amazing. I'm not saying I've made a million dollars off folks who've gotten a thank you card from me, but just the response of it's so nice of you to do this. Nobody does this anymore and it really makes you stand out, morris.

Speaker 1:

And I thought yep, that's it. And that's the question everybody's asking how do I stand out, how do I stand out? And it's just like what it looks like out. There is that the people who are standing out are the people who shout the loudest, who have the most videos, who have, but that is all so impersonal, there's so little intimacy with that, there's so little showing of graciousness and connection. And so when we take the time to send a handwritten card, forget it, like you said, knock their socks off. But even to send an email that is me to you, referencing something that we know, knowing someone took the time to do that people are craving that level of personal attention right now.

Speaker 2:

And the fact is, with the handwritten card, there's no question. I don't have an auto pen, you know. So it must be me and it must be my handwriting, because it looks like a man with terrible handwriting, and you know it just. There's no question about gee. Is he just doing this through AI and he's got the same thing he says there. No, it's a handwritten note. So I just think that's wonderful, because it eliminates that whole step of going from social media to actually having a conversation about something, be it about business or about, you know, hunting or fishing or whatever. We begin to build a relationship when we have a conversation, and that's what it's all about is building that trusted relationship, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

You know what I really think it is, and having the strategy that ties it all together. Because I know lots of coaches who come to me after a year and a half of building relationships and they're like I can never move it from. Hey, I like you to, I'm going to refer business to you. They never know how to take that conversation where they need to go, and sometimes it's because they're having the wrong conversation, conversation with the wrong people, not enough conversations. The strategy that ties it all together is is what makes it actually work, because I can go create 500 relationships in the next month no worries Doesn't mean I'm going to create business from it if I don't have the underlying strategy.

Speaker 2:

Mary, I've got over 15,000,. What are they called? Connections on LinkedIn or whatever?

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, yeah 15,000.

Speaker 2:

I've never gone in and culled it down. 99% of those people don't know my name, but I've got them on my list of connections in LinkedIn. It's getting down to that point where you have that conversation and then, as you say, translate that into are we going to do business or not? And that's that simple question. Gee, mary, we've had a great time getting to know each other, love to share with you a little bit about what I do and learn more about what you do. Can we talk business?

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, that's my favorite thing to say. How did you know that?

Speaker 2:

I just knew, you just knew.

Speaker 1:

So, like 12 years ago, 12 years ago I was early on in my business and I got a call. This was back in the days where people left voicemails and people listen to voicemails, so you know when dinosaurs roam the earth and this woman left me a message and she said hey, mary, I want to talk business. Call me back. And I noticed how positively I reacted to that and I realized, oh my gosh, when we talk to people say, hey, do you mind talking business? Can we talk business for a minute? It's not like I, so many of the people I work with they're like, well, you know, I want them to know that I care and that I want to ask about their kids and everything, and I'm like, yeah, but then you feel like at the end of it like you've got this sneak attack that you've got that you're going to talk about.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean we've already built a little bit of a business relationship because we've had some conversation it also happens for me and my clients is when you're doing those volunteer kind of things or church. Oh, I can't talk to anybody at church about business.

Speaker 1:

Sure, you can, oh sure you can no-transcript oh sure you can.

Speaker 2:

You know it's okay and you simply you know. Hey, mary, I have really enjoyed working with you on this Red Cross committee. We have done some really neat things and I've got a business and I would love to talk business with you sometime and learn more about what you do and share with you what I do, and God only knows what might come from it. But I'll buy you a cup of coffee you free next week.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

And you go from there. Now, this is obviously, that's obviously a face-to-face kind of a thing, possibly, or at least we know each other face-to-face. But it doesn't matter. Today's world's virtual.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh. Virtual coffee. Yeah, the name of the game virtual coffee.

Speaker 2:

You can work with anybody anywhere, absolutely, absolutely, and it works so, very, very well. I'd never heard that term until I got involved with a networking group here in Dallas. It's around the country that Donnie Bovine runs and it's just, it's amazing. That's what they. They actually measure it. You know how many virtual coffees have you had this week? And it makes all the difference in the world.

Speaker 2:

But again, it's just like in the olden days. You hook up your horse to the rail outside, come in and start sending telegraphs. You know you start making phone calls. And that was the way it was back then. We did it all on the telephone. Well, today we get to do it on Zoom. We get to do it on email we all on the telephone. Well, today we get to do it on Zoom, we get to do it on email, we get to do it on text, and those are the ways that we begin to build relationships. I think those are all easier than doing it off social media. But we all have to do social media because everybody else is doing it and you want to at least be out there in the field, but you don't want to spend a whole lot of time with it.

Speaker 1:

No, because it's about. I mean, the primary rule in all the plans that I build with my clients is about like, what's working. What's working, what is going to create that intentionality about who your ideal client is and what they are looking for? You know, I was actually on a podcast the other day so I nerd out about ideal client because, like, everything you do gets informed by who they are, what they want, what's going on with them, what's their perspective and also what are you modeling to them. And that's very, that's really big for my business.

Speaker 1:

So I was on a podcast the other day and um loved, loved the guy um can't remember his name right now because I'm on the spot but his thing is speed of business. His ideal clients are all about speed of business and he uses automation and responding quickly and everything. And I kind of felt a little bad because he said how fast do you think you should respond to people? And he has an idea of what that looks like which is appropriate for his ideal client. And so I didn't want to say I don't want an autoresponder in five minutes, because everybody knows it's an autoresponder and nobody cares. It gets deleted immediately.

Speaker 1:

I said you know my ideal clients. They've usually come out of the corporate world, they're becoming coaches and they don't want to recreate the same pattern of chaos that they had in their work in the corporate world, and so for me, on a sunday night, to respond within five minutes is modeling something they don't want right and so saying, okay, the response time one business day within one business day, because what I do for my ideal client and what they need to see and what they want to create is different than my buddy on the podcast the other day, so nuanced, but I love this stuff.

Speaker 1:

Oh it's true.

Speaker 2:

Let's delve down a little deeper in this ideal client idea, because I find that to be one concept that is not necessarily easy to understand. Well, my ideal client is somebody that breathes and will pay me money. You know, it's got to be a little more than that. So how do you define ideal client and help your clients figure out who their ideal client is?

Speaker 1:

So my approach I really like looking at like what is the psychographic of them? So what is the problem? What's going on with them? Are they struggling? They've built a life that from the outside, looks successful, but they're like that duck, paddling furiously under the water and don't know how to get out. Are they, you know, on 15 medications and just don't have time to take care of their health? What is it that's going on with them?

Speaker 1:

Understanding the psychographic and understanding that for really strong, simple business understanding what are the three core things that your ideal clients have to be dealing with right now. All of them are dealing with them. So for me, my clients they want to attract more clients. They don't want to be on social media, and then they want a business that gives them a lifestyle of freedom every single one of them. So that is all I talk about. Now, this is different than target market. So that's the psychographic, that's the person I'm looking for.

Speaker 1:

By the way, there's also a few demographics. Like my people are coaches. They used to be broader service-based business, so there's some stuff around that and I'm like, okay, where do I go find these people? What are the target markets? Target markets I tried out a bunch of them for many years financial services, accounting, consulting, coaches those are target markets. So now you explore along those lines to go speak for those, for groups and associations in those target markets or create relationships and centers of influence in those target markets. And then you just look at cardinal rule what's working? And for me, what happened was it just kept. I just kept getting feedback that narrowed down who I got the best results with and who, like just vibed with what I did best, and it narrowed down eventually to coaches.

Speaker 2:

Mary, you've got a great little. You talked about speaking. You've got a great little course on that that I just absolutely love. I'm in the middle of it myself right now. I bought the course before you and I ever met. But the point is simply this Tell us about it now, because I'll the course before you and I ever met. But the point is simply this Tell us about it now because I'll forget between now and the end of the show. Tell us a little bit about the course and how you could find that, because, folks, I'm telling you it's the best course I've seen about how to handle getting opportunities to stand up in front of groups of people who are made up of your ideal client and can generate some leads for you. It's really cool and it's easy and it's not $10,000.

Speaker 1:

No, it's not Actually, so I will tell you how to get it and then I will tell you how to get it for free, yes, okay, so how you get it is. So this is. The course is called Fill your Speaking Calendar to Attract More Leads and More Clients, or something like that, and it's all based on a very simple outreach strategy search method, and all for an overall strategy, an overarching strategy of attracting clients through speaking for groups, and I do it for no fee. I've made over my career well over a million dollars just from leads from the speaking. So the course itself, you can get it by going to my website, simplygetclientscom, going to the programs, going to the courses tab, and you'll find the Fill your Speaking Calendar program. If you would like the easier and free way to get it, if you go to my homepage, there's literally a big arrow pointing at a button that says take the class.

Speaker 1:

Take the class is my more clients, less marketing intro class. This is free and it's because I mean you can already tell I am just such a nut about the strategy that stitches it all together and that's what I want to. That's what I teach, I teach. Here's this concept of client generation. Here's what is included. Here's what you don't need, here's what you do need and what it helps.

Speaker 1:

People do is just see like everything they're doing and organize it into a much better framework. So everything's pulling in the same direction. So I always I do one a month, or you can just grab the recording. Request the recording for the more clients, less marketing, but boy, if you want to pull your efforts together and get a full picture of how all the moving pieces will align for the best results, that's the thing to take. How all the moving pieces will align for the best results, that's the thing to take. And just about every single time I present, that is one of the courses I give away, because it comes up in conversation about speaking and I just can't resist giving away a resource.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's great. That is super. Thank you very much. I hate it to derail our conversation, but I want to make sure we got that out there because I really love it. You did a great job with that. No worries, speaking in front of groups, the first thing, folks. I think the first objection and not really objection first concern that I hear if I mention that to someone is yeah, but who would want me to speak to them? That imposter syndrome idea comes into play, doesn't it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it absolutely does and literally my first turning point with speaking was exactly around that. Have you heard of Les Brown?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, yeah, okay, who's he married to? He's married to somebody, gladys Knight or somebody. Anyway, go ahead. No idea. I don't know why I went down that path, but anyhow, I had a moment exactly like that.

Speaker 1:

This was probably 15 years ago, before I even started this business. I was considering getting out and speaking and I was on a teleclass of Lass's again way back teleclass and he was saying, okay, you can do this and you can do this to get out there and speaking. He's very motivational, he's very funny and right as I was thinking to myself, who wants to hear one more speaker on time management? Because that was the thing I loved at the time and like he read my mind, he said there are people in the world who can only hear your voice.

Speaker 2:

Ooh, I like that.

Speaker 1:

And I just got it Because I'm sure, morris, you've had the experience of listening to a handful of trainers. They're training on the same thing, but one of them, just the way they are, just the way you can tell what they value or how they explain things. It hits home for you, and so that really made me go yes, there's room for this. This is valuable. Not everybody wants to do this. Not everyone is doing this.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I agree with you wholeheartedly. And in my corporate career I can remember going to my mentor who ran his own business called Speakers College and I told him. I said, randy, if I'm going to move up in this company, I've got to get better at speaking in front of groups of people. Would you help me? He did, and it became. One of the things that I became known for in my career was the ability to get up and speak in front of groups of people. That was just really a big thing, and I think it probably still is today out in the corporate world. If you're not able to stand in front of a group of people and communicate a particular concept or idea and to some extent win them over to what you're sharing with them, it's going to be hard to move up that ladder. Because when you get up to the upper echelon, especially the C-suite, most of those ladies and gentlemen can do that and they can do it very well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, or they wouldn't be there.

Speaker 2:

Right, exactly, exactly. So I just think it's a very, very important skill and it's one that we forgot about when we all went through COVID.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I will add now I work with entrepreneurs. I don't work with folks in corporate very much, so I'm not, as I'm not as familiar with that world. But I do know that I don't want to leave the impression that speaking is a have to, especially for the target market I work with. I mean, if it absolutely paralyzes you, it is unpleasant, you have anxiety around it and it isn't one of your life goals. To overcome that anxiety, then follow the path of least resistance, go in a direction that feels genuine and natural to you, within a strategy, of course that works. But I feel like people will just sacrifice and waste so much time because they're like, oh, I got to do it this way, I got to do it that way, Let me tell you there is almost always another way.

Speaker 1:

There's almost always another way. There's almost always a way to make it fit for you so you feel more genuine out in the world and that is attractive.

Speaker 2:

The authenticity and sincerity of what we do is truly attractive. The authenticity and sincerity of what we do is truly attractive and it's what builds those positive business relationships. But yeah, you know, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I'm always been one to not always but I learned somewhere along the way that you want to focus on and work on getting better at the things you're good at.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Because the other things are going to come along as they will. The things I'm not necessarily good at are going to come along as I need them, but the things I'm good at I can get incrementally better at. So I work to develop with my clients. I work to develop their strengths and let their weaknesses bring themselves up. Mary, it's been a pleasure chatting with you today. Thank you so much for being on the Commission Code.

Speaker 1:

Thanks, Morris.

Speaker 2:

Well, that does it for this episode of the Commission Code Podcast. This is the place where we want to help you find the Commission Code to success in your business. Remember, go to morrissimscom for more information and in the meantime, hey, have a great week, get out there and meet somebody new, and we'll see you again next time right here on the Commission Code. Best wishes. I'm Morris Sims, you.