Maximize Your Market Presence: The Power of Networking and a Strong Website

[0:00] You know, I would say that you always have to start somewhere and you always have to start. There's so many things you can do in sales and it's finding the right method. And this is just one method that you can use to help build your business and

[0:16] get you to the place and get you to the freedom that you want to have. So that's why I would say, listen to Amish, listen to his other episodes, subscribe to his channel and listen to Full Funnel Freedom.

[0:27] Music.

[0:32] Welcome to the Full Funnel Freedom Podcast. If you are listening to this, you are likely leading a team responsible for generating revenue. Purpose of Full Funnel Freedom is to support people like yourself and keep your.

[0:45] Music. Welcome to the Full Funnel Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Hamish Knox. Today, I am overjoyed to have Jessica Gruber as my guest today. Jessica is the creative strategist and founder of Buzzworks Creations, an independent website design agency. She established her business to have the freedom and flexibility to grow her family while staying at the top of her creative game. For over 10 years, she and her team have excelled at translating business strategies and sales conversations into user-friendly website experiences, effectively conveying their values, missions, and services within the dynamic and ever-evolving digital landscape. Jessica is also the COO of Success Champion Networking, a B2B-focused networking group changing how B2B businesses network, collaborate, and grow. Jessica, welcome to Full Funnel Freedom. Thank you for having me on the show. I'm so excited to be here. I'm delighted that we get to record an episode and share your ideas and insights with my audience of sales leaders around the world today. So I've given the audience, you know, maybe not the 30,000-foot view. Maybe I took us down to about 20,000 foot. Take us down further. Tell us your story. How did you get from where you started to where you are today? Awesome. Well, I started to actually, I went to school for creative design, marketing, advertising.

[0:45] Funnels consistently, reliably full.

[2:13] Got out, did the whole ad agency thing. decided I did not like it. I did not like the schedule. I did not like the deadlines. I did not like the demand. And so that's when I, by the end of it, I was running as creative director.

[2:28] Hiring, managing, all that fun stuff that comes along with being a director and decided to break off my own because we wanted to start our family. So I had about two or three years to establish my business before we brought kids into the picture. And then we started raising and kids and a business. So there are quite a couple turns in that. Now all the kids are in school and it's just been booming and amazing. Very cool. Very cool. Well, thank you for sharing that story. And if you're watching on YouTube, you can probably see behind Jessica a beautiful picture of what I assume is some of your family at the very least. That one's actually outdated. It only has one of my kids and I don't know if you can see the full thing. So I kind of need to go get the other two kids in there. Oh, we won't, we won't tell them. That'd be okay. We won't let them know. So Jessica, you and I actually connected, uh, over a success champion. That was how we initially connected was around B2B networking. And I got to visit a success champions.

[3:27] Uh event i guess would be call it online event uh because we are definitely in two different parts of north america but i got to do an online event really really cool i i really struggled with uh b2b networking because it always felt like it was you know show up and you are required to deliver so many introductions or referrals and it just felt gross like it just didn't feel that that, resonant with who i am as a human being and what i loved about going to that success champions Champions event was it was about a group of people coming together to support each other. So I know we're going to talk on websites a lot. I'd really love it if you wouldn't mind giving us a bit on B2B networking and role success champions into that, because I found it to be really, really powerful place to meet other business owners. Yeah. So Success Champions, I started, I didn't start it, but I came into the company three years ago and I was just a member, saw kind of the philosophies behind it and kind of really took a hold of it.

[4:30] Became president of a group and we grew it to the largest group in the US and I guess we can say Canada too because we now have Canada chapters.

[4:41] And then from there, they asked me to take what I did, turning it into a training program for business leaders around the nation to build their own B2B networking group that supports their business. And when we say supports their business, it is what they put into it. So if they're looking to find education, that's where you come in. If you're looking for the support in the commodity, that's where you come in. If you're looking to get into those conversations, which is one of the most important parts, getting into those right conversations that will get you to your end client, that's there. I like to say it's a networking business that was built by businesses because there's a bunch of networking groups out there.

[5:31] But when they all come together, together it's what that business needs to grow very cool so if you were advising the sales leaders who are listening around the world about coaching their sellers on effective networking because there's that you know overused phrase about networking versus not working right and we have the we have sellers who are going and having lots of good conversations jessica and then you look in the funnel it's like so where did those great conversations go to where were those just great conversations because you weren't consuming some alcohol uh what would you say to a sales leader who came to you and said, Hey, Jessica, we need to be networking. We need to be in, you know, creating groups or in these groups. How do I, how do I get my sellers to go there and not show up like a cheesy, slimy salesperson?

[6:19] One, the first mindset shift that we have to do is that you're not looking to get into conversations with your end client.

[6:28] You're looking to get into conversations with your referral partner. So if you can imagine a triangle and inside that triangle, you have your number one ideal client in the middle. You're at the top of this client. That sounded horrible, but you're at the top of the triangle. Not the top of the client. Got it.

[6:52] And then down on the two other corners, you have two other industries that are also wanting to talk to the same ideal client. And when you surround yourself with these people that are wanting to have the same conversations with these clients that are going into these conversations, now it's just a complete funnel of conversations into you.

[7:15] So literally it's a live funnel of people and conversations into your world. Very cool. Yeah. What a great mindset shift is, is to, you know, play the broader game and, and not just try to go right for the, the kill would be the, the gross traditional sales way of saying that building, building up a network of people who can bring you in. And then I would guess conversely, like if, what is that Emerson quote about? If you want more, you got to give If more so, how do we get our sellers to go and focus not only on getting, but also on giving?

[7:51] It's all karma. If you give, then it might not come back from the same exact person. But when you give, you become that person's hero and they start talking about you. And if you keep giving, then you become many people's heroes because you're putting them in the conversations they want to be in. So they're constantly thinking about how do I give back to this person? And as we're talking about networking, I want to be clear. Networking shouldn't be your full business development plan. Yes. Amen, sister. Amen. You should have other things. It is just a part. And that is what Success Champions fulfills. We want to hear your burning questions about sales and sales management. Whether you're curious about strategies, challenges, or career advice, send us your questions. We'll be addressing them in one of our upcoming episodes, providing ideas and insights to help you excel in your sales career.

[8:53] You can submit your questions in the link in the show notes. So don't hesitate, shoot your questions our way and help shape a Thanks for listening to Full Funnel Freedom.

[9:07] Very cool. Well, that is a great segue into talking about websites, which is another area of expertise that you have. And, you know, a website is, I mean, yes, if you are selling transactional and you can just click and buy, great, right? A website can be, you know, the ultimate, the complete sales tool. However, for a lot of our listeners, they are in that more enterprise space where it's 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 months from hi, nice to meet you to looking forward to working with you. And as we've heard over and over again, most buyers are well into their buying cycle before they even engage with a seller. So let's start off with the whole idea of the website and the purpose behind it. So when you're coaching your clients and they say, Hey, Jessica, we need an updated website. We need you to build us a website. Like, where do you start the conversation with them so that this website actually becomes something that supports their sellers as opposed to just a cute thing that's online? I asked, I talked to them about their business goals and why do they think the website is the number one thing. And often, sometimes I'm not going to say oftentimes, but sometimes we get to the end of the conversation and I'm like, you don't need a website right now. You need to go work on this and then come back to me and we'll build that website.

[10:25] People have had businesses for hundreds of years without a website Yeah, there are many ways to build a website a website is just one tool to get your name out there Now if you take it and flip it, I'm going to put a question back on you, When you meet someone, what do you go do? I?

[10:45] I look them up. Now, I use a social media engine that links people together. We'll just use that as a phrase. I usually look them up there. I will also use one of the major search engines to look up their company as well. So if I met you at a Success Champions, the first thing I'm doing is when we're done our conversation, not right away, I will grab my phone and look up Buzzworks. Yes. And so when you met me in person and then you went to my website where they aligned with what we were saying and it made this cohesive message and it made you feel safe to bring me onto your podcast to talk to me further and know that I am an expert in websites.

[11:22] Totally. Yeah. There was a clear alignment. It honestly felt like I was having a secondary conversation with you, even though we were not literally engaged in a conversation like we are now. Yes. So that is kind of the basis of what we do with our clients. We get on a discovery session with them. We take them through a whole list of questions where it's kind of like they're mind dumping their business on us. We're going through their objections. We're going through the client's problems. We're going through situations that the client will be in that that triggers them to say, hey, I need to come talk to you. And all of that is incorporated into a website so when people come to your website, they can identify as that person of, hey, I need to convert and I need to take this call to action because they can help me with my problem.

[12:15] Okay, let's dive into that a bit more because we started with business goals,

[12:19] which I think all of our listeners understand right now about business goals. And then what I just heard is this idea of.

[12:28] Situations, especially where a buyer would go, I need fill in the blank, because, you know, from experience, a lot of websites are, you know, look at this giant drop down menu of all the products that we sell. And like, I have no idea what to do here. Like, I, you know, I need to buy shoes, like, I don't need 74 different options, or I need to buy an accounting software platform. Can I just talk to a human being?

[12:50] And I'm, what I'm hearing is, we can actually sort of preempt that human to human conversation by having a really effective website that speaks to the buyer. So what does that look like to actually be able to set that up so that the buyer goes to the website and goes, oh yeah, this makes sense. So you have to remember when people hit websites, they're not reading the body text. The body text is really for SEO to know what you're about. They're reading it like an old school newspaper and they're reading the headlines. And if you can catch them on the headlines, that's when they start reading the body copy to verify, okay, this grabbed me. So what are the key points that when you're talking in a sales conversation that make those clients light up and say, oh, what makes them lean in more? And those are the headlines that we translate into the website to make them lead into the website and convert into a real-life conversation. Got it. So it's almost like we're having pseudo-discovery or the client is doing their own pseudo-discovery because they're engaging with those chapter headings. Would that be an accurate way of representing that? Yeah. And you can also disqualify through your website. So you can identify your particular client that you want to be working for and say, hey, we are not looking for these people. If you're not these people, don't call me.

[14:17] Totally, and that is a scary thing for a lot of sellers especially to hear, usually because their funnels are a little bit skinnier than they probably should be. And I love that idea, our only valuable is our time. So why am I gonna burn a ton of time and energy with someone who, yeah, would I like the money? Sure, and I'm probably gonna get a lot of brain damage servicing this client, that's a phrase one of my clients likes to use. Whereas if I say thanks but no thanks or they do that themselves I have more time to spend with my ideal buyers so when we're we've got this chat we've got these chapter headings we've got the body text which no one's reading unless they get really grabbed by a chapter heading what about all the fancy stuff the the videos and and and other tools to engage that a lot of people think they need what's reality do buyers actually care that you have an about us video or a here's how we solve this problem video or is that just extra effort that could be better spent elsewhere.

[15:17] Um, it depends on your market. So yes, a video is great. You always want to give a user multiple ways to interact with you. Some people like to read, some people like to listen, some people like to look at the pretty photos. Right now the trend is bringing that employer brand and bringing that personal brand into the website so that they know that you're working with a real life human, human and not just a stock photography company.

[15:46] Because I, and I think we transitioned into this stage because of COVID because we were so online and now we're hungry for that relationship. I mean, it's, it's two years past COVID and we're still hungry for that in-person relationship because everyone's just been online and in screens. Okay. So tell us more about this whole idea. Of using real human beings because again stock photos are easy and our brains are lazy right so we like to go for the easy stuff um also stock photos don't necessarily represent our organizations and what they literally look like um and that can i imagine cause some damage when online we have this very nice multicultural smiling group of human beings and then it's a bunch of white guys um who are actually in the organization um and i'm canadian i can say that so uh Uh, uh, how do we, how do we leverage our team? Like how, like if I got tapped on the shoulder by my boss and like, Hey, you want to be in our, our website photos on connect and be like, I don't know, why would I do that? So what is the payoff to the organization and to the individual being in the photo to actually put themselves out online when maybe they're not client facing?

[17:03] It shows the culture of your company. I mean, we had one website where they were working with the city. They were the minority arm of a larger contract. And they came to me and they said, Jessica, we don't need a website to buy or to get clients in. We need a website to acquire new employees because it was a high turnover industry. Got it. Okay, well, what we're going to do is we're going to build your mission values and all these beautiful things of why people would want to come work for you, your company. But we're also going to feature some of your employees. The funny thing was, this was a waste company, a waste management company. Got it. So now we're asking trashmen to say, hey, come take pictures, come on a photo shoot with us. What do you think their reaction was? I can probably picture. So you keep going. Well, how did it end? But the, the couple of people we asked, they were actually proud. They came in with like a puff chest standing there in front of their trash truck. Um, and they were proud of what they did. So, um.

[18:13] So that was an example of where we had to do a custom photo shoot because of the waste trucks. They had a particular waste truck. They had the branding on the waste truck where if you take a stock photo of a green dumpster truck, it's not going to work. Yeah, no, fair enough. What I'm hearing through all of the great ideas and insights you're sharing with us is there has to be an actual real story. And you're making a bit of a promise to your buyer that when you engage with us, whenever you choose to engage with us, what you see on our website is going to be reflected in the interactions that you have with the people that you engage with at our organization. Would that be fair? Yeah. You're definitely creating an expectation even before the first conversation they have with you.

[19:06] Fair enough. And so for sales leaders and having been in a sales role and going to my leader and saying some similar things like, well, I really need a page that looks like this, or I really need a landing page to attract people, or I really wish our website was in blue instead of in orange or those kinds of things. So how can sales leaders effectively have conversations with sellers where that's really not the problem, right? The fact of the matter is that if we don't have a landing page, that's okay because really what it comes down to is your funnel skinny. How would you coach a leader to have a conversation with a seller who's like, I wish our website looked like this?

[19:46] Honestly, I invite them into our, we invite our top sales leaders in our companies, into the discovery session because they're the ones on the ground having the conversations with the clients. Sometimes the CEO can be a little more distance from the actual conversations. When you get those salespeople in and get them involved, they get so much more excited that they're a part of the company.

[20:12] And then they want to grow your company that much more. Very cool. And so I would imagine also they get to understand a bit more about the overall strategy for the website, because then we all tend to operate from our own narrow focus. And once we see the bigger picture, we can be like, oh, now I get why we don't have a landing page for fill in the blank, because it doesn't align with the overall vision and strategy for the whole website. Is that accurate? Yeah, it is accurate. And usually when we get down to the landing page, we look at what is the offer that you're giving them. Is it a valid offer or are we just wasting time building something that could be easily done in a follow-up email kind of thing? Awesome. Well, and that's something else that I'm sure our audience is very curious about is calls to action, right? And these landing pages and these, you know, all of us are trained. We got to give our contact information up, right? We want a free thing.

[21:07] We're going to give you at least an email address, whether we check that email or not. But we're going to do that. So when someone comes to you and says, hey, I really need a strong call to action, number one, how do you figure out if they actually even do need a call to action? I imagine it's discovery. And then secondly, how do we build a call to action that's actually going to resonate with our ideal buyer as opposed to just getting a bunch of noise in our funnel? So the best thing I have found to do is actually look at what you're putting, the content that you're putting out in the world. What is already working? What blog posts? Go look at your analytics. What blog posts on your website actually have traction that are attracting people to your website? Take those blog posts, turn them into a lead magnet because that is an identifier. fire. You have actual data behind it saying, hey, people are interested in this. What resource can you give them to help achieve this goal and bring them closer into your world? Got it. So we already have the evidence that this blog post has resonated with somebody. Hopefully it's our ideal buyer. Let's convert that and then see if we can attract more of those. So when we're looking at giving something, because we can give away graphics, we can give away white papers, We can give away quick coaching calls if they are in a professional service business.

[22:34] What are you seeing in the market these days in terms of offers that are really attractive to buyers? I appreciate it will depend on the industry, but overall, what are some of those offers that your clients are finding very, very effective at actually getting buyers to engage with them? Checklists are always the best. Checklists. Yeah. It gives you a quick overview of what you need to do, what you need to take action on. And in a world of busyness, sometimes all we need is a checklist to make sure that we're going through the process the right way. Very cool. Yeah, I'm a huge fan of checklists. And there's a whole book on that, Checklist Manifesto, which is a really awesome book if your audience hasn't checked that out yet.

[23:20] So lastly, how do we leverage our website once we've engaged? So the buyer's gone to our website. they've said yes I want to talk to somebody they engage with us and of course it's not a walking walk out with an order necessarily how do we keep leveraging our website how do we make it something that is going to support us all the way from hi nice to meet you buyer all the way to the fact we've got a closed new client and then afterwards so once they're converted on the website you should have a system on the back end whether it's a CRM whether it's an email email. You have to have something on the back when to follow them up. If it's just an email, you better have that checklist of I need to follow up with these people within 24 hours.

[24:10] CRMs, you can automate the follow up is say they they follow up, you can automatically have them send an email that has your calendar link and say, Hey, schedule with me. But it should also be followed up with a call. You should be collecting those and getting them to voice call as soon as you can. Because once you start interacting and putting a person behind the website, a real live human person.

[24:38] That's when the relationships really starts building. That makes a lot of sense. And so recommendation is within 24 hours, get at least a voicemail into that buyer? Yes. Your email, it should be, hey, we received your request. Our team will be with you in eight hours, four hours. Give them an expectation of how long it's going to take you to follow up with them. But let them know what the next step is for you getting into contact with them.

[25:08] Absolutely, and I will say sales leaders from experience that if your sellers say within four hours, eight hours, whatever, they got to do it within that timeframe because otherwise they're going to break rapport and they're going to lose credibility with their buyers. So Jessica, I really love those insights around how do you keep the website moving so it's not just a lead magnet or not just a place that buyers can go for information before they engage, but make it a whole living system that supports our sellers throughout the entire sales process. So we could nerd out about websites all day long and we don't have time to do that, unfortunately. So I have a few questions for you before we wrap up today. The first one being, if you could go back and coach younger Jessica, go back as far as you like, and you can say, hey, younger Jessica, in the future, you're gonna have this amazing business, Buzzworks. You're gonna be part of the Success Champions Network. You don't know what that is right now, but it's gonna be a thing that you're gonna really be passionate about. You're also gonna have a bunch of scar tissue and bumps and bruises. Is what would you coach younger Jessica to say or do different so you get to the same place with less scar tissue and fewer bumps and bruises?

[26:12] I won't say I'm a slow action taker, but I'm a methodical action taker.

[26:19] And so I would have probably said take more imperfect action. Take more imperfect actions. What does that mean? Because I'm methodical, I like to have it all all planned out. So I know it's going to work, but sometimes you just need to get out there and take action to see what the results is and then improve afterwards. Fair enough. I love that. Thank you for sharing that with us today. Curious, what have you read, watched, or listened to, whether recently in the past that you would encourage the sales leaders listening around the world to check out for their own development? So one of my favorite books is called The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse. Oh, and you're holding it up for the audience who's watching on YouTube. You're holding it up. I love that. Okay, tell us more. It is pretty much about a boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse, but it's all about these life situations. It's very aspirational, and it's all about an author that she never thought she would write a book, but she did, and it's all based on illustrations. So it brings my creative world into it as well, and they're beautiful illustrations.

[27:28] Some of my favorite takeaways is asking for help isn't giving up, said the horse. It's refusing to give up. Very cool. And then I wish we, this wasn't a podcast, but for your viewers, she drew an illustration and it says, the greatest illusion, said the mole, is that the life should be perfect. And then underneath it, she said, my dog walked over the drawing, clearly trying to make a point. And so you have little paw prints. I don't know if you can see it with my microphone. Yes, beautiful. Paw prints across the page. That's phenomenal. Didn't mean for it to happen, but it's part of her perfection of life. What a cool recommendation. Thank you for sharing that with us. And so, Jessica, you've already given us a ton of great ideas and insights on

[28:16] networking and on websites and calls to action and offers. What else do you have as a closing thought, a bit of extra wisdom, or even something that you want to plug? The floor is yours.

[28:28] So I would like to plug Badass Business Summit. I know you're all the way up in Canada, but it is a two-day or three-day summit down here in Fort Worth, Texas. It's for B2B business leaders, and it's all about people by you. People by you, and then they buy the service that you provide. And so it's all about getting yourself out there, putting yourself in front of people, and being loud about what you do. Very cool. Well, Badass Business Summit. it. We'll throw a link in the show notes for that.

[29:05] Full Funnel Freedom followers, Hamish here. We had some technical challenges at the end of Jessica's recording, which were unfortunately caused by a heat wave we were experiencing in Calgary when she and I put this episode together. So I'm recording this to share with you the details of the Badass Business Summit. So that is September 18, 19, and 20 in Fort Worth, Texas. If you go to badassbusinesssummit.com, you'll get all the details, be able to get tickets, and you can join Jessica and her colleagues in Fort Worth September 18, 19, 20 at the Badass Business Summit.

[29:44] Sales leaders, I had a blast chatting with Jessica today. Absolutely love her enthusiasm for networking and websites. And a few things really stood out to me today. Number one, this mindset of when you give to someone, you become their hero. What a great mindset to share with our sellers.

[30:04] So when they are going out networking, they're focused on giving as opposed to getting. And that's where sellers have got a bad reputation because they go to networking events and it's It's like, what can I take from you? And it's instead flip that script and make it more of a give. I also really appreciated Jessica's insights around the website and it being like a mini discovery conversation.

[30:28] And so that the buyer actually feels like they are talking to one of your team members, even though all they're doing is reading, watching, or listening to something on your website. Website the other key thing that Jessica really highlighted is whatever is on our website that experience and that feeling that connection that our buyer gets has to continue on through their engagements with us and so as an example if we've got all these pictures on our website that don't necessarily represent the individuals or the equipment or the experience that a buyer is going to have and I'm sure some of you listening have had that experience where you book a hotel online line and they've got these great pictures and you show up at the hotel and maybe the pictures and the actual reality do not match. Well, that's the same thing when we put out something on our website and when our buyers have an interaction with someone on our team, whether it's an actual seller or anybody else, and the experience they have with that person doesn't resonate and doesn't match the experience they thought they were going to have when they saw our website. Now we've lost credibility with that buyer and our sellers job has been made that much harder.

[31:41] To actually engage with that buyer and and and hopefully earn their business The the last thing that I thought was really really powerful is this idea of checklists I love checklists checklists are amazing and checklists are something where people think yeah, that's something I can use I've also downloaded plenty of resources free resources that once I downloaded it and I opened it up and I read through the table Of contents I never looked at it again It still lives in my computer somewhere and I think that maybe someday i'll get back to it However, if I've got something that I can action and use on a regular basis, that is going to raise my potential for re-engaging with that company at some point in the future when I do want to buy their products or services. I'd love to hear what your big takeaways are in the comments and social media. Until we connect on the next episode, go create full funnel freedom. Thanks for listening to today's episode of the Full Funnel Freedom podcast. You can continue to support us by leaving us a review and a rating, sharing this episode with a couple of sales leaders in your network who you care about. I'd love to connect with you. I'm easy to find Hamish Knox on LinkedIn. Also, if you'd like a free 15 minute call with me, go to www.hamish.sandler.com forward slash how to Sandler. Until we connect on the next episode, go create full funnel freedom.

[33:02] Music.