Nurture Small Business Podcast: A Year in Review
For our 2021 wrap-up, I wanted to share with you the best of the best from Season 2. I also want to thank you, my listeners, for being here. I hope you have enjoyed the content that Nurture Small Business has brought to you in our first two seasons, and I’d love to hear your suggestions for guests or topics for Season 3. Simply reach out to me at [email protected].
Season 2 also happens to correspond to year 2 of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Pivot became the buzzword. And, personally, I feel it has become very overused. As business owners, I feel like we are always assessing where we are and adjusting. It is part of normal business operations to measure and adjust. With the pandemic, that assessment and adjustment happened quickly and with a vengeance. Businesses have had to reimagine how to do business under a different set of criteria, in a different environment through a major health crisis. That isn’t just moving things from in-person to remote or virtual platforms, but also acquiring goods and delivering those in a safe and timely manner.
Creating a Unique Sales Conversation
It’s no surprise that sales conversations topped the list of popular topics given what was going on in the world. As small business owners, we are always tasked with growing and maintaining business sales. I covered the gamut of sales topics. I had an interesting discussion with Chad Cuttino about creating a prospecting program. I learned that the average prospecting closing rate across industries is 20 – 25%! We also chatted about how you can create more unique conversations in which you can share your story in The How-Tos of Prospecting. Chad touched on targeting, message, and timing, some things that many business owners, even those tasked with business development, may not take into consideration.
Creating Trust in the Sales Process
Our most popular sales conversation this season came from Australia with Ari Galper in Stop Losing Your Sales at Hello: Debunking Sales Myths. Ari is a huge proponent of creating trust in the sales process. His podcast starts off by telling us a story about a sales call that felt like a win to him. However, due to a small mistake of hitting mute instead of hanging up, he got to hear what the client was really thinking, but not saying to him. Listen to a small snippet of Ari’s podcast that talks about the lack of trust in the sales process.
You’ll have to listen to the rest to gather those nuggets Ari shared on how to create trust in your sales conversations.
Making the Empathy Map Work For You
Busting Sales Funnels myths is what Nikki Nash does best. If you don’t have a clue where your prospects are on the Empathy Map, your funnel doesn’t matter. In her podcast, Your Sales Funnel is Broken, Nikki contends that marketing is a lot like dating.
Who knew that marketing and dating were so similar? I chuckle every time I think about that.
The COVID Relief Fund’s Impact on Business
As we are approaching the New Year, I think it is prudent to mention taxes. Did I just hear a groan? I know, some of you are groaning right now. Earlier this year, Carolina Aponte joined us for a conversation about Tax Planning and the PPP Stimulus. It might be time to dust that one off as I know some business owners are still working through PPP and EIDL loans.
Prepare for Tax Season
If tax planning is on your mind Charles Read joined me to talk about Getting Your Small Business Tax Penalties Abated. Penalties and fees are no fun so having someone who is not only a CPA but also a member of the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council provides valuable insight to small business owners.
Saving Money with Metrics
In Season 2, I had a couple of conversations with guests that covered key performance indicators- KPIs – and metrics. My favorite of these was an interview with Courtney DeRonde for the podcast titled: Leading & Lagging Metrics: How to Make Sense of the Data. She discussed how digging into your metrics and KPIs can really shift a business by being forward-thinking and proactive with your financial information. And she did it in such a way that you didn’t feel like you got drop-kicked into a pool filled with numbers floating around.
Last year, I started working with an advisor. One of the things she had driven home is recording metrics, so I know what Courtney was saying in her podcast is right on target. In fact, my team has become so good at measuring that we’ve been able to adjust pricing based on what we are seeing from our metrics. We’ve even used metrics to measure employee retention.
Leadership Through Humility
That leads me to a podcast titled: Building Strong Teams in Your Business which is also a part of retention. My guest, Malcolm Dawes believes that leadership comes from humility rather than personal strength or power. In fact, he has written a book about the myths of management and the accidental mistakes made while managing. Listen to one of these faux pas now.
I have a feeling that there are many business owners who have done just that without realizing it.
Habits of Happiness
I also believe that the retention of employees, as well as clients, is strongly tied to happiness. Dr. Roger Hall joined Nurture Small Business in May to talk about how A Healthy Brain Leads to Happy, Successful People. Dr. Roger talks about the habits of happiness and success which are few and universal versus the habits of unhappiness and failure which are pantheon. Let me repeat that. The habits of happiness and success are few and universal while the habits of unhappiness and failure are pantheon.
The Ideal Client
And staying on that same happiness train, Trish Saemann from Go Beyond SEO joined me on this invigorating episode: Work with Clients You Love. It is from Season 1, and definitely worth mentioning in this compilation.
I had a lot of fun doing that episode with Trish. She is so easy to talk to and such a great source of positivity.
Streamlining Through Technology
Rounding out our best of the best, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all the great technology conversations I’ve had this year. I could go on for a while about the technology podcasts. They were phenomenal. From conversations about cybersecurity to the latest networking and social platforms, I discussed, debated, and dished with my guests.
One that stands out though talks about SaaS to manage human capital. I know that seems counter-intuitive, however, Jordan Boorgaard dived into EddyHR’s technology. It is enterprise HR software designed for ease of use and at a price tag that small to medium-sized businesses can afford.
If you get a chance to listen to the whole episode titled What is Eddy?, you will discover what a big fan I am of the EddyHR platform.
Build Your Network
A few of the other great tech podcasts to add to your list: Alex Sanfillipo’s Podmatch: Connecting the Perfect Guest to Your Podcast and Breanna Gunn’s Grow Your Business On Lunchclub and Clubhouse Highlighting Your Expertise. Alex has a servant’s heart and is always looking for the next way to help people. Breanna shares the work from home balancing act with us along with her expertise on two new networking platforms.
Final Wrapup
Season 2 was an amazing year. I learned a lot from my equally amazing guests. I look forward to another year of topics that our listeners can sink their teeth into. Again, feel free to reach out to me with suggestions or even if you just want to chat about your podcast. You can schedule a call with me on my calendar.