The Best Small Business Podcast

255 - How To RE-Engage Prospects Who Got Away

254 - 4 Critical Pre-Sale Tools You Need To Get More Clients

253 - How To Get Out Of A Rut

Everyone experiences periods of time where they feel like they're not getting enough done, they don't feel like what they're doing is meaningful, they don't like what their business has become, and they look forward to Fridays. What differentiates people is how quickly they recognize they're in one, and take action to get out of it.

252 - Clients Who Pay The Least Usually Ask For The Most

It always seems that clients who pay the least always ask for the most time and energy from your business. And conversely, your best clients usually access much smaller amounts of time from you. Today, we are talking to you from the businesses’ side of the counter, not the clients. So how do we fix this situation? Let’s have a conversation.

251 - Closing The Sale - You're Doing It All Wrong

It’s always a thrilling moment when you close a deal. That’s why we’re all here. We love to help customers, chase new challenges, and in the process, hit those numbers. But sales closing is an art, and like art, its style changes over time. There’s no one way to close a deal, but these tips will help you create a winning game plan. So let’s have a conversation.

250 - How To Find Joy In Your Work

You’ve probably heard that great quote: “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Running your business doesn’t have to be a mindless struggle – it’s easy to fall into your day-to-day activities as a professional, and finding joy in your work is not impossible. Most of us can derive true happiness from what we do as long as we feel connected to the original purpose of our business and understand how it contributes to the world around us. 

249 - Raise Your Rates Without Losing Customers

Rising costs are in every corner of our businesses right now. We're going to show you how to raise your rates without losing your key clients.

248 - The Best Time For A Tech Refresh

Tech refresh is a cycle of regularly updating key elements of your tech infrastructure to maximize system performance. Sticking with older technologies can inhibit your business from achieving its broader objectives. Outdated or unsupported technologies are more vulnerable to cyberattacks, and they stifle productivity and business process efficiency. How do you know if it’s time for a technology refresh? 

247 - How To Make A Networking Group Work For YOU

Now that the world is slowly opening up to in-person meetings, it’s time for us to chat about one of the most powerful and yet misused engines of business success, Networking Groups. There are many groups out there - chambers, rotaries, BNI, Gotham, etc. who actively attract members. Some are really good and some frankly, just waste your time and money. We’re not going to evaluate each entity – we’re going to give you 25+ years of experience attending these groups -- what to do, what not to ...

246 - 6 Ways to Bring New Life to Old Blog Posts

Your old articles don’t have to gather cobwebs on that old dusty shelf of your website! Some of your best articles, ideas that you've devoted hours to with information that is still relevant and useful, simply get lost in your website’s wilderness. Here are our best tips for bringing new life to your old articles.

245 - 4 Easy Ways To Stand Out

Small businesses have a hard time competing. There are so many options for their clients and customers to choose from — what makes them choose your business? When you have so many businesses doing the same thing to grab attention from the same pool of customers – what can you do to make your business truly stand out and beat the competition?

244 - Organize Your Business With SDR Methods

Are you overwhelmed? Do you find that you have too much to do in a day? SDR is a proven methodology Rich developed so business owners can efficiently organize their business. Let’s show you how it has changed our business for the better and how it will impact yours.

243 - Present A Professional Image For Webcam Meetings

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to presenting yourself virtually.  Projecting a professional image in your virtual meetings is an important (and often overlooked) factor to consider. With a little forethought and preparation, you can make a great first impression on your prospects and clients.

242 - Don't Look For Clients - Look For Feeders!

Most businesses look for clients and customers one at a time in a very piecemeal fashion. What you really need are business feeders who are connected to many potential clients and customers who will funnel them to you. Let’s show you how to develop this practice and you will multiply your customer acquisition by 5X.

241 - Email Marketing Metrics & KPIs You Should Be Tracking

Everyone gives their two cents on how to do email marketing well. It doesn't matter how optimized your emails are if you can't track the results of your efforts and measure whether they are helping you hit your marketing goals.

240 - Powerful Email Marketing Ideas To Grow Your Business

Are you new to email marketing and don’t know where to start? Looking for a way to spruce up your content and strengthen the relationship with your contacts? An effective email marketing campaign can help you build relationships and turn them into solid clients and customers.

239 - Six Books That Will Explode Your Business

All too often, we're asked by our clients for book recommendations when they are having trouble in their business. And it’s our job to keep up on our reading because we have to recommend resources that will pinpoint and solve our client’s issues. Over the past year, we've kept a list of our most requested books – and thought we would share them with you.

238 - Create Positive Habits To Improve Your Performance

It’s a universal truth that we don’t start thinking about developing good work habits until we notice that we have bad ones. And after watching another successful CEO interview, you might find yourself wondering, “What do these people know that I don’t?” The good news: it’s not rocket science. Building positive routines and habits that last is less about self-discipline and more about setting goals that work for you. Let’s have a conversation.

237 - 4 Steps To Dramatically Increase Your Profits

Nearly two-thirds of small businesses either don't make a profit or fail to increase their profits from the year before. And inflation has reared its ugly head after a multi-decade disappearance. 

236 - Who Is Your Dream Client?

Have you ever pitched Apple? Tesla? Amazon? Walmart? Why not? Who is your DREAM CLIENT?

235 - Business Fears - What If Your Industry Is Slowly Going Out Of Business?

Time marches on and people’s tastes and the impact of technology might make your business slowly obsolete. Just ask slide rule manufacturers, Blockbuster, Blackberry, and Motorola.

234 - Business Fears - What If You Lose Your Best Employee?

Let's be honest: Losing a top employee stinks. It costs your business time – time to recruit, hire, develop a knowledge base and grow customer relationships. But it also creates emotional and personal upheaval – team morale can suffer, along with productivity and increased confusion about the future. 

233 - Business Fears - What Do You Do If You Lose Your Biggest Client?

Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or a small mom-and-pop business, losing a massive client is always shocking, uneasy, and frustrating. Unfortunately, it’s something that almost every entrepreneur experiences at some point in time.

232 - Business Fears - What Happens If You Get Sick?

If you’re self-employed, it’s critical to protect your business to make sure it stays healthy, even when you are not.  

232 - Business Fears - What Happens If You Get Sick

If you’re self-employed, it’s critical to protect your business to make sure it stays healthy, even when you are not.  

231 - Make Friends With Your Business Financials

Financials are a lot of small business people’s THIRD RAIL -- Don’t touch it - you will die! Too many people start businesses and ‘wish and hope and pray’ that they will keep making money and stay ahead without any planning or preparation. That’s a recipe for small business disaster. Today, we’re going to walk you through a few basic habits to help you strengthen your business financial standing and stop worrying about your financials.  

230 - How To Hire Your First Employee

What it's really like to hire your first employee? In short, terrifying. Am I ready? How do I know I’m ready? Where do I start? How do I do it? How much should I pay? What if they suck? How much time is it going to take me to train them? What if they don’t work out? What if I can’t afford to pay them? What if I don’t have enough work?  

229 - Create A Work-Life Balance That Works

Today with so many more of us working from home or in a hybrid situation and still haven’t found the balance. We're going to dive into this topic to find out what is ideal solution for you. 

228 - Learn How To Better Communicate With Your Audience

You’ve probably heard the saying that “communication is key,” and it’s true—communication is a critical component of almost any day-to-day activity. Your audience might be a group of clients, a customer in your store, your chamber of commerce, or just the most significant prospect you’ll ever land. Let’s chat about how to communicate in these situations and connect to make them rabid fans, customers, and clients!

227 - How To Pitch Your Business Virtually

More and more companies are requesting virtual meetings to review proposals, meet new vendors, and better understand what you bring to the virtual table. We all need to be more polished, look more professional, and fully understand our tech to present a perfect presentation to clients.

226 - Choose The Right Product Mix To Get The Best Clients

Sometimes we have to step back and take a long look at our products and services to deliver the best to our clients. 

225 - 4 Things To Keep In Mind When Starting Your Own Business

There are so many details and steps to start your own business. It can seem overwhelming for someone doing it for the first time. Let's break it down into four actionable steps to start off the new year.

224 - Set Your Business Up For Success In The New Year

January is here, and it’s back to business as usual. Or is it? After a holiday break filled with eating, drinking, and being merry, chances are you may be feeling the winter blahs. Psychologists attribute the post-holiday blues to a number of factors including the lack of social events on our calendars, days short on daylight, cold weather, and fatigue. But duty calls—it’s time to take action and snap out of it. Your business needs you!

223 - Growing Your Network - Goals for 2022

It’s been hard to grow your network over the past 18 months the old way - let’s discuss the 2022 way of networking. Think of your network as your bank account - we've been slowly draining our networking bank accounts.

222 - One Year Plans Are Better Than 5 Year Plans - Goals for 2022

20 years ago - we all talked about our 5-year plans -- projections, quotas, large binders, 8-hour offsites in stinky hotel ballrooms. Things change much faster now -- let's talk one-year plans!

221 - How To Find Purpose & Meaning In Our Work - Goals for 2022

It’s been almost 2 years with Covid and it has fundamentally changed our lives and how we do business. In fact, many business owners have been running full-tilt the entire time, reacting swiftly to each crazy course correction - shut-downs, supply-chain issues, resignations, hybrid working. Today we want to help you ‘reset’ for 2022 and find a more proactive position to take to grow your business.

220 - Is Your Social Media Ready for a Shake Up? Goals for 2022

Today's episode dives into social media from a year-long perspective and gives you action steps to push your sales & marketing goals. 

219 - Gratitude Should Be a Year-Long Habit

Today's episode is all about the feeling of gratitude. With our second holiday season in pandemic and we have to step up our connections with our employees, clients, and ourselves. 

218 - How To Get More Clients - Business Jui-Jitsu For Beginners

We all want more clients -- better clients, affluent clients -- and we chase them daily. Why not try to step back and make them come to you?

217 - How To Overcome Supply Chain Issues

We answer how we got here and how to get real about demand, inventory, and sell-through.  

216 - Website Refresh or Website Overhaul - When Is It Time?

Do you ever feel like you don’t want to show other people your website out because it's outdated?

215 - The Great Resignation - How To Hold On To Your Best People

In the last several months, businesses have seen a tidal wave of employees leaving. How can you retain your top people in the face of this tidal wave of resignations?

214 - Who Are The Real 'Time Vampires' That Drain Your Business

People, tasks, clients, and personal priorities get in the way of your business success. Let’s take a look at those ‘Time Vampires’ and figure out how to bury them for good.  

213 - Developing Mental Toughness - A Gift from the Pandemic

What have you learned from the pandemic and the impact on your mental health -- it's an integral part of your entire business health assessment. 

212 - You Need To 10X Everything In Your Business

Making it through a pandemic - you 10X’d your business. Now you need to continually 10X your next actions.

211 - How To Raise Your Rates

Are prices going up? YES, THEY ARE! Do you feel comfortable raising your fees? If you do, great! If you don’t, keep listening.

210 - Having Tough Conversations With Your Clients

Everyone HATES having THAT conversation with your client. Raising prices, unexpected costs, bad behavior, client procrastination -- And the worst: Firing your client.

209 - Having Tough Conversations With Your Employees

These are the people you have vetted, approved, hired as the best. Act in the interest of maintaining that 'best' in them.

208 - FOUR YEARS! How To Stick To It & Make It Happen!

So many people go to all the effort of identifying the goal, breaking it down, getting the best resources only to self-sabotage. 

207 - Getting Older & Staying Relevant

Over HALF of business owners are Age 55 and older - learn their secrets to success on how to work smarter and not harder.