Numbers You Need

Heads up all -

Numbers and frameworks incoming!

Now is your chance to get out if you hate well-organized ways of learning helpful things quickly!

For everyone else…

I’ve grown quite a liking for frameworks. I’ve noticed that communicating in quick lists, frameworks, and systems is often helpful for getting your point across in a meaningful way.

Numbered lists are a great way to do this. So you’ll notice I use them a lot.

I not only recommend doing this if there is at all an element of persuasion needed in your day to day job, but also as a way of just organizing your thoughts so you understand them better.

For example,

“the 3 best Italian restaurants in my neighborhood are”

“The 5 biggest reasons you need a CPA as a small business owner are”

Etc.

I've found that this way of communicating gathers attention easier and primes the brain to take mental notes.

So today is all about using these numbers and frameworks. In less than 5 minutes, I’ll give you:

?? 9 ways to be terrible at what you do

? 14 tricks to get more positive reviews

?? 6 keys to getting a buyer interested in your business

Growing your business is like being a captain, sailing a ship. I know, you’re thinking “what is this guy talking about???” But stay with me here:

Let’s think about this for a second. How would you completely fail to sail your ship to its destination?

1. You’d drift around without seizing opportunities to catch any wind.
2. You wouldn’t bring any provisions for the trip.
3. You wouldn’t prepare your crew for the journey.
4. You wouldn’t delegate any tasks to your crew.
5. You’d be close-minded to alternative routes along the way.
6. You wouldn’t have a navigation plan in the first place.
7. You wouldn’t practice your navigation skills beforehand.
8. You’d neglect to elect a first-mate to help you manage the crew.
9. You’d never try to move forward.

Here’s the parallel -

You could do a great job failing to grow a business the same way. If you were trying to, it’d look like this:

1. You’d take your time to seize opportunities.
2. You wouldn’t build any assets to help the business.
3. You wouldn’t train your employees continually.
4. You wouldn’t delegate any tasks to employees either.
5. You’d be close-minded to new ways of doing things.
6. You wouldn’t have a growth plan in place.
7. You wouldn’t prepare for big moments.
8. You’d neglect to promote or hire leaders to manage your employees.
9. You’d never try to move forward.

There’s an equal opposite for each of these. If you seek to do the exact opposite of each of these, you will find success in growing your business.

If you know me, you know I am a big fan of Codie Sanchez.

If you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know who she is, she is essentially one of the biggest authorities out there for teaching people how to buy small businesses in a way that brings them cash flow. Pretty cool stuff.

Due to the nature of my work teaching people how to sell businesses, there are a lot of common language and tactics there.

Anyway, I came across a video of hers recently that was a fantastic way to build the value of any business.

We all know we need reviews or testimonials, but here’s the thing: We get stuck on the HOW.

She shared these 14 ways to get more reviews: ?????

1. Thank customer for being great first, then ask for review (law of reciprocity)
2. Ask while they’re excited about you
3. Throw free events if you have a location and ask if attendees can help you with a review
4. Respond to all reviews
5. Text for tips: text customer that you’ll tip their service person if they leave them a 5 star review
6. Automated drip campaign: have an email sequence that invites reviews and reminds the customer a couple of times
7. Show reviews and testimonials all around your website
8. Specifically, show them in their real form that they were left in, high up on your website in an easy to find way
9. Include a meme or memorable moment around your ask for the review
10. Run a giveaway in exchange for reviews
11. Create a cool moment with a gift or something for working with you and ask for a review with it
12. Butter them up for using your product/service right or well, and ask for review then
13. Work for review (if you are just starting your business) doing free work in exchange for reviews
14. Ask your friends and family (if you haven’t already)

As a little bonus, I have talked to multiple business owners who have sold their business and quoted their large number of good reviews as a major point of negotiating a higher price for their sale.

So these are worth something.

Check our the whole video where she details how to do these here

What if… you could know what the other side is thinking?

Recently, I got the opportunity to sit down with Kavita Sahai, and learn just that.

I help people prepare to sell their business, and the most crucial aspect to this is building a business that a buyer will pay for. Simple as that.

After a wall street type career in investment banking, private equity, as a business owner, and as a business operator, Kavita now buys businesses for a living.

She was generous enough to share with me the 6 main things she looks for when buying a business.

They were (Future sellers, take notes??):

1. The Wheelhouse test: Is it in their wheelhouse of expertise or is there a strategic reason to buy it?
2. The Goods: What kinds of assets come with the purchase
3. Intangibles: Things that aren’t immediately valuable on the surface but help a specific buyer
4. The KING: Cash flow. Predictable cash flow. She’s not the first buyer that’s told me this. This was question number 1 from a buyer that I sold a business to in the past
5. Operators: High level ones. People managing employees that can keep doing so for the future owner
6. A win-win situation: Respectable, good natured buyers are out there that just want to make a deal that works well for everyone

If you are planning on selling your business in the future, build these qualities into it and you will find more success.

You can catch our conversation here for the full story on what those 6 things actually look like.

Thanks as always for participating in my weekly brain dump.

What are some things could you be communicating better with numbers and frameworks in your life? Think about it, try it out, and let me know how it goes.

And as always: I hope you got something from this.

If you did, share it with a friend who may too, as this is the best way for me to grow it and make this better.

They can even sign up here :)

Happy value-building to all of you!

See you next time for Better Business Brief,

-Brody

If you are considering selling your business one day, this free video walkthrough guide (35 minutes) will definitely help you get more prepared.