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This is Anne-Marie and Tanya from

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Left Turn Strategy , and you're listening to

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the Turning Left Podcast .

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The show that challenges traditional marketing

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by keeping things candid and cost effective

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for growing businesses Follow

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, like and subscribe for our unfiltered

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take and to keep us close .

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Morning Tanya .

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Good morning Anne-Marie . Where are you today

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?

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Oh , I am up north , so

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I'm in a cozy cabin here . So

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we have a new podcast to record today

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. It's wonderful . And it

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is inspired by the conversations

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we've been hearing from clients and people

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in the world that are dealing with this weird

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economy , and we

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thought this would be a great opportunity to

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talk to two of our types

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of clients and share

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with you some thoughts

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on how , possibly , left Turn can

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help maintain and grow their

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business , even though the economy is in its weird

0:59

place that it's in in this

1:01

May of 2024 . If you're

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listening to this in the future , perhaps the

1:05

world has changed .

1:09

That's right , it's very timely , very

1:11

timely , based on what we're seeing in the market

1:13

and the discussions we're having with our clients

1:15

currently . It's stressful

1:17

for a lot of people .

1:18

So for this scenario , we're

1:21

going to be talking to owner operated

1:23

small businesses . We kind of divide

1:25

our businesses into our corporate clients

1:27

and our small business clients . So

1:29

we're going to talk about our , our

1:32

center clients we call them our heart center

1:34

clients who are owner-operated , much like us

1:36

. They're not always owner-operated small

1:39

businesses , but we do find that that that

1:41

type of client does find left turn fairly

1:43

regularly and are looking

1:46

for our broad support and all things

1:48

marketing , um , and

1:51

strategic planning and

1:53

so we wanted to talk to those small business

1:55

owners today . Right , so that's right call

1:58

out to all business owners . Turn your ears

2:00

on .

2:01

We have some answers right did we say

2:03

this was a two part ? Could it be a two part ? So we're going

2:05

to do yes .

2:07

I think .

2:08

I think we did it's Monday , so maybe I

2:10

didn't .

2:10

We'll say it again , there will be two parts , two parts

2:12

.

2:13

This first part owner operator . Ok

2:15

, so what are some of the discussions we're having with

2:18

these clients so far who

2:20

are finding it to be an interesting

2:22

time bit overwhelming , and

2:25

things are shifting right From a business development

2:27

standpoint . So really , lead generation

2:30

is top of mind always , but

2:32

what we're thinking and the discussions

2:34

we're having now is now more than ever

2:36

, when things are feeling

2:39

and looking differently . Maybe you are not

2:41

if referrals

2:43

was a huge kind of base , but

2:45

we know that the market has softened

2:48

a little bit . Maybe that stream

2:50

of business development is not

2:52

coming in as you have seen

2:54

it in the past . There

2:57

can be a lot of drivers

2:59

that you're seeing that's shifting . So the discussion we

3:01

want to have are what are a couple of things to

3:03

consider when maybe word of mouth is

3:06

not working in the same way as it did even

3:08

a few months ago ?

3:09

For those small businesses . Perhaps

3:12

when they started their business there

3:14

was a lot of great word of mouth , a lot of support

3:17

. Maybe you've had the same clients that repeat

3:19

year or month after month so

3:23

we don't didn't need

3:25

to do as much marketing or as much

3:27

nurturing

3:29

of those clients because they kept coming . And I think

3:31

we hear that a lot from people saying , well , I don't really

3:34

do that much marketing . I have a website , maybe

3:36

I do a little social media , but the but the

3:38

work comes in . That is fine

3:41

, until the work doesn't come in , yeah , and

3:44

we are hearing from people more and more that , oh

3:46

my gosh , it's slowed down . And

3:48

so then we go back to the marketing

3:50

ecosystem to say , well , what were the systems that

3:53

you had in place ? And I

3:55

want to remind everybody , if you're not a marketer

3:57

, it's okay if you don't have the systems in place

4:00

. We know you're busy selling your

4:02

widgets or your service or doing all

4:04

the things that you do . The best . What we

4:06

do really well is developing those systems

4:08

and helping companies build

4:11

those marketing systems so that then they are

4:13

on and they're available when you need them

4:15

. Sometimes they're always on and

4:17

sometimes they're on just when you need them

4:19

. So

4:26

for those companies that maybe don't have a strong system for lead generation

4:28

or lead nurture , this would be our first suggestion you

4:32

put that system in place , because

4:34

it should be running alongside your

4:37

referral , your other

4:39

pieces of work , and

4:42

we've got lots of examples where we've been helping

4:44

clients , and

4:46

by systems . I mean , do you want to list off some ? I mean there's crm

4:48

, there's content , calendars , there's

4:50

a variety of different things , um

4:53

, and and everybody's

4:55

system is not the same , it

4:57

depends on your goals .

5:01

Exactly , and I think the way we best

5:03

describe it too , for , again , those owner

5:05

operators maybe listening and going , I don't

5:07

know , like when you say systems like what

5:10

, what is it that I

5:12

need to be looking for ? It's

5:14

what you said . What's worked

5:16

for you to date is potentially , just

5:18

like yourself , or or your team members

5:20

, kind of through word of mouth , kind

5:27

of through word of mouth , securing that lead . You know , developing a digital ecosystem

5:29

that really is always on in the market while

5:32

you sleep , as an example . Maybe it's not

5:34

always on , but we know that more

5:36

people are searching , more people are online

5:38

. What are the minimal

5:41

things you need to do to make sure

5:43

that you are catching those in

5:47

the market ? That's what we mean the

5:49

systems in place to make sure

5:51

that , A you're drawing in

5:53

new leads or

5:56

you are going back to

5:58

leads that have come in

6:00

to try and convert them . Where

6:05

are you taking them ? You know , does

6:07

does that channel , whether

6:09

maybe it's a website or landing page

6:12

, or you know you have socials , like a

6:14

lot of people do have things out

6:16

in market , but

6:18

is it working hardest for

6:20

you ? We find if we

6:22

have a quick , you know , discussion , we can

6:24

identify one or two things that

6:27

we think we could refresh

6:30

or tighten up to

6:32

ensure that we're speaking to that

6:34

audience , we're drawing them to something that

6:36

they'll find valuable and

6:38

we're getting them to do something that

6:41

you can then follow up

6:43

on and or kind

6:45

of generate a conversion . It can be really

6:47

that simple and

6:49

now , with things you know

6:51

, maybe feeling a bit different , we're encouraging

6:54

a lot of our clients that

6:56

this is the time to maybe

6:58

tighten up that journey

7:00

, if you will , that you're taking people through

7:02

. That's really look at it . It's not

7:04

a net new . We need to invest

7:07

a ton , but we it's the tightening up

7:09

, it's the tweaking , it's

7:11

the just making sure

7:13

all things are firing as they should

7:15

be . Yeah , Now is the best time to do that .

7:18

We have a client who

7:20

has a system an actual like

7:22

a technology system where they

7:24

put all of their client information

7:27

in and they can email

7:29

from them from there , and

7:31

we were looking at alternative

7:34

. They came to us because they thought they needed an alternative

7:36

system and we went in and actually looked

7:38

at what they had and actually

7:40

realized they had a great system . They

7:42

just weren't using 90% of it Exactly

7:45

. So I think that's the tightening up about

7:47

exactly evaluating what you're already paying

7:50

for , what you're already doing , but are

7:52

you and your team putting things

7:54

in properly ? And then you also

7:56

made me think about analog systems . So

7:58

I think lots of small business owners

8:00

do networking , meet people

8:02

, maybe they go out to give quotes

8:04

or meet with a new client or a new

8:06

prospect . What happens ? So

8:09

all that stuff has to continue to happen , but

8:12

what do you do with that information ? So

8:14

, once you meet with that prospect , does

8:17

that that person's or that

8:19

company's information go in anywhere

8:21

? And it doesn't have to be a giant

8:23

software . It could be an Excel sheet , that is

8:25

fine . But what then happens

8:27

to that ? And how

8:29

do you ? And are you reviewing

8:31

that on a regular basis ? And is there

8:34

a way to scale that or simplify

8:36

it for you so that you don't have to

8:38

be managing an Excel spreadsheet ? But

8:40

is there a simple

8:43

CRM system that you and your team

8:45

can look at ? So there's , there's

8:48

many ways to cut this up . It

8:50

doesn't have to be super

8:53

complicated and super expensive

8:55

, but you do need to have

8:57

some sort of system to lean

8:59

on when your leads perhaps

9:02

might be slower than they normally are .

9:05

Agreed , agreed . Yeah , no , I agree with

9:07

you . I think it's just again that tightening

9:09

, that tweaking there's

9:11

a lot of things that can be done and then operationalizing it . A lot of things

9:13

that can be done and then operationalizing

9:16

it like this level of automation when

9:18

we say tweaking too , is now's

9:21

a great time to really look at . If you

9:23

did it this way , what is

9:25

the operational process you're

9:28

putting in place , very simply , to

9:30

take it to the next level

9:32

? Right

9:37

, You're not inventing everything new again , but what's the next , the next

9:39

best thing you can do to generate leads . So that's , I think , our first

9:41

kind of key takeaway with a lot of

9:44

our owner operators now who on

9:46

their to-do list might've been all

9:48

of you know I really need to look at my website again

9:50

, or , yes , I , I'm , I'm

9:52

getting these leads , but I have this . You

9:54

know , they're kind of all sitting over here . What

10:06

do I do next ? You know now is a good time to focus some of that effort

10:08

and make sure that that system is in place so that , as things start to pick

10:10

up again because they will

10:12

, as we know , this time is always

10:14

cyclical , so you know , business

10:16

will start coming in again . You've used

10:18

the time nicely to just

10:21

tweak and update a few key things

10:23

that may have been in your life .

10:24

You talked about simple , you picked about . You

10:26

talked about system .

10:27

Yep .

10:28

I think there's one more S , which

10:30

is support .

10:32

Yes .

10:32

So again , when times are lean , sometimes

10:35

no one wants to put a whole

10:37

bunch of extra expenses in their

10:39

budget . But what is your support

10:42

? So , is that hiring an agency

10:44

to help you ? I don't know , we

10:46

could be one . Is the CRM up

10:49

and going ? But , oh my gosh , no one has ever gathered

10:57

all the email addresses . Well

10:59

, maybe that's a summer student job . That's okay

11:02

. Like that , there's what . So what's

11:04

the support that you have in place ? Are

11:06

you going to add it to the owner's

11:09

list ? Are you going to put it on someone else's

11:12

list in the company ? What's the support

11:14

you need to get this done

11:16

? But it should be a simple system support

11:19

we like things in three .

11:21

S I like things in three

11:23

, that's

11:25

a good one . Okay , so

11:27

that's our first um . I think we can wrap

11:30

this one up as for our owner operators

11:32

, hope you enjoyed this . Take

11:34

a listen and reach out

11:36

.

11:38

Yeah , because we can talk about this

11:40

, and we can also talk about anything brand

11:43

content , digital , any

11:45

components in your marketing ecosystem and

11:47

we'd love to have a chat , and if it's just

11:49

a chat , that's fine , but

11:51

if you want to work together , that's

11:53

even better . We're always open for that , that's for sure . It's a right

11:55

choice to take . The that's even better . We're always up for that , that's for sure . It's

11:58

a right choice to take the left turn . Tanya .

12:00

Always , always . Okay , emery

12:02

, until the next one

12:04

. When we talk about what

12:07

, maybe we should just give a nod to it .

12:08

Actually , marketing directors large

12:11

corporate potentially so

12:14

if you came down here but you

12:16

actually work for a corporate company

12:18

.

12:19

go to the next podcast we're

12:22

about to talk about it . Okay , all

12:24

right . Talk soon , amory , for

12:29

more on what we chatted about today . Check out

12:31

the show notes and don't forget to follow for notifications

12:33

on future turning left episodes . You

12:36

can also connect with us on LinkedIn , facebook

12:38

or Instagram at Left Turn Strategy

12:40

.