Rob Snyder | Why Do People Actually Buy Things? | Serial Founder & MIT / Harvard Lecturer, Rob Snyder Shares What You Need to Know About Customer Demand to Build a Successful Startup (and Why Most Founders Get It Wrong)

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• 0:02Speaker 00

  Some shows don't need a celebrity narrator to introduce the show. But this show does. In a world filled with endless opportunities, why would two men who have built 13 multimillion dollar businesses altruistically invest five hours per day to teach you the best practice business systems and moves that you can use? Because they believe in you and they have a lot of time on their hands. They started from the bottom, now they're here. It's The Thrive Time Show starring the former U.S. Small Business Administration's Entrepreneur of the Year, Clay Clark, and the entrepreneur trapped inside an optometrist's body, Dr.

• 0:46Speaker 00

  Robert Zuckner. Two men, eight kids, co-created by two different women, 13 multimillion dollar businesses.

• 0:56Speaker 01

  We started from the bottom, now we're here. We started from the bottom and we'll show you how to get here. Started from the bottom, now we're here. We started from the bottom, now we're here.

• 1:07Speaker 02

  We started from the bottom, now we're at the top. Teaching you the systems. Two kids, what we got? Colton Dixon's on the hooks. I break down the books. Steve's bringing some wisdom and the good looks. As a father of five, that's why I'm alive. So if you see my wife and kids, please tell them hi. It's the C and Z up on your radio. And now, three, two, one, here we go!

• 1:28Speaker 01

  We started from the bottom, now we're here. We started from the bottom and we'll show you how to get here. Started from the bottom, now we're here. We started from the bottom, now we're here. We started from the bottom, now we're here.

• 1:40Speaker 03

  Well, folks, when it comes to sales, many times we find ourselves saying, "I don't know if I can do it." And today's guest is going to tell you that you can do it! Now, he's not Rob Schneider. His name is Rob Snyder. Some people might think when they hear the name Rob Snyder, they go, "You can do it! You can do it!" It's not Rob Snyder, folks. We're talking about Rob Snyder. Today's guest is Rob Snyder, not Rob Schneider. But anyway, he has a very positive message he's going to walk you through. Why do people buy? Why do people buy things? And how can you sell great products, great services, great solutions to your ideal and likely buyers? With that being said, Rob Snyder, welcome onto The Thrive Time Show. How are you, sir?

• 2:18Speaker 04

  I'm doing great, and I have a way worse personality than Rob Snyder. I am way less likely to be featured in an Adam Sandler movie.

• 2:25Speaker 03

  Well, let's do this real quick. Let's talk about your background and I'll put some on the show notes. I'll put your background as well, but tell the listeners kind of where did you go to college? Well, I guess let's start off in high school and kind of give us a how you went from high school to what you're doing today.

• 2:40Speaker 04

  Yeah. So high school, I went to the biggest public school in North Carolina and then wound up in Pittsburgh for college at University of Pittsburgh, simply because they gave me a free ride. And I was like, all right, that that solves that problem. Then wound up kind of I graduated Pitt in three years. I was accepted into Harvard Business School has this two plus two program where you can get accepted out of college. And they say, cool, you're accepted to business school. You can come get your MBA. It takes two years to get an actual job and work a work a real job. And so I said, okay, cool. I have this awesome MBA degree that's coming.

• 3:22Speaker 04

  What do people do before an MBA? And I Googled that and it said consulting. So I went into consulting because that's what the internet told me to do. And so I did consulting for two years, went to HBS Harvard Business School, got my degree and came out saying, I think I want to be an entrepreneur. And that's where I got into entrepreneurship.

• 3:39Speaker 03

  Now, how did you go about getting, let's say, your first client? You know, I mean, I'm not asking you to share the details of who they are and what they paid. But you know, how did you go in, you know, actually get paid for the first time as a consultant?

• 3:53Speaker 04

  Oh gosh. So I actually was a McKinsey consultant. So I did not, I was, I was fetching coffee and making spreadsheets at that point in time. The first time I actually had to get somebody to pay me was when I was a startup founder and that was way harder.

• 4:09Speaker 03

  And again, folks, I ask these questions because again, you hear, you know, this, this, the resume you have today and you hear about the success and it might seem unapproachable, but everybody out there, we all have to start somewhere. You went to the largest high school in your state. So it was at a public school, sir? Was it a private school?

• 4:27Speaker 04

  Public school, public school kid here.

• 4:29Speaker 03

  Okay, public school. So despite the public school system, he made it to where he is today. Now tell us about what you're focused on today. What is it that you are, are, what is, what is your mission that you're on here over the next six to 12 months?

• 4:41Speaker 04

  So I work with a bunch of high tech startups, especially when they're early on, to help them figure out what do people want to buy? And sell it so that people rip it out of their hands. So the startups can grow very, very fast. And so I'm focused on the very fast growing startups. But I also just kind of like what I've learned here applies to a bunch of other businesses.

• 5:04Speaker 03

  I'm going to pull up your book on the screen so people can marinate on it, kind of take it in, kind of look at it, kind of there it is. It's a red cover, Feel in the Flow, working in Power of Pull. What you need to know about customer demand to build a successful startup. Let me try that again, folks. The power of pull. What you need to know about customer demand to build a startup success? And why most founders get it wrong. So first off, let's talk about the book. What what inspired you to put this book together?

• 5:31Speaker 04

  Yeah, so I came out of business school and consulting thinking I was pretty smart. And so I raised some money to go build a company. And I thought I was doing everything right. And I just got punched in the face for two years, nonstop. Nobody would buy what I was trying to sell. And I couldn't figure out why. And so we pivoted around aimlessly a bunch and just couldn't figure it out. And I it was, you know, I was following all the playbooks. I was doing all the things I thought I needed to do. And then randomly, we went zero to four million in revenue in two years on a like hail Mary pivot, last minute, last minute hail Mary kind of thing.

• 6:12Speaker 04

  And when we were growing really fast, I realized I didn't understand why it was working. And so, and so I didn't understand why it wasn't working. Then I didn't understand why it was working. And so I was like, okay, clearly I'm missing something here. And I had to go back to the drawing board and figure out, why do startups actually take off? Why do, why do sometimes people rip products out of your hands? Other times they treat you like you're irrelevant.

• 6:37Speaker 03

  Now I've got in my stack of stuff here, I've got my incredible clipboard. I've got my stack of stuff and so I'm going to go through my, my questions here. So question number one is why, in terms of pain points, you know, people always say, well, you know, you gotta sell a solution that solves somebody's problem, or you gotta, you gotta provide the gain that counteracts somebody's pain. Talk about pain points and maybe why business owners often get that wrong when addressing pain points that their company can solve.

• 7:07Speaker 04

  Such a good question. So you could just think about your own life. How many pain points would you say you have in a day?

• 7:16Speaker 04

  One, 10, 100. But life is in a way, a series of pain points, an infinite series of pain points that we mostly don't buy things as a result of. And so what happens is we'll go and talk to people and they say, you know, do you have a pain point? Yeah. Oh, this is a huge pain point. How big of a pain point? Nine or 10 out of 10? Well, cool. We've just learned nothing. What happens is the entrepreneur thinks that, that, oh, when somebody has a big pain point, it means they will buy your product. And that is almost never the case.

• 7:48Speaker 03

  Now, if somebody is, is watching the show right now, doctor, dentist, lawyer, somebody, and they're not selling their product, they're a home builder, they're a doctor, they're a dentist. If you were working as an outside consultant and you were to come in and, and, you know, sit down with them and say, listen, Dr. Dentist, Lawyer, Home Builder, we can help you sell. What are some of the areas that you address right away?

• 8:13Speaker 04

  Oh, of course. So what I typically will start with is tell me about the people who have bought from you weirdly fast.

• 8:23Speaker 04

  And we try to figure out why they bought from you weirdly fast. Why did they come to you really fast? What was different about them from everybody else where, you know, especially if you're a home builder, right? You go talk to a bunch of people and, and kind of it takes them six, 12 months to make a decision. But then there's that one person who buys super fast. So the, where I start with is let's uncover what was going on in that person's world that caused them to buy super, super fast? And what should we do about it?

• 8:53Speaker 03

  And do you believe that what you teach is maybe not universally applicable, but do you believe what you teach in your book that these kinds of concepts can work with almost any business owner?

• 9:04Speaker 04

  100%.

• 9:05Speaker 03

  You do?

• 9:05Speaker 04

  100%.

• 9:06Speaker 03

  Okay, so in your book, again, folks, I'll pull up the copy of the book so people can see it here in just a second. You break down a lot of practical skills that you believe, practical tools that you believe can help people actually sell real products to real humans on the real planet Earth. And you have some controversial takes in your book, one of which is that you talk about why products that offer real value and return on investment don't often get bought. Products that offer real value and return on investment often don't get bought. Please explain that because it sounds so counterintuitive. You would think that products that offer real value and a return on investment would get bought.

• 9:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, it sounds so counterintuitive, but if you think about it, right? Someone could come to me right now and say, I have a printer that I could sell to you for your house that can print things 10x faster than your current printer can. And I'd say, okay, cool, not relevant. There are so many different kinds of value or ROI that you can offer that aren't relevant to me right now. It's all about what am I trying to do? What's on my to do list right now? And if it's relevant to that, then maybe I'd buy it. But most kinds of value or ROI are just totally irrelevant to me right now or irrelevant to your buyer who you think should buy it.

• 10:27Speaker 04

  And so they're not going to buy your product.

• 10:30Speaker 03

  So what do you do if you're somebody watching the show and you're trying to sell value or a return on investment? What do you do? What does your book teach about what our listeners can do to pivot and to start selling more of their products and services?

• 10:43Speaker 04

  Totally. So what it teaches is that the reason somebody buys from you is not because you offer them value, not because you even convince them to buy. It's because they had something like a job to be done. You had Clay Christian sit on like six years ago or something like that. They have a job to be done that they're trying to do right now that their existing tools or methods or options or consultants or services, what are all the options that are available to them, aren't good enough for. And so what you find is if you go and you look at your best customers, the ones who bought fast, the ones who were happiest, and you try to understand their story from that perspective, what was actually on their to-do list? What options did they consider? You realize, oh, wait a second.

• 11:27Speaker 04

  I'm not selling what I thought I was selling, and I'm not selling to who I thought I was selling to. And that realization helps make sales way faster and easier.

• 11:38Speaker 03

  In your book, one of the things you talk about is that buying is extremely rare and weird or odd, and selling isn't convincing people to buy. Again, in your book, you talk about why buying is extremely rare and even weird, and selling isn't convincing people to buy. Break down what you mean by that.

• 11:57Speaker 04

  Well, so if you just do some basic math on how many products are on Amazon right now? I think there's 600 million SKUs on Amazon right now. And so, yeah, even if you buy something every single day for the rest of your life, you're not gonna buy like 99.9% of products or services that you could possibly buy. And so, or even if you walk into a grocery store, right? There's 30,000 items in a grocery store. You walk out with a full cart. You have bought less than 0.1% of what's in the grocery store. So buying is a weird and rare thing. Why do you buy the products you buy? That's just a, it's just like mathematically, it's weird and rare.

• 12:41Speaker 04

  Now, we think people should buy products more, and we think they should buy our products, but that's kind of irrelevant. What matters is that buying is super strange and rare. And so we need to understand it as something that's rare. And when we understand it as something that's rare, we realize it's all about they have something they're trying to do in their lives, and all their other options weren't good enough. That predicts them buying our product or a specific product. If that's not the case, then given the tens of thousands of other products that are out there, they're just not gonna buy them.

• 13:14Speaker 03

  Your book has a lot of counterintuitive moves, strategies, systems that you just wouldn't be picking up by default there. How is your book structured for anybody out there that is thinking about getting the book? I mean, how do you structure it? How big of a book are we talking about? Is this like, you know, the first 900 pages are pretty technical, but after that it really eases up? I mean, how is this thing structured? Are we buying like an Ikea manual here on how to put together our furniture? What kind of, how's this book laid out there, sir?

• 13:46Speaker 04

  So the book hopefully is quite readable. The people who have read it so far say it's quite readable. It's enjoyable. It's a lot of stories and it starts from just basics. Why do people buy things is chapter one. Second, what should you sell given that? It's chapter two. And then it goes from there to how to sell, how to fix when it's not quite working. And so it's practical and I think a little theoretical as well, but not, not too theoretical, but it gives you just enough to understand the why behind all of these different pieces.

• 14:19Speaker 03

  Now, your book is called The Power of Pull. Let me pull it up again here, folks. The Power of Pull. So what are you referencing when you say the power of pull? The power of pull? You often hear about entrepreneurs pushing a product or pushing a service, but your book is called The Power of Pull, which seems the opposite yet again of what you would think if you're trying to push your product out there to the universe. What is, why is it called The Power of Pull?

• 14:41Speaker 04

  Because I spent years pushing a product onto a market that didn't want it. And the opposite of push is when a market pulls a product out of you. In the book, I actually create the pull framework, which is a framework that determines is somebody going to pull the product out of your hands?

• 14:58Speaker 03

  So with your book, do you have like a companion website that goes with the book? Or is that something people can, do you have some resources there online?

• 15:07Speaker 04

  Yeah, my website, you can go rob Snyder dot org and slash resources and you can, I put a bunch of free resources there as well that explain.

• 15:16Speaker 03

  Okay, I'm looking it up here.

• 15:18Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 15:18Speaker 03

  Rob Snyder. Snyder.org. Okay.

• 15:22Speaker 04

  It's S N Y, not S Y N.

• 15:25Speaker 03

  Oh, see, there we go. This is real stuff. This is what was, this is the real stuff. We're just spelling things wrong here. We're spelling things right. Okay, here we go. Rob Snyder.org. And then you have some companion resources here with, with the book?

• 15:38Speaker 04

  Yes, yes. So if you go to resources at the top, there's some lectures I did with the book as well. There's a presentation. There's a bunch of slide decks. There's a three hour walkthrough. There's a workshop I gave at Harvard Innovation Labs as well. And then you can get access to my newsletter, which has a bunch of resources and, and my podcast as well.

• 15:57Speaker 03

  Let's say that I, I don't pick up a copy of this book. Let's say that I listen and I go, ah, ah, I can't afford it. You know why I can't afford it? Because I'm gonna go get a regrettable massive burrito today at Chipotle. You know why I can't afford your book? Because I'm gonna go on iTunes tonight and I'm gonna pay a couple bucks a song to download some songs I'll probably listen to four times. You know why I can't wa, I can't do, because I'm gonna go watch, I'm gonna rent a movie. I've rented the same movie three or four times. I could buy it, but instead I'm just gonna rent it again on Amazon and watch it as I fall asleep. People have so many options of things they could buy. And as you mentioned, buying something is very rare, even weird. What is somebody missing out on if they don't pick up a copy of your book? The power of pull?

• 16:40Speaker 04

  So I'm not gonna do any convincing that you should buy my, my product. I think reality will do the convincing. But here's real, when reality is trying to convince you, it's, if it feels like people should be valuing your product, if you feel like you should have people ripping it out of your hands, it's not clear why it offers so much value. It seems like they should totally want it. And it's not clear why or what to do about it. It's gonna, it's gonna help you understand why that's happening and what to do about it.

• 17:10Speaker 03

  All right, I'm getting back into my stack of stuff here. Silicon Valley's most successful operators don't follow traditional startup playbooks. This just in. Your observations have concluded that Silicon Valley's most successful operators don't follow a traditional startup playbook. What do you mean by that, sir?

• 17:29Speaker 04

  There are playbooks out there where you're supposed to do a bunch of research in advance and analyze the market, interview a bunch of customers. And that, you know, everyone kind of starts down that path. But it seems like when startups actually take off, it's after they try to start selling something and they realize that what they're trying to sell isn't what the market wants to buy. And so that's when the real learning process seems to start. And a lot of startups that I have seen take off and grow really fast. We're talking 0 to 25 million in two years kind of stuff. They just start selling and they start selling even before they have a product that they are selling. They start selling with just a slide deck of maybe what the product could possibly do.

• 18:11Speaker 03

  I cannot celebrate what you just said more. I've lived it personally. I've seen my clients that have a bias towards attempting to actually sell something. Those are the ones that have success, the ones that are reluctant to try to sell something until it's perfect. They never seem to get off of the proverbial runway. Talk a little bit more about that because I think there's a bias that entrepreneurs have to not want to go to market until it's perfect. And then what happens is they never do make it off the runway.

• 18:39Speaker 04

  So common, I've been there, I've done that as well. This is just the wrong idea about sales and what sales is. We often think that I need to have the perfect product so that I can convince somebody that they should want it, that they should buy it. And that's just not how the world works. What you actually want is to find somebody who is so stuck, who has so much pull that they are willing to sign up for your product before your product exists or when you can just deliver it manually, right? And in my case, I delivered for our first million dollars or basically first million dollars myself in a spreadsheet before we actually had software. And so you're looking for somebody who has such an important need, something they must do,

• 19:24Speaker 04

  don't have good options to do, that they're going to rip it out of your hands even just with a slide deck.

• 19:30Speaker 03

  Now, Rob, you're gonna do a lot of interviews to share the good news about your book here. And I'm sure you've been on some podcasts where you think to yourself, what was wrong with that host? He didn't even ask me this. Come on, man. Could you, is there, is there a message right now that's in your brain, in your heart, that you really want to convey to our listening audience today? Because again, I don't want anybody who's struggling to sell something to wrap up this show and not learn how to sell more. Do you have anything on your heart you want to share specifically about, about your book that maybe I haven't asked about so far?

• 20:04Speaker 04

  Really good question. The, the thing I want to kind of leave with, with the audience here is if you're trying to sell and it's not working, it's often because you're not hearing what the customer's trying to tell you. And with the pull framework and in this book, what I'll do, what I do is actually one of the chapters is tearing down what a customer says at the very beginning of a sales conversation. So that you can actually understand, they're trying to communicate to you what they want to buy. We just often hear the wrong pieces of that. And so if you feel stuck, if it feels like they should get it, they're not, and it's just not working and sales feels uncomfortable, it's often a kind of thing of, I'm not listening

• 20:49Speaker 04

  for the right things in the conversation. And so we're talking past each other and it just feels uncomfortable at the end of it.

• 20:57Speaker 03

  You know, the head of Harvard's entrepreneurship program, who couldn't be on today's show because he has standards and class that surpasses, I tricked, by the way, folks, Rob to be on today's show, but the Harvard's head of entrepreneurship, I couldn't successfully trick him to be on the show. But he once said, I'll try to read it how I think a guy from Harvard would, would talk. He describes your book, your work as "a bracing essential corrective to startup mythology." I think that's how people at Harvard talk. Let me read that again here. This is what he says. He says, "This is the Harvard's head of entrepreneurship." He says, "A bracing essential corrective to startup mythology." That's pretty high praise coming from Harvard. And this just in, Harvard is not free to go to.

• 21:39Speaker 03

  Some of the world's who's who in the entrepreneurial zoo all aspire to go to Harvard. Why are you getting such high praise? Or why is your message connecting so much with the head of Harvard's entrepreneurship program?

• 21:51Speaker 04

  Well, I'd say a bracing corrective is that that is a this is a pretty good book, but but you're you're challenging the a couple of things here. You're challenging a couple of things in how how we teach things. So it's I'd say I think I've had mixed reviews from the Ivy League as it relates to my content. Because on one hand, I'm saying all their like what they teach is generally counterproductive. Because it's like way too complicated and it misses that it's so complicated that you forget that you got to sell something, you got to you got to figure out how to deliver something.

• 22:31Speaker 04

  And so I think that's a that's a little thing that that they don't necessarily love. But on the other hand, they've seen a bunch of their startups implement this and it just works way better and it works really well for the early stages when it's super complicated, super feels super difficult, it just simplifies all of that. And so I think I hope I am sufficiently challenging the Ivy League with something that is both really practical and useful and also something they can't really argue with.

• 23:04Speaker 03

  All right, rapid fire, two final questions for you. Do you have some examples in the book? I mean, is your book filled with a lot of examples and case studies? Or what kind of meat do you put on the bone after you teach the principles?

• 23:15Speaker 04

  Tons, tons. There are there are tons of stories of startups and even small businesses. I have a hair salon in there as well. And so tons of case studies.

• 23:27Speaker 03

  Final question for you. Why are you so passionate about this subject, helping entrepreneurs to sell more? Why is it, why are you so fired up about it?

• 23:35Speaker 04

  The two worst years of my life were when I was trying to sell something that the market didn't care about and I couldn't figure out why, despite having all the fancy credentials. And so it just beat the ego, it beat like all it beat the happiness out of me and I don't want anybody else to be in that situation. And so, right, like we should all, if we set out to build a company, it should be way easier to build something that people actually want.

• 24:05Speaker 05

  You can do it. You can do it.

• 24:07Speaker 03

  Folks, he's a beautiful man. He could have been a male model, but he chose not to be one. He could have been a stunt double for Rob Schneider, but he chose not to be. He's an author. He lectures at Harvard, at MIT. He's teaching you how to sell more. I'll pull up the book one more time so everyone can see that. I encourage everyone, check it out. I mean, I really do. I'm a big reader. I love reading. I find that if you read practical books, it can really unlock where you're stuck. If you're stuck sometimes, you're stuck in a room. You can't get out of it, figuratively speaking. And that book sometimes is like the golden key that can get you unlocked. I encourage you to check out the book, The Power of Pull, What You Need to Know About Customer Demand to Build a Successful Startup, and Why Most Founders Get It Wrong. The man, the myth, the legend, Rob Snyder.

• 24:49Speaker 03

  I appreciate you for being on the show today, and we look forward to having you on this show, hopefully in the future.

• 24:54Speaker 04

  Thanks, Clay.

• 24:55Speaker 05

  You can do it. You can do it. You can do it.

• 24:58Speaker 06

  Clay Clark, man, he is one character.

• 25:04Speaker 07

  It's a good word for him, character. Yeah, that is it.

• 25:09Speaker 06

  Driven, smart, and I've never met a guy who was so hyper all the time. He's doing so much good. And then I met his mother, and she just says, she just lets him be, Clay Clark. I mean, so he's endorsed by his mother, and he's doing magnificent work. So it was great meeting you out there and all the people that he surrounds himself with. Clay Clark starts his days at 5 o'clock in the morning.

• 25:37Speaker 07

  Oh, it's incredible. Yeah, he's like, he's a machine. He's a machine.

• 25:43Speaker 06

  But his, you know, I have problems with my company starting at 9 o'clock.

• 25:49Speaker 06

  He has hundreds of people showing up at 5 a.m. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Man, he's a leader of a leader. He's fantastic, man.

• 25:58Speaker 07

  No, he is. He is. He also has this wealth of knowledge. He's worked with so many different companies and different businesses. He could take a concept that he's used before in the past with somebody in a totally different industry, and see how it would work perfectly for you in whatever niche market you're in, or whatever type of service you're providing. And so his brain is just a wealth of knowledge. And just to have that type of perspective on, you know, As a part of your team, your own company is huge, it's super valuable. So I would definitely encourage people to use him. But one thing is you've got to be coachable. You've got to be wanting to get feedback. You've got to be wanting to really grow your company. You've got to want to put that extra 10 hours a week to working on your business and not just in your business.

• 26:41Speaker 07

  And so, yes, I would recommend it to anybody who's wanting to grow their company and provide great systems, checklists, workflows, great encouragement, and have accountability. Hi, I'm Aaron Anthes with Shaw Homes. I first heard about Clay through a mortgage lender here in town who had told me what a great job he had been doing for them. And I actually noticed he was driving a Lamborghini all of a sudden, so I was willing to listen. In my career, I've sold a little over $800 million in real estate. So honestly, I thought I kind of knew everything about marketing and homes.

• 27:22Speaker 07

  And then I met Clay and my perception of what I knew and what I could do definitely changed. After doing 800 million in sales over a 15-year career, I really thought I knew what I was doing. I've been managing a large team of salespeople for the last 10 years here with Shaw Homes. And, I mean, we've been a company that's been in business for 35 years. We've become one of the largest builders in the Tulsa area, and that was without Clay. So when I came to know Clay, I really thought, man, there's not much more I need to know, but I'm willing to listen.

• 28:02Speaker 07

  The interesting thing is, our internet leads from our website has actually, in a four-month period of time, has gone from somewhere around 10 to 15 leads in a month to 180 internet leads in a month. Just from the few things that he's shown us how to implement that I honestly probably never would have come up with on my own. So I've got a lot of good things to say about the system that Clay put in place with us. And it's just been an incredible experience. I am very glad that we met and had the opportunity to work with Clay.

• 28:40Speaker 07

  So the interaction with the team and with Clay on a weekly basis is honestly very enlightening. One of the things that I love about Clay's perspective on things is that he doesn't come from my industry. He's not somebody who's in the home building industry. I've listened to all the experts in my field. Our company has paid for me to go to seminars, international builder's shows, all kinds of places where I've had the opportunity to learn from the experts in my industry. But the thing that I've found working with Clay is that he comes from such a broad spectrum of working with so many different types of businesses that he has a perspective that's

• 29:23Speaker 07

  difficult for me to gain because I get so entrenched in what I do, I'm not paying attention to what other leading industry experts are doing. And Clay really brings that perspective for me. It is very valuable time every week when I get that hour with him. From my perspective, the reason that any business owner who's thinking about hooking up with Thrive needs to definitely consider it is because the results that we've gotten in a very short period of time are honestly monumental. It has really exceeded my wildest expectation of what he might be able to do. I came in skeptical because I'm very pragmatic

• 30:07Speaker 07

  and as I've gone through the process over just a few months, I've realized it's probably one of the best moves we've ever made. I think a lot of people probably feel like they don't need a business or marketing consultant because they maybe are a little bit prideful and like to think they know everything. I know that's how I felt coming in. I mean, we're a big company that's definitely one of the largest in town and so we kind of felt like we knew what we were doing. And I think for a lot of people, they let their ego get in the way of listening to somebody that might have a Better or different perspective than theirs. I would just really encourage you if you're thinking about working with Clay.

• 30:50Speaker 07

  I mean, the thing is, it's month to month. Go give it a try and see what happens. I think in the 35-year history of Shaw Homes, this is probably the best thing that's happened to us. And I know if you give them a shot, I think you'll feel the same way. I know for me, the thing I would have missed out on if I didn't work with Clay is, I would have missed out on literally an 1,800% increase in our internet leads. Going from 10 a month to 180 a month. That would have been a huge financial decision to just decide not to give it a shot. I would absolutely recommend Clay Clark to anybody who's thinking about working

• 31:35Speaker 07

  with somebody in marketing. I would skip over anybody else you were thinking about, and I would go straight to Clay and his team. I guarantee you're not going to regret it because we sure haven't.

• 31:50Speaker 07

  My name is Danielle Sprick, and I am the founder of D. Sprick Realty Group here in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• 31:59Speaker 07

  After being a stay-at-home mom for 12 years, and my three kids started school and they were in school full-time, I was at a crossroads and trying to decide, what do I want to do? My degree and my background is in education, but after being a mom and staying home and all of that, I just didn't have a passion for it like I once did.

• 32:21Speaker 07

  My husband suggested real estate. He's a home builder, so real estate and home building go hand in hand, and we just rolled with it. I love people, I love working with people, I love building relationships. But one thing that was really difficult for me was the business side of things. The processes and the advertising and marketing. I knew that I...

• 32:47Speaker 05

  Did not have what I needed to make that what it should be. So I reached out to Clay at that time. And he and his team have been extremely instrumental in helping us build our brand, help market our business, our agents, the homes that we represent. Everything that we do is a direct line from Clay and his team and all that they've done for us.

• 33:15Speaker 05

  We launched our brokerage, our real estate brokerage, eight months ago. And in that time, we've gone from myself and one other agent to, just this week, we signed on our 16th agent. And we have been blessed with the fact that we, right now, have just over 10 million in pending transactions.

• 33:36Speaker 05

  Three years ago, I never would have even imagined that I would be in this role that I'm in today, building a business, having 16 agents. But I have to give credit where credit's due. And Clay and his team and the business coaching that they've offered us has been huge. It's been instrumental in what we're doing. Don't ever limit your vision. When you dream big, big things happen.

• 34:05Speaker 06

  I started a business because I couldn't work for anyone else. I do things my way. I do what I think is in the best interest of the patient. I don't answer to insurance companies. I don't answer to large corporate organizations. I answer to my patient and that's it.

• 34:20Speaker 06

  My thought when I opened my clinic was, I can do this all myself. I don't need additional outside help in many ways. I mean, I went to medical school, I can figure this out. But it was a very, very steep learning curve. Within the first six months of opening my clinic, I had a $63,000 embezzlement. I lost multiple employees. Clay helped us weather the storm of some of the things that are just a lot of people experience, especially in the medical world. He was instrumental in helping with the specific written business plan. He's been instrumental in hiring good quality employees, using the processes that he outlines for getting in good talent, which is extremely difficult. He helped me in securing the business loans.

• 35:04Speaker 06

  He helped me with web development and search engine optimization. We've been able to really keep a steady stream of clients coming in because they found us on the web. With everything that I encountered, everything that I experienced, I quickly learned it is worth every penny to have someone in your team that can walk you through and even avoid some of the pitfalls that are almost invariable in starting your own business. I'm Dr. Chad Edwards and I own Revolution Health and Wellness Clinic. Clay, my honor, my honor to be on your show and thank you for all you do. I hear the ripple effects from you are good ripple effects. You know what I mean?

• 35:48Speaker 06

  People rave about what they learn from you, so congratulations.

• 35:51Speaker 03

  And we went from expecting maybe 250,000 this year to we're at 400,000. Hi, I'm Kelsey with K and D's Wood Refinishing. I'm a business owner at 23. So I've been working this K and D's company for about five years now and we started working with Thrive not too long ago. And we went from expecting maybe 250,000 this year to we're at 400,000. That's what we're going to hit or exceed. So we're pretty excited about that. It's been pretty much just listening to what they have to say. Their hiring process has just really been incredible as far as finding good quality

• 36:30Speaker 03

  help and the, just the accountability of meeting up with them weekly and like such good insight, the resources that they have for specific business questions. It's all been really incredible. It's been a great experience, so I would recommend it to anybody.

• 36:47Speaker 01

  What I've seen from Clay and his group at Thrive is they'll give you a simple system and it's the simple systems are the ones that people can wrap their brain around. They're the ones that people can work with on a day-to-day basis.

• 37:00Speaker 05

  Hi there, my name is Stephanie Pipkin. I am 24 years old and I own Black River Falls Cleaning Services. We opened in

• 37:09Speaker 07

  April of two thousand and nineteen and it is now mid-June of two thousand and twenty. So I wanted to talk today about the success and growth I have achieved by implementing the Proven Path with Clay Clark's team and my business coach Luke from ThriveTime. It has been insane, to say the least. I started working with them in mid-February of this year. So we're about four months in of working together and it has completely transformed my business in pretty much every facet.

• 37:45Speaker 07

  So I'm gonna check my notes here. So in four months, my leads have tripled. I was getting probably like two leads a week. Now I'm getting more in the like ten to fifteen leads a week. I have doubled my number of employees. I'm now hitting the highest revenue weeks in the history of the company, week to week it seems like. We went from about six appointments today as our highest in February to now fourteen to fifteen appointments a day. And hiring quality employees has become much simpler and less stressful by using their systems for hiring. I typically only get maybe two complaints a month if that and everybody shows up to work.

• 38:30Speaker 07

  I just have really high-quality employees now, especially in something people typically consider a high-turnover type of work. You know, cleaning houses, cleaning businesses. I have amazing employees now and I get rid of the ones who are not so amazing and bring on new ones because of, you know, group interviews and hiring, interviewing every single week. It's just been great and such a, I don't waste as much time on low-quality candidates anymore. And your coach will hold you accountable, I mean, which I love. Again, the tough love is really great, you know. Luke's like a stern father figure, but he's also nice, but also stern when he needs to be. When I'm being lazy and not doing the things that I know I need to do because I don't want to do them.

• 39:11Speaker 07

  So that's just great. Worth every penny. I mean, I'd pay him a million dollars a month if I can and maybe. Someday I'll be able to, but I would just say go for it. If it seems like a good fit, just go for it. Do what they say, even if you think it's stupid or ridiculous, just do what they say because it'll work. You know, people, when they look at my business, you know, people in my town, they think I'm lucky. They think I'm just, you know, things just happen for me. And you know, maybe I am lucky, but it has a lot to do with hard work and, you know, perseverance and, you know, working till you cry sometimes. Uh, that's just being an entrepreneur, which if you're a business owner, you understand that.

• 39:50Speaker 07

  But it's having this, these systems in place of, you know, of course I'm going to be successful. It's, it's an absolute. Because I, I have all this stuff in the background happening and I have Luke and Clay and everybody on their team working really hard to make sure that I'm a success. And I can tell that they are just so excited. Every single week when I'm having all these wins and things like that, they're so excited for me. Um, so it just, it's the best thing ever. And I would suggest to anybody to work with them. So, uh, sorry for the long-winded reply, but I just had so much to say, um, and I could go on for hours probably about how amazing they are. Um, but thank you to Clay and Luke and the entire team there, everything you guys have done for me. And I am so excited to continue to work with you.

• 40:35Speaker 07

  Uh, for years to come. Thanks so much for watching.

• 40:39Speaker 06

  My saying is if it's important to you, hire a coach. And I think that's one of the reasons people are not successful is they, you know, they, they eat a cheeseburger instead of hiring a coach, you know what I mean? And so, uh, my coach pushes me, they're younger than me, they push harder, they're, they're trained. And, um, as my rich dad always said, you know, amateurs don't have a coach, but professionals always have coaches. So I've always had coaches for whatever was important. You know, my, my rich dad was one of those persons. I wanted to learn how to play Monopoly in real life. So he was my coach.

• 41:20Speaker 03

  I always wished that I had this. And because there wasn't anything like this, I would go to these motivational seminars, no money down, real estate, Ponzi scheme, get motivated seminars. And they would never teach me anything. It was like you went there and you paid for the big chocolate Easter bunny, but inside of it, it was a hollow nothingness. And I wanted the knowledge. And they're like, "Oh, but we'll teach you the knowledge after our next workshop." And the great thing is we have nothing to upsell. At every workshop, we teach you what you need to know. There's no one in the back of the room trying to sell you some next big, get rich quick, walk on hot coals product. It's literally, we teach you the brass tacks, the specific stuff that you need to know to learn how to start and grow a business.

• 42:04Speaker 03

  And I encourage you to not believe what I'm saying. And I want you to Google the Z66 Auto Auction. I want you to Google Elephant in the Room. Look at Robert Zellner and Associates. Look them up and say, "Are they successful because they're geniuses? Or are they successful because they have a proven system?" When you do that research, you will discover that the same systems that we use in our own business can be used in your business. Come to Tulsa, book a ticket, and I guarantee you it's going to be the best business workshop ever. And we'll even give you your money back if you don't love it. We've built this facility for you and we're excited to see you.