761 Action-Packed Marketing Tips with Cat Orsini

[Uncle Marv]
Hello friends, Uncle Marv here with another episode of the IT Business Podcast, presented by our good friends, NetAlly. This is the show where we talk to IT business owners, vendors, and nice influential people, all in an effort to help us run our business better, smarter, and faster. And today, I have a friend on the show, and I'm calling her that whether she knows it or not.

Somebody who I have known for a couple of years now, her name is Kat Orsini. She is probably going to be new to most of you, and she runs something called the Action Incubator. We're going to chat all about that, and we're going to address marketing.

You heard that correct, folks. No marketing, Marv is going to talk marketing with Kat Orsini. So Kat, welcome to the show.

How are you?

[Cat Orsini]
I'm fantastic. I'm excited to jump in here.

[Uncle Marv]
I bet you are. So we're going to have to get you on a live show at some point so people can see your red hair and red background. So we'll work on that down the road.

Awesome. All right, so let's tell people how we met and full disclosure. So to be honest, I don't know who introduced us, but you run a monthly mixer online that I was told to join because I meet some cool people.

[Cat Orsini]
And that's the beauty of the strategy right there, right? I mean, that's the essence of part of what I teach is having something worth sharing that other people advocate for and can't wait to share because not only is it valuable, but it makes them look good as a person who connected you to that resource. But yeah, so I run this monthly networking, you know, visibility connection opportunity.

And I really focus not on what people do. It's not about pitching. It's not about the bro marketing, right?

It is about getting to know the individuals in the room because the philosophy I have is the better you get to know someone, the more likely you are to support them. And we're not talking about buying, right? That will happen, but it's really about the human connection.

And it's something that I think a lot of people are still craving and it was just amplified that much more by the pandemic.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So let me ask, what was it that led you to start something like that? Was this a, you know, thing that happened during the year of our COVID or was it before?

[Cat Orsini]
So, you know, I think it was in 20. Yeah, it was it wasn't because of COVID. It didn't happen if there was an overlap, it was unintentional.

But actually, I think it happened before COVID and what the ADHD short story of this is that I had learned and grown up through investing with bro marketers because they're the ones that are more prominent in the online space. And it's very glorified, right? Close on the first sale.

Make sure you swipe that credit card, you know, all this kind of super manipulative approach to marketing. Which I am absolutely against, but I didn't know of a different way. So I had actually started training and teaching people how to do that with their own business development efforts.

And I was attracting people that I didn't want to work with. And even though they could pay, it didn't feel good. And I just was like, no, you know, this is these aren't the kind of people I want to work with.

Well, universe, God, source, broccoli, whatever you want to call it was like, oh, I'm going to listen to that one. And so for six months, I could not sell anything. And I was still marketing.

I was still doing the thing that I was doing before and just knows, knows, knows, knows, knows things that were working, weren't working. And I was just like, what is going on? And I could just pinpoint it to that one moment where I was like, well, I don't really want to work with these people anymore.

And so I had to take the whiteboard off the wall and put a new one up and redesign how I did marketing because it didn't feel good. So I started thinking about what were my natural strengths? What did I really enjoy doing?

And I started thinking about who my ideal client was. And in a very short period of time, I created a matrix. Certain strengths that we have as human beings lend themselves to effective marketing approaches.

And our ideal clients are always looking for something very specific that they already want. So when we put those two things together, you take 23 different marketing strategy and you find the two or three strategies that will work for you and your ideal client. So no more investing tens of thousands of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to figure out what's going to work.

It's right there in front of you in 30 seconds. When we connect those strategies together, then we create an ecosystem. The ecosystem is what allows someone to actually buy from a place of empowerment.

And what I mean is, is maybe that person just bought from two people. It's not that you're not valuable. It's not that they don't have common sense.

It's the timing isn't right. So it really takes this approach of giving people the benefit of the doubt, not having to overcome objection, not having to hustle and grind and be forceful or anything like that. But it really allows for a real relationship to build so that when that person is ready, you've continued to stay relevant and valuable and top of mind.

And they're going to look to you instead of doing what most people do, which is have a conversation, which then prepared them to buy from someone else.

[Uncle Marv]
So a lot of this sounds like part of the way that I grew my business. So I was never about the marketing per se, only because I actually had a couple of customers come with me when I left my store to start my IT business. So I had a little bit of a head start, but I didn't believe in, you know, going out back in the day, you know, posting flyers, you know, in client offices.

[Cat Orsini]
Back in the day, I was, you know, but that was the thing.

[Uncle Marv]
It was because you've got had to get on the phone and cold call. I had to go, you know, but we had just started with email. So that wasn't a big huge thing back then.

Yeah, but what I did was I networked that was something that was good at. It was being out and about meeting people and being around so that they remembered you when the time is right. So that sounds a lot like what you do, because from what I get from your program is this whole idea of organic marketing, but then you add on the lead generation after that.

So I stick on the organic marketing, but is that kind of the concept you focus on?

[Cat Orsini]
It's the leverage, right? So I can't speak on all the stages. I can't go to all the podcasts, right?

Even if I just focused on one, it's still impossible. So now you start adding speaking. You start adding podcasting.

You start adding in-person networking. I have no desire to go to every single networking opportunity in my area, and I live in the D.C. area, and there are plenty of those. I want to be selective where I spend my time, but I also want to get in front of as many people as possible.

So I look at how can we kind of leverage pieces of what an individual enjoys doing and look at it from the sense of how do we leverage our time most effectively? Time is the one resource we're all running out of, and we don't know how much of it we have, right? So we want to make sure that where we're putting our intention is disciplined and purposeful and actually producing our results.

And the problem is, is most of us have ADHD. If not, we still have the symptoms because we get distracted easily. We love to procrastinate, and we love chasing a good dopamine hit, right?

So we want to look at how we can be more efficient with our time. And so the online piece was something to help amplify the in-person. I don't go for there is only one way to do this, but there is a certain way that each individual will achieve success based off of their unique recipe and their personality.

[Uncle Marv]
Very interesting. Now, let me ask where all of this falls into because you have a couple of different names. You have the Action Incubator.

You have the Lead Boss System. You have Firework Experiences.

[Cat Orsini]
And now the Spark CRM, which is an entire new business.

[Uncle Marv]
Oh, we'll get into that. So I was going to ask if this was a tripod type thing, but now we're talking about a four-legged stool, I guess.

[Cat Orsini]
A chair or something, right? Yeah, they're all interwoven like a tapestry. So each individual thread is valuable, but when you weave them together, that's what creates the design.

And you can have someone who has five threads or two threads or 15 or whatever it is, and each one is going to produce a different result in terms of what the image is. And so that's kind of what I look at is I look at the base components of what someone has and really identify what is it that they're trying to weave. And I can help support them with that structure of producing that idea and getting it out into the marketplace.

And so these things are interrelated because they're the foundations. And I've worked with everyone from starting a new business to multiple eight-figure businesses, and every single one of them has foundational pieces that are missing. And a lot of times what I see is someone might start off really strong, and then they start leaning too heavily in the automation, too heavily into AI or ads or something like that in pursuit of freedom.

But what they've done is unintentionally reduced their revenue streams and become very dependent on a single one. And if something goes off, the whole business goes down. And we see that every time there's any kind of change in the environment, whether it be political, whether it be economic, whether it be warfare or something along those lines.

There's always something that's going to happen.

[Uncle Marv]
A change in the algorithm?

[Cat Orsini]
Right. Don't even get me started there. I am not smart enough to beat the algorithm.

I just accept that. And it's one of the reasons why it's looking at how do we diversify our lead generation streams, which allow us to diversify our revenue generation streams.

[Uncle Marv]
So you mentioned these 27 streams. But in terms of what you talk about as being the foundation, if we were to just simply lay the groundwork and say, okay, what are the starting points? I mean, is that something you can identify or do you have to talk to each individual person to figure it out?

[Cat Orsini]
It takes 30 seconds to figure out. So really, who are you trying to work with? I mean, yeah, we're going back to basic foundations.

There are people that still – and it doesn't have to necessarily be a niche. I solve a problem. And that's actually one of the foundational components is that it's more important to really understand what problem you actually solve.

So people are out there talking about, I help you get clarity. I help you feel confident. I da-da-da-da-da.

But they don't actually tie it to tangible results. We have to understand that there's a lot of psychology when it comes to making a decision in your business. It is emotional and it is also logic-driven.

If we don't address both of those components as part of your marketing, then you're leaving easy money on the table because you're just focusing on probably what you're more comfortable with. And it's the same thing that I say about selling, which is we tend to sell the way we buy, but we don't acknowledge the other four buyer modalities. And so if we don't allow other people to buy the way they like to buy, then we're alienating a huge segment of the population.

And so really, it's coming back to basics and looking at who is it that you're really wanting to work with because you get to choose that. You don't have to work with people you don't like, right? You want to be sparked, right?

A lot of my branding is all around being sparked and activating and fireworks because this should be enjoyable and you can play and have fun and do the work you love and put the systems and processes in place that allow you to focus on that. And systems and processes, I hear it audible eye roll, but they're sexy as hell when they're bringing multiple six figures in every single month. So looking at who is it that you're really wanting to support?

What is it that you're really offering? What's that problem that you're solving? What are the tangible benefits from working with you?

Bring it down to health, your relationships, hashtag communication, or money. It's the one, not all three, not two, one thing that they get from working with you. And then looking at how are you organizing yourself?

And it comes down to really the follow up. Are you doing it? Are you treating your network like a one night stand?

Are you engaging people? Or are you constantly trying to add cold water, that's cold contacts, into tepid water? It's this ideology of turning cold connections into clients.

And that's hard. Why would we make it harder on ourselves? It's way easier to activate our network.

And it's why I focus on turning your network into your net worth because so many of us have put so much time and intention to build it. And then we just turn our backs to it. And that's where, it's like the dragon sitting on the huge pile of gold.

And they're like, where's the money? I'm like, you're sitting on it. So really tapping into that opportunity.

But doing it from a sense of not taking all the time. There's a lot of bothering and interrupting and annoying in the online space. You send an email, you are bothering someone.

You are interrupting them. Are you making it worth their time? Or are you annoying them further because you annoyed them and bothered them with something that wasn't worth it?

[Uncle Marv]
Alright, so I've got two thoughts that have just been sticking in my head. I'm going to go with the last one first. Because you talked about the whole idea of activating cold leads or whatever.

There was a point where I remember you talking about being able to help shorten the sales cycle. And I think that a lot of us in our space, and I'm going to be specifically speaking about the IT services, managed services space. Where we do look for that very quick turnaround.

And it's something where we have the answer that you're looking for. You need your computer supported. You need your cyber security taken care of.

It should be a no brainer to get that answer. But yet we run into those problems. So in a sense of building that trust, building out that engagement.

If we've just met somebody for the first time that we've gotten through a postcard or a mailer or a calling and stuff. How do you go about nurturing that if they don't buy on that first meeting?

[Cat Orsini]
So that's where we want to have. So this is, I'll throw some statistics out there. Because you're hitting on something that I think a lot of people don't understand.

Whether you're doing, and this goes for organic, this goes for SEO, this goes for paid ads. It is creepy how these numbers align. 3% conversion.

That's like average best kind of thing. When you're doing Google ads, you know, pay-per-click, all that stuff. And I don't touch that stuff with a 10 foot pole.

I know plenty of people who are way better at it than me. But I need to know about it because I want to make sure that I'm seeing kind of what the trend's happening. So same thing with organic.

You reach out to someone, talk to 100 people. And statistically saying that 3% out of the 100 will buy. What are you doing with the 97%?

This is where I come in. So they're not ready to buy. 7% of people need a little bit more information to get to the 3.

60% of people need to be actively nurtured to get to the 7 to get to the 3. And 30% of people are never going to buy. Now a bro marketer is going to tell you, get rid of those 30%.

They're not going to do anything for you. My response to that is absolutely not. How many of us have referred someone that we've never worked with because we liked them?

Because they were a good human? Everything is an opportunity if we don't look at it as just trying to swipe the credit card. Our opportunity is having the systems in process to turn the opportunity into revenue.

So when I'm looking at, all right, so what are we doing with the 97%? How do we shorten that sales cycle? It's about driving very intentional, strategic information that helps that person become a better buyer.

I'm going to say that again because people don't think about it enough. What kind of information are you putting in front of someone to help them become a better buyer? Or are you just going through the motions of, I have to have a newsletter, so here it is.

I'm going to slap something together in the last five minutes. How do you think that's going to come across someone's inbox? It's going to feel like you took five minutes to slap it together and send something in front of them.

Do you think they're going to positively associate you with something that they want to invest in? Every interaction someone has with you, whether it's from the online space, a piece of content, shaking your hand, your business card, being on a podcast, has an experience associated with it. And are you showing up in a way that helps them become a better buyer?

So when we start looking at that, we can be more intentional with, it's not about having to be online every single day and post three times a day and whatever it is. Consistency is as defined as you want it to be. So it's three times a week, great, be consistent about it.

It's every day, fine, be consistent about it. But it better be good. It better be worth my time.

And if it's not, don't share it. Don't take up space just for the sake of taking up space. And I think that's where people aren't putting enough attention.

So you're doing a workshop. You're speaking on stage. What is it that you're leading them towards?

And have you reversed engineered the process so that they get those aha moments so they go, I really want to work with him. I really want to work with her. And then are you allowing enough opportunities for people to say yes to?

So marketing is our opportunity to ask a different question that someone can say yes to. And I'll say it again because I'm the queen of the one-liners. Marketing is our opportunity to ask a different question that they can say yes to.

So what kind of questions are you putting out there? What kind of content are you allowing people to say yes to and engage them with? And here's where it really starts getting interesting.

Are you using your data in a way that's intelligent? So most people, so this is why the CRM.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. Hang on. Hang on.

Hang on. You're starting.

[Cat Orsini]
Soapbox moment.

[Uncle Marv]
You are rolling here. All right. Let me make a note here so that we get back to it.

How do you use the data? But I want to go back because another part of that whole question is, man, did you mess up my notes?

[Cat Orsini]
I probably did. No doubt about it.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah. Buyer modes.

[Cat Orsini]
Yeah. The five buyer types.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah. You talked about the fact that allowing people to buy the way they want to.

[Cat Orsini]
Yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
That ain't a part of our space.

[Cat Orsini]
Yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
So, and I don't know. You and I didn't talk enough ahead of time for me to explain it all. But managed service providers, we talk about monthly recurring revenue.

We bill everything up front, and we bill in a way that is, you know, by user, by device, or whatever, and that's it.

[Cat Orsini]
And that's okay. You don't have to change how you structure the monetary exchange.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay.

[Cat Orsini]
What I'm talking about here is preparing someone to buy. Okay. And what I mean is, let's say, and I think you and I are pretty similar in this, is like I like to read the information.

I like to see it. I'm going to go right to the number. I want to see what the investment is, and then I'm going to start reading back, because that's just how my brain works.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. Yeah.

[Cat Orsini]
So, first I want to see it. Then I go back. Maybe I'll start reading case studies.

The more interested I am, the more I start consuming information kind of thing. But I've got to go, and I've got to see that number first, because I'm way more logic driven. And so, I align to this producer personality kind of thing.

So, but there are four other buyer types. Let's say someone is way more heart-centered, right? And I'm not saying that this is someone who is weak.

I'm not saying this is someone who is just a woman. It's just someone who needs to feel really connected to the person. Maybe they've gotten burned a bunch of times, and they feel like they've never gotten the support, right?

We're also dealing with trauma stuff that we're not even going to touch with a 10-foot pole. But what we want to do is allow that person to consume the information that they want at the rate that they want, at the level that they want. And so, what that means is that personality is way more focused on they want to feel part of a community.

They want to feel that they are definitely going to get supported. And a bunch of other things that they want. So, typically, to address that buyer personality type, we want to have video case studies, because they're going to want to feel like they resemble someone in that case study so that they can emulate those results.

And that's just an example of what would be information that you would share beforehand. And so, that connection to that person lets them feel connected to the community, which makes them feel connected to you, and getting that reassurance that they're going to get that support. So, it starts getting super deep and intricate based off of just a personality type, off of how they consume and make information decisions.

And so, we want to have a process in place that allows for each of the different buyer types to get to the information they want so they can make that buying decision. And here's the key. They've made that decision before getting on the sales call.

So, that sales call does not need to be an hour long. It can be 15 minutes, because it's just a validation of fit. Because you don't have to keep answering the same questions over and over again.

You don't have to overcome any objections. Or they come with their one very clear objection. Here's my question.

This wasn't addressed on the information that I was able to consume. And you can basically answer that thing and feel an alignment, and it becomes this empowering experience versus this, how am I going to overcome the objection? What are they going to bring to the table?

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. And it just becomes an adult conversation. And you get what I call resounding yeses.

Resounding yeses are the people who get the results, who do the work, who pay in full, who are all in. When you do it the other way, what you end up getting are resentful yeses. These are the people you've had to overcome the objections.

You've had to feel like you've dragged them across the finish line. You've had 52 calls with them, and they've hemmed and hawed. The likelihood is that resentful yes is going to end up asking for a refund.

[Uncle Marv]
Gotcha. I think I want to scrap some of these other questions. Because I want to focus on this buyer mode.

Because I think that's something that... I know you've talked about it before, but it was really quick. But I have the opportunity now to ask you more about that.

Because talking about the heart-centered buyer is huge. Because I think a lot of us do run into that.

[Cat Orsini]
There's a lot more heart-centered people out there than just the numbers person.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, from an IT perspective, they've been burned by a prior IT person. Or they lost data. They got hit by a cyber attack, so they've lost confidence.

[Cat Orsini]
They didn't get the support that they were promised. Nobody answered in a timely fashion. Customer service were jerks.

Or you thought you were going to talk to one person, and you ended up talking to someone who barely speaks English. And you can't get your stuff resolved in a timely manner.

[Uncle Marv]
Can I ask you to quickly talk about the other buyer types? Because I have a feeling that this is pretty important stuff.

[Cat Orsini]
Yeah. I mean, basically, at a higher, more detailed level, there's five different buyer types. The fun part is the process I walk my clients through addresses all five types.

And so you don't necessarily need to modify your approach. You don't need to show up differently on a sales call. But part of it is understanding what is the experience that you're giving someone as part of this process.

So I actually often encourage my clients to do a two-part close and not try to force a close on the first call. And the reason is, is that most times, even if someone says, OK, and I know we've all experienced it. I'm sure you have.

I know I have, especially early on. Someone goes, you know, on that first call, Hey, so what is it like to work with you? And in my brain, I remember going, Oh, my God, it's on sale.

And so I do the whole thing. And they go, Yeah, that's too expensive. Right.

Or let me think about it. And then ghosting and whatever other variation of that same outcome. Kind of thing.

And the problem is, is though that person asked a buyer question, and this is what we have to tune into, is we need to tune in and be very aware of what does your ideal client look like when they're demonstrating buyer behavior? What are the questions they're asking? What kind of content are they engaging with?

What are they doing that's demonstrating that they are interested? And this is them coming to you, right? Versus you feeling like you're knocking on their door.

But most people are not using the information that is readily around them to notice. Because they're so focused on the immediate sale that they're not nurturing the relationship. And so then that prepares them to buy from someone else, right?

So the ultimate kind of F you. So what we want to start looking at is moving towards a two-part close and basically really getting an understanding of what that person needs. This is an empowering experience from the sense that this is not about you selling to that person.

This is about you qualifying whether that person is going to get results working with you. It switches the dynamics, not from this power struggle, but from this fit perspective. Does this person have the qualifiers and the characteristics of someone that I know will get results from my level of support?

Whatever that may be. And then looking at between that first and second call, when everybody knows it's a sales call, what is the information that you're sharing between those two calls? Most people just kind of hide underneath their bed and they poke out for the sales call and they're like, you ready to buy?

That's not the approach. We want to be intentional about how someone experiences us because it's a direct reflection of how they're going to work with us. The better that experience up front, from the get-go, from that first handshake, from that first touch, whatever it is, all the way through, the more you're reassuring them, the more you're building confidence in them in their next investment.

It is very important, but people are just going through the motions of doing quote-unquote marketing. So it's what I call superficial marketing. They're just checking the boxes, but they're missing the biggest box.

Example, opt in for something online. You get it in your inbox and it's a hot piece of garbage. Technically, that person did effective marketing.

They got your email. They had copy that converted. They had a messaging that resonated, but they didn't think about your experience of the content, of whatever the product is that they delivered, whether it was a freebie or paid.

And based off that experience, you are now not going to refer, share, or might even actively promote against that person if you were to ever hear their name. So think about the damage that's doing versus, oh my God, this thing is so good that you don't even remember who it was that brought you into my world, but you trusted them enough to sign up and you stayed around. That's the opportunity.

[Uncle Marv]
Alright. Everybody's being told to offer a freebie. So that's some interesting advice there.

Now, when you're looking to figure out the buyer mode, is this something that, I mean, you can't really research a lot of this. So you're saying that this is something you kind of have to be able to figure out on the fly?

[Cat Orsini]
You don't even need to figure it out.

[Uncle Marv]
Are you doing it during the sales meeting or are you just listening to the questions?

[Cat Orsini]
You just need to have the information available for them to consume in a structured way that makes sense. It's what I provide my clients.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah, but you've got to get that feedback from them. So are you doing it based on the questions they ask you or the way that they respond to what it is you're doing?

[Cat Orsini]
I'm going to be real jerky about this. You don't need to know. You need to have the system in place that allows them to self-identify and get the info.

They don't even know what buyer type they are. They may not even be aware that there's different buyer types. It's not about them understanding or you having to figure it out as a salesperson.

Not in full. You just need to put the system in place that allows them to get to the information they want which will help them make the buying decision. It's that asking a different question.

It's making it available to them so that they can go down the rabbit hole that feels right for them and making sure that you have seen the rabbit hole and you've designed it so that they always pop out at the same place.

[Uncle Marv]
So whether you're providing an opportunity for them to get to the final number for those people that want to see it for those that want to go down this video touchy feely thing The people that need to know What am I going to get from this?

[Cat Orsini]
They're very cerebral and they want to know the exact same things. The people that you can't anticipate. I call those stunt doubles.

You just don't know where they're going to go. One day they could be affected because their kid had a meltdown that morning. The next day they closed a client so they're feeling super high and generous.

There's other people that go on gut instinct and they've already made the decision. Part of it is the aesthetics. Part of it is the structure of the information.

Part of it is the accessibility of it. All of those things, if you think about it is how are you interacting with the information and are you making it a pleasant experience? The other thing too is you have to watch out when you allow someone to get access to that information.

So there is everything is strategically organized and designed so that there is this experience. You don't get access to certain information when you first meet me. You have to qualify yourself before I will allow you to get closer to my inner circle.

This is not about allowing everybody to walk through your door and your house at that want. It is a secret knock. It is a secret code.

It's not impossible to get to but only certain people get to come in further and further and further. So I think of it kind of like a target with different circles and then you've got your client in the bullseye. Cold contacts are the holes on the wall.

That's pitchy Pete on LinkedIn just throwing darts with a blindfold. Every now and then you might get on the bullseye and you might get on the target but most times you're going to be a hole in the wall. What we want to do is take off the blindfold and be intentional.

We are looking and we are trying to perfect our throw. So what we're doing is someone gets on the first round of the circle. What are you doing to helping them move themselves to the next round and then what's the next thing?

So you want to be able to answer that question three layers deep because usually it takes someone who's in that 60% because that's where a majority of the population is that amount of time and effort and space for them to move themselves until they get to the bullseye and it's not a lost opportunity because even while they're on the other rings of the circles they are inviting people onto your bullseye.

So you're not having to throw anybody they're pulling them in with their own magnetism so that you've got so many more opportunities.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. So I have stuff swirling around in my head because it sounds like you made a comment about don't give people the information before they're ready which in some ways that means don't give them the price until they're ready. So from a tech standpoint don't have your prices on your website.

[Cat Orsini]
Let me nuance this. There are different industries with different approaches. I have to speak when I speak on these on podcast and on stage I have to speak to the 80%.

There are always exceptions and there are always special circumstances. It's why the process I use I actually talk to every single one of my clients because what I do is I take a strategy off the rack. We take it, you put it on let's do a suit for you and my job and my team's job is to couture it to you.

So we're taking a standard thing so let's say you wear a 36 suit and I have no idea what size 36 is but it needs to go in a half inch in the waist. It needs to come out an inch in the shoulders or whatever it is. That's what we're doing.

We're taking something that fits it's not going to fit perfectly and then we customize it. Then you get to embellish it. If you're like dazzle me up baby then you get dazzled up because that makes it different.

Yes I use a lot of analogies but we've got a bunch of vanilla cakes and you get to decorate it anyway you want because that decoration is what's going to attract your ideal client. If your ideal client is all about the chocolate ganache then you better be presenting that chocolate ganache. If your ideal client is all about the silver sprinkles then silver sprinkle it up but the base is always the same.

What goes on top of it in terms of the accoutrement if you will is your personality and your brand.

[Uncle Marv]
Don't do that.

[Cat Orsini]
I'm French. I can't say it in the American way. It hurts my ears.

Accoutrement.

[Uncle Marv]
How can it hurt your ears?

[Cat Orsini]
Because I'm French. I speak French fluently and so accoutrement is a French word.

[Uncle Marv]
I've never heard you speak French.

[Cat Orsini]
I'm French. I speak fluently. I have no accent in French and I have no accent in English.

[Uncle Marv]
Did you say I made you angry? No, no, no.

[Cat Orsini]
I said I am French. I speak fluently. I have no French accent and I have no American accent.

The podcast goes sideways.

[Uncle Marv]
So with all of that stuff I could ask you to explain the lead boss system, the incubator system but here's what I'm going to ask. Based on all the information that you told us it seems like yes, everybody starts at the same place. You customize it but not everybody does that.

A lot of us just start. We just go. We're told to do something.

We do it. Let me ask what are in your opinion some common mistakes that we do that when we're trying to grow and scale our business what are the things that you see us doing wrong all the time?

[Cat Orsini]
I see people automating failure and not success. I see people treating their network like a one night stand. I see people consistently, the biggest one is not following up.

Giving up too early. That's in that alignment of the follow up. Until someone tells you to take a long walk off a short pier, follow up.

I see people only focusing on the sale and not on the opportunity. Someone can be a great referral partner. They can connect you to speaking opportunities, podcasting opportunities, other referral partners, other connectors.

It's not just about the client. All of this comes down to your systems and your operations. There's this chasing energy that's happening out there.

It's not about that. Referrals and relationship marketing are the highest conversion statistics out there. It has withstood the test of time.

It will withstand the test of time. Human relationship is one of the most powerful things you can leverage. I see people who want to hide behind a sales page, who don't get out there, who don't speak, who don't network, who don't practice their one liners, who introduce themselves differently every single time and who change their business every six months.

It's not about monetizing and chasing the dollar. It's about standing for what you're passionate about and allowing for the monetization of that. One of the things that I say often times is people are extremely disciplined about being undisciplined.

Take that energy, which is the same energy as someone who's disciplined, and put intention behind it. What are you intentional about? What will you commit to?

Have that honest conversation with yourself. This is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of personal development work that has to happen.

There's a lot of commitment. At the beginning, it's a lot of hard work, but it does get easier. You can play a hell of a lot faster.

It is about enjoying the process, finding the joy in every opportunity, the learning in every lesson. Be excited about the failures. Yes, you can get knocked down.

Yes, there are weeks I want to throw my computer out the window. Stop it.

[Uncle Marv]
Don't say that. Don't say that.

[Cat Orsini]
It's true. There are weeks where I want to throw my computer out the window, but that's okay. It means I'm doing it right.

In that 30 seconds, which used to take me maybe a week to get out of, but in that 30 seconds of frustration, this is where the discipline, this is where the work comes into play. I can reset very fast because I've done the work on myself, because I can recognize when something is in my control and when something is not. I release the things I cannot control.

I can't do anything about them. I can't make someone buy. I can't decide that I will definitively have x many clients, but I look at what I can control and whether or not I'm willing to do the work.

I can control who I reach out to. I can control how often I reach out to. I can control what kind of content goes out.

I can control what kind of marketing efforts I initiate. I can control going to an in-person networking event. There is so much in my control that attributes to my ability to close an x number of clients.

So I release that. I have an intention. I'm not stupid.

And then I look at what I can control and I take those and I release and I'm enough. I've done enough. I don't need to prove myself.

I don't need to do extra. I just look at what's in my control, how do I want to live my life, and I have the best time possible.

[Uncle Marv]
Alright. So apparently I could not...

[Cat Orsini]
I was going to go there.

[Uncle Marv]
I was going to say, apparently I can't control where we go on this podcast. So let's do this. I'm going to have to ask you back at some point.

We'll figure it out. But I do want to make sure that we do a couple of quick things to let some people know exactly who you are, what they can do to work with you. But I want to have you really quickly explain each of these things.

Okay? So the first is firework experience.

[Cat Orsini]
Firework experiences are the strategies that interconnect to create your ecosystem to shorten the sales cycle. These are live experiences that someone can have that helps them see the value of investing with you next.

[Uncle Marv]
Alright. The Lead Boss System.

[Cat Orsini]
Lead Boss Systems are the foundational components to help make sure that you have a scalable business that ultimately you can also sell.

[Uncle Marv]
What was your CRM that you started?

[Cat Orsini]
Spark Incubator. No, that's not right. Spark CRM.

There's a lot of firework stuff happening. I got a little obsessed.

[Uncle Marv]
Spark CRM.

[Cat Orsini]
Spark CRM is how you turn your network into your net worth by actively shortening the sales cycle and engaging your referral partners because relationship marketing is something you can put a process and system behind.

[Uncle Marv]
Alright. And now the action incubator.

[Cat Orsini]
Action incubator is one of the businesses. Spark CRM is the other. Action incubator is the consulting and strategic support behind creating the business you always knew you could have.

[Uncle Marv]
Alright. I'm going to have links to her sites in the show notes and you guys can catch up with her. Again, I will ask her to come back.

Kat, thanks so much for coming on the show.

[Cat Orsini]
I appreciate it and thanks for letting me fly high on my kite.

[Uncle Marv]
Happens every month, doesn't it? Alright, folks. That's going to do it.

Thank you for checking out the show. If this is your first time catching this, head over to itbusinesspodcast.com and select one of the pod catchers and stay tuned whenever we have a new guest and check us out Wednesdays, 8 p.m. live on YouTube, LinkedIn and the Facebook. That'll do it for now.

On behalf of my friend Kat Orsini, thank you for tuning in and we'll see you soon. Holla!