Hello everyone, Jillian here, your host of The Blogger Genius Podcast. In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing AnneMarie Rose, a business coach for online entrepreneurs. AnneMarie specializes in helping women entrepreneurs scale their businesses to six figures. Today, I want to share some of the key insights from our conversation.

The Importance of Vision in Business Growth

During our conversation, AnneMarie emphasized the importance of starting with a vision when growing a company. She acknowledged that some listeners may feel that having a vision is a luxury for successful people, but she emphasized that having a clear vision is essential for determining the best strategies for revenue generation.

To help listeners develop their vision, AnneMarie provided a practical exercise prompting them to reflect on what aspects of their business they enjoy the most and what drains them. She also encouraged them to imagine their business 12 to 18 months in the future, offering only two things. This exercise helps narrow their focus and provides clues on how to make money.

Show Notes:

• MiloTreeCart
• Personality Quiz: What Digital Product Should I Create?
• MiloTree Pop-Up App
• AnnMarie Rose
• Join My Blogger Genius Email List
• Catch My Party
• Become a Blogger Genius Facebook Group
• MiloTreeCart Affiliate Program
• All Blogger Genius Podcast Episodes

Subscribe to the Blogger Genius Podcast:

• iTunes
• Stitcher
• YouTube
• Spotify

Turning Wants and Needs into a Business

Once the vision is established, AnneMarie advises listeners on how to turn their wants and needs into a business. She suggests developing a clear outline of what will be included in their offerings and how they plan to deliver them. It’s important to understand the problem their target market is experiencing and how they describe it to themselves. By having conversations and asking questions, they can find potential clients to talk to.

Building an Audience and Crafting Your Offer

AnneMarie discussed the importance of choosing an audience that you have a direct connection with when starting a business. She suggests that it is most effective to serve an audience that includes people you already know, such as friends or past colleagues. This is especially relevant if you are offering services related to a specific industry, like corporate America.

She explained that building an audience from scratch can be a lengthy process, taking at least three years to start generating significant revenue. However, she emphasized that you don’t have to start with a large audience. Even with a small following, you can still find clients who have some connection to you, whether through social media or other channels.

Conducting Survey Calls and Turning Them into Sales Opportunities

AnneMarie provided advice on conducting survey calls and turning them into sales opportunities. She suggested starting the conversation by asking the interviewee to imagine a perfect world scenario where the problem they are facing is completely solved. This allows them to envision their ideal solution.

The Power of Authenticity and Transparency in Selling

AnneMarie discussed the importance of being transparent and authentic when selling your offer for the first time. She suggested acknowledging that you are new to the business side of things and may make mistakes, but you are committed to helping your clients through any challenges. This vulnerability can make you more relatable and likable to potential customers.

Using Quizzes as a Tool for Growing Email Lists

AnneMarie explained that quizzes are interactive and provide a more engaging experience compared to simple downloads. She recommended using quiz software like Interact or Outgrow but emphasized that the specific software doesn’t matter as much as the concept of guiding people to gain clarity.

Making Business Strategies Fun and Engaging

We discussed the importance of making business strategies fun and engaging for customers. AnneMarie introduced the idea of using quizzes as a lead generation tool. Jillian mentioned a personality quiz she created that helps determine the best digital product for individuals based on their preferences and personality styles.

Conclusion

Remember, you are at the center of your business. Keep practicing, keep learning, and keep growing. And don’t forget to sign up to be notified about our upcoming Black Friday Special for MiloTreeCart. Happy scaling!

Other related Blogger Genius Podcast episodes you’ll enjoy:

• 5 Tips to Get Out of Your Own Way and Sell with Joy with Jillian Leslie
• From College Dropout to $2 Million Digital Product Biz with Molly Keyser
• How to Build a Successful Influencer Brand with KariAnne Wood

A Word About MiloTreeCart

Before we wrap up, I’d like to mention MiloTreeCart, the platform we built to help bloggers, online entrepreneurs, and coaches to sell digital products. With Black Friday and the holidays coming up, it’s a great opportunity to make money. Sign up for MiloTreeCart with a one-time payment or three payment option. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee and the opportunity to have a call with me to develop your Black Friday strategy.

Transcript: #302: How Can Lead Magnets Help Build Your Email List?

Jillian Leslie (00:00:00) – My name is Jillian and I’m hosting The Blogger Genius Podcast. Before we get into today’s interview, let me ask you a question. Are you wishing you could sell digital products like digital downloads or workshops, memberships, coaching, mini courses, but you don’t know where to start? And are you tired of complicated tech and spending way too much money on monthly subscriptions? Well, you need a tool that makes all of this simple, and the answer is Milo Tree cart. So this is the tool we built for non techies who want to tap into a new income stream. With military cart, you get fill in the blank sales pages, check out pages, a sales dashboard, upsells, over 100 done for you, marketing materials and support from people who seriously care. If you’ve been dreaming about offering your own Black Friday sale to your audience, definitely had to MiloTree.com and get your payment tool for a one time lifetime deal price of $349. Or you can pay in three easy installments. And if you act now, I will get on a one hour coaching call and help you strategize on how to sell your products and services during Black Friday Cyber Monday.

Jillian Leslie (00:01:18) – Pause right now, head to milotree.com and join hundreds of other entrepreneurs just like you, using MiloTreeCart to sell your expertise and make money. And remember, no risk. We offer a 30 day money back guarantee. So head to MiloTree and check it out.

Announcer (00:01:42) – Welcome to the Blogger Genius podcast, brought to you by MiloTree. Here’s your host, Jillian Leslie.

Jillian Leslie (00:01:49) – Hello and welcome back to the show. Today I have a really interesting episode for you filled with strategy. I love episodes where people break down how they are helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Today I am interviewing AnneMarie Rose, who is a business coach for online entrepreneurs. She helps them grow their businesses to six figures, and what we talk about is how she helps online entrepreneurs gain clarity in their businesses. Think about the offer that they’re putting out there, what problems they are solving. Does this sound familiar and how to go about growing your customer base, your clients? And of course, this can be done by posting on social media and growing your email list.

Jillian Leslie (00:02:39) – But Anne Marie shares shortcuts that will get you there faster. As we all know, blogging and online business continue to change and evolve. My goal is to help you think creatively about new income streams, products, and services you can sell. So if you are looking for clarity on ways to grow your business and make six figures, you’re going to like this episode without further delay. Here is my interview with Anne Marie Rose. Anne-Marie, welcome to the Blogger Genius podcast.

AnnMarie Rose (00:03:16) – Thanks for having me, Jillian. I’m excited to be here.

Jillian Leslie (00:03:19) – I know virtually nothing about your background. I saw you, you spoke at a summit that I was speaking at and I was like, oh, she seems interesting. And I reached out to you. And so would you share what you do, how you got started, and where you are today in your entrepreneurial journey?

AnnMarie Rose (00:03:37) – Of course. So, you know, just that spark of interest is how so many good connections start and how so many great businesses start to. And my specialty, I’m an online business strategist, a consultant, and I really specialize in helping primarily women entrepreneurs who are at that point where they are ready to scale.

AnnMarie Rose (00:03:55) – They’re no longer in full on startup mode, but they are ready to scale or potentially make a significant pivot. But they’re hovering at that point in their business where they’re pretty maxed out. They’ve got some some great clients, they’ve had some success, they’ve maybe even hired a VA and they are looking ahead to the future, what they want to create in their business, and they see virtually no wiggle room to make it happen. And they might even be wondering, like, I know this isn’t it for my business, but what does the future of my business actually look like? That’s where I come in to help them really get clear on what the future of their business could look like, what it the future of their business is a best fit to look like based on a number of things their circumstances, their goals, their personal. I call it their hardwiring for success, which we use a number of like personality assessments and things to determine how they, as a CEO, are best hardwired to show up so that we can structure the future of their business based around that.

AnnMarie Rose (00:04:47) – And then we move into aligning their business model with that vision, their message, making sure that resonates with the right people that they want to be calling into their world. And then, of course, streamlining out their marketing so that it’s not a huge source of overwhelm and stress for them, but it can really run pretty seamlessly. And then there’s of course, a number of things that come along with that, that my clients are well supported in, like team and systems mindset. All those good things.

Jillian Leslie (00:05:11) – You give me an example of, say, three clients in what kind of spaces do they work?

AnnMarie Rose (00:05:20) – Oh my goodness. So great question. So I really categorize my clients. They’re all they all have generally service based businesses coaches, consultants, online service providers. But that spans a number of niches. So as long as they’re the business model that they’re looking to build in, scale kind of falls into one of those realms. They’re women. There’s some amount of values alignment there. They’re usually a great fit for us to work together.

AnnMarie Rose (00:05:43) – But we’ve had everyone. We’ve helped financial professionals. So CPAs, financial advisors, even, you know, contract CFOs, we’ve helped some other systems systems and behind the scenes online service providers. So product managers, copywriters, people like that, coaches who specialize in transformation for women of faith who’ve been harmed by their church community, that’s, you know, if a specific client who that is her specialty, that’s very now. Yes, very specific. And she’s got a fantastic membership for for those women. Um, I, I, one of our clients is a consultant for 901 in emergency services organizations. And she’s got, you know, done DIY programs, very in-depth onsite workshops, retreats that she hosts, leadership coaches, just a number of different individuals. So it’s really that, you know, does your business model fit in the realm of coaching, consulting, online service providing and then is there values alignment, and are you really ready to shift into scaling mode?

Jillian Leslie (00:06:50) – How are you the person like what is your background to be able to lead these women? Yeah, in their journey.

AnnMarie Rose (00:06:59) – So I’ve done it myself and I’ve helped, you know, clients for lots of years do this. But how did I get to that point? It is a long and winding journey, which I’ll try to make it as condensed as I possibly can. I started my career in marketing. I worked at a larger, I would call it a mid-size marketing agency here in San Diego, where I’m located, and we were really the implementers for some really large brands, many of them that you’d know the names of. And. What we. What I found was that because we were that really the implementers? Yes, we were providing strategic recommendations, but ultimately these these companies were playing with big enough budget that they could say, no, no, no, we want it done this way. And we our hands were kind of tied. I don’t work super well that way. And when we knew that best the best practices, they were what they were asking us to do when against best practices. It was super hard for me to even show up and do that work, knowing that it wasn’t going to perform in the end, and then it was going to come back on me either way.

AnnMarie Rose (00:07:58) – So after feeling really unfulfilled in that role, I realized, oh, there’s a number of local business owners, small business owners, online business owners who need this type of strategic support and implementation support. So why don’t they go out and help them? They’re playing with smaller budgets and I can bring both things to the table. Right. So I did that and I was so I spent a number of years doing done for you content and social media marketing work for, like I said, local businesses and online businesses. A bit of a mix. I love, love, love the online business. Just because there’s so much. You have so many options, so much choice and so much potential to impact people beyond your immediate geographic sphere. And what I found in doing that, that I had a number of clients that I was working with, who I really enjoyed them and enjoyed what they were doing, but they felt they I noticed that they lacked a bit of direction when it came to the vision of their business.

AnnMarie Rose (00:08:46) – I noticed this when one particular client asked me when we got together, you know, everyone who was contributing to his team. We got together for a meeting and this was years ago. And he said, what? What do you guys think the vision of the business is? And that just hit me. So just strangely, that I was like, wait, wait, you’re the CEO. And I’ve been doing all this work behind the scenes marketing to what I thought was grow into the vision that you already had, but realized that it was lacking. And in that same meeting he said, you know, next year I really want to make sure I’m only working. I think it was something like four hours a day in the business, which is fantastic. That’s, you know, I’m basically doing that. I’m probably working less than that in hours. Um. However, I asked, what do you want to do with all your extra time? And he said, I don’t know. I just know I can’t spend more than four hours a day in this business or it’s going to kill me.

AnnMarie Rose (00:09:35) – And that also hit me like a ton of bricks thinking I’m now. I’ve now helped this guy build a business that feels like a prison to him that he needs to escape. So just my personality, I just when I realize that something isn’t working or something’s out of alignment, it immediately feels out of integrity to me and my body, like, won’t show up. So I realized, oh wait, wait wait, we need to start. Not with the marketing, with the strategy, with the direction of the business itself, with the, you know, creating a game plan that’s truly going to support not just the revenue numbers you want to hit, but what you want to be experiencing and the impact you want to be creating with your life as well. So that it was just through a number of experiences where I kept asking myself, you know, what’s the bottom line here? What’s the bottom line here? What’s the bottom line here that I, over years and years came to where I am now, which is offering a wide, supportive, transformational consulting experience.

AnnMarie Rose (00:10:30) – Where we do we start with the vision. We start with what is the vision for where you’re looking to grow this, this company. And then then we implement a strategy that supports it. But we don’t just dive into, you know, more podcast episodes because somebody else who’s in your same niche, who’s got a lot of followers, puts out three podcast episodes a week that might not make sense for you.

Jillian Leslie (00:10:51) – I get that I’m putting myself in the head of somebody listening to this going vision. I can’t think of a vision. I just need to make money.

AnnMarie Rose (00:11:03) – Yes.

Jillian Leslie (00:11:05) – Like this seems kind of like rich people problems. You know, this seems like, you know, that guy who’s successful, who can think about working four hours a day, like, well, I wish I had his life because I would be, you know, cranking it out and I don’t know, like, so what what do you say to that person who’s listening to this?

AnnMarie Rose (00:11:29) – It’s a great question, and it is one that when you’re in a place of.

AnnMarie Rose (00:11:34) – You know, whether it’s something you’re just telling yourself or it’s a real practical challenge that you’re bumping up against, which for many it is that you just need to make money. It is very easy to slip into. Okay, prioritizing only that when the actual real world truth is, there are millions of ways to make money. And if you can predetermine how you would prefer to make that money, those opportunities are the ones that are most likely to show up that you’re most likely to run into, that you’re most going to intentionally create for yourself. If we’ve just tapped into that vision. And by the way, the way I do visioning with my clients is not a let’s take a whole week off and sit on a yoga mat and create a vision board. It is a practical, step by step exercise that takes 80 minutes. Okay, specifically 80 minutes. You block it off on your calendar. You, you know, kick the kids to your partner or whatever for 80 minutes. We get it done.

AnnMarie Rose (00:12:38) – And then then we have what we need to ground us into those actual practical next steps, which for 99% of my clients is about revenue generation. Right out of the gates. Okay, so yeah.

Jillian Leslie (00:12:50) – 80 minutes. We don’t have 80 minutes. But I’d love your top three strategies for coming up with your vision.

AnnMarie Rose (00:13:01) – Yes. And I’m going to give you prompts. This is how you know as. If you’re listening to this. You are a CEO. Whether or not you see yourself as a CEO, you are a CEO and a CEO is number one. Job is holding, creating and holding the vision of the company. When we’re wearing lots of hats in our businesses, though, we that that role tends to fall by the wayside. Like forget it. We just need to get, you know, clients supported and generate that cash flow. So what I’ve done is make it really simple for you to get into that mode of thinking like a CEO in a contained period of time. So it always starts with a little reflection moment looking, looking kind of to what’s what is going well or has gone well in the past.

AnnMarie Rose (00:13:47) – So really, what’s I’m thinking on the spot here of like three prompts that I think would be most impactful for people to consider one. I think it’s most useful to say, you know, looking back over the past year and all the way up to current day in my business, what are the things about my business that light me up the most, that I get most excited to do, to spend my time on, to create, to experience? What are the things that actually light me up? And sometimes for a lot of us, it looks like the things that we can get lost in, that we kind of lose the track time and it feels good to be doing. Conversely, looking back over the past year in my business up to present day, what are the things that have drained me that I don’t look forward to doing, that don’t feel good to do that I tend to put off. Um. All of those things that feel kind of. Like they’re not really my gifts to be doing.

AnnMarie Rose (00:14:41) – That’s a that’s a big one. Then I just want you to look forward and say I’m going to, you know, fast forwarding 12 to 18 months from now, my business. If I could only be offering two things. Selling only two things. What would those two things be? Mm. Services to programs. There’s, there’s I’m going to give you a fourth one. You asked for three. I’m gonna give you a fourth one, because I think that it’s useful to talk about what would you be offering. Because that’s going to give you clues onto about. How are we going to go make that money? I also want you to ask yourself, though, 12 to 18 months from now, imagine that everything went your way. All the cards are stacked in your favor like nothing went wrong. Because we have the tendency to kind of ask, you know, say, well, what about this? What about that? What about like, forget all of that. Just imagine. It’s all like the business fairy godmother shows up, snaps her fingers, and it’s all.

AnnMarie Rose (00:15:37) – It’s all good. It’s all gone your way. So 12 to 18 months from now, how are you showing up in your business every day in a way that feels really good to you? So this for me, I love to sometimes look, do a little exercise where I kind of write out what would my day look like, just an average day in my business. How would that and life I include life in there too. How would that look? Now we’ve got two filters that we can use to seek opportunity and filter opportunity that comes our way.

Jillian Leslie (00:16:07) – Got it. Okay, now though, we’ve done this, which is very much like all about me. Yep. So I’ve got some clarity. I know what I like, I know what I don’t like now though, the the what is it? The rubber hits the road. Yep. I have no money or a little bit. You know, I’ve got like one client or one e-book or one whatever. What do I do? How do I turn my own wants, needs things that like me up into a business where I go out and find people who want what I’m offering?

AnnMarie Rose (00:16:49) – Um, so that particular question where I asked, what would you be offering if you can only be offering two things.

AnnMarie Rose (00:16:55) – And the reason we do that is to start to narrow our focus a little bit, so that it’s easier to do exactly what you just asked about, which is go out and find people who actually pay for what it is you’re providing. So. You know, offer development as a whole process that I take my clients through, that we obviously don’t have time to talk through today, but you would want to develop those. So it’s just if you say I would be offering, for example, a six month coaching package for. Women leaders in organizations who want to shift. Who want to, you know, middle, middle new leaders who want to advance their career faster. Let’s just use that as an example. And I would offer a six month coaching package for that. Great, fantastic. So what we need to do now is just put some pieces in place that are just very quick bullet point of like what’s going to be included with that? We don’t need a whole sales page. We don’t need all these fluffy things, but what’s going to be included? And then I would say like a separate document, write out how you plan to deliver this.

AnnMarie Rose (00:17:55) – Is it. Once a week call is once a week calls. I’m going to need to send them a zoom link. Just put those practical pieces in place so that you feel like okay. Yes, there’s probably some gaps here, but I have something where I could talk to someone who’s struggling to advance their career, or they’re wanting to advance their career faster. And I could say, hey, that’s what I help people with. And here’s, you know, the outcome that we’d be looking to get you to. And is that something that sounds aligned for you? And they say, yes. And you say, great. Should we chat about how we can make that happen? Yes. And you’re going to just run them through kind of the bullet points of what you could offer. The key here is you need to understand the problem that your person is experiencing. So we need to have that person in mind. I guess first and foremost, that ideal client target market for this particular offer. And then we need to understand what is the solution, what is the problem that your offer provides a solution for? And we need to know how they’re saying it, how they’re speaking about to themselves about that problem, not what you probably if you’re thinking about starting this business or providing this offer, I guarantee you you have quite a bit of experience in this, even if you’re telling yourself you don’t.

AnnMarie Rose (00:19:03) – So the way that you’re going to describe this problem is probably not exactly how someone who is not an expert at what you are an expert at would describe the problem to themselves. So you can start to ask questions. You can start to have conversations.

Jillian Leslie (00:19:17) – I’m going to stop you here. How do I find that person to get on a call with them? Now, this is by the way, this is everything that I talk about and teach. And for people listening to the podcast, this is just like exactly the strategy. But I want to know because there are some pieces that are tricky, which is in fact, I have a friend who wants to launch a business, and she’s doing exactly what you’re talking about. She has an expertise. She understands that she knows more than the people she wants to attract into her six month program that she’s gotten some basic bullet points on, and she knows what the transit health thing. She knows what the transformation is. So I say to her, okay, it’s time for you to start talking to people who have this problem.

Jillian Leslie (00:20:12) – And she went out and started posting on social media. She went to some Facebook groups, and she’s not used to that. And she found zero people to talk to. And she said, I can’t find people. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to work on my offering. And I said, no, do not keep you know, that’s the fun, creative part. Like, ooh, I could have ten know, eight modules I can send up. We could do diet we like. It’s so exciting. And I said, until you’ve talked to three people, please stop working on your offer. So what do you say to my friend?

AnnMarie Rose (00:20:56) – That as well. First. I find that it is most effective. To help clients. Choose, like choose an audience to serve. That includes some people that they have a direct connection with already. So if this person is. You know, the the example that I shared before, someone who’s going to help people advance their leadership in corporate America faster.

AnnMarie Rose (00:21:27) – I’m going to probably only recommend that niche if that the person, the client I’m working with, whoever has a connection to corporate America like they they’ve got some people, some whether it’s close friends, past colleagues, whatever, who they could actually reach out to and get this information, you know, to to have a chat with about what they’re looking to offer. Right. Because for most of us, for any business, a lot of times our first clients are going to be people who know us or if we’re going to make a pivot, it’s going to be our first clients are going to be people who are not totally unfamiliar with us. There was this big wave after like 2008, where everyone had a blog and all this great content that they would put out, and then they then they decide, oh, I built this, this audience, so I might as well put a business with it. That’s not as common anymore because it takes longer to build an audience now. It takes longer. It’s a little more, more difficult to break through.

AnnMarie Rose (00:22:15) – So if you’re telling yourself you have to go that route and build this audience, you’re going to, it’s like at least a three year waiting game. I would say, to anticipate making serious revenue like it just is. But you don’t have to start there. Listen, I’ve got a pretty small audience like it’s nothing super sizable, and the majority of my clients who, you know, sign on the dotted line and enroll are people who’ve had some sense of connection. Sure. Have they, you know, validated me through my social media or found me through a summit or something like that? Sure. But then we’ve developed some sense of a relationship beyond that thing before they actually become clients. So. Start with. If you are truly starting something new, or you’re truly making a massive pivot into something entirely different than what you’ve ever done before. Think about who you already know. When you are crafting your offer. And getting your offer clear enough that you could go talk to somebody about it. Make a list.

AnnMarie Rose (00:23:07) – I would say if you’re you’re setting yourself up for success, if you can at least find that middle ground, you’ve got an offer that serves that you think would potentially be a fit for a list of people that I would say, if you get about a list of eight that you’re like. In the qualification for somebody to make it on the list was they could they I think they’re experiencing the problem that my offer solves or I think they know some people who are experiencing the offer. The problem my offer solves. And get yourself to a list of eight. We’ll even shrink it down for. Okay. You’re probably fine. Eight. You’re going to find some clients on that list.

Jillian Leslie (00:23:53) – I wanted to take a short break to say that if you are enjoying the podcast, please join my newsletter where every Sunday I send out an email with my four biggest takeaways from my previous episode. This is like a cheat sheet for you, so you can stay up to date with what is happening, what the most cutting edge strategies and trends are in online business and blogging? Go to blogger genius.com again, blogger genius.com and sign up.

Jillian Leslie (00:24:27) – It takes 10s. And now back to the show. I was talking to somebody who who talked to me about my lottery card because she wants to start a group of over 50 women dealing with the transition that women over 50 deal with. And I said to her, okay, for you launch this. So she’s again went off into the thinking and the excitement and all the things that she could help them with, like diet, which always seems to come up. Everybody’s always going to diet, diet and mindset. And I said, okay, wait, wait, wait in your life because she does not have an audience like maybe tiny Instagram. I said, do you know four women who are over 50 who would join today? Who are your friends, but they will pay you so they’ll, let’s say, pay you $20 each and show up once a month to do this. Like, that was the big test. And she said yes. And I said, then start it. Not because $80 a month is going to like, you know, make or break you.

Jillian Leslie (00:25:51) – However, getting friends to pay you and you learning from them and figuring out, well, what else could I offer? Am I hitting my target and my creating value and then building out what you offer and then hoping that if you deliver for these women, they will tell their friends or they will help you, they will be your evangelists, and you can get a testimonial from them and you can start building that way. I think that a lot of people think, okay, I need to start posting on Instagram. And I think, no, the the way to do it and it’s awkward. I said to her, like when I said, do you think you could get four friends to join this? And then she immediately said, yes. I was like, great. But other women, when I’ve said this to them, they’re like, oh, reach out to my friends. Oh, that’s kind of embarrassing. What if I can’t deliver? What if they judge me? So I like your strategy, which is all you need are a couple people to start testing it, to start getting in there, to start learning.

Jillian Leslie (00:27:02) – And then you can start kind of getting that snowball to roll and get bigger and bigger.

AnnMarie Rose (00:27:10) – Yeah. Definitely. Definitely.

Jillian Leslie (00:27:12) – So I like so anybody listening and I know it’s cringey feeling to say, hey, you know, are there moms at drop off that you can network with that might look for your services? Another woman who just purchased my literary card again to do a membership, which is really the interesting piece, an online membership. And by the way, the people who have purchased military card who are like killing it are the ones who have memberships. But I said the same thing to her. Do you know of people? And she goes, I do, because she’s just through her kids interaction. She said to me, she’s a social media manager. I go, how do you local? I said, how do you get your business? And she goes, word of mouth. I get too many clients because somebody comes up to me and says, hey, what do you do? And she’s like, well, I do social media for small business.

Jillian Leslie (00:28:03) – And they go, I have a small business. Can I hire you? Yep. So look at your local network versus the you know, you see all these people, the influencers on Instagram growing these amazing businesses and it’s like, nope, get a little more local, get a little more. Roll up your sleeves and start talking to people.

AnnMarie Rose (00:28:22) – Yep. So many start that way and you’re going to get your best insights there. And you can also I mean, I’m a big fan of a couple of different things that I typically I always say typically because, you know, my strategic recommendations are very non prescriptive. They’re very much based on like what my client’s actual needs are their circumstances. So I’m going to if somebody’s making a pivot from a, you know, $500,000 business into something new, that my recommendations are going to be totally different than if someone is, you know, pretty fresh, right? Um, but two things that I like to do with a lot of clients when they are starting a new, putting a new offer out into the world, many of my clients.

AnnMarie Rose (00:29:01) – So it’s they have a business and it’s just a new it’s a new offer that’s, you know, coming out of an existing business. But a lot of them don’t have large audiences. Um, some do, but many of them don’t. And so a couple of recommendations that I have for them when they’re in that process of putting out the new offer, is something that I like to call survey call. It’s effectively a way to get you to understand your ideal client’s language without having to go through a full offer delivery experience. It’s also a good way to find people who are an ideal client, because it’s one thing to invite someone to say, hop on a sales call or come to, you know, experience a sales moment with you and, you know, come out of the gate saying, hey, we pay for this thing. But if you’re like, hey, I’ve got this thing that I’m this offer I’ve been working on that I’m really excited to put out in the world. And here’s what it, you know, here’s the problem it solves.

AnnMarie Rose (00:29:52) – Here’s what’s for you came to mind, and I’m wondering if you’d be open to chatting with me about this so I can ask you a few questions. And I’m really committed to making this the most valuable offer possible. And so I think some of the insights that you could share with me would be useful. Is that something you’re open to? Almost nobody’s going to say no to that. So you have that conversation, you ask a few questions to them about, you know, a number of things, but really there’s like three questions that I recommend people ask. And at the end of that.

Jillian Leslie (00:30:24) – What are they?

AnnMarie Rose (00:30:24) – What are they? Yeah, I could share with you those questions and they’re tailored to whatever the offer is. But usually you’re going to want to ask them about the problems they’re experiencing related to whatever your offer solves. So there’s some fill in the blanks here that are going to depend on your offer itself. But, you know, tell me about some challenges you’re experiencing as it relates to fill in the blank with whatever your, your, you know, problem that you’re that your offer addresses.

AnnMarie Rose (00:30:48) – And then next question being, you know, perfect world scenario. Let’s imagine that problem was completely solved. What would life business would ever look like? Get them to play out, play that out. And then if you had the perfect solution for that problem, what comes in? What would be a perfect case, you know, perfect solution for. In your in your eyes. What would that include? And get them talking. And now this is I caution people against making this a very, very prescriptive conversation because it really is meant to be a conversation. So if they say something that, you know, if they describe a feature of your offer, that is part of the perfect solution they’re imagining, that’s a great opportunity to say, oh, I’m so glad you said that, because this offer that I’m working on has included, you know, three accountability touch points per quarter, because I know, you know, you mentioned that having a check in for accountability purposes would be amazing. And that’s exactly why I created it, because I know it’s so easy to fall off the wagon when we’re not, you know, connected with someone else that can keep us accountable.

AnnMarie Rose (00:31:52) – Something like that. Right. So. Keeping it very loose and conversational is useful. And what you’re listening for is language that is a clue to you that this person would listening for two things. There’s I always recommend recording these calls because you can come back to them and actually use the feedback to. Sometimes we’re going to actually make improvements to the offer itself. Most of the time we’re making improvements to how we’re positioning the offer so that it resonates. Based on the language that we’ve heard in there. We’re also listening for clues in the language they’re using that tell us they could be a right fit client or, you know, customer for this offer. And then if they’re saying enough things during that conversation that lead us to believe that, I don’t think there’s there’s no harm in saying, hey, you know, you mentioned this, this and this. And so. That all of those things are, you know, sending my alarm bells off in the best way. Because that’s exactly why I created this offer.

AnnMarie Rose (00:32:45) – No pressure at all. But if you want to chat more about how I could potentially help you with this, this and this that you mentioned, we can totally set up another time to chat to do that. So this doesn’t turn into a sales call. It remains a survey call. But if the conversation goes in a way that it often will to where you now discovered, oh wait, I have an ideal client sitting right in front of me. Use it. Say, hey, I can’t help but notice you would potentially be a perfect client for this offer. Should we chat about it or this offer could serve you well? Do you want to set up a time to chat about it? And then you.

Jillian Leslie (00:33:15) – Want to add a couple things I love that a couple of things. One, I would say absolutely sell it, then sell it for a discount, say oh two. Well, I’ll go back to my first point when they say I would like an accountability check in. And you’ve not thought of that.

Jillian Leslie (00:33:34) – Yeah. And it’s a great idea. You say to them, oh my God, we have accountability check ins. Because in that moment you have just decided that you’re doing accountability check ins. So you without lying, but where you are kind of making it up on the fly, if they have an awesome idea, you steal that and you say it back to them and say, I am going to be doing that, isn’t that crazy? And two, then you say, hey, you know what? Since I’m launching this, I am going to be selling this for $500. But if you buy now, I will sell it to you for $200 because I want to invest in you to make sure I deliver weight. And I would also say, and if I don’t deliver, I give you your money back.

AnnMarie Rose (00:34:28) – I like the money back guarantee. So there’s a couple of things you said in there that I mean like. However, I’ve worked with a lot of clients in doing this process, and I know that there’s there’s a certain type of person who can think on the fly like that and feels confident doing it, and then it’s their hard wiring is aligned to do that, which is why the person who can think on the fly and is going to do that is going to do it regardless of whether I tell them to or not.

AnnMarie Rose (00:34:49) – For the person who I’m advised them to do that, who is not hardwired that way, it is going to trip them up so massively and they’re going to be constantly in their head rather than engaged in the conversation. So that’s why I don’t lead with that recommendation, because I don’t want people to get I want them to just be in the conversation, just be in it. And then I know there’s a number of people who especially, you know, you mentioned like, if someone’s just going to start their business, there’s if someone is just starting their business, they don’t have a background in sales. There is a lot of stuff that comes up around the sales process, especially when we’re experts that can that can just make things feel more complicated than it needs to be. And one of those things is, well, if I’ve asked them to come on a survey, call it, give me feedback, and then I try to sell them something, are they going to be upset with me for trying to sell them something?

Jillian Leslie (00:35:39) – Maybe.

AnnMarie Rose (00:35:40) – Maybe, however, so.

Jillian Leslie (00:35:42) – That.

AnnMarie Rose (00:35:43) – I’m okay with it too? I know that a lot of newer business owners, however, are not okay with it, so I don’t want that to stop you from selling it. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to contain the survey moments and that you have not said anything that’s out of alignment, out of integrity in the slightest, or could ever be construed that way, because that call has remained a survey call. And now I’m in the state where I’ve been doing sales for a long time. I can I the energy I’m in when I’m on a sales call is really no different than when I’m on a client call, because all I’m doing is we’re talking about their problems, and I’m selling them on the potential that it can be fixed, even though there’s no transaction happening once they’re a client anymore. But I still have to like, sell them on the, you know, their next steps they need to take. Right. So I’m in the same energy regardless.

AnnMarie Rose (00:36:21) – But I know that takes experience to get to that point, which is why if you are still in that phase of getting comfortable in a sales container, then stay in the survey moment and live live there. Gather the feedback, but don’t lose the opportunity to invite them into a sales moment. If you are super savvy when it comes to your sales and you feel really comfortable and it’s great, have I have I personally had a survey call that turned into a sales call? Yes, bazillions of them, but not everybody’s in a place to do that, to feel confident doing it. So do what? Do what feels comfortable to you. Know that you know you can’t really do this wrong. The only wrong way to do it is to not try it at all. But you can make it feel good to you, good to the person on the other end. And for those people who I know are a little like more detail oriented, aren’t as much of like an on the fly thinker. Sometimes it helps to walk away and say, you know, because you might be a business owner who doesn’t will use that example of accountability, because maybe you that idea sounds good in the moment when you step back and you look at, oh, here’s how my life is structured and how my business needs to be structured.

AnnMarie Rose (00:37:28) – So having a once a week accountability call someone is actually not going to work for me. So it gives you just a minute to pause and think about what your what you’re going to promise. You don’t over promise and under deliver because that’s the fastest way to lose clients.

Jillian Leslie (00:37:42) – Absolutely. Well I guess the reason that I push back so hard is because selling is freaking awkward. It is so uncomfortable for everybody, and it is a muscle and you get better at it. So yes. Will the first call be just such a disaster? Probably. And will you survive? Yes you will. And in fact, if anybody has had that horrible sales call where they are so cringe and feel so bad about themselves, email me because we will talk about it. Because everybody goes through that. I am pushing back because, as I’ve shared previously, I have a coach named Dennis and he forces me to kind of throw it out and laughs at me when I have my moments of like, oh, it’s too hard or whatever.

Jillian Leslie (00:38:32) – And he’s kind of like, come on, you know? And so I am just trying to be that counterpoint because I talk to so many women who are so gentle and I’m like, oh, for sure.

AnnMarie Rose (00:38:44) – And it’s hard.

Jillian Leslie (00:38:45) – And it is weird. And if it’s weird, email me. I’d love to hear your story because I’ve got so many stories to share. But do know that if you believe in your offer, offer them whatever you’re doing for a super discounted price and give them a money back guarantee. What do they have to lose? Make it a no brainer for them to work with you, and it’s only by doing it and being weird and uncomfortable and saying the wrong thing. Do you learn and you get better and you get better. And so that is just my push.

AnnMarie Rose (00:39:21) – I’m I’m also I say this all the time like it’s only awkward if you make it awkward. So sometimes if you do. Awkward in the sales process and know that there’s an end to that. That comes with experience, like the sales press is not going to feel that awkward forever, but it’s only awkward if you make it awkward.

AnnMarie Rose (00:39:36) – So if you are, you know, navigating this process of trying to sell your offer for the first time, I think it’s perfectly okay and also makes you more likable to just say, you know, I am. I’m starting my business out. I know this thing that I’m going to help you with. I know that inside and out. But all these business pieces like these, this conversation we’re having now, all this is a little bit new to me. So. Forgive me if I say the wrong thing, or forgive me if I seem a little squirmy in my seat right now. It’s because this. This part is new to me. Just like how what I’m going to be helping you with is going to be new to you, and I’m here for it. I’m here to help you through those squirmy moments. We’re in this together, I love that. Yeah, how disarming is that? And just it’s like you’re like a friend. And of course, again, it’s going to depend on your personality and how your hardware and all those things.

AnnMarie Rose (00:40:23) – So you do what feels right to you. Yeah, but definitely don’t. The key, I think, to a successful ending to any call.

Jillian Leslie (00:40:35) – Is a continue.

AnnMarie Rose (00:40:36) – Business specific calls but even any calls. Similarly if I’m like on the phone with my mom is is direct next steps. So it is not useful to end a survey call. Say thank so much. Like I’ll probably follow up with you about this. If through the conversation you realize definitely not a fit, just say thank you so much for providing this feedback. I wish you all the best in solving this problem that we chat about. Thank you so much. Um, and you know, we’ll stay connected in other ways. Great. And the call, if you have any, if you think that the person could be a fantastic fit, say that specifically. I think you could potentially be a fantastic fit for this offer. If you if you want to say, do you have some time for us to continue the conversation about that? And if not, let’s set up another time to chat.

AnnMarie Rose (00:41:20) – Or you say, do you want to set up another time to chat about how I can support you in solving that problem and then get the the time on the calendar right then and there. Do not wait. Do not say you’re going to follow up with them. Get it on the calendar right then and there. Now you’ve got your conversation. Same thing at the end of a sales call. Fantastic. Do you want to talk about how we can get started? Okay, great. We can start with a kickoff call next Monday. What? And then all I need to do is take payment information in order to get that booked on the calendar. Take payment information, get it booked on the calendar, like direct next steps that are supportive to both parties. Yes, because.

Jillian Leslie (00:41:56) – Again, I feel like so I’ve been doing my I’ve been, you know, building online businesses since 2009. And in the beginning, as you know, we built this business called Catch My Party. It’s the largest party site on the web, and I am very and we do sell printables and stuff, but I am not actively selling because it’s uncomfortable and I didn’t want to do that.

Jillian Leslie (00:42:16) – And we’re publishers, we create content, we make money via ads. But I do believe that in this world of I and all of this, it’s all going to be in flux and change. But the one thing that can’t be replaced is me, you, and therefore investing in these skills that are so weird and uncomfortable, I think, is how you stay in this for the long game, because no longer will it. Again, I’m not a soothsayer, so I don’t know what the future’s going to look like. However, I believe that in order to to kind of protect ourselves or to build a some defenses for the possibilities of change, we lean in to ready for it, not SEO. I mean, yes, it’s all these all important, like social media, all that stuff. Lean into yourself. Lean into the fact that you believe you know something even, and you potentially have a solution that can help other people. And that’s where you come from. That position of, I’ve got something of value and I can help, and you have that problem, I can help you.

Jillian Leslie (00:43:24) – And it is a win win. If I can get you to buy this from me, I’m not again selling snake oil. I really have something. And I can make your life better and make my life better, and that is the goal. So that’s just my overall thought about it. But I want to make sure we leave time for you to talk about quizzes.

AnnMarie Rose (00:43:47) – Oh, quizzes. Yeah. Quizzes can be a really. Yeah.

Jillian Leslie (00:43:51) – So okay, so we’ve been talking again about how to do a lot of like in person and all this stuff. But for growing email I take it you really like quizzes. So just share what that means to you.

AnnMarie Rose (00:44:04) – Yeah. Quizzes can be really effective tools for growing your email list with right fit clients. And what I love about them is that, you know, it’s interactive. So it’s not the same as a simple download where a lot of times, let’s face it, those things sit in our inbox and, you know, go to the graveyard of freebies, where a quiz by nature, you’ve got to interact with it in order to get on someone’s email list in the first place.

AnnMarie Rose (00:44:27) – Most of the time, you know, I recommend setting up a quiz that way where you’re going to ask the questions, and then at the end you’re going to ask for email address and name. So they’ve already engaged with your brand. By answering these questions they’re already kind of bought into. They probably gone on a little bit, got a tiny transformational journey of gaining additional clarity by answering the questions that you’ve asked in your quiz experience. So when they end up on your email list, they’ve already had a micro experience with you. Okay, so.

Jillian Leslie (00:44:53) – First, what software do you recommend? Do you like?

AnnMarie Rose (00:44:56) – I’m going to be totally straight up with you. And this is my least favorite question because it doesn’t freakin matter. Sorry. There’s Google quiz platforms I use interact, but this just doesn’t matter. And it keeps people spinning their wheels searching the stuff like you can deliver a quiz. When I first started creating quizzes for my business, I guess what I did I put my quiz questions on PowerPoint slides, and I had calls with people to go over them, and I made sales on those calls.

AnnMarie Rose (00:45:19) – So it’s just the idea of guiding people to a place of gaining clarity. And you can do it in you could you could do it with interact. There’s a software called Outgrow It. Just, you know, there’s a number of different softwares out there that’ll do this. So yeah, they end up on your email list. They’ve already had a great interaction with your brand and they’ve also gained, I like to say on that outcome page, you want to give people some sense of direction as well. So based on the outcome of their quiz, what next step should they take or what things should they be considering that they maybe weren’t previously? This is a micro transformation. You’ve given them a 10% solution to the problem they’re experiencing. They now have greater clarity and they have some next steps they can go take. They’re not going to experience, you know, if they’re if it’s my client who wants some partner who’s going to hold their hand through shifting, you know, through establishing a scalable business model from something that wasn’t previously scalable.

AnnMarie Rose (00:46:15) – I can’t do that from just a quiz result. That’s going to be overwhelming if I try to do that. But what I can do is help them understand which component of their business strategy needs to be shifted first to scale with the greatest amount of ease. So if someone they need to make a shift to their business model, my next step might be let’s examine your offer suite using these question criteria to determine which offer to lean into so that you can scale faster. That might be a great quiz outcome. That’s going to again, give people clarity. Oh, I need to focus on my business model. What next steps do I need to take? I’m going to audit my current office suite.

Jillian Leslie (00:46:52) – God now? How many? Just logistics. How many different questions do you recommend? Because I have some. More than ten. No more than ten. Yeah. Okay. And any sense of like how to ask your questions or.

AnnMarie Rose (00:47:08) – Yeah. So there’s a number of different types of questions that you can.

AnnMarie Rose (00:47:11) – I have a whole course on this. So it’s like it could be, you know, we could go way, way down the rabbit hole. But for simplicity’s sake you want to keep your questions easy to understand. And I tend to recommend avoiding yes or no questions. Maybe you have 1 or 2 yes or no questions. Perhaps. But I would say most of the questions need to be not yes or no. So you’re going to need to come up with some thoughtful response options for your questions.

Jillian Leslie (00:47:38) – Got it. Okay, I would say the same thing. I would say no more than ten questions. If you could do it like eight better, I would say that where I find when I’m taking people because I will go, if you have a quiz, I’ll take it because I want to learn and see, like what would I do differently? Or what do I like that you did or those things? A couple of things. One, make sure you are not using inside jargon stuff you understand that people don’t understand.

Jillian Leslie (00:48:07) – So throwing a bunch of terminology at people, I recommend not doing that. I recommend we get very kind of invested in some cleverness to and to take out clever. Wherever you see it, shorten your questions like cut them in half, like make it fun and add the fun because nobody wants to take a boring quiz and like people will leave. So so for me it would be shorter is better. No inside stuff that you like. We I’ve seen this now multiple times where people write quizzes weirdly for themselves with what they know, instead of from the perspective of somebody who knows nothing or very little like you were talking about. You have all these concepts, but chances are the people you’re coaching don’t even know how to think about them exactly and make it fun and make it like no huge blocks of text, right?

AnnMarie Rose (00:49:09) – Right. Yeah.

Jillian Leslie (00:49:10) – Those are just like what I see when and if and if you ever face some, like, somebody offered you a quiz, go take it and learn from it.

AnnMarie Rose (00:49:19) – Um, yeah, definitely like that.

AnnMarie Rose (00:49:21) – Learning by experience is huge.

Jillian Leslie (00:49:23) – And the reason why I say make it fun is because you don’t. Because if it’s an interactive quiz, you’re asking somebody to work. I was I was on a call, I was on a call. And the guy I could totally tell was trying to sell me through the call. And he had his script and what he didn’t realize, it was like, oh, do you want more sales? Yes. Like how much is a sale worth to you? Blah, blah blah. And at a certain point I had to go, I need to stop you for a second, because you’re making me do math in my head, and I don’t want to be doing math in my head. So if you could just cut to the chase, I would really appreciate it. Oh, I’m with you on that. So it’s like, do not make me work. Make it fun for me. We have a quiz, which, by the way, everybody you can go get it.

Jillian Leslie (00:50:17) – military.com/quiz. By the way it’s just a PDF but it’s fun. It’s a personality quiz. And it says things like, well, what kind of ice cream flavor are you. Because. And one is like goat cheese and something, you know, like, ooh, I’m that person versus I’m more of the traditional rocky road or something like that, because those are insightful and they’re fun. And you’d be like, oh, would I ever know?

AnnMarie Rose (00:50:40) – Do you add context to those response options? Yes. Okay.

Jillian Leslie (00:50:44) – What I’m looking at is what kind of digital product you should start with. And should you start with a digital download, should you start with a paid workshop, or should you start with one on one coaching? So if you’re the person who likes that intimate connection and you’re willing to kind of show up live, I would say do coaching. And so we’re trying to get at what is your person how how if you’re like, really, if you’re a big extrovert, go do a paid workshop because that’s fun.

Jillian Leslie (00:51:14) – But if you’re super introverted, kind of nerdy, go do a digital download. Not that you would then move hopefully on to a paid workshop or a membership, but just like, where would you feel comfortable? But I’m going to ask you personality questions because I feel like I would rather you want to learn about your personality like, ooh, I’m this kind of person rather than, oh my God, you’re making me do math in my head.

AnnMarie Rose (00:51:41) – Totally, totally. So that informs mean your personality should inform your business strategy either way. So I’m a fan of that for sure. Absolutely. With all of my. That’s a big reason that I enjoy. Using quizzes as a lead generation tool is because I can provide someone customized recommendations based on their own preferences and personality, style and circumstances and things like that, and not just blanket information.

Jillian Leslie (00:52:05) – That’s and and by the way, the reason I structured my quiz the way I did is I have a 16 year old daughter, and she will take any quiz that teaches that gives her, regardless of like, who made the quiz.

Jillian Leslie (00:52:16) – There’s no science behind the quizzes, but she’ll see something on Instagram. She’ll come out and be like, mom, my my skin type. Like she’ll do the hair quizzes. The face teaches the like.

AnnMarie Rose (00:52:29) – Image and e-commerce now huge.

Jillian Leslie (00:52:31) – It’s it’s like unbelievable. And I gave her my quiz and I said, what do you think? And she got to the end because it’s very short. And she said this was fun. And I’m like, good one. You know, my 16 year old daughter thought it was fun. Then I’ve like passed the test. So think about this. My daughter. Would my daughter enjoy your quiz. You know, as a as a barometer of and I’m talking about digital products like it’s not I’m not talking skincare. So just like think about how to make that engaging and fun for people to do.

AnnMarie Rose (00:53:05) – Yeah, totally.

Jillian Leslie (00:53:07) – Okay, so Anne-Marie, this has been very fun. I feel like I have pushed back on a variety of things. I feel like we love it.

AnnMarie Rose (00:53:13) – I don’t know if you know the Enneagram, but I’m Annie Graham. I’m up for a challenge.

Jillian Leslie (00:53:16) – Oh, I’m an Enneagram six. Okay, beautiful. Interesting, interesting. We’ll have to talk about that. Okay, Emery, if people want to reach out to you to learn about what you do to take your quiz, where should they go?

AnnMarie Rose (00:53:30) – So I’m most active over on Instagram. You can find me. I’m at ask, ask Anne-Marie Rose love to chat about.

Jillian Leslie (00:53:38) – Anne-Marie so that they know.

AnnMarie Rose (00:53:41) – It’s a Anne-Marie and then rose like the flower. Perfect. And so I’m over on Instagram most frequently, so you can always feel free to DM me over there. And since we talked about quizzes today, I have a number of quizzes, but if you are interested in creating a quiz for your business, you can go to the quiz. Quiz. Com and that there’s a quiz that literally to help you determine what type of quiz to create for your business. And if you’re looking to do something else in your business, just send me a DM.

AnnMarie Rose (00:54:07) – I probably have a quiz to help you determine the best way to do that. Whether it’s making more sales move, scaling your business, what to focus on. I’ve got even refining your brand message. I’ve got quizzes on all those things.

Jillian Leslie (00:54:17) – Wonderful. Well, I have to say, this was fun and I really appreciate you coming on the show.

AnnMarie Rose (00:54:24) – Thank you so much for having me. It was fun to be here.

Jillian Leslie (00:54:26) – I hope you guys like this episode. What keeps showing up for me is that you are not your blog. Your blog is a part of your business, but you are at the center of your business. The your problem solver who understands what your customer is struggling with and with practice. You can go talk to people about this and you can sell. Speaking of which, if you are ready to start selling, we are going to be running an unbelievable Black Friday special for MiloTreeCart to get on the waitlist, so you are the first to find out about it. And there’s a special bonus for you.

Jillian Leslie (00:55:04) – Go to Milo tree.com/black Friday special again milotree.com/blackfridayspecial. Trust me you don’t want to miss this. And I will see you here again next week.