(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to the Accountability Coach podcast, where we will discuss topics, ideas, questions, and issues relating to having a totally balanced and successful life. This is Ann Backrack. Today we are honored to have a very special guest. Our guest is Terry Brock. Terry Brock is an internationally recognized professional speaker, syndicated columnist, and marketing coach. He has helped businesses in 35 countries to use innovative marketing ideas since 1983. Recently, Terry, along with our own Bill Backrack, was inducted into the professional speaker's Hall of Fame. Terry is known for, and he will be talking to us today about helping entrepreneurs and business owners to leverage technology, build quality for value for value business relationships. - Welcome, Terry. We really appreciate you joining us today. - It is great to be with you, Ann. - You know, you have such a diverse background and you've worked with so many different people. We're gonna try to consolidate all that knowledge into a few questions here and tips that you can teach us to help us be more effective entrepreneurs and small business owners, to help us be more successful. Is that work for you today? - That sounds good to me. I understand we only have about 12 hours on this podcast. Is that right? - Yeah, just 12 hours. - I'm sure it'll be so great that we'll wanna continue listening for 12 hours. - There you go, we can go. Well, we'll pack a lot in there. I think today it's more exciting to be alive than ever before because of the things that we have with technology and other things that help entrepreneurs to do better. - That's absolutely true. We're seeing such a dramatic rise in tools for social networking and social media. Give us some perspective on why we're seeing this and what's really going on with that whole area. - Well, I guess it's probably because people want to connect with people. That's really what it's about. I talk about my programs, I think called R-commerce, where I say it's not about the E-commerce and all the electronics. Those are nice, but what matters most is the R-commerce relationships. And really, it's the same thing that human beings have wanted to do for centuries. And how they gather around the general store in their rocking chairs 100, 200 years ago. People would get together in the town meetings. They want to be around other people. We just don't have that in our DNA. And now with technology, we use tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a host of others. They give us an ability to connect with people, not so much that are geographically located near us, but more interest-based. So that we're hanging around people that have similar interest or would have something that they can offer or we can offer them that makes our lives better all the way around. So when we've got tools like Twitter that says, hey, I can connect with someone or someone's plural over a vast space, then it works great. Well, we can give something that's relevant and current right now. I think this is why we're seeing the rise in this. And it's just really doing very well. Yeah, it certainly is. It's everywhere. And if you're not paying attention, your head must be in the sand or in the mud somewhere. As an entrepreneur, give me some perspective on how I could leverage these. I mean, obviously, I don't want to spend my whole day dealing with social media and networking types of things. How can I best leverage these resources and tools available to me today? That's an important question, because there's so much out there. And we sometimes can feel like, oh, man, what am I going to do? And I should spend all day, every day, on Twitter. And it's just continually. It never stops. And it can drive you nuts. Facebook, they're great. And lately, there's always something there. Now, not to mention YouTube. It's something like-- I forget the exact numbers. But I think it was something like 13,000 hours of video uploaded every minute on YouTube. You just do the math. You can't see them all. But I think it has to start with a strategy. What is it that you want to accomplish? And what is your business purpose? Don't feel that you have to go to Twitter and read every message that's there. Or even every message that has come through. What you want to do is to focus on those that are most important. For instance, those are going to be direct messages to you. Yes. Or those that are in a particular area. So what I would do is I would then say, OK, I'm going to channel these over here. Just those that deal with, for instance, a goal setting. And anyone that mentions goal setting, those words or several variations of that, I'd put that over here in a separate category, searching for that, and then spend time with that. Because there'll be a lot of things out there that they fall into the nice but not really important category. And by having our direction and our strategy, we're going to be a lot better off. And I think also one of the things to do is to really find out how should we filter these things. And one of the things I go back to is my old buddy, Peter Drucker, who said it long ago-- some very good things. I call him my old buddy, even though I never met Peter Drucker. But in reading his books, I just kind of considered him my buddy. But he had said that the purpose of business is to gain and to keep a customer. So if you can gain a customer by doing a particular activity, or you can keep a customer, then that's OK. And I think that's a prison we can use to filter not only Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and everything else through, we can use that for our lives. To find out, is this helping me to attract and to retain those customers that I want? If it does, wonderful. And if it doesn't, then we need to step back and reevaluate it. That's actually a really good point, Terry. When you talk about attracting and keeping clients, obviously that's really important for most businesses, no matter what you're doing. If you look at it from the attraction perspective, give us some examples of how we could leverage social media to possibly get referrals or attract new clients from a corporate standpoint. Maybe I'm looking for certain types of people or certain types of industries. Give us an idea of how to leverage that and how to actually do that. Well, one of the things you could do is with the keyword search. That's a real critical area. If, for instance, as Bill talks about financial planning and working with advisors on that, you could find people that have questions about that. People that had mentioned terms like 401(k) or they've mentioned investing, or they've mentioned trouble with finances and things like that, you can zero in on people that have said those key terms and find corporations that are dealing with that. For instance, with LinkedIn, you could go in and find people that might know somebody who knew somebody through the degrees of separation that would be there working with you. And you'd be able to find them and be able to let them see some value. And I think that's the way we have to do it with social media and really with anything in life. You don't just walk in and say, hi, I'm wonderful, buy my stuff. But rather, you've got to show real value to them. And that value is perceived and defined by them, what they're looking for. And then the social media gives us a ability to connect with people on a different level. Think of it often like a country club or an exclusive membership in a very prestigious gathering, social networking that would be not related to computers. You wouldn't walk in on the first day and just start handing out brochures and enforcing your way on everyone going, hi, I'm wonderful, here's my card. Hey, glad to be here, I can help you on this 'cause you'll shoot yourself in the foot. What you want to do is become a friend or as Bill, like to say it, I love the brain, the trusted advisor. You become that person that they trust, they like, and the way you get to like somebody and know them is they're talking about things that are relevant to you and not just about their things. They're not just talking about financial planning, financial planning is what they do. Or if you're a plumber, you wouldn't talk just about plumbing, you talk about other things, people like you. They get to know you and then they trust you. That's the way that it builds. And then from there, you're able to reach them with other messages and when they need something, like if they do need plumbing services and you're the plumber that has worked with them, they're gonna remember you. And that's what social networking, that's what any kind of networking, just being with human beings is all about. - Have you seen a lot of people really using this in that regard to attract clients or find potential clients? Have you seen a lot of people actually leveraging that as a tool? - Yes, and it was more and more. It's growing. The keys with social media is we didn't really do much with it a few years ago. It was a little bit, but it wasn't that big. But now it has come on strong. And I'm seeing people using this in a different way. That'd be an example of one way it was done for me. I was in my office, I was on December 22nd. I remember the day last year and I got a message from someone on LinkedIn that I had met at a social gathering here in Orlando where I live. And he had said, hey, if you order it today, QuickBooks 2009 is free. And I thought, yeah, right. Being the jaded journalist that I am, I gotta hold my arms and say, yeah, uh-huh, right. You know, 'cause I get so many offers, I don't know. And you get offers on the internet from time to time. - Oh my gosh, yes. - Yeah, there's a lot of that. I'll accept there is one, it's really good. I was gonna mention to you, this guy in Nigeria is working on a deal for me. And I know that one's gonna come through and it's gonna be great. And when it does, then that'll be great. But other than those, you know, some of them are a little bit wonderful. So I thought, yeah, right, sure. They're gonna offer QuickBooks free. So here's what I do. I'm gonna call into it. I got on the phone and called into it directly. They're the people that make QuickBooks. And the reception is answered. And I said, hi, it's such a very broad calling with business journals. And I have a question about something I saw. They said that if you order it today, QuickBooks 2009 is free. And that doesn't sound right, but I wanted to call you directly and just have you tell me. And she said, gee, I'd never heard of that. But hold on a minute. She put me on hold. I heard the lovely News Act music and all that. And then she came on about 60 seconds later and she said, you know, I checked with marketing and they said, it is real. You can get it for free today, but only for today. I said, okay, thank you very much. And I went back. And because of the message that I received on LinkedIn, someone had told me that, that I had met. Now he wasn't in financial planning. He was not an accountant. He ran a little deli shop, but just happened to mention it. And I realized that's the way it works. Because now I have a favorable impression of that person who runs the deli shop and they, hey, you know, he saved me 200 bucks on buying QuickBooks 2009. And sure, I wanna go buy and try some of the pastries and some of the cakes and things that he makes there. And those, that's the way that social networking has worked for centuries. It's the way that it continues to work today, where we focus on the needs of others, how we can help them in lots and lots of different ways. One of my, the best professors I had when I was in the MBA program back at Georgia State was a guy named Tom Stanley. And he called to us about going out and being the source where you connect other people. And I realized that's a good thing. Tom Stanley went on to write a book called "The Millionaire Next Door" with William J. Danko and became a bestseller. But Tom Stanley was, in my mind, the best product that I had in that program. And what he said was so true. We want to become the resource so that we don't just do what it is that we do. We wanna be able to advise someone on maybe a good dentist or a good realtor on the west side of town or someone who is real good if you need to get a car. You've got a good place to go, someone would be honest and fair with you, things like that. If you become that hub, that person that is the center, the go-to person for all of those things, then you're much better off. And a great way to leverage that is with the technology of the social media. So you get people following you. And the way you do it again is you have to provide value. Value for value is the key. Because any business relationship will break down if both parties aren't proceeding and receiving value for value in all that they do. - Well, that's a good perspective. So help me understand, if I am looking for a certain company or person to do business with. And let's say I go on to LinkedIn or Facebook or any one of these social networking sites and I find that this person is connected through maybe two levels to another person. How do I communicate with this person that I'd like to actually talk to this person? How do I provide value to this person to get to somebody else? What do you suggest we do in that environment? - Well, what you want to do is find what their interests are for both people. Let's say you're trying to reach Mary and Mary is connected to Todd and you know Todd that you don't know Mary. What you would do is you would work with Todd, find things that are of interest to Todd, reading his profile, finding out those kinds of things and then say, Todd, I need your help on something. I am trying to reach Mary. I noticed that you're connected to Mary. Do you know her very well? How much do you know her? What's the quality of the relationship you have? And would you mind making a referral for me to Mary if you're trying to reach her and find those things that are going to be of interest to Mary? Study her profile. Find out areas where she's interested. Find out where she hangs out. If she mentions any organizations that she's in or any favorite books or favorite areas or authors that she likes to read. Find out those things that would appeal to her. Don't just walk in and tell Mary hi. I'm wonderful by my stuff or get to know me because if Mary is an important person, she probably gets that all the time and has to build up shields to keep those people away. What you want to do is find things that are going to help her in areas where she is hurting right now. Follow the pain, one of the important principles in marketing. Find the areas where she needs help and then go after that. And by studying the profiles that are put out there, you can do a lot. Also do, of course, natural Googles searches on her. Do searches on the things that she's interested in. If she mentions in her profile that she may be studied anthropology. Find and go out and find some of the latest cutting edge things in anthropology that are happening and then reveal that to her. Let her see that. Get to know her as a human being first and let people know that you want to help them. And if you have a business reason to get in touch with her, let her know that clearly and succinctly, depending on the character and the personality that Mary has. And so it goes back to the same way that you would get in touch with someone if this was the year 1920 and you were at a social club. You would want to get to know Mary first, find out her interest and then become in that level of, she knows you and she likes you and then she trusts you. The same principles apply. We're just using different technologies today by doing a search on profiles and Google searches and things like that. Yeah, you mentioned Google and one of the new tools that somebody had told me about, it's like a clipping service used to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for is the Google Alerts. Yes. So if you're looking to get in with a company per se or with a person, you could probably even set a Google Alert on that company or person to see what comes up. What can you tell us a little bit about how to use that? Yes, that's something that I use regularly. Anytime the words teary, grok are mentioned together, then I get a notice on that. That's anywhere on the map. Google is constantly searching for that. It's a free service and free is pretty good. It's free in the budget for you, Anthony. Yes, definitely in the budget for me. Yeah, it's good. And for most of us today in this economy, hey, free is a good day, we like that. So we look for it and I make sure that I put it in right with quote, teary, space, grok, close, quote, because at first when I did, I just put in teary, grok and then it was showing me every time anyone named teary was coming up and anything named grok was coming up and that wasn't what I wanted. I want to find out when people are mentioning me. Now, that works for me. If you have a very common name like John Smith, well, then you're going to know there's more than one out there. And so you'd want to look at those areas of interest. And if we're trying to go back to my example of Mary, you're trying to reach Mary, find the areas she's interested in and do a search on that. Now, there's several tools out there to do it. Another one I found that's exceptionally good is filter box and that's spelled F-I-L-T-R-V-O-X. They kind of spell it a little different way. F-I-L-T-R-V-O-X. I use that and it will get mentions of my name, not only on Google and the searches on websites, but also it will track down Twitter. So when someone is looking for me or mentions my name on Twitter, I get a notice of that plus in using TweetDeck. I have a search set up on TweetDeck which monitors all the tweets that are going out on Twitter for me. And it's a great way to find out when people will say, hey, I read Terry's new column or I watched his new video, because as you know, and I'm producing a lot of videos, and they see that, they like it, and they go, hey, you got to watch this and they put a link for it. Then I'll respond back to them and say, hey, thank you very much for letting people know about that. And it helps to build the relationship. So those kind of searches, like Google Alerts and filter box, are two examples that are really important. You could do that not only for yourself, but also want to do that for your customers, potential customers, clients that you have out there, as well as competitors. Find out what the market is saying about your competitors, because today that knowledge is more powerful than ever, I think Francis Bacon would be proud. - Yeah, absolutely. Now, let's get back to the, we're not going to be able to do, unfortunately, 12 hours today. - Oh, okay, well, we'll have to do that again. - Yeah, help us understand, though. I mean, we're talking about a lot of great things, a lot of great things that could really make a difference in our success and our business. Give us a perspective on how much time should we spend on these things every day so we don't let it consume our life. - I think that's a valid question, very important, because the life balance issue is something we all struggle with. My feeling on that is you started by the strategy you have. If you and I were going to go work on a PhD, for instance, we know that we would be a little bit off balance for a period of time. So three, four, maybe five years or whatever it takes for that particular PhD program, and we'd say that's okay. I'm willing to be off balance for a specific period to get this thing done. When you and Bill go over to Australia, and you just got back, you were a little bit off balance only because, well, that's okay, you wanted to do that, and you might not have gotten as much sleep, and you spend a little bit more time with people that were there, that's okay. As long as you don't go too far over, and I think it's something that each of us has to decide. What is their right amount of time? I can't say what it is for each person. I do know that spending an hour, maybe hour and a half or so, a few times a week on social media is reasonable, 'cause that's where people are. Think of it like this. It's been the year 1920, you want to get involved in the community gathering. If you live in San Diego, you might decide, okay, I'm gonna get involved in the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, okay? That's a good thing, you meet people that way, and you might also want to get involved, maybe in the Del Mar Chamber of Commerce, or you might want to get involved, maybe go up to Los Angeles even, and I think, yeah, that's good, but after a while, you can't do everything, and you can't go to every Chamber of Commerce and every networking group that's out there. You have to step back and filter it through Peter Drucker's Prism. Does it help you to attract and to retain a customer? And so, by looking at it that way, it's a continual adjustment. We constantly try to figure it out. First one of the things I do, and it's a lot of fun I did just this last weekend, is I ride a unicycle, and living here in Florida, it's kinda nice 'cause the mountains in Florida are really easy to get around. Since they're not quite as good as the mountains that you have out there in California. (laughing) But I ride my little unicycle around, and it's fun, people look at me and go, "How do you do that?" And I tell them, "Well, you gotta hold your mouth just right." And so, I have fun with it, but when you're riding a unicycle, often you're out of balance. You're kinda leaning forward, or you're leaning back, depending on going up or down a hill. You know, sometimes you're wiggling around to get the new version of things. That occasionally you'll fall off, but you get back up and go ahead again. And I think that's how we determine it. There is no one set answer that you must spend 2.75 hours doing this, and then 3.178 hours doing that. Now, I think you have to continually measure it and base it on the goals that you have in life. And set up those goals. For instance, if a one important goal for you is spending quality time as you define quality, with loved ones, with your spouse, with children, with loved ones, we'll then block that in and make it untouchable. Something that is there, and you're not going to change that. Of course, unless there's an emergency. And if there's an emergency, fine, we adjust with that. But we can set up those things that are important, like, for instance, you and I both believe very strongly in physical fitness. I love swimming, and do a lot of that here. Do a lot of cycling. I'm a unicycle, running, you know, calisthenics, things like that. I just enjoy that. And I find that I do better when I'm exercising, and when I don't, I'm in trouble. One of the things I found helps me in my life is a philosophy of everyday building an SEM. Everyday, SEM. The S is for study. Learning grow our minds. Read or listen to good audio or 10 seminars. Find some way to learn something new. The S is for study. The E is exercise. Do something that is a little bit, do things that are muscle building, the stretching as well, these kind of things. Find the right tools for you. Check with medical authorities first, before you embark on a program like that. Make sure you're doing it proper way. But put that exercise in. And then M is meditation. Prayer, meditation, quiet time. Something so that we can step back from the horror and the buzz of today's frenetic society and be able to be quiet and calm. I recommend at least 10, 15 minutes a day for that. And if they will, I'm too busy for that. You think, well, then, maybe you're too busy. If you can't devote 10 minutes to your own peace and solitude and quietness to relax, then something's wrong. And adjust that. But every day, if we can do something, even just a little bit on SEM, I find that we achieve those goals and we're able to do the kind of things that we want. No, Terry, that was amazing. I didn't even, that came out of, that's not even related to technology, and I love it. Yeah, okay. It's something I use as a guiding principle in life. And I think that's important for all of our listeners to actually apply today as well. And the effective use of time management will help you be able to do that. So, you know, Terry's recommending about what did you say an hour and a half a week to get started with some of the social media. Yeah, try that as a start and then adjust it according to your schedule. You find, gee, I'm enjoying this more and I'm connecting with people, that's okay. And because really what it is is you're connecting with someone. If I send you an email message and you respond back and I've helped you, I think that's a good thing. That's not being with technology. No, that's being with Ann. I'm gonna get a chance to help Ann and you respond back to me and I feel good. We're able to connect in that way. And I think that's appropriate. But again, look at it. I go back to say again, we're in the 1920s and we're going to chamber of commerce. It's good to sit down, have lunch with people, to talk with them. But you can't do that 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You gotta get back eventually and do your work. Yeah, and I think that's another good point is when is the best time to do this? So, you know, I always consider having prime time. When is the best time you can actually talk and reach clients or prospects? Versus how much time am I gonna spend on the computer where I don't actually have to, they don't have to be working for me to get a hold of them. So when is the best time for us to do some of the stuff that's related to the social media or technology? Yeah, it varies for each person. I can mention what works for me. I find, I get up in the morning. I like to get up rather early. And then I can check, just a quick check of email. Some people say don't do it. I found that it helps me just to briefly look to see if there's any brush fires. I'm doing a lot internationally. So by the time it's forward in the morning here in Orlando, Eastern time, well, it's 9 a.m. over in London. And it is 6 p.m. actually, 7 p.m. now in Australia, Sydney and Melbourne at this time and over in the Gold Coast. And so I check to see that. But then I spend quality time reading. I like to read a book a day and sit down and go through and study and read the photo reading that I learned from Paul Shealy, helped me on that. And I'll do that. I'll listen to some audio or watch videos on podcasts. Then I like to get out and do some exercise. Well, I'll go out and I'll swim early morning hours. It's kind of nice. And then have some quality meditation so that by the time the day gets started, I can do it. When would I put in the time on the social media? Well, I would do that at a time when I wouldn't be able to do some of the other things. I can do it during the day, a little bit. That works. But I find often in the afternoon, when I start feeling, sometimes I'm just a little bit tired. And then I'll care that that afternoon slow down. Well, I can do some things on the computer there as people are slowing down or do it in early evening. So I like to do things on the computer answering the email at a time when others might not be around the office. But they will catch the email eventually. And then make phone calls and direct meetings where I actually get out and have a physical meeting with someone face to face and do that during the day when that's a good business hours. Yeah, that's really great. We appreciate that. What would you say are the most important skills necessary for success today and tomorrow that maybe you haven't mentioned already? Well, there's several. I think the first is going to be the attitude. The right attitude is the skill so that you have a spongy mind. You want to soak up knowledge and information. We all know school is never out for the professional. And we've got to continue learning. I love the way Earl Nightingale said it when he said, some people say, well, I took English when I was in college. I took political science back in school. Or when I was in school, I studied this. And if it were an inoculation, maybe you take it once and you don't have to do it again. It's a continual thing. So I think one of the most important skills is having that inquisitive mind. And then coupled with that would be the ability to read and assimilate information rapidly. I mentioned photo reading. It's one that I've used and helps enormously, not speed reading, but photo reading. And it gives you the ability to process lots of information and retain that. And I think memory development is important, too. Remembering important information. If you can get that, you're going to be able to retain information that's vital and important. And I think a knowledge of how to deal with people. Who was it? I think Charles Schwab that said I would pay more for the ability to deal with other people than any other skill. Getting along with people today is still important. Now, you notice I didn't mention anything about technology there. We can use technology to supplement that. I feel that technology is our servant. It's good, much like a car is a good technology to get your body from one point to another. Faster, better, and mutually safer than it would be if you just walked along a road. But we don't worship the technology, and that keeps changing. But develop those skills that are learning skills, the ability to get along with other people, and the skills of learning certain ways to heal. So that as you can heal your physical body, learning what to do, working, of course, with health care professionals, then you're going to be better, anyone can harm. Lots of people do that, but learning how to heal is much better. You gave us some great points, and especially around just learning and using our mind. I mean, we've heard so much about just learning and using our mind more helps reduce Alzheimer's, which is a whole other topic we won't get into. But I think it's important for us to continue to learn and grow, and that's how we get better, and that's how we become even more successful. So those are really great points, and I appreciate you sharing that with us. If someone wanted to get more information, Terry, about your services, or what you do, or if there's something that they could take advantage of on your website or with you, how would they do that? Well, it's real simple. I can go over to my website and look at the blog, see the videos, and drop me a note there. I see all of those. They come in wherever I am on the planet. And it's realsimple, terrybrock.com. And we spell that T-E-R-Y. And the last name is spelled the right way, D-R-O-C-K. So terrybrock.com, and you'll find all the information how to get in touch with me, and be able to get the information there so that you can learn specifically that entrepreneurs can build their business and be able to grow and do a lot more. Fantastic. Well, we appreciate you spending your time, and certainly your great expertise and knowledge with us today. Again, for those of you who might be interested in learning more about terry services and programs and things that you can take advantage of, go to terrybrock.com. And I think your email is just terry@terrybrock.com as well as that-- Yes, that's correct. Exactly. terry@terrybrock.com is a great way to reach me. Great. Well, for all of our listeners, we appreciate you listening today. And remember to aim for what you want, each and every day. Until next time, make it a great day today and every day. My hope for our time together is you've got some value and an idea or two that will help you be even more successful, personally and professionally, to help keep you focused on these activities that produce the results you want. Subscribe to the Accountability Coach blog at accountabilitycoachblog.com. Take advantage of the many free resources and tools to help you be even more successful that are available at accountabilitycoach.com. That's www.accountabilitycoach.com. Things like the special report on keys to working less, making more money, and having a more balanced life. Enjoy and take advantage of them. [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat music)
[[:encoded, "We are honored today to have a very special guest. Our guest today is Terry Brock. Terry Brock is an internationally recognized professional speaker, syndicated columnist and marketing coach. He has helped businesses in 35 countries to use innovative marketing ideas since 1983. Recently, Terry, along with our own Bill Bachrach, was inducted in the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame. \n\nTerry is known for, and will be talking to us today about, helping entrepreneurs to lever...
