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The Sales Evangelist

Dustin Mathews, Donald Kelly, Inc 500, Revenue Growth

Looking to grow your company in seven figures? Who doesn’t? And oftentimes, it all boils down to learning the basics and practicing them over time.

Dustin Matthews is a speaker, an entrepreneur, and a phenomenal author. Today, he shares with us great insights into the strategies they did in helping grow a business to $14 million and how that business has gone on top of Inc 500.

Currently, he runs a company called Speaking Empire. They work with entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals to deliver the message with the idea of “one to many.”

Dustin has also co-authored the book No BS Guide to Powerful Presentations: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Plan to Selling Anything with Webinars, Online Media, Speeches, and Seminars.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Dustin:

Strategies in improving customer acquisition:

1. Identify who the potential buyer is.

Find out where they’re hanging out. Go to where they hang out. You may not have an avatar yet but you somehow have a general sense of who can benefit from your product.

2. Figure out how you can get in front of them.

  • Pay to be a sponsor to speak or show demonstration.
  • Start building an email database.
  • Do live events and invite them to come to your event and offer if you can come to theirs.
  • Think about how you can build value for that person.
  • Just be bold and go up to them and ask about the things they need help with.
  • Really connect with them. Listen. How can you provide that value?

What If You Don’t Have a Marketing Department?

1. Research

Look people up on LinkedIn and figure out what they do. Try to connect with them and bond with them.

2. Build relationships.

Do something different to build the trust of your customers. Be creative.

How they grew their company to a $14 million making machine:

In the first year, they did $1 million. By their second year, they did $3 million. And in their third year they did $14 million. How did this take off?

1. Dial in the right sales message and find key relationships.

They started figuring out how to sell and market. Figure out a message that can get people into action. Relationships play a big part of it. Begin investing money into marketing to put fuel into fire. You already have the message dialed in so now it’s about how to reach more people.

2. Figure out how you can get in front of more people.

Do previews and demonstrations. Incentivize people with food or bonuses and gifts they’re interested in. Do demonstrations. It’s not the best at selling your message. But the fact is that you’ve got people in the room and so they would think you’re interesting.

3. You may have to be the marketer or you may have to create new products and new offers.

Be the marketer. Go to the people that have already bought from you or that you have a relationship with and make some sort of different offer (ex. product line, discount, referrals).

Invest in yourself.

Invest in going to networking events. Invest in yourself. Invest in education. You have to make yourself better and when you do, you can bring value to more people. Get as many skill sets as possible so you can be the most valuable in whatever situation you find yourself in.

Want to get recognized?

You have to apply for it. Go to INC500 Application.

Entrepreneur now has an award system too. You have to apply. You have to be in business for three years. And you have to show a certain amount of growth over those years.

Dustin’s Major Takeaway:

Invest in yourself and come with a student’s mindset. Even if you find yourself in an unfavorable situation, ask yourself what you need to learn here. It’s not always easy. But always think about what you’re supposed to learn from that situation. Come with a student’s mindset and drop the ego.

Episode Resources:

Speaking Empire

No BS Guide to Powerful Presentations: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Plan to Selling Anything with Webinars, Online Media, Speeches, and Seminars by Dustin Matthews and Dan Kennedy

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

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About the Author The Sales Evangelist

Donald is the host of the popular sales podcast,"The Sales Evangelist". He is the founder of The Sales Evangelist Consulting Firm where he helps small companies develop killer sales process to scale their business and increase growth.

Donald is also an award-winning speaker, sales trainer, and coach. He's a big fan of traveling, South Florida staycations and high-quality family time. Donald has a belief that “anyone” can sell if they have the desire and receives the proper training.

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