This is the last solo show of the year, so I want to go through the key podcasts of 2022 and the outlook for 2023. We aired 68 podcasts, so I will only cover my favorites of the year. In these episodes, we had amazing guests and covered topics from LinkedIn outreach, personalized video, how channel partners can grow sales, how to improve your delivery margin, and a few other things. What’s coming in 2023? I’ve built a great free community, the Cloud Consultants Collective, with more than 150 mem...
Dec 15, 2022•13 min
Increasing your prices by 5-10% to keep up with inflation is not the type of price adjustment that will reposition your company and set you up for successful growth. In this episode, Mandi Ellefson will explain in detail how to increase your fees by 50-200% by attracting an entirely different kind of client. All you have to do is be very intentional about the type of growth that you want for your business. How do you do that? It all starts with an irresistible offer that the right prospects want...
Dec 12, 2022•45 min
When the economy is strong, you can rely on referrals from your network and SaaS platform to grow your revenue. However, when it goes the other way, you have to work harder for sales. I don't have to spell out to you that the current global economic headwinds are massive. What was easier has now become harder. Many of the factors are uncontrollable, but not all. So what can you do today to improve your sales strategy and, ultimately, your revenue? I'll share in this solo show two factors you can...
Dec 08, 2022•10 min
If you don't understand the kind of outbound process your organization needs, you need to listen to this episode. Antoine Marsden, who helps business owners to accelerate sales revenue, is here to explain why outbound is a huge developer of mid to long-term pipelines. Crafting your message, getting it out there, and creating a list of people potentially interested in your product or service are the first steps to building a successful outbound strategy. You could have the best product in the mar...
Dec 05, 2022•38 min
When working with a SaaS partner, building a relationship with your direct reps will return in the form of more new business. Why? Omi Diaz-Cooper, a marketing genius with 25 years of experience, is here to paint a clear picture of how to use partnerships to close sales earlier. Her approach is to let the direct reps know you're well-versed in a specific vertical or industry, and they will come to you when they need a personalized onboarding experience. Now it's on you to close the deal. Omi use...
Nov 28, 2022•32 min
Did you hit your sales targets last week? If you don't have a weekly target, don't worry because that's more common than you think. At Coca-Cola, I was taught to break annual targets into cases sold for the day because that's how you can only impact the actions for today, not the future. But if you want to scale your business, you should know the answer to this question. So what are those three daily habits that help me achieve my weekly sales targets? Listen to the full episode to find out. Lin...
Nov 24, 2022•8 min
Today, 75% of world trade flows indirectly. Things are changing, industries are progressing, and the world is becoming embedded. Jay McBain is here to share his perspective and predictions on the partner ecosystem future based on a ton of research he has made. In Jay's words, the ecosystem has always been around us, just not at the scale. But SaaS companies are bringing more and more partners to the dance to make the never-ending customer journey easier for everybody. That's what he calls the pa...
Nov 21, 2022•35 min
Creating a business with an exit plan in mind will only help you build a healthy business, even if you don't ever sell. It's basically a business strategy that makes you keep the operational and financial side of the company in order and create solid marketing and sales engine. But let Lorne Kaufman tell us from his experience what lessons he learned from exiting three businesses. He's a managing partner at Momentum Solutionz and a serial entrepreneur who's always thinking about his next project...
Nov 14, 2022•38 min
I work with many cloud consultants daily, and two key problems come up in almost every conversation: They don't have enough clients, and they can't find good team members. Does that sound like you? In this episode, I will cover the second one and show you how to use staffing companies to continually recruit the best talent around the world. Links 433 - Show Notes Cloud Consultants Collective SendSpark Join our newsletter Connect With Paul On LinkedIn On Facebook On Twitter: @PaulHiggins555 On In...
Nov 10, 2022•9 min
Most business owners believe that sales is their problem when it's actually just a symptom of poor and unclear messaging. What is messaging, then? In this episode, Karthik Vijayakumar explains what messaging really is and how the right words can help you convert sales. All you need to do is tell people what you do for your audience and how you help them solve their biggest problems. And your website homepage (among other channels) should do that work for you even while you are sleeping. The job ...
Nov 07, 2022•48 min
In this episode, Nick shares how creating an audience helped build two businesses in parallel: The consulting side of things and the thought leadership. Both feed leads to each other, in addition to those coming from partnerships. But how do you leverage those partnerships to get more leads? From his experience, it's all about being strategic. You need to get involved with their communities, engage with their salespeople, and understand their business perspective. Links 431 - Show Notes Nick’s L...
Oct 31, 2022•20 min
While your role is to help clients to avoid mistakes, it can be much bigger. Clients often underestimate the potential of their business, but you are there to help them think bigger. How can you do that? In this episode, you will learn about the helicopter view and how that helps you think bigger for your clients. But most importantly, the value for you to doing that. Links 430 - Show Notes Cloud Consultants Collective SendSpark Join our newsletter Connect With Paul On LinkedIn On Facebook On Tw...
Oct 27, 2022•10 min
It's a fact that the partner industry is changing and will consolidate in the next few years. The question here is, what are you doing to keep up to remain relevant? Doug Wendt is on the show to share his perspective on the evolving partnership ecosystems. Doug is the Co-Founder, senior partner, and Chief Growth Officer at Wendt Partners , an Elite HubSpot Partner and comprehensive technological solutions firm. He shares his journey to becoming an Elite HubSpot Partner, how to win in the new par...
Oct 24, 2022•33 min
The channel reseller model is dying quickly, which makes us rethink everything we know about partnerships and ecosystems. In today’s episode, Des Russell , Chief Partnership Officer at Partner Elevate , explains why you should take ownership of moving your business forward and not rely on your vendor to get leads. You will learn how the vendor/partner ecosystem is changing and what are the three problems partners face in the current environment. Links 428 - Show Notes Desmond LinkedIn’s Profile ...
Oct 17, 2022•41 min
As a business owner for 11 years, out of revenue, profit and cash flow, I lost more sleep over the last one and sometimes I still do. I don't miss that feeling when you have taxes or payrolls to pay and no cash in the bank. Or you want to go and invest in an expert that you know will help you grow, but you just don't have the cash in the business to afford it. In this episode, I go through five traps most cloud consultants fall into it and how to avoid them to escape the cashflow crisis. Links 4...
Oct 13, 2022•14 min
Starting a marketing agency is challenging, but everything gets easier when implementing the right systems and procedures for you and your clients. In this episode, Clodagh S. Higgins shares her insights on how to build a happy and healthy agency. She is a business coach and consultant for digital marketing agencies and an ex-HubSpotter who helps owners in the areas of sales, marketing, services, and scaling. She explains how the Gino Wickman EOS model can work for your agency, the 6 pillars to ...
Oct 10, 2022•42 min
Businesses of all sizes and industries have one problem in common: Marketing. And that’s why they bring in someone externally to help them build their marketing strategy. In this episode, Alisha Conlin-Hurd , co-founder at Persuasion Experience , helps businesses to increase conversions and scale their systems by uncovering what their target market really wants. You will learn the number one rule of marketing that many B2B businesses miss, how you can nail your strategic partners and how to make...
Oct 03, 2022•37 min
There are typically four ways to generate revenue in your cloud consulting business: Referrals, SaaS vendors, outbound and strategic partners. In this episode, Paul goes deeper into how to self-generate outbound leads. You will learn some of the common challenges cloud consultants face when generating high-quality leads, three steps to solving them, and multiple opportunities to get some help. Links 424 - Show Notes Fast Track program Sales Machine Ideal Client Framework Sales Sherpa Snov.io Zer...
Sep 29, 2022•15 min
If you’re struggling with your systems and processes, you need to listen to this podcast episode. Kylie Harker , founder and director of Squirrel Business Solutions and a Zoho partner, works with businesses to implement robust systems and processes so they can make decisions based on numbers. In this interview, she shares how rebuilding her website has been a game changer for her business, her recruitment plans to keep up with that growth and why she will double her business in 12 months. Links ...
Sep 26, 2022•38 min
We all know that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. But most consultants remain hesitant to add this channel to their marketing strategy. Why? Yes, it might take some work but what you get in return makes it worth day. Gareth Pronovost is here to explain how you can use YouTube to build your email list and bank account. But he also shares tips on starting your own channel and using it to grow your business. Finally, he explains how the platform you sell could integrate wit...
Sep 19, 2022•37 min
Sales doesn't come naturally for some business owners, so they instead spend extra time on delivery. But balancing sales and delivery is essential to meet your growth ambitions. In this episode, you will learn how to allocate time to sales and how to reduce your time in delivery. Links 421 - Show Notes Cloud Consultants Collective SendSpark Ep. 415 – How to Spend 25% of Your Time on Sales Ep 2213 – The Marketing School Connect With Paul On LinkedIn On Facebook On Twitter: @PaulHiggins555 On Inst...
Sep 15, 2022•14 min
Whether you’re starting a new business or changing the direction of an existing one, picking a niche is the best decision you can make as a small business owner. And Allison Strickland can confirm that. She is a Salesforce developer for a large life sciences company and owns two of her own businesses in the same niche: healthcare and higher education for healthcare. In this episode, Allison explains why the riches are in the niches and how she plays in communities to gain clients. She also share...
Sep 12, 2022•34 min
Did you know that an entrepreneur will spend anywhere from 30 to 60% of their week bogged down doing administrative tasks and projects rather than working on sales? Valerie Trapunsky , a professional problem solver, is here to explain how an executive assistant can relieve business owners from doing it all by themselves. In this episode, we will all learn three options for clearing 30-60% of your work, what typically stops people from having an executive assistant and how to overcome those barri...
Sep 05, 2022•45 min
I've been working on this ebook for months, so I'm excited to bring this to you today. I've walked in your shoes, from starting a cloud consulting business from scratch to building a large team to having a successful exit. And all that first-hand experience is contained in that fantastic document. In this episode, you'll learn the three stages of this blueprint and the three elements under each. I also share where you can download the ebook to see how you're progressing against this blueprint. L...
Sep 01, 2022•19 min
Would you be willing to donate money to a charity to get people’s attention and increase your email reply rate? That’s why Andy Mowat created Gated , a platform to reduce email noise and increase real connections. In this episode, he explains how you can get a 46% reply rate on your sales emails, what other things are still working in outbound and, the best part, a brilliant way to add value to your busy buyers that do good in the world. Links 417 - Show Notes Andy’s LinkedIn profile Gated.com G...
Aug 29, 2022•29 min
Many business owners don’t prepare their business for an exit because they don’t plan to sell. But when you do that early on, what you’re actually doing is making your business better today. And Raj Jha has seen that multiple times. He’s an investor and advisor helping businesses optimise their structure to get them in shape for a foreseeable exit in the future. In this episode, you will learn how to run your business without being an integral part of it, preparing it for a successful exit while...
Aug 22, 2022•39 min
If you don’t have a background in sales, you probably don’t feel comfortable selling and spend more time in delivery or other parts of your business. But the truth is that you should be doing the sales yourself as a business owner. In this episode, Paul takes you through four actions you can take to get more comfortable and start spending more time in sales. Links 415 - Show Notes Cloud Consultants Collective SendSpark LeadJet Ep. 302: 7 Actions To Get More Time To Sell Connect With Paul On Link...
Aug 18, 2022•11 min
Building a business from the ground up is not an easy thing to do. But It takes far less time to achieve it than you would think. All you need to do is surround yourself with experts to build your personal brand. And Bob Gentle is here to spell it out for all of us. Bob works with leaders at every stage of business to help them step out in front of their marketing. In this episode, we’ll learn the impact of personal branding on your sales and a personal branding roadmap for you to follow. He wil...
Aug 15, 2022•38 min
Whether you’re doing LinkedIn outreach or not, this episode has tremendous value. Tyron Giuliani is here to share his wisdom from his coaching experience helping B2B business owners transform their LinkedIn from a stale to a sales funnel to land clients. In this episode, you will learn the importance of emulating real-life conversations to get 100% connection and replies, as well as some pre-warming techniques. Finally, he explains why you should spend time on the front end of LinkedIn to reduce...
Aug 08, 2022•48 min
We send sales messages every day via email, LinkedIn, text messages, or social media. Customizing them takes time, but what if you keep them all in one place? That’s how you’re going to see patterns and improve your messages. In this episode, Paul is going to show you why you should capture your sales messages in one place, where to keep them and how to use them. Links 412 - Show Notes Cloud Consultants Collective SendSpark Connect With Paul On LinkedIn On Facebook On Twitter: @PaulHiggins555 On...
Aug 04, 2022•10 min
