Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of relationships rule. My special guest today is Chantel Cornelius, from Apple Tree marketing all the way from England, and I am so excited to talk to her today. Please, welcome, please let me just welcome you first to the show.
Thank you, Janice. It's lovely to be here.
You're most welcome. I wanted to tell my audience that, you know, Chantal has been around for a long time in doing the work that she does. She's a pro. She is She founded Apple Tree marketing in 2000. The year 2000, which seems like it was yesterday, but it really was a long time ago now. Oh, my goodness. And and you work with coaches, consultants and speakers that want to grow their business and achieve their goals through making strong emotional connections with their clients?
Correct? Yes, absolutely. It? Yeah,
I think I think the thing that that when I first came, was introduced to you and your work. The thing that hooked me immediately was that you it says in your bio, that the key to that you believe that the key to standing out from competitors is to build strong, long lasting relationships with clients. Well, obviously, you know what I do my, my podcast is called relationships rule. I couldn't agree more. And so I felt the
need to find out more and how you work with that. So please tell me, where did that come from for you.
That all came about, because I spent a lot of time looking at HR, I spent a lot of time listening to clients saying I'm really struggling to show people what makes me different to know coaching and speaking, it's a really competitive industry. And so my clients were struggling to stand out from all of the other coaches, consultants, speakers that are out there. A lot of people use USPS unique selling points unique selling propositions. And I just I
started listening to what my clients were saying. And they were all saying the same thing. I'm different, because I've been doing it for 20 years, or I, whatever it was, and it was all the same. And I thought there's got to be a better way of doing this. So I started digging and researching. And this was back in 2015, that I started doing this. And what I discovered is that what really makes people stand out in business is the relationships that they build with their clients. And the fact
that the relationships are built on emotions. Now that might sound fairly obvious. But the next level that I got to was that these emotions are not what we feel as the the coach, the consultant, the supplier, but it's what the clients want to feel. And there's a there's an important point here that we can't make anyone feel anything, you know, I can't, I can't make you feel happy, Janice, do things that might make you feel
happy, but I can't make you feel happy or sad or anything. So it's very much about understanding the emotions that our clients want to feel. And then using that to build the relationship, because the need there needs to be there needs to be a match. So if I have clients who want to feel safe, and looked after, when I deliver that to them, or when I promised
that in my marketing, they go, Oh, yes, I want that. Whereas if I had a potential client, and I do get this potential clients come and say, I want to I want to feel inspired and challenged and motivated. And I go, that's not really me. That's not the type of marketing that I do. And I refer them to somebody. It's about it's about it's about finding, finding that common ground that relationship it's it's all about relationships, and you know that
yeah, it totally and it's interesting, though, because when you when you first meet people, it's it is a feeling, right? It's it's the connection is either there or it isn't for me right away. And and that's not the same with everybody. Because some people guard their feelings, right? And they're, you know, they're testing the waters before you can get in there and see what they're really like. So, right so how do you how do you break through that? Like, is it
through the right kind of questioning? Is it how do you or do you have to teach your clients how to do those those things? It's,
it's a bit of both. When I when I started doing the research, I realized that I could quite quickly tell what somebody was wanting to feel by gut feel. You know, I would get a feeling and you may get this you might meet somebody at an event apart. Tea and really quickly you go, Oh, I really like this person, I want to spend more time with them or
you get oh, no, I don't want to spend time, right. And a lot of it is because the research that's been done by other people is showing that 95% of our decisions are made subconsciously. So our subconscious brain, before we've even consciously realized what's going on our subconscious brain is going, I don't like this person, or I do like this person, or I don't like what they're wearing. You know, we talk a lot about first impressions being so important.
And they are because the subconscious brain is the one that is checking you out. So I might go, Oh, I love your glasses. I love the color of your of your sweater. But my subconscious brain has already gotten I don't like that color. I do, by the way, I love I love the color. So we have to be really careful in listening to our subconscious brain. And
it's, it's 95% of what goes on. And it's emotional. Yeah, the conscious brain then chips in with the final 5% of rational decision making of going, well, actually, I think I will talk to this person. But quite often if your gut feel is I don't want to talk to this person. And then your rational brain goes on, we'll give it a go. Actually, the subconscious the gut feel is what's is what's right. A lot. Yes.
So we think that, you know, when you said that, Oh, I love your glasses or the color of your glasses or whatever. If it's not coming from a true place. Can you tell?
As in?
Well, you talked about it. Well, you talk about you know, the majority of the of the feelings come from the, the subconscious. Yeah. And if, if you are a phony about how, Oh, you look lovely today to see and you tell? Yeah,
sometimes I can Yeah, I'm getting, I'm getting better at it. And I'm fascinated by people. And by watching people, and I've, I've learned in the last four or five years, I think, to really let go of my barriers, I used to spend a lot of time worrying about what I thought other people thought of me. So I would always be I would always put on a kind of a business face and a front like no, this is this is the this is the business way of doing it. And for various
reasons. Over the last five or six years, a lot of those barriers have dropped away and I am much more you know, this this is who I am, if not tough.
Well, I think that comes with age. I hate to say this, but yeah, I guess and experience and experience. Yes. And feeling more comfortable in who you are. Right? No. And always, for sure. Because I think I remember those days to back when it was really important what shoes I wore. Yeah, you know, I'm
still I am still very conscious of what shoes I wear. You know what I'm speaking on stage. I'm known for wearing a short dress and a pair of knee length boots.
Oh, isn't that funny? Okay, yeah. So yeah, that's kind of my uniform.
I do it when it's hot. But I still turn up at events and people go, where are you boots? Or the boots you wearing tonight? Yeah,
that's cool. So I know that. Sorry. Go ahead.
That's right. Gone. No.
So um, I know that you work a lot with service based business owners, and you have your system of standout strategies that you use to help people make that emotional connection with their clients. Can you would you share those with us? Would you would you both? Oh, okay. Excellent. Because I'd love to know, how you what they are and how you show people how to use them in order to stand out from the competition.
Okay, yep, love to so these these strategies are five that I identified as a result of all the research that I've been doing into the emotional connections and the emotions that clients want to feel. And you did ask me earlier if if I just kind of guessed this or if there's a way of doing it well, there is and this this is it. So the strategies I'll run through them quickly, and generally every business will have one of the five that is the one that
makes their business stand out. So anyone who's who's listening to this this episode and actually janitor you can do this too as you're listening to how I explain them out of any any of the fives that really resonate with you any of that you feel I gave a talk about this just yesterday and one of the people in the order He said to me, as I got to number three, he said he felt the hairs on the back of his neck. So that that for him
was a real way of knowing that was for him. And once I've run through them, then I'll show you the way to really work out which one it is perfect. Okay, number one is called certainty. And this is where this is about being a safe pair of hands for your, for your customers. I am known as a safe pair of hands in terms of marketing advice for clients, they don't want me to say, Oh, what do you think you should do in your marketing, they want me to tell them, and I'm very strict talking. And I'm
very bossy, especially with my boots on. So so that that for me is safe pair of hands. It's about it's where clients want to feel safe and secure and informed and peace of mind. They want it black and white, basically.
And they totally trust you. They do Yeah, yeah.
And it's because I will say to them, don't do that marketing, do this instead. And then it works. So so they like that. The second one is called connection. This is about when this is when clients want to, they want to feel something, they want to feel part of something bigger, they might want to feel part of a family or an association or a tribe. So networking organizations, this is a great
strategy for them. It's not about selling services to people in the room, it's about bringing people together, it's about bringing people of a birds of a feather together so that you can meet the right sort of people that that you that you need to meet. I don't see this very often for people like coaches and consultants, and speakers, it happens more with network with larger organizations. But I did meet an accountancy firm recently. And for them connection is really strong.
Their clients work with them because they can connect them to other businesses as what they love about it. Oh, interesting. Okay. Number three is called contribution. And this is where clients want to feel part of something beyond just themselves. A lot of charities use contribution really nicely. And it's about if I, if I want if I support a charity, if they say to me, Oh, just pay me some money. There's no There's no emotional connection there. But if they talk to me about, oh,
there's a fabulous charity called lend with care. I don't know if it's a charity, but it's a it's an organization where you can make a small donation and you you lend money to people in developing countries who need I often, I usually pick the projects where it's usually a woman, and she's usually wanting to buy another cattle or a goat
is saying, No, that's not Cuba. No, it's
called lend with care. All right, I'm just kidding, right? Okay, and I get psyched. So I was first introduced to it by a friend who gave me 30 pounds worth of donation to give to people. And what's really lovely is I get regular updates from the people to whom I've lent money, and I get repayments. Now, repayments might be tiny, it might be $1 a
month. But I've supported a lot of people where they've paid off their loan, because they bought the cow, the cow is producing milk, the milk is the milk is going for butter and cheese, whatever, and they're selling it and then they can afford to pay the money back and then buy another cow. So I get this kind of warm, fuzzy feeling. Every time I get a response or an email from from somebody and then with care to say, this lady has you know, she she's doing things. It's just it's fab. So
that's, that's an example of contribution. The fourth strategy is growth. Growth is about personal or professional growth. It's often about both. I see this a lot with coaches, you might have a coach for whom growth is a really strong strategy because their clients come to them saying, I need to develop myself, I need to be more assertive or braver or more courageous. And they are attracted to that coach because that coach is all about helping them to grow. I see it a lot
with coaches and speakers as well for for corporates. So there might be an organization that says we want to grow, we want to become bigger, so a business coach or consultant might come in to help them grow financially. There's often a link between personal growth and business growth. You might have an organization that says I don't know our team isn't
working well together, can you come in and fix them? And the coach will go in and work with the individuals because it's actually the individuals who need support, and then they
become a more and more cohesive team. So that's growth. And the final one is called significance which is all about got clients who want to make more of an impact, who want to stand out, I actually see this a lot with restaurants, top class restaurants, I've just written about this in my newsletter, there are a few that I love going to the food is amazing.
But what is almost better is the service. They, you know, when you walk into a top class restaurant, and there's somebody there, there's a host there on the door, and they take your coat, and they take you in, and they see you in a beautiful table. And they're just there and they're attentive. And they might even know you, because you might be irregular, you drop a fork on the floor. And within moments, another one appears on the table without you having to say oh, I've dropped my my
thought. And it's all just beautifully slick. And Oh heaven and you feel special, you feel really cared for and looked on. So that's that significance. I see it a lot with service businesses, with individuals, but also with things like yeah, restaurants, expensive cars, they're not sold on the car, they're sold on how it makes you feel. Yeah, those those are the fives that
so I'm trying to think I'm trying to think what, yeah, so what's the struggle I'm having is that I'm seeing it as the client, but then I'm seeing it as how you work with how you, you're helping them do that for their clients. So, right, so. So it's that it's really important, Keep
it keep it keep it simple to start with. Because if we if we take, if we take me as the marketing consultant, I have worked out that my clients want certainty. So through my marketing and my sales, I promised them certainty. I talk about being a safe pair of hands about telling them what to do. I say, in my marketing, I'm going to be really bossy and challenging. And they say, I love that I want it. Where can i Okay,
so that makes me think that that's somewhat similar to me, because as a teacher, my background is teaching and, and corporate training. And so I when people say to me, are you a coach, I always say no, I'm not. I'm a trainer, right? Because there's a difference. And there is. And the difference is why I'm leaning towards the certainty piece that you were talking about. Because I tend to teach my clients my way of doing things. So in a sense, I'm
bossy, right? And I'm showing them that this is a way that will improve what they've got. Now, let's say I'm talking about training them on LinkedIn, and what to do there. So it's weird, because that doesn't, I'm not sure if that's me, but that's what I that's what I'm leaning towards interests. Yeah. And
this is this is all about what our clients want to feel right. And of course, when when I was first digging into this, I thought that my business strategy was growth, I thought that clients came to work with my business because they wanted to grow their companies, because they thought that marketing was a great idea. And they wanted to truckloads of money at it in order to grow their businesses.
And I started asking them, why do you work with us? And they were saying things like, well, because you're a safe pair of hands, because you tell me what to do. You don't you don't leave me guessing. It has nothing to do with growth. Most of them. Most of my clients have fabulous reputations. They've been doing what they do for a long time, and they're brilliant at it. I am more about reputation management for them. So that
definitely is a safe pair of hands. And what I what I found was that the marketing that I was using, wasn't working because I was going yeah, we can grow your business. And I wasn't meeting the right sort of clients. As soon as I switched the marketing to certainty, peace of mind informed bossy. People People were flooding in. And now I say to potential clients, I'm going to be really bossy and they go, good. I want
that. I need accountability. Tell me what to do. Yes. It's it's a bit of a mindset shift that we have to make that it's not about us as the suppliers and the consultants and the trainers. It's about how the client would want to feel. So if your clients are coming to you, Janice and say, just tell me what to do show me how to make LinkedIn better than 70. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And
it's interesting when you look and analyze your clients and see how many are like this and how many are like this or even and so on, you start to do see things do stand out in that you you've enjoyed that experience, perhaps differently with one client versus another. There's been referrals that have come from right. And so you start to see where, where you fit, but how you how you are seen by those clients. And that's your client, your best client, supposedly.
Yeah, that's, that's fascinating. It's really interesting. I know you have a new book coming out, or no, your book just came out.
It's not it's not out yet. It is. As as we are doing this recording. We're all it's June 2024. The book is with the proofreader, it should be out in the next month. Okay,
do we have a name, what's the name of your new book,
The the working title is standout strategies, because that's what it's about. It's about what we just talked about strategy last year, and it goes into, it goes into a lot more detail. It talks about how to identify the strategies, and we'll come on to that in a minute. It talks about how to use it in your sales and marketing, but also how to use it in your delivery. Because if you sell to a client saying, I'm going to promise you certainty, and then you deliver something
else, they're not going to stick around. And again, that's, that's where it strengthens the relationship where you build on what they what they bought from you what they wanted to buy from their feelings they wanted when they first signed up with you.
So I had an interesting thing happened just recently, where someone reached out to me as I was a referral, actually, someone that I knew years ago, and she had said, I guess they were looking for someone to do a presentation for one of their clients for LinkedIn. And it was to start as a lunch and learn as an intro. And when this person reached out to me and said, You know, I need to I'm looking for this for this
type of client. And what would you charge? Well, for me, I can't just like, I want to know all the details first, like who's the audience? And, and, you know, and she said something in her email about how there was a possibility of more work. But the the management team had to buy in to this whole thing about LinkedIn first, as well. She said, as well. And I thought, well, if I'm going to be talking to the, the employees, and the management haven't come on side yet, there's, there's a
disconnect, right? And all of this stuff. So before I could even talk to her, I did ask her a bunch of questions. And then she says, Oh, we've decided not to do this right now. And now I don't have to talk money at all. But now I want to talk to her to just to give her an idea of that, like that would have probably been a waste of money. Because, right, do you see? So
there's so much around connection? And emotion? Yeah, don't worry about the strategies, because I think it would be speaking to a group of people that weren't ready.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And it often happens as well, you know, I might be referred to a company. Or I might have a connection with one person. But they said, Well, I'm not I'm not the person who makes the decision. But if I've got, if I've got a really good connection with them that that's a good start. Sure, they might then pass me on to the
finance department, and I don't have a connection with them. And that's, it's about building connections and relationships with everybody in the organization, who is involved in making the decision. This is what I love working with, with coaches and speakers, because there's just them in the business. They're the ones who make the makers agree, I want this. Yes, cuz otherwise, yeah, it can get get tricky when somebody says, I'd love to work with you, but I have to pass you
on to the management team. Yeah, in those situations, there's more relationship building to be done. But it's also about using the relationship you've got with whoever you have that relationship with because they'll champion you. And they'll there'll be a raving fan, right? Getting to know them even better and helping them effectively sell you into the into the rest of the business.
Right. So I also know that you happen to be that to have a designation that is coveted by amazing speakers like yourself and very difficult to get and that is CSP right. Is it called that over there?
It's not no I'm I'm a I'm a member of the professional speaking association in the UK. Yes. And we have a level called fellow. So
sounds so British. That's so it's
beautifully brilliant. Yes, I'm a fellow of the PSA. Okay, isn't quite on a par with CSP. Oh, okay. Professional. is a it's a it's an international standard. It's something I am Working towards I'd love to I would love to get to CSB I need to do more international speaking.
Oh, okay. Yeah. But I know how huge it is. Yes, yeah.
It's massive. I am always looking for what next? What can I do next? I was I was talking to one of my coaches earlier today who saw me speak. I said, right, what next? What do I need to work on next to keep improving? And she said, You did a great job. I said, I know. And it gets even better, even if it's just a tiny little thing, a tiny little step. So always looking to always looking to improve. So
when you when you speak for that purpose for, you know, as a keynote speaker correct, because I can't speak. So do you speak on the success strategies, or the standout strategies? Or do you that? Yes. Is it a keynote speech
that most of the time I speak about stand up strategies, and I do some keynote, I love running workshops as well, though I love like, Yo, I'm a trainer, I give people worksheets and saying, Hey, you are do do this. Let's have a play with it. I do also sound out strategies. And mostly when I speak about, I've just been invited to speak at a
conference in Paris later this year. And I spoke for them recently on the stand out strategies, and they've said, right, we want you to come back to the conference in Paris in December, November. What next? So I'm actually I'm doing something different for them. But it's actually going to be an ABC have marketing for speakers and businesses because that's, that's really important, too. But mostly, mostly, I mean, I can I'm speaking at an online event in Malaysia in a couple of
weeks time about networking. I'm flying out to Switzerland later on this month to run a masterclass on presentation skills. I do all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff. It's all around marketing. Sure. Because if a client says, Oh, we know that you're really good at this, can you do it? Okay. Standard strategies is was
about Okay, so let's say it's not standout strategies. Now you're talking about some other different things that you just mentioned? How long is the is the run up to getting ready? What does that involve? Oh,
that's a fabulous question. Love that. It's something that I realized I don't do enough of I don't do enough preparation. And for that person to that's why I'm asking. Okay, the last time I spoke, I came off stage thinking, I did not do a very good job. Didn't get a properly I didn't get enough engagement from the audience. It just it just didn't feel like I'd been on my A game. And I reflected and thought,
like, what what do I what do I need to change? And what I realized was that I'd gone into it thinking, Oh, I know my stuff. I'm okay, I can get up there and do it. And I hadn't spent enough time Pindell in a warm up for a start. So if I can the half hour before I go on stage, I'm backstage somewhere doing vocal warm ups and flailing my arms around really? Yeah. And I don't I don't do enough of that. Sometimes at smaller events, you can't do that. You can't go and hide.
Yeah, and then they go out on speaker. So I have I have tricks where I'll be at the back of the room doing breathing exercises where nobody can see me. So that's kind of the half hour before. But what I actually need to do a lot more of is is the day of and the day before and the week before of looking at the next talk and going okay, right, I need to sit and
rehearse this. Not so that I know it word for word, but so that if I do lose my way, or if I'm using slides, and the power goes, I still need to be able to get through the session without using slides as prompts. Or if somebody says and I have again, I had this recently, they say I know we promised you 40 minutes, but can you do it in 20? Back back? Yeah, yeah, I get that I had I had that recently. I literally as I went or as I went onstage, they said, Okay, you've still got an hour to do this.
We're starting half an hour late, but we still want you to do an hour. And I had a timing screen with me that the audience couldn't see. And I got to 40 minutes. And the emcee walked up to me and said, You've got two minutes to go. You've got to close in two minutes. What Okay, so yeah. Hey, you're the client. I'll do what you say. So
do you ever take that personally, like I
used to? Yeah, I've learned not to Yeah, because actually you get more brownie points by closing in two minutes and having the organizer go. That was amazing. Thank you. You got up on time. I have seen speakers go No, I'm sorry. I'm here for an hour. Yeah, I saw I saw one last year who started late because there was a technical issue. And I think, I don't know, I think he had 14 minutes. And there was a timing
screen in front of him. And after the technical hiccup, which took about five minutes to sort out, he said to the organizer, um, could you reset the timing screen for you? So I get my 40 minutes? No, yeah. Yeah. So there are there are there are there are ways of shaking up look good. And having
the organizers love you. So so the preparation, the rehearsal is all about being able to cope with that so that when something goes wrong, let's throw something extra, or even they say, I know, we booked you for 40 minutes, but our next speaker hasn't turned up? Can you do another? 40? It's my favorite I love I need I need to have more rehearsal time is okay. Yeah, I need to do this. There's no set amount of time for preparation. But it's, well, it's often a decent amount definite. So let
me ask you this, then you have a loose idea of you know, where things are going to land in the timeframe that you're supposedly have. And then you want to involve the audience, you want to engage with the audience? So I'm guessing I know that I think I know the answer to this. But But I'm curious. What you will say in that. When you start something, when you do that, when you then reach out and ask a question or, you know, get people to raise their hands or,
or whatever. Yeah. Does that ever throw you off in the timing? does it send you sideways? Because something happens with you know, somebody's answer or anything like that?
Oh, all the time. Yeah. All the time. There are so many there are so many things that can go wrong. You can ask a question, and nobody puts their hand up. Can you get Tumbleweed? You can you can ask a question where you think you know the answer. And everybody gives you the opposite answer. So how many of you experienced this? And they'll go, No, never. We experienced that. Instead. Audience members contradicting you get no that's not right. That's that's a that's a fun
one. Audience members asking questions that take you take you off the tangent and they go, Well, I've got a question. It's not actually about the strategies. It's not LinkedIn. Can we talk about LinkedIn? Okay. Yeah. So So again, it's about it's about being prepared for that. And it's, if it's a complete tangent question, I'll say, I'm really sorry. We don't have time to cover that today. Find me afterwards. Yeah. I'll I'll I'll be in the bar on Yeah. Yeah. There's an awful lot of
thinking on your feet. Exactly.
Yes. And and have you done much speaking in the US?
Not yet. No, no, I haven't. I am. I'm coming to a conference in Denver in August 24. That will be my first adventure into the states. No, at the moment, I'm doing a lot in the in the UK and in Europe. And I've also been to South Africa and Singapore. This is
well, I was just curious, because every audience in every nation is going to be different, right? And I imagine the US audience will be very different from the UK audience very different. Yeah, very different.
The The other thing I'm noticing is that I deliver in English. And I've been asked to present at conferences in France and Germany, where the majority of the audience speaks French or German. Oh, and I did one in Portugal for a Brazilian company, who was who speak Brazilian Portuguese. Now they had translators in the room. So I had to speak slowly and clearly in my best English. Translate, but I've also my most recent one was it was it was a
presentation in Paris to a French audience. And they had translation running through PowerPoint. So it was on the on the screen behind me. It worked quite well, because I've learned to speak more slowly. And clearly, it has, but things like like jokes, or various depending on you know, even I have I've had jokes that I've tried that fall flat with an American audience when I presented online in the States, and I've done the
same job to a German crowd and they love it. And yeah, so yeah, I had to do a lot of research into what works and what doesn't and what you know, when I'm when I'm taking a briefing from a client from the organizers. Okay, tell me about your audience. Yeah, the Singapore conference was interesting, because we had we had people from India and Malaysia and Australia and the states and Singapore itself is a
multinational company. So you've just got to be really aware of what languages people speak how good their English is or not. And I was with the with the French crowd, I translated the key words from the strategies, I translated them into French with some help from from a French speaker that goes down really well, they, you and you try, and you try one of one of the words,
so I'm gonna, I'm gonna get this wrong. And my apologies to any French speakers who are listening, because growth in French sounds a bit like cross on that croissant is what I had for breakfast in Paris. So I may because I said to them, how do you pronounce this and they all shouted down to me, and I said, but that sounds like croissant. I had that for breakfast. And that that was a joke that work. They love that little spare part of me. It's about relationship building.
Yes. And it's really a lot of just being yourself and and, you know, trying things out and showing that you that you know that they're different from you. And you know that, but we're all the same in the end, you know, like, so let me just ask you this. Before we wrap up a couple of quick things that I like to ask my audience. Well, actually, before I do that, no, I have one more question that came to me, from what you just said. So how much of your time do you spend?
Speaking? And how much of your time do you spend working with clients on their marketing based on your standout strategies? And which do you like to do best?
Oh, I'm gonna answer the second bit of the question. I love both. Okay, not doing both. I love being on stage and running workshops. I also love mentoring one to one with clients. Because when I see when I see them get it when I see the light bulbs going off, and they go, oh, and now I understand it. And then when they share their successes with me, I get messages all the time from Oh, I got a speaking gig. I've got new client, I've done this. I've done that. I love I
love that. So yeah, it's it's, it's and I love the mixture. Because way speaking in Outer Mongolia, and if the Wi Fi is good, I can still do mentoring calls with clients.
So you're speaking is your lead into getting those new clients.
It's a mixture. There's some there's some paid speaking work. And then there's also some I speak to promote the business. So there's, there's a real a real mixture, so but I love I love the variety. It's it's good fun. Yeah, that's in terms of how much time is spent. I'm probably doing more mentoring at the moment than speaking. Because the actual speaking part, you know, I might be on stage for an hour, 40 minutes. But that takes time is the traveling if I'm if
I'm flying somewhere. So that takes time. But I've also learned to sleep on planes and get work done at airports.
Yes, I'm sure long
trains. I got loads of work done on a train yesterday, I had a two hour train journey. And then an hour between meetings sitting at a hotel. I got loads of work done
so well. That's good. If you Yeah, I'm beyond that. Now. I think traveling is I used to travel a lot more when I was young. So okay, so my two questions. One is my curiosity question. I love that word in itself curiosity. And I'm a very curious person. So my question for you is two part one, do you believe curiosity is innate or learned? And what are you most curious about these days?
I suspect I've always been very curious. I don't think I've learned to be curious. I think I think I was curious. Anyway, I was nosy as a child. I I'm still nosy I love I love finding out about other people I want to know about them. So I think I had it in me anyway, I've probably learnt to use it more in business, particularly for building relationships. If I'm having a sales conversation with a potential client, I spend most of my time asking questions
about them and their business. And eventually they'll go Oh, you're gonna tell me about your business. Oh,
that's perfect, right? Yeah. So
what am I curious about? I'm curious about about potential clients. I love I love getting to know them. I'm I'm curious about what makes a great speaker that's that's the other thing and kind of how I'm curious about how I can can get to the get to the top of my game. We Yeah, I haven't won any awards yet for speaking and I need to do that. So yeah. I'm curious for me for it for learning about about what next?
I've been doing improv and stand up comedy and all sorts of things as a way of developing my speaking so yeah, that's that's my that's my big curiosity at the moment.
Fantastic. I love that. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And would you say you in terms of how you get your information or and or enjoy fiction even because I mostly don't do fiction, but that's why I'm asking do you read? Do you listen? Do you watch? Like, what? What is your thing? I,
I? I'm very old fashioned. I like reading books. You know, the paper ones? Yes, yes. When I was, when I was a kid, when I got a book for Christmas, the first thing I would do is open it up and smell the inside of the smell of new books. My first weekend job was at a bookstore in England. I've always loved books. I love second hand books as well. So I'm surrounded by books in my office. So yeah, I read. I'm much happier reading. I don't like it when somebody says, Oh,
can I send you a PDF to read? No, no. I end up printing it out sometimes. So yeah, paint paint paper books Am I Am I thing? I tend to, I do listen to more podcasts now. Because I can do that while I'm walking the dog or outside in the garden. And I can I can take a podcast with me. And you can't you can't read while you're riding a horse.
It's funny. Yeah. You reminded me that the very first book I ever remember, as as a special book was one that I went I was born in England, and I went to school in England from age four to age eight, where I was nine, nine when we came to Canada. And in England, in the school, I went to public school, and they used to have as a teacher, I wasn't an elementary teacher. I'm abhorred by what they did when I was in school. So they they had us sitting in the classroom, in the order of
who was the smartest, who sat at the back of the room. And all the way to the front where the less smart children were in our classroom. Everybody knew it, like our kids, we all knew. And it was it was I mean, I think about that now I you know, I just anyway, so they gave awards, academic awards, each, I don't know, each. They weren't semesters, but each year, whatever. And I was always at the top of my class, I was
either the first or the second seat, like at the back. And I won an award each time and they were always books, and the very first book that I got was Wind in the Willows. Oh, no. And inside, I've still got it. And inside the book, it was calligraphy first place, Janice, and my last name, you know, and when, what my form was, anyway, but it's, it's kind of frightening in one way. But it was also something I'll never forget, because that my love of books came from there. But I'm
with you. I love to read them too. But, but I also love podcasts. And there's so many good ones out there. Thank you so much for being on my podcast. Thank you for being an amazing guest and for sharing your standout strategies. With me very
welcome. I've realized that we haven't actually talked about how people can find out what their strategy is. That's
right. So go ahead and do it. So you'll have to come back by the way, too, when that's the other thing that we have so much to say. And so little time.
I know, I'll come back, but we lovely. So if you go to my website, which is apple tree uk.com. And you click on the take the test link, and there is a page there, where you can take the test, follow the instructions, take the test, send, send it send the form through to me and I put the I run it through a little bit of software, and I will then send out anyone who does it, I send out a report that says this is the strategy of the five that will make your business stand
out. It also shows the language that you can then use in your marketing. So we talked earlier about me using the certainty language and it will be the same for you Jannetty and use certainty language in your marketing. And that's what will build the relationship with the potential client when they look at it and go up. She gets me she understands me. So yeah, Bob, pop on over to take the test on apple tree uk.com. And you can go from there. Perfect.
And I will put that in the show notes. Absolutely. And I will do that as well. I've got it up now so that I can see it. Yeah. So thank you again, thank you for being here and for sharing your wisdom with my audience. Thank you to my audience for being here. As usual. I appreciate you. And if you like what you heard, please leave a review we always appreciate Keep that and remember to stay connected and be remembered