Episode 216: The Art of Cold Calling: Strategies That Work with Ashley Monk
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Brandi: [00:00:00] If you've ever doubted the power of cold outreach, or wondered if it's even for you, or thought, oh heck no, I'm never doing that. This episode may change your mind and open up some new possibilities for you. So even if you're like, Brandi, I'm never going to cold call, you're still going to get a ton of value out of this.
Cause in this episode, Ashley Monk, you're a student and now a friend and an agency owner that is crushing it breaks down how she uses cold outreach and not how it's an all the time thing. But when you want to ramp up, this may be the thing for you to do it. And she gives you actionable tips, scripts, and tips.
And everything so you can go out and be successful and so I am so excited about this episode because we tackled her pricing evolution, pricing strategies, we tackle different industries and niches. [00:01:00] We also went into how the heck do you even cold call and who really answers their phone anymore.
And we talked about how sometimes the best move and the right move is just picking up your phone. So if you're ready to dip your toes in to the world of cold calling, or maybe you've been doing it and it's not working out for you. This is the episode you'll want to listen to for a dose of real talk, practical advice, and Ashley's inspiring story.
So let's jump on in.
Welcome back to another episode of the Serve Scale SOAR podcast. Oh my goodness. I am beyond excited to have Ashley Monk back with us for the second time on the podcast. The first time she was joining us as one of our students inside Serve Scale SOAR and conversions for clients. And now she is coming in as an expert and we're diving [00:02:00] into cold outreach.
So cold calling, cold emailing, and she is such a pro at that. So Ashley, tell my audience a little about. But about who you are, A, as a person, and then also about your business. I
Ashley: I love it, Brandi. It's so good to be here. Thanks again for having me on the show. But yes, for everybody listening, my name is Ashley Monk. As a person, I am recently a mom of two girls based out at Indianapolis. I love to be outside. I love to spend time with my husband and family, go on trips, travel, go and escape to where you are, Brandi, in Florida, and I'm aspiring to become a pilot.
So that's a little bit about me personally on the business side. I'm the CEO of We are an online Advertising and social media agency that partner with a lot of different verticals, but specifically do a lot with now higher education, healthcare, business to business, and then local businesses as well. So that's me in a nutshell.
Brandi: love this because so many people, I think, look at my [00:03:00] success and they're like, the only way I can scale this agency is with, or just as a solopreneur, is if I'm working with course creators. And I'm always like, That's like the furthest thing from the truth because there's pros and cons of local e commerce and also online.
And it doesn't matter which niche you choose, it's just about going all in on it and y'all really focusing on that local community and those industries. is evidence that it doesn't matter what niche you go into it. You just got to go all in. Let's start, before we jump into the cold calling, what, because this is the other thing that always comes up.
Local businesses aren't willing to pay for ad management. And you are living, breathing proof that that's not true. How much are your typical packages?
Ashley: Oh, this is a really good question. So it's going to vary from client to client local businesses. And I think it comes down to, and to your point too, like there is no such thing as a good or bad niche. I think you have to figure out, try [00:04:00] one, decide what works for you. And you can always pivot and change it later and that's okay.
And I am living proof of we've evolved a lot as a company of organization who we serve. I would say it really depends. So we, I will say to your point, local businesses do not perceive or gain as much value like of a customer. As like an online course or a larger organization would. So I think when it comes to pricing and whatever the pricing model, your ads managers will choose it's going to really depend on what that lifetime client is.
So for coaches and course creators, since all of their revenue is typically hinging on ads and online marketing, they're going to be willing, especially if they're enrolling in a high ticket program, they might be willing to spend more because they are seeing more. And I know for our higher education clients.
We're going to be charging more, like I would say closer to five to 7, 500 a month for ads management because the lifetime or the average value of a student for them one year is going to be 30 [00:05:00] to 60, 000. And so they really need to have that pipeline moving. Whereas for a local business you will see, let's say we take an HVAC company.
That deal size is probably going to be closer to maybe 1, 500 to 2, 000. So therefore they have less to spend on advertising. However, because I think people listening maybe from a pricing standpoint, they're thinking, Oh, I can't charge as much. You have to think for a local business, you may not be charging as much.
Correct. But the scope of work that you're going to do for them is going to be smaller because they don't need as much as like our higher education clients. They need a ton of management. There's Spending more, there's more creative needed. Whereas a local business, they probably only need a few ads and less work.
So I think that's the thing to keep in mind when it comes to pricing. And so the long way of answering your question, I would say our clients can run anywhere from $2,000 a month to 10 to $15,000 a month in management and then above that. But [00:06:00] it's going to depend on the industry that we're working with, how much they're spending on ads, and what they're going to expect for the return on their investment for that client.
Brandi: So I love this so much because now I'm thinking about, actually, it wasn't that long ago that we met and you told me you were charging 500 a month for a client and I was like, Oh my gosh, and now you're sitting here saying that you're charging 10, 000 plus per month for clients. And what a journey. And so many people think that happens overnight.
This has been four or five years now that we've known each other. And also I was just in an event and they talked about breaking our brain. Like we need to break our brain. And I think that you probably just broke a lot of people's brains when it's like 7, 500 duh, of course, or 10, 000. So many people are stuck thinking that they have to charge Like.
1, 000. And I'm like, no, that's not the going rate. And you even say in your low end is 2000 and that's working with [00:07:00] local businesses. And so I think you just broke a lot of brains, which is really good because I didn't know we were going to do that. And I love it. So now that we know the pricing model, let's talk about outreach, cold outreach because this is something that comes up a lot and Before my online business, I did a lot of cold outreach.
That's how I built my entire Mary Kay business was by cold calling. And when I came online, I was like, Oh, heck no, I'm not doing that anymore. But I know how to do it. I know how to optimize it. But. But I've done it in for other industries. You're in here. You're doing it for ad management. So let's talk about one.
How did you get started with this? And what are like, what's working right now?
Ashley: great questions and encourage everybody to what Brandi said to, I hope you're all encouraged knowing that you can change your pricing and that again, it's going to depend on the industry you serve. So hopefully, and it doesn't happen overnight [00:08:00] either regarding what is working right now and what has worked in the past.
So it's going to vary by industry to industry and it's going to sound so simple. But you really, all you have to do is think, and that's why when Brandi talks about niching, it's so important. You need to determine who it is you're going after because the tactics that you use for that person or niche are going to vary from person to person.
So for a local business owner, let's take a category like home services. For instance, you have to think about that business owner and that decision maker and go after them accordingly. So cold email, if you are going after a roofing company owner per se, probably not going to work because you think about that business owner, where does a roofing owner spend their time?
They're on the job, okay? They're gonna be working with contractors. They are typically, so roofing, HVAC electrical work. Yeah, all those people, they're gonna be starting their day around [00:09:00] 6 or 7 a. m. They're gonna be getting in their truck or their car and going out to see, go to job sites, know what their team and their contractors are doing.
If they are and they're large enough to have an office, they're not going to be spending much time, they're going to be going from thing to thing. So you're not going to find that person sitting in front of their computer. And so if you're sending them cold emails, they're probably going to be targeted by a gatekeeper a secretary, an assistant of some capacity that's just going to delete them.
So cold calling is going to be the way to reach out to them. Whereas if you're going after B2B, maybe cold email is going to be a more effective tactic tactive because an executive might be sitting in front of their inbox or on virtual meetings. So I think that's first and foremost, when you're going after cold outreach, you need to know enough about the decision maker and how they spend their time during the day to make, to be able to hit them effectively.
As far as what is working right
Brandi: Hold on. Let's take a second. Sorry. Cause I want to
Ashley: No, please interrupt
Brandi: No, I want to unpack some of this because it's so good. So [00:10:00] This is another one of those things like I teach where it's like you have to identify your niche and then you have to decide where they're hanging out and so your roofers are probably not hanging out on Instagram.
Your roofers are not hanging out in their inboxes. They're on the phone. They're used to picking up the phone just if you're working with course creators. They're probably not picking up the phone. Like my phone rings and I freak out. I'm like, what is that? I'm like a cat. I'm like, what is happening?
Who is calling me? But there are probably ones that would be in their inbox a lot too. So it's about identifying that niche, just like you said, and then where, get it in their mind. And where are they hanging out? And I love that you're like really in their mind because I didn't even think about that before.
Like the roofers, the HVAC, They're not on the computer. They're like on their phone. And so being able to identify that is so important and niching down. So now we know okay, here's what we have. We know how we're going to reach out to our ideal client. But what [00:11:00] are the next steps? So what's working right now?
Ashley: So I am a huge proponent of the phone, which I know most people are not. So I would say at this point in our business, probably 60 to 70 percent of our clients are in higher education. So we're working more and then multi location retail. So less, there's a few that are probably more local, so I can speak more.
So that vertical that I can for low. I'll speak to How about that? Because we got people that are in all stages. So I think one component to before I go off on What is working right now? When you're picking your niche you not only want to think of who you can get the best results for But you may want to keep some of these outreach tactics in mind because if you're a person that doesn't like being on the phone Some of these traditional industries may not work same with what?
We work with more traditional organizations. We're going to have to have more consistent and frequent meeting schedules. You can see, I don't know if there'll be a video version. I'm buttoned up and in my blazer today, because that's what the organizations that we work with expect. So those are just some [00:12:00] things again, not that you have to wear a blazer, but just be thinking about those things when it comes to niching down to, and what you want your lifestyle to look like and how you want to communicate with your clients after you close them.
Brandi: Oh, and I want this is so good, Ashley. Once again, you were just like dropping the nuggets and it's so funny because you showed up and you're like in a blazer and I noticed that. I was like, Oh dang, like she looks good. I hope she didn't dress up just for me. And then I'm over here and right before this call, I was laying out in the sun and I was like, Austin, on a scale of one to 10, where am I on the, like, looks right now and he was like, what?
I was like, I'm about to do a video podcast or I said a podcast. And he said, is there going to be video? And I was like, yeah, he was like, I'd at least go brush your hair. So I'm like in a camo, like sweatshirt. I did brush my hair. I did put a little bit of makeup. But I have two consulting calls today with my one on one clients, but there are online businesses.
They're used to like the [00:13:00] comfies. They're not expecting me to show up in the blazer. And I think that that's something that I've never considered before, but you're right. If you want to work with those people who are buttoned up, you need to show up buttoned up. If you want to work with the people that are okay with you, without brushing your hair, then that's your online course creators.
That's your entrepreneurs. But that's such a like smart tactic to also think about and what you said about how are we reaching out to them? Is it going to be calls? Are you terrified of doing calls? Is it going to be by creating content? So if your Instagram is, if that's your strategy, you have to create content.
So thinking about Like how you reach these people and what they expect when you show up to a call. That was so good. Okay. So now I've teased this three times now, but now what is working now?
Ashley: I know we're just keeping everybody, the ramp up there, by the way, for the record, Brandi, you look absolutely beautiful. Your makeup's done, your hair is curled. So for everyone listening with their AirPods, [00:14:00] just know okay, what is working right now? Let me go through and give, I'll give some goodies like by goodies.
I don't know. I said that some tactics for each vertical so that you can get some idea and wrap your head around maybe one that you would want to go for you. Local business. I'm when I say local, let's think of your HVAC contractor type of business. Pick up the phone. So what you're going to want to do is I think you can even go on Fiverr and you can pay and buy a lead list for a pretty inexpensive amount of money, like 50 bucks, maybe even less.
Maybe it's 30. I don't know. But you can get the direct information of these decision makers and call them directly. I recommend and by the way, where you asked originally to where's all this coming from. So little bit of background. I've been in 5, 6 years of sales training and did corporate office sales for commercial before I came into the marketing space.
So just a little bit of my background. cold calling when you're going to do it, you need to, and this is all coming from again, [00:15:00] sales training amazing coach. If you want more info on that at another time you want to have what they would consider to be a 32nd commercial. So that is who you serve, the problems that you solve at a next step.
But when you're cold calling, you got to start with a pattern interrupt or an attention getter to captivate their attention. So I've seen really great examples of this on TikTok. You can, but you got to figure out what's going to work for you. I, to give examples, I've been like, Hey, you got a second to talk?
And they'll be like, yeah, why? And I just go straight into my commercial. I've been like, I've literally called it out as well to the point where it's like, Hey, how's your Monday going? Feel okay to be interrupted by a cold call right now. And I can tell you a little bit more about why I called and just gotten straight to it.
So again, it's going to depend on what you're comfortable with, with what that hook is, but know that you're going to get a lot of hangups and a lot of people frustrated, but the sooner you get to that hook, the better. What I'll typically do is if you pick up your phone, Brandi, it's like, Hey, Brandi, what'd I catch you in the middle of?[00:16:00]
And you'll be like, Oh, hi, off guard. I'm like, Hey do 30 seconds for me to tell you why I called. And you could decide if it's worth a conversation. That statement really gives them the ability to be like, Nope, and hang up and it saves you time, but it gives them back control to feel comfortable on if they want to continue to continue the conversation.
Then I go into my 30 second commercial and pain points. Again, this is all coming from Lucian Sandler sales training to where I'm going to say something like typically I don't know if any of this resonates with you. So you're checking for clarity and giving them permission again, to say, say if it resonates.
And, but I typically work with, I don't know, contractors and organizations that are just frustrated that they're not seeing any results from their marketing. They're concerned that leads aren't picking up the season or they're not seeing any ROI. Any of those relate to you? And if they're like, Oh yes, I'm so annoyed or nothing's working.
That's usually the invitation to say I know we've only got a few minutes of chat. Would you like to set up a call with me and take [00:17:00] them through your sales process from there? So that's one way. Another way that I have found success with as well what we do most often, I don't cold call as much now is going to be investing time in building referral partners.
So that's less cold outreach, but you're actually, it's a little bit counterintuitive. I shouldn't say it's cold outreach. You are doing outreach, but you're looking for people that are serving similar clients. As you are for us, it's typically web design branding agencies that we're partnering with. So i'm reaching out to them to see if I can get them on a call if there's clients that we can team up with And developing those relationships over time, too so that those are a couple of things i'll stop there Brandi so that you can interject so I don't go on too many tangents
Brandi: No, I love this. So one question, cause I know this is going to come up is wait, we're allowed to buy lead list. And this is actually how I grew my business with Mary Kay from zero to earning a car in five months is because I [00:18:00] bought. Names and numbers from David's bridal and I worked with brides and my calls were very similar.
I had a lead list and every day I would be very consistent and come home from law school, sit down, call 15 names and you get hung up on a lot or F you. And like it's going to happen, but the cool thing about doing cold calling is you become resilient. You become so resilient and no's do not affect you in the same way.
Cause you know every no you get is just one more step closer to a yes. I know a lot of people are like terrified to do this. And I was especially in the beginning. But once you do it. You like become so resilient and grow a really thick skin around sales, which will only serve you no matter if you're an ad manager or you go out in the world and get a job.
Like it's all sales is part of everything we do. It's breathing. It happens every day to each and every single one of us, hundreds of thousands like sales points per day, [00:19:00] especially cause we're scrolling on Instagram so much. So I know that some people are like, wait, we can buy lead list. And I didn't know you could go on Fiverr and do this.
So do you have any tips on navigating buying lead list on
Ashley: I do. Yeah. And I still, to your point as well, I think cold calling, not only the tenacity and the resilience behind making those calls, but also if it's another way that you can practice message mining, if you're going after a more traditional audience as well. So I know for me, it makes me, Number one, quicker to handling objections, but also it becomes a lot easier to dial in your messaging.
And here when somebody is I'm not frustrated with an ROI. I'm actually frustrated that I don't know what to post online. So you can tailor your messaging accordingly based on who you talk to is another tip. To answer your question about buying lists on Fiverr I wouldn't say there's really a right and wrong way.
I think the most important piece is going to be really clear. Getting very clear on who you're going after. So one thing that I've done, because we, again, we work mostly with, [00:20:00] I would say higher education, healthcare, and multi location retail. Those are probably the top three industries that we work with now.
And so what I'll actually do is higher ed, they're on LinkedIn a lot. And so I'll pull LinkedIn profiles of who those decision makers are. For whoever I hire to pull that list so that that way they can see who i'm going after and make that Make a targeted count accordingly. So I would say that's probably the most important thing you also The more refined and the more criteria and specific you can give them is going to be best So when i'm submitting my lead list, I am going after vps of marketing vps of enrollment marketing directors Those are probably the three titles.
Usually I'll pick areas in the Midwest and I'll give them a size of the organization as well. Sometimes even what I know their annual operating budget is going to be. And so going back to niching and getting hyper specific [00:21:00] on who that is if you don't have a niche, it's going to be really hard to give what those clarifiers are, but you're going to get.
That much closer to who you actually need to talk to you versus if you're like, I don't know Med spas throughout the country like you just got to know that client so well to give them that criteria And that way they're going to be able to give you more specific phone numbers or insight about that person to make a more informed Dial and going back to tactic really quickly to on what's working I think people think that they can make i've seen this we've probably seen these questions.
You In some of your paid communities to where I think people think they make one phone call and they're okay
Brandi: Fiverr?
Ashley: And that's not the case. So just to give some quick conversion metrics to anyone wondering You are probably going to need for every 50 dials that you make you might get two to three yeses maybe lower so you're going to see Probably a two to three percent conversion rate and that is just for you know The next step to get a discovery [00:22:00] call with you on that call.
You are not trying to pitch them your services. Like you're trying to get them on a discovery call, and then you can use your discovery call close rate to know how many dials that you need to make to bring on prospective clients. That's one thing. The other thing to remember is that one call. It's also not enough to one person.
So I'm, when I say 50 dials, I'm talking about 50 different contacts that you're cold calling. And then you're going to need to follow up at least probably five times with that person. Because I think we get so scared to pick up the phone. We're like, Oh my gosh, they're ignoring me. And it's they're picking up their kid.
They're in a meeting. You caught them in a bad time of day. You caught them in the middle of the week. Like you have to remember, you're an interruption in their day. They're not just, no matter how you cold outreach to them, You are an interruption. It's best to acknowledge that and just to recognize that going into that.
So I would say you're going to need to adjust that cadence to call and reach out to them at least five times before you hang up the towel.
Brandi: And it's so funny that you gave those numbers because I [00:23:00] said every single day after law school, I'd come home, I'd call 50 of my leads and I'd book about three parties. And then have about two of the three show up for their actual event. So knowing that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I would call 150 people total.
Thursday, I would go back through those 150 and call anyone who didn't pick up. And I'm like marking out the ones that are not numbers. And I literally had a piece of paper. You could probably, this was nine years ago. You could probably streamline this a little bit better, but I'd print them out.
And then I'd be marking the ones that were like, no. Or they said This isn't for me or it was just a wrong number like people give fake numbers and doing that. And then I would go through and mark in green the ones who booked and I would mark in yellow the one that were like, Hey, it's not a good time.
Can you call back? And so anyone who didn't answer or they said, call back, those were the people I'd follow up on [00:24:00] Thursday. So then at the end of the month, I had all these people who said Hey, I'm interested, but now it's not a good time. And then they didn't answer on Thursday. Okay. Then at the end of the month, I'd have a whole nother list to work through.
So like you said, it's, you said call five times. And I think that's what I've seen lately too, is that is the magic number. It's not just about reaching out once it's like, when you decide to use code outreach, I don't want to say it's the easy method because it's not. But it is probably the easiest method when it comes to landing clients because you're literally just dialing and having conversations.
And so it is the easiest entry, but with easy means that you're going to need a lot more numbers to work with and you're just working those numbers.
Ashley: Oh, a hundred percent. Cause you're going to need, I would say probably about two hours a day to do this. I don't know how long you can get really fast at it and do it in about 60 to 90 minutes, but as you're starting, [00:25:00] I think it takes probably a couple of hours a day and then, You're going to want to test things to some people you want to think through what their week is looking and what that person, how they spend their day to know what times that you should consider calling them.
I know for executives, you're going to catch them early morning or evening. Usually when they're done at six o'clock at night or when they're just starting their day versus in the middle. Like you're probably not going to catch them. That's one thing to consider. And then another thing to consider as well is that you don't always have to do this forever.
Like I know for me we I go I still cold for all the reasons that you described all cold call anytime I'm thinking of changing a vertical or that I want to tighten up my messaging or if I need to get back out of a slump I I think there's something to Number one again being able to refine your messaging by talking to somebody but Also I don't know.
There's something that happens when we have this intention and we put it out there and we go after it, that good things just happen. I don't know what that is or if there was any kind of magic behind [00:26:00] it. I've just noticed that sometimes when I just execute that behavior, I may not get a client from a cold call, but like a client comes from somewhere.
So I don't know what that
Brandi: It's called the Law of Attraction. And you want to dig deeper on that, go to James Wedmore's podcast, and he talks all about it. And that's so funny because that's exactly, and it's, I work with a one on one agency client, and we were talking, and I was like, just, you've got to dial in your marketing minutes.
Y'all, it's If you're just starting out, I talk about Marketing Minutes. This agency owner, we went from 20, 000 to 40, 000 a month in 60 days. I'm talking to him about Marketing Minutes. It's all about your Marketing Minutes. And he was like, Hey, what I'm doing with Marketing Minutes isn't getting me clients, but all of a sudden I'm like booked with discovery calls from this other thing.
I'm like, Oh, Law of attraction, like part of the laws of attraction is one is actually taking action. Like you have to, it's not just putting it out in the universe. Yes, but you actually have to take action towards that goal. And it may not come the way you want it, but it's still coming. [00:27:00] Because you did something to move forward.
And I love that you just said that, Ashley. You were like, I don't know what it is, but it's happening. And it's so true. And also, I know that Ashley is very much like me. And we are Like racehorses, like we are going after something at 200 horsepowers. Like it is like off to the races with us. We, I also identify that not everyone is like that and not everyone should run like that.
Because for some people's energy, Especially when you're first getting started with sales calls and you get a lot of no's and you're not used to getting no's. It can feel really defeating because it takes a minute to get your footing with it. We teach the 15 and 30 inside conversions for clients. 15 outreaches a day.
So if you could just focus not on 50 like Ashley and I said, but starting out at 15 a day and moving up from there, getting confident in your ability, but still working the numbers, you still have to work the 50 will land you three discovery calls. And from [00:28:00] that, you should land at least one or two clients with knowing that like you, it's just going to take you a little bit longer to get to the same results, but that's okay because we don't want you burning out.
So if you just start with 15 and 30, literally if to call 15 people should only take you 30 minutes. It may take you a little bit longer, but if you have the list in front of you, like a lot of them, you're going to leave messages. And that's actually question. Do you leave a message or no?
Ashley: do. And to go back to a point that you made a while ago, remember, for everybody listening, I think when you said, Brandi, I forgot and I wanted to go back to it, that what system to use today, I think the spreadsheet or the piece of paper is golden. You don't have to cold call forever. I don't. I do it when I don't want to say that I'm in a slump, but when I want to ramp up something or when I want to take crea To what you said, manifest the law of attraction, take action and bring that in.
I use it. So just remember you don't necessarily have to do it forever. I rely more on referral marketing [00:29:00] now. So to give that and then don't use software as creative avoidance to avoid taking action. You can refine the system all day long, but unless you do plan to cold call as part of your outreach strategy forever, I think I use a spreadsheet.
Like we don't even use a CRM to do it cause I don't do it frequently enough. I'm not a SDR or a BDR a business development rep for anyone that doesn't know working for a sales organization doing it all the time So I use a google sheet and I do red yellow green and do the same thing as you so keep it simple don't just Think you have to set up a crm just for the sake of doing it because then you're avoiding taking the action that you don't Want to do Going back to do I leave a voicemail?
Yes, I do. I will typically be like, Hey, it's Ashley. Call me back. No 30 second commercial the first time so that I'm creating this familiarity and when they call me back, they're like, Oh, Hey, Ashley, I'm calling you back. And I'm like, Hey, actually, yes, I gave you a cold call and I'll just acknowledge it for what it is when they do call me back and go right in my commercial.
Usually, if I've had to leave them two or three voicemails, On that third voicemail, I'll be like, [00:30:00] Hey, it's Ashley Monk with Anya, tried to reach you. We, I usually work with marketing directors that are frustrated that they're not increasing their enrollment year to date. They're concerned that they're not seeing an ROI with their current agency on the lead volume.
They need to reach their enrollment goals. Would you be open to a conversation? If so, call me back. So I don't get to that because at that point after the fourth or fifth call, your initial goal with the cold calls to get them on the phone and have a conversation to qualify them. If after four or five calls you haven't reached them, they're dodging you, probably not interested, I figure you might as well put it out there and they'll call you back.
Brandi: I love that. I love that. Ashley, this has been freaking fantastic. And if you're inside conversions for clients, you can search Ashley Monk and in there will come up her. Also, she has more cold calling. She did a video for us in there. So you can find that in the Facebook group. We still reference it.
It's three years old, but cold calling is cold calling y'all. Everything Ashley saying is exactly what I did for eight years of marriage. Okay. There is, it's, it's something, the cool [00:31:00] thing about cold calling is. It will always be the same. It is one of those tried and true old school methods that still works.
You're not having to keep up with the algorithm or anything like that. It's just like sales. Like basic sales. And I love that. But, before we jump off here, One, this has been fantastic. But two, I'd love to do some rapid fire with you. Are you ready?
Ashley: Oh, okay. Let's
Brandi: Okay. So what is the best piece of business advice you've ever gotten?
Ashley: Begin with the end in mind. It is so simple and it's hard to do, but at the end of the day, if you are struggling with what next step to take in your business, what it looks like, think of what you want your life to look like. And if that's too overwhelming, and that seems too nebulous, think about maybe the next year or even what you want your dream day to look like.
If you can, I really do think the quality of our life is the quality of how we feel and how we spend a given day. So even if you've been architect, okay, what would my dream day look like? Do that, but begin with the end in mind and what you want that to look [00:32:00] like and craft your business around it.
Brandi: I love it. And okay. So our second question is what is your favorite style of taco?
Ashley: Oh, okay. I don't, I'm not enough of a taco snob to know, but the ones with the pineapple and pork belly, whatever that taco is, I love it. It's so good. And it has to be a corn tortilla.
Brandi: Oh, I am not a corn tortilla girl. I'm like no that is blasphemy. No But okay, unless i'm in california eating street tacos, then i'll eat my corn tortillas because they're really soft. Okay, perfect My third question is what business book recently or just ever? Is one that you're like, you need to read this.
Ashley: The big leap. I'm rereading it again for the fourth or fifth time. Now, every time I feel like I'm about to accomplish something new, but for those of you that haven't read it, it's by Gay Hendricks, highly recommend. It talks about solving this upper limit problem to where most of us auto and course correct.
Anytime we reach that next big milestone and try to [00:33:00] bring ourselves down with self sabotage and no matter how far you grow or scale your business, you're always going to bring you with you. And if you don't solve those internal blocks, you're never going to be able to achieve. And. I really experience what's possible for you.
So it's one that I try to read every year or go back to or flip through. Highly recommend.
Brandi: Oh my gosh, and this brought me back to 2020 when you were in my house. And you did a training on the big leap. And, oh my gosh, I totally forgot about that. That's amazing. I love it. Okay, and then final question. How do you define success right now in your life?
Ashley: Ooh, this is a good one. I would say right now it is really having, focusing on what I love to do. So working because I want to work, not because I have to work and then crafting a day that allows me to spend time with my family and have those different experiences. So that's what it looks like right now.
It's just, I have, gosh, at the time of [00:34:00] Seven week old at home and an almost three year old. So it's embracing these precious stages and having this family time while still doing what I love every day.
Brandi: And Ashley and I were talking before this, and we were both very upset that everyone lied to us and told us going from 1 to 2 was easier than 0 to 1. And you know what I think that advice comes from? Is no shade to these people. At all. No shade. But I really think that advice comes from women who are full time stay at home moms and don't have businesses.
Cause I could see where, if, I didn't have a business. It actually wouldn't have probably been that bad, but it was the navigating two children with a business and trying to like, how does this fit in? How does Bodie fit into my life now with my business?
Ashley: Yeah, it's a logistics game. You're, you're spot on. It's okay, this one's napping. This one's not how did all the pieces work
Brandi: Exactly. I know. It's like you're winning the game [00:35:00] when you have both of them resting or napping at the same time. It happened to us like two weeks ago and we were laying by the pool Austin and I was like, I think we just won parenting. Like we just won parenting. And so it is a different ballgame, but so amazing.
And Ashley, it has been so great having you back on the podcast and seeing what you're doing. Where your growth has exploded. So I can't wait to link up your first episode. So everyone can hear how your journey started and now they can see where you're at now.
Ashley: Oh my goodness. Thanks again so much for having me on the show, Brandi. And yeah, can't wait for everyone. It's crazy to look back, that's for sure. And I hope everyone listening feels so encouraged and empowered by some of the numbers and. Just hearing what's possible because the Brandi's point, this has been a four or five year journey in the making and goodness, I feel like we're just getting started and I hope everyone listening feels the same way.
Brandi: Oh my goodness, y'all. How freaking good was that? Ashley broke down elements that I had never even thought of before, like thinking [00:36:00] about how do you want to dress, what clients are going to be attracted to that, how do you want to actually do your work. Outreach. Do you want a cold call? Do you want a cold email?
Do you want to be on Instagram? All that goes into a factor when we're deciding on a niche And then she hopefully broke some of y'all's brains on your pricing strategies and Ashley came to me for Four or five years ago telling me she was only charging 500 a month. And now she has clients that she's charging well over 10, 000 a month.
If she can, you can too. And I hope you take the strategies and tips that she shared with you today and implement them into your business. If that's a right fit and if anything, raise your prices. And so my friends make sure to reach out to Ashley. Tell her how amazing she is. Tell her the ahas. Reach out to me, DM me, let me know the ahas and we'll make sure we link up all her information below.
But y'all, here's your permission to raise your prices, [00:37:00] jump on a phone call, do the dang thing to hit your goals. And if you want to be in a community with Ashley and other ad managers and strategists, head to brandimowles.com/adtraining and sign up for our next training to see, is this the right fit for you and what level of support you need?
Do you want to be in the program where it's all of our ad managers or are you ready to step in that next level and hit those consistent 20, 40, 50, 000 months in your business as an ad strategist? Head there and find out what path is the right for you. Or as always, DM me on Instagram. It's always me in there and I can't wait to see you go out, serve your clients, scale your business and soar into the success you deserve.
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