Episode 70: Getting Your Value Proposition Right with Rob Bedell – Transcript

Wealth On Any Income Podcast Episode 70

Rennie Gabriel  00:09
Hi folks, welcome to Episode 70 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast. This is where we talk about money tips, techniques, attitudes and information and provide inspiration. I'm your host, Rennie Gabriel. In past episodes, we spoke about how to build an Income and Expense Report, how to measure the level of pleasure based on where you spend your money, how to track your money in 5 - 10 seconds, and what to look for in a net worth statement to see how close you are to Complete Financial Choice®. Last week, we had as our guest, Fritz Gilbert. His award-winning blog is all about having a quality retirement that has little to do with the financial aspect. And today, we have as our guest, Rob Bedell. Rob has successfully built and restructured many businesses. He now coaches and advises business owners on how to grow their business. Rob, welcome to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast.

Rob Bedell  01:10
Thanks for having me, Rennie.

Rennie Gabriel  01:11
You got it. Well, let's get right to it with some questions. Tell me a little bit more about what you do and why you do it.

Rob Bedell  01:21
I am a business coach and advisor and I kind of got into this just this year, because for the last over a decade, I've been an outsourcer, Fractional VP of Sales. And what that means is, you know, Fractional CFOs have been around for a long time. But what I do the same thing on a sales level as a VP of Sales. I'd go into a company, look at how their sales are setup, put in a sales process, set up lead scoring, do all the basic things that all the big companies, all the big corporations do, but a lot of times the smaller businesses don't really think of. And then for the past couple of years I had people keep coming up to me, 'Do you do coaching?' I was like, 'No, I don't do coaching.' And then three people last October came and said, 'Do you do coaching?' Like maybe I should look into this coaching gig because people keep asking me for it. 

Rennie Gabriel  02:01
Yeah. 

Rob Bedell  02:02
So I started coaching, actually, I was partnered with another company who came in and got me going for the first few months. So I really started focusing on my coaching in July. I already have some clients on board, and they're already seeing a difference in what they're doing.

Rennie Gabriel  02:19
Fabulous. So it's recent, that's number one. And number two, what I'm hearing out of that is that someone can have in a particular niche and be doing some specific work and can transition into coaching, if that's something that they choose. And you had some clients who helped you choose that it sounds like.

Rob Bedell  02:41
Oh, yeah, it was just fun. I mean, you know, and I didn't really think of it for a long time, and then, you know, last year at one point, I was talking with one of my clients, and I got off the phone with them, I'm like, you know, something, I just realized I was coaching him. I'm just not getting paid to do it. So now I decided, hey, might as well get paid to do that as well.

Rennie Gabriel  02:58
Yeah, yeah. It's fun to get paid to do the things you enjoy doing or you were doing for free. 

Rob Bedell  03:04
Yeah. 

Rennie Gabriel  03:05
Is there a particular charity that you support? And tell me if so what they do?

Rob Bedell  03:12
I love the Boys and Girls Club of America. And they basically - a lot of times what they do is they help out single parents, so that they give the kids somewhere to go after school and actually have a bus that goes to a lot of the schools and picks up the kids and takes them, so they have a secure place to go until the parents get ready to pick them up.

Rennie Gabriel  03:30
Oh, terrific. Yeah, I was a latchkey kid, so it would have been nice if I had somewhere to go and be occupied instead of just taking care of myself. So tell me what kind of business clients do you have?

Rob Bedell  03:48
I've pretty much worked with people across the board. You know, usually their smaller businesses, you know, anywhere from a million to $20 million a year. Sometimes larger, you know, if they need me to come in and restructure some things. But for right now I for instance, I have a chiropractor I'm working with right now, I'm working with a dry cleaner and I'm also working with an IT company.

Rennie Gabriel  04:10
Now is the chiropractor generating a million a year in revenue?

Rob Bedell  04:15
Not yet.

Rennie Gabriel  04:16
Oh, okay. Tell me what your biggest fear or failure - whether it was personal or business - what that might have been? 

Rob Bedell  04:28
I'm trying to remember, you'll have to forgive me. I've been running around like crazy for the last week. This is the last day and then I'm actually going on vacation tomorrow. 

Rennie Gabriel  04:38
Okay, well, one of the things that you told me was it had something to do with formatting your own book.

Rob Bedell  04:44
Ah, yes, that was a big one. Thank you for reminding me. Yeah, it was because I wrote a book. I wrote a sales book but I wrote a sales book for business owners, because I did a webinar for what's setting up a sales processes was. At the end they're asking me questions like when we set aside time for business development or customer acquisitions - I was like - you mean sales? Rennie, you could hear them groan as they, wait, stop. What, what... What do you think sales is? And I got some of the old answers. It's influencing. It's controlling the conversation. I was like, okay, Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie - giant among men today. 

Rennie Gabriel  05:13
Yep. 

Rennie Gabriel  05:14
Yeah, that's so funny, because one of my mentors had a fabulous expression, which was fish can't see the water they're swimming in. So you know, when someone else needs to outsource, you can see it. When you needed to do it. You were blind to it.

Rob Bedell  05:14
Geniuses, but sales has changed dramatically. And so I went through a few things with him like, that's the book I need to write. I need to read a sales book for business owners. And I knew I'd need to get an editor in it, but me thinking I can do everything myself, I sat there and said I want to learn how to format the book. And so I got this lady to work with me. And I was like, will you help me, will show me how to do it? And she kind of looked at me and she's like, 'Okay.' And so after like a week of working with her straight, and she goes, 'Okay, now we get to the hard part.' I was like, 'Wait, now we get to the hard part?' I'm like, 'I guess... would this be easier if I just gave it to you?' And she's said, 'Yes.' I gave it to her, Rennie, and an hour and a half later, she handed it back to me. I was just like, what? And the thing that killed me is I didn't take my own advice. And I always tell business owners, if you don't know something, if you're not really good, outsource it, have somebody else do it for you. If you're not good at sales, bring somebody in that's good at sales. If you're not good at marketing, if you're not good at accounting, whatever part of your business you're not good at, outsource it. And so I kind of humbly had to take my own advice and eat a little crow on that one when I finally realized, - 'Oh - what am I doing?'

Rob Bedell  06:32
Yes. blind to it until it got to push come to shove. And then finally I was like, okay, that's a, but that's a week, week plus. I think it was closer to two weeks - that I'll never get back again.

Rennie Gabriel  06:41
Yeah. And it really would have only taken an hour and a half. And what you would have paid her for that. Instead, you spent two weeks of your own time. 

Rob Bedell  06:50
Yeah. And that's the way I looked at it. It's like, well, okay, that cost me a heck of a lot more money to do then it should have.

Rennie Gabriel  06:55
Yes, exactly. So that may be similar to this question about what are the common mistakes your prospects make?

Rob Bedell  07:05
It is, it is very similar. It's that people not understanding that they can reach out for help, that they can help. They're not in it alone. And this is what I always tell business owners. You might own your own business, but you don't have to be in business alone. And it's something that once people realize once they figure it out, it's like, oh. I mean, a lot of the things that I teach business owners when I coach them, Rennie, it's not rocket science. You know, a lot of the things in my book, it's all the stuff, I've had people read my book and come back to me and say, 'I knew this, I knew this. I knew that.' And I was like, then go ahead and do it. And you know, a lot of times, and I have this thing throughout the book is, it's all common sense stuff. When common sense becomes common practice that's when you find success.

Rennie Gabriel  07:43
Yes. And unfortunately, I found common sense isn't all that common, either. 

Rob Bedell  07:48
Unfortunately. 

Rennie Gabriel  07:49
But you know, what it reminds me of is that, you know, I was thinking of putting you on the spot with . . . Well, no, I'm going to bring it up right now. I have a book called, The Attitudes of the Wealthy. And one of the things that you just spoke about reminded me of one of those attitudes, when they hear familiar information, like, you know, you talk about something that's common, and someone says, 'Well, I read your book, and I know that.' It's irrelevant. Because, okay, I'll ask you a question. I'm going to put you on the spot. Have you heard of the expression, pay yourself first? 

Rob Bedell  08:27
Yes. 

Rennie Gabriel  08:27
Okay. Can you explain it?

Rob Bedell  08:31
It's - make sure you take care of yourself, and everyone is always quick to pay out all the bills and think about the money that they have to pay. And I have heard it, I'm not fully versed on it. So I'm sure I could learn some from you on it.

Rennie Gabriel  08:43
Okay, so that's exactly what I'm getting to. When a person with a wealthy mindset hears familiar information, they don't make statements like, 'I know that, I knew that, I've done that, I've seen that.' Instead, they ask questions, like, 'Hmm, how would that work for me?' Or, 'Where would that fit in my operation?' Or, 'When will I begin that?' Or, 'Who could support me with that?' And that's what makes the difference. So when you're having a conversation with someone about, you know, the information in your book, and they say, 'Oh, I knew that.' Yeah. But what questions came up about you putting it into action? 

Rob Bedell  09:24
Yeah. 

Rennie Gabriel  09:26
So anyway, it just reminded me of that conversation. Do you have an example of someone who followed your advice, some case study and what the result was?

Rob Bedell  09:40
Yeah. And there's a lot of companies that I've worked with, and the first thing that I always told business owners - do you have your value proposition down right? And people are amazed when it happens. I worked with this insurance inspection company, father - son team, they had a great product. They had the best product in the industry as far as I was concerned. And good, great guys. And I sat down with them like what's important? What do you guys all about? What do you offer? Well like, we have the best time, service, and quality, time, service, and quality. I'm like, okay, great. I went out to three of their best clients. I sat down with like, 'Listen, insurance inspection companies, they're a dime a dozen. Why do you work with these guys?' They all said the same thing, Rennie. In this industry, in insurance, there's always going to be problems. And when there are problems we know we can call or email them, they'll find out what happened, who was involved and how to make sure it doesn't happen again, and get back to us within 24 to 48 hours. I was like, huh, it's like that kind of counts sounds like customer service and communication. They are like, they do it, and not a lot of other people do. Asked all three of them, -what about time, service, and quality? They all said the same thing. If you're not doing time, service, and quality, you're not working in this industry. So we changed the messaging from time, service, and quality that everyone else was beating their chest about, to customer service and communication. And said, listen, in this industry, there's going to be problems. When there are problems we're in it with you. We're not, you're not left in there alone. And that next year, they grew 26% - year after that 63. So by correcting their value proposition alone, it made them more dominant in the marketplace.

Rennie Gabriel  11:01
Yeah. And I remember an earlier conversation, you said there are three questions to ask to get to the value proposition. 

Rob Bedell  11:10
Yep. 

Rennie Gabriel  11:10
Let me have you repeat those three questions.

Rob Bedell  11:15
It's easy. And it's so funny, too, because business owners are like, 'That's, that's it?' And it's like, 'Yeah.' You know, what value did I bring that you expected? What value did I bring that you didn't expect? And my favorite, what's the best thing about working with me? From those three things, and I've done this, I've done this for so many business owners this year. Because I tell business owners, 'Listen, I'll give this to you for free. Go out and see if it works. If it works for you, and you're really happy, then come back and see if I can help you anymore.' Every time they come back to me and go, 'Rob, I can't believe that. And now we're saying something completely different than what we're saying before.' And, Rennie, the problem is business owners - and I do it myself - business owners get in their own head. So they speak their language. 

Rennie Gabriel  11:56
Yes. 

Rob Bedell  11:57
They need to learn to speak their customers language. You know, and I actually had to do that assessment for myself when I started coaching and everyone's like, 'What do you do? Oh, I coach. Well what does that mean?' So I don't say I coach anymore. I say I help business owners find the money that they're leaving on the table.

Rennie Gabriel  12:11
And that's . . . yeah, exactly. So you found your own value proposition. So now, is there a free resource that you can direct people to that can further support them in their businesses?

Rob Bedell  12:25
Yeah, I mean, the best way to probably get me or to reach out, would be on LinkedIn. Just type Rob Bedell and I come up really, really fast. I mean, that's probably the easiest and fastest way. And I post a lot of things on LinkedIn, I give some advice, some tips on, you know, different types of business, especially with the sales part of it.

Rennie Gabriel  12:45
Great, what I'll do is, I'll put your LinkedIn connection in the show notes, so people can just click on it. 

Rob Bedell  12:52
Okay. 

Rennie Gabriel  12:53
What's the main issue that holds business owners from having a business that can run without them?

Rob Bedell  12:58
A lot of times, again, it's just sometimes it's too personal, that they think they need to be involved with it 24/7. And that the business can't survive without them. And I tell every business owner that thinks that, it's like, 'If you have to be at your business 8, 10, 12 hours a day, and you have to be there 5, 6, 7 days a week, you don't own a business, you have a job. Because if you're not there, it doesn't exist. So I work with business owners to let them kind of free up some of that and have people run the business for them. So they can actually take vacations and enjoy their life, owning a business and having it run without them. And I think once business owners have that mindset of, I don't need to run this whole thing, I can have people run this. And again, they're providing income for a lot of people that work for them. So they're providing a great service that this country loves. That's what this country is built on. So it's the one thing that I think once business owners realizes is - 'I don't need to do all of this. I can actually get help, and I can have people even eventually run it for me.'

Rennie Gabriel  14:00
Yeah. And there are business owners that I've worked with over the years, that they had inspired their employees to the extent that the business made more money when they left than when they hung around.

Rob Bedell  14:16
Yep, and there's a mindset change that needs to happen. Because when a business owner starts, they are on that entrepreneurial mindset, because they have to do everything. They have to. I understand that. I was there. It's like, you know, I have to do everything, I've got to do it all. And then once you know, people, once they get to a certain point they need to change from entrepreneurial to the CEO mindset of it. 

Rennie Gabriel  14:36
Yes.

Rob Bedell  14:36
I'm the CEO, now I can have them do this. I can have . . . I understand everything. Now I can have them do it. And if anything pop ups, of if there any problems, I can go back in and fix it, but they can do it without me. 

Rennie Gabriel  14:46
Yeah. And if you wanted to know what was involved in formatting a book, they could tell you. You don't have to do it. 

Rob Bedell  14:54
Exactly. 

Rennie Gabriel  14:56
Well, thank you, Rob. Thank you for being on the show.

Rob Bedell  15:00
Thank you for having me.

Rennie Gabriel  15:01
You're absolutely welcome. And to my listeners, thank you for tuning in. You can listen to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast on your favorite platform. And please rate, review and subscribe. And if you'd like to know how books, movies and society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is, then log on to wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. You'll hear my TEDx talk and can request a free 27-page roadmap to Complete Financial Choice®, and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or money. Again, that's wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. Now we're going to take a break for the Christmas holiday. And our next episode will be on January 3, 2022. To all my listeners, have a wonderful and joyful holiday season, and join me next year when we're going to have Dr. Matt Champagne, talking about his methodology for keeping your best customers and clients forever, using effective surveys instead of stupid ones, like we've all seen. Until then, be prosperous. Bye bye for now.


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