Episode 11

Gaining The Attention Of Decision Makers

Jeremy Boerger joins Joshua Maddux on this weeks episode of In The Bunker to talk about Gaining The Attention Of Decision Makers. Jeremy talks about how he is working to get the attention of the c-suite and decision makers. He notes that he is still working on overcoming it and how partnering with other service providers has been very helpful.

Our episode highlights:

  • Get your product honed in. What’s the problem that you are going to solve, and explain it in 5-10 words or less. C-suite NEVER has time to read anything, because they are putting out fires… How can you solve that pain point and NOT be one?
  • Become the thought leader on the topic. (blog, LinkedIn posts, Book, podcast, other)
  • 4 most important words in business are “I know a guy/girl”.
  • If this does not help you, tell me why so I can make sure that I can help the next person.

Bio: Jeremy Boerger’s work in asset management started way back in 2000 fighting the Y2K bug. At that time, he set out to approach ITAM in a way no one had tried before: Jeremy began combining data theory with automation and self governance while consultants were answering tickets and running inventories when he began​.

The Pragmatic ITAM Method grew out of the success of ​his experiment and today, companies and organizations hire Jeremy to implement better solutions and coach their teams to ensure the positive results are permanent. ​

Jeremy is on the Board of Advisors at Neocor. His previous roles before starting Boerger Consulting include: Manager ll at Mercy Health, Asset Administrator at Atos, Associate, Enterprise SAM: JPMorgan Chase.​

When Jeremy is not traveling or staring at multiple monitors​ you’ll find him hanging out at home in Cincinnati with his wife, kids, and two very large dogs.​

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Transcript
Joshua Maddux:

Welcome back today.

Joshua Maddux:

We have Jeremy Berger with us on the show.

Joshua Maddux:

Jeremy was faced with the challenge of getting the attention of

Joshua Maddux:

C-suite execs and decision makers.

Joshua Maddux:

There's so much to discuss in this, and I know as a business owner,

Joshua Maddux:

myself, this is such a huge challenge.

Joshua Maddux:

I'm super excited to jump in and have this discussion with Jeremy today.

Jeremy Boerger:

Thank you, Joshua.

Jeremy Boerger:

It's going to be here.

Joshua Maddux:

So let's jumping a little bit, get to know you a little,

Joshua Maddux:

what is, what is your background?

Joshua Maddux:

Who are you?

Joshua Maddux:

How'd you get here?

Joshua Maddux:

What does that look like?

Joshua Maddux:

Give us a little intro.

Jeremy Boerger:

Yeah.

Jeremy Boerger:

Spent most, all of my career leading up to starting my own business in it.

Jeremy Boerger:

In particular little section called Asset management, which helps

Jeremy Boerger:

organizations be better stewards, cost optimization, really around their

Jeremy Boerger:

hardware and their software expense and about let's see, it would be in 2017.

Jeremy Boerger:

I realized that my approach for tackling these problems in

Jeremy Boerger:

medium and large businesses is unique enough that it should be.

Jeremy Boerger:

Pranced out to other people and I could reach and help and coach other

Jeremy Boerger:

folks a whole lot better on my own than just being full-time employee

Jeremy Boerger:

at some sort of large organization.

Jeremy Boerger:

It's now 20 22 and we're we're going strong.

Joshua Maddux:

I always love, and this is a whole nother topic entirely, but

Joshua Maddux:

that transition of I was an employee.

Joshua Maddux:

I realized that I had this knowledge that not only my employer needed,

Joshua Maddux:

but tons of other companies need.

Joshua Maddux:

And just that sort of switch, essentially, that just flipped of there's a whole

Joshua Maddux:

market out there that needs this.

Jeremy Boerger:

Yeah.

Jeremy Boerger:

I actually, I got really lucky because I had a opportunity to speak at a national.

Jeremy Boerger:

For asset managers and after giving a presentation, I had the opportunity.

Jeremy Boerger:

In fact, I mentioned it in my book.

Jeremy Boerger:

I had the opportunity to sit down afterwards.

Jeremy Boerger:

We were closing down it's the, it was called EO or no Evo.

Jeremy Boerger:

And it's the line bar next door to Michael Jordan steakhouse in Chicago.

Jeremy Boerger:

On the miracle mile.

Jeremy Boerger:

But the long story short is that there were a couple of other people

Jeremy Boerger:

that were experts in the industry.

Jeremy Boerger:

And I looked at them point blank and said, I think I'm really on to something.

Jeremy Boerger:

And they looked at my notes and they talked to me a little bit more and

Jeremy Boerger:

they said, yeah, this is something that could really be useful.

Jeremy Boerger:

And it encouraged me to pursue it.

Jeremy Boerger:

Two years later from that conversation started writing a book, put my own

Jeremy Boerger:

shingle out and haven't looked back.

Joshua Maddux:

That's awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

I always love that transition.

Joshua Maddux:

It's just, it's such a cool aspect for business owners to, you realize that

Joshua Maddux:

there was a need and you could help them.

Jeremy Boerger:

And the opportunity was the timing was also right.

Jeremy Boerger:

My wife was, God bless her is a project manager and a pretty

Jeremy Boerger:

darn good one on her own right.

Jeremy Boerger:

And very secure in her job.

Jeremy Boerger:

And she was like, you know what?

Jeremy Boerger:

This is a passion, but.

Jeremy Boerger:

You don't have to pay for college yet.

Jeremy Boerger:

We don't have to worry about kids.

Jeremy Boerger:

And we're pretty secure if there's ever a better time to

Jeremy Boerger:

try to strike out on your own.

Jeremy Boerger:

Now's the time to do it.

Jeremy Boerger:

Of course, that the counter argument to that was I'm going to watch it like a Hawk

Jeremy Boerger:

and make sure that you're staying on task.

Jeremy Boerger:

God bless those project managers.

Joshua Maddux:

That's awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

Your office is at home.

Jeremy Boerger:

Yes it is and which is nice change of pace after commuting

Jeremy Boerger:

almost one of the full-time positions that I had, I was commuting three

Jeremy Boerger:

hours by car three times a week.

Joshua Maddux:

Wow.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

So that really,

Joshua Maddux:

that alone will make you want to quit your job.

Jeremy Boerger:

yeah,

Joshua Maddux:

And I know, starting your own business and having a home

Joshua Maddux:

office are definitely challenges and they're, on their own.

Joshua Maddux:

And the main challenge that we're talking about today actually is getting the

Joshua Maddux:

attention of C-suite and sort of those decision makers and how that obviously

Joshua Maddux:

for your business, you're going in, you need to talk with, CTOs, CIOs need to talk

Joshua Maddux:

with these types of guys who understand.

Joshua Maddux:

Hey, if we don't know that we have 200 laptops, one can go missing or,

Joshua Maddux:

you're paying for a software and it's 40 bucks a month, but it's $40

Joshua Maddux:

a month for a thousand employees.

Joshua Maddux:

And you're not realizing that 10% of your workforce got laid off or, five

Joshua Maddux:

people quit and you've got licenses that are just running that aren't being used

Jeremy Boerger:

or even worse.

Jeremy Boerger:

The the dreaded audit letter shows up.

Jeremy Boerger:

And you're not exactly sure whether or not.

Jeremy Boerger:

You've paid for all the software that you've gotten installed in

Jeremy Boerger:

your environment and with COVID now you can't go physically and

Jeremy Boerger:

check to see what your employees have installed on their computers.

Jeremy Boerger:

So yeah there's a lot of challenges.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's exactly.

Jeremy Boerger:

Yeah.

Jeremy Boerger:

The C-suite is really my target audience.

Jeremy Boerger:

They're the folks that have the most risk.

Jeremy Boerger:

They've got the most to lose and not just not just monetary either.

Jeremy Boerger:

There's also reputation.

Jeremy Boerger:

You do not want to be.

Jeremy Boerger:

The next colonial pipeline.

Jeremy Boerger:

Colonial pipeline is a good one.

Jeremy Boerger:

Because it was a cyber security kit, but the entrance came

Jeremy Boerger:

on a abandoned VPN account.

Jeremy Boerger:

And so I was talking with a couple of cybersecurity folks and it's

Jeremy Boerger:

no, that's not cybersecurity.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's asset management.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's something that somebody should have said, Hey, this account hasn't been

Jeremy Boerger:

long, been hasn't shown any activity in two weeks, three weeks, pick a number.

Jeremy Boerger:

We need to recover that license.

Jeremy Boerger:

Turn that off and start asking questions on why is that thing?

Jeremy Boerger:

but that's the tricky part though, is exactly it.

Jeremy Boerger:

You've got the C-suite tends to fall into two camps.

Jeremy Boerger:

One is ignore it.

Jeremy Boerger:

Don't even mention it.

Jeremy Boerger:

Don't even talk about it last, the audit happens or the break-in happens

Jeremy Boerger:

and then, the other camp is we can.

Jeremy Boerger:

Broadcast that we've got a problem, but we're going to try to fix it on

Jeremy Boerger:

our own inside hush, so that, big, scary vendors don't find out about

Jeremy Boerger:

it and then hit us with an audit or hackers hit us with a security breach.

Jeremy Boerger:

So how do you get these folks that are very reticent to admit they have a

Jeremy Boerger:

problem to admit they have a problem?

Jeremy Boerger:

Quite honestly, I'm still working on that answer, but there's a

Jeremy Boerger:

couple of ways to get around it.

Jeremy Boerger:

The first piece of advice that I'd have to tell folks that I've learned is that

Jeremy Boerger:

you are an expert in what you are doing.

Jeremy Boerger:

You need to find an expert in the stuff that you.

Jeremy Boerger:

Aren't good at doing, and it's very difficult for solo entrepreneurs and

Jeremy Boerger:

self-employed and those kinds of folks, to look at the cost of bringing in a

Jeremy Boerger:

partner or bringing in help or hiring an outside firm and justify that expense.

Jeremy Boerger:

You, as a business owner have this direct line between I make this money.

Jeremy Boerger:

This feeds my kids.

Jeremy Boerger:

If I spend this money, I am not feeding my kids.

Jeremy Boerger:

And you've got to get out of that.

Jeremy Boerger:

You it's fear-driven but you can't be an expert in all things.

Jeremy Boerger:

And for coaches and consultants.

Jeremy Boerger:

Yeah, that's how we live our lives.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's how we make our money.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's our sell.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's our reason for being is that, Hey, Mr.

Jeremy Boerger:

C-suite, Mrs.

Jeremy Boerger:

C-suite.

Jeremy Boerger:

Your team is having trouble because they don't have my particular skillset.

Jeremy Boerger:

Bring me in.

Jeremy Boerger:

Eat your own dog food.

Jeremy Boerger:

You don't have all the skills, bring other people in it.

Jeremy Boerger:

I'm sorry.

Jeremy Boerger:

That was a bit of a rant that you got me charged up there a bit, but

Joshua Maddux:

no, that's really good.

Joshua Maddux:

It good.

Jeremy Boerger:

Getting that in.

Jeremy Boerger:

I would also say in, at the same time, getting good advice, finding your own

Jeremy Boerger:

coach, finding your own partnership.

Jeremy Boerger:

Not just for networking to find the next big deal, but people that you admire that

Jeremy Boerger:

are willing to strike up a friendship and willing to give it to you straight.

Jeremy Boerger:

There are blind spots.

Jeremy Boerger:

Again, you're not the expert in everything.

Jeremy Boerger:

You're going to miss things that.

Jeremy Boerger:

Other people are going to be able to see and help you compensate for in

Jeremy Boerger:

fact, maybe we need to make a little plug you and I found each other

Jeremy Boerger:

through the the alternative board.

Jeremy Boerger:

And my coach Quinn Wang has been phenomenal in helping me

Jeremy Boerger:

navigate in particular, this craziness that COVID has done.

Joshua Maddux:

I agree with groups, like tab the alternative board,

Joshua Maddux:

I've talked about this before and I love tab because it brings together.

Joshua Maddux:

Like-minded business owners in the sense of we all want to grow and do

Joshua Maddux:

better, but not in the sense of same industry, because if you've got a

Joshua Maddux:

dozen people who are all in the same industry for me, I own a digital agency.

Joshua Maddux:

I'm in a mastermind with other digital agency owners, but we sit around and talk

Joshua Maddux:

about the problems that we're facing.

Joshua Maddux:

That only we have dealt with the same thing.

Joshua Maddux:

And as soon as I go to my tab group, and I say, man, I've been facing this issue.

Joshua Maddux:

Someone goes, oh, why the heck haven't you tried this?

Joshua Maddux:

It's okay.

Joshua Maddux:

We had a dozen agency owners in a room who all couldn't figure out a solution.

Joshua Maddux:

And as soon as you step outside of the realm of expertise, really,

Joshua Maddux:

and you get into someone else who just asks a question, you know,

Joshua Maddux:

and I think it's amazing in our tab group specifically to watch.

Joshua Maddux:

The format and tab is someone brings a problem to the table and people

Joshua Maddux:

are allowed to ask questions are not allowed to provide answers,

Joshua Maddux:

solutions, suggestions, anything for the first like 10 minutes or

Joshua Maddux:

so they have to ask questions.

Joshua Maddux:

And so oftentimes the business owner actually gets to a solution

Joshua Maddux:

by other people asking questions before any sort of solution aspect

Joshua Maddux:

is even come to the business owners already self solved by people, asking

Joshua Maddux:

them to further explain a problem.

Joshua Maddux:

And there's actually in the development space like developers,

Joshua Maddux:

software developers do this a lot.

Joshua Maddux:

It's called rubber ducky, debug, and you basically have an inanimate object

Joshua Maddux:

that's on your desk, a dock or whatever.

Joshua Maddux:

And you explain the problem to that inanimate.

Joshua Maddux:

Out loud and because your brain is stopping and process stopping,

Joshua Maddux:

trying to solve the problem.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's now thinking of how to explain the problem.

Joshua Maddux:

It's a whole different thought process.

Joshua Maddux:

And when you do that half the time, you figure out your own solution.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's very similar to the Socratic method.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's still leveraged in medical and legal circles.

Jeremy Boerger:

Six Sigma, eh on the engineering side is very much Socratic method.

Jeremy Boerger:

Bang on questions in that mean questions, but questions about what's going on.

Jeremy Boerger:

And one of those questions is going to kick off a thread that can completely

Jeremy Boerger:

come around to the to the solution that you're seeking or identify a

Jeremy Boerger:

problem that you didn't realize.

Joshua Maddux:

What I know for me, there's been some of them that are, Hey,

Joshua Maddux:

this is the problem I'm dealing with.

Joshua Maddux:

People are like the last three or four questions.

Joshua Maddux:

That's cool.

Joshua Maddux:

That's not the problem I'm dealing with.

Joshua Maddux:

That's the outcome.

Joshua Maddux:

That's shown its head because of this underlying issue.

Joshua Maddux:

And sometimes there's people in the group who, help walk through that or help talk

Joshua Maddux:

through it, or, I was Having an element of well, should I hire this person?

Joshua Maddux:

Or should I, maybe, do some of those tasks internally and then outsource

Joshua Maddux:

like accounting or something else.

Joshua Maddux:

And Hey, three or four people brought together, Hey, these are who we like,

Joshua Maddux:

people who we work with and instantly the process of, now it's, I need to

Joshua Maddux:

send two emails and the problem solved.

Jeremy Boerger:

I can't stress enough on how important it is to have the the

Jeremy Boerger:

breadth and the uniqueness of the of the different people that are involved.

Jeremy Boerger:

One of the best pieces of advice that I got actually came from a local.

Jeremy Boerger:

He started his own brewery rather successful.

Jeremy Boerger:

It's over here in Cincinnati, Ohio called brink brewing.

Jeremy Boerger:

If you haven't heard of it, try the musi.

Jeremy Boerger:

And but I was talking with him because we both participate on

Jeremy Boerger:

the neighborhood redevelopment committee and that was helping him.

Jeremy Boerger:

Build out his a microbrewery and get on its feet.

Jeremy Boerger:

And he said, one of the best pieces of advice that he had been given

Jeremy Boerger:

that he then passed on to me is even though microbreweries now are like

Jeremy Boerger:

on, it feels like they're in every neighborhood on every street corner,

Jeremy Boerger:

there is always room for good product.

Jeremy Boerger:

And the question is, what's your product?

Jeremy Boerger:

And is it good?

Jeremy Boerger:

And it's like,

Jeremy Boerger:

you know what that translates to what I do quite well.

Jeremy Boerger:

And what is my product?

Jeremy Boerger:

what am I offering?

Jeremy Boerger:

and is it really a good value?

Jeremy Boerger:

Is it does it taste good?

Jeremy Boerger:

Does it scratch the itch that you need?

Jeremy Boerger:

And I've taken that advice and run with it and have really appreciated it.

Jeremy Boerger:

So you just never know where the next good idea is going to come from.

Jeremy Boerger:

Which is why you want to listen to podcasts like this and talk to different

Jeremy Boerger:

coaches in and try to gather that wealth of knowledge and that all stems

Jeremy Boerger:

from that idea that you are not the expert in all things, stick to what

Jeremy Boerger:

you know, and ask for help and advice where, you need it where, your lacking.

Joshua Maddux:

I will say the one thing that I know with tab

Joshua Maddux:

personally, that's been awesome as well is the aspect of, I've got a

Joshua Maddux:

team, I've got, handful of employees.

Joshua Maddux:

And if I go to my team and I say, Hey guys this is what we want to do.

Joshua Maddux:

There'll be like, okay, that's what we're doing.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's no.

Joshua Maddux:

What what are your thoughts on it?

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

And my team is pretty open in the sense of, they'll be like,

Joshua Maddux:

yeah, that's a terrible idea.

Joshua Maddux:

But for some companies, as the boss, you may not have that

Joshua Maddux:

relationship with your employees.

Joshua Maddux:

It may very much be a, the boss said we're doing it so I don't care we're doing it.

Joshua Maddux:

And so there are ideas that I'll bring to my tab group that they'll

Joshua Maddux:

be like, that is a horrible idea.

Joshua Maddux:

How is that in line with your mission, vision values?

Joshua Maddux:

How has that in line with, Your goals for this quarter or this year, like

Joshua Maddux:

that is totally counterproductive.

Joshua Maddux:

If that's really what you want to do, that's great.

Joshua Maddux:

But you got to check your goals because that is not in line with any of them.

Jeremy Boerger:

Oh, yeah, no, I've I can, I could tell you of two instances where

Jeremy Boerger:

my tab board is blocked me off the edge because I thought, this is direction

Jeremy Boerger:

it's going where I need to, better to be on the forefront than the back end.

Jeremy Boerger:

And they were like whoa, whoa, whoa,

Jeremy Boerger:

whoa.

Jeremy Boerger:

Well, There's a opportunity cost here that you need to be really careful about.

Jeremy Boerger:

That might be a story for another time, but they were right.

Jeremy Boerger:

And I was glad that I didn't pursue that otherwise.

Jeremy Boerger:

I could be, what I am doing would have been fundamentally different

Jeremy Boerger:

and not necessarily what I enjoy.

Joshua Maddux:

That's big.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

It's been, awesome digesting this and as we're, getting towards

Joshua Maddux:

the end and wrapping up, but.

Joshua Maddux:

Those decision makers and those people that you're reaching out to, really the

Joshua Maddux:

biggest aspect is, having people around you having that type of stuff, what

Joshua Maddux:

are some advice for people facing that same challenge of attempting to contact

Joshua Maddux:

C-suite or decision-maker type people.

Jeremy Boerger:

Well, let's take it back to the idea of good product.

Jeremy Boerger:

The first thing is to get that product honed in.

Jeremy Boerger:

What is the exact problem that you can solve and explain it in

Jeremy Boerger:

five, maybe 10 words or less that's because the C suite group that you

Jeremy Boerger:

are talking to has a time problem.

Jeremy Boerger:

Almost always.

Jeremy Boerger:

They are way too busy.

Jeremy Boerger:

Putting out fires, dealing with the crisis the tyranny of the immediate, when their

Jeremy Boerger:

real function is supposed to be that long-term vision movement to one year five

Jeremy Boerger:

year, 10 year plans for the organization.

Jeremy Boerger:

You can't be that person that's bringing up the next issue.

Jeremy Boerger:

You've gotta be the person that is solving that pain point.

Jeremy Boerger:

The way that I am trying to solve this, and by all means, I don't want

Jeremy Boerger:

to say that I have crack this night.

Jeremy Boerger:

Is to establish myself as a thought leader.

Jeremy Boerger:

I, very honestly talk to C-suite folks when I make my introduction

Jeremy Boerger:

and tell them what I do.

Jeremy Boerger:

And it's yeah.

Jeremy Boerger:

And I wrote the book on this subject and that gives folks,

Jeremy Boerger:

a chance to pivot either.

Jeremy Boerger:

They're very interested because they're a reader and they want to know

Jeremy Boerger:

more or they can beeline to the bar.

Jeremy Boerger:

But to have a book, to have a website or a blog or even the posts on LinkedIn

Jeremy Boerger:

that can provide some sort of help for that crisis to help not just the

Jeremy Boerger:

C-suite to Find more information about the crisis, your, or to give them a

Jeremy Boerger:

better idea of how they're going to get their arms wrapped around whatever

Jeremy Boerger:

problem that they're trying to solve.

Jeremy Boerger:

That really helps.

Jeremy Boerger:

So really the credibility piece.

Jeremy Boerger:

The second piece is the five most important words in business

Jeremy Boerger:

right now is I know a gal.

Jeremy Boerger:

Or I know a guy it's all about the personal connections.

Jeremy Boerger:

I tell you one of my big regrets is spending a whole bunch of money

Jeremy Boerger:

to talk to a person that taught me how to spam LinkedIn connections.

Jeremy Boerger:

And no that's just not going to do it.

Jeremy Boerger:

It's all about personal connections and finding the opportunity to make

Jeremy Boerger:

that that emotional connection.

Jeremy Boerger:

These folks are lonely.

Jeremy Boerger:

I have found on the C-suite, they don't have a lot of people that they

Jeremy Boerger:

can talk to about their problems.

Jeremy Boerger:

They've got golf buddies, they've got volleyball groups or whatever

Jeremy Boerger:

other places they can go to.

Jeremy Boerger:

Be with their peers and talk, but very rarely are they ever able to sit

Jeremy Boerger:

down and have a conversation about a business problem that somebody

Jeremy Boerger:

isn't trying to sell them something.

Jeremy Boerger:

And the nice thing about having that sort of credibility is you

Jeremy Boerger:

can start from the very get-go.

Jeremy Boerger:

I'm happy to tell you what I know and if it helps you great.

Jeremy Boerger:

And if it doesn't help you then.

Jeremy Boerger:

Tell me why it doesn't help.

Jeremy Boerger:

So it helps me know what I can do for the next person that does that does seem like,

Jeremy Boerger:

but after you have those conversations, They talk, the C-suite starts to talk

Jeremy Boerger:

to their peers and their friends.

Jeremy Boerger:

And I can tell you if two two people that I have been in contact with because

Jeremy Boerger:

they referred and for, I wasn't able to help them in their particular business,

Jeremy Boerger:

but they learned enough about me and what I do that they referred me to

Jeremy Boerger:

a couple of friends and colleagues.

Jeremy Boerger:

Who were suffering from the exact same problem that I'm able to solve.

Jeremy Boerger:

And we've had some pretty good we've been able to have some pretty good success.

Joshua Maddux:

That's awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

There's a ton to unpack there.

Joshua Maddux:

I think like one of the elements that you just mentioned right towards the end was

Joshua Maddux:

if this doesn't help you tell me why, so I can make sure I can help the next guy.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think that element.

Joshua Maddux:

with going back to the very beginning of what you start wrapping up with, which

Joshua Maddux:

is really getting your product honed in.

Joshua Maddux:

if you're doing a product pitch, if you're doing a proposal pitch and someone says

Joshua Maddux:

this doesn't resonate with me because X and you're doing 2, 3, 4 proposals, and

Joshua Maddux:

you get the same response multiple times.

Joshua Maddux:

There's an underlying foundational issue, either a you're pitching

Joshua Maddux:

to the wrong people or B you're pitching the wrong thing.

Joshua Maddux:

And those are the aspects.

Joshua Maddux:

I think it's that sort of repetition of learn something, make it better,

Joshua Maddux:

learn something, make it better.

Joshua Maddux:

When we build a website, our last call, as we're launching the site with the

Joshua Maddux:

client is What about this project.

Joshua Maddux:

Did you like, and what did you not like?

Joshua Maddux:

Like where did we mess up?

Joshua Maddux:

And those are elements that we've had clients go, Hey, I've really,

Joshua Maddux:

didn't like that you did this.

Joshua Maddux:

I felt like that just wasted a bunch of time or that did this.

Joshua Maddux:

And sometimes maybe it's we explain the process a little bit and

Joshua Maddux:

they're like, oh, that makes sense.

Joshua Maddux:

That's why you did it.

Joshua Maddux:

Okay, cool.

Joshua Maddux:

We need to explain better why we do X or Y or Z, With one client,

Joshua Maddux:

they were like, man, this one form that I filled out was just so long.

Joshua Maddux:

Cool.

Joshua Maddux:

How can we shorten that up?

Joshua Maddux:

How can we make that easier, make that more of a casual conversation

Joshua Maddux:

and just really make it a better experience overall, whether it's

Joshua Maddux:

a buying cycle sales cycle, and just moving into being a customer.

Jeremy Boerger:

Well, there's the evil twin of the imposter syndrome that

Jeremy Boerger:

a lot of people like to talk about.

Jeremy Boerger:

It is the innovator's dilemma, you know, your product so well, you know, your

Jeremy Boerger:

space so well, you assume everybody else has the same amount of knowledge as you.

Jeremy Boerger:

And so you come at your potential clients, you come at your target audience and say,

Jeremy Boerger:

Hey, all of this stuff, isn't it great.

Jeremy Boerger:

Here's all these acronyms, here's all this stuff that we can do.

Jeremy Boerger:

And everybody just looks at you.

Jeremy Boerger:

And it's we don't want to admit that we don't know.

Jeremy Boerger:

What we're talking about, but obviously we're not smart

Jeremy Boerger:

enough to be able to keep up.

Jeremy Boerger:

And we're just going to politely nod our heads and say, thank you very much, but

Jeremy Boerger:

no, in that's something that, really the really smart people, the entrepreneur

Jeremy Boerger:

mindset can get so trapped and knowing their stuff so well, they forget that.

Jeremy Boerger:

Sometimes you got to dumb it down.

Jeremy Boerger:

Sometimes you got to slow it down and just talk about the stages.

Jeremy Boerger:

What stage are you in?

Jeremy Boerger:

And we're still poking at this.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's great.

Jeremy Boerger:

Poke away.

Jeremy Boerger:

Let me know something bites you.

Jeremy Boerger:

And then we can talk some more and slow things down.

Jeremy Boerger:

We are.

Jeremy Boerger:

So sometimes we get so focused on the next sale, the next

Jeremy Boerger:

opportunity, the next wiz-bang thing.

Jeremy Boerger:

We forget that there's a whole journey that has got to happen.

Jeremy Boerger:

And these people have got to come along to it.

Jeremy Boerger:

We can't, we know the ending, we've seen it before, but we can't spoil it for them.

Joshua Maddux:

That's really good.

Joshua Maddux:

There's four stages of the sales cycle.

Joshua Maddux:

The sale is physically stage number three.

Joshua Maddux:

And so many times business owners try to influence that stage rather

Joshua Maddux:

than any of the other three stages.

Joshua Maddux:

Most businesses spend so much time trying to influence that one stage.

Joshua Maddux:

And the sad part is the more you influence that single stage is the

Joshua Maddux:

more you influence buyer's remorse.

Joshua Maddux:

It's just, it's so crazy.

Joshua Maddux:

And it drives me nuts.

Jeremy Boerger:

How easy is it to fall in that trap?

Jeremy Boerger:

When you see the direct connection between the sale and feeding your kids?

Joshua Maddux:

Yep.

Joshua Maddux:

Very true.

Joshua Maddux:

I think we, as business owners as entrepreneurs have all sort of fallen

Joshua Maddux:

into that trap and all had that aspect at one time or another, you know, we've all

Joshua Maddux:

sort of you know, gotten trapped in that.

Joshua Maddux:

Well, It's been super good chatting.

Joshua Maddux:

I know we'll have links to your LinkedIn and your website and

Joshua Maddux:

all that in the show notes below.

Joshua Maddux:

But where is that number one spot for people to reach out and connect with you?

Joshua Maddux:

Is that your website, LinkedIn?

Joshua Maddux:

What's the best one.

Jeremy Boerger:

My website, www.burgerconsulting.com.

Jeremy Boerger:

Crazy German spelling.

Jeremy Boerger:

That's B O E R G E R.

Jeremy Boerger:

consulting.com.

Joshua Maddux:

It's been super good having you on the show today.

Joshua Maddux:

Appreciate the time, appreciate the knowledge.

Joshua Maddux:

And just chatting through this with us.

Jeremy Boerger:

Oh, my pleasure, Joshua.

Jeremy Boerger:

Thank you for bringing me on and good luck with you and my best to you and yours.

Joshua Maddux:

Awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

Appreciate it.

Joshua Maddux:

Thanks.

Joshua Maddux:

Thanks for listening to this episode of, in the bunker.

Joshua Maddux:

As always we can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

Joshua Maddux:

at, in the bunker podcast.

Joshua Maddux:

Be sure to share this episode and what you're going to apply from it.

Joshua Maddux:

And how that can affect your business, make sure to tag us in that post so

Joshua Maddux:

we can highlight your journey as well.

Joshua Maddux:

But before you go.

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About the Podcast

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In The Bunker
Exploring the biggest challenges in starting and running a business.

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About your host

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Joshua Maddux

Joshua Maddux is an entrepreneur who has helped numerous businesses grow and thrive.