Episode 112 Transcript

Heather (00:03.352)

Hello everyone, welcome back to episode 112. Now, have you ever chosen to use something in your life or your business because somebody that you trust recommends it? Of course, right? I mean, most people actually trust a third party recommending something more than they actually trust the company themselves, as in like companies telling you about their products.

 

You hear that from them versus a testimonial or just a third party that's used it, you're gonna trust the third party in pretty much most cases, right? It's been proven, there's a lot of evidence and research on this. So I wanna give you an example because I find that this is such a perfect example of recommendations and how we get them and how we use them. And sometimes maybe they're not the best for us.

 

So think about a CRM, right? A customer relationship management tool. Is that what it's known for? A CRM, right? It's basically your database tool. It's like where you store all your customers and prospects, profile information, your marketing platform, where you would send out your emails and your newsletters in any automations. It's your pipeline management platform for your sales leads and all of that. Your CRM, right? Where you sort of run your business in a lot of cases.

 

So think about that. Now, there are two main business training groups here in Australia that I have been a part of for many, many years. I have spoken about both of them on this podcast with you as well. One is called Business Blueprint and the other is called The Entourage. And with these groups over the years, probably at least for 10 years now with both of them, I've spoken on their stages. I've been on coaching calls with their members. I've been on roundtables with their members where I serve in the role as a mentor in digital marketing. And I absolutely love what both companies have done over the last 10 years. It's incredible the help that they've given and provided to the entrepreneur, you know, entrepreneurial sort of small business community here in Australia and even bigger businesses now too. Some of their members have grown massive.

 

Heather (02:22.392)

By the way, I know some of you guys are listening to this because you met me through one of those organizations So shout out and you'll totally get this when I tell you the story so members of those groups Each tend to use a different CRM system now business blueprint uses something called Ontraport and it's funny way back in the day when I was first getting started in my business

 

When I say 2009, roughly, I needed a CRM and I knew Dale, the founder of Business Blueprint and his business was growing and he recommended something called Office Autopilot, which was rebranded to become Ontraport. And I thought, I have no idea, like even what's out there. Back then it was even harder to get tools that would help you and work with your marketing. And he was recommending this tool and I'm like, cool, it sounds amazing. I'll get it. Referral, right?

 

recommendation and I have used Ontraport ever since. So now the majority of the business blueprint members use Ontraport and that's because he has recommended it. Whereas the Entourage, something totally different. They use HubSpot, which is another tool that's out there. And so I know that when I'm talking to a lot of the Entourage members, most of them are going to be using HubSpot.

 

And look, it makes sense, right? That the company that uses the tool promotes it. I mean, I'm pretty sure Business Blueprint stills on Ontraport. I definitely know Entourage uses HubSpot. And so it absolutely makes sense. Plus also, they get incredible partner referral commissions, like affiliate commissions, for sticking with that one tool and giving precedence over that one tool and recommending it to their member base. So...

 

From a business perspective, it makes absolute sense that they're using the tool, they understand the tool, the team understands it, and then they're making commissions off of it, right? So they're going to promote and stick with the one. It just makes sense. But what if there was a better tool to use? That's the question. And I absolutely love to take recommendations like you guys. I mean, I even just said, I'm still on a platform that...

 

Heather (04:43.608)

You know, I've been using since the beginning of my business and it's so funny you guys, because now I do a lot of work with Entourage as well and they use HubSpot and like, no, am I in the right platform? Should I be on HubSpot? Which by the way is exorbitantly expensive as you scale up in the bubbles there. And ultimately, you know what? The tool doesn't really matter. Really, it doesn't. It's the knowledge, it's the driver of the tool. Most of these sort of CRM systems these days do the same things they have pipelines, they have tracking and measuring, you can plug in other apps. There's so many of them that are out there. And ultimately it just comes down to you being the driver and being able to use it, right? So whenever somebody comes to me, they're like, what tool do I use? Cause I have no affiliation with any of them. I'm just like, well, first of all, are you part of one of these organizations? Cause if you are, you might want to stay with their chosen tool. Cause you have more support in, and regardless of that.

 

What do you need it to do? And that's always what we want to start with, right? With our tools and our own businesses is like, what is a dream list of features that you could potentially grow into? And then what do you need it to do right now? Like, do you have a sales team? Do you need to track sales pipelines? Do you need to do your newsletters? Do you need to have sort of advanced integration into meta or Facebook ads, audiences and targeting? What do you want it to do? And if you don't know, ask around, ask other companies who have similar needs from you and find out from them. They always say like the best marketer always wins. And I sort of agree with that, but I also agree with the best recommendation always wins. So I just, I'm bringing this to your attention, I suppose, as something in your business going ahead, absolutely listen to your community, but also just remember that there's going to always be another solution.

 

and your preferred partner, supplier, person that you take advice from, they might only just know the one thing. And there might be other better paths, tools, ideas to get to where you want to be. Just make sure that you're using something that you understand, that you have a team and a community around that can help you, and that ultimately, in the end, it simplifies.

 

Heather (07:10.104)

what you do. So if you're on a platform, it's working for you right now. And you're like, what about HubSpot or this new shiny whistle or this new thing that's come out in the market? Do you need it? Maybe it's just because you're getting marketed that you do. And ultimately, maybe what you actually need is just a better understanding of the foundations, fundamentals and testing and measuring what you are already doing. Anyway, I hope that helps just a little food for thought in this episode and

 

Hope you're doing well in your business and this week and you're taking time for yourself and you're not reinventing the wheel all the time and you're creating amazing systems so you can free up your time to do things that you really love outside of your business. Hang in there you guys, you got this and I'll talk to you in the next episode.