Five Words That Will Change Your Life

Five Words That Will Change Your Life

Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to episode 125 of the Business Development Podcast. And today we're talking about five words that will change your life. Stick with us. This is an episode you're not going to want to miss.

Intro: The great Mark Cuban once said, Business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world. You'll get expert business development, advice, tips, and experiences, and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs. And business development reps. You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by capital business development, capitalbd.ca let's do it. Welcome to the business development podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to episode 125 of the business development podcast. It's an absolute honor to be on here with you today. My name is Kelly Kennedy and I will be your host. Some of you probably already know that, but I always like to do that for fun every once in a while.

My gosh, 125 episodes. You know what else is super, super cool that's coinciding with this episode release right now? I'll see you next time. Last night, we also just crossed 150, 000 downloads. Oh man, like, I can't even believe that. I can't even believe that, considering this time last year, our show was like, not even two months old.

I guess a little over two months old, but just a little bit. So it just blows my mind how much we've grown in such a short period of time and we couldn't have done it without you are amazing rock stars are rockstar listenership. I appreciate each and every one of you. And before we launch into today's episode, I have just some some updates to give you.

So obviously 150, 000 downloads, 14 and a half months, 125 episodes. That's where we're sitting today. day, and I just wanted to give a gigantic, gigantic thank you to all the people that I've reached out to in the past, you know, week, week and a half asking for nominations for the Quill Podcast Awards. I think at this point, we're probably sitting well over a hundred nominations, if not more.

And I could not have done it without each and every one of you. Naming you all would be a chore, but you know who you are. And I just want to say Thank you so much for the nominations. There is still time. If you want, you can head over to Quill podcast awards. You can nominate us and your favorite podcast for whatever award that you would like this year.

And I just wanted to say thank you so much. Our listenership of the business development podcast. You guys are amazing. I love you all. You guys are so great. You know, everybody I reached out to you had nothing but kind, positive things to say. And I just want to say thank you so much. I wanted all of you to know as well.

If there are things that we could be doing better, if there's ways that I could continue to improve this show for you, I am going to do it. So feel free to let me know things you love. If there's things you don't love, let me know and we'll do our best to rectify it. But just wanted to say thank you so much to the listenership of the business development podcast.

You guys are amazing. We could not have done it without you. We could not have made it to 14 months, 150, 000 downloads, 125 episodes. This could not have happened without your support and without me knowing that what we were doing here was helping you. And so you're amazing. You're rock stars and I appreciate you.

Gigantic, gigantic thank you to Ross Huartt for episode 124, Pioneering Environmental Excellence in Business. Ross is an amazing, amazing person. He's been on our podcast now twice, and I've had the joy of launching his podcast, being the first guest. And so, if you guys love Ross, I always love chatting with him.

He also has a podcast called Lessons of a CEO. I am his very first expert guest, and I believe he's got two shows at this point. So if you like this show and you like Ross, you'll probably like that one. So feel free to check him out. And Ross, it was a pleasure having you back. So we have guests at this point booked all the way to September 2024.

My gosh, are we getting amazing guests. I can't even wait to speak with some of them. The caliber of guests that we've gotten on this show just continues to get better and better and better with time. And I'm so grateful to all of our guests, past, present, and future. We appreciate you immensely. The show could not grow without our expert guests coming on and sharing your journeys with us, educating and inspiring us to take those next steps, me included.

And I appreciate you all. And I very much look forward to the future of this show. Just so that you guys are all aware as well. I am now offering business development coaching. So if you're looking for a one on one personal coaching solution, come on in and help you achieve your goals, reach whatever business goals you guys are after achieve the level of meetings you guys want streamline your business development process.

I would love to hear from you. Feel free to shoot me an email at info@capitalbd.ca or you can reach out to Cole Chorney at 1780 231 0913 and he can walk you through the process to get onboarded and we very much look forward to working with you. We have limited availability at this time. I'm only taking on six coaching clients, so if you're interested and that's something that's ringing your ears.

Feel free to reach out to Cole Chorney or send us an email at info@capitalbd.ca amazing! Okay, well, let's just get into it. I wanted to take some time today and chat about five words. Five words that are going to absolutely change your life. change your life. Okay? It is absolutely critical, critical to your success in closing deals and moving forward to the next steps of anything that you're doing.

Whether this is a project you're working on in house, whether this is a meeting that you just had, whether this is a deal you're trying to close, what are The next steps is absolutely, absolutely critical. Those five words will absolutely change your life. This could very well be one of the most important episodes that I ever release on the business development podcast.

There was a time guys, there was a time. That I just would not say those words. I would go to a meeting, everything would go great, and I would say, okay, great, well, you know, we'll catch up, or I'll reach out to you next week, or whatever it is. And it just regularly didn't do anything. It didn't go anywhere, okay?

Before I learned that critical phrase, deals used to slip away regularly. And if it's not clear what's next, the answer is almost always nothing. Okay? Nothing. Guys, we talk about this all the time on the business development podcast, right? Everything we're doing is to get to a meeting. Okay? And the goal and outcome of every meeting that we want is an opportunity.

We want to Close a deal. We want to get on a bid list. We want to receive an RFP or an RFQ or an order of some type. We want something. We're looking for an outcome. You know, I love meeting with people, but typically if we're meeting with people for business, there is a business outcome that we are looking for.

And the answer Everybody, the answer to getting what you want or to moving that thing forward is always asking, What are the next steps? It was amazing meeting with you. I had a great meeting. It was a pleasure. What are the next steps? What do we do next? What is the next step in this process? Do we need to book another meeting?

Can I get an RFP RFQ bid list? Is there a vendor list application that I can fill out? What are the next steps? Okay, I know we're not saying this and I wanted to spend some time today and chat about it because I am preaching to the choir for years, for years and years and years and years and years. I did not do this.

I didn't do it either. And so I just wanted to spend some time and say, I'm not hating on you guys. If you're not doing this, I get it. I get it. I didn't do it too. But when I changed that, when I started asking what are the next steps, my world changed my world changed. And your world from this day forward is going to change too because you are not going to forget those words.

Those words will become ingrained in your future, and it will be the best thing that you have ever added to your meeting life. It'll be the best thing that you've ever added to meetings, period. Because what it does is a multitude of things, and we are going to get into that today. But before I get into why we need to be asking for next steps, what the benefits are, and they are numerous, we are gonna chat a little bit about what is holding us back.

Because, just like you, I wasn't doing it. I wasn't doing it. And you know, when I look back now, I think a lot of it was nervousness. I didn't, I didn't feel like I could say that, or I didn't have the confidence to say that in those moments. And I think I just felt like, okay, like we had this great meeting.

We talked about the business. It's going to come, right? It's going to come. But what do I tell you guys all the time? Confidence, right? Fortune favors the bold is a great saying, right? We have to be confident. We have to ask for what we want because nobody is going to give it to you. And this is something that I learned very much when I became an entrepreneur, very much as I went forward in my business development career and learned more about psychology and how people work and how business works.

But the reality is everybody, we have to be bold, we have to ask for what we want, because we have to be clear about what it is we want to do. And trust me, when you are clear about this, when you gain the confidence to say, this was amazing, I want to work with you, I want this opportunity, I want this opportunity.

What is next? What's the next step? How do we move this thing forward? Things are going to move forward for you. Mark my words, when you start, when you start believing in yourself, when you start believing in what you can do, my gosh, your world is going to change. And I just, I really hope that each and every one of you leave this episode today thinking, You know what?

It's not that big. It's not that much to ask what is next. And mark my words, it will change your life. Not just your business, your life. Okay? It is that big. Let's chat a little bit about why we are not asking what's next. Okay? There are definitely some reasons that we're not asking. Okay? It seems obvious.

But there's something holding us back number one assumptions. Okay, we think that it's obvious or implied. Mark my words, nothing is obvious. And it's probably not implied the way that you think it is. That's the important thing. We always like to think that we think. Exactly how our customers are thinking.

And I want you to throw that out the window. You have no idea what your customer is thinking, or if they are clear on what your offer is or what you want, unless you ask them directly. Okay. There's something about. Us assuming things, and I think we all do it, I've been guilty of it plenty, but I think you have to remember, there's a reason that there's that saying that assuming makes an A. S. S. out of you and me, right? It really does, it really does, because no two people think exactly the same, and unless you can confirm that they understand it in the exact way that you meant it, You have to assume that they don't completely understand or that they're not understanding it on the exact same level that you implied it to be.

Okay. Assumption. We're assuming. Okay. Don't assume. You can't afford to, okay? You can't afford to assume anymore. So let's stop assuming. We have a fear of appearing uninformed or incompetent. You know what? This happens a lot in business development. And the reason is Okay, we are typically not subject matter experts.

We are not the engineers of the product or service that we are selling. We are probably not even a provider exactly of that product or service, right? We probably aren't welders. We're probably not electricians. We're probably not aircraft engineers, right? We probably didn't design that super awesome piece of software that we're selling.

And so I think at times, we can keep our mouth shut out of fear, we can keep our mouth shut out of fear that we will look stupid, that we will look incompetent, that we will, it'll come across that we really don't know, where I want you to understand that if you're in business development, and It's very likely that people will give you a pass, right?

It is not wrong for you to sit in a meeting and say, You know what? I don't have the answer to that because I'm not the engineer that designed or built that product. However, you know what I can do for you? I'll figure it out. I'll ask the engineer. I'll get the answers you want, right? Don't be afraid to do that.

Don't be afraid to just say, I don't have the answer to that, but I'm going to figure it out. That is the superpower you have. You can figure it out, right? Understand that if you're in business development, or if you own a business of some type and it's very technical and you aren't the technical person, it is okay for you to say, I'm not the technical person.

I don't have, you know, the dimensions or the exact answer you want for that, but I know the person who does and I'll figure it out. Use the power of I'll figure it out. It is okay not to know everything. There's plenty of things I don't know. I would argue that for 99 percent of the customers that I've worked with.

I don't know the ins and outs of their product. Do I know enough to be dangerous? Absolutely. You have to know enough to be dangerous, but you can't know everything, especially if you didn't design and build and understand the ins and outs of that product. We just can't know it all. And that's okay. I want you to stop trying to be the product expert or being afraid because you don't know everything and own it.

Own it. Just say, I don't know, but I'll figure it out. I'll find the person who does. Don't worry about that. I'll settle that for you, Mr. and Mrs. Customer. I'll figure that out. But what we can talk about right now is what I do know. And I know this and I want to know what the next steps are. How do we work together?

Right? Don't be afraid to say, I don't know. Remember it's okay. It's okay. Not everybody knows everything, especially when it comes down to the technical. engineering design of a specialty product or service. You just can't know it all if you don't do it. And so don't be afraid to say, I don't have the answer, but I will find out.

Okay. Number three, we have a lack of assertiveness or confidence. Guys, I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it. When you just want to like sit back and slide under the radar or it's scary to ask what are the next steps. I've been in those rooms. I was afraid to ask, right? I don't want to, you know, agitate someone or I don't want to be told no, but you have to get over that.

Okay, it's not personal. It's not no to you. It might be no to the service in the moment, But that's not no forever. Stop looking at a no as never. It's not never. It's no in that moment, and it's not personal. It's just no to the service or product that you're trying to pitch in that moment. They don't always fit.

They don't always make sense. Remember how I always tell you we're trying to get ahead of the need, right? We're always trying to get ahead of the need. No in that meeting is completely okay, because what it turns into is a yes when the need comes available. Remember, your job is to spread the word far and wide.

Shout that product and service from the rooftops. If you did that, you did your job and you're doing just fine. Okay. Stop being afraid. Stop being afraid to ask for what you want. That is the biggest problem that everybody in business, business development, sales faces. We are afraid to ask because we are afraid of that dreaded no.

Stop being afraid of the no. It's not no forever. It's not no to you personally. It's no in that moment. Things change. Needs change. Mark my words, a lot of people have told me no, and then came back and ordered from me later. Trust me, it's not about that. If you've spread the word, if you've pitched the product in service, they know who you are, they know what you do, you're gonna get that opportunity.

So, stop being afraid of the no's, hunt for them, right? The more no's you get through, those yes's are coming, alright? Overwhelm. Okay, I get this one. You can be in a situation sometimes where the project scope seems so big or you're feeling, you know, out of your comfort zone, out of your circle, especially in meetings.

I get it. There's a lot of you who struggle in meetings and I did too. Believe me, I got meeting anxiety, I got overwhelmed, and I had plenty of times where frankly, I was thinking like, when can this be done? I just want this to be over. Like I'm, I'm not comfortable. This is a hard conversation. I don't really want to be here.

I get it. I get it. That's overwhelm. Okay, it happens to us. But remember, you went to that meeting, right? You went to the meeting, the opportunities right in front of you sees it. Seize it. Don't forget. No matter what happens in that meeting, no matter how badly you think it goes, no matter what happens, just ask at the end, what is next?

What are the next steps? What is the next opportunity here? What can we do? Try to get to it. Don't let overwhelm take over. Don't let nervousness kill this meeting for you. You showed up. You're there. You're having it. Own it. Own it, be brave, ask for the next steps, okay? Passive communication culture, okay?

Someone else will do it. This happens when we're sitting next to our bosses, right? I get this, I get this, I've been there. You're sitting next to somebody who is maybe at a higher tier in the organization than you, maybe they're a co founder, maybe they're, you know, your partner, whatever it is, but they typically lead the way, okay?

Don't let Somebody else step in and do this because you don't know if they're going to do it. That's the biggest thing, right? I've sat next to a lot of founders, a lot of presidents. in meetings who did not ask for next steps. Why? Because they were just as afraid to ask as you are. Okay. They were just as afraid to ask as you are in that moment.

Don't assume that they're going to handle it. Don't assume that they know what to do next. Okay. You guys listening to this show right now, you're the experts. All right. You are now the experts in how to end a meeting properly. And I want you to own that. I want you in every single meeting, whether it be an internal meeting, whether it be an external meeting, whether it be a multi million dollar, a billion dollar meeting, what are the next steps?

How do we move forward? Right? We got to do this. We got to do this. Don't. Don't expect somebody else to do this for you. The reason that this doesn't get said a lot is because people genuinely are afraid at all levels. They struggle at all levels to ask this most important question, okay? The whole thing, the meeting is useless.

Understand this. Almost any meeting you have is pretty much useless if nothing comes of it. Think about that. Whether it be an internal team meeting, whether it be a one on one meeting, whether it be a business development meeting, whether it be a client lunch, they are pretty much useless if nothing happens.

The way to make things happen is to ask what is next, okay? What is next will change your life. Time pressure. All right. Feeling like you're too busy to ask. You got too much going on. You got to get in and out. You got to get in and out. Trust me. This is only going to lead to confusion later. Okay. We have to ask what is next.

Don't assume just because you're so busy. Don't skip this part. Okay. It is not the part to skip. There's plenty of the meeting. I'm sure you can skip. Asking, what is next, what are the key takeaways, what do we do here, that is so important. You cannot, cannot skip that step, okay? Alright, we've talked about some of the challenges, some of the reasons people are afraid they're not doing it.

What are the benefits of asking for next steps? Guys, they are numerous, but I'm going to give you eight. Clarity. Clear direction on what's next. What is more important than knowing what to do? Like nothing. Knowing what to do is literally like 90 percent of the battle in almost anything business related, period.

Just know, even in life, knowing what to do is 90%, okay? Just knowing what to do is worth it alone. Clarity. Two, alignment. Everyone being on the same page. Everyone knowing what's expected of them. How can things get done if nobody knows what to do? Asking for next steps gives clarity, gives people jobs to do, gives direction.

It makes things work. Three, accountability. You know who is supposed to do what. It assigns responsibility to An individual, multiple individuals, but it gives people tasks to do so that you can get to those critical, critical next steps. It increases efficiency. No more wasted time if you know what people are supposed to do.

You don't have to follow up with eight people down the line as to what are we going to do next after this meeting if you've already talked about it, right? Time efficiency is absolutely critical. We don't have time to waste. I'm a busy entrepreneur. So are you. You may be busy in business development or whatever you're doing, but you are busy.

We don't have time to waste. Time efficiency is critical and asking for next steps fixes that for you. It is proactive. Okay. It demonstrates initiative and desire to move forward. It is proactive. We are not waiting around for someone to call us. We're saying, okay, I love this. This meeting is great. I love what you do, and I want an opportunity here.

What do we do next? How do we fix this? How do we make it better? It is absolutely critical that we are being proactive, and that is what Asking for Next Steps does. It fosters collaboration, okay? Open communication, sharing of information. Nothing's in the dark. If you ask, what's next? They got to tell you, right?

They got to give you something. It's either another meeting to chat about what's next. Oh, I'm going to take this back and we'll be in touch in one week. It gives timelines. It gives collaboration. It lets people work together effectively. Adaptability by understanding what's next. We can better adapt and overcome.

If there's something that you got to do before that next step or before you can have that opportunity, hopefully they're going to tell you and you can pivot, you can adapt, you can do what needs to be done and you can reach back out and say, Mr. And Mrs. Customer. I got this. I did it and I'm ready to go.

Right? Adaptability. And number eight, continuous improvement. By knowing what's next, you can optimize your outcomes. You can make things work. You can get better. Okay? You can get better. You can provide a better product that meets their needs better. You can just do better. It optimizes everything. Guys,

ask, what are the next steps? Mark my words, it will change your life. Alright guys, that takes us to the end of our episode today. It was an absolute pleasure to be on here with you. I do have one more ask for you, okay? If you've enjoyed this show, And you think that you have something that could benefit our audience, a product, a service, we want to hear from you.

We are looking for sponsors who have products and services that can improve the lives of our listeners, the businesses of our listeners. And if this is you, we want to hear from you. Shoot me an email, info@capitalbd.ca and we will line up a meeting and have that discussion.

Shoutouts this week, Rodney Lover. Colin Harms, Shawn Neels, Ross Huartt, Raphael Cervan, and Crystal Bowen. You guys are amazing. And all my amazing people who nominated us, all the listeners of this show, we appreciate you immensely. This show could not go on without you. Until next time, this has been The Business Development Podcast, and we will catch you.

On the flip side.

Outro: This has been the business development podcast with Kelly Kennedy. Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020. His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation.

And business development. The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your Business Development Specialists. For more, we invite you to the website @ www.capitalbd.ca. See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.