This week’s episode of Good Girls Get Rich is brought to you by Uplevel Media CEO and LinkedIn expert, Karen Yankovich. In this episode, Kelly O’Neil shares with Karen why and how we should be marketing to affluent clients.
Kelly O’Neil is a multi-award willing entrepreneur, profit strategist, and brand marketing expert. She’s on a mission to disrupt the status quo and rewrite the rules of entrepreneurship to help entrepreneurs create high-profit and high-freedom businesses on their own terms.
#GoodGirlsGetRich
We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at info@karenyankovich.com.
About the Episode:
Have you ever wished you could make more money while working less? I’m sure you have. But it sounds like an unachievable dream, right? I want to let you in on a secret… it’s possible!
Oftentimes in our business journeys, we start off doing business with low-price customers because we tell ourselves we’re not established and experienced enough for affluent clients. And that’s simply not the case!
So why are entrepreneurs scared to market to affluent clients? It’s because they lack confidence. But when you change your mindset, realize how powerful you are, and display confidence, things begin to change.
The Benefit of Marketing to Affluent Clients
What’s the benefit of marketing to affluent clients? Well, remember that dream we talked about? Affluent clients want to get things done quickly, and they have the money and resources to make that happen. That means you’ll get to work less while making more money. It’ll also afford you bigger opportunities.
Ready to reach affluent clients and make your dream come true? Listen to this episode, learn where to find affluent clientele and how to gain them as clients, and achieve your business dreams!
Episode Spotlights:
- Where to find everything for this week’s episode: karenyankovich.com/124
- Introducing this episode’s guest, Kelly O’Neil (2:15)
- Why you should market to affluent clients (4:10)
- Finding bigger opportunities (10:10)
- Kelly’s challenges (14:10)
- Kelly’s mistake (17:19)
- Why the old model of entrepreneurship is dying (20:50)
- The importance of strategy (25:51)
- Kelly’s Six-Steps to the Affluent Customer Lifecycle (28:08)
- The loyalty of affluent clients (34:46)
- How to find out more about Kelly (37:31)
Resources Mentioned in the Episode:
- Where you can find Kelly O’Neil
- Join the Free LinkedIn Workshop
- Sign up for the She’s LinkedUp Masterclass
- Join my free Facebook Group if you have any questions about today’s episode
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Read the Transcript
Karen Yankovich 0:00
You’re listening to the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast Episode 124.
Intro 0:06
Welcome to the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast with your host, Karen Yankovich. This is where we embrace how good you are, girl. Stop being the best kept secret in town, learn how to use simple LinkedIn and social media strategies, and make the big bucks.
Karen Yankovich 0:24
Hey, I’m your host, Karen Yankovich and this is the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast and we’re brought to you by Uplevel Media, where we teach simple relationship heart based LinkedIn marketing. We want to get you on the phone consistently only with your perfect people, only with people that can change everything about your life and your business and really get you to achieve the big goals that you have in your life. So this is digital marketing with the human touch we want you on the phone with people. So we have a guest today that I’ve only known for a couple months and she is amazing. I can’t wait for you to meet Kelly. She Has is doing some really amazing things in this world. She her brand is Marketing to Millionaires and, frankly, why are we not marketing to people that have the money that can pay us, right? So I think you’re gonna really enjoy her perspective. And really, that’s what we want here on the Good Girls Get Rich, right? We want you to be doing what you do well, doing lots of that, and just showing up in a big way, and really building an abundant life for yourself. So Kelly just fits right in with that. You know, we’d love to hear from you. So once you’re listening to this episode, you can take a quick screenshot, share it with your audience, let people know you’re listening. We love when you do that, we will lift you up for lifting us up and share it with our audience. Then, in the show notes, there’s a link for Speakpipe where you can leave us an audio review or maybe you just have an idea for a great guest for us. We’d love to hear that as well. So drop that into Speakpipe and you know, your ratings and reviews, they’re they’re helpful to us. They let us know where where we’re landing for you What kinds of content you want to hear more of and we know That based on the kinds of reviews that we’re getting from you, so, thank you so much in advance for all of your amazing ratings and reviews. We are grateful and thankful for every single one of them. I’m gonna introduce Kelly O’Neil now, and I can’t wait for you to meter. right we’re here today with Kelly O’Neil and Kelly is a multi award winning entrepreneur, profit strategist and brand marketing expert for the next generation of innovative companies and thought leaders. She’s on a mission to disrupt the status quo and rewrite the rules of entrepreneurship to help entrepreneurs just like you create a high profit and high freedom business on your own terms with the creation of innovative strategic scaling methodology, called the profit ology process and her flagship mentoring Marketing to Millionaires program. Kelly’s private clientele includes some of the world’s most brilliant entrepreneurial minds, celebrity influencers and Firestarter brands, making their way from seven to eight figures. She speaks, teaches and consults all over the world was named by Seth Godin as having one of the most innovative companies in America. Kelly I am so excited to have you here. I can’t wait to dig into all of this with you because it’s so in line with everything we teach here on Good Girls Get Rich.
Kelly O’Neil 3:07
I love it. Thank you so much. I’m thrilled to be here.
Karen Yankovich 3:10
Yeah. So I almost don’t even know where to start. But I think where I want to where I want, let’s just start with the fact that you jump right to the top. Like, you’re not saying, you know, let’s start here with the people where you can, you know, that are making $5. And then we’ll go to people making $25 you’re like no mark to the millionaires. And that is exactly the message that I teach on LinkedIn. You know, LinkedIn is the place where and you know, you’re probably not old enough to remember this, but I’m old enough to remember the gatekeepers, right? So in sales of the old days, you would, you know, you’d had to get past the receptionist. And then you had to get past the Secretary to the person you wanted to meet. You’re the admin and then maybe you’d get to the first level. Now we go straight to the CEO on LinkedIn, and the CEO says, I love that idea. Go call Suzy. And you know, now you can call Susie and say, Hey, your boss sent me here, right? So, so I feel like this is really in line. With this and I feel like that the first thing that I find people need to really deal with on this is their mindset. So tell me what you think of when I say that?
Kelly O’Neil 4:10
Yeah, I think that a lot of times when entrepreneurs so so for those of you who have, you know, are following me, maybe or you’ve heard me speak before I actually come from an affluent background. That’s actually part of why I have such in depth expertise in this subject aside from my marketing background. And one of the things that I have I have noticed is that a lot of times people will stop themselves because they’re like, well, who am I, to market to affluent clientele? And you know, I want to pull up Marianne Williamson, who are you not to? Your affluent clients have problems just like every other person and they are looking for qualified experts to solve those problems. And here’s what I can tell you. They’re not going to ask you to they’re not going to check your bank balance before you provide services. To them, they’re not going to ask for your P and ELLs before they’re going to qualify you as a worthy expert to solve their issue. Unless you are in some type of financial advisory role and then just like anything, right, but I always say the cobblers children must wear product. You should be walking your talk anyways, if you’re teaching financial stuff, you should be…
Karen Yankovich 5:21
The cobblers children must wear Prada. I love that.
Kelly O’Neil 5:24
That’s a Kelly O’Neil original, you’re welcome.
Karen Yankovich 5:27
That’s a tweetable I love that. That’s awesome. Because it’s true. It’s true. You have to show up with confidence. And you know, listen, I the world that I you know, my sales world I live in myself. Well, I was very often the only woman in the room. So I had to portray confidence in front I didn’t have confidence. And it isn’t about fake it till you make it at all. It’s more about exude confidence and then go figure out what the hell you just told somebody you said you would do. You know what I mean? Make sure that you you can deliver 125% you know But if you come if you if you don’t go out with confidence, then you’re never going to get that business.
Kelly O’Neil 6:05
That is so I had the same thing about a woman and also I was always the youngest one in the room because I started in branding brand marketing. When I was 19 years old, I had an internship and then I got hired at the brand agency. And so by the time I got to corporate America, once I graduated college, I already had years of experience under my belt, so I sailed ahead in my career. So I was I was not only was I a woman, but I was also a young woman, in a room full of gray haired people and you, I totally agree with you. It’s about confidence. And remember, you are the expert. Right? They’re looking to hire an expert. You are the expert.
Karen Yankovich 6:49
Yes, yes. Yes. Yes. So okay, so you started out working in corporate America. How did you break out of corporate america into an entrepreneurial adventure?
Kelly O’Neil 6:59
Yes, so I I had a very successful career in corporate America. I started out as I said in a brand marketing agency and then I went to a few other either brand agencies or PR agencies in the Silicon Valley where I grew up right so I was a tech brat. And then I decided I had gotten hired by into it. They make quick and so I launched it in 9899 and 2000. And among the road there as I was launching those products, and I was watching what was going on and i was i was a managing the PR launches. an invoice came across my desk for a woman that was doing PR consulting. And mind you I was still in my my mid to late 20s. And a woman came in she put the invoice across and the invoice for a couple of months of work was more than my salary. And I was like oh oh, I like Yeah. I’m not down with the in cap income cap thing. I’m like, I can do this. And so I took her, I asked her to go to lunch and I said, Would you go to lunch with me? I would really like to pick ask you some questions. And so I met with her should we went to lunch and I was like, okay, How’d you do that?
Karen Yankovich 8:17
Like, oh my gosh, it’s brilliant. And again, relationship marketing, right? You build you would like, you know, if you don’t ask the answers, always No. Right? So oh my gosh,
Kelly O’Neil 8:28
So that’s what happened is she started she started talking. She started talking to me about it. And at that point, I was like, that’s it and you know, I you know, I got hired away by one more start up in corporate but I was only there for seven months, I got called in, I became kind of known as a PR and a positioning sharpshooter, I would get called into companies to reposition them to achieve a specific result. So whether that was going public or getting acquired positioning as well. My jam. And so I would get called in. So I went in, I did what I needed to do. The company got acquired in seven months by AOL Time Warner. And I’m like, that’s it. This is my time. So I did, I left corporate America. And I went and told everyone and again, I wasn’t even 30 yet. I went and told everyone, I’m starting my own company. And then I got so much flack, like even my own father was like, you’re not gonna succeed. You know, this is like you’re trying to and no one. No one wants to hire a consultant. You’re too young. And I was like, watch me. And that’s all I got out. So in 2001, I opened up my own PR consulting firm, it was me a cell phone and a laptop. And I did…
Karen Yankovich 9:44
Which is all you need. All you need. All you need. We don’t need anything fancy. You don’t need a fancy website. You don’t need fancy anything.
Kelly O’Neil 9:51
I literally I had my reputation from being in the valley people heard I was going out on my own and I got snatched up immediately on a company. have very high and very high end retainers. And that is how I started my own company.
Karen Yankovich 10:09
Okay, so if somebody’s listening and they’re thinking, Okay, I hear that and I know I’m good at what I do. But I don’t have the reputation yet to be able to be snatched up by anybody. Because it at the end of the day, it will also take some bravery, right to be able to leave a paycheck and go out on your own. Right. So if somebody is like, dying to do that, and I know there’s somebody listening, it’s not probably many people listening, that are dying to do this. How do they like what is your advice for them when maybe they they have? I know they have some contacts? Listen, I teach LinkedIn marketing. I know they have contacts, but how do they weed through them weed through the different kinds of contacts they have to find those bigger opportunities right out of the gate?
Kelly O’Neil 10:49
Okay, so let me start with the first one, which is the How do you get the confidence to make the leap? So I was honestly At first I was like, This is awesome. I’m so excited about it. But then everyone When told me how nuts I was, and then I started to second guess myself, and I was like, Well, wait a minute, am I not? But I have that little. I have that thing. You know, my friend Holly says, tell me no and watch me go. I have that I have that it’s I’d be like, the best way to motivate me is to be like, I don’t think you can do that. And I’m like, really? Hold my shirt Nay, like, I got it. Right. Right. And so, you know, I was really kind of going off of an adrenaline rush and more of like a, you know, a prove me wrong type of deal. And the one thing that I would say is, you know, I think that the biggest thing and I watch this with my clients a lot, is you’ve got to get your own ego out of the way. Right? You can have so much greatness by just end running yourself. Well, no one’s gonna no one’s gonna buy or no one’s gonna want this or what if they don’t, it’s like, No, you know what? You pick up that phone when I first started business, I heard the Wayne Gretzky quote, and I have lived by this, you miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take. Yeah, you miss 100% of such you don’t take. So pick up the phone and start calling people. What’s the worst thing? They’re gonna say? Yeah, no, that’s I mean, and for every, no, you’re gonna get a bunch of yeses. And that’s really, you know, and I part of that probably also comes from me being a publicist, you get used to, if that’s how you pitch back then when I was, you know, back when we stuffed real press kits in the back room, you know, you have to you have to pick up the phone and call people and pitch them on their idea and let me just tell you, some of them would literally be like, no and hang up on you.
Karen Yankovich 12:48
Okay, and that’s where you’re and that’s where you that’s what you meant when you said you gotta get your ego out of the game, because it isn’t about you. You got to get out of the game. It doesn’t matter how many nose you get, it matters how many yeses you get, right. So you Yeah, I love that. And it’s so it’s so true Kelly, because even just with the LinkedIn marketing work that I do, my challenge to people is I want you to connect with five people a week. And I mean, I can get into detail on that and all that other stuff. But five people, we all have time for that. Yep. And 999 out of 1000 times when somebody calls me and says, this LinkedIn stuff, it doesn’t work. I say, really? How many connection requests did you send out last week? None. How many the week before? None. How many before that? None. Well, that’s see why isn’t it working? You know, it’s not working because you’re not doing the work. I’m not asking you to send out 2000 things. I’m saying I need a half hour of you a week. And that and that is just the minimum to get started. Imagine if you were really intentional and targeted, but if but but people feel like they get they’re uncomfortable with that with the ask. And there’s so many ways to make the ask that it is warmer and that feels good and that it’s it’s supportive and not, you know, not used car salesman a right. So many ways
Kelly O’Neil 14:00
totally, completely. I, you have to ask if you don’t ask you you have a guaranteed No, right?
Karen Yankovich 14:08
Right. Right. So, so what challenges did you have you told us about all the good stuff? Were there challenges besides the fact that everybody in the world told you you’re an idiot because I get that I was there too.
Kelly O’Neil 14:18
Of course there were, yes.
Karen Yankovich 14:22
Tell us, tell us
Kelly O’Neil 14:23
Oh my gosh. So I mean, look, I’ve been in business for almost 20 years, right. I have been in business for almost 20 years. And in the 20 years that I have been in business, I have had so many mistakes, I’ve made so many mistakes, I’ve had so many things not work. Um, and you know, I think for my I think for myself, you know, one of the things that was a you know, I naturally when I went into start my business, I naturally marketed to affluent clients. Right, I marketed to small emerging companies that could afford to pay my retainer. Because I was like, right, why wouldn’t you do it this way?
Karen Yankovich 15:08
Right? And that when I tell you, that does not always come naturally to people?
Kelly O’Neil 15:12
Well, but to me, it was like, like, kind of like a Well, duh. When I got into I remember I decided at a certain point that I was like, Well, you know, I think I really want to help entrepreneurs, because I didn’t really, here’s what I knew how to do. I knew how to market and I knew how I knew how to be scrappy. Right. I knew how to I knew how to pick up the phone and not take no for an answer. That’s one of the things I knew how to do. But I had no idea how to build and run a business. None. And, and it’s back in that in that time. It’s not like it is today where there’s a gazillion people out there supporting entrepreneurs and building businesses, right. It just didn’t like it. Like I picked up a book my firt my very first business coach was Alan Weiss, who wrote million dollar consultant. He was my first business coach and how I found him was I was like, Oh, well, I’m going to start a consulting company. I don’t know how to do that. So I went and bought a book. Yeah, yes, I started my entire first company was like, Oh, well, this is pretty good. You probably know some more stuff. Maybe I should call him and ask him for some advice. And he’s like, sure. I’m gonna give you some advice. I’m gonna charge you $3,000 for it. And I went, done. Right. That’s how I started my company.
Karen Yankovich 16:28
Right? Oh my gosh, yes, yes. Because you weren’t born knowing how to do all this stuff. Nobody was so I was doing have to get help. And you have to pay for that help and, or just buy the book even. I mean, at least that’s a good place to start. You know, I remember working when a company that I own a while back I used to always have I’m a by the book person also and, and I remember somebody going to be like, getting in my car and going, Oh my gosh, do you have these books everywhere. I’m like, Did you think that I was born knowing how to do this stuff like there is always a book going because there’s always something new I want to learn and totally something new I want to do and and that and there’s you know, once you get the book, then you can figure out is it the right path for you or not? If you resonate with it, if not, then you go to another book or another person, right? But you need to get the help but but Okay, so that was doesn’t sound like a mistake, right? That sounds like not even a mistake, but a challenge. That sounds right. Sounds like brilliant.
Kelly O’Neil 17:19
So here was the mistake. The mistake is that I, I went and I started going to seminars. Mm hmm. here’s, here’s the mistake. I went and I started going to seminars, and I’d never been in that in that world because I’d always been in the, you know, in the corporate world. And I loved it. And then people started saying to me, Oh, my gosh, why are you doing this service based business when you can make money in your sleep. All you got to do is throw at the time it was you just need to write an E book and charge $97 for it. You put it online and you’re going to retire a millionaire I spent the next because I’m a I’m a determined gal. I spent the next I don’t even eight years, trying to follow the mass marketing model. And you know, by sheer hustle, grind and force. I got my seven figure business, but I will tell you that with every single dollar that I made, I kept less.
Karen Yankovich 18:29
Ooh, that’s important.
Kelly O’Neil 18:31
So when I started my business with my laptop and cell phone, and I was doing $300,000 a year in consulting with my overhead being like, $50 a month free, darn good. And then went from there. I went to making like $50,000 a year, right? On a million dollar company. Right. And, you know, I think that that was the And that was really the thing is that I really believe so here’s what i believe i believe in hiring experts. I think it’s I will tell you I think it’s actually super stupid not to write I’m not going to go out and try to guess and figure out how to use LinkedIn on my own which is exactly why we like exactly why I partner with exactly why I’m bringing you to my clients, my clients, I’ve already trained them like do not go and try to you know, mess around for the next year. You need to hire someone who already has mastered it. Yeah, and have them shortcut you to being able to figure out how to ROI on it in you know, a month or two Yep. Right. That’s the smart that’s what smart business owners do. But I really did believe that a lot of you know the people in the quote unquote coaching industry because I think there’s a very big difference between those of us who are strategist and consultants and those in the in the coaching industry. I really bought I drink the Kool Aid. Yeah, yeah. And then I threw the Kool Aid out And I started to become profitable again.
Karen Yankovich 20:02
I hear you, I hear you. I mean, I kind of did the same thing. I started my business doing like kind of digital marketing. And I’m like, every time I’d ask somebody, where does most of your business come from 99% of time, they’d say referrals. I’m like, okay, so why are you spending all this time on Twitter and Instagram and LinkedIn, and Facebook? I’m not saying you shouldn’t do those things. But if most of your business comes from referrals, and why are you not building out a better way to get more referrals? Right, why are you tweeting 600 times a day and I tweet sometimes I’m like, I, you know, I love those platforms. But I want you to build a business that allows you to pay people to do those kinds of things. Yeah, and and do the things that you do best, right, and stay where the money is. Right. I love that. And that leads into the next question, because I kind of feel like and I think we’ve talked a little bit about this too. Tell me a little bit about your theory about why you think the old model of entrepreneurship is a dying art form.
Kelly O’Neil 20:55
Yeah. So here’s basically what is happening is when you look at the way that people are taught to run business like there’s there’s a couple different things number one, there’s like super old school business right and this is like our our fathers and grandfathers generation of how to do business well that’s that’s been dead right? But then this entirely new way of doing business came out and what what’s being taught in the marketplace right now is not sustainable. It’s based on what I call a hustle and grind mentality. They so I ever really analyzed this because when I went from doing really well to doing what I would call and people might say, but wait a minute, you like tripled your your business income with that I kept less so I don’t really care how much money my business is making. It really is about how much I’m taking home and my quality of life. Yes, right. Yeah. So so when I, when I started when I took a step back and I was like, This model is broken, there’s something wrong and I’d also started to dig behind the scenes and realize that no Everything that is being talked about is necessarily true. And you know, there was, well, you know, I kind of, you know, you know, when you get up and you start to see the behind the curtains of the AWS and you’re like, wait a minute. Yep. That’s not what your sales page says. And I was like, now there’s something super flawed with us. And I and I started to look and I said, you know, with all the resources that are available out there right now to entrepreneurs, like I said, this wasn’t available. When I first started, I bought a book and like, reached out with my, you know, pardon my French but my lady balls and asked the guy to be my mentor. Right, right. But this wasn’t available. And I started to look at this is the broken paradigm. And here’s what it’s based on. Generally, when you get into a lot of the programs, not obviously, I’m present company excluded, because you’re brilliant. I’ve personally used your program. It’s brilliant. When you get into a lot of these programs out there. First of all, they are based on one size fits all strategies, which I don’t believe in. I don’t think that that works for anybody. Yeah, in business because every single business person is different. Every single ideal client is different. And your skill sets strengths and also the assets that you have available to deploy. Those are different. So when they get in, they ask you like, the level of clarity that they’re after is like, How much money do you want to make in your business? A million dollars. Okay, great. So now we’re clear. No, that is like, not even remotely clear. That’s like, that’s like that’s, like such a surface level question. And then the strategy that they give you is okay, you’re gonna follow my blueprint, and you’re gonna do exactly what I tell you to do. They don’t ask like, Hey, are you good at this, Hey, is this something you enjoy doing? Hey, is this something that you have a natural is this even where your clients are? They’re like, Just follow my blueprint. And if that doesn’t work, I just want you to keep doing it. And it’s a very hustle and grind mentality where it’s a lot of doo doo doo and you jump from tactic to tactic tactic to tactic doing all of the things where you are extremely busy, maybe productive, maybe not. But you couldn’t be really productive, but you’re not yielding the results that that model of entrepreneurship is, is dead. And people are catching on to it.
Karen Yankovich 24:14
I couldn’t agree more. I mean, I that is literally in every presentation, I do exactly what we just talked about, because I think that because I’ve been there, I did that. I didn’t know. I did that. I’m like, oh, and then it’s exhausting, and you’re not making any money. And then, and then there’s like, okay, I want to have a six figure business. I’m like, okay, go work at McDonald’s, because you’ll have more money in your pocket. By working at McDonald’s, then you will with a six figure business and I am not trying to knock you guys that are looking to make your first six figures because I that’s a huge milestone, and I honor you for doing that. But you got to think bigger. You got to think bigger, because that’s not enough money for you. That is certainly not the same as a six figure paycheck, somewhere near the same as a six figure paycheck, you know, and it keeps you in that hustle and grind that you talked about. It keeps you in the hustle and grind when you don’t think bigger. But when you think the first thing we do in the program, Kelly that you mentioned is, the first thing we do is we say to people, what is your big win on this? And nine out of 10 times in a year, that’s not big enough, I don’t want you to have 10 of these $1,000 What’s a $10,000 win? Like, what’s a 20? Like I want you to, and then we reverse engineer everything to make that happen. And honestly, we’ve incorporated mindset coaches into our program now because it’s a mindset challenge, more than it’s a LinkedIn strategy challenge sometimes, right? So, so true, you know, so because otherwise you, you know, I don’t want to teach and I know that I didn’t teach. I mean, I probably have taught that over the years. I mean, I had programs that taught Twitter marketing and different things like that. And I love Twitter. I talked to tons and tons and tons of people on Twitter, but it’s not the same. It’s not where the majority of my business comes. Majority of my business comes from talking to people.
Kelly O’Neil 25:51
So we have a saying in our company and it’s actually become one of our catchphrases, and then it became a actually the tagline to one of my programs. That strategy is the new home So we don’t do anything that’s not strategic. So I am teaching you know, in in our marketing the Millionaire’s program, we’re teaching people specifically how to attract affluent clients, how to find them, how to engage them, how to sell them, and how to impress them so that they refer you to all their friends, right. And obviously LinkedIn is the go to for all of our b2b. That is, again, that is how you and I met is I was looking for a solution to help train our clients on that. And then in our in our other programs, we are looking at how to strategically set up and operate businesses. And the biggest thing that I’m teaching them and I agree with you, it’s mindset because the minute that they take their foot off the brake, and the the minute that they let go of the addiction to doing all the things like they’ve been taught, is the minute that we start to see real progress. Because you don’t have to do all the things you have to do the right things in the right order. And there isn’t Order just like getting up and getting into your, you know, it’s like I didn’t get up this morning right sign my horseshoes. Yeah, I didn’t I didn’t do my hair and makeup and then jump in the shower. Right? That would be a waste of time. But I see entrepreneurs doing that all the time. Yeah, so main reason, you know, again, my background is in brand positioning and, and public relations. The number one reason why people stuff is not working is because they tiptoe through clarity and leap frog strategy and gotten to action and they do not have a clear position and they do not have a clear message. So I don’t care if you go out and you do all the things, right, you can do you can you can do stuff for 20 hours a day. But if you don’t have a message that is connecting to your audience, you’re just making noise.
Karen Yankovich 27:54
Oh my gosh, yeah. So okay, how you have a you have a six steps to the affluent customer lifecycle. We’re probably gonna have to hustle through this, even though we’re saying we don’t hustle and grind. But I do want to get to that. And we could talk forever about this other stuff. So tell us a little bit about your six steps to the affluent customer lifecycle.
Kelly O’Neil 28:11
Okay. So whenever you’re looking at building a marketing strategy, you need to look at the lifecycle of your customer, like what is the step by step process that they go through. And again, in being strategic, we want to think these things all the way through and then I heard you mentioned this is that we want to reverse engineer them so that we have the most strategic efficient way to achieve the results. Alright, so the number one thing that we need to do is you’ve got to understand your affluent buyers because here’s the thing. And just like if you were marketing to if you’re a woman and you’re marketing to a man, or if you’re men and you’re marketing to women, you talk to people differently. You would talk to, you know, a baby boomer differently than you would a millennial, right? Isn’t that’s just like basic human behavior. You could have a different conversation with a five year old than you would a 16 year old now. Same thing with your affluent clients, your affluent clients have different needs, they have different problems. And they have different desires, they are not shopping on price, they are shopping on value, and that value to them is in the eye of that specific affluent clientele. Right. So they’re looking for results, they’re looking for time saved, they’re looking for convenience. And they’re looking to do business with an expert who can help them achieve the results that they desire, whether that be personally or professionally. So that’s number one, you’ve got to understand them because if you don’t understand them thoroughly, then you again, you’re dead in the water before you even get out. So we have as an example, in our program, I’ve gotten entire training on understanding the buying motivators all of the, you know, the hot buttons, what makes them tick, how they buy, what they buy, why they buy. So that’s that is step number one The second thing is you got to know where to find them right now. So I will give you guys a link that Karen can put in, in the show notes to a special report where you could learn how to find affluent clients, right? Because that’s the number one question I get. Where do you find? Yeah, where do you find them? Guess what, they’re not hiding. Right? They’re not hiding, but you do need to know exactly where to to be able to find them so that you can actually have a conversation with them. And it’s not going to be in the same places as an example. And you’ve brought this up multiple times. Very rarely, if ever, am I telling people go jump on Twitter, but I’m telling people every day go jumped on LinkedIn. Right? So you’ve got to know where they specifically are hanging out. Once you figured that out, then you got to engage them right? So you need to create an experience for them that engages those ideal buyers and and part of that is being able to obviously, you know, capture their Contact information. But you’re not going to do this in the same way that that like a mass marketing person does. They’re not gonna, they’re not gonna fall for that. And even the way that you nurture that contact, like if you just put them into some benign email funnel, that is not going to work for them, because again, they operate differently. But eventually, if you’ve done your job correctly, and eventually can be very quickly, because your affluent buyers move very, very quickly, when they’re looking for a solution, you’re going to have the opportunity to solve their problem. So when you’re developing a relationship with them, and you’re doing this through the sales process, you have the opportunity to present an offer to them, that’s going to solve their biggest challenge. Now, again, offers are done differently with affluent clients. They’re not looking for what is typically taught in the market of the you know, gajillion bonuses I want 92 calls a month, like they’re gonna be like, Oh my gosh, no. You know, they’re the people that want to buy a day consulting to say, like, Hey, I’m gonna fly you in. I want you to consult on my on my company or you know, it could be it could be differently for personal stuff, but I want to get it done in a day, I want it fast, and I’m willing to pay for it. So actually, the kicker is, you’re going to get paid a lot more for less time. Because that’s what they want
Karen Yankovich 32:24
everybody listening to that, everybody listening to that? Because Yeah, yeah, and they’re gonna get huge value huge, they’re gonna get huge value, because they’re giving you enough money that you can provide this huge value to them. One was to nickel and diamond and going well, I don’t have enough to budget for this. And I have enough in the budget for that.
Kelly O’Neil 32:42
Exactly. Right. So you’re going to have the opportunity to present them that and then you’re going to have the opportunity to have a sales conversation with them. Now, here’s the great thing. And this is one of the things I love about selling to affluent clients. You don’t have to sugarcoat this thing. You don’t have to tell them like hey, I want you to come to a discovery color with suits. Simple coaching sessions are like no, they’re they’re there to have a sales conversation. And they know that. And the way that I, you know, I teach people to close on millionaire clients or affluent clients is very different, you know, then then talking to someone where you’re gonna have to jump through a lot of the mindset issues, they’re not there with mindset issues, they’re like, I have a problem, I need a solution. Are you the one to do it? So I teach a four pillar relationship selling enrollment conversation. Okay. So that’s how you’re going to solve their problems. So now we’re on now we’re on Step four, right? So you’re understanding them, you’re finding them, you’re engaging them, you’re solving the problems. Now once they enroll, your job is not done there. You need to impress them. This is where you need to design campaigns that are going to transform your clients into raving fans. What is it that you’re doing even on the the way that you’re enrolling them the way that you’re serving them, that’s going to provide them with an exceptional experience with whitening Love customer service, you need to design that from the get go. We start with when we’re designing campaigns that our company or we’re designing programs or service offerings, it’s okay, so here we are. And Bob signed up with us. And Bob is referring us to 10 of his friends. Now work backward from there. Right? I work backward from from that, because that also offers you the opportunity to upsell them. And the sixth step is receive referrals. Your affluent clients are very loyal, and they understand referral marketing. They’re not and this is something I’ve noticed between the masses and the the athlete like I, and I don’t know if this I don’t think it’s just because I’m in marketing. But you know, I let you know, before that I’m in the middle of a remodel right now. I have gone on and written reviews unasked for several of the contractors that have come to my house. I was like, hey, if anyone else Because I understand and value my time, and I want other people to be, you know, I know that they value their time and they want to find the greatest contractors. So I’ve gone on and written positive reviews for all of the amazing contractors that I’ve worked with. But your affluent clients are loyal, they’re going to refer you over and over and over again, huge Islam, you send this message in huge, it is huge, because you guys, here’s the thing, a lot of this mass marketing stuff out there teaches you, they’re teaching you to constantly do customer acquisition, which is important. I’m not downing customer acquisition, it’s super important. But it’s not nearly as important as making sure that the the affluent clients that you’ve already got had been served so well that they go out and build your business for you at zero marketing cost.
Karen Yankovich 35:47
Okay, I hope everybody paid attention to that. That was brilliant. That was brilliant. Kelly, thank you so much for sharing that. So we’re gonna put lots of links in the show notes for you guys to be able to connect with Kelly and to learn more about Kelly, and I really do think that It’s important message because as I said that it’s it is the mindset. You know, I will say that I’ve fallen into this myself, I remember somebody asking me, I wish I could tell you it was 10 years ago, but it wasn’t, you know, what, who’s your ideal client? I’m like, Well, I like, you know, women who are successful in their business. But you know, frankly, they’re, they’re realizing that there’s not a ton of money going into their pocket, because they’re doing all these other things. But they’re like, so you want broke people? I was like, no. And they’re like, Well, that sounds like what you just described to me. I was like, Oh, my gosh, you’re absolutely right. And that was a mindset shift that I had to make, right? Because I knew that they wanted to get to that next level. But I was assuming things about them that were wrong, and I was assuming the wrong thing. So. So it is a mindset shift on every step of the way, every step of the way. And why not? Go for the people that have the money. That because here’s what happens when you go with people that have the money, you can offer scholarships to the people that can’t afford you, you get offer. You can do more for people that aren’t Not in a position that you think would be great, but that are not in a position to invest in your products and services. If you aren’t, you know, if you’re if you’re really if you are really abundant, you can share that abundant more easily.
Kelly O’Neil 37:12
Yep, absolutely. I couldn’t agree more. And also, a lot of people don’t even realize that they’re, they’re unintentionally marketing to people who don’t have money to afford their services.
Karen Yankovich 37:21
That was exactly what I was doing exactly what I was doing, not realizing that’s what I was doing. So I you’re providing such a great service in this world, Kelly, I’m so glad that we connected. How can people find more about you? We’ll put the links in everything to the show notes. But what else do you want to share? And how can people find more about you?
Kelly O’Neil 37:36
Sure. So you guys, I also have a podcast called Marketing to Millionaires, you guys can subscribe there. I’ve got a great Facebook group. I have a LinkedIn group that I’ve just started under your tutelage which is very exciting. Um, so you guys can find me guess what they’re called Marketing to Millionaires. And one of the most exciting things that we have going on is We have a Marketing to Millionaires Experts Summit that is starting on June 22, where I have all of my phenomenal partners, right? Just like Karen, I’ve got my phenomenal partners who are specialists in utilizing like their special skills, expertise and gifts to be able to help you find affluent clients. So you’re going to get to hear Karen talk about her expertise and using LinkedIn to lead source clients. We’ve got a ton of other really phenomenal people, everyone from learning how to connect with celebrities, to learning how to utilize podcasts to as a networking strategy to a bunch of others. So if you want to join that then again, just jump on.
Karen Yankovich 38:46
You definitely want to do that. By the way. This is starts June 22, 2020. If you guys are listening to this on reading Like Kelly is going to be available on demand after that?
Kelly O’Neil 39:03
you betcha we’re gonna leave, we’re gonna leave this up evergreen and continue to offer content to it. Because, you know, there really is no one else out there in the market teaching this. And so we want to be able to provide people, this strategy right now, especially given and this is what I’ll leave this with you you’ve heard a lot of people in the marketplace talk about pivoting strategies. If you don’t pivot now, and start marketing the people that can afford you. You’re going to be in hot water at the very best in three to six months, because we know that we’re sliding into a recession or even worse given everything that’s going on in the marketplace. And this is a strategy that helps you rise above that because your affluent buyers are still buying.
Karen Yankovich 39:51
Okay, that is there is no better way to leave this in this interview then On that note, Kelly because that is I found that to be true. And I hope everybody Listening is found that to be true, and so many people are assuming that’s not the case. Don’t assume, assume that they are buying and go and go for it. Awesome. Kelly, thank you so much for being here. We will put all the links to all of your stuff in the show notes and in the blog. I can’t wait to see I can’t wait to be on your summit. I can’t wait to watch everybody else on your summit. And thanks for doing this.
Kelly O’Neil 40:20
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
Karen Yankovich 40:22
Wasn’t Kelly, amazing. I hope you enjoyed getting to know her as much as I enjoyed getting to know her. She’s doing some awesome, awesome things in the world. You definitely want to get in on the event that she’s hosting the virtual event that she’s hosting. I’m honored to be a part of it and the links are all over the Show Notes for this episode. So get in on that. Remember, if you want my support, just go on over to karenyankovich.com/masterclass. You can learn a little bit more an overview of how we support people on LinkedIn. You get some really good tips and training in that master class. It’s always updated. That link always has our most updated training and it’s You definitely want to get in on that. And I will see you back here next week for another episode of the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast.