Ep89 Elle Petrillo - Elevate Your Personal Brand and Skyrocket Sales

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:02:23
Jason Croft
Elle Petrillo. Welcome to the show.

00:00:03:01 - 00:00:05:04
Elle Petrillo
Stacey, what's going on?

00:00:05:06 - 00:00:12:18
Jason Croft
Oh, you know, just recording a podcast here. We had somebody else on. You wandered into the frames. I guess I'll, you know, we'll talk to you.

00:00:12:20 - 00:00:15:04
Elle Petrillo
While your hair is still holding up. So we're good.

00:00:15:06 - 00:00:42:12
Jason Croft
Oh, perfect. Perfect. That's all. That's all I needed to know. Seriously, I am just absolutely thrilled you're here to talk through this. This big subject and plenty of rabbit holes to go down with it as well, because not only are there other plenty of things to have lined up for sales, but there's a big mental game with a lot of it, too, especially as we talk about personal brand and selling for that.

00:00:42:15 - 00:01:06:18
Jason Croft
That's I find all fascinating and I'm so excited to dig in with you on this topic with your role at Brand Builders. It's and then your, you know, your background in sales. You're just the perfect person to to talk about this subject of really mastering sales for a personal brand. And I'm thrilled that thrilled to dive in here and get into the meaty stuff.

00:01:06:18 - 00:01:20:07
Jason Croft
But I also want to get some background and give us some, you know, some context around how you came up through the sales side of things and what brand Builders is all about and your role there and specify what you're, what you're rockin.

00:01:20:09 - 00:01:56:19
Elle Petrillo
Yeah, I always joke around half serious, half joking, is that sales chose me. I didn't actually to sell. And so if you ever looked at my LinkedIn or if anyone connects with me on LinkedIn, you'll kind of have a little bit of a background to me. And so ultimately, back in 2001, my dad passed away unexpectedly. It was seven days between my 14th birthday and that day actually led me to a career in sales, which I haven't shared often, is something I'm starting to share a lot more.

00:01:56:21 - 00:02:27:03
Elle Petrillo
It's probably the first time I've actually ever talked about it, so I had written about it, but not really talked about it. But when I lost my dad, my mom did this amazing, incredible job at making sure our lifestyle never changed. And and although the way we live didn't change the way I actually thought about life dead, meaning like I at that point I was taught, like, anything can happen and you need to always be able to be in a position that you can rely on yourself right.

00:02:27:05 - 00:02:51:11
Elle Petrillo
And so one career that I don't think any teenager ever dreams of as their dream career is sales. And so if I'm going to be transparent with anyone who's listening today is I was created for sales. Sales like to be great at it. It requires resiliency. It's a means that you step outside of your comfort zone. It expects you to take ownership of your actions.

00:02:51:13 - 00:03:12:18
Elle Petrillo
And so if you know anything about me, like those are all three things that really, really describe who I am. And so I would say, like the story of my dad passing away is really a big part of how I ended up in a career that, like ultimately you're in charge of and you can have all the success you want and you can have limited success if you want it.

00:03:12:20 - 00:03:17:01
Elle Petrillo
But that's ultimately like what led me down that path.

00:03:17:03 - 00:03:45:11
Jason Croft
Huh? Wow, that's that's powerful. That's really interesting that to have that that connection point, it was such a such a tragedy. But also, you know, how you processed that and took that in and what you took from the example your mom set and getting you through that because it is it it is powerful. It's such a mental emotional game to business overall that, you know, that I think is important to dig into.

00:03:45:12 - 00:04:04:11
Jason Croft
But I think sales even more there's like owning the business and sales are probably the at the top in that that if it can be such a mental and emotional battle or just a just navigating those worlds so much.

00:04:04:13 - 00:04:15:00
Elle Petrillo
Well I truly grieve like you shouldn't own a business if you're not willing to sell a little bit that you have no business being in business if you're not willing to sell.

00:04:15:02 - 00:04:43:20
Jason Croft
Yeah, at some level, like even if it's, you know, day one, even if you start out funded right, at some level, you're selling that business. If you're selling the idea of someone investing or whatever that is, for most of us it is, Hey, let's bootstrap this thing. Let's get started. And no one is ever going to sell as good as you should be able to because no one's going to believe in your business as much as you do.

00:04:43:22 - 00:04:51:06
Jason Croft
And so if you don't have that nailed down, how are you going to bring someone else in to be passionate and know what to do?

00:04:51:07 - 00:04:57:15
Elle Petrillo
Yeah. Do you mind if I share like, a little mindset shift trip thing that I always like to share with our clients?

00:04:57:17 - 00:04:58:06
Jason Croft
Oh, please.

00:04:58:10 - 00:05:21:17
Elle Petrillo
Yeah. One of the things that I am really convicted in is if you believe that you are the best solution for this person, if you believe that you're you are the one whose heart's in the best place that you can serve them better than anyone else can that you like. There is no one better than you, right? Like in what you do, there's no one better than what you do.

00:05:21:18 - 00:05:47:02
Elle Petrillo
Then dang you at what you do. If you do not try to sell someone, you're doing them a disservice. Because what I believe is that they're somewhat else who's not as good as you. However, they have more confidence than you. They have more sales skills than you. They might even have more passion than you. But they are not as good as you, as like what you do.

00:05:47:07 - 00:06:06:20
Elle Petrillo
But because they have I just recently the balls and then someone reminded me that I don't have balls and I said the ovaries that I had because they don't happen. Because you don't have the ones that they do like, they're going to sell that person. And that's really selfish on your end because it's going know if you really are the best person to help them.

00:06:06:20 - 00:06:36:12
Elle Petrillo
Like, I don't believe there's anyone better than brand builders for you about helping people build and monetize their personal brand and build something that they can scale. And then it's like, Truly. So I have no problem going toe to toe with any other program or idea or cause or something that someone's going want considering working with them. And it's like, I am happy to put my sales hat on and buckle down and double down on every single reason why we are the best fit for that person.

00:06:36:14 - 00:06:54:07
Elle Petrillo
Because if I don't, they're going to go, It's something else. And that's what I believe in a year they're going to be coming back and going, I should have gone with you in the first place because I've seen it so many times. Right? And so in that year, they probably wasted time and money and energy and resources that they didn't want to.

00:06:54:12 - 00:07:14:14
Elle Petrillo
And it was all because I you know, if I did put my tail between my legs, then I didn't have the confidence. And whatever they would have gone with someone else. And so it's really more of not focusing on yourself and really focusing on going, if I'm the best person to serve this person, I'm going to do everything I can to help them understand that.

00:07:14:16 - 00:07:33:02
Jason Croft
They're so powerful. And I hope that that helps a lot of folks reframe that because so many of us, you know, have that that problem and we get caught up in, oh, how am I going to be perceived and feel salesy just because we've had a negative sales experience? We don't want to be that right. We don't want to do that.

00:07:33:02 - 00:08:04:02
Jason Croft
But having that reframe is so powerful. I think that's so strong to go into it and it's it's this better approach to sales that I've been fortunate to, you know, surround myself with people like yourself who have this mindset when it comes to sales. And it's it's really just helping people along the path with solutions they need, you know, And that's it's such a simplified way to look at it, and it can be difficult to put it into practice.

00:08:04:04 - 00:08:09:16
Jason Croft
But I think that mindset shift that you just described is is really empowering for folks.

00:08:09:18 - 00:08:29:12
Elle Petrillo
Also, knowing like if I don't actually think we're the best fit, if I don't actually think we can truly help that person, I'm equally as okay and confident saying, you know what, we're not a fit for you, right like that. We're not the best people to help you with that. And let me recommend a few people that I think would be better for you.

00:08:29:13 - 00:08:44:19
Elle Petrillo
And so I think about is that out? It's not that you're trying to sell every single person, but if you really believe that you can help them, then you should. But if you're not the best person for them, you should also have the confidence to say that as well.

00:08:44:21 - 00:09:07:05
Jason Croft
Absolutely. And that energy comes out right, Like like even just having the the the mindset and the, you know, the knowing that that's your true approach, that energy comes out. Right. Because a lot of times it isn't about like believing in the product or or not. It's about that other person being a good fit like you described as that of the person.

00:09:07:07 - 00:09:29:20
Jason Croft
They just may not be at the right point for brand builders. They not may not have this put together or they may have different goals that don't align or their approach doesn't align. And maybe there's a better solution or maybe they need to go back to the drawing board a little bit. And when you just come at somebody with that energy of, hey, whatever, you know, I'm going to lay it all out.

00:09:29:22 - 00:09:30:08
Elle Petrillo
Well, it's.

00:09:30:13 - 00:09:31:00
Jason Croft
Huge.

00:09:31:06 - 00:09:51:04
Elle Petrillo
Years ago and I had a call with this this guy and, you know, it wasn't a fit for him, but he ended up referring his best friend who was a client for over two years. And now the guy who we weren't a fit for now works with us. So it's just like full circle. You just never know how this person will ever play back into your business or into your life.

00:09:51:04 - 00:09:59:04
Elle Petrillo
So if you just put the relationship first over the sale, then it will lead to you never know, get things.

00:09:59:06 - 00:10:30:00
Jason Croft
Oh yeah. And as a side note too, that I can I can attest to the the power of brand builders and how fantastic they are. Honestly. Now we're going to double up on your viewers like invest in brand builders today. But but in all seriousness, like I can see firsthand why you would stand behind it and do everything it takes to get the right people into that group, because everything is there from the beginning to eight figures and beyond.

00:10:30:00 - 00:10:51:11
Jason Croft
It's it's fantastic. I love that give give people because I want I want to dig in a little bit around found sales for a personal brand and what goes into that. But just so people have a better context of what we're talking about with brand builders Group, describe what that is and that whole offering and system.

00:10:51:13 - 00:10:54:20
Elle Petrillo
Yeah so are you mean what we do our brand builders is that where you're asking.

00:10:54:20 - 00:10:57:00
Jason Croft
Yes, exactly The whole shebang. Yeah.

00:10:57:01 - 00:11:17:08
Elle Petrillo
So we work with mission driven messengers and typically the average person that we work with is an entrepreneur or a small business owner. And usually in the service based business, however, it doesn't have to be. And what I mean by that, it can be a service based professional, like a financial advisor or attorney. It could be someone who's a coach or a consultant.

00:11:17:08 - 00:11:46:03
Elle Petrillo
It could be speakers, authors, podcasters. But ultimately, like that bread and butter is that service based professional. And so what we do at them is we help them become more well known. At the end of the day, it's your reputation and either you're curating it or someone else's because everyone has one. And most people that I've interacted with over over the years have put their entire career focus on their results.

00:11:46:05 - 00:12:10:18
Elle Petrillo
And so they've got an incredible result. They've built amazing businesses, and then they get to the point of going, I'm really, really good. What is it? Anyone know about me? I have a message to share. I want to help other people. I want to make massive impact and influence in this world. But no one knows who I am and so that's the reach component that a lot of people in the past have put.

00:12:10:19 - 00:12:37:20
Elle Petrillo
They think about reach as like your followers, your subscribers, your likes, write like that, and they think of it as like vanity metrics. But that's a component because ultimately, if someone doesn't know who you are and they don't know what you do, they cannot do business with you. Now, once they do know who you are, once they do know what you do, then the question is, well, do I like him or her or do I trust him or her?

00:12:37:22 - 00:12:57:23
Elle Petrillo
And you're not going to be able to spend quality time with every person that you who has come across you for them to decide if they like and trust you and said that's where your your personal brand digitizing. So to us, it's the digitization of your reputation. Right? It's taking your reputation and putting it online so people can see what you're about.

00:12:57:23 - 00:13:30:00
Elle Petrillo
Right? They can decide, does this person align with my values? Does this person have something that I actually need? Do I feel like they get me and do I feel like they can help me? Right. And so that's ultimately what we help you. Trade is a system for, Hey, let's take your reputation, put it online, let's get really clear on who you're serving, what your message is, how you're serving, then what your offering is right, and then making sure that we can capture and convert these people to become fans, followers, customers, clients.

00:13:30:02 - 00:13:47:05
Elle Petrillo
And what that looks like is oftentimes people go, I want a podcast, right? Or I want to get on podcast or I want to speak and be on stage. And that's a dream of mine. Or I have a book that I've always wanted to write and I don't know how to write it. I don't know how to launch it.

00:13:47:07 - 00:14:10:20
Elle Petrillo
And so these are all the things that we help you do when it creates your customer journey. Of what does your personal brand actually look like? Like what are the mediums and that are ways that you're going to be getting your word out there or your message out there. So we're not the ones that work with you if you want millions of followers, because we believe you can make $1,000,000 without a million followers.

00:14:10:22 - 00:14:31:23
Elle Petrillo
We are not the ones that are. It's it's just about becoming insta famous like our clients are is like, I don't want to be like an influencer. It's like, well, do you want to influence people and help impact them then? Yeah, you do want to be an influencer, just not in the way of like you're telling people where to shop.

00:14:32:00 - 00:14:51:08
Elle Petrillo
So it's like there's just this mind trash that people have around it. But when you start removing that and start looking at social media as one part of it and just a tool, just like you have a CRM system as a tool, just like you have dashboards and ads as a tool, just like you have a website as a tool.

00:14:51:10 - 00:15:14:15
Elle Petrillo
Social media is just another business tool, and if you can start looking at it as a tool in your business versus like this world of, you know, tick tock, tattoos, tech backers of tick tock or excuse me, etc. and like remove that negative connotation you have with it then and be build this healthy relationship with that and see how it all works in strategy together.

00:15:14:17 - 00:15:25:07
Elle Petrillo
I know that's a really long winded answer, but ultimately what we do is we help you create the strategy on how you're going to take your brand from being unknown to now.

00:15:25:09 - 00:15:59:11
Jason Croft
Yeah, and it's a it's a fantastic answer because the the terms personal brand influencer, there's such loaded words that everybody brings their own connotation to. And I love that definition the, you know, the digital I can't say it but I love it The digitization Yeah. Of your reputation. There you go. And I love that and it's it helps I think the the LinkedIn crowd, the B2B crowd, the professional crowd go, oh, okay, now I can let that in, right?

00:15:59:13 - 00:16:28:02
Jason Croft
Because that is who you're going after, you know, and who you're serving the best. And I think it does. It carries over so far beyond. And oh, I want to write a book or speak on stage. Those are great components and you can have those elements. But this goes so far beyond because it really does serve that coach, that consultant, even, you know, a business owner who's got, you know, this this big company.

00:16:28:04 - 00:16:53:00
Jason Croft
Now, they can build up their authority in their industry. Here's how I'm taking the industry forward. If you can represent that well, then it really does help overcome that challenge that I see all the time. I've been through that in the past of going, I'm great. I do. I do wonderful things, not just I think about it, but the clients who do find me in some way out there.

00:16:53:01 - 00:17:00:04
Jason Croft
They love what I do for them. I just need more. I just need to get in front of more or these are those are those things.

00:17:00:10 - 00:17:19:06
Elle Petrillo
I think that actually we were talking about this before and more is one part of it. Right. And but a lot of people are going I mean, more and more who like more people, more leads, more, you know, whatever it might be. And it's not always about needing more. It's not always about who's next. Oftentimes it's what's next.

00:17:19:06 - 00:17:46:05
Elle Petrillo
And what I mean by that, it's doing more with who you currently have and what you see is because you don't have systems in place specifically, this is like where I'm really passionate about is the sales system. What will happen is you oftentimes are leaking a lot of leads and you're leaking a lot of opportunities. And so one of our clients that I worked with, he he said working with you and brand builders was the best investment I made in 30 years.

00:17:46:05 - 00:18:16:02
Elle Petrillo
And he's a financial advisor. And this is an industry that has a lot of compliant still around social media. But what was so powerful for him was not just even getting clarity on who they're serving in. Like their ideal person and their message for it, but implementing funnels, implementing like a sales system and how to use a screen to make sure they're not preventing leads and actually putting automation into their business to make things a lot easier for not just them and their internal team, but for their prospects and their clients.

00:18:16:04 - 00:18:27:13
Elle Petrillo
And so like that idea of more, it's switching it from more leads, more people to going, what more can we do with what we currently have that we're not maximizing?

00:18:27:15 - 00:19:03:22
Jason Croft
Now that's huge because that that really is it. And it's like more from from me rather than more of them, right? You're like, What can I do more from me? Put more content out, educate better, have more conversations. Right to lead to that and that's the the perfect, you know, jump to really digging in here Now when it comes to to selling, you know, when you have this personal brand and you're trying to develop it and it gets it gets messy.

00:19:04:00 - 00:19:33:06
Jason Croft
Right. Because and I want to get into some some tactics and how to help some some people, but it also gets messy. Even just a business owner, no matter what they do. It's attaching attaching the. Oh, they said no to they said no to me. Right. And then I imagine when you get into the personal brand side of things, trying to sell like there's even more of a mental tie and I think it's so critical for that separation.

00:19:33:06 - 00:19:48:22
Jason Croft
Right? Like even though it's you, you as a speaker, you as an author use a coach to to mentally separate those things in terms of what you do. Is that the offer, right. They said no to the offer not to me as a human being.

00:19:48:22 - 00:20:17:01
Elle Petrillo
How much of that I want to speak to that. And this is what I'm so grateful at such a young age. Well, this is embarrassing. Even when I was little, like I was always talking to myself and my mom would be like, Who are you talking to? I'm like, myself. How embarrassing. But true. And but what happened is, over time and different experiences that I had and different mentors I had, I learned the power of talking to yourself through affirmations.

00:20:17:02 - 00:20:35:05
Elle Petrillo
And so one of the ones that had gotten me through a lot of like, you probably don't know this, but like there were days I made 100 cool calls. I've knocked on, you know, thousands of doors and have made easily over 10,000 sales calls in my life. And so, like, some of the things is I was like some will.

00:20:35:05 - 00:20:58:06
Elle Petrillo
So some well, so what? Who's next? Right? Like if they're saying no someone else and well, so what? Who's next? And just like constantly reminding yourself like every no leads you closer to a yes and I a yes is amazing and a no is great and maybe frickin sucks. And so we just don't want to. Maybe a yes is frickin yay, right?

00:20:58:07 - 00:21:22:18
Elle Petrillo
And now, like, cool, there's more people out there that do want it and and we just don't want to maybe. And if you're getting a lot of no's, well, then maybe we got to look at some other things. But the the mindset of what you're saying to yourself in between each sales conversation can make or break your ability to grow your business as fast as you want it to be.

00:21:22:19 - 00:21:49:01
Jason Croft
Know Absolutely. And let's help folks a little bit in that process. Right? So but the I'd love to know how you're working to tend to not get that maybe in something that we can do to avoid the maybes be more decisive. And then also at what point because you mentioned if you get too many no's, like, okay, there's and that's that's going to be, you know, fluid.

00:21:49:01 - 00:21:53:10
Jason Croft
But then, you know, when do you go in and go like, okay, I need to reassess here.

00:21:53:12 - 00:22:19:01
Elle Petrillo
Well, there's a lot of ways to prevent maybes, right? Like throughout the whole entire sales process. And it's like, what are you doing to prep them before? I mean, ultimately it's going are you screening people before you get on the call, assuming that you're selling them through a call? Right. Then it's also going like, what are you doing to prime them for that call and prepare them for that call or for that meeting and then it's going okay in that conversation.

00:22:19:01 - 00:22:44:06
Elle Petrillo
Like, are you asking it's how are you structuring your sales conversation, ultimately closing people think of and I'm talking about service based business right now. There's different types of businesses and different types of sales structures, but ultimately people think of closing oftentimes as something that happens at the end. But closing is not an event, right? It's a series of questions throughout the whole entire process.

00:22:44:08 - 00:23:10:21
Elle Petrillo
So if you're asking closing questions throughout, you're either getting very had share this with me. Literally, I was like 22 years old. And he said, every time you ask a closing question throughout the process, you're either getting a green light to keep going. A red light of this is not a fit or a yellow light of going. There's the possible objection here that we need to surface and bring up and talk through before we get to the end.

00:23:10:23 - 00:23:29:20
Elle Petrillo
So there's there's a ton of that and we have a whole course on called Pressure Free Persuasion that teaches you how to have sales conversations. But a really simple tactic, like if you had to break this down, I'm not a salesperson, I don't know how to do this. It makes me uncomfortable. It's just to ask the question, What's holding you back?

00:23:29:22 - 00:23:53:15
Elle Petrillo
Right? That's holding you back. I let them share with you. Is it time? Is it money? Is it spouse? Is it They're not They don't understand how this works for them. Is it that they're you know, is there a lack of clarity is not what they thought it was. And so it's like if you just ask what's holding you back and can have a really open, honest conversation around that that will help you overcome a maybe faster.

00:23:53:17 - 00:24:18:02
Jason Croft
Oh, yeah. And really letting them talk, letting them get through it because that's and that's such a key part of sales too, is letting them fully answer and not hearing. Well the time is kind of and then jumping in with your rebuttal to that. Look, let them talk through it, get all this out and really, really dig. Right.

00:24:18:04 - 00:24:38:10
Elle Petrillo
You say like to basically what you're saying is like the question you ask is, is there anything else? And you just keep asking. It's like if you ever got in a fight with your significant other and they're just like, right. And you're going before you even want to address what they just said, you want them to get it all out.

00:24:38:10 - 00:24:54:16
Elle Petrillo
So that way you're not throwing like ten other things at you after you answer, right? It's like, well, she why don't you just tell me that from the beginning versus like, now there's ten more things that you're pissed off about. It's kind of the same thing here is just going, Is there anything else like anything else holding back?

00:24:54:20 - 00:25:09:13
Elle Petrillo
Anything else upsetting you? Y'all didn't know you're getting relationship advice today? Not like I'm qualified to give it, but it's like just asking anything else till they get it all out. And then exactly what you said. Then you can address it.

00:25:09:15 - 00:25:24:00
Jason Croft
Yes. In the in a nice way. Not like anything else. Also like in a relationship. It's how you deliver that. It's. Well, maybe it's a what? Is there anything else that's coming up for you? Right.

00:25:24:02 - 00:25:27:13
Elle Petrillo
Yeah, exactly.

00:25:27:15 - 00:25:43:13
Jason Croft
So then when you when do you find that time of, you know, I just can't get any traction here with this offer and what I'm doing and then what do you kind of start with when you evaluate what you've got going and what you might need to change?

00:25:43:17 - 00:26:03:07
Elle Petrillo
I mean, the first part of every sales system any entrepreneur should have in place for their business is tracking. It's knowing what are you tracking. And oftentimes what we do is we track the back end, but we don't always track the front end, meaning like how many leads came in and how many requests came in, Right? How many actually set appointments or set a meeting.

00:26:03:07 - 00:26:31:13
Elle Petrillo
Again, this all depends on what your business structure is. And out of those, how many rescheduled, how many canceled last minute, how many no showed on you right then it's looking at how many actually did run how many went from Iran to like a follow up call or you closed them on the first one How many again no show to reschedule the it's like knowing your numbers every step of the way so that way you can pinpoint where in the sales process is there a breakdown.

00:26:31:18 - 00:26:54:09
Elle Petrillo
Now let's say you are running a bunch of meetings and you're getting a bunch of no's. Well, that's a good indicator that the problem is not setting the appointments. The problem is not leads. The problem is, what the heck are you doing on that sales call? And then it could be anywhere from is your sales conversation structured where you really are building the relationship with them?

00:26:54:09 - 00:27:16:22
Elle Petrillo
Are you asking the right questions not just to find a need, but allow them make sure they understand the impact that need has on them? Are you presenting the offer in a way that ties their need to what you're offering, where they see you as the solution? Are you using stories and testimonials of other clients to reinforce like, Hey, you're not the only one?

00:27:17:01 - 00:27:40:00
Elle Petrillo
This person had that too. We help them by doing this. So they're actually their story is reinforcing that this is a good idea. And then are you even actually asking them to buy like that is a big thing you see is some people just never ask that person for a decision or they leave the call with never setting the next appointment.

00:27:40:02 - 00:27:55:02
Elle Petrillo
And I actually went to dinner with the girl for last night and she's been meeting with the financial advisor who is a mutual friend and good friend of mine. And she's like, Yeah, you want to let me? She was talking about like how he has the sales tactic and she told me about I was like, No, that's not a sales tactic.

00:27:55:04 - 00:28:12:02
Elle Petrillo
And she, I was like, that's actually like honest and true. Am I going to share what it was? And then she said, Well, he wouldn't let me leave the meeting until like we scheduled the next one. I'm like, Well, that's a sales tactic and that's a good one. So it's really funny how people assume some things are sales tactics and others are not.

00:28:12:02 - 00:28:22:20
Elle Petrillo
But I can go on about that another day. But ultimately then it's like a lot of people don't scheduled the next call, which then puts you out of control of the situation.

00:28:22:22 - 00:28:30:08
Jason Croft
Yeah. And that's, that's the Yeah. And then you're in maybe land, right? Yeah. That's what we want to avoid. And that's.

00:28:30:10 - 00:28:34:14
Elle Petrillo
That's again like you like opportunities without meaning to there.

00:28:34:16 - 00:28:52:01
Jason Croft
Exactly. And there's a couple of things to that too. One is that back to the mindset right. Like you're in such a you're terrified in the moment you're in such a rush to just in the call and just, you know, get out of it that yeah, it sounds funny, but people often forget to. All right, let's let's move forward.

00:28:52:01 - 00:29:04:23
Jason Croft
And the other person may have another objection. They may need more information. They may be ready to buy, and they're just not on their own, going to go, you know, hey, how do I buy this from you? Sometimes they will.

00:29:05:01 - 00:29:24:13
Elle Petrillo
But I mean, so much of this, too, is how convicted are you? Like, if you are really convicted, that information move forward. Like they will feel that and buy into that. If you're not, they will also feel that and buy into that. So like whatever you're feeling about it will transfer over to them.

00:29:24:15 - 00:29:51:02
Jason Croft
Oh, yeah, big time. And something else you mentioned in there was this idea of the sales process. And that's such an important thing that I want to make sure we don't skim over because we aren't just talking about a phone call that is a sales call at the end right there. That's why all of these things and it blends in with marketing that leads to sales and gets them into that pipeline and creates a process.

00:29:51:02 - 00:30:08:14
Jason Croft
But that's why every step of this is so important, even for a personal brand, so that you can track it, so that you can line that out. How do you help people sort of start down that path of looking at the full picture of and making sure they actually have a process?

00:30:08:16 - 00:30:34:07
Elle Petrillo
Yeah, well, first off is identifying what is your current process right there ideally is something, but maybe not. And then the other is just going like, what is your customer journey look like? Right? What how are they coming in and learning about your business? Then? What's happening then? How are you actually like, what is the offer? Right? An online course in an online sale is completely different than an offline sale, meaning a conversation.

00:30:34:09 - 00:30:52:09
Elle Petrillo
So usually the rule is if it's under $2,000, like you don't need a phone call for it. If it's more than two grand, you usually need a phone call. Now, some people won't agree with that. That's just the rule of thumb we go by. So it's really looking at like overall, like with your offering and what you're selling, what does that process need to look like?

00:30:52:09 - 00:31:22:07
Elle Petrillo
What are the touchpoints? But, you know, here are eight things like if you're building, I like to call eight figure sales system, right? These are eight things that you have to make sure you have in place. Now. There's tons more, right? There's so many different other options when it comes to scaling your sales. But if you're just starting out and going, I actually have never really put a lot of time and attention here on you to a, make sure you have your tracking in place and you need to know how are you generating these leads, right?

00:31:22:07 - 00:31:42:02
Elle Petrillo
Like, is this going to be through speaking, through podcast, through social, through on cold calling, through referrals, through past place, through friends and family. Like there's a bunch of different ways to generate leads. So how are you generating leads we have to pay attention to? And then it's how are you filtering these leads? So for us, we have an application.

00:31:42:02 - 00:32:04:10
Elle Petrillo
We didn't always have an application, but because we started doing these big affiliate launches, we realized like we need to have an application in place to filter out the leads and make sure they're going to the right places. So what is your filtering process? What is your nurturing? And so this is kind of what I was talking about before, like how are you priming someone for this sale?

00:32:04:12 - 00:32:32:02
Elle Petrillo
And as they're going through the sales process, what are they receiving to increase their buy in and increase their interest and that's usually through like sales pipelines, meaning emails and texts, and then it's after nurturing, right then this is like actually the selling thing, right? The closing the sales conversation, what is actually happening and how are you structuring that sales conversation, which we talked about a couple minutes ago.

00:32:32:04 - 00:32:58:13
Elle Petrillo
And then it's going the more part, right? The upselling, what else could you be offering this person? What else could you be doing to help serve them more? This is oftentimes like someone will come to us to build a brand and build their business and then they go, You know, I, I do want to write this book. And, you know, I need help with getting a ghostwriter like I can't write it myself.

00:32:58:15 - 00:33:23:15
Elle Petrillo
And so we have implementation partners, which is a revenue stream for us that we can share with you, which is another version of like an upsell or the next sale or what's next with that person who's next, what's next? And then it's referring really it's going, what is the process you have in place? So people can easily refer business to you And it's it's messy.

00:33:23:15 - 00:33:45:14
Elle Petrillo
Usually, like I will say today, like our referral process is not tight, it's still a little messy. And however, we have hired people, we are currently building new pages and trying to make this as easy as possible for our clients because we realize that the fastest way to grow is through our our current clients. It's their our sales force to help drive leads.

00:33:45:16 - 00:34:06:23
Elle Petrillo
And we have this really awesome referral process where they can build an income stream themselves by doing it. And then the last part of this of the figure sales system is promoting. And what I mean by that in our study that we did, which is the trends in personal branding, it's the first study nationwide study ever done on personal branding.

00:34:07:01 - 00:34:35:10
Elle Petrillo
And so we conducted this study and what we found is testimonials is the number one reason why people will decide to work with you. And so the promoting part of this is going, what are you doing to? Capture testimonials and how are you using this in your business? And if there's one thing you want to do is get testimonials as much as possible because that you can use for your sales pipelines that you can use for social media, you can use it for your website, you can use it when you're out speaking.

00:34:35:12 - 00:34:55:05
Elle Petrillo
But ultimately, how are you promoting yourself through your clients success stories? So I would say if you're starting anywhere, it's like those are eight things that we have to make sure we systematize, get a process that we're implementing and we're fine tuning because that will impact your ability then to start scaling.

00:34:55:07 - 00:35:30:00
Jason Croft
Yeah, because every one of those two is exactly what you talked about on what's next, not who's next. Every one of those eight focuses you in on your systems and your current world, the people you're connected to and like, Oh wow, let me start tracking these referrals. Let me start tracking, you know, the social post, the podcast I put out and start start thinking in those terms and all these hidden conversations start popping up like, Oh, I could talk to them about that.

00:35:30:00 - 00:36:00:14
Jason Croft
But I love the one you mentioned, too, of going outside your business in terms of, you know, revenue stream, meaning those strategic partners who are a perfect fit for for your client and you know, and not being afraid to build that into your business rather than this loose sort of oh well I'll refer you some folks and I'll refer you some folks and we all know how that works out, right?

00:36:00:16 - 00:36:14:00
Jason Croft
It may sound nice and altruistic and oh yeah, then maybe they'll refer. But no, it's structure this because I want to make sure that if you send me something, I'm paying you some, some dollars for that because then you're going to be focused and purposeful and vice versa. Yeah.

00:36:14:06 - 00:36:34:23
Elle Petrillo
Yeah. Now, upselling doesn't always mean you have to do more work. It can mean more money without doing more work if it's structured the right way. And it also, again, depends on what industry you're in, like a financial service. Like again, they can't get financial kickbacks because of compliance. They want to be ethical for them. And so like that's not an option.

00:36:34:23 - 00:36:39:04
Elle Petrillo
But there are other other there are other opportunities there.

00:36:39:06 - 00:36:56:17
Jason Croft
Absolutely. So so paint the picture for us, for the perfect person who needs to reach out to Elle and say, brand builders, for me, I need I need this suits. Who what are they going through right now? What stage are they in and and who are they?

00:36:56:19 - 00:37:18:14
Elle Petrillo
Yeah, there's someone who wants to drive. Consistent quality leads to themselves. I like who they really love to work with. Someone who wants to increase their impact in the world. They want more people to know who they are. They want to share a message. And, you know, they're really on a mission. One of the things that's mission over money, right?

00:37:18:14 - 00:37:41:19
Elle Petrillo
Like making money is great because you need money to help make a difference oftentimes. But you so committed to your mission and you believe like what you're doing is helping people and that you want to generate revenue, right? Like bottom line and top line, you want to generate more revenue. So if like your business owner, entrepreneur and that that's what you're looking for, like this is exactly what we help you do if you are someone.

00:37:42:00 - 00:38:00:23
Elle Petrillo
And then the other part of this is going you want to speak, you may or may not want to podcast like you want to write a book. And that's that's part of your vision. Like we have done the book launches and have worked with people like and my LED and E.T., hip hop preacher and Lisa Bailey and Libya, GI Jones.

00:38:00:23 - 00:38:23:21
Elle Petrillo
And we're doing we're in the middle of Lewis's Howes book launch right now. Amy Porterfield And we've had clients, 11 clients at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal lists and people hitting Amazon bestseller left and right. And Kenny Valentino just hit The Wall Street Journal. And so like that is often another thing. We find a lot of people going, I've had this dream and this vision and I just don't know how to do it.

00:38:23:23 - 00:38:37:03
Elle Petrillo
And so you're at this point of your life going, I've done the business part. I've I've done that. Now I have something to say and I have something to share. How do I get this out into the world? And that's what we do. Our brain builders.

00:38:37:05 - 00:38:42:02
Jason Croft
Fantastic. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being here. It's just been a phenomenal conversation.

00:38:42:04 - 00:38:43:08
Elle Petrillo
Well, Joe.

00:38:43:10 - 00:38:58:06
Jason Croft
I love your your expertise and and how in-depth you go with all of this. And I'm sure we could talk for another hour on this subject alone, but I really appreciate you sharing this. How do people reach out and find more.

00:38:58:08 - 00:39:19:09
Elle Petrillo
If people want to set up a call, We do a complimentary call 60 Minutes with one of our strategists to really learn about, like you, your business, your goals, and really just a fun conversation. And oftentimes, regardless of if you decide to partner with us, you will walk away with a lot of clarity and at least an understanding of what the roadmap would look like for you.

00:39:19:11 - 00:39:38:04
Elle Petrillo
And so if you want to take advantage of one of those calls, it's free brand called dot com forward slash LS So my name is Ellie Free brand, Qualcomm Foer, Slash L, And if you just want to connect with me and touch base with me, you can find me a LinkedIn at El Petrillo or Instagram at El Petrillo as well.

00:39:38:04 - 00:39:51:15
Elle Petrillo
So I appreciate it so much. Jason, thank you so much for letting me share and nerd out on sales as it's my passion, it's my genius, it's what I frickin love. So I just appreciate the time to talk about it.

00:39:51:17 - 00:39:55:05
Jason Croft
Of course, and it all that shines through. So I appreciate it.

00:39:55:06 - 00:39:56:19
Elle Petrillo
All right. Watch later.

00:39:56:21 - 00:40:02:16
Jason Croft
All righty. We'll see you all next time.