Episode 183
Trust First: The Untapped Key to Explosive Business Growth
In Episode 183 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy dives into the fundamental role of trust in building sustainable, long-term business success. He discusses how, in an era dominated by passive marketing strategies and digital communication, the missing ingredient for many businesses is authentic human connection. Kelly emphasizes that trust cannot be built solely through emails, ads, or social media posts; instead, it requires genuine person-to-person interactions that foster rapport and confidence. Drawing from his extensive experience, he shares strategies for integrating trust-building practices into the sales process, shifting the focus from immediate sales to creating meaningful, enduring relationships.
Kelly also explores the growing importance of a human-centric approach as we move toward 2025, predicting that businesses will need to prioritize real connections over automated interactions. He advises listeners to make simple but impactful changes, like writing personalized emails, engaging in face-to-face meetings, and even stepping outside their comfort zones at networking events without expectations. By putting trust at the forefront of business development, Kelly believes that companies can not only increase sales but also create loyal customer bases that drive success and growth far beyond the initial transaction.
Key Takeaways:
1. Trust is the foundation of long-term business success and should be prioritized in all client interactions.
2. In a world leaning heavily on automation, real human connections are invaluable and help your business stand out.
3. Passive marketing alone, like ads and social posts, can’t build trust; balance it with active, personal strategies.
4. Building strong relationships is more impactful than pushing for immediate sales, as it leads to greater long-term success.
5. Authenticity in emails, posts, and conversations helps establish trust; avoid canned responses whenever possible.
6. Direct contact—such as phone calls and face-to-face meetings—creates rapport and makes a stronger impression.
7. Attend networking events without expecting immediate results; focus on connecting with others genuinely.
8. Meeting clients for casual get-togethers like lunches or golf builds personal connections and strengthens trust.
9. Consistent, authentic engagement with clients fosters dependable, long-lasting relationships.
10. As we enter 2025, businesses that embrace a human-centered approach will stand out in a digitally dominated world.
🌟 Ready to elevate your business development skills? Introducing Kelly Kennedy's Business Development Mastery Program—a tailored coaching experience crafted to build your confidence, sharpen strategies, and achieve extraordinary results.
If you’re navigating challenges like self-worth, strategy, or need expert guidance to reach your goals, this program delivers actionable insights and personalized support to help you thrive in today’s competitive landscape.
Ready to learn the steps to truly grow your business? Let’s connect! Book a discovery call to see if this program is the right fit for you: Business Development Mastery Program
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Capital Business Development
- Hypervac Technologies
- Apple
- Samsung
Transcript
Welcome to episode 183 of the Business Development Podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:And today we're talking all about trust and how it is absolutely critical to the long term success of your business.
Kelly Kennedy:And how the heck do we inject trust back in.
Kelly Kennedy:Stick with us, you are not going to want to miss this episode.
Mark Cuban:The great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.
Mark Cuban:Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.
Mark Cuban:And we couldn't agree more.
Mark Cuban:This is the Business Development Podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and broadcasting to the world.
Mark Cuban:You'll get expert business development advice, tips and experiences.
Mark Cuban:And you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs and business development reps.
Mark Cuban:You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by Capital Business Development CapitalPD CA let's do it.
Mark Cuban:Welcome to the Business Development Podcast.
Mark Cuban:And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:Hello.
Kelly Kennedy:Welcome to episode 183 of the Business Development Podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:My gosh, 183 episodes.
Kelly Kennedy:Man, I don't get it.
Kelly Kennedy:I'm really hyped up at the moment.
Kelly Kennedy:New podcast, recording space.
Kelly Kennedy:We just moved to a brand new home.
Kelly Kennedy:I got my own studio.
Kelly Kennedy:I got a brand new microphone.
Kelly Kennedy:Not that I needed one, but I wanted to try a new one.
Kelly Kennedy:And life's good, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:We're fighting a sickness in the Kennedy household.
Kelly Kennedy:We're doing the best we can here.
Kelly Kennedy:I got, I got three out of four sick boys, so hoping for the best, hoping for a quick return.
Kelly Kennedy:Me and Shelby have somehow scathed under the radar and I'm hoping that it stays that way.
Kelly Kennedy:I don't want to get sick and I always end up getting sick, usually at some point.
Kelly Kennedy:As we approach my birthday and as we are getting closer and closer to December, I'm just hoping that I can slide under the radar.
Kelly Kennedy:But my gosh, if you guys know anything about moving, it is a nightmare.
Kelly Kennedy:It is a lot of work, especially as you get older.
Kelly Kennedy:I look back to being like young and never worrying about moving, you know, when I had an apartment or when I had a town home or whatever.
Kelly Kennedy:Because let's get real, when we're young, we don't have anything you can move your whole life in like in like two truckloads, like that's life.
Kelly Kennedy:And then by the time you're in your 30s, you know, you've collected some stuff, you got some stuff.
Kelly Kennedy:And moving is a absolute hellish nightmare.
Kelly Kennedy:We had a 26 foot u haul, friends and family to help and the damn move still took us over a week, but we're getting settled.
Kelly Kennedy:I got like a somewhat of a space set up here.
Kelly Kennedy:You might have seen it in a clip that came out from my interview with Gary Ridge.
Kelly Kennedy:But, yeah, it's.
Kelly Kennedy:It's awesome.
Kelly Kennedy:We got a little space.
Kelly Kennedy:It's a little podcast room.
Kelly Kennedy:I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.
Kelly Kennedy:We're going to cross that bridge as we keep going, but I guarantee you it'll be a big part of the next phase here of the business development podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:And super cool, super cool, super grateful, super thankful.
Kelly Kennedy:Just looking forward to kind of what comes next, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:Looking forward to what comes next here.
Kelly Kennedy:I'm really looking forward to the future.
Kelly Kennedy:I think things are going to be really good as we move into the next few years.
Kelly Kennedy:I know there's a lot of people who are kind of being downers and kind of talking like it might be the end of the world, but, guys, it's not the end of the world.
Kelly Kennedy:We're fine.
Kelly Kennedy:The world is fine.
Kelly Kennedy:Business is going to keep turning.
Kelly Kennedy:The world is going to keep turning.
Kelly Kennedy:Chin up and keep going.
Kelly Kennedy:You absolutely, absolutely got this.
Kelly Kennedy:And I just wanted to give a gigantic thank you to all the listeners of the show who have taken us to this point.
Kelly Kennedy:All my incredible followers on LinkedIn, all my friends on LinkedIn, you guys are absolutely incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:And the people that I've met on this business development journey, I can't be more thankful for.
Kelly Kennedy:It's turned into, you know, genuine friendships, genuine relationships, an encouragement like I could have never seen coming, an empowerment like I could have never seen coming.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, the community that we have, our rockstar business development community, you guys are incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:And I could not, could not, could not do this show without you.
Kelly Kennedy:Couldn't do it without the support.
Kelly Kennedy:Thank you so much for the kind messages.
Kelly Kennedy:Absolutely love to hear the messages.
Kelly Kennedy:When you guys reach out and say, hey, found this show and now I'm killing it in bd or I just got into the or I just got a BD career and I'm just getting started and found the show and it's changed everything for me, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:It's incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:It's incredible because the whole point of the show was to help create a blueprint that people could run from and achieve with and, you know, not just achieve, but achieve exponential results over time.
Kelly Kennedy:And so I think we're doing it.
Kelly Kennedy:I really do.
Kelly Kennedy:I genuinely think we are doing what we set out to achieve here.
Kelly Kennedy:I think there's incredible, incredible people out there doing the good work, doing the business development work, implementing the active marketing process and finding success.
Kelly Kennedy:So I'm incredibly grateful, I'm incredibly thankful and I do wish you all the greatest of success.
Kelly Kennedy:I want you all to achieve everything you want to achieve.
Kelly Kennedy:Nobody starts out to be mediocre and nobody has to be mediocre.
Kelly Kennedy:That's the thing.
Kelly Kennedy:If you know what to do and you just follow the steps, you are going to be successful.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, I want to start today with a show update.
Kelly Kennedy:We are sitting at 221,000 downloads.
Kelly Kennedy:We are quickly approaching 3,000 followers on Apple Podcast and Spotify will likely be passing that by the end of this month, if not sooner.
Kelly Kennedy:We are heading into November and we are taking on more community questions.
Kelly Kennedy:So if you're here in this show and you got a question for the business development podcast regarding podcasting, regarding business development, business growth, or just business in general, shoot it on over podcastapitalbd CA and we will absolutely get that addressed on a future community questions episode.
Kelly Kennedy:We are looking for Apple Podcast and Spotify reviews, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:We're a little light on the Apple podcast reviews and so if you are listening on Apple podcast, guys, I would greatly, greatly, greatly appreciate it if you enjoy this show.
Kelly Kennedy:For you to leave us not only a rating, but if you could write us a review, no matter what country you're in around the world, it absolutely helps.
Kelly Kennedy:It absolutely helps us to reach further and further and further with this show.
Kelly Kennedy:If you listen on Spotify, same thing, drop us a rating, tell a friend, tell a family member, and help us to continue to grow this show.
Kelly Kennedy:As we head into our 200th episode.
Kelly Kennedy:We are very quickly approaching our 200th episode, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:That absolutely blows my mind.
Kelly Kennedy:We will be crossing the 200th episode, likely the end of December, if not the very beginning of January, which is absolutely nuts because I look back at when I was just a podcast listener, not a podcaster myself, and I'd see shows that were like 100 episodes, 200 episodes, and be like, man, that's incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:I can't believe those people made it to 200 episodes.
Kelly Kennedy:What must that take?
Kelly Kennedy:They must be absolutely exceptional, exceptional individuals.
Kelly Kennedy:And now it's like, holy crap, I'm getting there myself.
Kelly Kennedy:So it's kind of a cool little realization that maybe I'm a half ass decent podcaster, which is kind of cool.
Kelly Kennedy:I quite enjoy.
Kelly Kennedy:I quite enjoy this thing.
Kelly Kennedy:I quite enjoy this thing we call the business development podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:I could have never seen it coming, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:Could have never seen it coming.
Kelly Kennedy:This was never on my to do list.
Kelly Kennedy: adar until, like I said, late: Kelly Kennedy: ng to do as we're approaching: Kelly Kennedy: Guys,: Kelly Kennedy: I have a feeling, guys, that: Kelly Kennedy: If: Kelly Kennedy:How do we put people first?
Kelly Kennedy:How do we put people first?
Kelly Kennedy:And I think that that is going to be the thing because on some levels, we've pulled away so much from our own humanity using AI, using computers, trying to let machines do the work, that what we're realizing is, holy shit, we miss people.
Kelly Kennedy:We need people.
Kelly Kennedy:We need human to human connection.
Kelly Kennedy: And I bet you, I bet you: Kelly Kennedy: t is my prediction, guys, for: Kelly Kennedy:I think there's going to be massive pullback to just being you, to being the authentic human, incredible human that you are.
Kelly Kennedy:Watch, it's going to happen.
Kelly Kennedy:And that is going to lead us into today's show topic.
Kelly Kennedy:And I want to chat all about trust today.
Kelly Kennedy:Trust.
Kelly Kennedy:And I'm going to give a gigantic thank you to Colin Harms.
Kelly Kennedy:You guys know Colin Harms Hyperfact Technology.
Kelly Kennedy:He's been on the show a few times.
Kelly Kennedy:He's been a sponsor of the show.
Kelly Kennedy:We have a weekly call, me and Colin.
Kelly Kennedy:We love to encourage each other and kind of pull each other up and chat about what's going on.
Kelly Kennedy:And we had gotten talking about the importance of trust.
Kelly Kennedy:And he looks at me and goes, kelly, why the heck haven't you done a show like this yet?
Kelly Kennedy:And I was like, okay, you got me.
Kelly Kennedy:So call in arms.
Kelly Kennedy:This one is from you, my friend.
Kelly Kennedy:You're absolutely right.
Kelly Kennedy:We should have done a show on this quite some time ago.
Kelly Kennedy:And so here we are.
Kelly Kennedy:Let's talk about it, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:A foundation of trust.
Kelly Kennedy:One of the biggest challenges that I am seeing today is a lack of foundational trust being built ahead of asking a customer to make a buying decision, trust must be built with a human to human connection.
Kelly Kennedy:Words and images alone cannot cut it.
Kelly Kennedy:We are trying to sell people through email and it does not work.
Kelly Kennedy:Not very well anyway.
Kelly Kennedy:You're usually able to build interest and I talk about this on the show all the time.
Kelly Kennedy:What is a business development specialist's real job?
Kelly Kennedy:Your job is to build enough interest to get you to a meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:A face to face interaction where rapport and trust can be built.
Kelly Kennedy:That is the secret.
Kelly Kennedy:To take us to that next step, to that buying decision.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to find a way to establish trust.
Kelly Kennedy:And it doesn't matter whether you're buying consumer goods, business to business goods, a large purchase or a small purchase.
Kelly Kennedy:Typically some level of trust must be built ahead of the buying decision for you to feel good about making that buying decision.
Kelly Kennedy:And what are you guys seeing on LinkedIn on all your social medias?
Kelly Kennedy:Basically every way somebody is trying to advertise to you, they are trying to get you to make a buying decision without earning your trust first.
Kelly Kennedy:And you're getting really, really good at just calling the bullshit.
Kelly Kennedy:And that's exactly what is happening to you.
Kelly Kennedy:If you are sending email marketing campaigns, if you are only trying to sell over social media, if you are utilizing passive strategies that are great for brand recognition and hoping that they will translate to dollars and cents for your business.
Kelly Kennedy:Because unfortunately they typically do not translate at the rate you need them to or even the rate you're paying for with regards to your passive marketing advertising costs.
Kelly Kennedy:Right?
Kelly Kennedy:So what is the problem?
Kelly Kennedy:The problem is we don't sell with words, emails, texts, social posts.
Kelly Kennedy:The world keeps trying to tell you that this is the way, guys, it's the way.
Kelly Kennedy:Because marketing companies make a damn fortune off of you.
Kelly Kennedy:Think about it.
Kelly Kennedy:Think about the money you're spending on Facebook ads, meta ads, on LinkedIn ads.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, I love LinkedIn, but I'm just saying think about the money that people are spending on advertising campaigns, Google campaigns, you name it, hoping to God that they translate to dollars and cents sales for the business.
Kelly Kennedy:I hate to say it to you, they typically do not.
Kelly Kennedy:And the reason is they are not for that.
Kelly Kennedy:It is not the marketing company's fault.
Kelly Kennedy:First off, it is not their fault.
Kelly Kennedy:That is not the medium that they are.
Kelly Kennedy:They're a passive marketing company.
Kelly Kennedy:What they ultimately do is they build brand awareness for you, your products, your services.
Kelly Kennedy:And depending on what your products and services are, maybe that works.
Kelly Kennedy:But the reality is for most people, most businesses, it is not enough on its own.
Kelly Kennedy:They're one piece of a puzzle of a puzzle of an active marketing and a passive marketing strategy.
Kelly Kennedy:And you need that active part, that human to human part, that direct reach out, that connection part to pull the whole thing together.
Kelly Kennedy:So it doesn't matter whether it's words, emails, texts, social media, billboards, radio ads, TV ads, you name it.
Kelly Kennedy:They are all passive strategies.
Kelly Kennedy:They're great for brand recognition.
Kelly Kennedy:But you could implement all of these things and not sell $1 worth of products and services.
Kelly Kennedy:Did you know that you could buy all of the TV ads, the radio ads, you could have the best social media campaigns, you could have the best Google adwords.
Kelly Kennedy:You could be paying, you know, $10,000 a month and it not translate into a dollars and cents sale.
Kelly Kennedy:And guess what, it is not marketing company's fault.
Kelly Kennedy:That is not what it is for.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to remember passive marketing strategies are just that, they're amazing for brand recognition.
Kelly Kennedy:And I am not hating on these things at all.
Kelly Kennedy:I think they're critical, I think they're very important.
Kelly Kennedy:What I'm saying is you're using them wrong.
Kelly Kennedy:You're thinking that if you buy the radio ads, the TV ads, they are going to lead to dollars and cents sales at a massive quantity.
Kelly Kennedy:And typically that is not what's happening because there's a step missing.
Kelly Kennedy:There's a step missing and that's a human to human interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:That builds rapport, builds trust, builds word of mouth.
Kelly Kennedy:No, this does not have to be a word of mouth from your company even.
Kelly Kennedy:This could be if you have a product and service out there in the market right now, it could just be the community talking about it because it's an incredible product and service and they're recommending it to their friends.
Kelly Kennedy:Great.
Kelly Kennedy:That built enough trust for them to try your product and service to make a buying decision.
Kelly Kennedy:But you need a human in the mix.
Kelly Kennedy:Are you seeing what I'm kind of getting at here?
Kelly Kennedy:You need human to human interaction because that is how we build trust.
Kelly Kennedy:And no, think about it.
Kelly Kennedy:This does not actually need to be an in person interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:By the way, how many times have you heard something good about a product and service or you've been researching something, what did you do?
Kelly Kennedy:You hit the Internet to watch reviews and you watched not one review because that wouldn't be enough.
Kelly Kennedy:Not 2, not 3, not 5, not 10, whatever.
Kelly Kennedy:Maybe you watch 20 different reviews to come to your buying decision.
Kelly Kennedy:But what did you do?
Kelly Kennedy:You relied on another person to tell you about their personal experience and make a recommendation.
Kelly Kennedy:And no, you didn't rely on one, you relied on 10, right?
Kelly Kennedy:You relied on multiple trusted sources or multiple sources to come to a buying decision.
Kelly Kennedy:What did that do?
Kelly Kennedy:It built trust.
Kelly Kennedy:It built enough trust for you to make that choice.
Kelly Kennedy:And when we're talking about services, products, guys, it's all the difference.
Kelly Kennedy:You have to have to have to have a human in the mix.
Kelly Kennedy:Somebody who can make a human to human connection, have a real conversation, answer some real questions, be authentic, build trust that leads to a sale and hopefully repeat business over time.
Kelly Kennedy:The key ingredient missing is trust.
Kelly Kennedy:All the marketing companies in the world can't help you with this.
Kelly Kennedy:Trust is built by people, by word of mouth, by human to human interactions.
Kelly Kennedy:And if you are struggling to sell your products and services, what you could be struggling with right here is trust.
Kelly Kennedy:Luckily though, I have some really great news for you.
Kelly Kennedy:You are the missing ingredient.
Kelly Kennedy:We need to bring people and relationships back to the forefront of the marketing process.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, we have to bring humanity back into the marketing process.
Kelly Kennedy:And not just bring it back, put it at the forefront.
Kelly Kennedy:It has to be the forefront.
Kelly Kennedy:It has to be.
Kelly Kennedy:80%, 20% needs to be on the passive marketing strategies, but 80% needs to be focused on active marketing, Human to human interactions, real meetings, real discussions, real relationships being built by people for people.
Kelly Kennedy:This is how it works.
Kelly Kennedy:Computers and AI are great, but they do not and cannot replace a human to human interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:And I know I can already hear some of you saying, I saw a digital ad and I bought something and I said sure, I get it, me too.
Kelly Kennedy:But, but you likely watched a review or 2 or 5 or 10, and maybe had previous trust established with that brand.
Kelly Kennedy:So this is the other thing.
Kelly Kennedy:Once you have trust established, new products, new services, they automatically get garnered a level of trust.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:Because that customer likes your products and services.
Kelly Kennedy:So maybe very likely they will like your additional products and services.
Kelly Kennedy:That's the other side of it.
Kelly Kennedy:So really what we're talking about in business development is really establishing a brand.
Kelly Kennedy:Once a brand is established and trust is established, it can carry through the entire product line and service line of that brand.
Kelly Kennedy:Look at Apple, look at Samsung.
Kelly Kennedy:They could release a new phone every single year and you automatically trust it.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:Because you bought 10 of them before and they were good and they were great at the time, so why wouldn't the next one be great?
Kelly Kennedy:You already have a foundation of trust.
Kelly Kennedy:So we need to focus on how do we build this foundation of trust for a new company, for a new product and service.
Kelly Kennedy:Right.
Kelly Kennedy:There has to be a track record, but you have to start somewhere.
Kelly Kennedy:And the secret is to start with human to human connection.
Kelly Kennedy:Even all the incredible individuals that we follow on socials are building trust with us through repeated daily interactions with their content.
Kelly Kennedy:I've had people reach out to me, talk to me, meet me in person and say, wow, it's like I already know you because I've heard you like a thousand times.
Kelly Kennedy:I was literally listening to you this morning.
Kelly Kennedy:I feel like we were just talking.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, that is trust.
Kelly Kennedy:That is trust being established through content, right?
Kelly Kennedy:Content creators are consistently building trust through repeated interactions with the people that listen to our shows, with the people that engage with our content.
Kelly Kennedy:That is how these people are building massive social media followings.
Kelly Kennedy:They are building daily repeatable, dependable, trustworthy content that people can rely on.
Kelly Kennedy:And what happens is, if people are engaging with this content on a daily basis, it is actually creating a level of trust because subconsciously it's still human to human interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:This is why nobody is engaging with your corporate posts.
Kelly Kennedy:By the way, if you are posting corporate stuff on LinkedIn or on any of your socials or sales ads or whatever you're seeing, they're getting very little interaction, Very little.
Kelly Kennedy:And then you're seeing the personal posts are getting an absolute ton of interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:Why is this?
Kelly Kennedy:Because we connect with people.
Kelly Kennedy:We don't connect with business, we don't connect with sales ads.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay?
Kelly Kennedy:We, we just don't.
Kelly Kennedy:What they are for is brand recognition.
Kelly Kennedy:Brand recognition, it's critical too, because it builds trust over time, but it takes a lot of time.
Kelly Kennedy:And so you obviously need to still be doing corporate posts, sales posts, things along those lines.
Kelly Kennedy:But understand that is not where trust is built.
Kelly Kennedy:It's built in your authentic personal interactions.
Kelly Kennedy:It's why part of my coaching now literally includes personal brand building.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:Because I don't think there's a future that personal brand is not important.
Kelly Kennedy:I think it's not only critical, it's going to be mandatory in the future.
Kelly Kennedy:And so literally, you can't teach business development anymore without also teaching the power of the personal brand.
Kelly Kennedy:And how do we do it?
Kelly Kennedy:So guys, we're there.
Kelly Kennedy:We're absolutely there.
Kelly Kennedy:We are back to the point where human to human interaction is not just critical.
Kelly Kennedy:And the funny thing is, it's been critical the whole time.
Kelly Kennedy:We just forgot about it.
Kelly Kennedy:We just forgot about it.
Kelly Kennedy:We tried to machine humanity out of it all, but that doesn't work because every organization, no matter how big or small, is comprised of people, of humans making decisions, making emotional decisions, making decisions built on trust.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay, so how do we do it?
Kelly Kennedy:How do we build trust in an increasingly AI and computer based world?
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, we have to balance our digital marketing and passive strategies with an active marketing process.
Kelly Kennedy:And we have to go back to prioritizing the human to human interactions.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to put building trust ahead of the sale because it is a required stepping stone to long term success.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay, we have to balance our active and passive marketing strategies.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, for those of you who maybe are new to this, active marketing is human to human interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:It's direct contact.
Kelly Kennedy:So I always like to say it's a direct email, it's a direct phone call, it's leaving a human voicemail and it is pushing to get to a face to face meeting.
Kelly Kennedy:Everything we do in the active marketing process is to get us to a face to face interaction because that is where the trust is built, that is where the sale is done and that will lead to exponential results for your businesses over time.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to build relationships, we have to build trust, we have to build connection.
Kelly Kennedy:These are done in human to human interactions and so everything that we do with the active marketing process is get us to a face to face interaction that will lead to sales for your organizations over time.
Kelly Kennedy:Number two, we have to find ways to inject humanity into our day to day.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to bring ourselves back.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to get, we have to put humans back in control.
Kelly Kennedy:And we can do that in a few different ways.
Kelly Kennedy:But some easy ways that we could just get started with is I want you guys to write a personal social post.
Kelly Kennedy:No AI, just you just you talk about something.
Kelly Kennedy:I don't even want you to like check yourself.
Kelly Kennedy:Just type something like we used to.
Kelly Kennedy:You remember that time when you used to sit down in your computer and type out a social post on Facebook?
Kelly Kennedy:Okay, do that again.
Kelly Kennedy:Do that again.
Kelly Kennedy:Absolutely.
Kelly Kennedy:Check your writing, make sure that it's done well.
Kelly Kennedy:But I want it to be you.
Kelly Kennedy:I guarantee you, you do one post like this a week, you are going to stand out.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:Because everybody is using AI.
Kelly Kennedy:Everybody and their dog is using AI for social posts.
Kelly Kennedy:You want to stand out now, don't use AI for your social posts.
Kelly Kennedy:Write personal emails.
Kelly Kennedy:Same thing.
Kelly Kennedy:I get it, I get it.
Kelly Kennedy:We're busy.
Kelly Kennedy:We're in bd, we're sending tons and tons of emails and it makes a lot of sense to can emails.
Kelly Kennedy:I get it, I get it.
Kelly Kennedy:But every once in a while just type an email.
Kelly Kennedy:Type an email like you used to.
Kelly Kennedy:Mistakes and all, whatever.
Kelly Kennedy:In some cases the mistakes are actually good for you.
Kelly Kennedy:They make you Stand out.
Kelly Kennedy:But it's funny.
Kelly Kennedy:But my point is find ways to not use technology, right?
Kelly Kennedy:Find ways to interact with people like a human.
Kelly Kennedy:Like your authentic, genuine self.
Kelly Kennedy:Stop using copy and paste introductions.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, this is a big one on LinkedIn, right?
Kelly Kennedy:LinkedIn specifically, we're connecting with people.
Kelly Kennedy:We're typing up messages.
Kelly Kennedy:But let's get real.
Kelly Kennedy:We're not typing up messages.
Kelly Kennedy:We are copying and pasting messages.
Kelly Kennedy:We are chat gpting introductions.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, they don't have to be long.
Kelly Kennedy:Write your own introductions to people.
Kelly Kennedy:Do a quick type.
Kelly Kennedy:If you're going to paste something, paste your links to whatever that you want to send them to.
Kelly Kennedy:But ultimately write the message yourself.
Kelly Kennedy: the secret to standing out in: Kelly Kennedy:We have to go back.
Kelly Kennedy: We have to go back because: Kelly Kennedy:We are going to be finding ways to go back to interact as people, to connect as individuals, to be more authentic than we have ever been.
Kelly Kennedy:I know, I know it's uncomfortable.
Kelly Kennedy:I also struggle with it.
Kelly Kennedy:You guys know that I don't post a lot of personal stuff.
Kelly Kennedy:I'm working on it.
Kelly Kennedy:I'm working on it because for me it's a little uncomfortable.
Kelly Kennedy: I want to do more videos in: Kelly Kennedy:I want to do things like this.
Kelly Kennedy:I've never done them before.
Kelly Kennedy:So for me, I have work to do.
Kelly Kennedy:You also have work to do.
Kelly Kennedy:We can absolutely do this together.
Kelly Kennedy:Number three, choose an in person or teams meeting to build genuine connection.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, stop trying to sell over email.
Kelly Kennedy:Get to a face to face interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:Have a real conversation.
Kelly Kennedy:Build authentic relationships.
Kelly Kennedy:Don't be afraid to meet somebody for lunch.
Kelly Kennedy:Don't be afraid to go golfing or do something fun with a potential client.
Kelly Kennedy:This is how relationships are built.
Kelly Kennedy:Relationships lead to repeat business over time.
Kelly Kennedy:Repeat business over time.
Kelly Kennedy:Will your companies get real relationships?
Kelly Kennedy:Computer relationships are not enough.
Kelly Kennedy:Four, go to a networking event with no expectations.
Kelly Kennedy:And I know I already have bd.
Kelly Kennedy:People like gasping right now.
Kelly Kennedy:What do you mean no expectations?
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, go to a in person event with no expectations.
Kelly Kennedy:The whole thing that I want you to do is just practice your social skills, be a human, interact with some people.
Kelly Kennedy:Who knows what you'll find.
Kelly Kennedy:The problem is we're going to events with expectations and we're getting super disappointed when it's almost impossible to meet them because events are hard to meet the right people.
Kelly Kennedy:We know this.
Kelly Kennedy:Like, we know this.
Kelly Kennedy:Come on.
Kelly Kennedy:So if you're going to go to an event, I want you to go to an event without any expectations.
Kelly Kennedy:Just meet people, have a conversation, work on your social skills.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, we need to work on our social skills.
Kelly Kennedy:Like it's 20, 25.
Kelly Kennedy:We live in front of computers, okay?
Kelly Kennedy:We need.
Kelly Kennedy:Including myself, we need to work on our social skills.
Kelly Kennedy:Go to events with no expectations and you will never be disappointed.
Kelly Kennedy:Number five, take your clients to lunch, golf, or something fun to build connections.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, we build friendships doing fun things.
Kelly Kennedy:Think about being a teenager.
Kelly Kennedy:How did you make friends?
Kelly Kennedy:How did you build friendships?
Kelly Kennedy:You build friendships by hanging out and doing fun things together.
Kelly Kennedy:Why would it be any different in business?
Kelly Kennedy:Somewhere along the line, we forgot about that, okay?
Kelly Kennedy:We forgot about that.
Kelly Kennedy:But trust me, trust me, it is the same.
Kelly Kennedy:You can build incredible, incredible friendships with your clients, with coworkers, with whatever else, right?
Kelly Kennedy:By just doing fun things that you would do with friends.
Kelly Kennedy:This is how friendships are built.
Kelly Kennedy:This is how long term trust and bonds are established.
Kelly Kennedy:We do fun things with friends.
Kelly Kennedy:We can do fun things with clients and make them into friends.
Kelly Kennedy:And number six guys.
Kelly Kennedy:And this might be the most important, the most important message I have for you today.
Kelly Kennedy:Stop pretending to be somebody else.
Kelly Kennedy:Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it.
Kelly Kennedy:Be genuine.
Kelly Kennedy:Be authentic.
Kelly Kennedy:Be the you you were born to be, okay?
Kelly Kennedy:We have never been allowed to be ourselves.
Kelly Kennedy:I want you to understand that.
Kelly Kennedy:I want you to understand that it's not your fault that you're not being yourself.
Kelly Kennedy:We have been taught that we had to be someone else, that we had to be strong, that we had to know it all, that we had to have all the answers, that we had to lead, that we had to be strong and be tough guys.
Kelly Kennedy:It's all bullshit.
Kelly Kennedy:It's all bullshit.
Kelly Kennedy:You were already all of those things.
Kelly Kennedy:We have never lived in a time where you could truly be yourself and succeed, but we do now.
Kelly Kennedy:But I'll tell you what, it only works if you take your authentic power back.
Kelly Kennedy:It only works if you wake up tomorrow and say, you know what?
Kelly Kennedy:I'm done.
Kelly Kennedy:I'm done pretending.
Kelly Kennedy:I'm done hiding who I am.
Kelly Kennedy:Be your authentic self.
Kelly Kennedy:Be genuine.
Kelly Kennedy:Because genuine people, authentic people automatically instill a sense of trust.
Kelly Kennedy:Be yourself.
Kelly Kennedy:You are awesome.
Kelly Kennedy:Trust is not a nice to have.
Kelly Kennedy:It is absolutely essential to all stages of the sales process.
Kelly Kennedy:Put it first, make it a core value and watch your business and yourself thrive.
Kelly Kennedy:Shout outs this week.
Kelly Kennedy:Brian Hayes, Colin Harms, Deanna Keane, Rodney Lover, Chris Small, Susan Paseka, Sean Neals, Gary Noseworthy, Jan Hanat, William Silva, Nate Simpson, Emily Rushworth, Billy Martin, Jeanette Sessi, April Boys, Jennifer Lee, Courtney, Jamar Jones, Vijay and Swami Nathan, Amira Bass, Mira Korloo, David Fair and Krista Kelly.
Kelly Kennedy:Until next time, this has been episode 183 of the Business Development Podcast and we will catch you on the flip side.
Mark Cuban:This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.
Mark Cuban: business development firm in: Mark Cuban:His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.
Mark Cuban:The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.
Mark Cuban:For more, we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca.
Mark Cuban:see you next time on the Business Development Podcast.
