Manufacturing eCommerce Success – with Kirby Monestime

Curt Anderson  00:01

Hey guys, happy Monday. Welcome to Manufacturing eCommerce success. Damon Pustaka handsome devil. How are you, buddy?

Damon Pistulka  00:09

I’m doing great Curt. Awesome. All right.

Curt Anderson  00:12

Hey, thanks for joining us Damon. Looks like you’re in a little bit of a different background so you know what, you know your your people get enough of you four days a week so we’re going to focus on our guest today. I was nothing Damon right.

Damon Pistulka  00:24

Let’s do that.

Curt Anderson  00:25

Guys. My name is Curt Anderson b2b retail just thrilled and honored to be here today with a dear esteemed friend of ours. He’s a repeat offender Goodness gracious. He needs a better judge of character to hang out with better friends here but Kirby Happy Monday my friend how are you today?

Kirby Monestime  00:41

I am absolutely blessed. Excited. Happy Monday to the two of you. You guys are the best thank you for having well Kirby Rebbeck

Curt Anderson  00:48

gadget dude feeling blessed I just you know you and I connected number of years ago you’ve been on the show we just had such I think we literally like were in tears last time. So I don’t know if so I got the Kleenex in here just in case. So we’re gonna dive in. We have tons of exciting things to cover. Now before you know what I’m gonna dive in. I want to get into like your background, your superpowers, but I just I don’t know anybody that just serves their their clients more than you do with just such a ferocious enthusiasm. I just absolutely love it. But before we go there, I don’t remember do remember the first question I asked you last time you’re on the show.

Kirby Monestime  01:21

Oh my gosh, this is a tough one. I’m getting older these days. You can’t do this today. Remember the first time I asked

Curt Anderson  01:27

you who your hero was? And I happen to be your father. Do you remember that? Yeah, yes, I do. Remember that. Oh, you shared so you’re so I said Kirby? Is your little guy growing up who was your hero and man, you just shared a magnificent story about your dad. And it was just so heartwarming. And it just it was it was wonderful. Just wonderful story about your dead. So I have a little little twist for you today. Kirby, I sit down for this one. Are

Kirby Monestime  01:55

you ready? I’m sitting, I’m ready. I’m good to go.

Curt Anderson  01:57

Kirby. If I were to ask somebody that same question, who would answer Kirby as the answer? Who are you a hero to out there? And if I said, Hey, who is your hero? They said, well, it’s Kirby, who might be that person?

Kirby Monestime  02:15

That is a good question. That’s a good one. And you know what a number of people come to mind. Nice. I’m hoping it would be my nieces and all of the kids that are in my life that I’ve had an impact on at some point in my trajectory of connecting with them. Because they’re our future, right? So you know, we want to teach them everything that we know about how to be success, how to love themselves, how to embrace who they are, and how to be powerhouses in the world. So I’m hoping it would be a ton of the children that I have interacted with over the last several years. Well,

Curt Anderson  02:52

that’s what I’m so I, I knew that was going to be the answer you just shared you just brand new addition to the family in the past month or two, right? Yes,

Kirby Monestime  03:00

my sister had a baby in August. Her name is so Leigh. She’s beautiful. And I also have two other beautiful nieces who I love and adore, Amaya and Alana. So I’m blessed. I mean, God is dropping nuggets, the beautiful human beings into my life on so many different levels. So I’m excited about that and what life is bringing to me.

Curt Anderson  03:25

I absolutely love it. Kirby. God bless you, man. This is too. Oh my god, this is fire. Daymond. So hey, guys, you’re out there. drop us a note. Brian Fleming is here today. Brian, happy Monday coming to us live from our dear friend in Detroit. So we’re here with Kirby. Guys. drop us a note in the chat box. And we’d love to have any Kirby is ready for questions, man. So we’ve got an expert here, Kirby, we’re going to dig into your marketing expertise. We’re going to talk about finances. Now. This is a wonderful time of year this month is Black History Month. Let’s talk about what this Black History Month why is this such an important time? And what why is this important to you?

Kirby Monestime  04:00

You know, Curt Damon, there are so many people in the course of history that have impacted our lives, whether they be you know, people who created inventions, whether they be people like Martin Luther King who gave his life to ensure that all people experience diversity inclusivity connection and engagement, right? It’s not just about the past that they walked. But it’s about the dreams that they had none of that we’re now seeing them transpire into the world. Right? And so, you know, Black History Month to me means how do we connect with one another on a deeper level? How do we harness the love and the gratitude that lives inside of us for the things that other people have done for us? How do we connect with the ideas that we were taught that sometimes are very mainstream, but unfortunately as As we go through life, right, we forget about these little tidbits and nuggets. So it’s a time of remembrance. It’s a time of connection. But it’s a it’s a time of looking at the world, you know, there’s so many challenging things in the world. But there are so many amazing things in the world that we live in. So how do we harness that? You know, love for our neighbor, whether our neighbors, black, white, whatever, whatever skin color they are, whatever race they are, whatever, you know, religious belief, how do we come together as one and kind of Ignite each other and create that spark of love amongst each and every one of us? That’s what Black History Month. I mean, to me, it’s not about the Cutlass. And I, I want to be really, really cognizant of what I say, right? There’s so many people, so many African Americans who paved the way for peace, and for education, and for kindness, and love. And we honor those people. And I want to honor those people too. But for me, specifically, it’s about how do we take those lessons and integrate them into today’s world? How do we take that love? How do we take that education? How do we take those inventions that were created for us? And how do we show gratitude for those things and then teach those kids that I was referring to earlier? how important those elements are in the world that we live in today. Again, here, this is why I’m here guys. Kirby dude,

Curt Anderson  06:35

you did it again, man. So I I’m not even comfortable like speaking after that little pre trade there. So uncle Kirby do drop the mic. Man. That was just a couple of, you know, not just a path but it’s the dream, man and how do you harness that? Love? What? Gosh, Kirby three better words right there. Harness the love. So it we got a couple of friends popping in here. A friend said says God bless Karen is here. Karen is gonna be joining us Damon on the show. Greetings from East Texas. We’ve got another here, friend coming from Nigeria. Guys. drop us a note. Let us know your Kirby would love some love from you guys. Let us let us know that you’re in the chatbox. Let us know where you’re coming from. And most importantly, boy, if you have any questions, this is a great opportunity to kind of you know, dig in with an expert that we have here. Kirby, thank you for that. And guys, do me a favor, go back and hit the rewind button. And that was a pure gold. I like to get a little snippet Damon, I might get that transcription, like put it right on the wall right here. So yeah, Kirby, thank you. Thank you for that. And I just want to soak that in for a second. Okay. All right. Let’s move forward. Kirby, please let folks that are not familiar with you. Let them know a little bit about your background, your superpowers, marketing guru, you’ve now changed hats and you’re going into the financial world helping folks make their lives better. Talk about how do you make the world a better place, please?

Kirby Monestime  07:57

Oh, my gosh. So thank you for asking that question. You know, just a little bit of history on me. I was born and raised in New York. So sometimes when I talk fast people and like you talk about them like that’s because I’m from New York. So I was born in Queens raised on Long Island, I went to college at CW post on Long Island. So shout out to all my CW posters that are out there. And I went to school for marketing as my major and business management as my minor. And so I’ve been I’ve worked in marketing for over 20 years, I’ll just leave it at over 20 years. But I’ve worked for you know, fortune 100 companies like JP Morgan Chase, GE American Express, and then I’ve worked for smaller companies as well. I currently have a full time job where I work as the director of marketing for a dental practice. We have 12 Amazing dental offices in the New York and Connecticut areas. So if anybody’s looking for a spectacular dentist in the Hudson Valley area, or Connecticut, please reach out to me. I love I love, love, love my full time job. I love the people that I work with much talented minds, but people are at the forefront of what they do. And that’s why that resonates with me so much. I also about 2019, I started my own marketing company. And that was inspired by my dad, who tried his hand up entrepreneurship several times, unfortunately experienced a lot of stress and struggle in that process. But he inspired me, he encouraged me and he said Kirby go out and do what I couldn’t do. And so every day that I worked in my marketing company, I lived to make my dad proud of me. And my mom that’s been heaven. I live to make her proud of me as well. Just so that they know that they put so much into me and I’m putting that back out into the universe and giving to people So my marketing, when I talk to people about marketing, there’s a couple of tenants that are really important to me. Number one, you got to know your audience. That’s the number. That’s one of the biggest things in marketing. If you don’t know who you’re talking to, then people are not going to know if you’re for them or not. So, you know, understanding who your target audience is, is a critical piece of a marketing strategy. The other thing that I like to tell my clients all the time in marketing is be vulnerable. Share a little bit of your story. You know, when I tell people that as a child, I experienced a bankruptcy, and my family was moving from place to place. And I had several years of scarcity mindset that I needed to work through in my own personal journey. People lean into that. They’re like, Oh, I experienced the bankruptcy, or I struggle with the scarcity mindset. And so when people have that point of resonance with you, that’s when they want to be your client, right? They’re like, I want to tap into what this guy has, I want to I want to know more about him, because it sounds like me. So you know, as you’re thinking about your social media content, as you’re thinking about, you know, email newsletters that you send out, take a second to evaluate and do this litmus check and say, Have I shared a little bit about me, in this email have I shared a little bit about me in the social media posts, because that is really what’s gonna connect you to your client. So on the marketing side, I mean, again, I started my marketing company in 2019, because I wanted to make my dad proud. And so I help entrepreneurs, small business owners, and people who are creating business with all types of strategies, whether they want to engage their audience, whether whether they want to turn their leads into clients, whether they want to gather a bunch of leads, I can help you create a strategy around that. So in summary, on the marketing side, the big things are, you know, know your target audience, if you don’t know who they are. Go out and start asking questions in your social media that pertain to your product or service. Ask your naysayers. That’s another thing. I tell people all the time. Some people look at their naysayers, but I’m not going to approach that person like I don’t like, I don’t want them to mess up this pretty picture of my business that I have in my head, let them mess up the pretty picture. Because they’re going to bring up questions that you didn’t think about. They’re going to bring up ideas that you didn’t think about that are going to help you enhance what your offerings are for your products and your services. So my my feedback to people is go after your naysayers to find out more about how your business can be a success. And be vulnerable in your in your strategy. Listen, and a lot of marketers out there may not be happy that I’m saying that, but I want to spit fire with you guys today and be super honest, a lot of the tactics that we use in marketing are the same tactics that other people are using. It’s no secret, right? Whether you’re doing search engine optimization, or ads, or you know, an email strategy, those tactics are the same. But it’s the message behind those tactics that really helped to drive the marketing strategy for you, right? So you want to think about who are the people and what’s the right message to pair with those people. And then you have a secret sauce, versus just thinking, Okay, I’m gonna throw some ads out there and see what happens. Everybody’s throwing ads out there, you’re not going to win that way. If understand who your audience is, and tailor your conversation, whether it’s your content, or video or whatever it is tailor it to that audience. But I love marketing, I love you know, reading people and helping them design strategies that are going to help them win. I believe that and this is something I say to my clients all the time. Marketing is not an expense, it’s an investment. If you don’t have a marketing strategy in place for your business, eventually that business will collapse because you can pull in some people here and there but without a long term strategy, you’re not going to be able to attract new people that represent your target audience. So you have got up marketing is an investment it’s not an expense and you have to shift your thinking in that direction.

Curt Anderson  14:34

Guys, drop them like let’s couple of things I want to recap man that was just pure gold right you had the naysayers I don’t know if I’ve ever heard that. I think that is absolutely brilliant advice. Talk to your naysayers understand what you know, weed out the the folks that you’re not that is not you know that are not a good fit for you. I just recently joined Planet Fitness. I absolutely man, I’m like a Planet Fitness junkie, they have a sign on the wall. It’s called like the lunk alert. If you have like this tank top and you’re carrying around your gallon jug of water and you’re grunting, like, like they’re telling you like, You’re not welcome in the gym, like that’s not who they’re, they’re targeting. So Kirby hat’s off to you, dude, I just I couldn’t love that more. And just really understand that messaging and the consistency. God, that was good. All right, couple, a couple of people saying hi here, Damon. Yeah. And a friend from Amsterdam. We’ve got a friend coming here from Saudi Arabia. What do you want to chime in here?

Damon Pistulka  15:37

Well, I think I think Kirby, you hit it, knowing who your target audience is, allows you to also then say who is not because we waste so much time on leads, and things that end people and opportunities that we should not be touching. And I was Kurt, Kurt knows Dorie Clark and and I was reading her book, the long game here a month or so ago. And she she said, one thing that resonated with me is that you have to protect your schedule, from the people that aren’t your customers that are taking up your time. And I think we as as business owners and entrepreneurs, we really go well, we need business. So let’s talk to people. And you have to be more selective about that. It’s I’m glad you’re talking about target audience, and then the naysayers thing. Oh, my goodness. That’s so cool. That’s so cool. Because yeah, they’re gonna tell you how it is, they got no, no dog to tell, in reason to tell you otherwise. And we’re blind to so many things that they have to help. Right.

Kirby Monestime  16:52

And, you know, I think I said this in the last time we met, you know, sometimes as entrepreneurs. And as people in general, we think we’ve got it all figured out. So I know exactly what my product is, I know exactly how to sell it. But the idea is, if we were selling to ourselves, we’d be great, we’d all be making a ton of money. But the reality of the situation is you’re typically not selling to yourself, right? So it’s about finding opportunities to get additional information and Intel, that’s going to change how you position yourself, because I’m a marketer, but there’s 1000 other marketers out it out there. So how I position myself is, I’m always going to ask you about your goals, so I can help you figure out how I can sponsor your success. Right? I’m also always going to ask you about what you’ve already done. What have you already done in marketing? How did that work for you? And did you essentially given enough time to manifest manifest itself, were you tracking your analytics, while you, you know, put this, this marketing idea out there, because that’s another thing that we as human beings, oftentimes do, we’ll put together a strategy, we’ll throw it out there, it doesn’t work in three days. So we’re like scrap that it didn’t work. But you didn’t give it enough time to manifest itself. So you know, 90 days, give yourself 90 days for everything that you put out there. And start small write test things out, like don’t throw a whole lot of money out the wall, if you don’t know what the response is going to look like, start on a smaller scale. But you have to find your competitive advantage, or else, every other market or whatever industry that you’re in, they’re going to come in with their competitive advantage and attract your audience. So you have to think about what’s your competitive advantage? Mine is, I’m not just your marketer, I’m going to get intimate with you and your business so that we create a long standing relationship. If you don’t want relationship don’t come to me, I’m not the right person to go to somebody else that’s interested in not, you know, is just interested and that’s okay. I’m not saying that that’s wrong at all. Some people are into relationships, some people are not I happen to be. So if that’s what nurtures your soul, then you want to connect with me. If it’s not, I’m probably not the right person for you, because I’m going to keep asking the question. And so until you tell me like,

Curt Anderson  19:20

What nurtures your soul to this is so good. Brian says yes, yes. In marketing. It’s not expense. Hey, Alan’s here today, happy Monday, confirms Brian 100%. So let’s go there. Let’s tie into Brian’s comment there, Kirby. You said, marketing is an investment. How do you when you’re talking to a client now, you know, are targeted or manufacturers, if there’s a manufacturer out there that thinks that marketing is an expense? How do you can you paint a picture like how do we transition that mindset? That is an investment? I mean, any tips of advice there? I

Kirby Monestime  19:54

mean, I would say you know, we’ve all heard the age old saying history repeats itself. So I would venture to say that most people that are in the mindset, that marketing is an expense, they are probably not seeing the level of growth that they’d want to be seeing. They are probably having some of their clients drop off, they may not even be looking at their analytics, because they don’t even really understand the power behind the numbers, right? So if you’re in this mindset, and and if you’re honest with yourself, if you’re honest with yourself, you know which mindset you’re in either you know, it’s an investment, and you’re gonna keep investing money to make sure that that wheel is moving along, or you’ve said to yourself, or somebody else, I’m not paying that money, because I just don’t have it now, or I’m not going to do it, or I don’t know if it’s going to work. So the reality of it is, you probably already know if you’re in the expense mindset when the investment mindset, right, and it’s a shift, like anything else in life, about your thinking, because your thinking really controls so much for you. So if you say to yourself, you know what, I’m going to invest in this marketing strategy, and track the analytics and see how it changes for my business, that mindset is going to then be a proof point for you on you know, how you should invest more, or maybe a little bit less, but how you should really look at your overall marketing strategy. It’s all mindset, and how you think about it.

Curt Anderson  21:24

Everything’s emotional. Every purchase, everything is emotional. My wife and I were just talking about that last night, you know, and so yeah, I can view marketing as like, oh, man, I got to spend $1,000 on Pay Per Click ads, or I got to spend money here or do this, as opposed to being I’m going to invest this and see what relationship I can acquire. I want to see how I can serve, or how I can help. Kirby. Are you ready for a question? My friend, you ready? All right. Alan says Kirby, what do you do when you’re doing all the right things? And the phone just isn’t ringing? What response do you have for our dear friend, Ellen?

Kirby Monestime  21:59

So Alan, first of all, thank you for that question. Second of all, don’t take offense to this, but you’re not doing all the right things. So partially, if I go back to what I was talking about before about building the relationship, telling your story being vulnerable, and also I want to add a little nugget onto that it’s follow up, right? I think what happens a lot of times with people and clients is that, okay, I sent my proposal out, they didn’t respond, they don’t want anything to do with me. Or you know, what, let me follow up once, oh, I call them they didn’t answer. So it’s probably not a go. And the reality of the situation is, as we all know, life gets busy, we get busy, that thing, you know, you’re sitting there because that money is a priority to you. So then working with you is a priority. But for that other individual, they may have 30 other priorities on their desk and project that you’re working with them on it may be 30 is on their list of you know, over 100 fit, right. So again, everything I’m going to talk to you about today goes back to mindset, you have to have a mindset number one of success, you have to know that what you’re doing is successful and will breed success when the timing is right. Number two, you have to make sure that your audience knows what your competitive advantage is, if they don’t know why they should work with you, they’re not going to work with you. So it’s you know, what do you bring to the table that somebody else doesn’t bring to the table? Three, it’s how are you following up with the proposals that you put out there with the strategies that you put out there? How are you following up with those people? For and on top of the following up, add another layer is whenever you have a great experience with a client, ask them for referrals? Who else do you know, that might you know, benefit from me providing marketing Intel to them? I always give my clients free a free consultation. I’ve helped tell them the truth about what I think about their marketing strategy. I’ll give them a couple of ideas, right? Not the whole, you don’t want to give them everything. But I’ll give them a couple of ideas on how to enhance it. But one way to get people loyal to you is when you give them something first. So if I give you education, you’re probably going to be like, oh, you know what, you didn’t just try to sell me on buying this marketing strategy. He actually gave me a little bit of education that I now understand that, you know, content, putting out a lot of content makes search engine optimization work, right. So he gave me the intel that I didn’t have before. So again, think of your value proposition. Think about how you are competitive in comparison to the people that are out there that are doing the same things as you challenge yourself to think about how you’re being vulnerable and how you’re sharing your story and your con tend to follow up with people. And on top of the follow up layer on this aspect of asking for referrals, if you don’t ask, you won’t receive, and it’s okay to ask. And so I think those could be some tips in helping to get the phone ringing again. Oh, and one more thing. When the phone doesn’t ring, ask people why call up your client and say, hey, you know, I put together this proposal for you, I thought we had a great conversation. And it’s okay, if you’re moving in another direction, I understand things change and shift, would you be open to giving me feedback on how I can be better in my process, so that I have more success. Because sometimes it’s something small that we don’t even realize that we’ve done that somebody else has done that’s taken somebody in the direction of going with another vendor, or in a different direction altogether. So asking for feedback is critical in your overall success.

Curt Anderson  26:01

Damon would drop the mic was that I’m losing track Kirby man, you know, I can’t count very high. So alright, tons of pure gold right here, guys. We’re here with Kirby and you see it right in his tagline, your success sponsor, there are just so many golden nuggets that you just dropped right there. Kirby, you know, reaching out asking and getting the testimonials, you know, all sorts of things. We have Kirby. Damon, go ahead,

Damon Pistulka  26:24

please. Well, and I think you brought up one thing that I think is really key. You have to give these things time I’ve been I’m not a marketer, just throwing that right out there. But I do help owners decide what kind of marketing they may want to pursue, right. And one of the things that came up this last week that I think was really relevant was this client, actually, I think could benefit from direct mail marketing, but but the direct mail marketer, and they had a budget, they wanted to keep to the direct mail marketer thought, well, let’s, let’s send this many emails out one time, because they wanted to spend the budget, right. And I said, Well, what if we spend out this many? Because it’s a really it’s a location based kind of business? And why don’t we do it three months in a row and see what it gets. Because I think a lot of people go all in, as you said, on anything, you can do this on the ads, you can do this on anything, all in spend your mind say it didn’t work. Because you don’t let it build and get the it’s kind of like building a wave or turning a flywheel it’s really hard to get started. But once you get it going, you can keep it going much easier.

Kirby Monestime  27:41

And the thing, Damon about the approach that you just mentioned it start small and do it over a couple of months, you get to learn, right, you’re going to learn in month one you’re going to learn maybe that image that I use doesn’t resonate with my target audience. Or maybe the messaging that I’m using is not resonating, right. So you’ll it’ll give you if you do things in smaller chunks, and you test, you test and learn at the same time, right? You do things in smaller chunks, it provides you with an opportunity to go back and reassess your initial strategy. And then from there, maybe your second month becomes more powerful, because now you’ve learned something from the first one. So I completely agree with that approach. I think when you’re spending when you’re investing, and when you’re spending money on marketing, you want to take a targeted approach. So make sure you know your audience. But you also want to say how can I test this out in a way that I can read some of the analytics, get some of the information. And now I can now my round two or my test is B because a more concentrated focused approach, because I’ve gotten some learnings from tests.

Curt Anderson  28:51

Yep, well, hey, Alan says fantastic stuff. Elon, thank you for the question. That was a fantastic question. I’m glad you asked it because I wanted to ask it as well. So I know a lot of people love that answer. And so how about this Ahmed? Dude, thank you so much. Happy Monday. He did a little recap, David you know what you’re writing notes we need to start the chatbox know your people number one, number two, speak and write about yourself yourself be vulnerable. Number three, ask questions number four, tailored marketing for the client number five, marketing is not capital and OT not an expense. It’s an investment. Follow that protocol. Ask Your Client why? And I am it Thank you man that really now, Kirby I know we have a ton to cover and hey, I need to give talks about harnessing love, Damon, I was with Whitney Houston last week in person. I’ve got pictures approval. Whitney. You’ve made my week. It was just so wonderful being together with you last week. Thank you for joining us today. I Kirby. I know we have a lot to cover. Are you comfortable? Can we we’ve got questions in the chat box. Were you ready in? May my dear friend Brian and ditch Right says, Hey, I’ve got a client that’s been with me for only 60 days, only 60 days, sales are slow in the big guy wants to quit, what do I tell them? What do I tell that client that after 60 days, not seeing the results that they want? How do we keep that relationship going? Any? Any thoughts?

Kirby Monestime  30:16

Sure. So what I’ve learned over my time in marketing is set your expectations upfront, right? So this is a learning lesson for future clients, right? Set the expectation up front. So as an example, when I do search engine optimization with clients, right, which is, you know, in simple term, when people go online and try to find you, you know, do you appear on page one of search? Or do you appear on page 30? What I tell them is, I typically do not find on search engine optimization clients for less than six months. And I tell them that, I do that, because you’re not going to see any initial result for at least six months. So number one, the best thing to do is to level set expectations upfront, right? I think sometimes people need to know the hard reality and the hard truth. So what I would share with this client is listen, I understand the client that you’re disappointed that you haven’t seen results in 60 days. Typically, when people invest in marketing, they want to see results upfront, I understand that I would feel the same way. If I was starting my own business. However, I have to tell you that there’s two things that happens in marketing. Number one, there’s the halo effect, which means people see something today. And they may not purchase from you until two months or three months down the road. But you left an impression on them today. Right? You have to explain to that client, you may not be seeing the physical number responses that you’re looking for. But you are leaving an impression on a potential client that could come back to you in two or three months. So your measure of what is not success is actually success. So you want to explain that to clients and explain to them what this halo effect means because it’s, it transcends beyond marketing. And it kind of goes into all aspects of it. Human beings are not always the jump on it and move forward right away. Some most people need time to think process, understand, do their due diligence, do their research. And so you’re creating an impression, you’re leaving an impression on them, that may lead to fail later. And set expectations for them upfront. And another hard truth is, sometimes the people you think are your clients are not your client, if they can’t give you the space, to know that you’re the expert in your field, and to give you the space to process that strategy, they may not be your right client, and that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with them. There’s nothing wrong with you, you’re both you’re both two different people just seeing two different experiences and two different ways. And it’s all okay with that. But I struggled with that as well. Like in the beginning of this journey, I took on a lot of clients, because I’m like, Hey, I’m gonna build my marketing company. And what I’ve learned over time is that sometimes number one, people don’t understand marketing. So their expectations are just all over the place. And number two, some people understand it, but they are just in a place where they’re not willing to wait because their business needs that revenue right now. And so sometimes, as great entrepreneurs, we have to say, you know, Mrs. Jones, I understand that you want revenue right away, but I’m telling you that this strategy that I’m going to deploy for you, it’s probably going to take a good six months before you see results. If that doesn’t feel comfortable to you, that is okay. And I understand that perspective. And I understand you need to see money right away. But I am not going to in integrity, sell you something without letting you know what the potential impact is going to be. So if you want to work with me, I would love to work with you, it would be my honor. But if you feel like somebody can get you these results in 60 days, then you’re probably better suited working with them.

Curt Anderson  34:20

Okay. What I’m going to advise is everybody after I post this there will be the transcription. I encourage everybody that’s a marker or you know, has a marketing agency to grab what Kirby just said and twist the words and use it yourself. But setting those expectations Kirby let’s give Kirby round Damon I don’t know if I’ve ever done this we’re gonna give Kirby a round of applause and middle of the night because that was pure awesome gold right there of just setting you don’t when you think about Kirby you are the relationship King dude. And when you think about relationships, whether like you’ve mentioned your siblings your dad for and spouse, significant other whoever it is. Typically when there’s a conflict, it’s missed expectations. Yeah, that’s what it comes down to. It’s missed expectations, you know, over communicate in lay that Kirby That was phenomenal guy that was good. Alright Kirby, are you, dude, this is a masterclass right now. Yes, it is. I know, we’ve gotten a lot of things that we want to talk about, I have another question in the chat box that we have to get to. Are you ready? Are you sitting?

Kirby Monestime  35:26

Okay?

Curt Anderson  35:28

Our dear friend Karen Rivera says, What challenges do you see emerging in the marketing agency? And how do you think professionals can address them? What do you think about that one? Kirby?

Kirby Monestime  35:40

So the I think the biggest thing that I’ve been seeing lately is the, the evolving nature of AI. And I think a lot of people are saying, Why do I need to hire a marketing company where I can just get AI to write my content and do the thing that you know, that you could probably do, there is a level of human interaction that AI doesn’t provide, there is a level of dissecting the analytics that your AI is not going to be able to provide for you. There is a level of human connection that only a human can provide, and that AI is typically not going to provide for you. So I think one of the I think that’s the biggest thing that I’m hearing a lot about, is this idea that, you know, AI is going to take over everybody’s jobs. And and that, you know, what do I do now? And how do I start looking for my next job? Accept thought out of your mind and say, because of AI? How do I provide more value? How do I get into the minds of my clients and provide them an additional layer of value that they’re not going to feel or see from an AI platform? And I think that goes with anything like with anything that’s out there, there’s always something better. There’s always something better, like if you think about a dating relationship, right? When you think about a marriage that you’re in, right? Yeah, let’s say you’ve been with a person for a number of years. And you’re like, all right, you know, that person starting to look good over there. Right? That happens, right? But you have to remember that you built the foundation with this other person, there’s things about this other person that you may not be able to get with that person, you the other person you may or may not right. So it’s like, you have to always provide value, how do I provide value to my spouse to ensure that our relationship is always growing? You know, and I also like, and this is true in business as well. You know, the people that you work with the people that you connect with, right, they should complement you. They shouldn’t be dependent on you. They shouldn’t be codependent. It’s complement, not codependency. Right? So think about that. Right? How you can provide value, how can you complement the services that you already offer? How can you add an extra layer on that? So that you’re building true connection with people, and they’re just not co dependent on you for one idea, or one thought or one strategy?

Curt Anderson  38:16

Alright, Kirby do to get the chatbox is getting higher.

Kirby Monestime  38:20

All right. So I was at the industrial

Curt Anderson  38:23

marketing summit last week in Austin, Texas, high level marketers in the b2b industrial space. Absolutely. What an incredible, amazing experience. Damon next year, you have to go dude, Whitney was there. Whitney says at the industrial marketing Summit, we talked a lot about AI, marketers can use AI like an assistant to free themselves up spend more time talking to customers getting value only humans can provide. And what was fantastic. There was a gentleman and David, he’s going to come on the show, high level SEO expert, AI guy. He said that his team, they I’m not sure how he measured it. They are 30% more productive by utilizing AI. So use it as a tool, use it as a benefit. We’ve got another comment back here where gosh, I can’t even keep up with the comments here. Dana, by the way,

Kirby Monestime  39:10

I hopefully didn’t come across that I was disparaging AI because I actually use it on an ongoing basis. All I’m saying AI is great, and it does save time. But if you want to continue to maintain value in yourself and the strategies and the business that you offer, you have to think about what can I do over and above AI? And what AI does that add value add value to my clients and make this right maybe it’s just the conversation, asking them the questions, right. AI is not going to ask you a question per se but I can ask you a question about what have you done in your marketing previously. Tell me about how that worked or didn’t work for you? What are your clients saying about your marketing? You’re not going to get that level of interaction from the AI platform than you would human to human interaction. Well,

Curt Anderson  40:00

I love it. Hey, we’ve got this kind of here, Kirby Dude, you’re on fire today. I’m also in digital marketing. Today’s experience is very helpful. Thank you so much, Mr. Kirby. And Whitney says marketing is an investment and ongoing. Karen says Whitney Houston really? Yes. That’s what we call her. Whitney. She’s from Houston. And yes, Wednesday night, we actually sang a little I Will Always Love You together when we were together in Boston. So talking about talking about harnessing love. Now, Kirby, let’s come back, Karen, I thought she had a little follow up. While we’re on this. Let’s dig into Karen’s follow up question, which leads to my follow up. In your experience, what role does data or analytics play in shaping marketing decisions now guys, just for love, if you joined us late Kirby is a marketing guru phenomenon, b2b, b2c space covers all over Kirby. Any thoughts for Karen there on that and follow up?

Kirby Monestime  40:50

I mean, analytics are critical to an overall marketing strategy. I mean, the numbers don’t lie. So looking at data, looking at analytics is something that I always do. It’s how you prove whether a concept is working or not working to your clients. It how you shape your own strategy, or evolve or transform your strategy from one thing to the next thing, right. Because the fact of the matter is that data doesn’t lie, every a lot of other things lie, but the data doesn’t lie. So I feel that analytics are, are super critical to the overall the success of your marketing campaigns and your overall strategy. And I encourage people, if you’re in marketing, take time to review the analytics with your client. Explain to them what the numbers mean, explain to them, you know, what impressions mean? versus, you know, conversion, like explain that stuff to them? Because then you’re adding more value, but you’re also helping them see why the numbers don’t lie. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  41:57

I love that. Go ahead. Well,

Damon Pistulka  41:59

and the the numbers are the starting point of this. Because when you start to look at attribution, and what I mean is what’s driving actual lead flow, what’s driving actual customers could net to the data, the analytics coming in, you learn so much, you learn so much. It’s like this ads working this in our in person working, our show is working, you know, we really can understand our marketing and go listen, we spent X amount of money on this show, and we got to quality customers on of it. That meant that to us. Well, we spent this much on Google ads that cost us this much our SEO work we got so many more through are in to me that the data and the analytics behind it, if you’re not doing that, you’re just shooting in the dark. And you can you can throw money just done because Google loves to take your money all area advertisers love to take your money. And it’s it you got to have that analytical background or review review behind you and understand what’s working because you’re just going to throw money away.

Curt Anderson  43:15

Okay, so cool, man, Kirby, this is a minute. Oh, all right. Another question for your Kirby. Yeah, best approach for b2b and b2c G sales in it best approach to b2b and B to G sales? I’m curious, curious minds would love to know what you think of that one?

Kirby Monestime  43:37

I mean, I’m just going to regurgitate some of the things that I already said. Number one, especially for people who have a technology mindset, the numbers are going to help substantiate your overall strategies, right. So always make sure when you’re whatever you’re doing, from a marketing perspective, when you’re talking to IT companies, you want to show them how what the performance looks like in terms of numbers. But you also want to correlate the marketing strategy to the technology. Right? So how does this marketing strategy impact how you can become more efficient with your technology? How you can save more time, how your technology can run faster, right? So it’s, it’s really thinking about what is the engine the engine is is technology? How is this market or this marketing strategy? How is it going to fuel technology? How can it enhance the technology that you’re already using? You know, there’s no the secret to marketing is, again, understanding the client and speaking the same language that that client is speaking, if you’re working with a technology firm, they’re focused on how technology works, how to advance the technology, how to tweak the technology, so that it’s more effective, right? So then you need to talk to them in terms of marketing about how does the mark Getting work, how you can tweak the marketing in terms of your overall technology, why you layered on this marketing strategy when it comes to a technology build, etc. So, being vulnerable, sharing stories, using client testimonials, if you’ve had other technology companies that you’ve worked with, and you’ve been able to elevate, you know, their technology usage through the work that you’ve done with them, use their testimonials, ask them for testimonials, ask them, would they mind serving as a reference for you to speak to this other technology company? And always tie things back to how do I save money? How do I make money? And how do I save time? If you can tie your strategies back to those things, you’re essentially going to see success and your clients are going to see that success as well. Hopefully that answers the question that was phenomenal,

Curt Anderson  45:51

Kirby and again, let’s go back to Kirby’s blueprint right here that I’m at did such a great job of recapping right. So you know, hit the rewind button. And in I think, Kirby, what you’ve done an amazing job of just really hitting home is it’s all about those relationships. It’s all about the relationships. And just you know, right in your tagline here, Kirby, your success sponsor. And so sad, sad. Hopefully, I’m saying that correctly. Thank you for your awesome question. And I believe we have another question in the chat box here. So Somnath hopefully, I pronounced that Happy Monday. Thank you guys. For all these questions. This is just accurate. There are so many scam companies out there. Sometimes prospects don’t respond, assuming that the company might be a scam, how to convince them in the initial stage. Okay, great question. There are so many scams out there. How do we convince folks that we are of integrity, you’ve hit on that you’ve talked about the respect the integrity, educating? What do you want to? How would you answer that one? Kirby?

Kirby Monestime  46:47

Yeah. No, number one, as entrepreneurs, we all should have a Google My Business page, we should all have a page where people can go and see that you’ve got a location with an address. And that also people have left reviews for you. And then you can refer your clients that you’re pitching to, to that Google My Business page, right for insight for information, right. So always have, there’s lots of review sites like Yelp, have a profile on Yelp, find all of those different review sites, which I’m happy to help people with. And make sure you have a profile on those review sites. And then again, always ask your customers to leave you a review if they’ve had a positive experience for you or with you, because then that will help to populate that page with good content. And again, a Google My Business page is going to show you because in a lot of cases, you have to verify if you’re an actual business or not. So that Google My Business page is going to be your source of you know, your referral source. I also, you know, you will hear some marketers say a website is not important. You don’t need one. I am not I don’t believe the same. I believe that a website is important. I have worked with clients, with people before not in marketing, but for things for my personal life where I’m like, Okay, let me just go check out your website, because it typically is a reflection of who you are. It’s your online resume, right. And if they say to me, I don’t really need a website, I don’t have a website, I don’t need that I get all of my clients, that’s a red flag for me. Because people need to be able to find you online to know that you’re credible. And so you know, having a website is your first start to your credibility, credibility builder. So I suggest that everybody has one. And if you don’t have one that you get one, because if somebody doesn’t know you, one of the first things that they’re going to do is do their research on you. And if they can’t find a website as a basic starting point, then you have failed them as the partner that they want to work with. So hopefully those tips were helpful. Well,

Curt Anderson  49:01

that was fantastic and sad says thank you, Kirby, and I want to we’re like we’re over time right now. And there’s still we’ve got to hit another question here for you, Kirby, but I love that guys and Damon us use that term, that social currency, right? Yeah, social proof. So social currency. That’s why you know, not all of us have, you know, like, if you’re Seth Godin, or Adam Grant what you know, everybody knows your name. You’ve talked about story law or Dorie Clark with the long game phenomenal book, go out and get Dorie Clark don’t split the long game. But guys, you know, for those of us that don’t have that, you know, monster influencer credibility, you’ve got to have that LinkedIn profile. You’ve got to have the website. And Kirby hit it early. Be Where Your clients are. If you’re targeting teenagers, like for college prep, maybe LinkedIn is not the best place maybe you need to be on Instagram Be Where Your clients are going to be in. So let’s go here on that. Thank you again for another question. So efficiently handle marketing within budget constraints, is it I voted consider outsourcing in conjunction with a i, Kirby. Any thoughts on that one? Again, I’m gonna throw it at you. Is there any viable options to consider outsourcing in conjunction with AI?

Kirby Monestime  50:12

I mean, sure, listen, you, you have to do your due diligence in any action that you take, right? Outsourcing is it, it’s great, it can work as long as you have the right people or systems in place to manage it. And as long as you’ve done your due diligence around the people, or things that you’re outsourcing to, you know, their referrals, you know, see what the what their online positioning or their social currency look like. You have to do your research and your due diligence. But you know, I don’t disparage outsourcing, it works for some people. And it’s something that as long as you feel comfortable and you’ve done your research, why not? If that’s going to help you be more effective and more efficient? That I don’t see why you wouldn’t do that.

Curt Anderson  51:02

Great answer. And again, guys, I know like we’re winding down is, thank you for the comments. Thank you for the questions, please connect with Kirby, for anybody out there that’s looking to outsource or marketing services, we’re getting like you just got a sliver of Kirby’s expertise, his passion for being the success sponsor. So please connect with Kirby. While you’re at it, connect with Damon follow Damon on LinkedIn, I’d love to connect with you guys. We’ve got one more question that we’re going to hit Kirby before we wind down our friend Brian says, so Google My Business. I think Google business profile also is called does it work? If your online business any response for our

Kirby Monestime  51:40

friend Brian, yes, you can create a Google My Business Profile, regardless of whether you’re an online company or brick and mortar. So yes, you absolutely can. Yep.

Damon Pistulka  51:49

That’s what we had to do. That’s it, we do it that exit your way. Because we work with businesses across the United States, you can actually put locations if you had them in there. And and you still can collect reviews, just like any other Google My Business page. Yeah. I mean, it’s it’s the same thing. And this is a huge missed opportunity, I think, especially for, like, I’m sure with your dental practices, Google, my business is a big work, a big part of that. And just making sure they’re set up, right, making sure that we’re sharing things appropriately. It’s so important with a lot of businesses.

Kirby Monestime  52:25

Absolutely. We use Google in our dental practices, we have, we’ve averaged about a 97% review rate. And the majority of those reviews come from Google, it’s an advertising source and advertising. So we’re absolutely important.

Curt Anderson  52:41

I took what I’d love to share. And so Kirby, you know, is you know, we talk a lot of industrial b2b Folks, I mean, I have encouraged them make it mandatory. There’s no reason not to use it if you’re an online marketer at home. So Brian, you know what you can do you know, I work out of my house, I just don’t have my address on there. But you can absolutely I post on XM effect this will be on all of our live streams go on our Google business profile page, we encourage we we’d like we plead with manufacturers, every single one of them, get on Google business profile, post pictures of your machinery, post pictures of your staff, you know, videos, all that thing. Why? Number one, it’s Almighty Google number two, one of my favorite words, it’s free. So absolutely. Let me just go my comments here. You know, present your services and password and the glory deserves to me, Timothy, thank you. Happy Monday. appreciate that comment. Most definitely need a website. Harsha. Thank you for your comment here. I went without one for ages. It’s something that you need. So drop the mic there. John McLean. Oh, from New Jersey’s announced John happy on my friend. Thank you for joining us. Ahmed says thank you, Kirby Damon and Curt. I’ll be contacting you so in Brian says thank you guys great call. And so yeah, Brian, I think Google business profile is a perfect complement and maybe run it by that client that that seven a little challenge toward another another tool in your tool chest there so Kirby, dude, we were gonna talk about a bunch of other things we took up the Okay. And we’re glad to have you back Damon. Back pieces of business and you guys could geek out about some other things here. Kirby let’s start winding down my friend. Dude, this was an oh my god I had

Damon Pistulka  54:27

a nugget after nugget.

Curt Anderson  54:30

Alright guys, anybody that just joined us get please do me a favor on your commute home or you’re on a walk walking the dog or going to the gym. Man. Go back and please hit the rewind button. Kirby just dropped so many gold nuggets on this interview today. Just he does every time he’s with us. Connect with Kirby on LinkedIn, just guy of integrity. His passion is off the charts. Just love this guy dearly. Kirby parting thoughts, words of wisdom that you want to impart as we close out that you want to share with a Everybody’s heard today.

Kirby Monestime  55:00

I mean, I’m just grateful to both you, Kurt and to you, Damon for this opportunity, and for the friendships and the relationships that we have. Relationships are paramount in in all levels of success. So I’m super grateful to both of you. And you know, I just want to encourage everyone to take one small step every day towards your success. It doesn’t have to be a massive step. It just needs to be one small step, right. And every day that you’re taking one small step, your success is just around the corner. So whether it’s with marketing, whether it’s in other areas of your life, you know, I want to encourage everyone out there today, no matter what you do, no matter what I said today, remember this part, you know, the universe pays us back when we put in our initial effort into things. So take one small step today towards your success. Write down goals, write down action plans, keep them in a place where you can where you can meditate on them, and you can really create this manifestation of those goals and success for yourself and just know that everything is possible. I mean, I went from being this individual that had to wake up at three o’clock in the morning and check my accounts because I thought money was missing to now being in a place where money’s popping into my account on a daily basis because I diversified you know, what I do and how I do it and how I connect with people. So again, grateful to be here. Thank you for having me. And I send you both and and the entire audience, tons of blessings and tons of success. So right around the corner, it’s right around the corner.

Curt Anderson  56:48

So Brian says your Google business profile Ted, Tatiana says thank you. Thank you for joining guys. All right, if you’ve been we Damon went a lot longer than we planned. So guys, if you’ve been sitting with us for the whole time, maybe great opportunity to stand up and stretch it how about we give a big round of applause a standing ovation for our dear friend Kirby for just dropping this masterclass on passion, connecting building relationships, marketing acumen all sorts of golden nuggets here. Anything that you miss, go back and hit that replay button. Neck with Kirby on LinkedIn get on a call with Kirby. I’m Tony as much fire as he was here on the show today. He’s just as much fire and he I don’t know a bigger Go Giver than Kirby so KIRBY Yeah, bless you, brother. We send you tons of love, tons of blessings. We appreciate you. We appreciate everybody in the audience here. Timothy says thank you, Timothy. Thank you for joining us, you guys.

57:45

So Damon, takeaway dude,

Curt Anderson  57:48

fire this one on

Damon Pistulka  57:51

fire. It’s almost a one

Curt Anderson  57:54

word fire. So guys, we’re gonna close out I had Kirby. We got to have you back. I had so many more questions to ask you today. So thank you guys for the questions. That means the world to us. We appreciate you. We hope this brought value to you today. Man. We just wish everybody an amazing incredible Monday. Go out and just keep crushing it man and just do me a favor. Be someone’s inspiration just like this handsome devil right here. Just like Kirby was what an inspiration for all of us. Thank you, Kirby. We’re gonna close out hang out with us for one second Kirby. Guys. We’re going to be back here Friday. We’ve got an amazing incredible guests. We got Dave Kreisler. We’re going to be digging in some really juicy stuff. So see it back here Friday, Damon man.

Damon Pistulka  58:35

This is gonna be awesome. We bless her what the wages are wages are man.

Curt Anderson  58:39

Alright guys, happy Monday.