0 (2s):
Boom. Shake the room. Fire Nation JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. The audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Content is Profits. Today we're pulling a timeless EOFire episode from the archives so the giveaway may not be active and we'll be breaking down how to double your revenue in 90 days. To drop these value bombs, I brought Simon Severino into EOFire Studios. Simon is the CEO of Strategy Sprints, Europe's leading remote growth advisory, the 34 certified strategy. Sprint coaches do only one thing, double the revenue of service-based businesses in 90 days. Simon also teaches growth strategy and select business schools and host the strategy show podcast in today's Fire Nation.

0 (48s):
We'll talk about why your business will likely fail even if you have a great solution because the technology revolution is growing fast. We'll talk about making things simple and fun for your business and the 15 minute bottleneck analysis you need to do with your team and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Simon and our sponsors. Business Made Simple hosted by Donald Miller is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. The audio destination for business professionals business made simple takes the mystery out of growing your business with episodes like how to get out of your day-to-day operations without crashing your business. Listen to Business Made simple wherever you get your podcasts.

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Many EOFire listeners have launched franchises and a variety of industries outside of food. And Fran Bridge Consulting has guided them to these premier opportunities. The founder, John Austinson, has done more placements than any other in the country. Sign up for a free consultation with John or get a free copy of his book Non-Food Franchising at franbridgeconsulting.com. Simon say What's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe it takes to become successful that most people disagree with.

1 (2m 2s):
Hey, Fire Nation so pumped to be here for the second time, brought us so cool to be here. I believe in having only one offer and one price and improve it every week. We do it, we teach it, we implement it and we get a lot of heat for that cause the mainstream position right now is diversify and it's a good idea to diversify, but you should only diversify when you have your one offer and one price dialed in. It runs without you. You do more than 1 million profit per year and you can have a four weeks vacation without touching the phone.

1 (2m 45s):
Well now you can build a second one in the third one,

0 (2m 48s):
Man Fire Nation. You know that all about focus following one course. That's one course until success. And Simon is a great example of why that is so true. And Simon, as I kind of talked about in the introduction, I'm talking about predictable sales and we're gonna be talking about a lot of important things that Fire Nation needs to understand, needs to know at their core to become successful, especially in these new times that we live in. So first and foremost, you know a lot of people look at how can I make more money? How can I build my business? How can I do this, do that. But where exactly could we actually be looking at cutting costs? Where could we be looking at becoming leaner in certain areas?

0 (3m 29s):
Talk to us about that.

1 (3m 31s):
So staying lean and getting lean is really important. And one part of growing is keeping the cost position right? So what we do every month is we do the equalizer, which is our monthly strategic differentiation tool. And at the end comes of it a smart budget. So I know exactly as a CEO where to cut cost this month and where to invest more in. And I want to share this with you. Cause to me entrepreneurship is the play of adults. I used to hate budgeting and now I found a way to like it and even to really enjoy it. I call it the equalizer. Cause to me it's like a DJ who has this equalizer and you know, you give more bass, less base, more snare, less snare.

1 (4m 15s):
You create this magic atmosphere just by putting more of this, less of this. Now imagine the DJ with a spreadsheet he's doing exactly this. The budgeting spreadsheet is the equalizer of the ceo, less costs here, some euro from here to there, some dollars from here to there. What if I take it from there by Automizing and I invested in that technology. Let's do this. So this is what we do every month and I want to share this process because for many budgeting sucks and is is draining and they just don't do it every month the proper way. So let me share with this, this with you. I shared it also in a TED talk recently and people found it really helpful.

1 (4m 60s):
So once per month, one hour our exec team comes together plus four to six key people from the organization and we go through our equalizer. It's four steps, step one, alternatives. So our clients, if they don't buy our offer and remember we have only one if they don't buy our offer, what else can they do? Top three competitors, we list them, but also what else can they do? They can also do it themselves, not do anything. Having the interns do it or hire somebody to do it.

1 (5m 40s):
At least a couple of options also that are decoupled from competition. That's what we called your competitive arena. It's not just your top three competitors. Also other things that they can do instead. So now you have the list of alternatives. Second step, you list the things where the others are investing in. Let's say they're investing in technology, in ai, in dashboards, whatever you make the list. And then step three, you grade, where are you winning, where are you losing 10, you give a 10 if you are winning and you give a one if you are losing and now you grade all these positions.

1 (6m 23s):
Now step four, if you use our spreadsheet, it calculates it for you and the outcome is your budget of the next month. You know exactly where to cut, where to reduce costs and everything that you have on the left side saved. Now you invested in doubling down on where you are currently winning. And this is the charming thing about this process. You are not inventing anything, you are not risking anything. You are just observing what's what's currently working and doubling down on that. So if you use our tool and you, you can even have it for free, it's at strategy sprints.com/tools.

1 (7m 5s):
It's the equalizer tool. It does everything for you. You are done in one hour if you do it manually at step four you have to bundle these three things. You bundle together the categories where you're winning, the categories where you are ma, and the categories where you're losing. First one you will double down on and you will take the money from the one where you did cut expenses and where you did reduce them.

0 (7m 32s):
Fire Nation, as you can see, Simon just really has systems, he has processes, he has things that actually work in real businesses. I mean this is the CEO of Strategy Sprints, which is Europe's leading remote growth advisory. So I'm really hoping that you're paying attention to what he's focusing on for his business and for his clients because these are things that you need to be focusing on for your business and for your clients if you have any for your customers, if you're working with any. So let's shift a little bit here and talk about investing Simon. And we talked about cutting costs and we talked about you know, going through the equalizer template, which we'll be talking about more in a little bit here.

0 (8m 14s):
But where should we be investing right now?

1 (8m 17s):
Now I can give you my perspective. You can also get 700 more perspectives. Cause right now 700 people are using this tool and they are discussing it in our community. So it's a free community. You can go to the Facebook group entrepreneurship in sprints and there is 700 people discussing exactly this right now here. Where should we cut? Where should we invest in? So it will be different from context to context, but the process is always the same. Define your competitive arena. See where you are winning, where you're losing. Double down on where you're winning. So take 20%, 30% off that budget where you did save it on the left side, you put it now on the right side for you.

1 (9m 1s):
The right side will be always something different. You have 1 million people listening right now. You will have 1 million answers. But the process is always that get your data and decide based on where you are currently winning. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, you don't have to innovate anything, you just improve what's currently working. That's, that's my advice, especially in these volatile times. Just double down on what's currently working. Make your life easy, it's stressful enough.

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So one thing that I'm really a fan of when it comes to you Simon, is the fact that you focus and you're successful when it comes to predictable sales. In fact, that's the title of this audio masterclass. Predictable sales cuz Fire Nation, if we can have predictable sales, we can do amazing things. You know a quick little side note, Netflix has predictable recurring revenue. So guess what? They can spend billions of dollars on original contents because they know they have millions of dollars of predictable recurring sales every single month and they can stay as the leader in their space. So let's talk about predictable sales.

0 (10m 15s):
Simon, take those away.

1 (10m 16s):
Absolutely. So we do only one thing and this is doubling the revenue of service-based businesses in 90 days. And that's exactly a 90 days program, 12 modules, 12 weeks, every week has one focus. And so with these 12 things at the end you have a predictable sales machine, you are able to go on a long vacation, everything works. You have your life back, you enjoy your business again. Now one of these 12 tools is the brand spread. So in week three we have found out that it's helpful to do this small exercise and I will do it with you right now life.

1 (10m 58s):
So the principle is if you confuse, you lose. You have five seconds to get your message across. So our message, we double your revenue 90 days. That gets across in five seconds. You get it. Even you want it E either you like it, you want it, you need it and you go for it or you don't like it, you don't need it then wonderful, you hope to the next one. But you get it in five seconds and this is exactly the time you have out there right now because everything is one click away and 99% of the customer journeys start digital and on your phone you are one click away from everybody else.

1 (11m 40s):
So let's get this five seconds right? And this is an an exercise that in our sprint takes one day. But let's try and do it here in two minutes. So first, who is the hero? You go to your website and check the hero section. Is it clear who this is for? And the picture when I see the picture, is this the hero meaning the people you seek to serve? And can I see where you can bring them? So do I see them in the state that at the end of working with you is the end state? Do I see the promised land?

1 (12m 22s):
So do I see the hero and do I see the promised land? Usually what happens there is a hero reversal. You get there and they tell us. They tell us how, how great they are. And 7 27 testimonials. So now who's the hero? Are you the hero? The brand is the hero because when a hero sees a hero they say, Hey pe, great to see you, but I gotta move on. See you later. I have something to do. I'm going to rescue a princess. Cuz that's what heroes do. They don't hang out with heroes all the time, they have stuff to do. So make it clear who's the hero and how you can serve them and where you can bring them. Then next thing there always needs to be a nemesis.

1 (13m 4s):
What is this hero fighting against and what's the plan? Do you have a plan? If you have one, describe it. Step 1, 2, 3, 4. And at the very end, the transformation was the character transformation from A to B, like every great story. And then one call to action. Get that across in five seconds and I can give you an example. So just not to tell too much about our clients, I will give our our own example when we do it, who is the hero? Our hero. A CEO of a service based business. B2b. High ticket revenue above 35 K per month.

1 (13m 46s):
He hates wasting time, he's his printer. Where can we bring them? We can bring them to a business that runs itself to twice the revenue and to enjoy life and business again. What's the nemesis? Wasting time. We all hate it. What's the plan? Guaranteed results. 12 sprints each week has three goals and three KPIs. What's the transformation from struggling to a business that runs itself from hating my own business because it's eating me up to having a life again and enjoying the growth

0 (14m 25s):
Fire Nation when it comes to predictable sales, you're hearing from Simon the CEO of Strategy Sprints and there's a reason why he's able to double the revenue, revenue of his clients every 90 days is because of these process he's talking about. It's because of this hero's journey. Like I loved hearing you go through the process of the nemesis and think about that Fire Nation. How many of you have thought about your nemesis when you're going through your process, your sales process, not to mention all the other parts of that journey that he was talking about. And we have some really specific things we're gonna be talking about for you. Fire Nation, when it comes to doubling your revenue in 90 days when we get back from thanking our sponsors. I remember back in 2013 when Entrepreneurs on Fire was scaling fast.

0 (15m 14s):
And in those early days of our business, we sometimes found ourselves struggling to keep up because we couldn't find software solutions that were easy to use and that would grow with us wasting time, worrying about software that's complicated, a pain to use and that doesn't do what you needed to do is not fun or productive. So what do we wish we knew back then that we know now that a powerful all-in-one CRM platform that will accelerate your business growth is a HubSpot CRM. Unlike a lot of solutions we are using back in 2013, HubSpot's CRM grows with your business whether you have an MVP or you just iPod. HubSpot CRM is built for scale because your tech stack should work for you, not against you.

0 (15m 55s):
And with over 1300 flexible apps and integrations, you can customize HubSpot's CRM to the way you do business. Get started for free at hubspot.com. That's hubspot.com. More and more entrepreneurs and investors are discovering the awesome franchise opportunities that exist outside of food Franchising can simply be the better path. And interest in franchising is at an all time high. Lucky for you. John Austin, sin founder of Fran Bridge Consulting and a frequent EOFire guest is here to help you explore the premier franchise opportunities. Today John and his Fran Bridge consulting team are part of the largest brokerage in the US and have vetted the market thoroughly. Fran Bridge is hands down the premier source for the best opportunities in the non-food franchise world.

0 (16m 40s):
They represent every type of non-food franchise from healthcare to dumpsters, use soccer to oil changes, specialized senior care to dog training, to insulation and floor coatings. John is served as an Ink 500 franchisor and a multi-brand franchisee and he does more placements than any other in the country. Sign up for a free consultation. Call with John today or get a free copy of his book Non-Food Franchising at franbridgeconsulting.com. That's franbridgeconsulting.com. So Simon, we're back and we talked about cutting costs, we talked about where to invest, we talked about predictable sales and the whole process you took us through there. How can Fire Nation specifically double their revenue in 90 days?

1 (17m 25s):
So we have 12 modules, so it takes us 12 weeks, 12 weeks. But let, let me try to tell you the highlights. So one is get people on your calendar and the second is close them. Part one, get people on your calendar. We like to work in three layers. First layer and the whole thing is the marketing system. First layer attract people, say hello, here we are. Second part, educate them. So create a relationship. We use a whole plethora of things that at the end creates eight to 14 touch points very quickly in 11 days because we want to make the sales time shorter.

1 (18m 8s):
So from average 13 months that service businesses have, when they work with us, we get to an average three months sales cycle. And we do that by intensifying exactly these parts. So there is the first one, attract, hello, here we are to educate, involve them, give value videos, PDFs, checklists, tools, whatever creates value, be generous, give it away, create moments of value because then they will become more and more open to to work more with you. And so you go bit by bit with them and you earn the trust and you earn the authority needed to go the next step.

1 (18m 56s):
The next step is then ask. Ask for work. Hey, you know what? This tool helped you a lot. We have more of that, this is where we can bring you. What about a chat? And now they hop on your calendar. We want our clients to have 10 to 15 calls on their calendar scheduled per week, and we help them get the conversion rate to around 50%. We have good experiences with that. And on the sales side, there are two modules that we really like. The one is, is the sales script have a very clear Tempe sales script. Everybody knows what to say when the conversation is still a very natural conversation, but you have the blueprint in your mind.

1 (19m 41s):
You are never guessing what to do next. That's why you can be relaxed and natural because you have this blueprint. And the second thing is sales technique feedback. So we have our clients record their sales calls, and we have amazing sales people that were doing sales for Coca-Cola and for Google. And so they really are good in giving you the feedback that you need. Like, hey, this is where you need to shut up this world. I wouldn't use it. Talk benefits first and then features. And you know, all the things, all the small things that make that make the difference in Sales

0 (20m 17s):
Fire Nation, this is the blueprint as much as we can talk about, of course on just a podcast episode that we're doing here today. But these are the proven steps. This is the roadmap, this is the blueprint that you can follow to make these things happen. And Simon, I really wanna end with a bang because you have something that's called the Equalizer template. And ever since I heard about this, I've wanted to ask you for a further and deeper explanation of this. So break it down.

1 (20m 48s):
Oh yeah. The Equalizer template is basically what helped me get from hating, doing the budget to loving it, and even finding it an art form. I love it. And every month I try to find out, okay, where can I, where can I save some costs in a smart way, like outsourcing, automating, delegating, and how can I bring them onto the right side where we invest again? And the equalizer is a spreadsheet where we brought together all the four steps that I described at the beginning. Your competitive analysis and how you make your monthly budget with it. That's a sprint. Budgeting, it's not the usual budgeting where every six months you change something.

1 (21m 33s):
It's really month by month adapting to your current situation and to your current markets. And that's the equalizer spreadsheet. You can have it@strategysprints.com slash tools for free. And yeah, it will make your life easier.

0 (21m 48s):
Fire Nation. It will make your life easier. I mean, last time we had Simon on the show, his giveaway was taken up by a lot of people within Fire Nation and nobody regretted it. And I got a lot of people reaching out to raving about it. So thank you for that, Simon. And of course Fire Nation, if you wanna hear his last episode, eofire.com just put Simon in the search bar. Both of these episodes will pop up with all of the links that we talked about today. And of course in the last episode as well.

1 (22m 16s):
And because this is my second round here, I have a bonus.

0 (22m 20s):
I love bonuses, brother, break down that Bonus

1 (22m 23s):
Fire Nation. This time we will give to the first 15 people who apply. So this is a sprint incentive. We will give 45 minute sales coaching for free. Whatever your sales funnel need has in in terms of gaps, we will find the gap and give you as much value as we can in 45 minutes. Just go to strategistsprints.com/fire and we do this

0 (22m 50s):
Wow Fire Nation, one of the very top gifts slash giveaways on entrepreneurs on fire in 3000 episodes. That is spectacular because you know this Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with and you've been hanging out with SS and JLD today. So keep up that heat. Simon, give us the final words. What is the thing of everything we talked about here today that you really wanna make sure Fire Nation gets before we say goodbye?

1 (23m 20s):
Stay safe, everybody, and keep rolling.

0 (23m 22s):
Love that message. In Fire Nation, be one of the first 15 people to sprint over to strategy sprint.com/fire to get your 45 minutes of sales coaching for free. Only 15 people are gonna get this, so make it happen. And Simon, just wanna say thank you, brother, for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side. Keep rolling brother Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Simon and Fire Nation. My first traditionally published book hits the Shells on March 23rd, 2021, and I am so fired up to say the very least.

0 (24m 5s):
The book is called The Common Path to Uncommon Success, your Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment. Pre-Orders are Everything, Fire Nations. So if I've given you any value over the years, even a smidgen, it would mean the world. If you would head over to my pre-order page and lock up your copy or copies, you got some loved ones, right? Give them the gift of Financial freedom and fulfillments. If you pre-order Fire Nation, I have some sweet bonuses and extras for you. I mean sweet. And you will also be able to give those to your loved ones when you give them a copy as well. So head over to uncommonsuccessbook.com. uncommonsuccessbook.com, and check out the awesomeness today.

0 (24m 49s):
I will catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. Business Made Simple hosted by Donald Miller is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. The audio destination for business professionals, business made simple takes the mystery out of growing your business with episodes like how to get out of your day-to-day operations without crashing your business. Listen to business made simple wherever you get your podcasts. Many EOFire listeners have launched franchises in a variety of industries outside of food. And FranBridge Consulting has guided them to these premier opportunities. The founder, John Austinson, has done more placements than any other in the country. Set up for a free consultation with John or get a free copy of his book Non-Food Franchising at franbridgeconsulting.com.