This week’s episode is a conversation with Tom Malesic, Founder and CEO at EZSolution. Today, Tom introduces basic digital marketing concepts on major social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Tom goes into detail on finding your audience on Facebook and using industry tricks to reach them more effectively. He also shares unusual metrics that you can use to track your marketing progress and ways you can improve your lead generation website.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 01:48 Digital marketing concepts for different sized enterprises
• 05:40 Determining your audience on Facebook and reaching them
• 09:28 A/B Testing and using metrics to track marketing success
• 11:56 Top mistakes when building your website
• 16:30 Tips in creating company blogs

Quotes:

02:26 “How do you produce content that makes your audience know and understand that you’re the expert and you’re the one they should call when they have a specific problem that you solve?”

06:18 “The other thing that Facebook does that most people don’t even know that it’s possible is you can export any kind of list that you have, so you might have a prospect list or maybe you have a customer list.”

11:10 “We could track form fills and you can even install call tracking on your website so that it displays a unique phone number and then you could log into the call tracking dashboard and actually listen to those calls.”

14:54 “Sometimes it just takes a little step back to say, do we need this section? How do we organize this content so that it makes more sense?”

18:53 “You could do video blogs instead of written blogs.”

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This week’s episode is a conversation with Ron Laikind, an adventurer with a penchant for adaptability and owner at Extreme Mist PCS, LLC. Today, Ron explains how he meets the needs of current times through on-the-spot creativity.

He shares that the idea for a misting system began on camelback while traversing the African desert. Ron also shares how he has since adapted his product to fight COVID-19 and adjusted it for use in the sanitation industry.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 03:10 Finding business inspiration on camelback
• 06:36 Extreme Mist: Starting the company and developing the product
• 11:11 Adapting his invention to battle COVID-19
• 17:35 Pivoting his sales profile: Selling to the sanitation industry

Quotes:

06:25 “That’s lesson number one. Don’t hesitate. If you think you have something, jump on it because if not, it’ll just sit in the pages and the ink will dull.”

07:18 “I’m walking, cycling, running into a nice cold cloud. So wherever I go, I’m walking right into it and I’m staying cool. I’m breathing it in.”

08:23 “I needed a hands-free operation so I could enjoy my trek and at the same time stay cool. And that’s what I came up with.”

15:20 “I went back over there ten minutes later, filled it up with their sanitizing fluid, and it’s a wireless remote with eight different speeds, so the manager put it on, started walking around, and the gym broke out in applause.”

17:40 “It’s probably fifty to one, maybe even more than that now, from our misting and drinking products from the Extreme Mist line going over to the portable sanitizing system line.”

Resources:

https://extrememist.com/

https://portablesanitizingsystem.com/

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This week’s episode is a conversation with Jason Treu, Chief People Officer at Unstoppable Workplaces. Today, Jason discusses how companies can experiment with communication strategies to maintain connections with their team members.

Jason also talks about the changes that companies need to adapt to in an increasingly digital environment. To survive, companies need to implement empathetic strategies for teamwork and get regular feedback from employees.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 03:42 Pandemic challenges: Going digital and experimenting to stay connected
• 09:52 Introducing company change and being prepared for it
• 13:26 Using structures to manage high performers
• 18:28 Resources and tools to gain feedback and develop essential skills

Quotes:

04:22 “People are galvanized around a purpose and the purpose is survival today. And you will do a lot for that.”

09:04 “It’s harder to create those decisions because you’re not in a room. You have to contact everyone and get them together and at some point, that’s just not feasible.”

15:23 “You should be doing weekly pulses, asking them questions of your sales force, and there’s a lot of questions you could be asking them to get some data back so you can get real-time feedback.”

16:32 “People with empathy, the people who have compassion, the people who have a plan and know how to build trust with people, I think those are the things that you’re seeing are doing much better across the board.”

21:12 “The challenge is going to be how far that people move off of making the people, the teamwork, the employee experience, a business priority. And I think that, to me, is the central question.”

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This episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast is called “The Importance of Emotional Intelligence” with Alan Cohen, President at ASC Coaching & Speaking, TEDx speaker, and author of “The Connection Challenge” and “Those Difficult Talks.”

Today, Alan defines emotional intelligence and a key aspect of it known as empathy. He also discusses the role of self-assessment in leadership to overcome blind spots and how a shared purpose can make people transcend pettiness and achieve greatness.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• 03:13 Building empathy and its role in decision-making
• 08:09 Emotional awareness and its potential for business success
• 09:25 Self-assessment: Exercises and books for you
• 15:21 The power of shared purpose
• 19:54 Tips for self-help during the pandemic

Quotes:

03:41 “Without empathy, we can be perceived as being harsh or cold or detached. And with the appropriate amount of empathy, we are a more individual connected leader, somebody that builds trust.”

09:05 “Without connection, you might have results but you’re probably missing the greater potential to really build trust and engagement and a higher level of performance.”

10:40 “We all have a blind spot. As awake and as mindful and as conscious as we are, there’s still something that we’re not seeing, and that thing that we’re not seeing could be the very thing that’s getting in the way.”

20:14 “There’s such a crisis in empathy right now. People need that. People need to know that you see them and feel and care about them.”

20:45 “Everybody is going through similar things and the conditions are affecting all of us. We all have to take care of ourselves in terms of body, mind, spirit, physicality, creative expression, all of those things.”

Resources

EIQ Definitions

“The Magical Power of Shared Purpose” TEDx Talk by Alan Samuel Cohen

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This episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast is called “Dealing with VUCA – Your Key To Surviving Future Shock” with Ira Wolfe, President and Chief Googlization Officer at Success Performance Solutions.

Today, Ira defines VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) and contextualizes it to the global pandemic. He comments on the stress of the accelerated use of technology and how responding to it causes disruption but also leads to adaptation.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 02:38 Defining VUCA in 2020
• 10:59 Responding to VUCA
• 13:04 The adoption of technology across generations
• 16:53 Using historical references to contextualize the present
• 18:27 Technology, stress, and adaptation

Quotes:

08:25 “Everybody’s having debates about everything. What does school look like? What do we do with our kids? What does daycare look like? What does our workplace look like?”

16:18 “It was a pretty volatile time and so we can reference those things which don’t relate. So for a millennial or Gen X, these are all new experiences. We’ve seen them before.”

16:34 “You gotta be careful when you’re talking about generations. Our reference points are different but our viewpoints are pretty diverse.”

18:48 “The pandemic itself will go away but the technology, the acceleration of the use of technology is just amazing.”

19:57 “All of a sudden, everybody needed to become digitally literate. They had to figure out how do we get five people onto our wireless internet. How do we secure it? I don’t have an IT department.”

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This episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast is called “What Does Your Brand Say About You?” with Gary Hernbroth, Founder and Chief Motivating Officer at Training for Winners. Today, Gary shares how to cultivate your own personal brand and the importance of authenticity.

He also discusses the top characteristics of a salesperson, such as listening and follow-through, and provides a real-life example of an insurance agent leveraging authenticity to create a lasting business partnership.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 01:54 What exactly is personal branding?
• 06:50 Personal brand = trust
• 08:34 Creating an authentic brand starts with internal reflection
• 12:19 Listening is the number 1 skill in sales
• 16:02 Creating sales with follow-through, loyalty, and authenticity

Quotes:

04:46 “The vibe that we give off, so to speak, that tell people that they either want to be engaged with us or they want to get involved in business with us or, in the case of the folks listening in today, somebody wants to buy from me. Or maybe they don’t.”

07:11 “There are certain things that you do or don’t do that are going to protect your brand and keep it strong—because it takes a long time to build up a brand and it takes seconds to shatter your brand.”

10:10 “I do not believe in the fake it til you make it crowd. I think that’s kind of a cute little phrase, it’s a bumper sticker, but I don’t really think it has any lasting value. It’s more like fake it until you’re found out.”

12:59 “Sometimes people, because someone doesn’t ask the question, they think you’re not thinking about that. Oh, customers are very much thinking about that.”

14:04 “Listening is traditionally the number 1 skill that buyers want in their salespeople. Somebody to hear about what my needs are.”

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This episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast is called “The One Thing Holding Your Business Back” with Ed Krow, Founder & HR Strategist of Ed Krow, LLC. Today, Ed explains that businesses need to adapt to the Experience Age to manage their employees better.

He also shares that businesses can achieve their next big milestone by letting others make the difficult decisions for them. Not only does this boost creativity to run a business, but it also fosters trust in the company culture moving forward.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 01:27 What is an HR Strategist?
• 04:25 Doing business in the Experience Age & adapting to it
• 11:39 Regaining creativity & inspiration by letting go
• 17:24 Creating an ideal business environment by asking questions

Quotes:

02:25 “Let’s breakthrough that barrier. You want to get from 10 to 15 million? People are going to get you there. You want to get that new product to market? People are going to get you there.”

04:25 “We’re in the Experience Age now. And what I mean by that is, if you want to harness the power of what’s going on in your company, then you have to recognize that your people are living their lives in and through social media.”

07:51 “You will never break through that ceiling until you change how you’re going to do business. If you’re willing to flip that key, we can make it happen. We’ll get you to 15 million.”

18:14 “How can you know that you’re giving your people what they want if you never ask them?”

20:54 “Ask your people what they want. And they’re afraid to ask because what if I can’t give it to them? Then we’ll go that road if we can’t do it. But if you don’t ask, you’re going to spend money you don’t need to spend.”

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This episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast is called “You Can’t Be A Thought Leader In One Day” with Andrea Pass, founder and CEO of Andrea Pass Public Relations. Today, Andrea shares what it means to be a publicist and how thought leaders are created using the free tools available to public relations.

Andrea also discusses the relevance of PR with social media and how she applies the traditional PR methods to keep her clients up to date in the digital world. She also provides actionable tips for businesses in employee benefits to get started on their own PR.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 01:57 What is a publicist?
• 04:56 Publicity as an ongoing process
• 10:18 Defining the role of social media in PR
• 14:49 Reactive and proactive PR for insurance brokers
• 20:16 Andrea’s tips to create PR relationships for employee benefits

Quotes:

05:43 “Publicity is an ongoing process. It’s not a one and done. And you want to stay relevant because you want to have interviews all of the time about your business, your service, your product, your book.”

11:04 “I believe that social media is important and should go hand in hand with a public relations campaign because of the fact that you want to drive more awareness to your social media pages.”

20:44 “To find that business writer at your local publication, to shoot an email and say okay, here I am. This is what I do, short little paragraph, and here are 4 bullets of topics I can talk about.”

21:01 “The most important thing for your audience in insurance is making sure that you’re in touch with your major compliance department to make sure you have the ability to do public relations on your own without going through corporate.”

21:23 “If you are not working for a large organization and you can get out there on your own and talk about things because the other guy can’t, now is the time to start public relations.”

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This episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast is called “New Developments In Pharmacy Cost” with Garrett D’Antoni of NavRx, a prescription benefit manager (PBM) with a commitment to transparency.

Garrett begins by defining companion diagnostics then breaks down the confusing nature of NDC codes and why some PBM’s can charge astonishing amounts for prescribed medications. He also goes into detail about the increasing popularity of pharmacy tourism and the significant cost savings it offers.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• 02:50 Providing expensive drugs with companion diagnostics
• 06:15 NDC codes explained
• 13:00 Generating massive savings with pharmacy tourism & prescription care coordination
• 18:20 The future of pharmacogenomic testing & PBM’s

Quotes:

05:17 “There’s not enough drugs that are mapped genetically that says okay, this is how you’re going to metabolize it. And so, as we move towards that, you’re right, it comes down to do I take it or do I not take it?”

08:24 “This is where the spread pricing comes in. So a pharmacy could submit one NDC, the PBM can charge a client on a different NDC, so you’re basically switching the NDC from one price to another.”

09:21 “You have to get the information. That’s the most difficult part when you go to a PBM and say, well, let me see what you actually paid the pharmacy. Is that what you billed me? And so that’s when they’re saying it’s proprietary information.”

11:35 “You have the polytherapy problem where the one drug causes your stomach ache so they put you on another drug. And before you know it, you’re on five different medications.”

15:55 “You have these countries that you’re getting up to 50, 70 percent discount on the medication. You’re traveling there three to four times a year. You’re bringing back basically 90 days supply. And you’re able to keep some coordination or continuity of care.”

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