Today, on the Book More Show, we're talking with Chris Carlson, a seasoned coach for regional bank teams and author of "Banking on Success - 7 Keys to Extraordinary Success in Relationship Banking."
One of the most valuable ways to start a conversation is by helping people with something they are struggling with today. As a coach, Chris can analyse specific sales challenges and prescribe just the right tool, but his book starts the conversation in an easy-to-understand, universally applicable way with 7 steps everyone can benefit from. Rather than telling people they're doing it wrong or going deep into the psychology of sales calls, he helps people take an actionable step and provides a prominent call to action to continue the journey.
This is a great call as we dive into his perspective on using books and platforms like LinkedIn for business outreach, and we discuss the significance of consistent client contact and developing relationships over time, something that's easy to overlook in a 'get new leads' driven world.
Chris brings a lot to this call. Whether you've finished your book or have it on the list to start before the year ends, there are some great ideas to steal here.
SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
- We discuss the importance of proactive strategies and specialization in the banking industry with guest Chris Carlson, author of "Banking on Success."
- Chris shares his experience coaching regional banks and how his book helps business and commercial bankers achieve extraordinary results.
- We delve into how LinkedIn can be utilized for effective business outreach, with Chris providing expert advice on leveraging the platform to engage potential clients.
- Chris explains how learning and development departments within banks can serve as an effective starting point for marketing efforts.
- We uncover Chris's promotional strategy for his book and planner, using tools ranging from speaking engagements to direct mail to potential clients.
- We discuss Malcolm Gleason's "Wombat Selling," emphasizing the importance of consistent outreach and adding value in client interactions, especially in business banking.
- Chris provides insight into the self-publishing process and shares the advantages of using a service like 90-Minute Books.
- We explore how a book can serve as a powerful marketing tool for businesses, discussing its potential for reaching out to past clients and prospects, as well as acting as a referral opportunity.
- Chris shares his experience working with 90 Minute Books and how publishing a book has helped him establish credibility, authority, and reach a wider audience in the banking industry.
- We encourage listeners to consider publishing their own book as a means of enhancing their credibility and reach in their respective fields.
LINKS
Chris Carlson - LinkedIn
The Relationship Banking Academy
Show notes & video: 90minutebooks.com/podcast/154
How does your book idea score against the 8 book building blocks we use here all the time: Book Blueprint Scorecard
Titles & Outline Workshops: 90MinuteBooks.com/Workshops
Ready to get started: 90MinuteBooks.com
Questions/Feedback: Send us an email
Extra Credit Listening: MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com
TRANSCRIPT
(AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors)
Stuart: Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Bookmoor show. It's Stuart Bell here and today I'm super excited to be joined by Chris Carlson.
Chris: Chris how are you doing? I'm doing great, stuart. Thanks for the opportunity to talk to you today.
Stuart: I'm excited to jump on and dive into some things because you're following through with the book and you've got it out there in a way that's particularly interesting. So we'll make sure that we touch on all of that life cycle. But I think it's going to be really valuable for people listening in, either if they have a book themselves already, to look at the way that you're using it in a slightly more longer funnel or broader funnel, or if people are thinking about writing a book. I know this isn't the only book that you've written. So as we cover some of those stories about how books have helped you in your marketing, I think it's going to be great. Hopefully, encouragement to help people get started before the end of the year and then they can really hit 2024 on the road. So I think we start from the beginning. Give everyone a little bit of background of view and their organization there.
Chris: Yeah, great.
And people, like a lot of people you know, went to college, had the opportunity to spend four years in the army as an officer, came out and I spent the first 19 years of my what I call my civilian career on the insurance business, working my way up from a local rep all the way to a national sales manager and then 20 plus years ago.
I mean, my affinity has always been coaching and I went into the coaching business and have been focused on the financial services arena those 20 plus years. But being laser, being focused on the banking industry and our organization, the Relationship Banking Academy, is we work with what I would call regional sized banks. You know that have some heft to them in terms of personnel and so we're not working with the smallest of banks, although we have and we've worked with the biggest of banks. But we found that our niche is in that regional bank where they definitely need help with coaching and training and we really believe that our systems and processes, you know, really help them. So really excited to be able to specialize in that space and go really deep with those organizations.
Stuart: It's interesting, isn't it, when people talk about specialization, because there's always this and we're guilty of it as well here always this risk of or concern around missing out or losing other business. But the reality is when you can really dial in the message that talks specifically to the audience, and then obviously you pick up business on either side. It's not like you're turning those people away, but talking about niching and specializing. It's really just in that outreach and the communication side of things. So picking up on the slightly smaller or slightly large ones, but understanding that it's the sweet spot in the middle, and I guess one of the reasons for that is because that's where you can make a real, the biggest difference. The challenge in the smallest end is that they're constrained on resources, both people and money, and at the bigger end they're constrained by processes and systems and just the corporate message. So I guess it's really that middle bit that you can make a difference to.
Chris: It definitely has worked for us, and one of the things I learned a long time ago through failing is you can't boil the ocean. Although I love the words that you use fear and missing out. We think, oh, we miss one opportunity. But the reality is, if you say yes to something, then you got to say no to something else, and so I think it's very important that, whatever line of work that you're in, that you really understand who your target market is and we talk about that actually in the book of being laser beam focused on your markets, if that's going to get you further faster.
Stuart: Right, that's a good transition into the book. So then this idea of sharing with them the ideas, that starts the conversation that they can have with you. So the book titled banking on success, talk a little bit about the audience for that and kind of where in that funnel of talking with these medium sized organizations that the book comes in and then conversation, yeah, so it's a great question, stuart, and when we work with the banks, our customers typically we're working with business bankers and commercial bankers.
Chris: We are not called in that often to work with the retail side of the bank. You know those branches. If you will Doesn't mean that we don't occasionally work with them. So I was really thinking about that business banker, commercial banker audience where they're out there calling on businesses, calling on professionals, calling on large organizations to help them in their financial journey.
And what I know is that the overwhelming majority of bankers that I run into they're hardworking and caring and individuals, but unfortunately, with so many things coming at them, they tend to be very reactive. And what I've noticed is the very best bankers, the most successful bankers, obviously they have to react, but they have put together proactive systems and proactive plans which allow them to rise and they're the cream in the crop. And I said, okay, so how do I get that message out, you know, to a broader audience? And that's where I kind of came up with the idea of the seven keys and then I transferred that into the seven m's and so I have seven m's that I share in my book about what I really think that a banker needs to do proactively to achieve extraordinary results.
Stuart: It's interesting because I think it's such a. It's such an idea that isn't new for people. The broad idea, not the specifics. The broad idea of being proactive. It's more beneficial in terms of kind of orchestrating the results and planning ahead of time. And everyone says that it's more cost effective and time effective to kind of plan it rather than react to it.
But I would say for the majority, the vast majority of business owners, of people who are responsible for filling their own book, the reality is that just the day to day, defy of burning, means that we're way more reactive than we want to. So to be in your position of not necessarily having to sell the concept, because that's understood, but selling the way of the introduction to the idea of achieving it, it's an interesting position. It's not necessarily creating the manifesto of why being proactive or why orchestrating things is a good idea, but more along, this is how to do it. You've tried to do it before perhaps, and fails. This is a better, more straightforward, a simple way of doing it. Is that right in the way that you find, when dealing with the people, that is an idea that they've got already, or is that just my guilt coming out, because I know I should be better at it myself.
Chris: You know, stuart, I think there's an old expression. I know you've heard it many times. You know about the guide from the side as opposed to the sage from the stage, and I think there's so many sages out there. But what really has to happen and this is true even for the most successful people is they still need that guidance to make sure that they don't chase squirrels and they stay true to their mission. And that's why, you know, people like you and Dean Jackson and Dan Sullivan exist, because even the best, most successful people still need that guidance so they can latch on to a concept. But who's holding them accountable, or what tools are there to hold them accountable? So I think that's one of the reasons why I wanted to take the first step with the book is kind of overall view, but then let's go deeper on how you actually accomplish some of these things that you want to accomplish.
Stuart: Right, just on that point quickly. That's so true. I've never particularly thought about it in that way before and that's saying I can try and remember that saying because that's the first time I've heard that. But true in the sense that I've just started working with some LinkedIn guys who I've known for some time and it was almost a. We talked about this idea of you can book through a great way of reaching out to people and getting them on the list, and then you need a way of staying in touch with people over the longer duration, because most people, or a lot of people, aren't ready to go today, but they are ready to go at some point in the future and you just need to marry up.
My experience with the LinkedIn guys is exactly that.
I've known and our business absolute, almost 100% crossover with LinkedIn in terms of a lead generation and an audience, and it's something that I've been so lacks on doing, and it's not because I don't really know what to do or have ideas around doing it, it's just our time and other fires have come up.
So happening to have a conversation with a friend that reminded me of these people and then starting that conversation and engaging them to be accountable and do some of the work a little bit, and I've been doing these books yourself before. It's not like you can't do it. It's not rocket science I would say that to people. But still engaging someone else to do it gives you almost a line of the sand and a reason to do it now, and I guess that's the same with your business and the people that you're talking with. I'm sure this isn't the first time that they've ever thought about it. But having you there to give the direction, to remove the distractions and almost to focus in on the points that make a difference and the funny things around it, that might not be as effective, but you can really laser focus them on what they need to do. The people who you're having that first conversation with, is that the bank, the relationship bankers themselves, or is that more of a HR department or training department in the organizations?
Chris: Yeah, that's a great question, and so traditionally it has been those learning and development organizations within a bank, or maybe there's a higher ranking executive that I run into that gets me in touch with them, so that tends to be where we spend most of our time. But that was the conundrum that I had, stuart, when I was writing this book. I said, okay, that's great, but there's over 4000 banks in this country and I'm not going to talk to the vast majority of those learning and development departments. So how can I help the individual banker who's bank may not know me and or may not want to invest in our particular programs? And that's why, as I started to come with the ideas in the book, I said, ok, theory is great, but I got to have something else, and that's where I came up, and I didn't.
I did these two things simultaneously. I created the banking on success planner. So we take all the ideas that we talk about in the book and then we lay it out to allow them to develop the strategy. And then part of the planner is daily activity, because, let's face it, we all have grandiose goals and you know, there's the old expression it's hard by the yard, it's cinched by the inch. And so what I do is I break it down to a daily activity with the most important things they need to do, based upon the strategies that they implemented on the learnings from the book. So to your point yes, I'm talking to a lot of learning development, but I had to figure out a way. How do I touch those tens and tens and tens and tens of thousands of bankers potentially? But I can help them individually if they want to go forward, even if their bank is not going to do something.
Stuart: That's such a great balance between the two and we often talk about books. Think of them as, rather than in the traditional sense of a book, is this big thing that takes forever to write and once you've written it, that's, it's set in stone. Instead, think about books as almost like a campaign tool, almost like you would in Facebook ads. This tool is fit for this particular campaign and the campaign steps through to these people. So the idea of having some outreach tools that you've got which are focused on learning and development, hr, those types of level of the organization and what they're, because they're, they're criteria or their objectives, that what they're rewarded on their motivations are going to be different from the individuals. But what you've described is having both of those approaches in different ways.
You already have those conversations. Who already got access to those 4,000 or so organizations? But to be able to speak to the individual in a way that's much more tangible and actionable and follow through. And then the planner is backed up by the ideas that are in the book and the book is backed up by action steps they can take in the planner. It's very synergistic in the sense that it's one campaign moving people in one direction, but the two slightly different access points into it. Talk a little bit about how these, how the bank is out there. Then again, visibility of either the book or the planner Is this something that you've got an opportunity to kind of like direct send to them because you can get a list of who they are or the shows and events where they can get access to it, or speaking opportunities that introduce into the idea? What's the access to those people with the tools?
Chris: Yeah, I mean so a lot of things. No matter what tools we develop, is we still have to put together a marketing plan, right? Because just because we publish a book, people aren't lined up outside the office saying, well, I can't wait to get a copy of your book. So you know, one of the things that I've started out certainly the lowest hanging fruit for me with the book and the planner is current and past customers and clients. You know. So what I'm doing is I'm taking a copy of the book and taking a copy of the planner, putting it in a priority mail envelope and sending it to current and past customers and saying, hey, here's what we got. You might be interested. If so, give me a call. They already know, they already know me to know who I am, they know what I can do. So that's going to spur some activity. And maybe that's a speaking engagement. Maybe that's they order many copies of the book and or planner. Maybe they say, hey, chris, we'd like to go deeper with you if we have a current relationship or we want to reengage you. So that's really to me that the always hanging a fruit.
Now I'm also fortunate enough to have, you know, several speaking engagement throughout the course of the year. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take of enough copies for everybody in the audience of the book, right, and give it away. Give it away and I got to make a comment is when I receive my 20 books from 90 minute books in a bow, by the way, which I am afraid to untie because it's so beautiful, but you guys included another book beyond the book, right? And one of the things that Dean talked about in the book is you're not going to make any money selling your book. Give it away, that's how you're going to get further faster. So in speaking engagements, I'm just going to give a copy to everybody who's in my audience, be it a small audience, be a big audience, they get something.
Then every state in this country has a banking association and that banking association puts on events throughout the course of the year A lot of webinars, maybe one or two live events. So I'm taking a copy of the book, I'm writing a letter and I'm basically saying, hey, here's a copy of my book and here are three talks that I put together as a result of the material in the books. And, if I can ever be of assistance, reach out to me and I know that some will reach out to me, some won't, but I'm going to people who I can have get me in front of a broader audience. And then I talked about that that target my regional banks. I'm going to send a postcard to the appropriate person, you know, promoting the book and the planner. And then, finally, I also have the great fortune to teach at several banking schools across the country and, like I said with my other speaking engagements, I'm going to take a copy of the book, give it to everybody.
And because, what's not? Only does the book give them great information and, stuart, here's what I think is brilliant about what you guys do is, when you turn that book over and you look at the back cover, three ways that they can engage, you know, with the author. In my particular case, you know they can go to the book's website and I give them a PDF about how to do a better job of marketing. They also can go to the website and they get a video of how they can develop and deepen better relationships with centers of influence. And then, finally, I have a link to the banking on success planner. They can buy the planner. So the brilliance of that, because we know a lot of people just look at their front cover, turn it over. But now they've got three ways they can continue the conversation with me and that could be either the learning development people or it could be an individual banker.
Stuart: There's such a great point about people just really 100% of people see the front of it, 90 something percent people see the back and then it's a diminishing curve from the table of contents through the, through the content itself.
Because, Particularly, this isn't. We're not writing books where the book is the product and people are buying the book like they would a Tom Clancy novel or whatever the latest best-selling author is there. The job of work of the book isn't to entertain, although hopefully it's entertaining, but the job of work isn't to entertain. The job of work is to start the conversation and people putting their hand up and requesting it. If they could have a button next to it where they pressed the button and it was like a matrix all the information is downloaded into their brain they would choose that because it's the outcome that they want not necessarily to have to go through the work to do the thing, although obviously that's what everyone has to do. So to shortcut it, to make people feel comfortable and confident that they're in the right place, and this is the obvious next step. That's really the path to move it through quickly.
Chris: And then, stuart, continuing on that is that once you say, hey, go here to get this, then we put them into a funnel so they get additional touches from us and again it just shows that we're adding value. And in my particular case, I think as individual bankers the ultimate would be to get the planner. But so I'll give them opportunity, but I will continue that funnel and then eventually they'll go into the overall mailing campaign. But at least that initial touch is they get more than just hey, here's this, and we remind them. And so, look, I mean, people like yourself and Dean have perfected this over the years and so we're just learning from the very best to make sure that we take advantage of that opportunity with the back of the book to create a funnel.
Stuart: That point you made there about that.
There is the initial funnel because it's attributing the book to real life activities and actions and signals from out there in the world.
You're there, head of the castle of what you do, looking over the power pits down at the world below, and there's groups of people and some of them are raising their hand and saying I'm interested to some degree to be able to identify those and then follow up and then use all of the other marketing opportunities, like the Harvard studies like that, where it was seven the average is seven point something steps in order for someone to take an activity, even if they're the most interested.
The benefit of having the book is that you've now got a framework and a talking point and a consistent message that's a consistent for them to consume but be easy for you to create, rather than having to sit there and think I need to create seven touch points and it could be anything Having seven things that amplify and go deeper and talk about the content that's in the book. The seven steps actually sevens are coming up a lot, particularly because you've got seven ends and then seven touch points. I mean even that is self evident that it's just one message per touch point and then you get into that that comprehensive view. You know.
Chris: Stuart, that's a great point. And there's an old expression you know, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I can't tell you. I can't tell you how many times I have heard and seen Dean Jackson talk about 90 minute books. This student wasn't ready, but when I was ready he was still there and that's look. You know Dean has done a lot of research on how long it takes for somebody about the right now buyer and the future buyer. In the overwhelming majority of people are future buyers, so you have to be in in front of them on a consistent basis, adding value. Again, the book is the launch, but then you also. We know people aren't going to just roll over because you wrote a book, but how do you stay in front of them?
Stuart: It's why we love podcasts so much, because as business owners, we've only got so much time in the day, but most of us, if we've been in business for any matter of time, can talk probably more than people to listen sometimes about our subject because we're passionate about it. That's why we're still in business, that's why we start businesses in the first place, and we've got such a wealth of knowledge that putting it in a podcast form gives you an opportunity to send an email to everyone on the list, adding value. Hey, we just released a new new episode. We're talking with this about developing and building those relationships. By the way, if you're ready to get well, every ready to get started is three ways we can help you. Or PS is we just enter in November. Now is a great time to get the book started in order to have it ready for the new year and hit 2024 running. So that idea of staying in touch with people until they're ready, because you can never know.
I talk a lot about the book that's called one bat selling by an Australian guy called Malcolm Gleason.
I think it's an old book, I think it just came back into print.
It was unavailable for a while, but he is a I'm going to butcher this slightly but he's a sales team training person and his main thing is sales teams often fail because they incentivize people to close.
And it's always this Glenn, gary, glenn, last fight, always be closing, but the closing decision unless you're using some of the various tactics to really kind of force the other party the closing decision is in the hand of the client. They choose whether to today is the day for them or not. But as a salesperson, as someone responsible for new business, the thing that you have control of is the touch points, the outreach, the reminders that you exist, the adding value, and I guess actually, as we're talking about it, that is some of the things that you talk about in the book as well, because that kind of proactive outreach, there's a crossover between those two ideas, but, yeah, this idea of keeping in touch with people and then, ideally, you'll be reaching out at the same time that they have the thought or get to the stage where, oh yeah, today is the day and we can move forward.
Chris: I want to just take a quick question. It's interesting. It's interesting you mentioned that because in the business banking and commercial banking world, a business changes banks every five to seven years. So think about that. Why, okay, you know, I mean, so it's not a one call close, and so what a banker has to do is obviously add value along the way to where the blister pops, you know, in the relationship with the other bank. But what tends to happen we've all been guilty of this we get really excited about going after a prospect, things. Nothing happened. So we say I'm going to take a break. Well, if that in this, my particular example of the business changes banks while they're taking a break, they got another five to seven years to wait. So that's why it has to be consistent into your point and the example about the person Australia. Boy, you got to stay in front of them because if you add value, they're going to recognize you. They'll eventually become your customer or client. Doesn't always happen on your timeframe, but it will happen in front of them.
Stuart: And as you were talking about adding value all the way through the, if sometimes people think of, I've heard people say that they want to cut the weed out of the list or cut the chat phone. Just get to the people. I'm only interested in talking with qualified buyers. Well, the whole thing. You don't know who, that you can't tell who that person is. For the in the long arc of history you can't tell exactly who that person is. And the good thing about the broadcast mechanism so we've got now it's not like you have to hand write a letter to each person. So if you've got 10 people on list versus a hundred, well, the other 90, that becomes a big overhead. We're emailing people or we're creating podcasts or we're using social media and it's broadcasting to everyone at once. So having those people on the list, talking to those people in the hope that they do become a client, but knowing that not all of them are it really kind of changes that focus Told before the story of Kenny, a real estate that we work with in up in Cape Town, up in Boston.
So he purged he's. We've worked with him for years. He's a great personal friend. He's down here quite a lot. He purged his list. He wanted to get rid of people who hadn't really responded in five years. So he purged the list and then about seven or eight months later got a call from someone. They left a voicemail so he played as a voicemail. He's the guy on the phone said Kenny, it's Bobby, I'm so glad that I found your number. Something must have happened, I'm sorry. Some reason I got off your mailing list. Anyway, unfortunately my sister died recently so we've got two properties that we're selling, oceanfront properties, so I had to call around a few other agents in town to get your number. Anyway, give me a call back. Kenny purged the list cause he'd never responded, been on the list for eight years. I think we went back and checked eight years nothing, no sign of life. But he'd just been there receiving that value and then, when the time was right for him, he raised his hand.
So this idea that there was no dead leads in the 90 minute book my brother's in there as an example, because it's a high dollar example. It's always funny to read. So he's a yacht broker down in Fort Lauderdale inherited the office of a broker who had passed away. So in the office there was filing cabinets and one file was labeled dead leads and it was just chocked full of like little pieces of paper from boat shows over the years where people fill in their details and stick it in. But he reached out to these dead leads with a nine word email hey, you're still looking for a boat. And then a hundred and eighty six million dollar contracts came off the back of it.
So this idea of there is no such thing as dead leads, it's just people who it's not quite the right time for them. It's such an opportunity to reach back out to them, which circles back to the ways that you were talking about using the book, that folder of you. Talk about reaching out to past clients. There's also all of the people who are past prospects and maybe the dead list of those past prospects. Now it might not be worth financially sending them a copy of it. You might have their details, but reaching back out with an email to those people and saying, ok, we just have brought together. From the years of experience we've brought together in this plan of issues like copy, let me know that's a whole opportunity there, with the existing clients sending them the book and also saying, ok, if you know anyone else in the business. This is perhaps great for people who are one or two years in and are really looking to make a difference, using that as a referral opportunity, the opportunity to reach out.
We've got this concept of known prospects and unknown prospects. So the banking organization people that's a known group of people. So sending the book to those known group, like you mentioned, but then including a cover letter in there. Same with speaking from stage, it's a known audience, so giving them a copy of the book but including a cover letter in there, that just makes it more personal.
The idea of kind of amplifying the asset is here, but you can amplify it for each of the individual situations. By the way that you present it such a good opportunity because it's created. Now you're just looking for the opportunities that you can best use it. It's always fascinating to hear people talk about how they plan to use it and then down the track, how they have used it, because it opens up. I think, as people are listening to this, many people have had the well, everyone who's listening to this really has had the idea that a book would be good for them because that's why they're on the list in the first place. But there's that reluctance or times busy, so hearing you talk about it, hopefully, is then figuring their memory or their idea of how they can actually use it in real time.
Chris: Yeah, stuart, it's a great point because you know I've self-published five books and you know it's not backbreaking labor but it's time-intensive and it can be frustrating at times. So when I was thinking about this book, I said I like the idea of the book, but I don't know if I want to go through that all again, which is when, then, I decided to take advantage of the who, not the how, with 90-minute books. And I tell you what? That is one of the best checks I've ever written in my entire life. And I have to tell you I have to praise your team. You know, christy reached out to me and she did the pre-planning call in the actual interview and what a joy she is. I mean she, I mean brings so much energy and so much joy to the conversation that I was. I didn't want to let her go after we finished the interview. She's just such a great person.
And then, almost immediately, godwin put together the cover of my book and I had a suggestion, but it was just so spot on that I was looking for, he was so responsive. And then Kim did the heavy lifting, you know, with the editing. And so I'm sitting here thinking my goodness, and I've already got the idea for the next book will be under contract before the end of the year to do a second book, and I see a third book sometime next year. It is just a great way to get your message out, and I want to go back to something you said about getting our message in front of an audience. Yes, I could send a brochure, a letter, anything else, to all of the people I talked about, but to have that book attached to that letter is powerful, and I know you've said this many times on their podcast.
Isn't it interesting that the word author is contained in the word authority, so that credibility and that authority that creates when they get that book right, even if they don't read it. But they're saying, hey, here's somebody who wrote a book. So the I really encourage anybody who's on the fence, go ahead and take the leap. I mean, the people at 90 minute books are absolutely amazing. They make your life so easy. And so, stuart, I hope you pass that along to the three people that I touched in your organization Christy, godwin and Kim. They made it a delightful experience.
Stuart: That's it. I mean, that's always good to hear I was joking a little bit before we started recording that starting their calls with authors was really just to share that story, but it's almost become a vanity project. If you're having people say good things, it makes me once a week feel good hearing hearing that back. Absolutely, I'll pass it on Because with the team being remote it's always and not an extra effort, but we have to remember to make it extra effort to share the good news as well as facing up on things that need to be just day to day needs to be finished quicker.
Chris: So yeah, I'll definitely pass it on and make sure that they listen to the episode so they can hear you in the words straight from you and then hopefully, stuart, that the one I do the other book you'll invite me back on, we'll talk about that book and I'll give you the results of all the marketing I've done with this particular book.
Stuart: Yeah, absolutely, I mean definitely. So we've been focused on, as we've been reaching out to people to record the last six or seven months worth of podcasts, as we've done more and more author calls. We've been reaching out Obviously. We've done a thousand or so books now. So we've got a lot of people that we were reaching out to for the first time.
But I've got it on the calendar for the new year to absolutely touch back in with people who have been on the show previously, because it's a nature of the beast, when we were thinking about, okay, who can we reach out to to about on the show, it tends to be the most recent back. We kind of just because that's where Betsy's been scheduling a lot of these, so that's just where our mind is the most recent back. So it's there's only a couple of we've had where we've really been talking about the campaign and the actually reaching out and using them in specific circumstances. So what I'd really love to do in a few months time is circle back with people who have used them at live events, who have sent them out to previous customers, who have got the list of the organization people and used it as outreach, because I think, as we get more and more of those tangible results that we can share with people. Again, it just closes that gap.
Like with your book, we would start off by saying that most people have got an understanding that they need to be more proactive and having some structure and organization would make their results better. But it's just remembering to get around to it. The same with the people on our list. They've had the idea that a book is a great way of generating more business and establishing that credibility and authority. But when they hear the specific stories, hopefully, then it's easier to make that connection and encourage them to get off the fence and get it done. Where can people follow along and perhaps get a copy of the book or hear more about what you're doing? I want to make sure people have got the opportunity to do that.
Chris: So thank you for that, stuart. Well, I mean specifically the book they can go to bankingon success bookcom. The planner is banking on success plannercom and then our overall organization, the relationship bankingacademycom will get you a bigger overview of what we do.
Stuart: Fantastic. And then in terms of the breadth you're talking about kind of the medium sized banking organization. This is the absolute sweet spot. But obviously either side of that people can get value from it. It's just that's not necessarily that reach Geographically all of North America. Do you go and say Canada as well?
Chris: No, just North America. And what's really interesting, you know, back in the day, the only way we could deliver what was just get on an airplane, jump up and down for a couple days and fly home. And with COVID, I mean, people are so much more receptive, you know, to Zoom. You know type meetings, and so we're doing a lot of great follow up teaching with using Zoom, because people can't have us, you know, on campus every single day but to be able to maybe do a bootcamp, get them indoctrinated and then continue the learning, you know, via Zoom. So I think that you know Zoom and all of their competitors have really done a good service to people in our particular industry to be able to deliver content more frequently at a very effective price. So, yes, we travel over the country, work with banks all over the country, but we definitely take advantage of this type of technology.
Stuart: Yeah, that's such a great point as well, isn't it? Because now it's able to deliver value further down the chain. So, in the same way that you might have to charge people 100 units of money to come in for that extended period and be on site, now for those same 100 units you can do something in person but then include some follow up, which really from the effectiveness of what you're trying to deliver. I imagine that regular follow up or check in further down the track or the opportunity for people to join office hours or whatever the mechanism is, but to be able to deliver value beyond just the initial scope of a piece of work just makes it far more effective and a better outcome for the individuals and the organizations.
Chris: No doubt, because I mean, when you do a one day or two day or three day training, everybody gets excited I'm going to change the world. Then they get a phone call from their most important customer who is ticked off at them and they forget everything they just learned. So you have to have that repetition to reinforce what was taught in a live environment.
Stuart: Right. Actually it often happens on these calls as I'm talking. It's triggering things that I've got on a list that I've been meaning to do, and if I actually put a date next to each of the items, it would probably be embarrassing how long ago it was that I thought about it, but the A period of time ago I was thinking we should do the similar here, in the sense that it really makes sense. The podcasts are great, but it's talking one on one. It would probably be beneficial to have an office hours type environment within 90 minute. Books for current clients and past clients. Hey, we're just here to answer any questions. Do it once a month, jump on and just have it as an open call for an hour or two and then, if people have got questions about the books or the campaigns or the audience. So I'm glad when this came up in conversation because it's just reminding me that something that we really should kick off.
And now that I've said it publicly on the podcast, hopefully the accountability to get out there, and that goes fast. As always on these shows, we'll make sure that we put links to the books and to the Academy in the show notes so as people are listening to this or watching along in the video. Either check on the website below or in the podcast notes and then people can click straight through. It will absolutely be a pleasure to have you back on in a couple of months and then talk about another book that we're thinking about and talk about the actual usage of this one and what the results have been. Everyone that's listening really encouraged you to follow the links and check in on Chris and what he's doing. Chris, thanks for your time. Thanks for the kind words as well. I know that the team and the audience are going to get a lot from this, so just want to say thanks again and look forward to catch up with you in the next one.
Chris: So, stuart, thank you, it was a real honor. Thanks, Perfect Thanks for watching and we'll catch you in the next one.