Carl Gould #70secondCEO

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.   Your good clients expect your prices to go up. So put them up, right? And I get you might have a certain cadence to it, but I would encourage you all, and if you wanna talk offline about how to do it, I'm happy to do it, but I would encourage you guys today, look at what segment of clientele or what segment of services or what segment of product and raise those prices today.   I don't care if you just did them in September or January 1, whatever. Wherever you think you can raise your prices, raise them. Because if you're not getting the yes, but, you have not gotten to where your clientele is willing to, the upper end of where they're willing to pay. So I'd highly recommend that you guys do that. OK? All right? And so just keep asking the question. Get with your team. If we raise it 1%, a supermarket can raise it a quarter of a point. can go from 1.3 of assets under management to 1.6 or 1.4.   Whatever it is for you, look at where you can raise it and raise it, right? Because you will get to the place where you'll have your best clients and you'll use pricing as a qualifier and you'll start to differentiate, here's why it matters. During volatile economic times, buyers defer to experts.   Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.    Fast forward 10 years, I do a fair amount of public speaking. I hire a PR agent and they're like, Carl, it's time for some new suits. So they're like, where'd you get those two from? They look pretty good. Great, go back to Joseph A Bank. I want you to get four this time. So I go in 10 years later. I walked in, Joseph A. Bank in Mars Town, New Jersey, and I said, I'm back.  You know, obviously, nobody knows who the hell I am. And I said, like, oh, welcome back, whoever you are. And I said, I'm the guy who came in here, bought two suits 10 years ago, and complained about it. Ha ha, nobody laughed. So I said, I'm here for four now. So there I am. I'm getting fitted for the suit. I say to the guy, I'm like if you would have told me that I was going to walk into some store and spend four grand on suits. I had told you, you were crazy. The guy looks at me and goes 4,000. You're not gonna spend 4,000 today. And I was like, oh, is it more? And they said, no, we're running a sale. You could buy one suit and you get three for free. I was like, ha! Did I pick the right day or what? Like, what is my luck here? And they're like, no, we run the sale all the time. We've been running it the whole year. You can, anytime you wanna come in. I said, really? I said, wait a minute. I said, this is the signature suit, right? He's like, yeah, I said, are they as good now as they were then? And he was like, well, of course, our quality is always, you know. And I'm like, well, wait a minute. How are you $1,000 per suit 10 years ago and you're 250 a suit today? How is that possible? So where did my head go? I'm getting a great deal today or you were overcharging me 10 years ago?  Where do you think my head went? Overcharging. If you don't raise your prices at some point, your good clients are gonna be like, hey, Paul, what's with the whole world's prices going up, but yours aren't? How long have you been scamming me?  Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould, and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.   There's a pretty big risk if you don't, by the way, because if you guys think that you're keeping your pricing low and it's somehow helping your clientele, you are not. I'll give you a perfect example. When I first got into coaching, now remember I grew up in construction, I'm not a suit guy, very casual, drive a Jeep, live in a log cabin, and built log cabins for years. That's me, more me, right? So I start doing coaching and training and I hire a speaking coach and they're like, yeah, you're not doing it, wearing the clothes you wear. So they say to me, go to Joseph A. Bank and go buy two of their signature series suits, a thousand bucks each. I'm like, a thousand bucks? I don't even want to wear a suit. You want me to spend two grand on suits that I wouldn't even want to wear? They're like, shut up, just go and do it. Cause I'm not, you can't stand in front of an audience dressed like that. You know, you gotta wear a suit. So I go and I buy two suits, complain the entire time. I walk out $2,500 later with cuff links and, you know, cuff links and shirts and everything, belts and socks and all that, $2,500 later, right? Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more.  Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould, and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. Generally speaking, I would say let's have a cadence. I like the cadence. I suspect you may not have had one of the speakers or a consultant come to you and say raise your prices today. So this would be a one-off where even if you're like well wait a minute we just raised our prices in September. So what? Raise them again. Most of your clients won't even notice, right? But you need to get to the point where you start to get the yes, but. Like, Doug, yeah, I wanna be part of your group, but, oof, you know, I thought it was gonna be this number and you came in at that number and, oi, it's just a little bit higher than I thought, but is there something we can work out? That's when you know you're priced right when you get the yes but like a little bit higher than I thought Randy I really wanted to do this huh you're at 10,000 a month and I you know to be honest I thought it was gonna be more like eight that's kind of what we had budgeted right so in other words if they say Randy you lost your mind I'm not doing that and they leave you're too high or they're like oh that's what you charge yeah all right good all right you're too low but if you get the yes but that's the sign that you're priced right for that avatar Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.    If you were to raise your prices by 1%, just 1%, so if you charge $100 an hour you charge 101. If you charge 3% as a, you know, commission or a percentage rate, you now charge 3.03% right if you just charge 1% more what percentage of your clientele would leave you like all right at a hundred you were fine but 101 forget it I'm out of here how many of you what would your percentage of attrition be if you raise your prices 1% 0, 3% if you raise your prices 3% what was your level of attrition 5% 5% technologists probably not but some companies like 5 a little sketchy 5% 0.   You might get a little bit 10% okay so a 10% so somewhere between 5 and 10 you're starting to see attrition pick the number where you believe you could raise your prices with zero or almost no attrition and understanding you probably can't go back to some of your contracted clients or things you already have agreements on, but with whomever you can, raise your pricing tomorrow.    Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO, just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.  There's no question about it, however, it's all in your presentation. So for example, what we recommend is that when you have the options and let's just say there's for our conversation, there are two options, right? There's the best in the better, right?  And so you always start out with the highest-priced one with all of the features. And Randy, you basically say, you know, based on the feedback that we get from our clients, we put together a package that I think aligns with what you've been telling me about. And you walk them through everything. And they'll say, oh, Randy, I like you, but I don't like you that much, you know, or I don't need all those bells and whistles. And that's when you say, yeah, well, there are some other options, you know, this actually comes with a guarantee, we'll start on a certain time, we'll finish on a certain time. But if those items are not important to you, then we do have some other options, I'm happy to talk those through with you.  And they say, well, wait a minute, am I going to be getting a different quality level? But no, just still the same team, still same liaison, you're going to have the, you know, there are some, for the most part, they'll be similar things. There will be at times, you will take away access to certain features, you know, at certain levels, for sure. But you assure them, they said, no, no, we're still the same quality company. But you're basically by us enforcing the start date and the finish date, you're asking to skip the line, no matter what.  Or you're asking us to be willing to let you skip the line, no matter what. You know, there are forces outside our control, supply chain this and development that. And wars in other countries where, or typhoons in other countries where our developers happen to work, that, you know, we are going to take the risk on. So if you want us to assume the risk, I'm happy to do that, but there's a price for it. Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gold, and this has been your #70secondCEO.

Keep the Buying Process Simple   Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO, just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.    You will have either two options in the beginning or three options. Now if you get into a conversation where they want to customize, then you can have all of your variations. You do want to keep it as simple as possible. In my business, I've always had two options. In another retail business I have now, we have three options.  You can go, there is a little bit of art to this, depending on who your avatars are and how that works. But you do want to keep it somewhat simple. You don't want to make it so confusing that they cash out.  You want them to kind of pick the kind of buyer they are, you know, good, better, best, and then let them customize as they make their way down the list. And in the good column, you don't allow much customization, right? In the better and the best is when you allow for customization.  And if somebody even chooses, like, I think I'm better or best, then that's a strategy call with one of your salesmen or your team members or your engineers, and then you can help them build the engagement or the product that they want. It's a great point. You do want to keep it as simple as possible.    Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.     

We Brag About the Premium Purchases We Make Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO, just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. Now think about this for a moment, because we all do it, right? Before I came into the Zoom room, I walked through your parking lot, right? I didn't see a lot of you -goes in the parking lot. Remember that car? I didn't see a lot of broken-down rust buckets in that parking lot. There's not one of you who drove to the meeting today that needs the car that you drove today. You don't need twin turbos and, you know, a Tesla and all-wheel drive. Oh honey, just in case I've got to go pick up the kids at school at 150 miles an hour in a driving range, I really needed to make sure that I got the Tesla S with ludicrous mode. It's all about family, honey. It's all about family, right? You don't need all those features. We all overbuy for the products and services that we are passionate about, or we place a high value on. And not only do we do that, we don't complain about the price, we brag about the price.  Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.   

You are not Allowing Your Clients to Say They Are the Best Clients for You  Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your#70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. Pricing might seem high, but as long as you match it in perceived value, you're going to differentiate yourself.    And here's why this is so important to have in place for the next five years and to prepare yourself for growth. Pricing is the number one language you will speak to your clientele, regardless of your business model.    There is no language stronger than your pricing. Because the moment you tell somebody what you charge, you've done two things. Number one, you've told them who you are. Am I the premium play, the middle play, or am I the economy play?    All are good. Just which one are you? More importantly, you've told them what kind of buyer they are. So my question to you is, are you giving your clients, your investors, a path to say that they are your best client or best investor?    Do you have that offering in place right now? Because if you don't, you are not allowing your clients to say that they're the best client for you.    Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.   

Purchasers Decide on Their Purchases Based on Top 2 Complaints   Hi, everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO, just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. Number one, you wrote down your five complaints. Put a page on your website called Problems We Solve, Problems We Solve.    And go on chat GPT or Perplexity or Claude or whoever you're using and give them a prompt and write an 800-word blog on how you solve each of those five complaints, because that's what people are searching for, right?    You're probably all using a marketing agency, they've all told you about SEO, and they all said you have to have the right keywords. That's okay. You add the keywords into your prompts, right, then have somebody go through them so it's not user-generated content, so it's all original, you know, cite everything properly, all that sort of thing.    Now you've got five, these are the five top topics you talk about most of the time, but there are two topics you talk about all the time. 70%, sorry, purchasers with no buyer's remorse based on a purchase, decide on that purchase based on their top two problems.    Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.   

What Kind of Buyer Takes Your Higher Priced Guarantee   Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. What kind of buyer says, I'll take your guarantee? They're not price-sensitive, right?    They care about what? Quality and getting it done? What else? Big one. They're a good client themselves. They understand the value. They don't want to do it with me. They want me to do it for them. One more.    It's a big one. It's the biggest one of them all. Well, they don't want a headache. You're all right, guys. Everything you're saying is true. The deciding factor most of the time was they were under some form of time pressure.    So they're building a commercial building and landscaping is not necessary because it needs to look pretty. Landscaping is necessary for soil erosion. They can't get their certificate of occupancy without it done, right?    So it was always me and the paver at the very end and we would always be working on the site at the same time. Don't stage your materials over here. Don't drive over this over here. We used to be working all the time because, without those two, you don't get a certificate of occupancy.    Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70sec0ndCEO.   

Higher Quality or Lower Quality   Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70sec0ndCEO. Just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. How many of you have hired a contractor who said, if I don't perform, if you perform as the client, but I don't perform as the contractor, you get to keep the whole thing and I give you all your money back?    How many of you have hired contractors that have done that? Buy a show of hands. No hands, does that mean zero? Zero. So if I gave you a proposal, who am I competing with? No one. Now, think about it.    I charge a 35% premium for that. Now, what if you said, all right, that's pretty ballsy, Carl, but I'm not paying your 35% premium. What would you think of me as a contractor if I even offered it? Would you think, oh, this guy's incompetent, and has no clue what he's doing?    Or would you say, hmm, he's pretty confident about his process? If he's offering this out to other people, he must be pretty good. He must at least think he can put his money where his mouth is and he could perform.    Which do you think more of? Would you think that I'm likely more competent, higher level, better quality? Or would you think just on that alone, I'm less competent, less quality, and likely going to fail?    Which one do you think going in, I'm more likely to be? Higher quality, lower quality.    Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould, and this has been your #70secondCEO.   

Leverage the Complaints in Your Industry   Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your#70sec0ndCEO, just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. One of the ways to differentiate yourself now, and this will set us up for the other parts that we're going to talk about, is we need to leverage the complaints in the industry, the complaints about your industry.    So take a moment for a second and write down what are the top five complaints about your industry. Maybe not about you personally, but you've heard it about your competitors. If you're out there, your sales guys are coming back, like here's the objections we're getting.    Here are some of the reviews about other companies and ourselves. Or if you get hired or somebody either buys your service or takes you on, they'll tell you why they went with you. And along the way of doing that, they'll tell you what the other companies you were up against did not do all that well.    Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould, and this has been your #70secondCEO. 

Change Your Business Messaging Part 2   Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. There's been so much volatility and winter is all about volatility. Since 2005, think about what we've been witnessing and what the economic climate has been like and the political climate has been like.    So nobody knows who to trust and things are so polarized. So you coming out and making a bold claim to the positive doesn't necessarily differentiate yourself in this market today. So I'm going to give you a couple of tactics to use where you can start to differentiate yourself.    Now, this is a lesson I learned in my very first business, but I found that it's become more and more popular is when you in today's market, especially now that we have search and we have AI, right, people don't inquire based on the positives necessarily.    Unless it's something near me, right? I want to get barbecue ribs near me. I want to go, you know, I want to go to a movie near me. Other than that, we are negative and problem-based searchers.    Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould, and this has been your #70secondCEO.   

Change Your Business Messaging Part 2   Hi, everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO, just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. We have to differentiate our businesses. I remember watching a movie with my kids eons ago.    Do you guys remember the March of the Penguins? Any of you got kids that are like teenage years, college-age because if you do, you got dragged to that movie too, just like I did. I was the guy two rows in front of you complaining like, oh my God, you got to be killing me.    But the business lesson I took out of this was, I'm watching the movie and I see the penguin turn the corner in the beginning and walk into a colony. And that colony of penguins was 10,000 strong, and they were all screaming at the top of their lungs.    And I realized, I'm like, holy crap, that's business right there. That's the internet right there. Everybody goes on social media, goes on their website, goes to a networking event, or puts in their marketing, or their collaterals, how they're so great.    But we live in a world today where people are skeptical of that, and that's not the message they want to hear. And so during this time, if all you're doing is saying how great you are, come work with us because your business will skyrocket, and your efficiencies will go through the roof.    They don't believe that anymore. Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould, and this has been your #70secondCEO. 

Hi, everyone. Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. What seemed to be those temporary requests during the pandemic, they're not temporary.  The pandemic accelerated the purchasing habits and the paradigm shift in the purchasing habits and expectations of all of our clients. What we took as annoying or maybe pesky requests at the time were permanent requests.  We find ourselves in a cycle of business that has about five more years left to it. It's the cycle of business we call winter. Winter started in 2005 and it's estimated to end in 2029. It's a 20 to 25-year cycle, but some of the entitlement programs during the Obama administration and early in the Trump administration kind of pushed that out a few years.  Remember cash for clunkers. Sorry, and even going back to 2008, cash for clunkers, cash for caulking of your homes. Remember all of those entitlement programs from 08 and through the pandemic, various times kind of pushed winter out a little bit. It kicked the can down the road a little bit. So we find ourselves in this season of volatility that's going to continue for the next five years. And a hallmark of this time is going to be these new consumer preferences. And so now let's take that to the next level and let's think about what happened during the pandemic. Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

 How to be a High-Value Player Hi Everyone, Carl Gould here your #70secondCEO, just over a minute of  investment per day for a lifetime of results. You’re going to have a premium offering, that really high McDaddy offering, and then, once you’ve convinced them of the value of your brand, then they’re going to go and purchase off the menu. And on that menu is something for every appetite and something for every budget. You need to compete to be the best in your niche. Not the worst. And if you’re pricing is in the middle of your niche, consumers think you are among the worst. Because if you are the highest price in your niche, they’re going to think, “Wow! They can command those high prices, they must know something.” Conversely, if you are the lowest in your niche, that is the second way you assert your authority. How can they be doing all of this and not charging us? They must know something. But in the middle? Nobody knows anything. That doesn’t take any talent to be in the middle. But to be the top or the bottom in pricing that takes talent. That takes an expert, you need to be an expert. Ok, for most of you watching/listening today. It’s easier to be the highest price in your niche as opposed to the lowest price in your niche. You go low price, now you’re on a huge volume game. Now you’re competing with the real big boys.   Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

Top 3 Traits You Admire Who do you Admire? -  Hi everybody, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO just one minute a day investment for a lifetime of results. Today’s topic, who do you admire? Take a moment and think about that.  What industry Titan, sports celebrity, political figure, historical figure do you really admire?  Write down the name of that person or persons. And, what I’d also like you to do is write down the key attributes that you admire about them.  Can you think about that for a moment, what are all the traits and attributes or personality styles and rules and values and guiding principles that really light you up? You look at the person and say, ‘Wow, that is somebody I really admire.’ OK, now what I’d like you to do is think of all the times in your life where having the resources of that person would be helpful and how those times in your life would be different.  So,  just below write down who do you admire and the top 3 traits about them, we are going to work on really growing and nurturing those traits in the future. Ok, I want to see your comments below. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

Cash Flow Positive, Buying Power, Operating Expenses Hey Everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO, just a little over a one-minute investment every day for a lifetime of results. Today’s topic is - Cash Flow. All right so, give yourself a ranking here: To what degree are your cash flow positive on a monthly basis?  Do you have at least six months of operating expenses in reserve to whether a storm?  Do you have enough buying power in order to take advantage of an opportunity should it present itself?   One is low like, ‘Oh my God, help!’10 is high, were really good there. Anything 7.9 and below and we got to talk, OK? You want to have, you want to be able to manage credit, that’s your buying power. You know at this level of your business you know, just buying on cash and always being in cash isn’t always the way to go. You want to manage your credit and manage it so you are building assets. And are you setting it up, setting aside enough in your business, in your cash flow operations so that you are building a bit of a nest egg? Ok, so you can weather that storm and you must be managing your expenses so that you are cash flow positive each month.  So, are you cash flow positive? Have 6 months reserve? Enough buying power?   Like and follow this podcast below. Send me a comment, which of the 3 do you need to work on? I want to hear from you. I am Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

Building the Balance Sheet Hi Everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. That’s right just a 70 second investment each day for a lifetime of results. Today’s topic is - Building the Balance Sheet.  You know it’s interesting people come to me and say, ‘Carl, grow my business.” What they’re talking about though is their profit and loss, their income statement, am I making more than I’m paying out? But you know what, you’re not building wealth there, it’s your balance sheet where you start building wealth so, what we’re recommending here is taking up to 3% of your gross revenue putting it in a segmented account to build your assets.  Buy the building in which you are operating Invest in deferred comp Insurance policies Key man insurance Life insurance Other insurance and safety vehicles like that, that fall into deferred comp Your retirement plan Investing in stocks Investing in other businesses How are you building your balance sheet?  So, of the things I just mentioned, which are the ones you still need to do? Like, follow this podcast, comment below, and tell me which area of your balance sheet you still need to build. This is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.