An interview with Ryan Stewman The Hardcore Closer on Sales, Marketing, Funnels, and Confidence - #047.mp3

Being blindsided by a few career hits didn't stop Ryan Stewman's eye from seeing opportunity. It's served him well. He's built multiple six and seven figure businesses and helped countless entrepreneurs do the same through his company, Hardcore Closer. As a 4-time best-selling author, sales coach, podcast host, and blogger, it's safe to say he's got a winning formula for success.

In this episode, Adam and Ryan discuss lead generation, the importance of consistency, good content creation practices, and how to be confident when talking price.

Episode Discussions:

• How to use Evernote to log and organize content ideas
• Ryan's content creation methods
• Why taking action beats just talking about it
• How Ryan built a brand aroundHardcoreCloser.com
• Ways to syndicate content across different channels
• Lead generation recommendations for newer entrepreneurs
• Why you should write an article first and pitch it second
• Steps to getting your article published on big name websites
• The importance of being authentic
• Ryan's sales funnel from lead magnet to $30K Mastermind program
• Building confidence when talking price (internal cost objection)
• How to position yourself to show value and get your asking price
• The 2 jobs a salesperson has and how to execute them to get the sale
• How you can get a copy of Amazon's #1 selling sales book for free

2:53

Ryan's story:

• Corporate & freelance background
• Found success working in mortgages
• Grew business from referrals of people leaving the industry when market tanked
• Lost his job when CFPB law passed
• Had to figure out a way to earn money and avoid problems
• Has since built several multi-million dollar businesses

5:17

Hardcore Closer

• Started off as a joke
• Built his brand around HardcoreCloser.com — predominantly blogging
• Blog draws quarter of a million unique hits a month
• 60,000 subscribers

7:11

Lead generation

• Ryan writes 5 blog posts a week, records all videos and podcasts
• Current lead magnet: Elevator to the Top
• Has a proprietary back-end system that rates leads

"I actually go through the leads and have my sales team call the ones that are most qualified."

8:25

Funnel talk

• Book offer: "Elevator to the Top"- Free + shipping ($8)
• Professional video of live event ($47 upsell)
• Program: Break Free Academy Entourage ($297/mo.)
• Nurtures customer relationship (Phone calls and Facebook community)
• Live seminar ($5K event)
• Mastermind program ($30K/year)

11:02

Ryan's lead gen recommendations for newer entrepreneurs:

• Write articles in places like Huffington Post or Medium
• Be consistent (emails, social media posts, LinkedIn networking, etc)

13:22

"How are you coming up with content?"

"I don't have a cheat sheet where I steal other people's headlines. They're all original things I come up with because I go through these experiences..."-RS

• Uses Evernote to record ideas for blog posts and Whiteboard Wednesday videos
• Each Sunday, reviews notes and creates content
• Podcast producer extracts show content from archived blog posts (content syndication)

16:58

Outreach Strategy and Getting Published:

• Hired PR to introduce him to Entrepreneur
• Pitched until article was accepted
• Used Entrepreneur articles as credibility and leverage
• Went to Huffington Post
• Addicted to Success
• Contacted by Forbes to write articles

20:10

Why you should write your article first and pitch it second.

21:15

"Don't talk about it. Be about it."-RS

22:00

Confidence —Talking About Price

"As a salesperson, your job isn't to talk. It's to ask questions and listen. When you ask questions, they give you answers. When they give you answers, you can get an understanding of their problem."

• Understanding their problem demonstrates empathy
• Empathy results in their confidence in you that you can provide the best solution
• Then, price doesn't matter

Always investigate the project by asking questions before quoting a price.

24:32

"The number one reason people get the price objection is because they just said the price!"-RS

25:17

"Elevator To The Top" covers topics that were briefly talked about in this episode,

Including ways to help with confidence issues or jumping too quick on things like price.

"Everything you need to find yourself successful."-RS

25:58 "I enjoy talking about this and you can tell I'm passionate about it. I could go on forever. If you were like, 'Hey man, you know what, this is gonna be a four-hour show,' I'd say 'done, let's keep rollin'."

Questions? Email Adam directly at [email protected]

Connect with Ryan:

ElevatorTotheTop.com (Get your free copy of the book!)

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