John Jantsch (00:01.058)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch and I’m going to do a solo show today. That’s right, just me, no guesswork. I want to talk about things like…
You know, I would say that it was cooked recently, but you know, in retrospect, when I look back, it’s probably something I’ve seen in over 20 years or so. Here’s a question I’ll start with. Why do smart businesses, smart business owners keep hitting the same beats? That’s what I want to talk about today. I feel very qualified to talk about this because I am a founder. I have experienced some of the same things I will talk about today. And I think that
To be honest, it helped me to see why this happened. So we work with a lot of founder-led businesses and what we’ve found in general is that they don’t have a very well-developed strategy. I mean, we’ve built almost our entire practice on strategic vision before tactics and many clients come to us for an initial engagement strategy. And in all cases,
They help us. have better thoughts. They have better priorities. They have better tactics. One of the things I have discovered is that even when a business grows, many times they face the same obstacle over and over again. A lot of it is because the founders’ patterns haven’t changed. The way they look at business, the way they look at delegating, the way they look at growth.
their fear. These are some of the things that I think end up holding the business back so it can’t really change, even though we’ve put in a better way of marketing in many cases. what I saw, here are some of the things I saw. Let me know if any of this applies to you. The founder is still heavily involved in all, or at least most, decisions. group,
John Jantsch (02:11.946)
if they are together one, kind of waiting around, what do we do next instead of having things? Delegates, although a good idea, every quarter I will really commit to it, it never really sticks. There’s not much accountability or it’s confusing who’s going to do what. And so it’s like the business always revolves around the same issues time and time again. So
I wonder, do you feel this bottle? Do any of these symptoms or ideas sound familiar to you? And what does it cost? I think the next question is also. I know that when we work with a client, in some cases, when we can’t get past this issue, the plan, no matter how good it is, stops or at least looks down. To align that.
that I hope that sometimes out of this cooperation strategy falls. People are skeptical. Growth is slowing down again. what is the solution? However, one of the things that we have added, and we will do as an independent, no doubt, but certainly as part or end of any partnership strategy that we do, is to add something that we call Founder’s Day.
The idea behind this is to have a guided, facilitated workshop, if you will, with the business founder before we start talking about their ideal client and their core message. Because I think that real change should start with that founder. And really before the business changes, it means, many times we have to teach them what we are going to include, but also how we are going to strengthen it.
Here is what it is. It’s a streamlined, streamlined experience that focuses on the founder’s transformation. It is not a cure, although it may be sometimes. It’s not really training or certainly not training theatrics you’ve seen there. It is not a strategy session. It’s a process designed to reveal the very patterns, the assumptions, the behaviors that really limit and stunt growth. the goal
John Jantsch (04:39.15)
that day or that session or that part, it’s not just understanding. that is, it is to make a change that can support the real organizational change that will occur when we put the strategy in place first, put in place the marketing operating system. So.
It will start with business purposes. And, that’s another thing that I think I’ve learned the hard way, but I think it’s weird that a lot of sales people are hired to do marketing plans, to do marketing strategy, to do sales tactics. And there really hasn’t been much discussion, if any, about what the goals of the organization are, what the goals of the business are. And we really need to bring those two things together. So we’ll start there, clarify exactly what the company wants.
before we talk about how the founder will change to get there. And then how the marketing will end up supporting that. So.
John Jantsch (05:45.516)
we’re going to go, I think we’re going to ask you to do some honest meditation to help get you off the growth path. I know that sounds harsh and I can say it again. I think I can say it because obviously, I’ve lived it myself. In many cases, we have to actually change the behavior that has been in the way and become part of the culture implicitly. And the only way to change them is to recognize that they exist. So we will go with you
ease the day, frankly, to help you understand what those are, not only what the business objectives are, we’ll start there, but then we’ll talk about what the obstacles are, what’s holding you back, what’s holding you back. And it will, in many cases, take some vulnerability, some brutal honesty. I know that, you know, if I have a challenge to be a problem, to be a problem, you know, actually
it is human nature to respond in a defensive manner. And I think we all know if you were doing this at any time, I mean, that’s obviously not helpful to the business itself. So, and surprisingly what got you here is that you have the desire, you are smart, you have a real drive to build that business.
But what we’ve found, especially when the business has grown to a certain level, one to $20 million, I mean, obviously something is going well. But what we found is that this is where they collide with the ceiling. And that’s kind of the old scenario of what got you here won’t get you there, won’t get you to the next level. So understanding what the next level is, then understanding again, or at least having a guide
Do you know why some of these patterns continue to occur, what will change, and how will you commit to change? It’s not supposed to be just a nice day, you know, where everybody sits and talks about their feelings. It will be a day where you will tie what you want to do to how you will lead and come up with a personal change plan for how you will lead.
John Jantsch (08:10.988)
which we believe is the thing that will take you to the next level. Now there are many aspects, obviously, to the performance, to the strategy first, to the implementation of the marketing plan. But what we’ve found is that this is the key to unlocking real change in business and making it stick. Many of us have experienced temporary situations, temporary changes.
The key to this is, this is what will make it stick. So this is something that we just launched and we’re going to start offering as a standalone product, if you like, or experience it. However, I got the chance for you to experience it for free. On March 31st to April 2nd, we will be hosting an event we call Future Proofing, your way to future proof your marketing agency. Direct it.
agencies and consultants in this case, because that is the market we serve. And so we will give three days. The first day will be this founders day. I will go people and get through it. You will take a workbook with you. You will leave with many questions. It will be a group setting. So it’s not going to be an intimate session with each individual that might and might need to happen. But we want people to hear this is part of duct tape marketing.
This is part of our marketing system now. It is the second day, and we will do one hour a day. We will give you homework. We will provide you with workbooks. You really will, we call it experience. It is not a workplace. It’s not a webinar. So day two we’re going to be thinking about how do we go from selling tactics to selling change, to delivering change to our customers? Because I think it is
the future. That is how we will future proof our business. And then on the third day, we’re actually going to present the attendees with what we call a marketing plan. In my estimation, it’s the best way to avoid what’s happening with AI. It’s something that AI can’t replicate and you’ll be sitting in the driver’s seat with it. I’m not suggesting we won’t use AI.
John Jantsch (10:32.878)
you will use AI in all the ways it is intended to be used and all the ways it works and all the ways it delivers value. But if all you do is deliver value using AI tools, well, you’ll be replaced by that tool. But if you actually have a framework and a system that we call a marketing operating system, AI can’t generate that. Now it can help you deliver it, but you will future proof your practice. So three days.
I will, of course we will promote this in other ways. But if you are interested, do you want to register for free? It’s the future of dtm.world slash. That’s like a dtm like dot marketing world slash future. And I believe it can be one of the most eye-opening experiences you can have, especially if you’re one of those people who thinks, am I going to be replaced by AI?
Is the agency world changing? Do I need a new model? I think we will present some ideas that may answer some of those questions. So finally, March 31 to April 2, three days in a row, an hour a day, and you’ll get homework and workbooks, the future of dtm.world slash. And if nothing else, I think the experience of going through a founder’s day to ask deeper questions than maybe what needs to be done today?
it may be worth the time invested. That’s it for today. Hope to see you one of these days soon out there on the road.
