Script and Resources: Decide on Your “Attraction” Vehicle

In this video, you will:

• • Review vehicles for attracting great contacts

• • Determine the best vehicle for your goals

• • Start setting up your vehicle

After completing this video, you will: 

• • Know your best vehicle for attracting great contacts

• • Be able to set up the vehicle to get started right away

• • Develop a plan for managing the vehicle

For the sake of this video, so that we are clear, the word “vehicle” means a “tool” or “platform” used to generate interest in connecting with you.  I want to turn your attention to the Resource Sheet provided with this video which includes links to some short audio podcasts I voiced for my Biz Dev Boost Series.  You’ll get some good tips and real stories as examples.

Now, the best way to attract people to you would be to offer them something almost every professional wants and appreciates - free publicity. It becomes your reason for connecting with others and will actually draw people to you.  We’ll talk about how you utilize this for business development later, but, for now, just focus on the development of an amazing and significant vehicle or platform for bringing people to you.

These are obvious options for vehicles with energy and time investment weight next to them 1-3 (3 being most)

• • Digital magazine (3)

• • Video podcast (2)

• • Audio podcast (1)

• • Newsletter/Blog (1)

• • Book (3)

Pros and Cons:

• • Digital Magazine:  Online platforms make it easy for publishing and circulation.  Heavy on content development.  You become a media source at this point.

• • Video Podcast:  My preference.  Fill up your calendar with interviews quickly with easy-to-embed YouTube videos straight from Zoom or your iPhone using iMovie.  Publish on your site and secure subscribers.

• • Audio Podcast:  Easy and free online portals for loading audio.  Zoom interviews saved to your computer separate audio from video so you can utilize just audio or both where you want.

• • Newsletter/Blog:  1 article or a single posting regularly posted.  Easiest of all, but not nearly as engaging for relationship building.

• • Book:  Lots of work, but you can incorporate interviews or engage co-authors.  Not as useful for ongoing relationship development due to time constraints.  But, you can break up a book into a series of booklets and keep rolling with attracting new people as guest authors.  This option is really as much about building your expertise and influencer status as developing a good vehicle for attraction.

What works best always is what works well with your goals, talents, and personality.  But, remember, the more senses you can engage in relationship building, the more solid the returns.  If you can see and talk to someone as opposed to jotting up an interview, you will have more opportunities to convey genuine interest and develop trust. It’s more personal. If it hasn’t clicked in yet, this vehicle you are building is for you to interview guests - it’s your built-in invitation that becomes your attraction feature.

That said, what you want when deciding on your vehicle is to:

• • Think about your time constraints and scheduling, but, also consider the return on your investment of time (because you can find free resources to help you do any of these options).  Benefits range from building your brand to attracting attention from major partners, lots of advisory board opportunities, and interviews that turn into business leads on the spot.

• • Think about what feels comfortable and natural for you given your talents.  You can always start with one vehicle and move to another later.  I did.

• • Think about starting with something that is easy and simple, and recruit a partner if that sounds like a smart idea for you.  Keep the workload purposeful, strategic, simple, and easy to do.  You’ll enjoy it and will be more likely to be consistent.

Now might be a good time to check in on some examples of people using their “vehicles” to attract great people to interview and also great business opportunities:

Marques Ogden is a former NFL pro football player who has his own podcast interviewing people with amazing stories.  He has constructed it in a way to help him secure great motivational speaking opportunities and his podcast has made it to the top of some popular podcasting sites.

Lisa Jones, a co-founder of the Global Goodwill Ambassadors Organization, produces a fully digital magazine and sells advertising. She uses it to spotlight her ambassadors around the world and also to bring contributors to her site and visit her online educational institute.

Toyin Umesiri, the founder of Nazaru, LLC, is a former Walmart supply chain expert who works in business development for trade, particularly with Africa.  She has a podcast and newsletter and plans major conferences - all of that keeps her in an “influencer” spot.  Her guests are high-level types and her activity is circular with each activity feeding the next.

I think you get the idea.

Here are some next steps:

1.  Decide on your vehicle
2. Research tools for your vehicle (free podcast or newsletter platforms, and so on)
3. Set up a production calendar.  Don’t let that scare you.  You can create that inside your Gmail as a separate calendar.  You want to be as consistent as possible.
4. Start by putting together a list of people you wish to interview
5. Put a simple standard list of questions together that will help you get to know the interview guest and where they are headed with their work
6. Put together a list of what “assets” you’ll need for them to provide for you (site links, bio, headshots, and so on.)
7. Consider where you will circulate these interviews and make sure you have those social accounts and or mailing lists ready (always remember to add your guests to the list when given permission to do so). Tag them with keywords so you can pull them back up.  If you add them to a special interview mailing list, great, but, if not, tag them that way so you can pull them up as interviewees when you want. It’s all about tracking - location, business or work type, and other topics of interest.
8. Make sure you inform your interviewees when they are published and get them to circulate with their networks.
9. Now, get started

(One of the logos to my "vehicle." It started out as an online magazine called "The Introducer" where all content was text and photos. All interviews now are in a format we'd call video podcast.)

Let’s review key points:

• • The vehicle is a platform for attracting contacts to you

• • Find a vehicle that feels comfortable for you given your goals, talents, and personality

• • Make sure that you start with what’s simple and not overwhelming or you won’t keep it going. Recruit a partner, if you need one.

• • The point of having the vehicle is that it becomes your reason for reaching great new contacts (as well as attracting them)

• • Activate your vehicle by organizing operational guidelines and finding interviewees

• • Start

The next video is all about building out your attraction vehicle.  I’ll give you more specifics that will finetune your efforts to set it up for business development.

Resource Sheet: Decide on Your Attraction Vehicle
Article by Mary Kurek:

https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/your-greater-good-business-accelerates-when-you-astound-yourself/

Biz Dev Boost Series by Mary Kurek:

There are 4 short audios you can access for tips and examples for ideas and inspiration:

1. https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/mary-kureks-bizdev-boost-podcast-series-episode-1-build-a-better-toolbox/
2. https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/mary-kureks-bizdev-podcast-series-episode-2-how-to-see-opportunities-in-conversations/
3. https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/mary-kureks-bizdev-boost-podcast-gaps-and-segues-how-to-see-the-opportunities-in-conversations/
4. https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/mary-kureks-bizdev-boost-podcast-episode-4-elevating-your-practice-with-a-viz-vehicle/

Course Author: Mary Kurek, President, Frontrunners Development, Inc.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marykurek

Website: www.frontrunnersinnovate.com

To email the author: frontrunnersdev@gmail.com

Copyright 2022 © Mary Kurek

The next video in this module is "Build Your Attraction Vehicle."

Module 3 - Segment 3:  Build Your Attraction Vehicle.

Script and Resources: Build Your Attraction Vehicle

In the last video, you identified and started to put together your attraction vehicle or platform for the purpose of interviewing great new contacts.  Now, let’s build out your attraction vehicle.

What you’ll learn in this video:

• • The significance of an interview aimed at business development as opposed to a feature interview

• • How to construct the interview so that you clearly see the opportunities

• • What to do after the interview as a means of business follow-up

After this video, you will be able to:

• • Know how to guide your interviewee through a purpose-driven interview that lasts between 20-30 minutes

• • Develop standard questions that help you see opportunities to serve

• • Follow up with the interviewee based on those opportunities

The reason why attraction works so well with the right vehicle is that you are putting yourself in the position of service.  You are serving the interviewee by giving them a place to talk about themselves, their work, their mission, their message, and even their dream...what they envision as ideal.  They will share their personal “why,” how they landed in the work they are doing, if they are writing or speaking about their work, and what direction they feel they are headed.  The process for the interviewee is actually fun.  Talking about one’s self has been scientifically proven to stimulate activation in reward-related neural regions of the brain. So, pleasure is greatly associated with this activity.  You are giving them a gift.

So, to make this “gift” mutually meaningful, we want to look at it as a business development tool.  You want to be able to use this interview as a piece of useful information (an asset) that you would forward to people where you see an introduction might be beneficial.  This is when you realize the significance of what you are doing with the interview and how you transform it into the tool you want it to be.  Like a one-pager, executive summary, pitch deck, or profile, you will be able to send the link to your interview as the “opener” to secure a business conversation with someone else.  Let’s look at how the interview breaks down into segments along with the reasons why you want to conduct your interview in this way. This unfolds in the order of how I conduct my own interviews.

• • Introductions - self and interviewee

• • Ask about the background (You’re looking for identifying factors and who they might know)

• • Ask how they got into their work or formed their company (You’re looking for their “why” - their mission and what’s important to them)

• • Ask about programs or operations relative to their work (You’re looking for potential collaborator opportunities)

• • Ask where they are headed with their work in the next year (You’re looking for new projects or gaps where they could use help)

• • Ask who they need to meet to help them expand their work  (You’re getting them to tell you who they need to meet - potential partners, resources, investors, etc.)

That last question is the most important.

Our interview with legendary NBA player Cuttino Mobley and his business associates to talk about his background, interests, and charity work.

(While interviewing former NBA legend, Cuttino Mobley, I met his friend and manager, Terry Briggs, pictured lower right, who, by the way, is the primary inspiration for me writing this course. And, as if I conjured him up, he just texted me while I'm writing this to set up a business call. During this interview, I got to know a bit about Terry and his wife's business interests. Understanding a little about people's directions and their "why" sets the stage for true relationship building and lots of opportunities.)

When complete, you have enough information to determine whether or not you can help them.  Keep a notepad handy and jot down names of potential people you’d like to introduce that may surface during the conversation.

Now, ask the interviewee to stay connected after you complete the interview. (Full disclosure here - when you reach out or they find you, it needs to be obvious that you aren’t just a media platform, you are a business developer first that happens to have a media platform.  It’s obvious on my website, Linkedin, and anywhere you find me that this is who I am, and often I mention ahead of the interview a bit about me and how I operate.)

What happens after the interview is the business development part of the conversation where you might mention a person or two that you believe they should meet.  If you seriously suspect a business transaction could occur, then share a bit more detail about how you operate.  If you’re not sure, it will always serve you to do a courtesy introduction.

If you’re wondering how effective this is, I’m going to share with you a few links to interviews I’ve done that have had amazing results.  You’ll find them on the Resource Sheet I’m providing with this video.  You definitely should take a look.

Now, let’s review:

• • The significance of the interview is that it is a gift that becomes a valuable business development tool

• • How you construct the interview matters, as you are information gathering and revealing opportunities

• • The last and most important question you should ask the interviewee is “who do they need to meet to help them expand.”

• • Immediately after the interview is when the business development part of the conversation occurs - when you determine if you can make a business or courtesy introduction

This ends this module, so please take the Quiz and move to the next module where we get into setting up your business development consultancy.

Resource Sheet: Build Your Attraction Vehicle

Links to Frontrunners Innovate Video Interviews that Became Valuable Business Development Tools

The benefit of watching these videos is that you’ll see the host use her interview template for building genuine trust and acquiring information to serve the interviewee. You’ll also see where gaps and opportunities are noticed.

1. https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/?s=Richard+Swett  (This interview resulted in involvement on a smart village development team.)
2. https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/?s=Ehsan+Vaghefi  (This interview resulted in a client.)
3.  https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/moses-busher-coordinates-life-changing-support-for-villagers-in-malawi/  (This interview produced a partnership with an international social impact organization based in Poland and an introduction to another interviewee prospect which resulted in a contract.)
4.  https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/mother-teresa-award-recipient-jillian-haslam-fights-poverty-from-a-place-of-knowing/  (This interview resulted in a client.)
5.   https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/?s=Nir+Gess  (This interview resulted in a major project partnership.)
6.   https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/aaron-smith-phd-innovating-education-for-workforce-development/  (This interview resulted in an ongoing client and partnership on several projects.)
7. https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/penny-heyes-of-the-trust-bridge-supports-data-security-and-the-industry-it-created/  (This interview resulted in a client, a client connection to another client who bought services from her, a content partnership, and an introduction to a potential investor for another client.)
8.   https://www.frontrunnersinnovate.com/dr-toby-malichi-hon-d-bus-d-h-l-is-a-business-diplomat-with-a-peace-building-mission/(This interview resulted in a partnership between him and another client, a partnership project, and the potential of a long-term contract.)

On the Frontrunners Innovate site, each interview is tagged with key words, so one can quickly and easily find topic-related persons or find their interview by name.  Interview pages usually have the person’s profile, website, and social links if they have them.  And, most times, there’s a bio inserted.  Lots of good information to share with prospects.

Preparation: The Pre-Interview Notes

What follows is an example of what can be sent out to interviewees before an interview. Your interview guests need to know a few things that will help the flow and create more benefits for everyone involved. Important note: Interview guests need to be aware that you are a business person who happens to have a media platform. You intend to utilize the interview to see if there could be some great introductions you could make for them. If so, then a business conversation may follow.

Pre-Interview Notes:

• • There’s no charge for the interview.

• • Interviews are conversational - no questions are sent in advance but we tend to follow this general flow: your background, why you are doing what you are doing, information on your business or organization and the work conducted, the direction you are headed for next several months, and who you need to meet to help you get ahead.

• • We appreciate interviewees who don’t “preach, teach, or speech.”  

• • Published interviews are not generally removed unless a situation of security occurs or information shared has been misrepresented.

• • No do-overs, so the first interview is the only one and we don’t edit content.

• • While interviews are often considered as publicity for interviewees, as Frontrunners Development is a business development agency, we consider interviews as potential business development tools and will look for ways to make meaningful business connections based on what is shared. *Business connections made during and after interviews with the host or co-hosts can be an opportunity for business development engagement. See below:

(Business Development details are discussed when opportunities surface during or after an interview or at any time upon your request. We take no responsibility for conducting due diligence on behalf of interviewees who aim to conduct business with connections we make. That said, we make introductions to and for people we have built relationships and trust.)  

If you have any questions before the interview, please feel free to reach out. Before the interview, we will need a color headshot in jpeg or png format, a short bio in pdf format, and any links to sites you wish to share.  

Course Author: Mary Kurek, President, Frontrunners Development, Inc.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marykurek

Website: www.frontrunnersinnovate.com

Copyright 2022 © Mary Kurek

This completes Module 3.  Click the button below to advance to Module 4.