How to sell service business
Four Keys To Selling Services: How to Sell Services To Businesses & Become a Personal Branding Pro
welcome to another edition of the do
this selmour show I am Dave Lorenzo and
today we're going to talk about how you
as an entrepreneur can leverage niche
marketing and speaking to grow your
business and today I am honored to have
someone who I use as a case study all
the time my friend my longtime client
mr. Brad gross let me tell you a little
bit about Brad and why you want to hear
from him today and the reason you want
to hear from him is because he's doing
exactly what I tell you to do all the
time he is leveraging his unique ability
as a professional speaker to grow his
business but he's focused on a niche
market Brad is an attorney and he's
based in Weston Florida he owns the law
firm of well the law firm of Bradley
gross that's his name that's the name of
his firm he focuses on intellectual
property and he works with technology
businesses and he even gets more
specific than that he's an expert in a
couple of very focused areas in
technology but his background is that he
started the way many lawyers start he
was a prosecutor in New York and then he
was a prosecutor down in Florida and
then he decided he wanted to get into
what his passion was and that was
technology so he really immersed himself
in the area of technology law became an
expert in that and now is like the
godfather of what are called managed
service agreements Brad's gonna tell us
all about that he's gonna tell us how he
focuses on being an entrepreneur first
and then a lawyer second and he's going
to demonstrate to us the skills he uses
as a professional speaker to build his
business before we get into all that
let's welcome him to the show Brad
welcome to the do this selmour show hey
Dave nice to be here all right so Brad
is obviously coming to us either from a
prison cell a hotel room or the bedroom
of his home so Thank You Brad for
joining us hopefully you get out on work
release soon yes well I I'm working from
the home office in the bedroom which is
much preferred to the sterile office
setting that I'm normally working at
them so I'm actually you
happy to be here and happy just to be
relaxed in this environment talking to
you and this is the beautiful thing
about being an entrepreneur you get to
do what you do best from whatever
environment you want to do it in and I
have the kind of relationship with Brad
where I can kid him so those of you who
are watching on YouTube please I need
you to understand that he's obviously
not in a prison cell if it is a prison
cell it's the nicest ly appointed and
furnished prison cell on the planet so
Brad talk to us a little bit about why
you chose technology law for your focus
in the first place how did you pick
technology law well I would like to
think that I didn't pick technology law
as much as technology picked me I
started out at a very young age age 10
or 11 as a programmer as a small
computer hacker how my little trs-80
model 1 level 2 with a 300 baud modem
and you know that was my passion they
say that you should always pursue your
passion in life well that was my passion
from a very very young age it's sort of
evolved into what it is today and I
think that because it started out as my
passion it probably is the reason why I
enjoy doing it so much why I find it to
be very comforting very stable and and
simply it doesn't feel like work all the
time I mean sometimes it does right I
mean work is still work but it feels
very natural because I pursued something
that I was passionate about that I
really started out with a young age and
turned it into something that has really
grown into a really great practice you
know Brad you mentioned that it doesn't
seem like work and to me that is such a
huge point that a lot of people miss
especially in the practice of law I I
know a lot of lawyers I know a lot of
entrepreneurs and one of the things that
the serial entrepreneur and the lawyer
has in common is they don't want to go
to the office every day and it's for two
different reasons the serial
entrepreneur has a five year time
horizon
he wants to get out of that business the
lawyer doesn't want to go to the office
every day because he absolutely hates it
he'd rather have a colonoscopy than
going to the law office and deal with
his partners you have hit on something
that I talk with a lot of my clients
about and generally when people come to
me and they say hey I need help
developing business I say well tell me
about what your unique ability is tell
me what your talents are I tell me what
you really enjoy it has nothing to do
it's completely separate from the
business that they're actually in so you
hit on the fact that you love what you
do so it doesn't really even seem like
work and for me that's a that's a key
point because if you're gonna spend all
this time developing messages that
resonate with your target audience it's
easier when you're already inside the
mind of your target audience so tell us
who are your ideal clients and what are
they most concerned about like right now
who's your ideal client and what are
they most concerned about so my ideal
client would be a technology provider
and by that I mean somebody who either
has technology and wants to provide it
to others to make their lives easier
more profitable right more productive or
or a company that requires the
technology to make itself more
profitable more efficient and so forth
and that's a pretty big niche when you
start thinking about it so the ideal
client is really a client that requires
not only technology but but needs to
reduce if not eliminate liability in
their lives that's really what it comes
down to you know I represent media
companies or represent digital agencies
managed service providers value-added
resellers equipment manufacturers and so
forth we represent them globally and the
one thing that they all have in common
regardless of size regardless of product
or service is that they all want to have
virtually no liability or at least have
a reduced level of liability in this
liturgist society we live in
so in order to do that they look for
people who not only understand the
liabilities they face
but understand what they do at a
grassroots level right it's not just you
know I'm not for example a guy who
understands computers and went to law
school I'm I started off as a little
computer hacker I'm not somebody who
just turns on the computer and says yeah
I understand how to use this operating
system and that really that grassroots
understanding helps companies feel
comfortable it makes them realize that
you know what you're talking about
and it also makes them realize that
they're not going to pay to teach the
person they're speaking to to learn
their business the person they're
speaking to namely me or my staff we
understand the business already and that
comes from as we said earlier you know
pursuing your passion and turning that
into a job turning it into your career
alright so Brad how did you end up
picking manage services as a as a market
niche what from a from a business
strategy standpoint made you select that
area well I saw the need so we're going
back to around 2000 to 2003 when
computers generally we're starting to
become what they called back then
distributed so they started to
distribute information into various
locations different physical locations
instead of just being on one desktop
suddenly you know things started to
become distributed over broad geographic
areas and that need created the need for
distributed computing created the need
for agreements and and understandings
between technology companies and the
people that they were serving and I saw
that need you know we would have I would
have a client that would come in and
start discussing its distributed network
and how it wanted to expand and maybe
move things into the internet and you
can leverage the internet and the web
more often than not and I listened and I
find that and you know really if I think
back to some of the keys
that that launched me into this area it
wasn't so much that I made these
aggressive steps and and moved into this
area it was more than I listened I
listened to what people were asking for
I listened to what they were starting to
do and when you really listen and you
think gee that's a problem how do we
solve that that will push you in the
right direction so I think that keeping
your pull your finger on the pulse of
the industry and talking to clients not
just about what the need is on the table
in front of them right now but what are
their goals three years out five years
out and so forth they'll tell you what
they need and if you can figure out a
way like I did to leverage what you do
to satisfy that need then not only do
you have a client at that moment you're
gonna have a client for the next three
to five years and that's what I did I
love it that's great
so how has that benefited your business
how have you been able to reap the
rewards of focusing on exactly what your
clients need and delivering it to them
so it's benefited my business obviously
because we from a very very early point
from almost the its infancy of
distributed computers which is now
become managed service providers and so
forth you know we I got in at the ground
level and I've been working with it ever
since so that helps obviously my
business because we were there first and
I think that we probably have the most
obvious conspicuous presence in that
part of the industry it also helps the
business because when you do what you
love to do and you do what your passion
is and you do that which you understand
best that comes across that comes across
to your clients that comes across to the
people who are considering hiring me
especially you know where I see it is in
these what I call the fashion shows all
right the fashion shows so a client
technology client will come in to the
office and they want to talk to me but
they're also interviewing a lot of other
law firms right they're interviewing the
thousand-person law firm
of the 500-person law firms and then
they'll come into a boutique firm like
mine because they're doing their due
diligence and what I have found is that
because I pursue my passion and because
I am engaged in things that I really
like doing they will often most often in
fact virtually always hire my boutique
firm for that need because it comes
across the understand that oh here's a
guy who understands what we do yeah
that's a big law firm out there and you
know they might have five hundred people
but they're just going to bounce my
thing around until they find the right
person there and no one's really gonna
get me here's somebody right here's
somebody who knows exactly what he is
doing in what in my area and so it
really benefits the firm it really does
it's helped my career it's benefited me
in that I have been able to convey ideas
and philosophies and strategies to
technology clients that others simply
can't perfect very good description
thanks very much for that so if you're
just joining us folks and you're just
dropping in somehow you stumbled upon
this video and YouTube my name is Dave
Lorenzo everyday I host a show called
the Dave Lorenzo daily at 5 p.m. on
YouTube once a week every Thursday at 12
noon I host a show where I interview an
author and expert or the CEO of a
company who is absolutely killing it
today our guest is Brad Gross he owns a
law firm in Weston Florida and his focus
is on helping technology service
providers and digital agencies with
their legal needs and he does exactly
what I tell people to do all the time he
leverages speaking engagements to grow
his business and he focuses on a very
specific market niche we're gonna
continue to talk to Brad and I want to
get into how he leverages his incredible
ability to be a fantastic speaker but
before we do that if you're joining us
on YouTube you need to hit that big red
subscribe button you need to punch that
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reason you need to do that is because I
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if you were watching live you would have
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youtube we've got all kinds of great
stuff over there all right Brad now I
want to talk about your ability to grow
your business leveraging speaking
engagements how did you when did you
first realize that you were able to use
speaking engagements from a business
development perspective and then when
did you realize that speaking was going
to be your primary method to introduce
yourself to new people in your market
niche well I would like to say that I
realized that early on and that I
pursued it and I honed that skill but
that would be disingenuous the genuine
answer and I know you weren't expecting
it nor did you solicit this is that I
realized that when you told me that that
was really you know that could have been
my strong point and we're going back
what now about 10 years ago 11 years ago
when when I started to work with you so
kudos to you and you just got an
unsolicited endorsement but it's true I
was doing speaking engagements back then
because you know I was told that I had
to get in front of a bigger audience the
problem of course is that it doesn't
just relate to getting in front of a
bigger audience you have to have a
message right you have to have a
strategy going in you have to have a
message that you're trying to deliver
you have to think about the pain points
of the audience that you're speaking to
and you have to do it in a way that is
jargon free and if you can you know
perfect those skills which you helped me
do again unsolicited endorsement for
those listening it will it will launch
your career it will push your
productivity exponentially and that's
really what I did with your help and and
experience I engaged you know not just
any speaking engagement I didn't just
get in front of any crowd that would
have me because you could always find a
crowd that will have you right you'll
always find some
yeah we need a speaker come on in no you
first have to find your target audience
and and figure out who that is and you
also want to make sure in my opinion
that the target audience has the ability
to hire you or to make a decision
because if you're speaking to people who
do not make decisions well then you're
gonna feel real good about yourself but
it's from a career perspective from a
business perspective it doesn't really
help you right that was the issue when I
you may remember Dave that there was a
time that I was on NBC TV I was a
talking head for Technology law was
great you know I had a lot of fun it was
great for the ego I would be on TV and
so forth but I wasn't reaching a target
audience I wasn't reaching CEOs no CEO
was watching me at 4 o'clock in the
afternoon on the local news talk about
technology and computer law so you know
I think that the skill set of target
audience message pain points and jargon
free I think those are the keys to
speaking and acquiring clients from your
speaking engagements perfect very very
very well said and I appreciate your
kind words explain to the audience that
you don't just show up throw up and
leave you actually you have a plan going
in and then what do you do to make sure
that each time you go to speak you come
away with solid leads and you convert at
least some of the people in that room
into business how do you make sure that
you take the buts that are in the seats
and convert them into clients well the
best way to convert a an attendee into a
client is well there are two ways you
either teach them something that they
didn't know what they should write and
make them aware of an issue I should say
that they have a problem they have that
they didn't know they add but now they
realized it or of course you touch upon
an issue that they're well aware that
they have a problem that they're they're
well aware of and again convey the idea
that you're the person to help them
solve it so
you know I think that the very initial
example that you gave me 10 plus years
ago and I have stolen the idea and I've
told it several others these is that it
was the idea of the physical I'm going
into a doctor's office and for a
physical and yeah you remember that and
I'm I'll convey it in 30 seconds or less
now when you go into a doctor's office
and you ask for a physical and they give
you a physical you know and they put you
down in the schedule for two weeks or so
you don't think much of it because it's
two weeks from now and then of course if
the day after the physical you get a
call saying look we think we saw
something we're not sure we want you to
come on back into the office and take a
look and then I remember you asked me
Dave you said if I then said come back
in two weeks how would you feel and I
remember looking you and saying well I
don't want to come back in two weeks I
want to come back right now and you told
me right I want everyone in your
audience to feel like you just told them
you saw something on their x-ray you saw
a little something might not be big but
you saw something and I want everyone to
walk out of that room thinking I have to
go see this guy now because he thinks he
saw something well the same goes for
every speaking engagement that you that
you do that you engage in you have to
make the audience understand that not
only do you understand their problems
and their issues but they have these
problems they have these issues and that
the way they're going to solve them is
not by you know feeling good about what
they're doing or leadership roles within
their company it's the way they're going
to solve their problems by calling you
or if I'm speaking by calling me that's
what you need to do you need to touch
that pain point and make sure that they
understand that not only is it a pain
point they have but you're the guy or
you're the woman who can solve can fix
that pain point that's the strategy that
you taught me that I pursue and that
launched a career that has led to my
boutique law firm all right well so tell
our folks that are watching now tell the
people who are who are watching us on
YouTube listening on the
cast on Spotify iTunes whatever tell
them specifically how you acquire these
speaking engagements now what the way
you get speaking engagements now is very
different from when you first started
how do these engagements come to you now
so how they come to me now is largely by
word of mouth okay because when you
speak at one in two events and you're
seen and people like you they start
talking and when they start talking
other events sort of pick up on that and
they'll reach out to us that is the way
that candidly it's happening right now
however it's not it hasn't always been
like that and I think in order to get to
that position what you're first needs to
do is you need to talk to your clients
you need to talk to the people that are
your customers and you ask them what
events do you go to what what where do
you what do you read what industry
magazines do you read what events do you
go to in the next six months where do
you see yourself attending alright and
then they'll tell you I mean they have
very definite ideas about what they read
and where they go and so on and at that
point you take that information and
quite candidly you simply call the venue
or you reach out to the venue and you
explain I'm so-and-so I deal with these
pain points I have a lot of customers
that have recommended your venue to me
or your your magazine to me and so on I
would like to talk to you about adding
value to what you do and I think that
those are the words that are very
important when you're trying to find a
speaking venue or a magazine that you
want to write for you're going to add
value not just to contributor not just
another speaker because speakers and
contributors or a dime-a-dozen
you add value and again I'm not saying
anything that you Dave don't already
know because you talk this to me I'm
just regurgitating it to you but
hopefully I get an A and in my
memorization and utilization skill add
value by asking your customers and your
clients where they go and what they do
it's a great source it should be your
first source
all right and the final point I want you
to I want you to bring out for our
audience is the value in giving a very
focused narrow presentation as opposed
to covering everything there is in an
entire universe you do a really good job
of picking a specific topic that is
right in the front of the mind of your
audience what's the value in doing that
oh it's crucial you know I learned as a
prosecutor way back when that a jury
will only remember the last question or
the last two questions that you you know
hammer a witness on a cross-examination
that last three days they're not going
to remember what you started with
they're not even gonna remember the
middle they'll remember the last five
minutes okay and why is that because we
can only you know we can only retain so
much in our brain right all the things
going on the distractions in life so you
really have to hit upon the two three or
four points that they're thinking about
that they will retain that your audience
will retain so when I go into these
speaking engagements I think what are
the three or four points that are really
keeping them up at night right that they
that the CEO looks up at the ceiling at
night and he or she thinks okay I'm not
gonna sleep tonight because of whatever
it is and they're usually two or three
or four of those points and you hit
those okay if you hit those and you put
those inside of a much larger
presentation you've diluted those
problems you haven't addressed those
problems but if you hit those and say
thank you call me I can help you with
those problems you're gonna get
callbacks you're going to get clients
because you've touched the pain point
you've done it in a way that is concise
and it is the strategy to making a
speaking engagement successful great
wonderful summary and folks if you're
wondering how you can get in touch with
Brad I'm putting Brad's contact
information in the description on
YouTube his contact information in the
podcast bio box that is included
wherever you get your podcast it'll also
be on my website right down below on the
screen
right now I have Bradley grosses phone
number his contact information so that
you can call him directly and here's the
thing let's say you don't work in
technology Brad is a full-service
intellectual property attorney he
handles everything from trademarks to
copyright issues and if you're one of my
friends who fancies themselves as a
professional speaker you're a member of
the National Speakers Association Brad
Gross is going to be your best friend
because he can help you take your
content and license it to other people
because he also does licensing and if
you don't know what licensing is we
could probably do more than one show we
could probably do a series of shows on
that and Brad's an expert in that area
too I wanted him to come on today
because he's an entrepreneur and he
attracts new clients using speaking in a
very narrow niche market and he expands
his market out from there and that's why
I wanted him to come on the show and
speak with us today but he's a
full-service intellectual property
attorney if you work in the area of
intellectual property or you own a
business and you want to monetize your
intellectual property give Brad a call
he works all over the country because
intellectual property law is covered
under federal law
so he's licensed in Florida and New York
but he can work on intellectual property
issues all over the country Brad what is
the one thing the one thing you want
people to take away from the time that
we spent together today what would you
say is the one most valuable lesson that
we highlighted in our conversation today
pursue your passion I think pursue your
passion pursue the thing that you're
good at with or that you that you're
that you're good doing and and I think
that it can be incorporated into just
about any any job right if you like
technology then make your workplace more
technologically oriented right if you
are into art or you're into some sort of
I don't know anything that that really
piques your interest on a daily basis
try to see how you can incorporate that
not only into your physical surroundings
but into what you do and convey that to
your clients
them know that you're doing things that
you're passionate about that you love
because your clients will pick up on
that they will they'll pick up on that
they'll enjoy it they'll you it and
they'll pay for it they will definitely
engage you because you are knowledgeable
and doing what you love to do that's the
message I think that you need to convey
to what we've been talking about for the
past half hour or so very wise words
from a very wise man my very good friend
Brad Gross thank you for joining us
today and folks this is the do this sell
more show please check back with us next
Thursday at noon when we release a new
episode
Brad it's been a pleasure having you on
thank you for joining us folks until
next week I am Dave Lorenzo and here's
hoping you do this and sell more
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