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This week’s guest is Josh Elledge of Up My Influence, an influencer company that helps turn their clients into celebrities, as well as build sales systems for them. Josh chats with Tom Fox about the importance of building customer relationships, and he shares a process-oriented approach to doing so.
 

 
Building Influence
Tom reflects that your brand is not your image; your brand is your relationship with your customer. Josh comments that he chose his company name to speak to his market’s pain point: they want to build their influence and authority. He helps them implement simple processes to make that happen, he says. His podcast, The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, is one such step. “I think that everybody has a message that could possibly impact the world. My job is to help you get access as quickly as possible… All you gotta do is just focus on serving, serving, serving; going from platform to platform; …and just do it with a… relentless, unceasing devotion,” he says.
Preparation and Storytelling
Tom comments on the educational content Josh sends to his podcast guests to help them prepare for their interview. Josh responds that it’s a win-win-win for everybody: he helps his guests be prepared so that his audience can fall in love with them. “My job [as a guest],” he says, “is to show up and deliver as much value as I possibly can in a short amount of time as possible. So prep is important.” 
He talks about the importance of storytelling in the sales process. First, he advocates spending time with your customers and giving them value for free. “If people get enough time and enough value from you on the front end, they’re going to build that belief that you can solve their problems, and they will pay you for that.” Next, he says that your customers should be able to substitute themselves for the experience of the person in your story. This way, they’re building up a mental narrative about how your company can help them. This leads to sales, Josh says.
Give First
“You’re in business to bring far more value than what you ask for in return,” Josh points out. He believes in giving lots of value first. Your prospects will let you know when they’re ready to take the next step, he says. Focus on building relationships. He invites listeners to explore his website to learn how they systematize relationship-building. Make it easy for customers to spend time with you, he says. “Just stop treating people like numbers and sales prospects! Just make it ridiculously easy for people to spend time with you.”
Resources
UpMyInfluence.com
The Thoughtful Entrepreneur Podcast