Jon Carson Consulting April 2021

Jon Carson Consulting April 2021

April 2021

WATER TO YOUR TEAM

Contrary to what many folks may think, my favorite team is not the Cowboys, Broncos, Vandals, or Buccaneers. In fact, it’s not a sports team at all. Instead, the team that you see pictured here on the cover of my newsletter is my all-time favorite. Nixon and Charley are Belgian breed draft horses (I’m the one in the middle, in case you were wondering). These horses can weigh anywhere from 2,000–3,000 pounds and stand 6–6 1/2 feet tall. They are indeed gentle giants. You may recognize another breed of draft horse from the popular holiday Budweiser commercials, which feature the world-famous Clydesdales. One of my many hobbies when I’m not coaching, mentoring, or making secret shopping phone calls for my clients is announcing draft horse pulling contests. When I’m working around these horses at the fairgrounds, I always notice the owners taking water to their horses. They don’t make the horses look for water or walk the horses to water; they bring the water to the horses . In your business, how are you treating your team? Research consistently demonstrates that most people leave jobs not because of poor pay or lack of promotion, but because of their manager. What does “taking water to your horses” mean in this context? Well, it’s thanking your employees every day for working hard for you. It’s showing them how they matter, and, in some cases, it’s delivering a literal bottle of water or lunch to them. Do you know your employees’ spouse’s names or their kids’ hobbies? Perhaps more unnerving, do you even know your employees’ names? The horse team I’m holding in the photo answer to Nixon and Charley. You can bet that I know their names, and when they see me coming at feeding time or when I bring them water, they respond. This team will pull 8,000 pounds or more, not because they get paid a lot, but because we bring them water. It’s not just about finding great employees. It’s also about retaining the exceptional ones you already have. The competition is trying to steal them. Bring water to your horses and create a team that works as hard and is as loyal as Nixon and Charley.

-Dave Tester

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W hen it comes to securing leads, the follow-up email is hard to beat. One study found that a 12% response rate from two emails increases to 15%–16% with a third email. If you play your cards right, the success of your email marketing could, in large part, depend on your follow-up emails. So, how do you create ones that maximize positive responses from leads? KNOW YOUR GOALS. You should have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish with your email campaign. Which metrics are most important to you? The number of times recipients open your follow-up email? That they click a link in the text? That they reply? Maybe tracking total conversions resulting from follow-up emails is important to you. Whatever the case, knowing your goals is a good first step. FIND THE IDEAL NUMBER OF FOLLOW-UPS. Obviously, not following up at all is a recipe for abandoning several potential leads. However, sending too many follow-ups can leave potential leads annoyed and unwilling to look into your business. According to several studies, the ideal number of follow-up emails is no less than three, but no more than seven. TIME YOUR FOLLOW-UPS RIGHT. You don’t want to space your emails so far apart that leads forget about you, but you also don’t want to spam their email box so often that they get annoyed. A good rule of thumb is to wait at least 48 hours before sending a follow-up email after the initial email. After that, wait 2–4 days before sending another. CRAFT APPEALING CONTENT. This point is worth its own article, but briefly put, your follow-up email content is incredibly important. Create a subject line that will grab readers’ attention. Then, be polite, direct, friendly, and personable in each email. As you send out more follow-ups, become more specific about the deal you’re offering and make it more enticing. Above all, you should constantly tweak your follow-up content and overall strategy as you gain new information. As you continue to create follow-up emails, you’ll learn what works best.

CRAFT THE PERFECT FOLLOW-UP EMAIL THE (NOT SO) SECRET RECIPE

TESTER-

MONIAL

Are you ready to better yourself and your business? Have Dave secret-shop your front desk today! Call 208-707-9807 or visit GoDaveTester.com for more details.

“What I like best about Dave’s training is how in-depth he is willing to go to meet our team’s needs. He makes sure we are understanding and implementing the training. Dave is great with communication and follow-up.”

Check out Dave’s new book, “Fearless Communication: How to Energize Your Team for Success on the Phone”

Sarah Mixon Executive Assistant Alderus Mortgage

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HOW TO GET FROM ‘ZERO TO ONE’ Create and Nurture Original Business Ideas

“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” That’s entrepreneur and author Peter Thiel’s favorite interview question. To Thiel, a person’s answer to that question provides insight into

of game-changing businesses. As a co-founder and investor in a number of companies that have changed the business landscape, Thiel has some authority on this subject. He co-founded Cofinity (which later became PayPal) and invested in startups like Facebook, SpaceX, Lyft, and Airbnb whose ideas were so novel at the start that they were perceived as risky by many. Throughout the book, Thiel shares his wealth of knowledge garnered from a long, successful career of recognizing and acting on original ideas. According to him, and anyone else who has ever tried creating something wholly unique, developing an original idea is no easy task. The difficulty of originality even led Mark Twain to once say “There

coming up with original ideas is possible, and he provides readers with helpful tips and lessons for how to get there. One such lesson: Stop trying to be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg because “if you’re copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.” Thiel uses his favorite interview question to try to identify original thinkers. These are the people who take their businesses from zero to one because they looked at past successes and thought, “I can do it differently, and I can do it better.” If you want to be in that group, then reading Thiel’s advice in “Zero to One” is a great place to start.

whether they’ll be able to find success as an entrepreneur. Ideally, if

you can answer with something like “Most people believe in X, but the truth is the opposite of X,” then you’re well on your way from zero to one and creating an original business idea. That’s what Thiel explores in his book “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future.” “Zero to One” is all about coming up with and nurturing unique ideas, which are the foundation

is no such thing as a new idea. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.”

But in “Zero to One,” Thiel proves that

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos (My mom’s secret re ipe)

Take a

Ingredients

BREAK

• • •

1 onion, thinly sliced

• •

1 lime, juiced

1 cup corn

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs 12 corn tortillas, as desired Guacamole, as desired

1 can diced tomato, drained 1 large jalapeño, deseeded and diced 4 cloves garlic, minced

•

•

• •

•

Salsa, as desired

Taco Seasoning • 2 tsp cumin • 2 tsp oregano •

• • •

1 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 tsp paprika

Salt, to taste

Directions 1. In a small bowl, combine taco seasoning: cumin, oregano, paprika, chili powder, pepper, and salt and stir to combine. Set aside. 2. Place onion, corn, tomatoes, jalapeño, garlic, and lime juice in a large slow cooker. 3. Place chicken thighs on top of the veggies and season with half of the taco seasoning. 4. Turn chicken over and season with the remaining taco seasoning before mixing the chicken and veggies together so everything is well combined. 5. Cook on the high setting for 3 hours or the low setting for 6 hours until the chicken is cooked through. 6. Remove chicken and dice into small pieces, then put back into the slow cooker. Mix and replace the lid. 7. Cook the chicken mixture for another 10 minutes so the flavors can marry. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, place the chicken taco mixture on corn tortillas and top with your choice of toppings.

Corner Post MINISTRY

If you would like to listen to Dave’s spiritual podcast, visit CornerPostMinistry.com.

“He is not here; he has risen!” – Luke 24:6

“You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.” – Acts 3:15

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6700 N. Linder Rd., Ste. 156 #297 Meridian, ID 83646 208-707-9807 GoDaveTester.com

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Water to Your Team

How to Craft the Perfect Follow-Up Email

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Tester-monial

‘Zero to One’: A Book Review

4 MLB Teams Poised for a Great Season

DON’T COUNT THEM OUT 4 Teams to Watch This Baseball Season

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS The award for best offseason ought to go to the Cardinals, who, all winter long, appear to have outwitted their Milwaukee and Chicago rivals — the Brewers and Cubs were the top two teams in the

This is no joke: The 2021 Major League Baseball (MLB) season will begin on April 1. While you may wonder whether the Los Angeles Dodgers can repeat as champs or if the Tampa Bay Rays can exact their revenge, don’t count these four teams out just yet. MINNESOTA TWINS You don’t make it to the playoffs with the best record in all of baseball and not make it into some kind of list. The Twins are going to be a fun team to watch because they have a chip on their shoulders. While the team managed to score 269 runs in just 60 games, they also lost their record-breaking 18th straight playoff game in 2020. If they can get consistent pitching, both starters and relievers, they will be in the hunt at the end of September. DETROIT TIGERS There is a benefit to repeatedly being near the bottom of the league: You get good draft picks. The Tigers are on the cusp of finding that special blend of offense and defense in the coming season thanks to some much-needed depth by up-and-coming pitchers and first-round draft picks — so much so that Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com has them as the top team that missed the playoffs in 2020 who could make a solid run.

National League Central last year — by acquiring third baseman Nolan Arenado and re-signing Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina. The Cardinals are favored to win the Central if those off-season moves pay off.

SAN DIEGO PADRES

After acquiring Manny Machado in a big trade in 2019, the Padres have continued to improve, especially against difficult opponents. The Padres were a tough team last year, defeating the Cardinals in the wild card round and losing to the eventual World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Expect them to be near the top of the standings in September.

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