How Jim Padilla Fosters Long-term Client Relationships

[00:00:03] Hector: Hello and welcome to another episode of the how to scale a business podcast. My name is Hector Santhia Stebon and I'm your host for today.

[00:00:12] Hector: Our special guest is Mr. Jim. And a business growth strategist. We're gonna talk about today we got started, we're gonna talk about finding money that may be walking right by you, especially as you're starting to scale your business.

[00:00:20] Hector: Jim, to the show and thanks for hanging out with us today.

[00:00:23] Jim: , So glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:25] Hector: We were chatting before we hit the record button that , you've been doing this for a number of years. helped lot of people and people may look at your brain. You've built quite a brand. You've got a name online and , you're doing the thing and people, they look at that and they see the end game.

[00:00:37] Hector: Take us back to us. Like, where did it start? though, because, I imagine that it didn't start there. You didn't come out of the womb being a great speaker, a great closer, so take us back a little bit.

[00:00:47] Jim: Going back to the childhood piece, I was born to in an abusive environment. My parents were teenagers when they had me. Dad took off. Mom did the best she could with what she had. But, , I essentially ended up in foster care as a teenager on the streets and gangs at 16 and in jail by 19.

[00:01:03] Jim: And when you spend the first 20 years of your life spending every waking minute trying to figure out how to read the room so that you can stay Alive and be protected. You learn some incredible skills. Little did I know that this was going to be, , make millions of dollars over the next, , several decades teaching other people how to read the room so that they can basically show people that you're not a threat.

[00:01:26] Jim: You're an ally and that they can take down their defenses and want to buy from you. Because so many times when people don't buy, it's not because they didn't want it. It's because they're so busy trying not to be sold to or trying to protect themselves from you getting in their pocket that they're not actually connecting to the things that you're talking about.

[00:01:42] Hector: I've heard that a number of times recently. It's been coming up. I just interviewed Julio Amante. He's who runs the wrong to strong brand. He came out of prison and is now training. , inmates in prison to be personal trainers. So they have something to do.

[00:01:55] Hector: And what was interesting is that he's talking about the same thing and bring those skills that he learned kind of a different life into the current one. He talked about a number of, experiences in quote, unquote, the real world or the outside or the corporate world or whatever, because they don't directly translate, right.

[00:02:12] Hector: He kind of felt like a bull in a China shop sometimes. Was that, , an experience that you had, or was there some, , like learning experience in the business world or on a stage or, , in these kinds of, , more quote, unquote, professional environments that kind of paved the way to, combining both of those things.

[00:02:28] Jim: The biggest piece of learning was understanding that I had a skill set. The skill set doesn't change the way you tap into them. It's just the intention behind them changes because you can take from people. You can influence people and persuade people and move a room to that may not be to their benefit, but it is to yours.

[00:02:44] Jim: And that's what I started doing. I will learn how to take advantage of people really well because I need it for me. And once I started recognizing that it wasn't going to benefit me to have a one time transaction, I want it to be able to be valuable to people over time. And in order to be valuable to people over time, you have to really help them.

[00:03:02] Jim: You can't just. Part them from their money. And so I started learning how to use my gifts and skills to serve people instead of to get from people. And that was really the game changing piece for me. Cause I started recognizing that the more people I actually helped, there was no limit to what I could earn in revenue or the impact that I can make.

[00:03:19] Hector: Does it seem like the businesses that you're working with, do they have that wrong? I would imagine that most people, most business owners don't get into business looking to take advantage of people. However, I would imagine they're still missing the mark or that this is still a blind spot that people aren't quite seeing.

[00:03:36] Hector: So what what do you see that that some of these other businesses aren't really seeing with regards to simply just trying to take advantage of people in the right way as opposed to the wrong way?

[00:03:49] Jim: It's interesting cause so many times, I think people at a core, we operate from some kind of sense of fear. We always have some sort of, do I have enough? Am I getting enough? Am I doing enough? Or is it, I'm getting, do I have the validation that I need? If more people buy from me, is this telling me that I'm great or needed?

[00:04:05] Jim: And it doesn't really matter what level, of that happening or you can overcome it faster when people are at a bigger levels because you have to grow more to reach It but I see people at , seven eight nine ten figure Businesses that are still experiencing some of that and one example We had a client that we were working with a well named well known expert in the coaching consultant world We were doing a big launch with her and we had, , 55 partners of which only, , 12 of them produced anything, but we had manage and babysit all these partners through this launch.

[00:04:35] Jim: And so I told her, I said, look, you're a well known name. You're one of the go to people in this space for what you do is that let's to make 20. Five partners on this next one, let's really zero in on the ones that we actually want and need so that we can have a better outcome, a better, more alignment.

[00:04:50] Jim: And she agreed with everything I said, and she was doing this in her head, ,but then she went out and the next launch, we came back with 77 partners.

[00:04:58] Hector: She didn't assignment.

[00:04:59] Jim: She just couldn't help herself because she's so wired to just say yes to people who want us, we could do more with less if we have a better strategy instead of just trying to do more.

[00:05:08] Jim: But now we have more where now our strategy is kind of out the window because we have to, our strategy goes to managing all of this instead of leading them through better plan.

[00:05:16] Hector: I want to get into some of these strategies because I know that's really where you, that's your bread and butter is coming in, seeing kind of the pieces that are there and then going, okay, here's how we can put these together and deploy them. But before that, I have to think about the listener who's going, well, who the hell is this gym guy though?

[00:05:30] Hector: ,we had a tough environment and , sure you can sell it, but I us up on what happened in between, you creating this business where you're helping 789 figures and kind of the 19 year old who's trying to figure out what to do with their life.

[00:05:44] Jim: My challenge my life, I was trying to find my footing. I was trying to figure out who's Jim and where does he fit? Once I started realizing that there was other people to help besides me, then I started figuring, okay, how can I be useful? And I think too many times we get focused on what's the product I want to sell, what's the thing I want to push to people.

[00:06:00] Jim: And I just started recognizing that, , if I can just be a valuable player in your world, , my usefulness will show up some places I'll have more or not. But when I'm not the person who has everything on the line, I can speak more clearly into what you do. So if it's your business, you have to find the person who has more to gain or lose than you.

[00:06:17] Jim: And you can be a resource to them.

[00:06:28] Jim: Otherwise you're just showing up as the person trying to push your product on people. And even if it's something they absolutely need, usually your product is the least important part of the process, they need to know that there's a problem to be solved. There's a journey to be acquired.

[00:06:33] Jim: There's a cause to be filled. There's a mission to be conquered. And you are an ally because you can see where they're going and you have a way to help them get there with less pain, less, . Discomfort, less cost, less risk. Whatever the thing is that , you minimize in that process. And when you can just help, when you can just get people into that place.

[00:06:53] Jim: And here's the key. I want to help you solve your problems. I just don't need the credit. And I learned that you could change people's lives. Anything is possible if you don't care who gets the credit. And that's, man, that's a tough thing. That took me decades to learn that. I wish I learned that when I was 20 instead of when I was 40.

[00:07:09] Hector: Absolutely. , this fear based kind of mindset. In a founder's world , I think that's absolutely the running off of the sphere. And I think that can cloud their vision or clouds their perspective. And you having this outside kind of view, you're able to kind of see through it.

[00:07:23] Hector: Are there things that like I call them like head vision. Pounding moments that make you want to, you like slam your head against the wall because you're like, if you just saw this, if you just did this thing would unlock so much like this less for more things.

[00:07:36] Hector: Do you see that often? Or is there other things like that that come up more often than not when you're working with these companies

[00:07:45] Jim: I think there's a desire, there's a falsehood, and I fell prey to this many times, felt like I had to show up as the person who knew all the things that are necessary. And , I just have to show up as the person who knows how to help you do you do better. I don't have to be the world class expert, the best in the world, the only person who's ever done this, just need to know that , it's important for you to understand that I understand where you're going.

[00:08:05] Jim: I understand the problems you have, the pains you're experiencing, and the potential journey that you're embarking on so that I can help navigate it with you. And that is something that more people need than you being the best in the world at what you do. Right? So if you can just set yourself down and say, I know where they're going.

[00:08:20] Jim: I care about where they're going and I know I can help them get there now it's just making sure you can articulate that to the people who are going to benefit from it the most.

[00:08:28] Hector: and then do the solutions? Are they kind of the same where we walk people through this? Seven step process where you do this . Is it modular where it's like some draw from this tool belt and some people get these parts

[00:08:39] Hector: or is it totally different? And it's just like, it's an individual kind of case by case thing your head. How do you kind of look at those?

[00:08:48] Jim: I believe really, it does depend on markets and verticals, but at the end of the day, sales is sales, we specialize in selling more services than products, but you're selling the invisible, which is what a lot of service based opportunities are, you're selling an outcome in our experience.

[00:09:00] Jim: You're not selling. If you don't buy this widget, you buy an experience or you buy a destination. And so your job is to either make sure they know that you can get the destination. More effectively than anybody else, or that you could navigate the journey with the fewest amount of pains and costs, right?

[00:09:14] Jim: So you want to make sure that's how you're positioned and well, there is a process like for me, what we work on with everybody is there's a high end of the and there's a low end of the game. And no matter what you do, there's always somebody who's willing to pay you more for it if you can get them a bigger outcome.

[00:09:30] Jim: So let's say if , you might only have 100 people on your list. I guarantee you one of them wants more than you're offering. So why not offer it? So always be looking at what's the most expansive outcome I can deliver to somebody and what's the easiest way to get into my world so that you're always navigating from both ends because some people will, see the value in you right away and they'll pay you the 10, 20 or a hundred thousand dollar opportunity.

[00:09:53] Jim: Other people. Maybe they're not convinced, but they like where you're at. They like what you're doing. So you need to have an easy front door opportunity. , I'll risk 1, 000 with you, but just not 10. So here's a thousand and here's how I can get into your world. Once I get in, I get an outcome and I like you and I get a better experience of you.

[00:10:09] Jim: Now I know what's going there, but no matter what, even if somebody comes into the thousand dollar opportunity with us, we sell them. On the value of what the 100, 000 opportunity is. So they know where our intended destination is for them. And they know there's someplace else to go. And they also give you the credit for being the person who knows how to get them there.

[00:10:28] Jim: They're just not ready to take that journey with you yet, but always sell to the high side of the opportunity. So people know what you're actually capable of. want somebody to just buy this 1, 000 thing from you when they would have given you 10, 000 if they knew it even existed and they'll go somewhere else and find it, not because they didn't want it from you, but because they didn't even know you did it.

[00:10:46] Hector: And most of our businesses are, they're probably a little earlier than mentioned when they get to your point, but , they figured out some stuff. They've got product market fit and they probably had to fight that shiny object syndrome or they had to kind of eliminate the amount of rabbits that they're chasing.

[00:11:00] Hector: How might you help company navigate that when they say, like, here's our core offering and all of a sudden, Jim, you're talking about offering something more. is it more? Is it different? , in regards to like a core service offering, maybe you can even just give an example of how someone was able to go from that, one to 100, 000 thinking like one might look like and what the 100 might look like.

[00:11:21] Jim: So , we have a client she's a film producer. So just how she used to position herself. She helps people. She had a coaching program that was like 6, 000 where she helped people put the assets together to create the readiness for a film. But what she actually does is she gets films distributed and funded.

[00:11:38] Jim: And so she's now selling a service for. 20, 000 and that leads to a six figure payday helping people actually get their film funded and distributed. The entry service is if you don't have these pieces in your film, it can't be funded or distributed, but she's now selling to the high side, but she has a mass product that she can do with the 6, 000 that teaches people how to get their films fundable and distributable.

[00:12:02] Jim: And then when they're ready for that, she's got a high end service that actually helps make that happen. And she brings in, , VCs and funders for all these nonprofit films and all of that, or all these documentaries. So it's, she's connected both ends to it, , she used to just sell this product instead of recognizing there's other people who come who don't need the product.

[00:12:18] Jim: They're already ready. They need someone to help get it funded and distributed. you want to sell everybody to that end because even the people who aren't ready know that's where they want to go.

[00:12:28] Hector: All right.

[00:12:28] Jim: You're not confusing the market and you're not selling two different things. You're selling the same thing.

[00:12:32] Jim: Just you're selling an earlier version of it. You're selling a person who's not quite ready, but they know that's where they want to go. the more clearly you articulate that from the beginning, the more of those people will actually ascend through your model, but it gives the opportunity for the people who are ready to not have to ascend, they can jump to the front of the line now because they are ready, they want that bigger opportunity from you.

[00:12:52] Hector: All right, Jim. I love this. , just with the first 15 minutes of this episode, people literally could. Could 10 X their revenue just with the tip that you gave, and really that, strategy and what I'm really seeing is that you help people to, to see the unseen, right. To kind of combine and alchemize the ingredients in ways that they might not have been able to do that.

[00:13:13] Hector: So there any other favorite stories that you have or any other kind of classic examples or case studies that might kind of illustrate this way of thinking that, that you seem to kind of bring to your clients?

[00:13:25] Jim: we were working, with a company, doing some, launches and events, and , she had two separate offers. She had a 6, 000 offer and a 14, 000 offer. And what we worked, we up leveled units so that it went to a 14 offer, and we sold more. Oh, units, not just more revenue, but we sold more units at the higher price because we were clearly connected to who the buyers were and where were they on the journey where these opportunities would make the most sense.

[00:13:55] Jim: So it wasn't just we made more money because we raised the prices raising the prices actually were more of a communication of the value of proposition that people were buying into and some people. Or there are people who just leave and go, well, that's something worth investing because people are not shy to invest in a price.

[00:14:10] Jim: They're gun shy to invest because they don't need to make sure the values there. So long as you can actually communicate and articulate the value and the readiness of it. People want that. They just want to be assured of the outcome. So you want to make sure that the way you position things, the way you talk about what you do and share it that it helps people understand that when they buy this, the outcome they desire is actually going to be attained.

[00:14:31] Jim: And they will invest people invest any level that you can't write the story for people to assume that because they're in a tough place or because the market is weird or because it got gas is 7 a gallon or whatever it is that all of a sudden they can't afford it because people are spending just as much as they ever have.

[00:14:46] Jim: They're just not spending it with you. And so you want to make sure you're clearly positioned as the person that they need and that's how you start getting people, you start building a loyal following of people because at that level, when you price things at a value, a place where you know it's going to be profitable for you and you're actually going to be able to deliver the outcome, then you are now building a community of people who want to buy what you have and ultimately they will buy more of what you have.

[00:15:11] Jim: Cause one of the things that we do when we work with clients is we work with their lifetime value. It's like the hardest thing you're ever going to do is bring a new client. The most expensive thing you're going to never do is bring in a new client. So once people are in your world, you got to get good at selling to your buyers, sell to your buyers, sell to the people who've already said they want something from you and sell to the people who know who you are.

[00:15:29] Jim: Most of you are spending. All of your waking hour, trying to find new eyeballs to get in front of. And that's important. But what's more important is what happened to the people who've already got eyeballs on you. And that's how you scale, you start finding different, , in our lens, we have subscribers, leads and buyers.

[00:15:44] Jim: That's how we segment our list. Every one of you have subscribers, leads, and buyers subscribers of the people who haven't done anything to prove that they want to solve the problem. They've demonstrated interest and you're busy making offers to those people. You're going to lose. You need to show those people that you understand why they're here and what's the next step for them to take.

[00:16:01] Jim: That's low risk. A lead is somebody who's consumed. And downloaded things, watched videos, shown up for trainings. They just haven't purchased yet. A buyer is a buyer, whether they've spent a dollar or a hundred thousand dollars, they're a buyer. And there's massive difference with somebody who spent 1 than besides somebody who spent 0 because they've already said, I'm willing to go into my pocket to find out more.

[00:16:24] Jim: And that's a person who's got more of a vested interest in actually solving the problem. You need to treat all those people differently..

[00:16:30] Hector: What does that look like? Is that kind of just market segmentation,, follow ups, for someone who's, they've got lots of hats. And so , they're running fulfillment and their HR and, their CFO, how do they chunk that?

[00:16:41] Hector: Or what might be an easy way to go? Okay, how we're going to treat these people to kind of move them through the system.

[00:16:47] Jim: From a leverage standpoint, , you want to get the greatest amount of outcome from the input that you're putting in. And that's always going to start with your buyers. Those are the people who've spent money. You always need to serve them greatly. Because if you do this well, you can turn people who are in your world for 90 days.

[00:17:02] Jim: into being in your world for a year. Our average retention rate 3. 2 years. People stay with us for a long time and pay us a lot of money over that time. But we consistently focus on what are the problems that they're going to be continually needing to solve., a consumptive problem, which means you can consume it all the time.

[00:17:20] Jim: Or they solve something that every time you do, it's an evolved journey. So if you solve this problem, it creates a new problem. Every solution brings a new problem. And if you're smart about this and you're investing time into building that, they've already got trust with you. So they've already said, look, Hector knows how to solve my problem.

[00:17:36] Jim: He's proven it. I like him. I trust him. Spent time with him. What else can he do for me? Or they're going to go find some, to either way, they have to solve that next problem. So if you don't stage yourself or your partner network as the solutions for those, then there will go someplace else. And the worst thing you can do is let people go.

[00:17:52] Jim: It's like let them stay in your world, even if you bring partners to solve it. , I don't produce podcasts. I have a few other production podcast partners, but , I would much rather bring you in to solve that problem for my people, for my network while they're in my world versus me, letting them just go randomly, go find whoever they want.

[00:18:08] Jim: Like what would be the benefit to that, right?, I can keep them in my world by keeping them with you. And then at some point you'll send them back to me for the next thing that they're going to need. Cause now they're getting more visibility, more eyeballs or whatever it might be. And so when people are in your world, seeing yourself as a general contractor.

[00:18:25] Jim: Right. , you're going to decide, okay, I'm really good at the driveway, so pour concrete, but somebody else will does the framing. Somebody else does the roofing. Somebody else does the electrical, right? But when they're ready for that. Now, , I have the blueprints. I have the schematics. I know everything that they need.

[00:18:38] Jim: And some people, they just need more time. And so if you're going to deal with people who have only opted in, but they haven't purchased, don't start shoving purchases at them, share purchases with them. So when they're in your world, say, Hey, guess what? We just got a new satisfied buyer. Okay. Here's what happened.

[00:18:53] Jim: Here's what they did. And there's the go, I didn't make any offers to you because you haven't done anything besides download a PDF. So you haven't demonstrated actual interest in buying anything or solving a problem yet, but I'm sharing with you the reality of what's going on.

[00:19:05] Hector: Sorry for all this free advice, but how might we convert that, what you're saying is, if they've just downloaded, how do we know that they are a lead? , is that a phone call? Is that getting them to submit some information? Or like , what takes someone from a I guess a subscriber to a lead.

[00:19:19] Jim: A subscriber to lead is somebody who's just said, I've got interest, but virtue of the fact when they've consumed. Is when they start taking action. So if you have a way to track, did they actually apply this resource? Did they watch the video? Did they read the book?

[00:19:34] Jim: If they've consumed now they're saying, I'm interested in doing this. Subscribers just download stuff. And most of them don't do anything with, with stuff they download.

[00:19:42] Hector: So the people on your email list, those would be subscribers. The ones who are engaging, opening, clicking, watching. Those are your leads. And then those people , are the ones that you're going to be

[00:19:50] Jim: Correct. And the benefit is when you communicate with those people over time, it's like it's hard to work because it takes more time. It just is. And there's a lot of very well meaning, extremely smart, savvy business owners who don't segment any of that stuff because it's just time consuming. They spend all their time trying to find cost per click, cost per lead, all of that.

[00:20:10] Jim: But if you articulate that, if you can map out that journey for those people, so that is different. So they recognize that they're actually a lead on your list, not just a subscriber. Or that they've been a buyer or that they're ready to buy, right there. Now you're having a different conversation with those people.

[00:20:24] Jim: If somebody just registered for your workshop, they're a subscriber if they showed up for your workshop, they're a lead. If they took action at your workshop, they're a buyer. So everything post that opportunity, you communicate with them differently.? So you treat the person who registered and didn't show up as, Hey, sounds like you're kind of interested in solving this.

[00:20:42] Jim: Let me know what else you need. Here's something else that might be of value. You're talking to that person very specifically, the person who showed up and engaged but didn't buy okay, sounds like you're taking actions towards this. You're having the most help with, or you need the most help with, and you're having the most struggle with?

[00:20:55] Jim: And then the person who bought you say, Hey, look, if you like that, you're gonna love this, but you're always having those three different conversations. You gotta treat those people differently.

[00:21:04] Hector: This conversation guys is worth going back and listening to multiple times. , Jim, last, last topic here. A. I. Has been like the new buzz thing. And what I love about listening to your approach is that it's so timeless. You could drop this approach into 1900 , this approach timeless.

[00:21:21] Hector: But with that being said, are you looking at any of these new tools, whether it's a I, whether it's , tech talk, any of these new kinds of things? Are you seeing them as something that is worth you're a significant amount of your attention or energy right now.

[00:21:34] Jim: , here's my perspective on it. My, I guess, disclaimer, warning notice, whatever you want to put on it, any technology that you bring to the party needs to be in service of solving a problem that actually needs to be solved. And that means you have to have experienced it first. Don't just bring an AI solution or a tech solution because it looks cool.

[00:21:54] Jim: Make sure you are actually experiencing the thing you're doing so that you know exactly how the technology will solve the problem. Then you know how it scales and leverages. Oh, this is the system I did. I did it manually. I did it. Now I put in the tech so I can do it faster or that I can do more of them in a week instead of doing 10.

[00:22:12] Jim: I can do 100 or so. Now it's super automated and simple. So now I can give it to a VA to operate, right? But don't just bring it. Technology by itself doesn't mean anything. . It's like a brick , a brick does doing a brick and throw go through a window and break a glass. It can build an orphanage.

[00:22:27] Jim: It can do anything you wanted to do. It's an inanimate object. So is the tech. And even though I has all of the, incredible amount of potential, and what is doing in the world, you still need to make sure you know why it fits and how it fits. So you know how to leverage it for your greater good.

[00:22:42] Jim: Right. And my personal belief on it is if it doesn't benefit humanity, don't do it because today we got to be careful with the rise of the machines and all that. Yeah. I'm a conspiracy freak. I get all that. I don't want us to get overrun by technology because we just unleashed it like crazy.

[00:22:56] Hector: We're hiring for a role right now, an applicant that clearly just copied out a chat GPT and left all of the extra stuff around. It didn't even, delete the part that said it was, the A. I.

[00:23:06] Jim: Know, here's a little piece to think about. This is something I've been doing, sharing for several years now. Proficiency. And effectiveness are not two different things. I think they're just two ends of one spectrum. Right? So if you can be effective at what you're doing, usually the most effective things are the things that are gonna be with your hands.

[00:23:22] Jim: It's least efficient. It's most effective. And you don't just want to stuff that can be done faster and easier if it compromises the effectiveness. So start at effectiveness. And then start, you can start efficiency working back towards efficiency until you lose effectiveness. And then you stop there.

[00:23:39] Jim: Don't sprint towards efficiency because most of the time efficiency compromises effectiveness.

[00:23:45] Hector: Absolutely.

[00:23:45] Hector: Jim. This is a fascinating conversation and we're just about time. So I want to respect yours because I know you've got a lot going on. If people want to go deeper in your world, though, get connected with you. Where's the best place to do that?

[00:23:56] Jim: Just go to jimp360. com. It's my personal website. When you get there, there's a video. There's always something there promoting what we're doing. But if you go to the main screen, there's just a contact button.

[00:24:08] Jim: Click on that contact button and the first button on top of it says, shoot a text, send me a text message. So you heard me here on the, how to scale podcast and let me know what you're doing. I'm happy to send you a resource find out what you're doing and what we can do to help you scale.

[00:24:22] Jim: Because that's what we do. And I try not to make time for everybody. I'm not one of those people that are too busy or too good to talk to anybody. You'll reach out, you'll talk to me there, and then from there we can send you wherever you need. But I want to know what's going on and how we can help, because we're consistently looking at how do we scale, how do we navigate the landscape, and the more people that we talk to, the more ways we know how to help, and the more information and data we can gather.

[00:24:44] Jim: So we just want to be a resource to you on your journey.

[00:24:47] Hector: I love it. Go get connected. That website will link in the show notes and it's got everything. I'm pulling it up right now. It's a really cool website. You must be like a branding strategist guy. , Yes, that's fully fledgled So episode 21 want people to do through tourism andany services at UNI.

[00:24:56] Hector: If you stuck with us I want to thank you for being here. I appreciate you. We would love a rating, a review, wherever you get your podcasts. And if you know someone who's in the midst of scaling a business or thinking about starting one, send them this episode. Let's grow the network and the tribe together.

[00:25:10] Hector: And as always, we appreciate you being here. We'll see on the next one later.