​Russ Johns 0:04
Welcome to the #piratebroadcast, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings where you can expand your connections, your community. #Kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let's get this party started.

It's another amazing day to have a #piratebroadcast where #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings come aboard. We break it down and we share it with you. I would love the opportunity to have a connection conversation. Like Comment, share all this information with your friends, people you like to have as friends, maybe anything, the social thing that we do in the connections we make. Today we have Scott. Scott is in the room to talk today a little bit about being positive, staying focused and great. Rolling connections and actually doing business on LinkedIn. He over the years he's developed a system patented system, a proven system to actually organically and naturally work with leads and everybody needs leads, right Scott

Scott Aaron 1:20
Well leads are the lifeline to our business but something that you and I were talking about in the pre show is that you have to be willing to do the work and that's the thing. I'll first thank you so much for having me. It's a privilege

Russ Johns 1:37
Thank you for being here.

Scott Aaron 1:37
Thank you. The most important thing that we were talking about and this is what I speak on often is with what I teach, there is no shortcut. There is no quick fix what I do and if I was to kind of draw a big picture for people. I teach people How to leverage LinkedIn and use it like a 401k and not like a lottery ticket. If anyone is familiar with a 401k or an IRA or any sort of retirement fund it's an income vehicle that compounds interest over time. You make those daily deposits you make those monthly yearly deposits and what happens the more you deposit the more money is in there and the more money can grow from it. It's not a lottery ticket if anyone's looking for a quick fix and Russ I love what Les Brown says all the time he says those that want to take the easy road end up living a hard life but those that take the hard road end up living an easy life.

Russ Johns 1:39
Yeah

Scott Aaron 1:39
Everything that I've done, I've always been willing to take the hardest road possible, but I see people jumping on so Fred Stacy, Michelle Gabriel, good to see you guys jumping on and just grateful to be here with everybody.

Russ Johns 2:59
Fantastic to have people on board and having conversations so amazing times making things happen in this community. Yeah, Michelle. She's a pirate Gabriel's a pirate, Stacey. Good morning. How are you today? Fred Costa referrals or leads? Oh, that's a great question. Fred. Let's dive into that, Scott. I think that's an important distinction. As as people know me and they understand and kind of relate to what I'm doing is, I like to build relationships.

Scott Aaron 3:39
Mmmmm.

Russ Johns 3:39
That also could be or may not be, it doesn't really matter. They may be referral partners, or they may be potential clients, either one. It's when you build a relationship, I think the outcome is is much greater, however, getting there. I think Scott is Something that takes a little bit of work and effort and I want to dive into that a little deeper. Let's talk about Fred's question and the leads versus referrals,

Scott Aaron 4:10
Well, leads and referrals, they do go hand in hand, but I want to give a little bit of backstory because I didn't become skilled at what I do overnight. It's actually been a 23 year process. I just turned 41 in April, and Thank you. I got started in entrepreneurship when I was 18 years old. I've been psychologically unemployable since day one, I've never had a quote unquote job. I've always run my own businesses. I got my start in the health and wellness industry with my family owning and operating different gyms. This is to piggyback off of what Fred was saying. The long and the short is this. My father made some some bad business decisions and a prior company that he was running before our first gym, that a year and a half after that. It landed him in federal prison for three years.

Russ Johns 5:10
Hmm.

Scott Aaron 5:11
I was 18 and a half when this happened. So basically that is how I got into the gym business because my father said, Listen, you're now the man of the house. You have to take over this gym. So I did. You want to make your parents proud. But here's what I learned so much through that experience. So much through that experience. What I learned is the power of human connection. My first gym it was the cheers of gyms. It wasn't the fanciest it wasn't the nicest it was it didn't have the most elaborate equipment. What it did have is my family. What it also had was a warm, friendly smile, a greeting when you came into the door and a greeting when you left and we knew people by their first name, it was a family. I learned at about Very, very early age, the power of connecting with people, the power of listening, the power of getting to know someone, everything that has transpired in my life and in my businesses, owning multiple gyms, being a certified sports nutritionist and personal trainer, where people were constantly coming to me with a problem they were they were looking to have solved. What did I have to do? I had to listen to them.

I had to understand what they were looking for. I had to hear them out. I had to build that trust that rapport, that relationship, that connection with them, where they would then be open to receiving something from me. Then obviously going into online marketing and health and wellness. Then going into business coaching and consulting teaching people how to leverage LinkedIn. It's all the same thing. It's teaching people, the most important and the number one business building tool that we all have, it's not a website. It's not a click funnel, it's not an opt in. It's not an email sequence.

It's not even a social media platform. It's your ability to create a meaningful and lasting relationship with someone else. human connection is the number one business building tool. Whether it's a referral, or whether it's a lead, they go hand in hand, because people remember how you left them. They remember how you made them feel. If you really leave a good first impression, and that person knows that you're there to really connect with them. Guess who is going to send you referrals, guess who is going to accumulate more organic, genuine and authentic leads the person that truly wants to build human connection the right way?

Russ Johns 7:48
It's interesting that you break it down that way because, ultimately, Scott, you are the accumulation of all you're experiencing in capturing this stuff. Trial by fire, you know, 18 years old thrown into the gym happened to make it run, creating a family around that relationship number one, and then also going out into the world and having to build multiple businesses nutrition, health and fitness and wellness and training. It all requires the common thread of relationship. I think people diminish that too much in the business where they say, I just need to make a sale today. I just need to make a sale today.

Well, sometimes you have to make the deposits before you get your refund at the end of the year, right. Sometimes you have to make the deposits before you have anything to come back to you.Let's shift the shift the focus a little bit and talk about how those relationships and how building, how that process is developed and how you develop Your process specifically to LinkedIn. Because a lot of people fumble around for a lot of years and they just go out and make connections and you see that the ones I'm talking about, they make a connection and two seconds later, they say, hey, buy my stuff. So we all we all know it. We all it's like, Man, these people not read anything at all. Well, lead us down the path.

Scott Aaron 9:32
Yeah, I mean, Michelle kind of already touched on it. She said connection is key Fred to building trust. Do you want to know why so many people suck at sales, is because they're all about the sale. People suck at sales.

Russ Johns 9:47
Yeah.

Scott Aaron 9:48
Because they're all about the sale. And they are not focusing on the connection. You can sell without ever selling. I sell without Selling, I don't have to sell. Because I provide value added content. I connect with people, I hear what their problem is. This is why LinkedIn is so powerful and interior point people are using and anyone that's watching this live on the replay. If you are using any sort of automated software for LinkedIn, shut it off and get your money back. That is the quickest way to get kicked off of LinkedIn. Microsoft was watching everything that we're doing everything that we're doing, they if you send out too many messages, you can get blocked. If you send too many connection requests, you get blocked. If you have too many unanswered connection requests, you get blocked. The the point of LinkedIn is to not sell. The point of LinkedIn is to connect.

Russ Johns 10:58
Engagement

Scott Aaron 10:59
It's Engagement happens. You see these engagement pods Russ where, you see these people tagging 18,000 people, you know what, if your content is good people will engage without you having to ask if your content is worthy of a response, if your content is educational, if your content is informative, guess what? People are going to digest that content, and they are going to obviously respond. There is no secret to creating wealth. There is no secret to creating connection. Every single one of us has an inside. If you go back to when we were kids, or if you have children, watch your kids interact with other kids. What do they do? Hi, my name is so and so you want to play

Russ Johns 11:53
You want to play?

Scott Aaron 11:53
We were old but we've

Russ Johns 11:55
You wanna be my friend

Scott Aaron 11:56
Yet we've all gotten lost in that in actually communicate Everyone, people are treating their businesses like a one night stand and not like actually dating. If you think about this when you go on a first date, so if you want to talk about leads and referral and using LinkedIn, think about it as a first date. If I was taking someone out on the first date, we would maybe get coffee, we would maybe get a drink, maybe have a small meal. What do we do? We start asking questions, you tell me about yourself, what do you do for a living? Yeah. Then you start to form those relationships and those connections and if there is one, guess what, Russ? I'm going to ask for a second date. If not, if there is no connection, I may say, you know what, I appreciate the time, maybe you have a friend or someone else that you can introduce me to and obviously, you're a great person. Maybe I can introduce you to one of my friends. Not like a one night stand not trying to take him right up to the bedroom. That's not gonna lead to anything meaningful.

Russ Johns 12:56
Well, I think business is as a result of adding value results in doing business. It's just that, hey, if I can help you, and I'm adding value, and I'm increasing, and I'm Top of Mind, and I want to break down a couple of things you said a little bit deeper, because business is a symptom of value, applying value. There are times where you want to maybe include and tag people, if you're adding value to something that they need to see, to make sure that they see it. I'm not opposed to tagging, I don't want the wall of blue names. However, I do want to make sure that we have an opportunity to put valuable content in front of the right people that you can actually continue to engage with. Also, if you look back on my early videos, I kind of suck it's like Everybody starts at zero

Scott Aaron 14:01
Everybody sucks

Russ Johns 14:02
And consistency over time builds a reputation. If you keep showing up, and you're delivering the same thing, and you are who you are, people understand, it's like, Hey, I know I can go to the #piratebroadcast for some great content, and people like Scott, to learn about building a relationship on LinkedIn. Let's go deeper. Let's go deeper Scott. What are some of the mechanics behind the process that you've built and refined over the years? I think a lot of people there's strategy, there's tactics. I want to make sure that we touch base on all of them so people can get a sense of who you are and how you help.

Scott Aaron 14:46
Absolutely. From a very 10,000 foot view. I call this the four layers of LinkedIn. If you want to and I'm a visual person, so picture a wedding cake, where a wedding cake you Have the big bass at the bottom. Then you have the tears that go up and on top is the couple, the statue of the couple that's gotten married. Here's the way that you want to think of this. The base, the foundation of LinkedIn is your profile. If your profile is I'm not talking about getting your profile to quote unquote all star, anybody can do that. You just put stuff in there. What the genius behind what Microsoft did four and a half years ago, is they embedded search engine optimization into our profiles, meaning if you have the right keywords, you have that little dashboard on your profile. It shows you how many people have visited your profile, and how many searches you've appeared in. If those numbers are large, 1000 and above, you're starting to optimize your profile. If those numbers are severely low, you're probably not optimizing your profile. The right way.

I do have a free download on my website, ScottAaron.net. And it goes over the six steps to optimizing your profile, which is having a proper headline, having a proper job title, making sure that every single experience job that you've ever had any industry that you've been a part of you list it, you list everything. Those are all keywords, listing the schools that you attended some of the volunteer experience the nonprofit's that you work with any licenses and certifications publications. Here's the thing. There's two undervalued sections. Number one is the about me section. The about me section is where you can introduce yourself to your your network and the person visiting your profile. It should not be a sales pitch. Do not leave your email, your phone number, your address, a link, none of that it should be somewhere between 500 Hundred to 1500 characters long. It should be about you personally and professionally.

The second part of that is the recommendation section. The recommendation section on LinkedIn is people that you've maybe worked with, that you've done business with, that you've been mentored by that you've personally mentored, you need to gather as many personal recommendations as possible. This is the Better Business Bureau of LinkedIn. If someone was to go to my profile, if you just type in ScottAaron,Forbes, you will see that I have over 430 written recommendations over the years that I've accumulated from people that I have impacted in a positive way. I let the results do the talking. I don't have to convince people I know. I know what I'm doing. Everyone needs to do that. That's step one.

Russ Johns 17:50
Giving recommendations is a great way to get as well as

Scott Aaron 17:55
you have to give in order to get so I've given over 120 recommendations

Russ Johns 17:59
Add value. equation every turn.

Scott Aaron 18:02
The more you give, the more you get. Now the second layer is actually the build of your network. This is the key. You don't want to connect with just anybody. You need to make sure that when you define your business avatar, who is the ideal customer, client, business partner referral partner, who is that person, and you search and connect with them. Now, what I'll tell you guys is this, everything that I've built with my book in my programs, you don't need premium. You don't need navigator and you don't need recruiter, I've done this and still do it through the free version of LinkedIn. If something is free, there's a way that you can figure it out and I have so making sure that you're building that ideal network that is going to engage with you organically that is going to respond to you organically that you're gonna want to speak to. You don't want to just throw darts at a dartboard with your eyes closed. You're not going to hit it. You need to be very efficient. tensional and clear.

The third part is messaging people. This is where the train goes completely off the tracks, because Russ, as you said earlier, we get those and I'm sure anybody that's on here right now has been a victim of those people that have sent the 18 paragraph long drunk log messages. I'm going to pitch you I'm going to sell you click this link, go to this website, schedule a call, and they haven't even taken the chance to get to know you. Now, if you are going to message someone, don't do it the day that you become connected with them, let it marinate, people that are using automated software. As soon as the connection request gets accepted, guess what? ping, you get a message. That's how you know it's a bot. How you can make this very genuine. You wait a day or two when someone accepts your connection and you send a message and this is the basic structure. I'm going to go over right now.

It's called The magic formula. The magic formula is a three step process to crafting your ideal genuine message. Step one. You mentioned the person's name. Hey, Russ, great to be connected to you. That's it, you make it personal, you say you're glad to be connected to them. Step two, is you lower the bridge. They can walk across. They can see the connection. You basically bridge the gap between the two of you. I would say something along the lines of Hey, Russ, great to be connected to you. I noticed that you also had a business podcast as to I would love to hear about yours. share more about mine to see how we can best support each other here on LinkedIn. Now. I've done two things there. Number one, I've bridged the gap.

Russ Johns 20:50
Yeah.

Scott Aaron 20:51
When Russ is reading that, he's like, oh, Scott has a business podcast. I have a business podcast. That makes complete sense. Not only why he connected with me, but why he's actually messaged me. I also used one of the most important words in the English language. And that word is support.

Russ Johns 21:12
Yeah

Scott Aaron 21:13
It's been scientifically proven that when someone just reads the word support, they have a chemical release of something called oxytocin. It's the feel good chemical that our brain produces. Just like dopa mean, just like cortisol, just like endorphins. What that's going to do, it's going to put that person at ease, it's going to make them feel good about this person that's connecting with me. Then you finish with a CTA, a call to action. Do you have any time this week or next week to hop on a call? That's it. You start with their name, reason for reaching out and a call to action? Russ, you have to HSK to gt you have to ask in order to get now step four. Probably the most valuable thing that people are not doing. It's content creation.

I'm going to break this down very, very simply, number one, you need to produce one piece of value added content every day. I don't care if it's a post, I don't care if it's a video, I don't care if it's an article or a discussion in a group, just create one piece of value added content a day. Number two, you want to do two things. You either want to educate, or you want to inform one of those to educate or inform because here's the thing. You want to talk about things that people actually want to hear, not what you want to say. That's the problem. That's the problem. Most people are doing things and they're talking about things that they want to speak about. Here's the deal when you are writing a piece of content. Just like the other day, I did a video on LinkedIn. It's still getting engagement I posted on Friday, it's getting engagement four days later.

What I talked about is, I understand why people are so hesitant to get on the phone now from people on LinkedIn because they're being prospected the wrong way they're not being connected to and all these people engaged. Here's what I did, at the end of my content in the description of the video, and in the video, I also did a CTA, I asked them a question. I said, what has you not wanting to get on the phone with people on LinkedIn? Russ, this was the beautiful thing.

Russ Johns 23:37
You opened the flood gates huh?

Scott Aaron 23:39
When you ask, you get so now everyone is giving me all these detailed things that have happened to them since they got on LinkedIn. Guess what? Now my audience has revealed to me their pain points.

Russ Johns 23:55
Yeah,

Scott Aaron 23:56
Their struggles, what they need help with so now I do can take all of that value added responses from the value added content that I gave. I can build content around their pain points to give them solutions to things that they're struggling with. This is not brain surgery, people Russ. Here's what happens. As human beings, if something seems too easy, we find a way to overcomplicate the process.

Russ Johns 24:29
We can always overcomplicate the process. It's funny you should say that because when I was talking to Kami last Friday in the episodes thatrussjohns.com, we were talking about her gathering for words and phrases over the years, from people about their pain, so she can talk continue to speak in ways that are unique to her particular audience. She calls it a word vault, anytime she hears those phrases those terms those pain, all of that communication coming back she puts it in a word vault and then she speaks to it in her future communication and I think that's you know people miss the simple things in life and because we do make it over complicated. I really love your breakdown of that and ultimately it's just be human and you know one of the things that. I'm really all about consistency. I do this show five days a week I make every attempt I can to highlight great people like yourself Scott to be able to share with the community so I'm adding value I'm continuing to add value.

This is my jam because I have written I've posted thousands of blogs in the past. However, video has always been easier for me. As a podcaster it's easier for me to take this audio and drop it into a podcast and have it go on its merry way. Share it out again. I don't know where my audience is going to be. Making multiple connections you say very specific, connect with the people you want to do work with. However, over the years, I've been on LinkedIn since 2005. A lot of my connections may not have necessarily a need for what I'm doing today. However, it may have been a different opportunity years ago. In fact, I had somebody from it had to have been at least 15 years ago. He goes, I just retired. I was going through my Rolodex and I found your card. I looked you up on LinkedIn. He had a picture of my card. He said, I just wanted to say hi, that's just like that's Somebody that I did business with at least 1520 years ago.

I just thought that was that was awesome so you never know who will respond and react to your content. I'm more open in my connections, because I'm not necessarily selling to everyone, but I am working to add value to everyone. That's one thing that I wanted to make a comment on. Also, I think it's very clear that you have a call to action that is very clear and concise because a lot of people get confused over. Well, what do you need I can help you with anything, and I was guilty of that over the years. Because I've had such broad experience over the years that it's like, you need a website, you need content creation, you need social media. You need a radio show. Like what do you need? Yeah. It's amazing what happens over the years and going back and forth this so I love it. Scott so people get a hold of scottAaron.net and you have a download you have a free download as well.

Scott Aaron 28:19
Yeah, if you go to ScottAaron.net you click on free infographic, you can download my free profile optimizer. You can also listen to my podcast network marketing made simple, it's on all major platforms. You can also get my number one best selling books, the LinkedIn book for network marketing, and the network marketing Academy and all omnipresent on all social media. LinkedIn, you can just search Scott, Aaron and Facebook Scott Aaron, and on Instagram if you happen to be on there. My handle is at Scott Aaron LinkedIn.

Russ Johns 28:53
Awesome, awesome. What's your favorite platform? LinkedIn?

Scott Aaron 28:57
Oh, 100% . I mean, and it's funny because I see Facebook and Instagram as social entertainment. Facebook, I consider the barbecue of social media, that's where people go to hang out. Instagram is more of, basically it's a reality TV show, but LinkedIn, I love because it's people I have 20 to 25 new calls every single week with just incredible human beings and the your net worth is in direct correlation to your network. If you grow a large network, you have the opportunity to grow a large network because you will be able to impact that many more people and that's why I spend my time on LinkedIn.

Russ Johns 29:40
I love it. I love it. Thank you, Scott. I really appreciate you and all the value that you brought today, nuggets of knowledge and value bombs all over the all over the planet. Get a hold of Scott, if you're not connected, let him know. Tell him Russ Sencha. he knows where he came. From and don't just say connect with me write a note and make it personal. Don't follow up with a with an ask some call to action. Don't stick your bots on him either. No bots

Scott Aaron 30:16
No bots, just create that connection

Russ Johns 30:18
hashtag zero bots. Thank you, Scott. I really appreciate you and appreciate the fact that you're here today and joining the pirate broadcasts.

Scott Aaron 30:30
I appreciate you and just grateful for the opportunity. Thank you again so much for having me today.

Russ Johns 30:36
Yeah, and as always #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree, and you #enjoytheday.

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