IAM1137- Direct Response Marketing Expert Helps Businesses Grow

Diane Conklin is an internationally known author, entrepreneur, coach, consultant, speaker, copywriter, marketing and business growth strategist, and implementation specialist. Diane is a direct response marketing expert who specializes in showing business owners how to have rapid, strategic, leveraged business growth through Complete Marketing Systems.

Diane was voted Glazer-Kennedy Marketer of the Year for her innovative marketing strategies and campaigns.

• CEO Hack: (i) Being disciplined (ii) Running my life on the calendar
• CEO Nugget: Have more fun
• CEO Defined: (i) Being the business owner (ii) The visionary

Website: http://www.completemarketingsystems.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianeconklin/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DianeConklin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dianeconklin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dianeconklin/

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Transcription

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00:16 – Intro 

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:44 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Diane Conklin of Complete Marketing Systems. Diane, it's great to have you on the show.

00:53 – Diane Conklin

Thanks, Gresham. I'm happy to be here and happy to have a little time to share with your folks. So looking forward to rock and rolling.

01:00 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you taking some time. So it's a rock and roll. Before we jump into the interview to hear about all the awesome things that Diane's doing, I wanted to read a little bit more about her so you can hear about some of those awesome things. Diane is an internationally known author, entrepreneur, coach, consultant, speaker, copywriter, marketing and business growth strategist, and implementation specialist.

Diane is a direct response marketing expert who specializes in showing business owners how to have rapid, strategic, and leverage business growth through complete marketing systems. Diane was voted Glazer Kennedy's marketer of the year for her innovative marketing strategies and campaigns. And Diane has been a contributor to CEO Blog Nation. So super excited to now have you on the mic. Diane, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:39 – Diane Conklin

I am ready. I'm happy to be here. And it's always an honor to be, you know, to get to talk to somebody else's community. So thank you very much.

01:46 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Pleasure's all mine. And what I wanted to do just to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more on how you got started when I call your CEO story.

01:55 – Diane Conklin

Tish, you know, I got started, I've been in business for 30 years. So that just means I'm old, I look pretty good for being 100, right? But I actually, it's an interesting story. You know, I have a master's degree in exercise physiology, and I was working in the field and always kind of had that feeling I wanted something more. And I got a letter in the mail, actually in the mail, from Robert Allen, And he was doing this series. So I jumped on that thing for 97 bucks and he kind of got me stirred up.

Long story short, you know, I worked for a guy for a year actually for no pay because I wanted to learn direct response marketing. I wanted to learn about information products. I wanted to learn about the event business. I was in my thirties, by the way. And so that's kind of how I got started. You know, it's not in my educational background, but I love business and all things marketing as much as I love the fitness industry. So the rest is history.

02:43 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. I appreciate you telling a story too about how you took that opportunity to kind of work for free so that you can learn because I think so many times people want to, you know, zoom to the end of the finish line and hear all the awards and all those things. But I think we sometimes don't realize like it starts at, you know, the very beginning stages and you have to learn and then you start to execute and start to get those awards after the fact.

03:04 – Diane Conklin

And I think so many people forget that, right? We hear all these stories about going from 0 to 7 figures in 9 minutes and all that I'm exaggerating of course, but we hear all of those stories and that's great. But what I often tell people is this stop comparing your behind-the-scenes footage to everyone else's highlight reel. The bottom line is it takes you as long as it takes you and there's nothing wrong.

What if it took you a year to make your first 6 figures so what that's more than 96% of people in the world do so, you know, this, I think, I think we get so caught up in that instant gratification that we forget that, you know, there's no such thing as an instant success. You didn't see the 20 years that, you know, people work to build up to that. So just remember that I think that's important. Yeah, it's absolutely huge.

03:46 – Gresham Harkless

And it's so funny that you know, your background was in that fitness industry because you hear a lot of that in the fitness industry as well. So you've heard about 30-second abs – simply do 30-second ab workouts every day, and supposedly you'll achieve the coveted six-pack, seven-pack, or even eight-pack. But I think so many times we forget about the process that it takes to get to where you want to be.

04:02 – Diane Conklin

Absolutely. Absolutely.

04:04 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more here, a little bit more on how you work with your clients. Can you take us through a little bit more about complete marketing systems and how you work with clients? Yeah.

04:12 – Diane Conklin

Yeah. So, you know, we basically have what I call a framework, right? And there's, there's sort of 4 steps to the framework. And this is kind of everything that we do. You know, people say, are you a coach? Well, you know, coaching is part of what I do, but it's not how I identify, right? So the 4 things really are strategy. So we really look at how we strategically engineer your particular growth pattern, right?

And it's gonna be different for every business. And I'm very much, I get that certain things in business can be cookie cutter, but I think when you get into a coaching program if you get into a cookie cutter coaching program, you need to really like be cautious because what works for your business doesn't work for somebody else's and what works for your business today may not work tomorrow or next week or next year.

So we really look at strategically how do we engineer that growth then we put together what I call an action marketing plan and every you know it's amazing to me that people throw mud on the wall and forget that they need a little bit of a plan, right? You don't need a business plan, but you need a marketing plan. You certainly need a 90-day plan. Then what we really look at is how we implement this. How do we really focus? How do we really implement what we're what we've planned?

Right. So that it works. And then the big key is once we implement it, how do we leverage that? Right? We leverage it with 3 things. Systemize, automate, delegate. Here are the three basic ways you can leverage. There are lots of subsets inside of that. And then finally, the fourth step, the fifth step really, I'll give you a bonus one, is really about optimization, right? How do you all, as you're going through doing all that, as you're systemizing, as you're leveraging, as you're working on your growth plan, as you're implementing, how do you optimize it along the way?

How do you keep getting better, doing things better that are already good, and better at the things that aren't working quite as well? And so in a nutshell, I know it's kind of like, wow, what is she talking about? What does she really do, right? That's the approach we take when considering business growth, coaching, or any services we provide.

06:05 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. Of course, who doesn't like bonuses? So I love that extra bonus piece as well too. And I feel like, especially like that optimization piece, it sounds like, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, especially as, you know, business evolves, as that growth, you know, starts to, I guess, really churn, so to speak. And then even as you know different tools that are out there, I imagine that you have to continue to look at what you do because it's not it doesn't sound like sit it and forget it for the next you know 20 years 30 years of your business.

06:31 – Diane Conklin

This ain't Ron Popeel you know not set it and forget it. You And I think that's the thing that makes business challenging. Some people would say hard, and I think it's the reason that business isn't right for everyone, right? Is that what it is? It's a constant sort of looking at What did we do? What worked? What didn't work? What should we change about this? Can we test this headline? Can we test this ad? Can we test this photo, right? To me, that's exciting.

For a lot of people, it's exhausting. But we are. Look at any aspect of your business. You're constantly reevaluating. And part of the way that you do that is by measuring and too many people in business today simply don't measure what they're doing. And so they don't know how do you make a business decision? Do we continue doing this or do we stop if you don't know what your numbers are?

07:14 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. That's why I love that you have that framework and especially attached to that strategy. Because I feel like you said, people are just kind of throwing things against the wall and they're not really going, executing from a framework standpoint or even understanding the strategy that they're trying to execute.

07:26 – Diane Conklin

Exactly.

07:28 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So what would you consider to be what I like to call your secret sauce? Is it the thing that you feel sets you apart personally or it could be the business or a combination of both that makes you unique?

07:37 – Diane Conklin

Yeah, you know, I love the question because that's a term that I use a lot. And I think for me, it's, most people have this ability to either do one or 2 things. They can see the big picture or they can see the details, right? And I think one of the things that sets me apart is I can do both. So I can look at the big picture if you tell me what your business is and I can say, wow, I can see this, right? I see a million-dollar business or I see this being franchised or I see whatever. And then here's the first 5 things we need to do. I think that's a big part of it.

And I think the other piece is sort of this idea of always starting with the end in mind, you know, that strategic piece is something that I'm kind of known for is strategy, strategy, strategy. You know, why are you doing what it is that you're doing? What do you want out of it? And it's not the easy answer of, well, I want to make money, right? What's, when you start from there when you start from this piece of what's the result, then the strategy, you can build the strategy.

And if you are always looking at what's the end result that I want, then you kind of know in the zigzag, because it's not a straight line of business and life, right? Are we on track or are we not on track? And I think that those are probably the 2 things that I would say in a 30-second snippet that sort of set me apart.

08:46 – Gresham Harkless

I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

08:57 – Diane Conklin

Ooh, you know, I'm just gonna say it. It's the big D word that nobody wants to hear, but I'm very disciplined. And I run my life, my business life on my calendar, and I'm very focused on whatever the calendar says is what I'm doing. So the discipline, the boundaries, I guess, is another way to say that. Some people like it, some people don't. If you don't like it, I'm not your gal. It's just that simple.

09:21 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. You might have already touched on this, but this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It could be around marketing and strategy, or it might be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you would tell your younger business self.

09:35 – Diane Conklin

You know what? This is going to surprise you, I think. I would say have more fun. Be a little less serious, be a little less uptight about things. Let go of those. We tend to run our businesses like this, right? Let go of the wheel a little, you know, let it go. It's okay. Have more fun. I think that's really, you know, I'll be 58 next month. And I think that's just a key thing that I think, you know, like everything, it's balanced.

I'm not saying go play 7 days a week, but you know, have more fun in your business, have more fun with your clients, have more fun with, you know, with your team. Because you know, ain't none of us getting out of this thing alive anyway. So you might as well have a little bit more fun, and smile a little bit more.

You know, being an entrepreneur, especially if you work from home like so many of us do, you know, it gets lonely. And I think sometimes reaching out and, you know, remembering that you've got friends and business friends and some of that and just having fun with them and letting people hear from you and see that side of you that isn't always that serious business side would be the thing that I would say.

10:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I definitely love and appreciate that. And so I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We hope to have various CEOs on this show. So Diane, what does being a CEO mean to you?

10:46 – Diane Conklin

You know, to me, being the CEO is at one level, it's being the business owner, and then it's taking, because so many people don't own a business, right? They own a job. And then the next level of being a CEO is being the person who really is the visionary, the person who, you know, I love Richard Branson says, you know, the visionary in your business should have a clean desk. And I think that's really the role of the CEO is what's what is the vision? What are the next things? Where do you want the company to go? It's not it's not doing the day-to-day things, right? It's the oversight of and having people who are, you know, in those key positions that are reporting to you kind of thing.

And, you know, being a CEO doesn't necessarily, isn't necessarily where you start in your business when you first get started. You are the worker maybe, right? Depending on your business. Sometimes you're gonna be, wear all kinds of different hats, right? But I think elevating yourself, especially if you're a, you know, solopreneur, if you're an online marker, somebody who's working, you know, with a team that's maybe distant, you know, and virtual. I think elevating yourself to that position of more hands-off, more, you know, there's really 3 or 4 things that you're probably good at that you should be doing in your business.

And that's it. The other 99.9% of the things that should be delegated should be having somebody else do it. And that doesn't happen overnight. So again, I think having patience and working up to that. But to me, it's that piece of, you know, what's the vision? And I'm not talking about vision and mission statements. I'm talking about the big picture of where are we headed. You know, where do you want to be? If 5 years from now you want to sell the business, then are you working toward that? That to me is the CEO.

12:21 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that analogy. And yet you said it for Richard Branson. As I look down at my desk to make sure and see if it's clean at all, I think it's a great reminder for all of us and also awareness of the journey and the process that it takes to sometimes get there because I think so many times it may not be that like that on day one. But we can start to evolve towards that and be aware of having that vision and being able to kind of implement that vision within our organizations.

12:44 – Diane Conklin

Yeah, you know, if I took the screen down, you would see behind me, that my desk is clean. And there's one little spot on the corner where I keep my workout log because every day I'm logging what I'm doing. But the guy that I'm working with always makes fun of me when we get on Zoom calls and he's like, yep, there's Diane with that messy desk. And I'm like, you know, my brain needs that clarity. And I think that was Richard Branson's point, right? You need to have that, the ability not to be cluttered. Cause if your desk is cluttered, your brain is cluttered. I think the other important point is, you know, sometimes as a business owner, you might hire a CEO. You don't necessarily have to be the CEO of your business.

And I think that's an important point to bring out, right? It doesn't have to be you. Because maybe you don't have those skills, maybe you don't have those talents, and it's okay not to have those skills, right? I mean, we're not all born and bred to do the same exact thing. And I think having the freedom to say, look, this is my baby. And, you know, just like I'm going to hire somebody to do the marketing, or I'm going to hire somebody to do the finances, it's okay to hire somebody to be the CEO. Yeah, absolutely.

And I think once we understand our personal strengths, as well as the strengths of the people within our organization, and also grasp the vision, we don't necessarily have to be the ones to execute it. We don't have to implement that personally. We can have somebody that's in place to take care of any of those things. So truly appreciate that definition and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic so to speak just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all those things that you're working. Sure, you know I think just go out and do be you, right? Do you?

I believe that's the main point I'd like everyone to remember. There's there's, you know, cookie cutters are made for the kitchen where every cookie is supposed to look the same. They're not made for us. They're not made for, you know, humans and businesses. And I think the more you can just be yourself And the more you just let people see you, you know, with your hair messed up or after a workout or, you know, frustrated or whatever it is, people will relate to that. We're so afraid to be vulnerable because after all, we're the business owner and we're supposed to, you know, button it up and all that, you know, Just be you.

I think that's the thing that I would lead people with. You will find your crowd, you will find that the people who are supposed to be attracted and you're supposed to be doing business with will come to you, the more you're just you. Don't try to be somebody else. I tried to model the guy that I worked for for the year for free for so long and you know it just wasn't me and now that I'm just me it's easier for me right because you just take you wherever you go but as far as getting in touch with me It's pretty easy if you go to Complete Marketing Systems, it's plural, completemarketingsystems.com.

I'm on all the social media sites. You can look it up at Diane Conklin or you can look it up at Complete Marketing Systems, but you know, pretty much everywhere I'm Diane Conklin. So Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, you know, blackberry, strawberry, whatever comes out. I'm there just under my name. So that's the easy way to find me. You know, if you want to email, you can do info at Complete Marketing Systems. The phone number is 678-250-6650. And that's all on the website if you want that. So.

15:49 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Diane. We will definitely have the links and information below, definitely for the blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, and all the different berries as well too, so that everybody can get a hold of you. I love that last piece that you kind of left us with, you know, it reminded me of the quote Be yourself because everybody else has already taken it.

I think the more that we lean into ourselves and stay true to ourselves, we start to realize that it's not just for ourselves. We get to help out so many other people because we get to find our tribe. As you said so well, so truly appreciate you for embodying that and doing that as well too. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:30 – Outro