Explosive Growth: From Zero to Millions

Summary

Podcast Summary: I Am Charles Schwartz Show - "Explosive Growth: From Zero to Millions"

Release Date: September 4, 2024
Host: Charles Schwartz
Guest: Tanner Chittister, Founder of Elite CEOs

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Introduction

In the "Explosive Growth: From Zero to Millions" episode of the I Am Charles Schwartz Show, host Charles Schwartz welcomes Tanner Chittister, the founder of Elite CEOs. Tanner shares his inspiring journey from a struggling athlete to building a $100 million empire in the online fitness industry. This episode delves deep into the strategies behind high-ticket sales, business scaling, and the creation of compelling unique selling propositions (USPs).

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Tanner's Journey: From Athletics to Entrepreneurship

Tanner begins by recounting his early life, growing up in a large, religious household with limited financial resources. His initial aspiration was to join the NFL, but injuries and setbacks led him to pivot towards education. Despite excelling academically with a 3.9 GPA in petroleum engineering, Tanner realized his passion lay elsewhere.

Tanner Chittister [02:18]:
"I was in petroleum engineering. I had a 3.9 GPA. When football ended, I realized I hated school. I was here to play football."

Faced with the end of his athletic dreams, Tanner sought mentorship from David Fry, a figure in the ClickFunnels community. Although his early ventures in door-to-door sales and serving were challenging and unprofitable, these experiences equipped him with invaluable skills in communication and resilience.

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The Breakthrough: Building Elite CEOs

Tanner's breakthrough came when he identified a gap in the online fitness niche. By creating high-ticket fitness packages priced at $5,000, he tapped into a market eager for premium services. This strategic positioning allowed his business, Elite CEOs, to scale rapidly, reaching $100 million in sales and serving over 50,000 clients within six years.

Tanner Chittister [03:45]:
"I went zero to a million in a year. That was actually my slowest year of growth, which is crazy to think."

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Crafting a Compelling USP

One of the cornerstone strategies Tanner emphasizes is the creation of a unique selling proposition (USP). He argues that a strong USP differentiates a business in a crowded market, allowing for premium pricing and customer loyalty.

Tanner Chittister [04:51]:
"It's all about positioning. It's not even necessarily being better you want to be, but it's positioning."

Using his own experience as a fitness trainer, Tanner illustrates how reframing the offer can overcome common objections and resonate deeply with clients. Instead of merely offering diet and training plans, he focused on allowing clients to "eat whatever you want without sabotaging results," addressing the real desires and challenges of his target audience.

Tanner Chittister [07:15]:
"When I start trying to sell it to people, instead of talking about features, I focus on the results and ease of achieving them."

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High-Ticket Sales and Overcoming Objections

Tanner highlights the importance of preemptively addressing client objections within the sales pitch. By anticipating concerns about time, cost, and effectiveness, businesses can streamline the sales process and increase conversion rates.

Tanner Chittister [08:48]:
"You're already defeating their objections in your pitch. It's a completely different narrative."

He emphasizes that successful sales calls often occur smoothly because objections have been addressed upfront, creating a scenario where potential clients are more inclined to commit without hesitation.

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Scaling Strategies: From Messaging to Automation

Elite CEOs employs a tailored approach to scaling businesses, beginning with assessing the client's current state and customizing strategies accordingly. Whether a client is a beginner with no sales experience or someone with an established following, Tanner adapts his methods to ensure effectiveness.

Tanner Chittister [14:24]:
"We assess where they are, and then implement strategies that match their current level."

Key components of his scaling strategy include:

1. Developing a Strong USP: Crafting a message that clearly communicates the unique benefits of the service.
2. Effective Copywriting: Creating compelling ad copy that grabs attention and fosters curiosity.
3. Leveraging Paid Advertising: Investing in targeted ads to drive traffic and generate leads rapidly.
4. Implementing Automations: Utilizing tools like Elite 360 to streamline processes such as lead capture and follow-ups, ensuring efficiency and scalability.

Tanner Chittister [21:08]:
"What's the biggest thing I'm trying to get across? It's about creating curiosity with your headline and then delivering value."

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Handling Diverse Client Needs and Offers

Not all business models are suited for high-ticket sales, and Tanner advocates for honest assessments of potential clients' offerings. If a client's product lacks uniqueness or doesn't address core areas like health, wealth, or relationships, Elite CEOs provides candid feedback and guidance.

Tanner Chittister [18:52]:
"I say, what's unique about what you do? How do you help clients get sales? If it doesn't stand out, it won't sell."

For those with viable offers, Elite CEOs assists in refining the message, enhancing copy, and optimizing sales funnels to maximize conversions and revenue.

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The Importance of Persistence and Adaptability

Tanner attributes his success to relentless perseverance and the ability to adapt strategies based on market dynamics. Despite increasing competition and higher customer skepticism in the high-ticket space, he finds success through community models and building trust with clients.

Tanner Chittister [37:34]:
"The hardest is the beginning because no one knows who you are. But once you get out of that hole, you start building confidence and have more opportunities."

He also notes the evolving effectiveness of different marketing channels, emphasizing the continued relevance of paid ads while acknowledging the challenges of organic growth in saturated markets.

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Conclusion and Resources

As the episode concludes, Charles Schwartz and Tanner Chittister reflect on the transformative power of a well-crafted USP and strategic scaling methods. They encourage listeners to implement these insights to achieve exponential business growth.

Charles Schwartz [39:34]:
"Remember, your unique selling proposition is your ticket to standing out in a crowded market."

For those seeking to delve deeper into Tanner's strategies, a comprehensive companion guide is available at [lead sales.com](https://lead sales.com), offering detailed breakdowns of USP creation, paid advertising tactics, and scalable business models.

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Key Takeaways

1. Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Essential for differentiating your business and justifying high-ticket pricing.
2. Preemptive Objection Handling: Addressing potential client concerns within the sales pitch enhances conversion rates.
3. Tailored Scaling Strategies: Assessing each client's current state allows for customized and effective growth strategies.
4. Persistence and Adaptability: Overcoming initial challenges and adapting to market changes are crucial for sustained success.
5. Effective Use of Automations: Streamlining processes through tools like Elite 360 enables efficient scaling.

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By leveraging Tanner Chittister's insights and proven strategies, entrepreneurs can navigate the complexities of high-ticket sales and scale their businesses from zero to millions with confidence and resilience.

Transcript

[Charles Schwartz]

Welcome to the I Am Charles Schwartz Show. Today we're taking a deep dive into the world of business scaling and high ticket sales with Tanner, the founder of elite CEOs who transformed his fitness expertise into a $100 million empire. Tanner's journey is a testament to the power of persistence and strategic pivoting. He built a business that not only sells high ticket packages, but creates a blueprint for explosive growth. Tanner is candid about his struggles from failed football dreams to working as a server before cracking the code of online business. He'll share his groundbreaking approach to creating a unique selling proposition that led to selling $5,000 fitness packages with ease. You'll learn about his 9010 rule for fitness marketing and how he leverages paid advertising to fuel exponential growth. Tanner's focus is on building a scalable business model that emphasizes enjoying the process as much as achieving financial milestones. Whether you're looking to craft an irresistible offer, master high ticket sales, or scale your business from zero to millions, Tanner's got the roadmap. So if you're ready to revolutionize your approach to marketing, create a sales strategy that converts skeptics into high paying clients and build a business that scales beyond your wildest dreams. This is the episode for you. Tanner is about to unveil the strategies that took him from a struggling athlete to a business mogul who's as passionate about helping others succeed as he is about his own success. The show starts now. Welcome to the I am Charles Schwartz.

[Co-host]

Show, where we don't just discuss success.

[Charles Schwartz]

We show you how to create it. On every episode, we uncover the strategies and tactics that turn everyday entrepreneurs into unstoppable powerhouses in their businesses and their lives. Whether your goal is to transform your life or hit that elusive seven, eight, or nine figure mark, we've got the blueprint to get you there. The show starts now.

[Co-host]

Today we've got Tanner with us. I am gonna absolutely fangirl for a second. I have been following him for a really long time, so it's kind of special. I know his girl doesn't want me to feed his ego, but this guy is a damn superhero. So I'm really impressed. Thank you so much for being on the lab.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah, thanks for having me, man. I appreciate it. That was very kind.

[Co-host]

So for the, like, the two people on the planet who actually don't know who you are, which is embarrassing, but can you give us a little bit of backstory, kind of like what your story was? I knew, you know, you grew up and then give me a little bit Of a lead in to get everybody you are and what's going on.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah. So one of seven kids, four sisters, two brothers. Grew up super religious, you know, conservative household. And my dad was a teacher. Mom would stay at home, so not a lot of cash, not a lot of money. And at a young age, I just remember, you know, telling my mom, when I'm rich, I'm going to buy those prepackaged meals and meal prep. And I was really into bodybuilding and sports. Um, and then I wanted to go to the NFL. Took it as far as I go. Had a little stint at D1. Got hurt a bunch. Don't think I was good enough either. Um, but I gave it my all, so no regrets. And that's been like a big thing in my life that I've been really proud of. And then I had to start figuring out what I was going to do. So, you know, I was in petroleum engineering. I had a 3.9 GPA. When football ended, I realized I hated school. I was like, man, I was here to play football. And I just went to class or so happened to, and I sat down. My mentor, my mentor was David Fry, who comes from the clickfunnels world. He's actually married to one of Russell Brunson's cousins, I believe. And he just taught me about funnels. And so I started learning all these things. I didn't make any money for years, but I was learning all these intangible skills. And I did door door sales and I was a server. But right before I was about to go back to school because I wasn't making any money. I was almost 25 now. I kind of hit it off in the online fitness niche. Blew up. Had tons of trainers start asking me for help. That blew up. And then elite seals was born after that. And I've been doing that the last six years. We crossed a hundred million in sales and, you know, 50,000 clients and all these crazy numbers. So that's kind of the long story short.

[Co-host]

So I like that you're being very kind with it blew up. Could you give a little bit more details of what do you mean by it blew up? Because I don't think people understand what blew up means in your world versus my world.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah, Blue. I mean, it grew very fast. So I went zero to a million in a year. That was actually my slowest year of growth, which is crazy to think. And then we went 1 to 10 and then we went 10 to 15. And then we jumped to like in the 20s and it was, I'd say my biggest, craziest year was 1 to 10. Right? Literally 10x in revenue in a year. And that's, you know, obviously a massive jump. So that's kind of what I mean by explosive growth is, you know, it's pretty explosive. Went pretty fast.

[Co-host]

I just needed to frame it for the people who are like, oh, yeah, he made 20 bucks. No, he didn't make 20 bucks. This is a very different conversation here. There's a reason it's called elite CEOs. So if someone's coming into this and they're like, okay, holy Christ, what, what happened here? If someone comes into the idea of scaling, if you're like, hey, this is the most important thing out of everything we do. This is what you have to identify first and foremost when it comes to scaling your business. What was the first thing you would say you they need to do?

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah, so it's going to sound boring, but it's, it's getting a good offer. Right. Mosey has a great book on it now. Right. 100 million dollar offers. Most people's offers just aren't that good. And so there's really two ways you can do it. Either A, you have something that's so unique that no one else is doing it, like Facebook. Right. That's an example. Or you have to have a unique selling proposition or usp. And so typically that's going to be in the health wealth relationship niche. Meaning, let's say I'm a trainer. And every trainer is essentially workout plan, nutrition plan. And so all the trainers are fighting on price because they don't know how to position it. So the number one thing they need to start with is having the unique selling proposition. What's the thing or the mechanism that makes what they do different. And a lot of people, they don't really understand what a mechanism is. They don't understand like how to make it different and they really don't know how to market it. And so that's like the number one thing. I can walk through that if you'd like. But if they didn't get that wrong, it's the base of the pyramid. Okay, so we'll walk through it. So for example, I'll just go, I'll just talk about when I was a trainer. So when I was a trainer, I realized, look, at the end of the day, everyone wants a six pack and they want to eat donuts, right? It may not be right, it may not be the healthy. It doesn't really matter. It's. That's what they want. So When I start trying to sell it to people, instead of saying, what most trainers do is they talk about the features and benefits. You get a nutrition plan, you get a training plan, you get accountability, you'll get an app like, no one cares. They just want to know they're going to get the result and it's going to be easy. So what I focused on is I'm a big proponent of calories, right? So calories in, calories out. Some people aren't, but that's, I'd say most trainers would agree with that. So with that being said, I said, okay, how can I position it in a way where I'm not lying, but it sounds attractive because most trainers would say, yeah, I'm going to put you on a diet plan or hey, I'm going to teach you calorie counting. Boring. So what I would say for one of my pillars, like I usually have three, so it's two. Are the USPS like, what is that? I do different than one's. Why me? Right? So one of them was how to eat whatever you want without sabotaging results. And what I would teach, I say, look, I'm going to show you how to eat whatever you want without sabotaging results. Because as you get older, you go to birthdays and parties, you're not going to just eat chicken and broccoli, right? On your birthday, you're going to eat cake, right? So it's not about cutting out bad foods, it's about how to eat bad foods and still look good. So people would buy that and like, oh, that sounds different. Same thing with the training. I'd say, look, 90% of your results is nutrition, 10% is training. So I don't care if you don't train at all. It's not as healthy, but I can still get you to lose weight as long as you follow the nutrition. They're like, oh, okay, that makes sense. And then finally when I would get down to their options, I'd say, so now that you understand you have to learn these things, you can either hire an in person trainer who is paid for you to keep coming back to the gym and they focus on training, which we already said wasn't most of your results. So that's not a good idea. You could get beachbody, but they give everyone the same program and it's just, you know, set to get as much results in the first 30 days for their pictures and then you go right back off because you can't stick with it. Or you can hire me now, I'm going to teach you how to do this for the rest of your life. And you only have to pay for it once. So by the time they got that concept, I was selling three, four, $5,000 fitness packages and a lot of trainers that were probably better than me couldn't do it because they don't know how to position right. It's all about positioning. It's not even necessarily being better you want to be, but it's positioning. And so that's the number one thing that most people fail at. And they don't think about it long enough to be different or they think what they do is different, but it's not. It's just what everyone does. So they can't sell it at a high price.

[Co-host]

I love the subtle brilliancy brilliance that was in it. You were defeating their objections in your pitch. You're going through and saying, listen, I know you're going to go over here and you're not going to do this. That's okay. And that's not going to work. Or, hey, you're not going to get it in the gym. You're, you know, you're going to just have diet. So you're already, as you're going through it, their objections, you already know where they're going to be. You've done the research in advance and you're like, I'm going to build my pitch in my unique selling proposition of this. It's already going to defeat you. It's already going to go in and it's already going to negate it. So now you're at the point where you're begging to be sold to versus having to sell. It's a completely different narrative.

[Tanner Chittister]

Well, yeah, and the thing in sales is if you don't beat the objections in the beginning, they just come up at the end. So when you get a sales call that has no objections, all it means is you already beat the objections in the beginning. They just didn't bring them up. Right. But they had them. So as you're going through a sales pitch or a presentation, the point is to beat all the objections that they might have. And so it's just you being aware of what they are before they even bring them up.

[Co-host]

I'm a little upset that I can't eat donuts and have a six pack. So we're going to talk about that later. As you go through and you've had all the success and you've been doing this, you created something called elite CEOs and a lot of people have pushback going, well, you're just the fitness guy. Yeah. You did it over here. Why can't. What you. What do you know about xyz? What do you know about car sales? What about, you know, cardiologists? You've only done it over here. I, I completely disagree with that narrative. Tell me why that is not the right way to come through it. When most people say, hey, if you can do it fitness, you can only do it in fitness, it's not a truthful statement. Why do you know it to not be a truthful statement?

[Tanner Chittister]

Well, I mean, some of the concepts, I mean it's a lot of the same concepts. Right. I mean, so yes, when you're selling fitness, like old take fitness to like business consulting. Right. But yeah, there's differences in fitness for sure. Meaning the type of avatar will be different. It's going to be someone who's 30 pounds overweight versus maybe a super ambitious business owner. Right. Certain terminology will be different. It's obviously like different niche, but the sales process is the same. Like the marketing systems are the same, the back end systems are the same. So you know, I do think for more people it takes more skill to be able to do different things. But at the, at the, in the grand scheme of things, like when I'm teaching people concepts, it's all similar. The people who do better though, they usually have more of those tangible tactical skills, meaning they know how to run ads, they know how to do sales calls. Like, so all they need is a strategy. What makes it difficult is if you get a beginner who has no tactical skills. So messaging, sales, marketing, they don't understand that. Plus you have to give them strategy. So it just takes a lot more to actually move the needle, if that makes sense.

[Co-host]

It does, yeah.

[Tanner Chittister]

So for me it was pretty natural progression because I didn't plan on doing this. It's just I had success in fitness then I had a bunch of trainers ask and then had a bunch of. So it just naturally progressed, but I never really planned on doing what I'm doing. I was just going to stay in fitness forever at the time.

[Co-host]

The same way I fell into it. I used to own an IT company. We sold it, we had an exit, and then everyone was like, hey, you did it. Can you do this with this and this? And I was like, I guess. And it just progresses into it. It's the same strategies. I'm like, okay, you're not selling computers and you're not a dork, but you're a cardiologist. So maybe it'll work. So it does go into those. Before we get into some of the higher end stuff. If someone's listening to this and they're like, you know what? I don't have the skills of messaging and I don't know how to do Facebook ads and I don't know how to write copy and I don't know how to build funnels and I don't know how to do all these wonderful things. Where can someone go, where do, where do you reckon go? They go, go read this, go do this, maybe work for someone else. What is the best way that you found to start building some of those core skills so that you can lay the strategies on top of it?

[Tanner Chittister]

The best thing I ever did was nine months of door to door sales. And the reason was I didn't know this at the time, but I wasn't a really good communicator and I didn't understand human psychology. But once I knocked on 100 doors a day for nine months. You learn very quickly how to pick up on facial expressions, body movement, like certain rebuttals they would have. And when you're selling door to door, they don't want you there and they don't know you're coming. So the rebuttals you would get, I mean exponential there, there's a, I mean you couldn't possibly memorize everything so you'd have to have frameworks. So once I moved into high ticket sales or like online business, there's only four objections. Time, spouse, need to think about it or they have a belief issue that's really it because you pre framed and they want to be there. And so if someone does door to door sales, they almost always excel in business unless they're not willing to learn some of the technical side like Mark like you know, setting up ads and funnels. But they usually do very, very well because one, they face a lot of rejection. Two, it's just an easier sell. Like they actually want what you're selling. So there's a million things people could do. But if someone just wanted to go take three months, you can even do two months, just go sell for a security company. It's 100% commission. They'll let anyone do it, just go sell alarms or go sell like pest control even. And I'm telling you like that will be probably worth four years of college. Right, right there. It's, that's like one of the best things I ever did. It's the hardest but it's probably one of the most beneficial things I ever.

[Co-host]

Did when I was learning human behavior, I volunteered at a suicide hotline. Taught me more in the months that I was doing that than anything else, any of the books, any of the stuff I was exposed to. Because you're just, you're in the fire and it just. And luckily there's people to help out, but that's how I learned it. So very similar process. So you've got someone who, again, we don't help people grow their initial businesses. We help people scale them. So if you come into this environment and they want to be an elite level CEO, they want to be at this high enough level that they're like, hey, we're doing this. And I've already got the basic skills. I understand that. I've already understand a basic idea of my product. It's somewhat successful when they get into your environment and they start doing this high end coaching with you and they do this. What, what are the things, what is the process of the life cycle that someone goes through?

[Tanner Chittister]

So I give a client, if they come in as like a client, for.

[Co-host]

Example, if they come into a client, what is the result they normally get? And then what are the things you make them do? Because everybody has their different strategies and their techniques. I mean, like, okay, there's first we do this and then we do this. What are the things that you make them go through by default?

[Tanner Chittister]

So, yeah, I mean, in terms of results, obviously they're going to vary per person. But you know, I, I would say like 80% of our clients will make their first 10k in like 45 days. It's pretty high because, you know, especially if you're selling something for three grand, finally talking three sales. I don't think it's that crazy of a claim. It's just people got to be willing to do the work. So when they come in first, we assess where they're at. I think one of the key things I've learned over time is making sure that the strategy stays not consistent. Like you're able to adapt based on where someone's at. So for example, if someone comes in, they have no sales skills, no social media, no messaging, they're starting from scratch. Like, we got to start them. Like, let's just get you a basic offer. Let's get you like doing outreach. Let's get a couple of sales. If I bring someone who's got 2 million followers on Instagram, I can monetize that immediately. So I'm going have a totally different strategy. They don't need to do any outreach. We just need to monetize what they have. So the first thing is like we assess where it is. They come in, they fill out a check in form, client check in form. I'll assess it, I'll do it like a 10 minute loom. My account manager sees it and they implement whatever that is from there. Let's say they're a beginner. We're going to come up with their pillars. And there's usually three pillars. So kind of like I said the fitness one, it's like how to eat whatever you want, how to train however you want. And then the last, the third one I called lifestyle recalibration, which was like, who do you hire? We'll figure that out for their offers. So they can use it in their marketing and they can use in their sales pitch, they can use in their emails. Like that's, that's really the core message they have. So for years one of the things we use for these shows was conversion conversations, right? Which was when DM ads were new. It's not that it's not new anymore, but at the time I was like, yeah, like I'll show you how to get 50% more conversions doing conversion conversations versus a webinar. And like we crushed for like two years just running that angle. Just like same angle over and over. So that's going to be number two. And it's usually health, wealth, relationship, niche, right? Like if the offer doesn't fix one of those three things, people usually are not very interested. They got to make more money, have better relationships, are getting better health. Once that's done, if they're starting from zero, then we got to start doing outreach. So like you obviously have inbound or outbound. Inbound is going to be what I would call. If you go to my Facebook profile, you can see like a two step I did today. So the two step was, hey, most business owners stuck at, you know, below or 20k a month or like they can't get to 100, they have the wrong strategy. I did a 45 minute call with someone, they doubled their revenue in 26 days. Here's the document. Comment down below, like that's inbound. And you can go see like I told people to message me, but they're still commenting. But there's like hundreds of comments already and people are DMing me. And so that's like a legion strategy that we can teach clients how to do. The other way is outbound. Outbound is the worst. So it's like direct cold dms or followers or likes or comments. The Only reason you would do that is if you're low skill and you don't have money for ads. Right. Because that's usually the fastest way or you don't have a big following. So we'll go through that process. Once they get a couple of sales, two or three clients take that cash, we'll put it into ads, whether it's boosted post DM straight to page and then we start scaling from there. Right. And then it's just rinse and repeat that process until desired income level. Along the way. As they start to scale, we start teaching them like hiring, training, interviews, back end systems. I would say most clients, they don't really understand hiring and training and they don't understand back end systems like the highest level clients. That's usually what they need help with lower level clients, it's I don't know what to say in a message or like I don't know what to say on a sales call. So it's more the tactical. As they make more money, it gets easier to coach or consult because you're just telling them the strategy and you know they can implement it. So it's like telling Michael Jordan, hey, do five layups in a free throw versus you tell like a five year old, like shoot a layup. Like the five year old can't even get the ball off the ground. Right. So that's kind of, that's kind of our process. I can go into more detail, but that's how it would possibly look for like a beginner and then someone is a little more experienced.

[Co-host]

Yeah, I'd love to have more of the beginning tactics where they go through because most people's messaging is horrible and most people have never made it to the 20k a month because again they're not, either they're not willing to do it or their messaging is garbage. When, when you talk about, you know, there's only three areas you do. Health, wealth, you know, you know we get into that environment. Health, wealth, relationships. When you get into that environment, if you have someone that comes in and says hey, I want to sell grandma's cookies, do you have that, how do you have that honest conversation with them going, no one cares about your grandmother's cookies. When do you meet with them, say listen, you're just not my fit or hey, I can't do, you can't scale it or what do you do in that environment?

[Tanner Chittister]

So I'm a pretty straight shooter. Fortunately, I think that's why a lot of people maybe listen to me and I'll just Tell them I say, hey, so this is terrible. And the reason it's terrible is it's not unique at all. Right. I just got off a call with a guy, for example, and he is a really good offer actually. But the way he was presenting is like, I'm going to give you accountability so you'll get one to one coaching. Like every business consultant says, that's not unique. It doesn't even matter if it's true. The issue is when someone's on a sales call, they think you're lying or they're looking for where you're trying to be dishonest. So saying I give you one to one, every coach says that it's not unique. His next one was, you know, all. What was it? It was, I'm trying to think. He set up, he set up their funnels, which was kind of okay, but then he had another one which was all I do, I'll give you like a good portal. Or it was something kind of weak. I can't remember what it was. So what we did is I said, what's, what's unique about what you do? How do you help clients get sales? And he's, he has something pretty cool where he said, so what I do is I teach them how to set up these called an rpv, but it's like an interview. And then somehow I don't know what he said in the call and so forth, but from the interview they then would get them on another call and close. And so I looked at his stats, he tracked it. 16% of the outreaches his clients did, these are brand new beginners booked a sales call. Well, for anyone who's listening, 3% from any, from paid traffic or cold. You're killing it. Like you're getting 3%, like you're freaking making tons of money. So I was like, man, you're getting a 500% increase. You're not even talking about it at all. So that's like a great example of. Now that I spoke with him, I was like, look, this needs to be your mechanism that you talk about in the ad. So his ad headline could be book 400% more sales calls without ads or like book 400% more sales calls without a cold DM or whatever. Because that's what he was pitching. So that for example, that's like an easy example. But that's what most people miss. And so if they don't have that, I just tell them like, look, this sucks. You're not going to sell it. Just period.

[Co-host]

And then if they, if they don't suck and they actually have something decent, do you help which most of them do, do you help them write their copy? Do you help do their funnels? Or how do you. And then how do you write good copy? Because there's so many people out there like I'll just chat GPT and like, no, it's not going to work.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah.

[Co-host]

So how do you get in the situation where you know, where do you get good copy? Do you outsource it? Is this something just experience? How do people get to the point where they do good copy?

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah. So in terms of what we do for our clients, I mean we can do anything A to Z depending on the package they pick. So we have an in house copywriter, we have media buyers, we'll set up the funnels, we'll do the pixels. I mean we'll do it all like, and we've just had to over the years because it's not only just giving them strategy but it's trying to help them implement. Right. Like people need that help. So that's number one in terms of writing copy. Where I start is what's the biggest thing I'm trying to get across, right. So if I'm writing an ad or a headline or whatever, it's the number one thing is what am I trying to show or what do I want them to understand. So for example, I just showed you, or I just spoke about the last guy how to book 400 more sales calls using the RPB method. Creates curiosity. It's unique one we use for years. Yeah, yeah. It's usually the result from it. Right. How convergent conversations books me 57% more sales calls or how to like, how to use the. What's one we're running recently. It's like get X amount more return using the boosted funnel. And then it's like, well, what's the boosted funnel? And stuff like that. So I think the first thing is what's going to draw attention and it needs to create curiosity. You don't want it to be so weird where it's like, you know, aliens are, you know, running across the earth at light speed, but you don't want it to not be too simplistic. So one that I always use as an example is bulletproof coffee. They don't say coffee with butter, they say bulletproof coffee. So it's like, well wait, what's bulletproof coffee? And it's like, oh, you put the butter in and then it uses the key, whatever. I don't care if it's true or not. That's not the point. The point is, like, it works in terms of driving curiosity. Once I have that, the first line if I'm writing the body is then who it's for. So it's like if you're, you know, if you're this type of person with this type of struggle, this is for you. So I just call it out immediately and then I go right into the problem, right Then I'll relate back to them. So like, hey, you're this type of person. I used to be here too, until I started, you know, whatever I started XYZ method and then this is the result and then a cta. So that's usually how I'll structure the copy and, you know, part of it for me, I think over time it's gotten easier because the more you do it, the more you kind of know what's going to drive curiosity and attention. But to be frank, what's like, it's all the same. And something I get away from sometimes, like more organic content is I get lazy. And so we're just like throwing reels out there. But whenever I get feedback from a consultant, he's like, bro, like, just like, treat it like an ad. Like, what would you say in the first two seconds to get someone like to click on your stuff? And I'm like, oh yeah, of course. So as long as you have like a catchy hook, a good headline, and then if it is an ad just for anyone listening, people are looking at the ad, then their eyes go to the headline, then the copy. So it's in that order of importance where the image or video needs to be like, immediately catches attention and then the headline, then the copy. So if you have a follow up, let me know. Hopefully I hit all the cylinders.

[Co-host]

No, that, that hit a lot of them. So if you've got the people who are like, okay, clearly my message is garbage. I need to make it more unique. I need to sell the result. Shit. Once we get that rocking and rolling, the next question I get asked all the time, especially by my clients. They're like, well, how much do I have to be involved? And I'm a systems guy, I'm going to automate someone. And whenever I'm scaling businesses and brought in, I'm going to fire the person as quickly as possible. I'm like, you're in my way. You're the business owner. Get out of my way. You've been in my way. I can't scale it with you being here. But my businesses are significantly big. Bigger than most people. I'm guessing some people who are these, hey, I'm just a coach or I'm just a. I, I haven't made my first 20k yet.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah.

[Co-host]

What do you tell the person? Can they bring in Vas, can they bring in staff? Or just say, you know what, I'm going to put your face against the grinder and we're just going to hunt and I'm going to make you work 80 hours a day. Let's go.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah. So full transparency. I think it depends on the person. So let's say someone who's had prior sales experience or business experience comes over here and they're like, I want to start this new business. Well, they can move a little faster, but they already have experience. Right? Like, it may not be the same business, but they have experience. The issue is if someone comes in and they're brand new and they want to hire everything out to start, the problem is they don't know what it should look like. And so the issue is, like, you don't have to know how to do everything, but if you don't even know what it should look like, and you don't know if someone's within KPIs or doing a good job, you can't do it. And so typically at the beginning, if it's a beginner, I don't like them to do that because I say, look, think about it. You're going to bring someone on who's not as skilled as you because you're going to pay less money, right? So you're wanting them to do something that you've never even done before and they're not as skilled as you. Do you see the issue there? And so obviously not in every business, but I would say from like mom and pop or a startup or, you know, something starting from zero, that's not a great idea. Because, you know, people get the wrong idea, they go, oh, yeah, I'm going to build a business and not have to do anything. It's like the people good enough to be able to run your business that way usually run their own businesses or they get paid a ton of money to do that for other people. And so you're trying to get someone to run your business for two grand or four grand, it ain't happening, man. So usually, no, if I start a new business now, yeah, like, I could just start day one. Like, obviously, like, hire, hire, hire, do all that. But I have the experience and I think a lot of people, there's nothing wrong with wanting to make a lot of money. And I think most of us actually start business to make a lot of money. I don't think we start to help people. I mean, it sounds nice, but I started business make a lot of money. Yeah, I like helping people now, but it took me a few years to get to that higher level of purpose, Realizing that chasing money was stupid. Right? It wasn't going to fulfill me. So I think a lot of people at the beginning, if I could go back in time, I wouldn't believe it now, unfortunately. But if I could go back and talk to my younger self, I'd say, dude, enjoy the process, because the process is the reward. But I didn't understand that. And so I think if people would stop having the mindset of, oh, I just want to build this and get out of it as fast as I can. The thing is those are. Those people are never as successful because they're just working to get to a benchmark and then they stop. The most successful people, they enjoy the game and that's why they always win, because they never stop, no matter what result they get. And so I know that's not everyone's goal in life. I know not everyone wants to be like a, like a me or like, you know, Hermosa gets brought up a lot, right? He works all the time. But there is some truth in it where if your goal is just to get to a certain point and stop, I feel like those people have a harder time being successful because they're always looking to do the least versus someone like me is I'm doing the most. But I'm always worried what else I can do. Like I'll do a 16 hour day. I'm like, oh, what else could I have done right? These people are doing like a, like four hours and they're like, oh, that's enough work. It's just a totally different mentality and mindset.

[Co-host]

I also think getting to that mindset is a little challenging because I talk about this all the time. You can sing Happy Birthday, but if I put a grenade in your hand and take the pin out, you're going to have a much longer, harder time singing Happy Birthday. So step one, get the pin back in the grenade. Then we can talk about all the other stuff. And for most people it's like, how do you just. How do you eat? How do you get to the point where you're like, okay, I got my rent paid for the next year. I have a wealth ratio that exceeds a year. Now I can start playing the ball game. And I can start moving things around in a very different thing. So someone comes into elite CEOs, you already told them that their message is caca and you're going to help them get their message better. You're going to help them with their copy, you're going to help them do outreach. When it gets to the point where they're like, all right, we've got this done, they're working in it, they understand it well enough, they're hitting all their KPIs. What is the systems that you normally say? These are the ones that result really, really well. And these are kind of our next steps. Like, okay, we've done this, we fix your stuff. Now we're going to talk about systems, we're going to systematize this so we can scale it. What are some of the things that you normally go into? Say, hey, you know what, Facebook ads are great, or Instagram posts are great, or selling underwear is better, whatever it is.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah, well, so something that's really simple but a lot of people don't know how to do is. So we have our own white label version of Go High Level. Right? We call it Elite 360, same thing as Go High Level, except obviously like our service behind it and like the funnels and tablets Anyways. But the point is that a lot of clients, they don't know how to set up like simple automation. So if I do a what I consider a two step, a two step is where I say, you know, hey, I helped this client, you know, double their revenue in 30 days, comment down below to get the document. You can set it up where when they comment, it'll just fire the sheet immediately to everyone. And so for some people, they don't know how to do that. So they'll get 200 comments and it takes them two days to have to go through it or they have to pay va. And I'm like, you just automate it. So that's like number one is just super simple. Like just get little automations out of the way. Or like an email campaign. You'd be shocked how many people, they don't have email campaigns or text campaigns. Like just one time you do the work and it's done, you don't ever have to do it again. So that's, that's number one. From there, once they have a sales process that's working, then we just want to continue to drive leads with whatever method's better. So if it's Instagram ads, gray if it's YouTube ads, if it's like they can just do it organically. That's fine. I'm not. I don't care if clients use paid ads. I mean, I've ran about 30 million in paid ads, so people know, like, I'm a paid ads guy. But that's only because it works really well. If it doesn't work well or you can do it organically, there's no point because 60% of my expense in a month is ads. So if you take away 60% of my expenses and I could just do organic, great. It's just you need enough traffic to sustain that. So those are really the two, I'd say, biggest things. It's just most people don't have very basic automations. And then once they have a consistent sales process, they're like, well, Tanner, I got to keep. I want to keep this going. I want to start over from zero every month. So whether that's organic or paid ads is fine. It's just most people don't have a big enough following, so they have to go more the paid ads route.

[Co-host]

And when it comes to getting a bigger following, how important is social proof? There's some people like, hey, I've never. Nobody knows who I am. There's other people who, like, I was on Dancing with the Whoever's. How important is social proof? And if it is important, how, what's the best recommended way to get it?

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah, so I have a unique perspective on this. So for years, I did, like, paid shout outs, which is basically just a bigger page on Instagram, like, hey, follow at Tanner Chittister, blah, blah, blah. And it worked probably two, three years, and now they don't work at all. We don't do them anymore. And so I'll give you two sides of the coin. Like, it's been interesting because part of it. It was funny, is it's just a money game. So, like, I would pay. Let's say I pay 10 grand and I make 270 massive returns because you could get followers for like 50, like, 10 cents. And on Facebook, if you get a lead for 10 bucks, right. It's like, that's great. So for years, that was cool. I would say the benefit of that was as your number goes up, like, some people look and like, oh, he has a bigger number of followers. But do you need that? I mean, and is. And if the engagement's not there, it's not as good. Right? Like, if you have a high number but your engagement's not as good. Like, I don't. I don't Think it helps you in the long run. It might be a short term thing, but to answer your question, do you need a big social media presence to make money? No. Like I started from scratch. Most of the followers you see either came from like shout outs or like paid ads. Like, I'm pretty transparent about it didn't come because, like, I have this, you know, great organic presence and stuff. That's actually something I'm trying to work better on. But there's, there's two paths you can take. You can take the organic path, which is you have really good content, you get very high engagement and you drive a lot of sales from that. Or B, you do the paid ads path, which is one I opted for, which is a little faster but it takes a little more skill, right? Cause I just, I didn't care about being popular. I was like, I just wanna make money, right? I was like, whatever's fastest way A to B, when you merge both those two, that's where you get like Alex Ramosi, where you take like someone who's really good at paid traffic and you take someone who's like really good at branding. And those are the people who become billionaires. So the next step for me personally is like, I want to get much better at organic. Like, I want to get a lot more traffic organically. But I'd say most people, 80%, are gonna be better off running paid ads because building an organic audience takes time and you don't know if it's ever gonna take off. And so I didn't wanna build a method or teach people something where, okay, like, you know, you gotta be good on video and you gotta be good on camp because some people just aren't. And so it feels, it feels like better advice to teach people paid versus organic, if that makes sense. But that's kind of my view on both.

[Co-host]

You know, I mean, when I originally, I hated all of everything that came to social media, I owned an IT company. I was like, I worked very hard to make sure no one knew who I was. And then sitting down at dinner, someone bet me 10 grand that I couldn't grow a hundred thousand followers. And I was like, okay, that's what it was. It's like, I bet you 10 grand you can't grow a hundred thousand followers in 90 days. And he was right. We did it in 39 days and we did the exact same crazy, which was you just, you just do shoutouts and pay that. Like, this is a complicated stuff. Luckily, I've been on stage for years, so I could Turn the camera on, like, blah, blah, blah. That was simple for me to do. The problem was, once I did that, I became the Instagram guy, and I was like. And I literally went dark on my gram. Completely went gram. And then we started the podcast, and the first week, we were top 10. There's there. Jesus didn't walk on water. He just knew where the rocks were. So this is kind of the joke that we always say there's ways to do this, but what doesn't happen very often, which is one of the reasons I wanted you on here, was most people don't show up authentic. Most people? No, no, I. I never ran paid ads. I'm just special because my fart in a different direction. It's like, no, come on, be honest. Let's get into this. Let's really get into it. So we've gone through, you need to better have, you know, your usp. We've gone through the idea that you've got to work it, and we've done that. We've gone through some of the systematization processes as you're getting into it, and as you're someone who's like, hey, you know, I've gotten this far, and I want to scale, and I really want to take this to the next level. What is elite CEOs? Why does it work versus all the other stuff that's out there specifically for you?

[Tanner Chittister]

Well, yeah, I think first thing is there's a million things out there that can work in terms of what I've done, I mean, it's been pretty simplistic and straightforward. I mean, it's hard, obviously, but, you know, again, you just take my methodology. You, starting at zero, you have no cash. I made a few first sales organically. Once I had that cash, I dumped it into ads. And then once you learn how to spend a dollar, make two, you just rinse and repeat. And the more I made, the more I spent, the more I made, the more I spend. And it's kind of been that cycle for the last six years. I think I make. I. I think I make some of it look easier because I've been very experienced in sales, and I was a, you know, former athlete, and so I've. I learned how to do a lot of hard things, so I'm pretty resilient compared to the average person. But, I mean, to be be honest with you, it's how all businesses grow. Like, you're either going to grow for free, or you're going to grow with paid. And the free could be social media. Or referrals or affiliates, or the paid could just be paid traffic or paid shout outs or whatever. So, you know, most of the times when you see people talking about different methodologies and strategies, it's, it's a different method, but it all comes down to the same thing. Like, you need X amount of eyeballs for certain costs, and in return, you deliver the service. And as whatever the difference is, is the profit. And so I don't think I've done anything quote, unquote, revolutionary. I just think. I just think I'm a little more tenacious than most people and I'm willing to do a lot more. And, you know, I, I did a couple things right, and then, you know, it's one. The other thing too, like in, you know, some people's defense is once you're successful, it's easy to keep being successful because if, you know, like, you'll see celebrities, like, the more money they make, the more free they get. It's backwards. And so, you know, as you make more money, it's easier to win and you have more opportunities, More people want to meet you and collaborate. So I would say the hardest is the beginning, because no one knows who you are, no one cares. You're by yourself. But if you can get out of that hole, you know, going 0 to 10 is as hard as 10 to 100 and 100 to a million. Right. A lot of people, they don't.

[Co-host]

I would say 0 to 10 is the hardest.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah. Because once you're all moving, once you get the ball moving, you start building confidence and then you have more opportunities.

[Co-host]

You know, it works. 0 to 10 starts showing you what works and what doesn't work, because you're going to fail a whole lot more in the first 0 to 10.

[Tanner Chittister]

Correct.

[Co-host]

What is surprising right now that. What have you found that surprised you? That's working really intensely. You're like, holy crap. I didn't expect in 2024 that this was it. Like we talked about before doing paid ads and shoutouts, we're like, holy shit, this worked great three years ago. Doesn't work anymore. It's dead. What works now that, at least in the Instagram world, what works now that really surprises you. And you're like, holy.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah. So the, the jury's still out because we're, we're in the early stages. But what I've noticed that isn't working, to answer that question first is like the, the high ticket space, it's gotten much more competitive. Like, cost of acquisition is much higher. People are less Receptive, more skeptical. You know, back in 20, 20, 21, whenever the pandemic happened, I mean, I didn't even realize at the time, like it was easy pickings, like people were just like looking to move online. So with that being said, what's working now, ironically, is kind of the community model has been working really well for us. And I think the reason it's been working and I was a little surprised at how well it's working, even with cold traffic. And the reason I think it's working well is they come in, they're skeptical, so you're giving them something, you know, lower priced. And as they come in and they see value, it's been easy for me, especially if like they can see me on a call or they can see me giving value. And so I've always like, you know, I always like going straight to high ticket if I can. But I've been a little surprised at how well it seems to work right now and how receptive people are once they build a little bit more trust. I just didn't realize how low trust has been. So that's what is working really well for us right now. And our cost of acquisitions, like way down. We're getting a lot more sales. It's even funny too. Well, they'll buy certain packages and then it can kind of almost turn into a sales call and they'll buy more stuff. It's very interesting.

[Co-host]

So how do people track you down? How do they find you? How do they get access to you? How do they learn some more of this stuff?

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah. Lead sales.com our main website. We have a couple other links, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. So you just go there, you can check out. Yeah, you take out a bunch of testimonials and you can read more about me and so forth. If you want to book a call, you can do that, but that's our main website and has most of our information.

[Co-host]

I appreciate you coming on and giving really tactical stuff. Been a fan for a really long time, so I really appreciate your time, man.

[Tanner Chittister]

Yeah, thanks for having me as you ask great questions and I'm glad to.

[Charles Schwartz]

Be here as we bring this episode to a close. We hope Tanner's remarkable journey from struggling athlete to business scaling expert has inspired you to rethink your approach to marketing, sales and business growth. We extend our sincere thanks to Tanner for his candid insights. Your open discussion about the challenges of building a multimillion dollar business and the power of a compelling USP is truly invaluable for entrepreneurs at every stage. To our listeners, your dedication to scaling your businesses and achieving your dreams motivates us to continue bringing you these game changing conversations. We're deeply appreciative of your continued support for those eager to revolutionize their marketing strategy and master the art of high ticket sales. You won't want to miss Tanner's comprehensive companion guide. It's a goldmine of practical strategies including a detailed breakdown of his USP creation process, tactics for leveraging, paid advertising for exponential growth, and tips for scaling from zero to millions. Don't miss out on this resource. Head over to our website@podcast imcharleschwartz.com to access the Companion guide. It's your blueprint for crafting irresistible offers and scaling your business to new heights. Remember, your unique selling proposition is your ticket to standing out in a crowded market. So go forth, create an offer that resonates and watch your business soar until our next session. Keep innovating, keep scaling and never stop enjoying the journey of entrepreneurship.