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Spa Marketing Made Easy | Spa Business Growth
SMME #420 Building Strong Relationships with Your Vendors with Danielle Cobo
00:44:24
Building Strong Relationships with Your Vendors with Danielle Cobo
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- [00:01]
Host
Hey, are you in APA yet? The ATTO Professional Association. We just launched it this year and our members get access to a library of masterclass recordings with resources, of course, that we are adding to every single month. A webinar vault of educational training from leading industry experts and brands. An online community hub designed to develop and nurture real relationships with other aesthetic and wellness professionals. Small group pods that meet monthly in a mastermind setting to develop and nurture relationships and connections. Even more massive discounts on auto aesthetics, coaching, consulting and courses, and so much more. All of this for only3.97 a year. So what are you waiting for? Go to attoesthetics.com and click on ADO Professional association right there at the top and join today.
- [00:54]
Daniela Warner
Welcome to Spa Marketing Made Easy, a podcast for spa owners who want to step up their leadership and business skills and step into the role as spa CEO. I'm your host, Daniela Warner, CEO of ATTO Aesthetics and founder of the Growth Factor Framework program where we teach, coach and guide spa owners in scaling their spas to the next level of growth and unlocking freedom in their life and their business. I. I'm so glad you're here. Now let's dive into the show.
- [01:25]
Host
Relationships make the world go round.
- [01:28]
Danielle Cobo
And when we're looking at business relationships.
- [01:31]
Host
The ones that you have with your vendors and reps can be absolutely essential for the success of your spa. That's why I was so excited to welcome Danielle Cobo to the show to dive into this topic and discuss how we can look at these relationships and and understand the best way forward to create a win win win for the rep, the practice and of course the patient.
- [01:54]
Danielle Cobo
Now we absolutely went off topic and.
- [01:57]
Host
Talked about a variety of other things. It's a really great conversation, a fun listen. I hope you enjoy it and I hope that you get Danielle's book Unstoppable Breakthrough. The seven Roadblocks of Standing. Seven roadblocks standing between you and achieving your goals.
- [02:16]
Danielle Cobo
All right, I'm going to do a.
- [02:17]
Host
Quick read of her bio and then we'll play that interview. With over 15 years of corporate experience including 7 years leading a high performing team for one of the top medical aesthetic companies in the world. Our guest, Danielle Kobo knows how to increase sales, productivity and employee retention. Through keynote speeches, corporate programs and one on one coaching, Danielle has taught thousands of people how to achieve their career goals with with unstoppable confidence and live their best lives. Danielle is the best selling author of Unstoppable Breakthrough, the seven Roadblocks Standing between you and achieving your goals. She's also a mother to thrill seeking 7 year old twin boys and a military spouse.
- [02:56]
Danielle Cobo
All right, she's an incredible woman.
- [02:58]
Host
Make sure you get her book and follow her on LinkedIn and let's go ahead and play that interview.
- [03:03]
Danielle Cobo
All right, Danielle, welcome to the Spa Marketing Made Easy podcast. I'm so excited to have you on here. I'm so glad you reached out. I love seeing, seeing all of your content on LinkedIn. You are just really knocking it out of the park when it comes to leadership. You've got a book called Grit, which I love. You know, it's, you are speaking my love language. So I'm so happy to have you on the show today to talk to our listeners. Welcome.
- [03:28]
Well, thank you so much for having me on the show. Anytime that I get to speak to the aesthetic industry, it always excites me because that's where my passion, that's where my background comes from.
- [03:38]
Tell us a little bit about your background. So how did you. I know it's, we were just talking pre show and found some, some overlaps. And that's one of the things about this industry is that when you are in it long enough, you are bound to have connections and overlaps and that is why relationships are such an important piece in anything that you do. But in our industry especially. So tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into what you're doing today.
- [04:08]
Yeah, so I started in dental sales. So I worked in dental sales for five and a half years selling capital equipment, selling practice management software, digital imaging and cone beam CT scanning. And then I was actually recruited into aesthetics. I wasn't looking for a job, but a recruiter reached out to me and I was recruited for a company called Sold to Medical. So that's where I really found my foundation in medical esthetics, selling non invasive body contouring, skin resurfacing, lasers, and then transitioned into working for Allergan Aesthetics. So I worked for Allergan Aesthetics for over seven years. I was their senior regional sales manager, first starting in the Southern California area and then moving over to the Southeast where it led a team to number one in the nation working in their topical aesthetics division, so representing Skinmedica Latisse as well as Diamond Glow.
- [05:03]
Wonderful. Congratulations. And how did you transition into what you're doing now? And tell us a little bit about that as well, because I want to, I want to give the full picture before we get into our topic of the day.
- [05:16]
Yes. So I had absolutely no intention in starting a business, I was actually the best one.
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Start.
- [05:22]
Yeah, exactly, I was. So it was right after a series of life changing events that took place in 2020. 2020 was the year for many of us, the year of change for me. Within six months, my husband had just returned home from serving a year deployment in Iraq. While at the time he was deployed, I was leading a team across five states. My twins were between the ages of 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old and I was traveling every single week. So it was very demanding year. But luckily he came home safely from Iraq. Then shortly after he returned from Iraq, my mom had passed away. And as I was grieving through the process and trying to cope with the loss of my mom, a week later, the pandemic hit. Shut the world down. And then the next event that took place was the company I was with was acquired by a larger pharmaceutical company and the culture shifted. And so these series of events that took place within a six month period had me at a turning point in my life where I started to reflect back and look at am I really happy? Am I doing what I want to do? What not so much focus in on the title and the awards and what success looks like to society, but more about what impact can I make, what is a legacy that I want to leave behind as I kind of go into the second half of my career? And so I left the company I was with and I started to post on LinkedIn because I was like, well, I need to look at finding a job and, and really developing my brand presence on LinkedIn. And then that posting trans into people reaching out to me, asking for coaching and consulting. And fast forward four years, here I am, I'm doing exactly what I was meant to do, which is sales and development trainings for organizations and also doing consulting as well.
- [07:21]
Now, are you sticking just in the aesthetic space or do you, you work outside of the aesthetic space as well, right, for the sales training and leaders training?
- [07:31]
Yes, I do work outside of this space. I've, I've worked in everything from asphalt paving and milling to working in the veterinary sales, but I would say majority of my work is in medical aesthetics. That's definitely where my passion lies. And because I know the industry so well and it's such a unique industry to be in, that's kind of where I found my niche.
- [07:57]
Yeah. Well, I love it. I love it. All right, so today we are really diving into this topic of how you build strong relationships with your product reps, with your, with company reps. Your vendors. And this is such an important thing for practice owners to know because there's any type of relationship is two sided, right? You've got to nurture relationships and you've got to find what that, that point of connection is. So if you are a skin care rep, then you know, you obviously like, you want this practice to grow because then they're going to buy more things. And it's, it's a wonderful, it's great for them, it's great for their patients. It's also great for you as the rep. But we also, I've heard both sides of the, the relationship. Sometimes accounts are not feeling supported and then sometimes reps are feeling like all they're doing is asking. So, so how do we understand the dynamics of these relationships and really focus on how we can make them better and mutually beneficial? Because when you find that kind of harmonious ecosystem, it really can be a win win for the practice, for the practice owner, for the rep. Like it all just kind of gels much more cohesively.
- [09:22]
Well, you had said something about the uniqueness of being able to see both sides. And I believe that the more we understand the perspective of each other, the vendors and the accounts, the better we can understand how we can support each other. Ultimately, I believe it's a big mindset shift in understanding that ultimately everyone's goal is to help drive revenue for the practice, for the sales rep. We have the same goal. And when you think, let's kind of look at the esthetic sales rep, okay, so they're given a quota for them oftentimes when I was hiring sales reps for our team, I would say 90% of our role is helping esthetic practices sell through the inventory that they have so that then we can go in and sell in new inventory. So understanding that the pull through strategy is the most important part of that role. And if you have a sales rep, a vendor rep who truly understands that, know that their purpose there is to help you grow. And also understanding from a sales, when you're looking at your, when you're working with your vendors, understanding that they're given a quota. And ultimately there's so many accounts that are driving sales that are going towards that quota. So they're going to go where the business is. So it really takes an understanding of what does that partner look like, partnership look like for the aesthetic practice and for the vendor rep so that you could come together, collaborate and support each other.
- [11:00]
Yeah, I think that's important. And what I noticed sometimes though, and there was one particular company, I'm not going to name any names, but there was one particular company where their stance was if you haven't sold X amount of dollars, we're just not going to show up at your event. And it was a very, it was a six figure amount. And that was really off putting for a lot of spa owners because they're saying, hey, we're investing a lot of money into this equipment and we're not receiving any type of support. Like we would love to get to that amount of revenue. Please help us. So with your experience, you know, on, and, and I know you have that unique perspective now that you've stepped into the consulting role and you've worked with practices, how do you manage a situation like that? Is it, how do you get on the same page? Is that a cultural thing with the company? Is that a relationship with the rep? When, when there's these, when you're looking for support as a practice and you're just told we can't help you unless we get to this level.
- [12:15]
Yeah. So I definitely do not agree with that stance for that particular organization. I do agree and understand. So understanding the perspective of the sales reps, especially when it comes to, we call it event season. So in event season, typically between October and December is when most practices are hosting their holiday events or patient appreciation events. And so one of the challenges that the sales reps run into is they're being pulled in a lot of different directions. So here they are having the responsibility of the, during the day to be going out doing trainings to do business meetings with their offices. And then at night or even on the weekends, they're being asked to do these events and it can burn these sales reps out, which is really challenging. I feel like that is oftentimes what I hear. The number one complaint is I'm just exhausted, I'm overwhelmed. I'm being pulled in a bunch of different directions. And so the guidance to the sales rep is, is really partner with the offices that are going to partner with you as well. And why is that valuable for the practices to understand is because if you're calling a sales rep and you're saying I need you to come in and work this event and I need you to spend this much money to contribute to the food, that's not really a true partnership. A true partnership is sitting down with the sales rep and saying ahead of time, number one, what are some days that work for you? If there's a particular representative, a vendor that you want at your event quarter, work with them. In coordinating the date so that you're not running the risk of them already being at another event. Second to that is sitting down with that vendor rep and saying, hey, you cover so many practices. Share with me what are the top three, top three steps that you see practices make that lead to a successful patient event? And what I mean by that is I know that there's this one particular office that they do a patient event every year. It generates a million dollars revenue each year. And when we go to our national sales meetings, the sales reps will go on stage and they'll talk about, here are the top 10 steps that this practice does. Every patient event to yield those results. As a practice owner, would you want to know that information?
- [14:43]
Absolutely.
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You would? Yeah, I believe you would. So look at it at these vendor reps as your opportunity to get insights into, into what works well, what doesn't work well, and what strategies you can implement to yield a successful patient event. And that is what a partnership is.
- [15:05]
One of the things that we talk with about our clients is the importance of that relationship with the rep. So the relationship that you have with them is equally as important as the science and the, the of whatever the device or product is that you're bringing into your practice. Because there's, there's a lot of great products out there. There's a lot of great science out there. We've really evolved as an industry in the past 20 years, and so there's a lot of options. So it's finding something, a product or technology that aligns with your culture, with the needs of your patients. But really, then building that relationship with the rep of what you need and what your expectations are as a practice owner and aligning that with what that rep is able, how they're able to support you. I think that's one of the most important conversations to have when someone comes knocking on your door saying, hey, can we do a lunch and learn? Or can I meet with the spa manager or the practice owner? Whoever is the decision maker in the practice is like, really understanding your needs and expectations of a partner and, like, lay it out on the table in the beginning. Because I think like any relationship, just having that clear communication. Are you someone I'm going to talk to on a monthly basis? Are you someone that's going to come visit on a quarterly basis? Are you someone that when I hire new staff, there's going to be trainings? Do you guys have a portal for these trainings? How does all of that look? These are the conversations that I think are so important in really finding that perfect match, because when you have a match like that, oh, my gosh, it works so well. And that rep. We had a rep when I was. I was director of medical services for Bella Sante. There are three location day spa med spot in New England in Boston. And our neocutist rep, who now has gone into, you know, sales and done all kinds of stuff in the industry. But she was such an incredible rep. It's such an incredible partner. She was showing up, she was running contests for our team. She was, you know, really helping to drive sales. And her presence made neocutis one of the top lines that we sold, because she was there consistently every single week. You know, not in the practice, but she was talking with our practice. Those are the types of things that, like, if, you know, depending on your. The size of your business, the amount of employees that you have, you need to have those understandings, I think, in advance. And you can really develop an incredible partnership by that clear, honest communication. I think so often we don't know what we want or what we need. You find that too. You're shaking your head. Yes.
- [18:20]
Yeah. I mean, what I'm hearing you say is being clear and concise as to what your expectations is. And so one of you know, when I'm working with the sales rep teams, I'll say, at the beginning of the year, sit down with each of your practices and ask them, what are your top three goals for this year? And not just specific on your particular product, but what are the top three goals with the practice? What are the top three challenges you faced last year that you want to address this year? What are some areas within your practice that you want to grow and what expectations and what do you see as a great partnership for us, for me to support you in achieving those goals and sitting down the sales rep and the aesthetic practice, sitting down at the beginning of each year and getting on the same page with what those expectations are and seeing all the different ways that a vendor can support you. So you talked about your neocutis rep, for example, and I think that's a great example because a lot of times these reps can come in and they can talk about the clinical science of the products, which is great. But let's also think about the other areas that they can support your practice, specifically in skincare, they can help you with the strategic approach to effective merchandising and, and. And the merchandising display. Where to place things, how to place things. There is a science behind merchandising. There absolutely is. So merchandising, helping your sales or helping your providers with consultative trainings, you know, when is it that you've. I know a lot of aesthetic practices, they don't want to come across as salespeople and we don't want you to either. We can provide you with the tools to help you with delivering effective consultations that as a result are going to optimize the patient outcomes because you're doing treatment planning. But in addition to that, it's going to help support driving revenue. They can help you with inventory management, they can help you with customer service training, phone skills training. There are so many different ways that they can support your practices beyond just coming and talking about the clinical benefits of a product.
- [20:38]
Yeah, that's so true. It's so true. And I see so often, you know, you talked about the sales is such like a bad word in esthetics and it's really, you know, whether you're training the patient care coordinator or the aesthetic staff. Because oftentimes we'll have a dedicated patient care coordinator doing the consultants and the estheticians perhaps just needing to understand and recommend those things, really teaching how sales can be educational and how sales like we are in such a unique position where they're coming to us and they're asking us and it's such a disservice for us to not give our expertise and our advice on those things. Totally agree. So when we're looking at this initial meeting, is this something that the, the product rep is establishing or is this something that the practice needs to reach out to their reps and ask for?
- [21:43]
Oh, great question. It really depends on the rep, quite honestly. And I, and I don't, I almost don't even like to say the rep. There's a difference between a rep and a consultant. So really good reps are sales consultants, they are business advisors and that's what makes this role of working in aesthetics very unique. It's very different than other medical sales types roles. To be successful in medical aesthetic sales, you are a business advisor, a consultant to these aesthetic practices, great reps are initiating those conversations. However, it really depends on the experience of the sales rep. It depends on their approach. But if your not getting that from your sales rep then, and you're the practice owner, initiate that conversation. Hey, I want to sit down with you at the beginning of each year and every quarter and let's evaluate the business. What's working, what's not working, what can we do differently? What are some different ways that we can partner Together to ultimately support each other in the growth. Understanding that these sales consultants, their success is driven off of your success so they want to help you succeed. Yes, you're absolutely on the same team. Now if you have a. And I will say this will be more of a sales rep. If you have a sales rep, that's saying I need to get this much in order so that I can hit my number. It's not a true partner, probably not a great rep either. The aesthetic practices should never know what the sales reps numbers are, what, what their quota is. Ultimately, if you are supporting your practices and achieving their goals, you will be successful because the practices will be successful.
- [23:30]
So when we're looking at again with these, these relationships, if you are, how, how would a practice navigate if they are still in that kind of, how do I say it in a nice way? Besides, they're, they're in a growth year, they're not in the place that you know. And a lot of times you'll have like inside sales or different people that will help what kind of support or resources. How can those accounts get to that higher level where they can have the support of a, you know, the rep or the sales consultant. Business consultant. How. Whatever we're wanting to call that particular role.
- [24:12]
Yeah. So perhaps you're a new practice or you're emerging practice. So maybe you're not the practice that is a high level tier with a particular organization because you're new and emerging. You might be working with the inside sales team. That's what they're. But that's what they're also specialized in working for. A lot of times these companies offer special promotions for these new and emerging practices because they can't afford to do the higher buy ins. They might have special promotions for a. So there's a lot of things that you can do virtually. You could do virtual trainings via Zoom, Skype or teams with these inside sales team. There's a lot of organizations have online courses that you can offer as well. And then also maybe depending on the geography of the local rep, sometimes it could be asking also to have the local rep come by as well.
- [25:13]
How do you feel about partnering with other reps for a practice? So that's one thing that I personally always think is incredibly beneficial. When you have a rep that's like where does my product line, how is it positioned and how can these two services benefit one another and not just be like hey, I'm the only one in town. But if you're a skincare rep that works really well. With a particular device or anything like that. Are you seeing those reps like work together to benefit the particular practice or what kind of relationships like that are you seeing?
- [25:56]
Yeah, so we used to have, at the company that I worked at, we used to have a collaboration award that was given and what that was, you look at some of these larger companies and they'll often times have a neurotoxin, a filler, they'll have a particular device like non invasive body contouring or an aesthetic laser and then they'll have a skincare line. And so they have all these different divisions and when they cohesively work together to support the practice, everybody wins. And so we used to have what was like a collaboration award for those particular situations. And now if you don't, if, if, if, let's say a particular organization or company doesn't have multiple divisions, oftentimes having those reps come together. So maybe you have one company who just sells aesthetic lasers and you have another company for example, that does exomes, having them work together and building out promotions and protocols and helping with consultation trainings on providing the clinical knowledge to the patient. On here's, you know, if you want to improve tone and texture in the skin, this is the aesthetic laser that I recommend or the microneedling treatment that I recommend. And these are the exosomes that I'm going to recommend that you do immediately post to help with the healing process and optimize the results. So yeah, I would absolutely on, on our side, on the vendor side, absolutely encourage collaboration and from the vent, from the aesthetic practice side, see if there's areas of opportunity where your vendors can partner together to create promotions together for your patients.
- [27:47]
I love that. Yeah, it's, you know, back in the day, and I'm talking maybe 15 to 18 years ago, we would on occasion have people that come in that they only wanted their brand, you know, and it was, it was always a challenge to, to work with individuals like that that it was just like, nope, we're the only thing. And I don't think that that creates a winning scenario. And when you find a rep or a company that's open to like, yes, this is how practices work. Like, you're most likely not going to only carry one skincare line. You're most likely not going to, even today, not only, not only carry one neurotoxin, you're, you know, there's so many different things. And so really being able to find the collaboration and the positioning of your product without getting defensive or, you know, all of the, you know, like, oh, well, ours is better than that. It's like, no. How is it going to make the practice with their beliefs and their patients and all of that win? I think that's a really positive thing to look for when you are working with a rep of a particular brand.
- [29:01]
You said something really important that I want to add to, and that is positioning. So a lot of practices that reach out to these sales consultants, they're saying, I'm going to do an open house and I'm going to have all my vendors here, and each person is going to get a room, and then the patients are going to go to each room and they're going to hear your pitch and they're going to stamp a card and then they're going to get that card into the raffle, which we hear so frequently. That can be valuable in the sense that your patients are getting educated on the treatments and services that you offer. It can also be very confusing for your patients if you are not meeting with your vendors ahead of time and discussing how you position each of those treatments. So let's say you've got three different filler companies in your open house or four different skincare brands that are in your open house. And here a patient is going from one room to the next room to the next room and they're hearing why their product is the best neurotoxin, treating the same area. That is extremely confusing for the patient to the point where what happens is the messaging has gotten so confusing that they end up purchasing nothing. And so meeting with your vendor reps ahead of time and saying, here's how we're positioning each of you, or doing a dedicated day. This is going to be my day where I'm going to have this skincare company, this neurotoxin, this filler is going to help actually get you a better relationship partnership with your vendors. And be clear, more concise messaging for your patients.
- [30:46]
I have been to both types of events and there was one where this rep, I was just like, what is happening? Like, this is not. I was, I was supporting another spas event and going there to show support, and I was just like, what is this individual talking about? Like, it's, it's not benefiting the practice. I personally think that for the larger style open houses, when you do the demos like that, like, it has to align with your offer and it has to make sense with your offer. And the practices that we've seen do more than six figures in an event is like, it's very focused and Oftentimes they're actually pre selling and doing the consultations ahead of time so that those patients go in and they already know what they're going to buy and they just have to, you know, swipe their card on that day and then they get to enjoy and maybe they're being a part of the demos or whatever. But I think it goes back to the theme that I'm hearing through each of these things. Each of these topics is proper planning and preparation. And, and it's that, that overlay of like the clear communication, whether it's where your product is being positioned, what your needs are as a company, really understanding that for yourself and being able to communicate that with your reps. And this is why I love annual planning. Instead of like, oh, it's Black Friday in two weeks, I'm gonna throw an event or like, can you be there and can you pay for all the food? You know, it's like that is overwhelming and it's, it's not going to get a great response. And it's also going to create.
- [32:45]
Host
Not.
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Danielle Cobo
The best like relationship where you're scrambling and feeling just pulled in so many different directions. So agree.
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Patient events take we. A successful patient event takes weeks, weeks to plan. And you're absolutely right that to market.
- [33:05]
For eight weeks, not even, it's like eight weeks of marketing when it's already planned in advance.
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And so when you, when I, when I'm working with these sales organizations and I'm working with these sales consultants, you know, we're sitting down and we're talking about, okay, at the beginning of the year, do a business plan with your practices that you're working with, understand their goals. Again, what's working, what's not working, what do they need to be successful and plan out your promotion? So I have like a marketing calendar that I work with them and we plan out the promotions for the next year. Now I understand a lot of these companies don't roll out the details of the practice promotions until like the month of which could be frustrating, but we can at least have an idea, hey, we're going to run a patient event this month, we're going to do a phone event this month. We're going to do a special laser event this particular month. You can kind of have an idea. And if you plan it ahead, then the rest of the year you're implementing, executing what the plan was at the beginning of the year. And that's what I teach these sales consultants on how to do effectively. So, so that it is a partnership with These practices. And I'm sharing that with these aesthetic practices because that's also what you can be doing with your vendors at the beginning of the year and throughout the year.
- [34:32]
And it's when you do it like that, it's making a decision from a well thought out conscious space instead of a reactive space. And so I think so often, especially you know, 2024 was a hard year. There were a lot of, it was an election year which caused a lot of uncertainty always. You know, it was really one of the slowest summers that so many accounts have dealt. I mean I was talking with a plastic surgeon that said it was the slowest summer that she has had in 15 years. And she's multi million dollar practice. And so like it was a tough year. And that can bring up emotions. It can. And it can say we're going to start throwing spaghetti at the wall and see what, what sticks. And the real thing. Like yes, we have to be able to pivot. But I know that as the CEO of my company, I want to be making decisions, long term strategic decisions from a grounded and intentional space. And so for you listening as a practice owner or a sales consultant or a product rep, like when you really can take the time to do that intentionally, you're going to win long term. And it removes that shiny object syndrome that so many people get. And it really allows you to be intentional with your path, your patience and really what your end goal is. It's such an important piece of the.
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Process, absolutely being intentional with everything that you do because it's so easy to get caught up in the comparison of what other practices are doing or what's the shiny new thing. But be strategic, be intentional. Look at the long term of what your goals are for your practice and align them and sit down with your vendors and use them as an opportunity for consultant type work and think about too. Just a perspective to add is these sales reps, they're going to their national sales meetings, they're jumping on weekly conference calls, they're, they're seeing the top aesthetic practices in their local area and they're hearing best practices of what's working across the nation. That's when we go to the national sales meeting. We're hearing what's working well across the nation and we get to take those tools and nuggets and we get to share it with are aesthetic practices that are local in the area. So use them as a resource.
- [37:10]
I want to pivot to your book. I've not read your book, but I'm going to Grit. I love the title. I've actually read Angela Duckworth's book Grit, which I think is a lot about resiliency and keep going and, you know, get up after you fall down. I imagine these are themes that are covered in, in your book as well. And I think that, that those are important skill sets in entrepreneurship, in sales, in. In the things that we are doing. So can you give just like a snippet or a little bit of advice from your book to these practice owners that are wanting to plan, that are wanting to build the relationships, that are wanting to do all these things, but they're feeling the overwhelm, they're feeling the stress. They've gone through Covid. They, you know, and, and whatever Covid did for. And you can't do facials because you had to wear a mat. It's like, I mean, it was insane the things that were going on in that time period. And by the way, my son was born in April of 2020 and my husband was also active duty at that time. And so he was essential and it was before they changed paternity. So he had 10 calendar days and the CDC had like six months wait for active duty. So I had a three year old and a newborn. So I totally feel you in that space. It was a hard time. And so going through that and just feeling like we were getting our wheels moving again and getting things going back to normal. And then we had 2024 where it was just like, what is happening? You know, I feel like your, your book, just from the title and just seeing the, the messages that you have on LinkedIn could be a really great read or really great support for women leaders in our industry.
- [39:18]
Yeah. So the book is Unstoppable Grit and it's Break through the Seven Roadblocks, Standing between youn and Achieving youg Goals. And what's unique about the book is it starts with each chapter kind of starts with a relatable story. The practical learning lessons that were learned through that. And then how can the reader apply it to their life? Oh, that's great. Yeah. I want the reader to walk away saying, okay, here's a couple things I can implement in my life to make transformation and in the I have three chapters on how to overcome burnout. I share my story of. Like I said, I was leading a team for an aesthetics company across five states. I was traveling every week. My husband was deployed for a year and my twins were between the ages of a year and a half and two and a half years old. And I talk about what were the practical things that I did and that I learned through that year to help me so that I wasn't feeling burnt out and overwhelmed. And it was a lot. But I can tell you that there was a lot that I learned through that process that I do believe set me up for success for any business owner. And then there's stories in there about leading through change. So I tell the story of the time that I worked for a company and we were going through a hostile takeover from a competitor and I lost half of my team in one day. And I had no idea it was happening either. The leadership team didn't tell us as managers. And this is chapter nine. And I walk the reader through how I led a team through uncertainty. And we ended up becoming the number one sales team in the nation the next year. And it's chapter nine. And in each of the learning lessons and practical advice, I say, if you are in a sales role, here's some advice for you. If you're in a management role, here's some advice from you. And because I've also been a business owner, if you're a business owner, here's the advice for you. So it's broken down for each type of reader. So everyone's walking away with practical strategies on how to develop unstoppable grit.
- [41:31]
I think that's so important because with. With books in general, and I'm a avid. Well, I'll say I'm an avid listener. My. My season of life. Right now my kids are 4 and 7, so I am basically a chauffeur. I'm driving to and from school into after activities. And so I'm in the car a lot. And so I'm really trying to be intentional with that time and make sure that what I'm putting into my mind is, you know, productive and good. And so I'll listen to a lot of books. But the really, the most important thing is to actually apply what I learned. And if I only got one little piece of information, like was my time, did I get an ROI from my time? And what am I able to apply to my business or to my life? And oftentimes the book doesn't tell you what to apply. So I love that that you have it in the sections of like, here's how you can use this. Here's how you can apply this. Because just buying the book, you know, a lot of people will buy the book and never listen to it, or they'll listen to like the first three chapters or whatever, but you're doing Yourself such a disservice. It's like, listen to the book, apply what you learned, and, you know, move forward from there. We have so much available to us in books. Like, years of people's knowledge and experience is just given to you for 20 bucks, you know, and it's like, I.
- [43:01]
Know that it took it's 20 years being in sales and 10 years being in leadership. And every point that I make when I'm making a recommendation on here's strategies, tactics, things that you can implement into your life, I support it by research, too. So there is actual research behind here are steps that you can take to. To change habits that are gonna drive results. And here's the research to support it. What's interesting and is gonna be a lot of fun for your audiences is most of the stories are from me and my team working in aesthetics. So they'll probably read that story and be like, oh, I could totally relate to that one, because it's all about working in aesthetics.
- [43:46]
Oh, fun. All right, so before I ask you to share where people can find you and follow you and get your book and all of those types of things, is there anything else you feel like you want to add to make this episode complete?
- [44:03]
I mean, we've talked about so much valuable information here on the podcast. I think if anything, the resounding message is, is see how there's different opportunities to work with your vendors. See them as a resource, see them as an opportunity to share knowledge with you on how you can be successful. Successful. And when you really true. Invest the time in that partnership, you will both yield positive results.
- [44:29]
I love it. All right, so where is the best place for people to contact you? Where can they get your book? We'll make sure that we link everything up below the show notes.
- [44:39]
Yeah. So the book Unstoppable Grit is available in audio, Kindle, paperback, hardback on Amazon, and any other book provider as well. And then I'm available on LinkedIn. So Danielle Kobo and then any other social media platform. I'm on all of them. But TikTok.
- [44:56]
Ah, yummy. Never did the TikTok thing.
- [45:00]
You're not gonna see me dancing on TikTok, so. But you will see me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
- [45:06]
Love it. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for your expertise. I really appreciate all that you're doing in the industry. Thank you.
- [45:14]
You as well.
- [45:18]
Host
Hey, Salt Lake City. I am coming to you on February 17th and 18th for two incredible workshops, and I'd love for you to join me there on the 17th. We are doing a deep dive into your sales process, start to finish. How are we attracting leads, how we're retaining leads? We're looking at the entire client journey, including where to incorporate AI and automation and where human touchpoint points are essential. On the 18th. It's all about team how to develop leaders that are aligned with your company culture, how to motivate them through compensation plans, how to know who to hire next and when is all covered for both short term and long term goals of your company. Simply head over to the in Person events tab on attoesthetics.com to get more information and to register. Hope to see you there.