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E42 Build a Referral Engine with Jason Hyde · Stronger Business Together

• Granger Forson: So this is the Stronger Business Together podcast where business owners learn from other owners. No theory, no gurus, just real journeys and overcoming real hurdles. Today I'm joined by Jason Hyde who's part of full power unlike any person. He's in that middle of building his business, fixing things and growing something that really matters to him. So Jason, welcome. Jason Hyde: Thanks Granger, welcome, good to see you. Granger Forson: Yeah, let's hope the technology works for us this time. This is third time lucky. Jason Hyde: We're getting there, we're not getting there. Granger Forson: So for our audience in plain English, what does your business do? Jason Hyde: So, full power utilities, they've been going for nearly 30 years now and they've literally just helped businesses, schools, organisations, charities, landlords, anybody in the commercial market for energy, so the cost of energy, so the unit rates, KVA charges, etc. We go to the whole of market, we are totally independent, so we go to the whole of market to every single supplier and find the best prices for them. And we've got a really good buy-in power as well. you know, we are premium status consultants, so we get access to everything. So we can always get the best price for our clients. Granger Forson: So who do you love helping then and what are they typically dealing with then in terms of electricity and pricing and energy? Jason Hyde: Yeah, mean, predominantly we can help anybody. You know, we look after anything from Poulsen's Park, Costa Coffee, some of really big companies out there, all the way down to my local church. So we can help anybody. I really like helping schools and charities, but I've got sort of a niche with schools at the moment and our name's getting around the schools. So we're getting recommended by each school to another school and it's like a knock on effect. Schools are just so busy and they haven't got time to do their own research. They usually just get contracted by the current supplier that they're with and they sort of bamboozle them saying it's the best price they can do and the score just signs. Or they're with another broker that is driven by commission. So I've done about six or seven schools now locally and average saving for each school. per year is about £70,000. It's ridiculous, the savers were giving them. So yeah, schools are great. It makes you feel good as well because you're passing down to... And it started with my two children's and we saved them £50,000 on electric and £70,000 on gas. And that was on the unit rates they were given by their current provider. So we did a like for like. So yeah. ridiculous savings but that means they can spend other stuff on the school and they have. So Cleve School have spent pretty much all that money they've saved to an all weather pitch which they were struggling to do initially so that's actually tangible and the all weather pitch is actually ready for this September so both my kids are going to enjoy that as well so it's great to help but you know it's nice to hear those stories. Granger Forson: Fantastic, no that's brilliant and schools are always struggling to make ends meet these day and age. We don't get all the money from the government they'd love to have and the structures of that I fully appreciate that. That's a fantastic story and example of how you actually help them achieve that. So brilliant, you work for Full Power alongside them so tell us how did Full Power originally start and then how did you get involved? Jason Hyde: Yeah, so Full Power started, like I said, about 30 years ago by just a couple, Mark and Dawn. And I don't know if anybody knows, but obviously in the domestic market, you are protected. You've got the price cap, you have off-gen, they look after everything. You've got the ombudsman, et cetera. With the commercial side, it's an unregulated market. So any broker or any person in a shed can literally just start up a business to say, I am an energy broker. So anybody can actually join and do it, which is quite worrying. So Mark and Dawn were so fed up with the industry that they said, we can do this ourselves much, better. So they started the business and they have grown literally from a couple to they've got 60, 65, I think now in the office, all doing pricing, know, and structures and sort of strategic planning for all our companies. And we look after thousands of companies across the UK now, like I said, varying from small tiny churches to huge businesses. And that's what we do. And we don't cold course. We live on word of mouth recommendation. We're not one those companies that pester and keep ringing companies up to try and get them to sign on the dotted line. We're very different. that's sort of how it started. And I got involved. So I started in the domestic market with the utility warehouse about 17 years ago. I've been a customer for 21 years and started doing the business about 17 years. And then some of my clients on the domestic market asked me for commercial and UW don't do commercial. So I spent about six months, eight months due diligence, just go into all these different brokers, suppliers, et cetera, finding out about the industry. and I was recommended to Full Power about three times. So I went to their offices, met the directors, had a chat with them, had a few more meetings, and I just wanted to make sure it was right for my clients, because I didn't want to recommend a company that I wasn't comfortable with. And Full Power literally ticked every box. And so I had three friends who were sort of my guinea pigs, I would say, and I asked them if they could have a look. They had their own brokers looking after their businesses anyway. but obviously as a friend and a promise of some beer, they joined. They sort of looked at Full Power and tried it. They had a quote from them, et cetera, and each report back from my friends were, they're much more professional, they communicated really well, but also ultimately, they got the best price. So actually, they joined, were my first clients probably about 13 years ago now. they're still clients today so it just shows that we're doing something right. So yeah so that's sort how we got into it and it's nice to have those sort of clients and keep their attention as well. Granger Forson: So not just a great service but actually the most important thing is reducing the cost of the business by finding really good tariffs that help the business be successful what they do and you gave that example of schools earlier on. awesome. you need to find leads. Leads generate into sales eventually. How do you go about generating leads? Jason Hyde: Like I said, we don't call, so it's one of those things where I'm not going to be ringing or sitting on my phone for hours and hours on end. So we don't do it that way. So we'd rather go on recommendation. So like I said, with the schools. They talk, know, they've got all their business managers in schools and they all do talk, you know, and they find out what's the best options, what doesn't work, et cetera. So I'm one of my best friends, actually, I play rugby with or used to. He's headmaster at another school I look after and he's recommended us to a few. But he says, you know, your reputation between schools now because because they all talk is growing rapidly. So that's something nice to hear. So I personally go networking quite a lot. obviously things like B &I like we know about is absolutely brilliant. just solidifies sort of the working together as a networking group and that trust that you get in a networking group. with a networking group, there's lots of people in there that can recommend to their clients and things, but you have to be good and you have to deliver. So I do a lot golf as well and golf is really great so I travel around, sort of like south, south west towards London as well. Just playing golf in networking groups, meeting new people. But normally in those groups you're seeing or meeting the decision makers and I've had some of my best clients from the golf course. Spending four hours with them, playing golf, some I love and then just chatting with some random people for four hours. finding out about their work and yeah and I've given them work, they've given me work and it yeah it works, it does work very well but I think it's just chatting, I think it's just chatting to people. I took the family down to Loworth Cove a few weeks ago to a camp festival and I'm actually now talking to Loworth Estate and it's literally just chatting while you were there and talking to people and having those introductions. So think I'm very old school and very much, yes, I am on LinkedIn and yes, I do a tiny bit of social media, but I think face to face and just getting to know somebody is crucial. And that's how I get most of my business. Granger Forson: Yeah, I totally agree. I think we've totally underestimated for small businesses, know, that power of the know, like and trust. You get to know people, they get to know you, you have conversations, you exchange opportunities between Jason Hyde: This. Granger Forson: you. And often that is then the opportunity of doing business because you can then show them how well you do through your activity of doing it with them. they see that fantastic service, they see that amazing price you then bring and then they're more likely to recommend. So I totally agree that it's one of the most powerful ways of growing and developing small businesses in their early days. Maybe beyond that there is when you become big you can do things like cold calling. But what's interesting is full power of decide that is not their approach. Their approach is to recruit and develop lots of local people like yourself who build those local connections. with people to help grow and develop the success that they have. I totally agree. think that we buy from people that we know, like and trust is such an important activity that a lot of business owners I think forget when they're building their initial business because everything's supposedly online and driving online but it's not really there in those early days. Jason Hyde: Yeah, I've always lived by people by people, you know, and I think once you get to know somebody, because even in networking, you meet lots of people in the same industry, but you connect with people and they're the people you want to do business with and you feel like there's that rapport between the two of you. So and you know you're going to be or they're going to look after your clients as well. So I would never recommend somebody that wasn't. quite sure about so yeah absolutely people buy off people and I think that's always going to be there. Granger Forson: Brilliant. So let's move on to Act 2 now. Your journey, what you've learned. So, running your own business, even though you're part of two organizations, it's still your own business. You still suffer from those highs and lows, those difficult moments, those really exciting moments. What have you learned about yourself then through the journey of building a business on your own? Jason Hyde: I was in the building trade to start with. When I left school, I joined a building company and then we developed a family business and that was going to my dad retired and then it's not disbanded, but we still helped each other, but we went separately. So I learned a lot just from that and running the business that way. So then I went off on my own, started my own building company, then got into a partnership. And that came with challenges. Again, it's you think you know some people then maybe you don't. And partnerships are quite difficult. You really need to work on them and keep talking. So, yeah, it was a massive learning curve. But I got to a point where quite a few things changed. And I think a lot of people need to understand that if you're doing something that you don't really enjoy or you're really restressed. have a look, find out the different things and my life changed completely when I was 37. So I broke my neck at rugby, a few other things happened in my life, which some of the things you know. And so I just wanted to change and I wanted my goal was to see my kids grow up and actually if I was in the building trade, I wouldn't have because I was doing 60 to 80 hours a week, stupid hours, looking after six or seven staff and I just had this. that I was like, I need to change, I need to change. And I think that's one of the biggest things I could pass on is that you can change, can change your lifestyle a little bit if you wanted to. And so yeah, I got into the domestic side on energy to start with and then just built it up, worked hard, 100 % worked very hard over the next five or six years, but built something that was a residual income and it gave me choices then and so. when we eventually had children, I was able to do the score runs and everything else. I think... I know works hard but just don't feel trapped. Just try and work smart rather than working hard and I think it's Granger Forson: you Jason Hyde: working with people you know and also try not to do everything because there are people out there that can help. Can do your accounts, can do your bookkeeping, do whatever. Rather than trying to do it with yourself and stress yourself out, just concentrate on what you are good at. really concentrate on what you're good at and develop that and Granger Forson: Yeah. Jason Hyde: then let other people do your business around you as well. You know, the social media side of things and let other people do that if you can. Just bring them into it and try not to do everything yourself because you know, you will burn out. I think that's what I was like in the building trade. And now, like you say, I'm quite lucky because I've got two businesses behind me that are quite big and you know, that I've got a back office sort of thing that work alongside me. And that really helps. And I think that's the biggest learning curve I've had through all my years of being in business. Granger Forson: Yeah, fantastic. What I like about that is often I talk to my clients, you know, I'm a business coach and help them think about their businesses is what's your model for making money? You know, your money model is Alex or Mozi calls it, you know, what's what's the way that you're going to generate your revenue? And a lot of us, we chase, we're chasing the next sale, we're chasing the next opportunity. But if you can Jason Hyde: Bye. Granger Forson: redesign your business and that might be you're in the wrong type of industry, you're in the wrong Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: type of activity, which you demonstrated. But if you can build reoccurring revenue that's stable over a longer period of time, even though that may not be as big in your case, but you can build up lots of those, and you talked about working hard because you still have to build lots of reoccurring revenue, but actually that's what allows you to sleep even at night, because actually now you've got that money coming in on a regular basis. You can build a business on top of that. And I think often businesses, you know, as we create maybe our first business, we're chasing sales. But over time, you can have that epiphany, that change, realize actually what we need to do is change the business model that allows us to actually make the money that we need on a reoccurring basis that then brings that stability of lifestyle that we then want. So I think that's a brilliant example of what you've gone on that journey to really challenge the business model of making money and how you're going to change that in order to then fulfill the lifestyle that you wanted. And the owners of Full Power, you know, they've designed the business to generate that recurring revenue. Yes, we're still chasing Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: those initial sales, but it's then that ongoing service, that delivery, that wow, that keep bringing people back, keep people sticky within the business because you outshine everybody else. So really thinking about the back end of the business model is such an important activity. And when I have long discussions with my clients about this, trying to get them to really think about how they can do that. So fantastic, brilliant example. Jason Hyde: Yes. Granger Forson: I love that change that you've done. So at The Stronger Business Together, we also believe in simplifying things and making things less complicated in your business life. So what... What you talked about outsourcing some of activities, what are some of the things that you've stopped doing that maybe has made things easier for you? Jason Hyde: interesting question. I think I've stopped worrying about every single client because I think in business, you're never going to, you're never going to every client. And I think when I started in this industry, when, if something didn't quite happen or you had a client that you knew you're going to help, but then all of a sudden they've signed up with another broker who's bamboozled them into some sort of contract. I used to really blame myself or, or Why did that not happen? And I think it's just life, you know, but you're never going to win every contract. It doesn't matter what you do. You could be the best company in the world. You're never going to win every contract. There's always competitors out there. And I think I just took away the fact that I was worried about it. And I think maybe because I've built the business now and it's very stable and it's, you know, it's given me really good lifestyle and choices. I think it's the fact that I know I do a good job. I know the company do a good job. And I think when I lose a client now or something happens or we don't sign a client for some reason. just move on, next, go and find another one. But keep in touch with them and eventually they will come around and you will get them back. It might just be timing, might be something like that. So I try and simplify my life by not stressing too much. I did that loads in the building trade and it never helped me. So it just made me not sleep at night. So yes, it's just a case of don't stress too much. If you know you're doing a good job and you believe in what you're doing and... And you just keep doing that, your business will grow and the recommendations will come. Just don't fret over it too much. Granger Forson: Yeah, no, agree marketing and then into sales. It's a numbers game. You know, you have to know your numbers. You know, some of the most important conversations I have with new clients is do you actually track this? Do you know exactly where your successful clients come from? Which lead generation process actually works for you? What's your sales conversion rate? Because those are such important numbers to understand. Because as you say, they help you sleep at night because it's not 100 % games, I totally agree. Yeah, we'd all wish it was, but that's Jason Hyde: Yeah, I know, absolutely. Granger Forson: the reality. And they often say, if you're converting, say, more than even 80%, then maybe your prices are too low. There's an opportunity Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: because you don't need to win everything from that. So understanding your numbers is so important, which allows you to do exactly that. Jason Hyde: Yeah. And also, I think simplifying is looking at niches in your business as well. And I think I used to go for every single client, chat to everybody and I still do, that's still there and I'll help anybody. But actually now I'm in a niche in schools, years ago it was so difficult to get into schools because they get like 400 500 emails a week and I've seen it on the guy at Cleve he said look we are inundated on energy and solar and printers and literally paper everything trying to people selling and selling and selling he said I literally go down it just every every morning delete delete delete delete and just just get rid of it all and he said I haven't even got time to open it so that made me start thinking then because I got into Cleve well we just helped Cleve save £120,000 that's brought them obviously to your weather pitch. How do I get into other schools? Obviously it's not going to be through cold calling or sending emails because that just doesn't work. So it was just talking to the right people and actually being a nation. recommended me to another school. We helped them. They recommended me to another school. We helped them. And it just went on knock on effect. And then all of a sudden we were invited to do a talk in front of all the Gloucestershire business managers of the schools in Gloucestershire. And then it then became a bit of a niche and we just kept going and going and going. And it's just made my life pretty easy to actually go out and talk to schools. And now we're looking after a load. We can actually bring them up and say, we look after all these schools. We met you at a business event. Would you mind, would you like us to have a look for you? And because we've got all those recommendations now, it just makes life a lot easier. And I think niching something in your business is really, really. key as well. Granger Forson: I agree. Before we set up Stronger Business together, we were in another franchise organization for business Jason Hyde: Yes. Granger Forson: coaching. And we had seven products that we're trying to sell. And I used to say, how do we sell all of these? How do we actually do that? We just have one product now. We have one go-to-market. We've simplified everything. And the business is growing. It's really easy to do. People are joining us. They're excited about what we can bring. to their businesses because we've niched right down as you say into our product that we sell, into our way of marketing that we do it and the type of clients that we work with. We know who we work with and we know who doesn't. work well with us. And those are real, real things that you learn. We learn those through the journey. I think that's the most important thing. When you start out in a business, you don't understand that. People can tell you that. I got told five years ago, all of this stuff. I didn't understand it. You understand by doing, by experiencing, by learning, making that first one, as you may said, you made that first school because of a really good contact that you had. And from there it grows and builds and it builds slowly over time. But suddenly there'll be a point where it changes and actually you'll accelerate your growth and activity around it because more and more people now understand more and more people see you within your niche market. And I think that's a real change that happens in businesses when they get there and they're really focused. Fantastic. mean, you know, One of the things that we talk about with my clients is making things really visible. So you need to visibly see where you are in the process, know, with the sales process, with the marketing process, with the new delivery process. How do you make things visible so you don't miss things, you know, when things get really busy within your business? Jason Hyde: I'm very good at, obviously with emails, I'm actually very good at replying pretty much straight away. And even, I do copy in the head office as well, but head office, you know, though we've got 60 odd people there, we are really busy and it takes a long time to go to a whole market, tender it. it all on the spreadsheet so they can all see it and send it out etc. There's contrast going backwards and forwards. I'm sort of always on top of emails and I like calling as well and just telephone calls but if there's something pressing I'm always jotting it down somewhere just making sure it's recorded it's there I know what you know and I've got to make sure it all goes through and I'm sort of on it all the way through till I know they've either signed with us or maybe they've gone somewhere else, who knows. But if they have gone somewhere else then I'll make sure it's diarised that we need to get in touch with this company if they've done a two year contract in 16 months time, something like that and then reopen the conversations. So it's always diarised. I've got a diary on my phone obviously. I know some people still like to do a paper diary but I'm like, I just want to get it written down, saved. in my computer diary just so it's there and it's just reminders and it's always pipeline, reminders and pipeline. It's just constantly going on and I'm very much, if somebody emails me like from a school or something, I want to email them within six hours. That's sort of my goal. I want to be there. I want them to see that I am proactive in coming back to them. And in this industry, you know, there's times where people don't people don't get in contact with other people for sometimes a week and then you know I have some of my clients going I've got to get away from this company because they just never come back to us whereas with full power I'm literally like we need to get in touch with them it has to be within 24 hours but I'm sort of the front man sort of things just getting in front with them I'm usually answering emails within one to two hours because it's always constantly popping up and I if it's important and pressing, I'll get onto it. And if I need to diorite something, it'd be there. So we just don't forget anything. So with me doing that and then head office looking after the back part of it, we work really well as a team. we usually, it's never a hundred percent, know, there's sometimes something might happen or you might delete something or, you know, but we're really good at keeping on top of everything with our clients. Granger Forson: And actually speed of service is really important. My background is in Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: lean and continuous improvement. And I found a specific method of that called Two Second Lean Written Book written by Paul Akers. And I love Paul Akers' videos and things. And he really introduced me to the concept of instant turnaround and emails, instant turnaround. We don't use emails in the same way and he recommends using voice apps within the business. Never use emails within the business. Always use voice. If you've got tasks, use a task management system. So it's not really about emails per se, but he gets lots of emails from people around the world and he'll move them then onto a voice app. But if you send him a voice message, you know, I speak to Paul, I went with a... on tour with him in Japan even now. I'll send him a voice message. He'll reply Jason Hyde: Okay. Granger Forson: within the time zone because he's often all around the world. But within that time zone, he will reply instantly to that message because he has this saying that someone Jason Hyde: Thank Granger Forson: sent you something for a reason. And often if you stop and take too long to reply. completely slows down their process or they then have to then find time to deal with that they've asked you a question they've done something because they need an answer now or they need some feedback to on it And he's built this whole process around trying to do almost instantly helping people, feeding back, making that happen. So that person can carry on then with the project, the activity, the thing they're doing, rather than having to wait. And that's huge value that he then applies and helps people with, which is a bit confusing because a lot of us, want to batch things up and we want to wait to the next day to reply, or maybe I need to think about it, et cetera. but he's really focusing on the value of the ad that someone has reached out with a message. How do I add value back to that message as soon as I can? So I totally agree with what you're saying and how that happens. I think that's such an important activity. So Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: brilliant. Let's move on to Act 3 now, our hurdle round. So what have you brought for us to discuss as our hurdle today? Jason Hyde: I think Obviously I want to get and have as many clients as possible and that's not for me to build my business. It's you know, money we're saving on schools and companies, I just want to have as many as possible. But obviously the hurdle, I've mentioned it before, we don't call call. We don't, we... We obviously chat when I'm out and golf course and stuff. We chat and talk to people and ask them. But actually as a cold calling element, we just don't do it. So it's getting in front of more more clients and how do you do that? And obviously with the niche, with the schools, that's sort of working now because they're talking and they're recommending and we're getting schools coming to us now, which is brilliant. But then there's a vast amount of other companies that need our help. or need help in the industry because some of the contracts we see, we've just seen one actually last month I think it was and they are a really big insurance company when we started talking to them it was January and they weren't due until November, December this year so. another 11 months away, the company they were with automatically renewed them because about six years ago somebody had signed a You Do It For Us renewal. They didn't even know they were on it, but this company renewed them in the middle of a war when the prices were really high, tied them in in January for renewal in December. but tied them when the prices were really high and tied them in for three years. When Granger Forson: Oof. Jason Hyde: we got into and looked at it, we were like, well, we can get you, so I think the unit rate was like 28, 29 P for energy, for electric. We could get it for at that time, 21 P. So they're paying eight P a unit more and they're using thousands and thousands of units. We were able to get it eight P less, But it was in middle of a wall. So we said, even if it's, cheaper, do it for one year or do it for six months because normally when you're in the height of a wall, prices are really high, but then you just wait for it to drop down and then we can buy it when the prices are even lower. But they've been tied to this three year deal and they couldn't get out of it. They just can't get out of it. So it's trying to get in touch with those people and trying to have those types of people. So yeah, Granger Forson: Okay. Okay. Jason Hyde: it's... is how do we get to more people without cold cord? Granger Forson: Absolutely. Yeah. So let's start with the school example a little bit and then expand it out from there because what I like to think about is how do you break this down into bite-sized chunks? Okay, because if we think about everything you'll think about nothing, okay, because you'll be Jason Hyde: Right. Granger Forson: trying lots of different ideas. So think about schools. So far schools have been successful because you started that initial conversation with someone you knew, they've done recommendations, that recommendations then grow into other recommendations. So people are connecting with you and you've even been on an event having you to go and talk. Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: Now let's think about the person that makes a decision in the school. It's often the finance manager possibly. They might have to get it signed off Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: by the head. Ultimately, possibly, but most of time it's the finance manager. So if we think about that individual, yes, we have an amazing offer Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: that we can give to them, but how do we add value to their day? How could we create, do, help them with their problems? And if we help them with their problems, they're more likely to want to talk to us about ways that we can help them. So what were these, you've now spoken to a number of these. Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: finance people in schools. What are they struggling with? Jason Hyde: Two things. Time. They just haven't got time on their hands because they're so busy doing the school stuff. They haven't got time to go and check prices or do like checks of different companies and all the suppliers. I mean, there's 50 or 50 suppliers out there. They haven't got time to go. Granger Forson: Absolutely. Jason Hyde: And secondly, it's communication. You know, they're so fed up with people who are looking after them. There's no communication. or if they have an issue trying to get hold of them or trying to get through to them to try and sort this problem out as quickly as possible. And that's something else we hear all the time. So with full power, yes, we can go to every supplier. So that's one thing ticked. Secondly, Granger Forson: Okay, but let's forget about our service to them. Let's think about them as individuals. Let's think about Jason Hyde: Yeah. Yeah. Granger Forson: their problems. So their problem is let's think about time. As a business, as a person, sorry, they're extremely busy. They've got so many things on their plate. So how could Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: we help them improve their time? Jason Hyde: So what as as full power or just in general? Granger Forson: No, no, just in general. Because what we want to do is we want to add value to these people. Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: We need a way of getting to them to understand that if we can help them add value to their life, then there's other opportunities where we can add value. So what I mean by that is initially you had a good relationship with your friend who was the headmaster. So you already had a connection with him. How do we got to build a connection with somebody that's extremely busy, that's time, time poor, that's stressed out, et cetera, et cetera. And what we don't want to do is add more to them. We want to be able to help them by adding value. So we need to think about where they are, what they're at, what they're doing, and how we can help them. So it's around things like you. You could set up a conference, an event, but call it about, you know, How do you deal with the time strapped issues within being a school finance manager? And you can bring in interesting people that could help these people, invite them to a conference, invite them to a two hour seminar. It could be an online seminar to make it even easier for them that can give them some thoughts and guidance and structure around how to improve. management, how to reduce the chaos within their processes. So we're trying to build that relationship. So you had a friendly relationship with this person that then allowed you to come into the school. It's how do we then build that Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: friendly relationship with these people that then when they're ready they'll allow us to then say and by the way we can help you with this service you know that full power does and how we can do that because it's about building that know, like and trust first rather than just saying We can help you with your time management skills by taking away this issue of finding the best deal, but you don't want to open with that. You want to help them be really successful. So what do you think we could do? Just brainstorm some ideas. Jason Hyde: Yeah, I think it's, I go to, there's a couple of events I go to as a networking event. Once a monthish, which is just for the educational sector. And you get a lot of school business managers and heads that go there. So you can actually just just chatting, you know, they're there for two hours and just open up conversations and trying to find out what their pain points are, you know, and sometimes it's not the energy they need, they might need like an insurance or they might need an introduction to something else. Through networking, you can recommend other people, you know, and I know a lot of extremely good people that I know would look after them. So actually just being a source of information for them is key because, you know, They don't know what they're doing on energy or most of the time they don't because it's just passed on. So they don't probably not know much about solar or they might not know much about insurance, but they're stuck with, I don't know, a broker or supplier that they've done for years and years and years and they've just ticked the box and said, yeah, just renew, renew. But actually introducing them to other businesses to say, have a chat with them. They will probably be able to help you, whether it's in the printing or photocopiers or whatever. I think it's just showing worth. We've been in business a long time, we know some really good people, whatever. So I think that really helps them because it saves them. nothing against recruiting companies, but recruiting companies cost a lot of money as well. So you may know somebody who's looking for a job, I don't know, like a teacher or somebody who's moving areas and going, Right, I'm going from Chatham to Worcester and there's a school in Worcester looking for a PE teacher and that, you know, it's just a recommendation. I think if you can help them and show them you're genuinely there to help. And so these meetings I go to, that's what it's all about really, it's just chatting to Granger Forson: Yes. Jason Hyde: different people and promoting other businesses that you trust. Granger Forson: And that's that real thing. That's what we're talking about is, you know, how can you take some of their pain points away that is not related to your own business, but can genuinely help them become more time savvy, giving them more opportunity back in their days by taking some of the problems away from them, introducing them to the great people. And that's what it's meaning about how do we help these time poor, overworked business managers that need some things solving their problem. So meeting them at events, having conversations, but following up. Doing that follow up straight away. Whenever I meet anybody and at the end of the meeting I'll talk Jason Hyde: What? Granger Forson: about how can I help you today? What are you looking for? They give me some descriptions. I say, right, I know this person, this person, this person. Within, as you'd said before, coming back within six hours, before the end of that day, before I close Jason Hyde: . Granger Forson: off that day. I will do that introduction email to them. will send them an email saying, hi, these are the people that I recommend. Which ones would you like to talk to? It's that fast response. OK, this is really helpful. I'm not looking for a sale. I'm looking for that connection to build that time with them. And that's what we have to do when we're trying to do this. We think sometimes trying to go too fast. We're going in for the sale. That's what these cold emails are doing. We're going these DMs on LinkedIn, it's all going straight in for the sale. we've already said at beginning, you've to build that know, like and trust up to that point where then they could say, right, Jason, yeah, I know you do full power. I you mentioned it, whatever this is coming up, could we have a conversation Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: about it? Yeah. And they come to you because you know what's going on or you have that permission to at say, Look, how can I help you further with what I do? When's your contract due for renewal? Can I just read your current contract and give you some thoughts and advice on it? And it's building that up. That's that power. Yes, brilliant service afterwards, but it's that how do do that? Do you do that at events, which you talked about? Do you create an event yourselves to help them to bring people together? Building that schools networking event type thing where you can bring people together to make sure that happens. And that's building that know, and trust. So that's starting to show benefit for you because you've mentioned it a few times. You're starting to see that growth through schools. Now you talked about these other businesses, know, maybe in manufacturing, maybe Jason Hyde: Okay. Granger Forson: in other industries. So how could we use that idea into these and other types of industries? Jason Hyde: I have, I think it's thinking out of the box a little bit as well. So I've, I've set up my own little local, not, I wouldn't call it a networking group, but just a gathering of businesses. And I do it probably once every six weeks. So it's not like a networking group as such. It's very relaxed, but we get local business come in, they do a five minute talk, but we also get a charity involved as well. So the charity can talk about. how they're raising money, what events they've got on, golf days, et cetera. But all the money from the tickets go to that charity. So we're helping in different ways. So we get lots of businesses, local businesses coming in. They're meeting everybody. They're talking to different people they've never met before. So they're getting those sort of connections as well. But at the end of the day, everyone is helping that one charity that's there. needs funding and that's worked really well. I think we've raised over £3,000 now just on a few networking meetings. that's, and it's, do I promote myself? No, I don't. I don't really talk about my business at those meetings. I run it and other businesses promote themselves, but I don't, but I think it's just a bit more awareness of just me and maybe somebody who follow me on LinkedIn or whatever. That meeting is not about me, it's not about my business, it's about bringing local businesses together and the place we hold it at, it's a local pub that all they use food-wise is local foods, local drinks, it's local produce, everything's local. as well as helping the charity and helping the businesses in the room, we're also helping the restaurant who's been there for years, but also helping... all their suppliers and the farmers and everything else in that. it just works really well. So I think if you think out of the box a little bit and just make these different connections and do something for other people, then it just works. And I think, you know, every year I do a golf day and I do a quiz and stuff like that. It's not, that's not about me. It's about who we're raising money for and who the charities were helping. But it maybe just gives you a bit of exposure. And I think it's... Granger Forson: Yeah. Jason Hyde: Your business needs lots of pillars. You don't just need one pillar. You can't just go on to, I don't know, advertising or social media and expect your business to grow. You've got to have lots of different pillars and talk to lots of different people and have lots of communications and be visible in lots of different areas to actually go, do know what? I quite like him or what does Jace actually do? And they'll look at on LinkedIn or whatever. I don't know. But yeah, I think it's just. But also, the most important thing is enjoy it. Enjoy everything you do, because if you do something that you don't enjoy, you won't carry on with it. Or, you Granger Forson: Yes. Jason Hyde: if you're growing your business somehow and you're like, yeah, my business is growing, but I cannot stand how I'm doing it, I hate door knocking, or whatever it is, then you won't carry on with it, because every morning you'll wake up dreading what you're gonna do for that day. You've got to enjoy what you do. So I try and... fill my business day with stuff I enjoy. And I think that's made a massive difference to how I've grown my business over the last 10, 15 years. Granger Forson: And that's really important what you're doing demonstrating yet again is how you add value to other people first before you then ask Jason Hyde: Yeah. Granger Forson: for connection around the sales opportunity that you've come. And that's the really important process that you do. I I can remember in the corporate world, know, one of our most successful Jason Hyde: . Granger Forson: salesperson, yeah, he... built relationships with these clients. I mean, we're talking multi-million pound contracts over sometimes five to 10 years. They were huge contracts, but he built that relationship with them. He kept that relationship going the whole time through the conversation of it. He kept the relationship going when we moved from the sales into the implementation activity. So he kept that going all the time because it's that important connections that becomes valuable because yes, We won the sale as the business, but he won the relationship. And I think what you're saying exactly there, and that's what I was trying to talk about, is about how do you build that relationship? There isn't one answer, but it's building that relationship over time that allows you then to get to the point of having a sales conversation because they know, like, and trust you. Jason Hyde: you Granger Forson: You you do your networking group. not that it's networking as you called it, but coming together for a social point which is helping raise money for a charity. You do your golf days, you do your quiz nights, it's all about building that relationship. But then you could maybe stretch that a little bit further by, there are local industrial estates near where you're holding these events. A few flyers around there might bring in one or two new people into the network, which then allows your network to grow beyond Jason Hyde: Okay. Granger Forson: there. So trying to bring in some other people within it can help to grow and to make it just small bits at a time to be able to do that. And that's really what I was trying to get to. When we talk about. building greater sales. Actually what we need to do is build greater relationships. How can I help you as an individual? How can I help your business? Who do you know that can help you improve your life, improve your business life? And therefore in time you build that relationship where actually then a sale becomes a lot more of a conversation and then a transaction rather than something trying to kick down the door and make things happen. So brilliant, fantastic conversation. Jason Hyde: back down to people barf people, which we've already talked about, know, is that building that trust. Granger Forson: It does it does absolutely absolutely and it's not easy that's the thing It's not easy, it takes time. You you talked about you did the hard work when you built your portfolio of domestic clients. You're putting in the effort and the growth into building your portfolio of business clients because it takes time, it takes effort. People want it really quickly, but actually it does take that time to build that if you really want to build the know, like and trust and referral method of activity for growth. Brilliant. Let's move on to our wrap up and close. What did you hear yourself today that maybe surprised you? Jason Hyde: think it's more... I think it's... With the schools, when I was talking about it, I was thinking, actually, I do need and keep in contact. We did, like I said, we did that big show with them and talked to them. There was a lot of clients on there that said, you know, we really want to have a chat. And I have gone back to them and we've had a few conversations, but I have to put it in my diary that it's just the follow up as well. Because yes, we don't cold call, but I think follow up is massively important in any business. and I do need to follow up on the scores. So actually when I was talking about it was like, in my head I going, I need to follow up with the scores. So that is going to be on my agenda this week actually. So yes, Granger Forson: But. Jason Hyde: I do need to follow up. Granger Forson: Awesome, thank you. you for the honesty. finally Jason, how can people find out more about you to follow your journey? Jason Hyde: I'm on LinkedIn under Jason Hyde. Give me a call. I prefer to have a chat. I prefer to have a coffee and a face to face. So if you want to give me a ring at any time, I'm really a face to face sort of person. So yeah. Granger Forson: Brilliant. If you'd like to give us your phone number now, have it put onto Jason Hyde: Yeah sure. So the number is 07812996653 or the email is jasonhyde at fullpowerutilities.net Granger Forson: Awesome. Jason, I think we've finally got there. This is the third time we're trying to make this recording work for us. So thank you so much for bearing with us. Jason Hyde: that's done don't delete it Granger Forson: Thank you so much for being open and honest. I know our listeners will get a lot from this conversation. It's been fantastic. Thank you, Jason. Jason Hyde: Brilliant, thanks Graeme Jack. Granger Forson: Thank you for spending your time with us today. We're on a mission to make business owners stronger together. If this conversation has helped you, please like, follow and comment on the platform you're using. About 60 % of the audience hasn't done this yet and these small actions will help us reach more business owners just like you. If you'd to join in the conversation by joining us on a future episode or if you have a hurdle question for us to overcome at a future one, do reach out to us at info at strongerbusinesstogether.com. Now. Go make this next week really successful and we'll see you next time. Cheers!