Ep 7: Thinking Bigger with Jeffrey Hayzlett

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In Episode Seven of the Sara Grillo Podcast I interview global business celebrity Jeffrey Hayzlett. Jeffrey is Chairman & CEO of C-Suite Network, an author, keynote speaker, and podcast host, as well as a former judge on Celebrity Apprentice and Fortune 100 Executive.

There are several important things that financial advisors will learn from this episode about not being your own worst enemy when it comes to brand building, practice management, and entrepreneurship.

Reasons Financial Advisors Should Listen to Jeffrey Hayzlett

One, Jeffrey was the CMO of Kodak. I thought that financial advisors could benefit from hearing the wisdom of someone who has marketed one of the biggest brands in the world.  His message about thinking bigger and creating a brand that actively implements your thinking is one that I think many advisors need to hear.

Two, Jeffrey what I call a “Baby Boomillenial”, a Baby Boomer with Millennial characteristics. He loves technology, is a heavy user of technology, and has a great vision for what the future of financial advising will be given innovations in the digital realm that he sees taking hold.

Third, Jeffrey is a cool, funny guy and a very nice person, and also a very candid person. He tells it like it is, and as someone who ascribes to the same philosophy I see great value in the truth.

This is extremely valuable advice from a proven, verified marketing success both within a world class corporation and as an entrepreneur. These words are very valuable for advisors to hear.

What You’ll Learn in Episode Seven of The Sara Grillo Podcast

[2:46]

Kodak failed to embrace the next wave of the future, the digital camera, even decades earlier when a Kodak engineer brought the idea to management. The danger of believing your own story and letting the hubris of your own success and your own story blind you.

  • “We are [this].”
  • “We do  [this].”
  • “I’ve been in business 20 years.”
  • “People want [this].”

Jeffrey says he doesn’t assume anything. “I don’t know what I don’t know, “ he says.

Being aware of what you aren’t aware of and being humble has led opportunities to present themselves to him. He’s found more opportunity for making money, saving money, or not losing money, this way. You never know what the world will be like in the future.

[5:46]

I know a million people have ideas. An idea without implementation is nothing but air. A lot of people fail because they just can never get it off the ground. Or they start watering it down because they can’t say, no, we’re not going to accept anything less than this.

[7:39]

What Jeffrey sees as the massive upheaval of change about to happen to the financial advisor industry; the technological disruption that advisors need to know about and how they should adapt their service delivery in response in order to survive.

[11:26]

As a visibly successful executive, Jeffrey is the target of financial advisor sales pitches regularly. Here’s what his honest response is to these messages (“Coffee? Are you frickin’ nuts?”) and what he suggests that advisors say instead. Trust, competence, and reliability and how they are perceived in the eyes of the successful executive.

[16:35]

Jeffrey identifies the one thing that advisors should do in order to saddle up and take action in the spirit of thinking bigger and taking more effective action to market their firms.

About Jeffrey Hayzlett

Jeffrey Hayzlett is a primetime television host of C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and Executive Perspectives on C-Suite TV, and business podcast host of All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett on C-Suite Radio.

He is a global business celebrity, speaker, best-selling author, and CEO & Chairman of C-Suite Network, home of the world’s most trusted network of C-Suite leaders. Hayzlett is a well-traveled public speaker, former Fortune 100 CMO, and author of three best-selling business books: Think Big, Act Bigger: The Rewards of Being Relentless, Running the Gauntlet and The Mirror Test.

Hayzlett is one of the most compelling figures in business today and an inductee into the NSA’s Speaker Hall of Fame.

As a leading business expert, Hayzlett is frequently cited in Forbes, SUCCESS, Mashable, Marketing Week and Chief Executive, among many others. He shares his executive insight and commentary on television networks like Bloomberg, MSNBC, Fox Business, and C-Suite TV. Hayzlett is a former Bloomberg contributing editor and primetime host, and has appeared as a guest celebrity judge on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump for three seasons.

He is a turnaround architect of the highest order, a maverick marketer and c-suite executive who delivers scalable campaigns, embraces traditional modes of customer engagement, and possesses a remarkable cachet of mentorship, corporate governance, and brand building.

Any questions? Send 'em in!

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