Trudi Charest is the Co-Founder of Marketing4ecps, a digital marketing agency focused on building digital advertising for healthcare practices. Trudi is well known for designing, developing, and facilitating training and marketing programs to health professionals across North America. She is also a Licensed Optician with over 25 years of extensive eyecare experience.
Trudi was one of Vision Monday’s “2019 Most Influential Women” in the optical industry. She is an active OWA member and has recently been elected to the board of directors for Optical Women’s Association.
Trudi is now adding “Best Selling Author” to her many accomplishments. She published her book, The Digital Sales Rep, in 2022 and hit best seller status in multiple categories and countries. She is an international speaker, author, industry consultant and business innovator.
Listen to this informative Publish. Promote. Profit. episode with Trudi Charest about how to 3x your sales during a pandemic.
Here are some of the beneficial topics covered on this week’s show:
– How many business owners had to adapt and pivot during the pandemic.
– Why you should use Facebook and Instagram to reach out to people in your target markets.
– How you should use your book to accomplish what you really want to do.
– Why writing a book is a good investment for the future of your business.
– How writing a book gives you the authority and expertise in your market.
Connect with Trudi:
Links Mentioned:
thedigitalsalesrep.com
Guest Contact Info:
Instagram
@digitalsalesrep
Facebook
facebook.com/TrudiCharest
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trudicharest
Rob Kosberg:
Hey, welcome. Rob Kosberg here for Published Remote Profit podcast. I’m really excited to bring a great guest client of Best Seller Publishing. Trudi Charest is a licensed optician with over 25 years of extensive eyecare experience. I love this. Trudi voted 2019 most influential women in the optical industry. Very cool. Trudi is the co-founder of Marketing4ECPs, digital marketing agency focused on building digital advertising for healthcare practices. Trudi is the best-selling author of The Digital Sales Rep. And we’re going to talk a good bit about that and about how you’re using it. So, Trudi, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Excited to have you with me.
Trudi Charest:
Excited to be here. Thank you.
Rob Kosberg:
So, talk to me about the whole idea of writing the book. Maybe first initial thoughts of it and then what transpired. Not so much your experience with us and all that, we can get to that, but just your own thinking about from the first moment of thinking of writing a book and then actually the culmination of it, the creation of it.
Trudi Charest:
Yeah. Well, it’s really interesting Rob how the whole book, even just the thought process of this particular book came out. But a lot of it really was created because of a pandemic and how it changed sales for me. And how I had to. And I know everybody says don’t use this word, adapt and pivot, because everybody’s been using it, but it really was what happened. And I had to take my sales to a digital virtual level quickly because I was stuck at home.
And I just really dug in and learned how that… I own a marketing agency, so it’s not that I’m not digital expert as it is. But I really had to learn how to sell and prospect from home. And we did really well. And I created a system that allowed me to just triple our sales during a pandemic when other businesses were literally closing their doors. And I started to just jot down all the things that were working. And I’m sure you hear this from other authors, I just thought this would just make such a great book. And I wish I had the ability to teach people what’s working for me right now. And I started to just jot down ideas, and I realized I had something, and I just needed to figure out a way to put it into words and into something I could share with people.
Rob Kosberg:
Wow. Well, you got our attention. Tripling sales during the pandemic will get somebody’s excitement levels up, and it certainly got my excitement levels up. So, talk to me about what your pillars are of that and how that transpired, because that’s what’s in the Digital Sales Rep, that’s what’s in your book. So talk to me about what those pillars are and the transition to three X business while others are closing their doors. So, that’s very exciting.
Trudi Charest:
Well, I’d say probably the top pillars that I wrote the look on were, number one, how do you reach somebody who’s now at home? They’re not at their businesses. So one was just, how do you reach a target client anywhere?
And the second pillar was probably, how do I present? Before the pandemic, nobody was this good virtual, on Zoom or podcasts were just becoming a thing and we had to really become good at selling and presenting virtually quickly. So that’s a pillar because a lot of people can get on a Zoom. It doesn’t mean they’re good at it.
It doesn’t mean they could present well or project well or sell well. And the third one was just really building a system so that I could do outreach every day. And I tracked it and I could see what was working, I could see my outreach, and I could honestly see where I needed to follow up or go back. And so, I actually created this system called the 10 + 10 Sales System. And it’s pretty interesting when you really start to apply it, how it can work. And it’s no different than sales out when you’re out traditionally. The more you reach out traditionally, the more results you get. But digitally you can reach out a hundred times more.
Rob Kosberg:
Tell me about that. Okay. So 10 + 10, what does the outreach look like? Is this paid advertising, is it direct messaging, email, combination? Give me some of the juicy details.
Trudi Charest:
Give me some of the insights into the book, for sure. Well, none of it is paid advertising. So that should get everybody excited right away.
Rob Kosberg:
Oh, people, they’re more excited now.
Trudi Charest:
Well, listen, I sell paid advertising. So, I can do my own paid advertising. But that wasn’t what I did with this book by any means. But I used every channel that I could to my ability. And I tried to figure out what channels I could use to prospect at. Well, and I realized quickly that there was just a couple that worked really good for prospecting and selling and connecting and networking. And my number one go to is LinkedIn. And LinkedIn is changing. But it’s still the top way for sales people to really find their target client and connect and still at no charge really with just a couple simple steps. And then email is still highly utilized and can be utilized well. You just have to know the legalities and how to use it and how to get someone’s email.
And then my other two go-tos are Instagram and Facebook. And I teach people in this book that you can use these channels to literally connect to your target clients and reach out and message them. When I was working with your team on the book, the one part of the book that your team loved and they told me that it was truly one of the best parts of the book was that I’m not a salesy sales rep. I love to get people to want to work with me because I’m such a resource. And Rob that’s what I love about you and your company too. You guys are so weasel. You give so much to people who want to write a book that then they want to work with you. And I really do the same thing. So, my target client is an optometrists or an ophthalmologist or an optician who owns their own business.
And so, I have just developed all these resources to help them grow their business. And I just give them away to them. And that makes them want to not only work with me but they also want to give me their information and they want to connect with me so I give them more. And that was the biggest philosophy of this book is, connect with somebody. Then don’t spam them with sales messages like every other salesperson does. Just give them something that makes you look like an expert and then they want to network some more and find out more.
Rob Kosberg:
So, this isn’t so much part of the podcast, but it’s so funny. I have a group coaching program within Best Seller Publishing we call the accelerators group. And I was just talking today. We talked through three elements of marketing business growth, proposal platform, process platform is all about ads, cold outreach, PR, speaking engagements, owning your own platform like a podcast, that kind of thing. And so, I would love to have you come and speak to them if you’d be willing to.
I’d love to, 30, 45 minutes talking through. And I’m going to buy your book and I’m going to send your book to all of them, because… I was just sharing about LinkedIn today. One of our best BSP clients that just happens to be in that group, and it’s a small group, just 15 or so of us, and he happens to be in that group. And I’m like, “Greg, if it’s okay, I’ll share.” His was a cold outreach on LinkedIn done by virtual assistant on my account. Didn’t even do a very good job, to be honest with you. I read it and shuttered as I was reading some of what the person wrote. And then I got involved later and he became a fantastic client. And so that very element, which I am no expert on, has reaped a lot of benefits for Best Seller Publishing.
So, I love that your book is on that. We’ll give some links so people can get a copy of your book of course on this podcast. But I’m going to go ahead and buy a bunch of copies and send them out to my clients. In preparation for you speaking to them on that subject matter, because, I mean, if you don’t want to spend a dollar on ads, you really don’t have to with the resources we have today, right? With Instagram and Facebook and with the ability to direct message people for free and email, even cold email, any thoughts on that by the way, like cold email, coldish type outreach there?
Trudi Charest:
Yeah. I literally talk about it in the book, the difference between cold outreach and what I call warm outreach, because there’s a difference. And I always like to warm people up instead of just… Because there’s a lot of people and agencies reaching out to businesses every day on these channels. And so, I want to be different. I don’t want to be the same as half of these agencies that are just reaching out and trying to sell them something right off the bat. So, I’m really about building a relationship first. And to me, the easiest way is to give them something to value.
And so, when I connect with somebody, I immediately give them something. And it could be an eBook that is about growing their optometry practice to a bunch of downloads or anything that we’ve recently created. And luckily, because I own my Canadian agency, I have a lot of those resources. But I’m also creating them myself. And I teach people in the book how to easily utilize either their company resources or how to create something quickly. That they don’t have to be a graphic designer to create.
But my biggest thing about warm outreach… And I do teach people how to do a cold outreach as well, and just with a little bit of rapport building and a little bit of giving away in the cold outreach. And so, if I’m going to reach out to somebody on LinkedIn as an example, I’m like, “Hey, Dr. Smith. I’d love to connect and join your network. Or have you join my network? By the way, here’s a free webinar that we just recorded on how to grow your optometry practice.” And so that’s my cold outreach, is a little bit of something that’s going to entice them to connect with me.
Rob Kosberg:
That’s a nice little addition rather than just cold, but cold with something of value that they would be interested in, whether it’s a short training or it could be the book. Although the book might come later because obviously I’m thinking of my clients.
And people that are listeners are either those with books or those that want to have books and they’re looking for ways to use their book. Or maybe that’s a good segue to talk a little bit about how you’re using your book.
Trudi Charest:
Yeah. Well, I’m really following a lot of the philosophies that I’m trying to teach people in the book. So, some of the biggest tips that I got from listening to you and listening to some of your team and some of the resources was to use the book to spin off to what I really want, which is speaking.
My whole goal around this was I want to train sales teams to do what I do, and that is really connect and prospect and sell virtually and digitally. And it’s not just about the connection, because once you get the connection and they book a demo, you still have to do this. And I also in the book teach them how I’ve created presentations that beat my competitors every day virtually.
And so, the biggest thing that I want to do with this book is spin it into more speaking so I can train sales teams all over North America on how they can utilize some of this to their advantage. And so, the biggest thing that I did was, soon as the book was out in print, I ordered a hundred copies. And I’ve been giving them away to people that I want to read my book that may be interested in hiring me to sell this training to their sales team. And then sending it with a little note, hear compliments, thank you, hope you enjoy it. By the way I do have a keynote presentation that you could hire me to train your sales team. I’ve been doing a few contests in my Instagram and website, just subscribe. I’m giving away a free book this week. I’ve also sent it to a bunch of influencers in my industry.
And the book just launched in February, so it’s not been very long. I sent the book to 10 of my influencer friends who have big following. Some have 90,000 followers on Instagram. And I just said, “Hey, I wanted to share my new book with you and I hope you enjoy it.” I didn’t ask for anything. I knew that some of them would take a picture of themselves and put it on their Instagram. And that’s all I hoped for. But almost all of them did. And I’ve got some huge exposure from it.
Rob Kosberg:
That is fantastic. I mean, your book was just launched, I mean, barely a month ago, late February, I believe it was, right?
Trudi Charest:
Yeah.
Rob Kosberg:
And of course, we’re at the very beginning of April now. I don’t know when this is going to air, but when we’re recording it as April 4th, so you just started, I love that you ordered a hundred books. I mean, that’s the exact strategy that we beg our clients to do. And for those listening, authors, I find authors have to get over this idea of I don’t want to give my book away, I want to sell my book. And the truth be told, what you really want is you want your book in the right person’s hands no matter how you get it there. It doesn’t matter how you get it there. If they pay 15, 20 bucks for it, great. And many will. But if you can get it in that right person’s hands and you show your expertise in that book, then you’ve done the work.
You’ve already obviously begun to reap the rewards. Anything from the speaking stuff yet? How many of those have you sent? Is there a system that you have in place for that? I’d love to hear that.
Trudi Charest:
Well, as soon as I finished the book, I really started to sit down and think through all the different ways that I could promote it, that I could use it to spin into speaking. And well, the most exciting thing that happened was last week when I talked to a Speakers Bureau, and I’ve sent them some of the books so that they can start giving it out to their clients. And then I’m recording a video for them.
To house on their website. And they’re going to start promoting me. I don’t think everybody has to go with the Speakers Bureau, but I’m going to do both the Speakers Bureau and go out and prospect on my own and get leads. And I’m going to do what I do in the book to get my own leads for speaking. But I know you’re right. Is when the book launched on Amazon, listen, I think a lot of authors probably get so excited and they’re waiting for all these sales to come in. And you guys do a great job of getting us best seller. And we’re all just getting as many people as we can to download the book and then also give us reviews. But it was never in the back of my head that I’m going to get rich by having a book on Amazon. I think it’s what you do with it.
And the whole idea is what can I do with this book now? And so, I know that if I can get someone to read this book, if I can get it into their hands, the biggest opportunity I have is they’re going to realize that those tips in there are perfect for their sales team. So, I’ve done it already where I’ve sent out 10 books to the VP of sales at really big organizations. And they’re already ordering books for their sales team. And then I’m following up and I’m trying to get them to realize, “Well, take this to the next level and bring me in to speak or hire me to virtually speak to your teams.”
And that’s what my goal is. But it is about getting it into the hands of the right people, to then have them read it and follow up and sell them on the idea of what you want them to do with it.
Rob Kosberg:
You are such an action taker. I love that. Again, it’s been barely a month and you already have VPs of large companies that they have. Not only do they have your book, but they’re already ordering copies. There is no doubt as you continue that strategy. May not be the first 10, right? But as you continue that strategy that you’re going to get massive book orders and you’re going to get keynotes and breakouts and individual workshops and all the things that you want.
I have seen people, Amy Dix is obviously a good friend. And she’s become a partner in a new venture that we’re doing. But I’ve seen Amy go from never having spoken for a fee before to having 97 speaking engagements where she was paid between $5,000 and $12,000 by simply systematically reaching out, building relationships with event planners, sending copies of her books, sending videos. And then there was such a flood of opportunity. She kept raising her fees to the point where… I mean, when there’s scarcity, right? Supply and demand, and there’s only you, well, the price goes up because the demand is going up. So, that’s certainly going to happen for you as much as you want it to, right? As much as you want to travel and do those types of things.
Trudi Charest:
Well, and the other thing too that I think is really going to help the book is I built a website around the book. So thedigitalsalesrep.com.
I also started an Instagram channel, thedigitalsalesrep.com. So my goal is to build the expertise of the book digitally. And of course that’s what I do. As far as LinkedIn, I have 9,000 followers. So, I’ve been systematically reaching out to the right ones on LinkedIn and just telling them and asking them if they’d like a copy of the book. And is working. It’s a little bit of pounding the pavement to get where you want to go. And I haven’t done everything that I want to do yet of course.
Rob Kosberg:
You haven’t done everything in a month?
Trudi Charest:
No. But I’m getting there. But now it is exciting to really see where you can take this. And I’ve even been back onto Best Seller Publishing when I first started. You guys give us this great portal that has all these resources in it. And I’m now going back in there and starting to literally take some of those ideas and start implementing them.
Rob Kosberg:
Oh yeah. The simple speaking engagement thing is really just that simple, but great systematic way for you to get as much of the speaking as you can stomach. I don’t like to travel all that much. But speaking these days is just like this, right? I mean, it’s virtual, it’s something that can be done from anywhere. We have clients that are doing $5,000 keynotes without leaving their home studio. So, there’s no question that you can’t do the same.
Trudi Charest:
And trade shows and conferences are starting up again. But that’s not necessarily where I’m going to focus. I think my biggest opportunity is companies that have national sales meetings for their companies and are training their sales team to get out and go make sales for the coming year.
Those are probably more of what I’m going to go after. But I’m not going to say no to a conference. I think there’s a ton of different ways that you can take this book and do something. And one-on-one consulting is obviously another way you can consult with some leads of big organizations. There’s just so many opportunities when it comes to what you can do. The biggest thing the book has done for me is giving me that expertise and authority to say, “Here it is. Here’s my best seller book with everything that I can teach you or I can teach a team.” And it’s hard to not have that register with them that I’ve got a best seller book.
Rob Kosberg:
Absolutely. Especially since we’re all in competition. You want to speak. There’s a hundred others that want to speak on that stage. And so, you raise your head and shoulders above the competition by being the bestselling author on the topic. So congratulations on doing that.
Trudi Charest:
It’s funny because one of your team, Bob, he said to me, “Well, not that you didn’t choose the hardest category out there, business and sales.”
Rob Kosberg:
That’s right.
Trudi Charest:
He was really impressed with how well it has done even on Amazon and continues to do. So, it’s continuing to rank well in those categories, which is hopefully a testament to this is what people need right now, is training on digital and virtual sales and presentations. And I think as everybody probably thinks the same way is the world’s not going to go back to completely normal. Even as sales people do get out back out and start doing some traditional sales where they’re pounding on doors and cold calling and going to trade shows and standing at trade show booths, they have to and should still be using the power of digital and virtual along with traditional.
Rob Kosberg:
Maybe we could change gears for just a moment. You were kind enough to mention about your experience with BSP and even ask me to ask you, which thank you for doing it, because I wouldn’t normally do that on a podcast. But maybe you could share whatever you feel like about your experience with the creation of the book. I’d love to hear all of that and maybe whatever you would say to somebody that is debating whether or not to invest in creating a book, invest in a company like mine or my company. What would you say to that person that’s debating that?
Trudi Charest:
Yeah. Probably the lead into me working with your company was I knew I had something. I had experienced such great sales revenue and growth and I knew I had a system that could really change how someone can reach out to their target clients and literally close them online. And it was working for me. And I knew that I wanted to put it into either a training. I actually originally started by looking at online training courses and seeing if I could build a course and then start to drag people to it. And then I watched one of your webinars. And it was one where you literally talk what your book is and how you help authors who really want to get their words out.
And the thing I loved about it was that you literally take our hand, and you give us a schedule, and you keep us on track, and you drive us to finish the book. But then that’s not where it stops, and you get it on Amazon. I didn’t want to do any of that. And you helped get it to best seller and you promote it. But I’d love to chat briefly about the actual writing process, because that was just so wonderful. So, by the time I finally listened to your presentation, reached out to your team, had some meetings, and decided, “Yep, I’m going to do it.” And first off was dealing with Matt, and he was just funny and so easy to have meetings with. And he helped me come up with even just the initial table of contents and what you need to just get started.
And there’s a way that you guys do it that really makes it easy. It makes it easy to figure out what’s in here and help start guiding it out. But I think the best process was when I actually started writing. And I started working with one of your coaches and met with them every single week. And just they helped me first and foremost really build great chapters. And the way that you guys helped us start a chapter with stories to bringing in personal antidotes and tying it to a lesson, it made really writing a great book easy. And I loved the fact that they also gave suggestions and told me where it didn’t make sense and where I should rewrite it. And I loved the critiquing that made it a great book.
That I don’t think I ever could have done on my own. And I loved, two, the accountability because it’s like an exercise program. If you try to start yourself, you always fall off. And so, this was like my book exercise program. And literally somebody kept me on track and I wrote the book in six months, which they even said was very good.
They told me I was an A student because I literally decided I was going to do it. And it was COVID, so it wasn’t hard because you’re stuck at home anyways. But I wrote every single weekend and I finished the book in six months. And then you guys took over and you did the rest, which again, you designed it, you proofed it, you made it look better, sound better, you got it on Amazon, you got into print version. I’m about to launch the audio, which I’m really excited about, which you’ve helped me with as well. And I didn’t have to do a lot of the heavy lifting except write it.
Rob Kosberg:
Thank you for those words. It’s interesting. Not many people talk about the accountability part, but I mean, you may have heard me talk about this if you’re in some of the BSPU calls. But I mean, I hired my company to do my next book. I’m not just the president of the HairClub for men. I’m a client. Using that probably a bunch of people are like, “What is he talking about?” That old commercial. But I mean, I need the accountability. I meet with Matt every single week just like you have. I’m doing my next book, which is on BookFunnels. And quite honestly, I need it as well. The exact same process that our clients go through, I go through in the creation of my books just because it works, and it works fast. I mean, I’m going to be done with my book on chapter five. And I’m planning for it to be like 13 chapters. So, I have two more months left and then it goes into its two rounds of editing, two rounds of proofreading, design, all that stuff. And I’m like, “Okay, let’s go.”
Trudi Charest:
Right. No, I found the process was really well thought out. And when you first start, you’re overwhelmed with, “Is it really going to take that long?” But it does. And it takes commitment, and it takes you hitting those deadlines too. So, you’re right. And that’s honestly what I flanked about your team, is they do set timelines and deadlines. And you’re like, “Okay, I’m going to write a book.”
Rob Kosberg:
Yes, you are. And you did. And I can’t wait to get into the hands of our coaching group. And so, let’s truly thank you. Thank you for what you shared and thank you for creating this book.
Trudi Charest:
I would tell anybody if you’re on the fence and you’re thinking about writing a book, and you’re worried about the commitment as far as financial, don’t because I know it’s going to come back to me. I saved time by hiring you guys. And I own a business, so my time is money.
And I related it to that, is you guys are going to help me get this book launched and written, and you are going to take care of it and I’m not going to have to do that. And to me, that was worth the money. And now too, I have a bit of a path that you guys have helped create on how I’m also going to take it and turn it into speaking.
Rob Kosberg:
Love it. And you absolutely will. And you’re going to kill it with that. So congratulations. I can’t wait to hear. Maybe we’ll have you back on a second one after some of the speaking engagements start to flow in. And I’m sure you’ll adapt and try some new things that will be able to learn from. So, thank you again. Thanks for being on the podcast. Give us some ways.
Trudi Charest:
You have me.
Rob Kosberg:
Where can people learn more? Where can they get a copy of the book, et cetera?
Trudi Charest:
Well, I’m on Amazon. And I want to say amazon.ca and .com, because I’m Canadian, but I’m North American with my company as well. So Amazon.ca and I guess Amazon. Well, no, because I became a best seller in eight countries. And so, that was exciting. So I guess Amazon everywhere.
And yes, I kept it reasonable as far as price. So it’s 499 for the digital and 1995 for the print copy. So, it’s a no-brainer. It’s going to triple your sales. Obviously, as I mentioned earlier, I do have a website, thedigitalsalesrep.com. And I’m on Instagram, and that’s @thedigitalsalesrep. And LinkedIn, you can find me at Trudi Charest.
Rob Kosberg:
Trudi, thank you. Thanks for being on. Great to have you on the podcast. Congrats on getting the book done quickly and already the success you’re experiencing with it. And stay on for a few minutes in just a second. And we’ll talk about me getting your books and having you speak for my group. So, thank you again for being here.
Trudi Charest:
Thank you so much Rob.
