Today's Guest

Dave Kerpen is a serial entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and global keynote speaker. Dave is the co-founder and co-CEO of Apprentice. Dave was also the Founder and Chairman of Likeable Media, a social media software company serving thousands of small businesses. Dave shared his biggest insight on what unlocks growth in a small business: the mindset and ability to delegate. And how both people and technology should be part of your delegation strategy to help you deliver an extraordinary customer experience.

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Episode Summary

When I initially started the Likeable company it was not called Likeable. It was called The K Buzz which eventually became Likeable. The concept behind the company was to leverage word-of-mouth marketing to help organizations generate buzz. I believe likability and social media are great equalizers for small businesses. Generally, the bigger a business is the harder it is for them to be as customer-centric or employee-centric as they should be. This means local small businesses have an opportunity to differentiate themselves by being more likable to their customers and employees. In the long run, your likability and ability to adapt to customers’ needs is a strong competitive advantage.

The biggest difference between a small business owner and an entrepreneur is the mindset and ability to delegate. No matter what vertical or size company you are, the best leaders do three things well: set the strategy and vision for the company, put the people in the right seats, and make sure there’s enough money in the bank to make payroll. If you do those three things well and delegate the rest, you will be able to work on the business vs. in the business -- which unlocks growth. When you can put your strategy down on paper and create a process for others to follow, that is when you will experience tremendous growth in your company.

Today I run a company called Apprentice, which was born out of my own experience working with and hiring students at Likeable. Apprentice is a managed marketplace that connects business owners to the best and brightest college talent. If you want to hire a Harvard business graduate today you would have to pay them a $100k starting salary, but what small business owner wants to do that or can afford to do that. However, if you hire them a year before they graduate, that same type of talent can be hired for a fifth of the cost. In the same way, Likeable Media helped to democratize social media for small businesses. The model is built on the principle we all have something to teach and learn.

The key advantage of digital tools in your business is they allow you to communicate at scale with your audience. For example, we recently implemented a CRM at Apprentice, and with one click I can schedule personalized emails to be sent out to all our clients. We talked about delegating to people but we can also delegate to tools that automate the process defined in our strategy. Combined with the friendly face and local touch you bring to customers, you have further differentiated yourself from the big businesses that are competing for your customer's attention.

Resources Shared

• Likeable Media
• Likeable Social Media by Dave Kerpen
• Apprentice
• Thryv
• DaveKerpen.com
  

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