The IMDb SEO Secret Podcasters Don’t Know | Robert J. Smith

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Welcome everyone to doing business with a servant's heart podcast. I'm your host, Steve Ramona, and I am thrilled to have you join us today. The podcast is dedicated to supporting the idea of doing business and living life with a purpose. Yes, serving others and achieving success. We believe that when we approach our work and our lives with a servant's heart, we can truly make a difference. We create a show for you because we want everyone to be motivated, inspired, and educated to make an impact in your world. The keyword is you're there to make a difference. Hey, whether you're an entrepreneur, community leader, or simply someone looking to bring more purpose into your daily life, this podcast is here to support you. While listening to this show and boy, I've got a resource today. You better have a pad and paper because you're gonna write this down. Because we're gonna help some of you podcasts out there and a lot of other people. I want you to think about how you're gonna serve today and what impact you'll create today. Now, today's episode is brought to you by our amazing sponsor, Pantheon Alliance. Picture yourself joining an elite community of high-income, successful business owners and entrepreneurs from a variety of industries all working together to create a powerful referral marketplace and get educated as well. It's an incredible opportunity to expand your network and elevate your business to new heights. If you have any questions, just reach out to me. So I really built this up, and there's a good reason that this guest uh he's amazing, his background is amazing. But you know what it is? He truly has a service heart, and he's out there really to support people and help them. Robert, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I want to dive into your book and IMDB we were talking about when we first met, and I've done it, it's been very successful for me. Talk about that, how you can help podcast hosts and other people with IMDB.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Sure, IMDB is the most amazing thing I found that almost no one knows about that will help you rank at the very top of Google searches. Um, just because it helps with your SEO, you have to be consistent with it, you have to know what you're doing. But um it used to be you had to be on television or in films to qualify for an IMDB profile, which of course is internet movie database, which is owned by Amazon. Um, every movie you find, every actor, actress, every television show from you know 100 years ago till now is in that database. We've got three or four hundred films ourselves in there, and um it's just amazing because what it accomplishes for everyone, myself included, is you know, top of Google search rankings at a very low price point. Someone can spend you know under two grand a year with our agency to get those rankings versus spending ten thousand dollars a month in Google Ads, which I think is absolutely insane, or five, six thousand dollars a month in paid SEO just to get you ranked at the top. Um, IMDB does all the heavy lifting for you. And as I said before, you used to have to be in film and television as I am to qualify, but only recently they've opened it up to podcast host and not only podcast host, but podcast guest. So anyone out there who's ever been on a podcast, you qualify for an IMDB profile. We can get that all set up for you, show you exactly how to list every podcast that you're on, and you'll be amazed at what it does for your um search rankings. Absolutely unbelievable what it does.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

And audience, I know a lot of you are podcast hosts and guests because I talk to a lot of you. We're gonna get his contact info at the end, it will be in the show notes. But this is something that's a game changer. I'm so excited. Every time I see Robert or I see a message from out in the you know the social media, I get excited because as he as you said, it's a it's a unique tool that people don't know about and you jump on early, it could really help you. Tell the story of what IMDB did for you and what your daughter told you.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Yeah, um, my daughter, it's funny, she's um 31 years old now, so she's a big fan of Robert Smith in the cure, who's you know, he's roughly my age, so he's been around a long time. My daughter obviously hasn't been around a long time, but she likes him. And she's an expert on IMDB. Even before I started doing films, I did a lot of television, a lot of commercials which don't qualify for IMDB. So she calls me out of the blue one day when she's in high school, and she says, How dare you? She asked me, How dare you do what you're doing? I said, What am I doing wrong? What is it? She said, Well, you're not doing anything wrong, but when I look at your IMDB profile, you're in the top 1%. And Robert Smith from The Cure, who's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is not in the top 1%. What do you know that he doesn't know? And it's really not anything I know that he doesn't know. He does a ton of great work on big movie soundtracks and all of that. I think American Psycho was one, that's how far back he goes. Um, but we're just more prolific. We do a lot more films. We've done at least 300, maybe closer to 400. I'd have to look it up and see. And tons of credits in there. So just by adding all those credits, um, it builds up huge. So if someone's got a huge podcast where they're doing one a week and they've done it for 10 years or whatever it is, um, it's amazing. They'll get an overnight push as soon as we can get all that listed in the database. It's absolutely amazing. And then she's a little bit older, she calls me back and she's like, I'm really mad at you, Dad, because you did it again. And I said, Now what did I do wrong? Because you know, when your teenage daughter calls you with a little bit of an attitude, you assume you did something wrong or embarrassed her in front of her friends or what have you. But um, this time it was, you know, I searched you by name and you came up ahead of Robert Smith from the cure. So at the top of Google is my dad, and then my dad's production company, and then Robert Smith from the cure, and then some anthropologists, some archaeologist, a doctor, a lawyer, and then the NFL running back is way down here. And I said, Does that upset you? And she said, No, not half as much as when the photos come up, and I see pictures of my dad and all these other guys, and I don't even see a picture of the rock star from the cure, but it you know, it'll ask on there. So I send clients that I screenshotted that, and um I I use that to show people what they can do. So if your name is super original and unique, it might not be as huge a deal for you. But if you've got a popular name, I won't say common, but you know, if your last name is, you know, if your first name is Steve or your last name is Ramona, maybe it's um popular, maybe you don't have as much competition. Um, but when you've got a name like Robert Smith, just to give you an idea, every time you pull me up or that name up, you're gonna see at least four or five hundred million listings for Robert Smith worldwide. And you've got to have an edge, you've got to get to the top of Google search. So, what's cool is thanks to IMDB alone, um, you know, my name's at the very top ahead of all those other guys. And then just to the right of it, my production company website is right there. So you can't ask for more than your personal name and your business name at the very, very tip top of IMDB. And um, you know, like I said, a lot of companies will pay 10 grand a month or more to achieve that, and you really don't have to. For under a couple of grand a year, we we get it done for you. So it's just it's one of those things that I would say is super simple, but it's not easy. If you don't know what you're doing, you're gonna be frustrated with it. But you know, have us handle it for you, and it's it's overnight. You know, people say, you know, I work 20 years to become an overnight success. This is one of the ways you do it.

unknown 8:37

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Well, and I can see KPI for your show is more subscribers on YouTube because more people see it and more downloads on your on your panel. Talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Yeah, yeah, they absolutely will. And it's just amazing, you know, when people search through and the credibility is amazing when we meet with new clients and we do a lot of PR work, we do a lot of book publishing, we do a lot of business consulting and a lot of film work. Um, but nobody has to ask who we are, they see us right on the top. So if they search for anything, we're right there. You know, I hate to say in their face, but that's where we are in Google. We're the first thing they see. So no one questions our credibility. You know, they see that you know, my hair's fallen out and it's turning gray or it has turned gray. Um, so they don't worry about experience and and credibility and all that, but um it's just amazing. And I'm by no means an SEO expert. I only know that that machine of IMDB just drives it like nobody's business. It's kind of like, you know, if I were to get in a Formula One car, I wouldn't be able to explain the internal combustion engine for you, but I know I could get in it and go fast, and that's what IMDB does. It works super fast.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yeah, and having the right people do it, like you said, you know how to do it. You know, I always use the mechanic, but I don't want to do heart surgery on me. Yeah, that's extreme, but you know, it's like find the right people. Um I thank you because audience, reach out to him. He's got such a great way that you're a guest, and I just learned that today because I'm a guest, so I'm gonna add that. It's a great opportunity. I want to switch gears. I'm a big Marvel guy, just a little secret out to my audience. I love the movies, but there's also the cartoons. You're big into cartoons and your business. Talk about where that came out and how why you start doing that.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Yeah, it's it's absolutely wild where that came off because I'm a real big proponent of storytelling, whether you're in sales or anything else, whether you're a teacher, you want to get a point across, tell a story, you know, that'll get across for you. And I've got a whole chapter in our new book, Influence in Action, that talks specifically about storytelling and why it works. But to give you a real concrete example, years ago, I had uh some prospective clients who had a huge estate tax problem. And when either one of them died first, the spouse was going to have a two or three million dollar estate tax problem and they had no liquidity to pay the tax. So they had a huge problem with Uncle Sam when something happened. And they were both 80 years old at the time. So, not to be cold about it, but it was just a matter of time before they had this ugly expense. And, you know, Uncle Sam isn't very patient. They got nine months to pay it or else. So that's the way it works. And I put together a very comprehensive estate plan for them, and their attorney recommended they look at other plans. So the long and the short of it is I'm in competition with six of the biggest, brightest companies in America. And all of them have teams of, you know, three or four financial experts, like I was at the time, um, three or four CPAs, three or four attorneys, and it's just a team of people. And everybody puts a plan together anywhere from 100 to 200 pages. So these people would read these long, massive estate plans and just get lost in it in the minutiae. There's just they're so complicated, and their eyes would glaze over, they just had no idea what was going on. And at the end of listening to a couple of other companies picks, they came to me and they just said, We don't get it. Can you please explain it in a way we can understand? So I told them a little story, and I'll just grab one of these. Um, and this is a few years ago, but um yeah, the adventures of insurance man. So I explained to them, you know, look imagine there's a superhero who could swoop down and solve all your problems. Here's how he's gonna do it. And I went through um, not in great detail how the plan works, but in overall broad strokes. This is the most simple way I can do it. This is the problem you have. Do you agree on that? Yes, we do. This is how we solve it. Do you think this is the best way to solve it? Absolutely. And they looked at me, and the husband slammed his fist down on the table and he said, We've been wrestling with this for six months. Why didn't anyone ever explain it to us that simply? Because now we get it. You're getting the business. So um the funny thing about it is it was the largest case I've ever seen. But um, I ran it through the Equitable Assurance Society out of Atlanta, Georgia. And at the time, it was the largest case they had had, and um, it was enough to make me the number one agent with them worldwide, and also the number one broker worldwide with Meetshville of New York, and the number one broker worldwide out of Exafinancial out of Paris. And that's 220,000 agents, brokers, and support personnel between those three companies and the business this case brought in, um, handled that. And the funny thing is, it was a silly comic book. And at the time I didn't have the book, I just explained it, and I drew little pictures and we spent about 20 minutes on it, and we went through the whole thing. But long and the short of it was I earned a six-figure commission from that one case alone, which is more than most financial professionals make in a year. So um, not to toot my own horn, it's just the power of storytelling. So when you mentioned that you like Marvel, I have to confess I absolutely love Marvel. Um, and I love DC Comics. I grew up with the adventures of Superman, and honestly, this is an homage to George Reeves and the TV show. I've got a George Reeves autograph in my office. Oh my god. But um, you know, the whole thing is based on that. But you know, further than that, we add some Marvel elements. So I've got a little bit of the Hulk coming in here and um some different things. But the cool thing about it is um I used to draw very well when I was a youngster. So people all through high school, college, and all that would contract with me and say, I need this drawn. And since I was a kid, people would pay me to draw for them. Uh, had a car accident, broke my neck, had another one, broke my back. Now my hands don't work as well as they should. So what do you do? You you contract with the experts. So I've got a host of professional illustrators who work for Marvel Comics, who freelance for DC Comics. And because I live right next door to Disney World, I meet Disney artists constantly. Almost every time I walk out of the house, I'll bump into one. Uh, but the cool thing is I don't have to be able to draw anymore. I'll just contract it out depending on what we need to do. We'll get either Marvel DC Comics or a Disney artist on the job, and they do spectacular work. And the cool thing is, um, we did this comic for insurance people that we license out to them. And it's not complex estate cases, but it's more basic life and annuity cases that any entry-level even insurance agent can use. And I've seen agents come in and use that and triple or quadruple their insurance production in their first year alone. So it's just amazing. And the nice thing about storytelling, it works everywhere. I can do it for mortgage people, I can do the same thing for lawyers, for doctors. Um, we've got a ton of things we're working on. And it doesn't have to be insurance man, it could be insurance woman. That doesn't matter. But there's almost no company out there that works in sales that we can't put some kind of persuasive comic together for. And it influences customers like crazy. Because if people can understand, they'll buy. And it's the old adage, a confused mind always says no. And I saw that firsthand with all these great, fantastic companies and all these high-level, high-end, you know, attorneys, accountants, whatever, they couldn't get the job done. But if you make it tell a story, make it so people understand, they're with you 100%. So we help people understand to make it easier for professionals to sell what they need to sell. Because at the end of the day, if they're doing the right thing for clients, it helps the client more than it helps the salesperson.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Well, and I want to add to this yeah, thank you. A servant heart does exactly what you did. Yeah, you made six figures because you brought value. But what you did is you served that couple by when he pounded it, you you you nailed it. Right. You changed their life, their trajectory of their eight-year-old life to make it better. That's what a servant does. Abundance is good. You you can get abundance if you're serving, and of course, what you won't get is that you take care of your abundance properly. You know, you do the right things with it. So I I love that you said that. I don't know if you want to tell the story, but you told me when I first met you, the story in Chicago, when you went to that restaurant. I don't know if you're allowed to say it, but it really told me the story about uh the guy, the mob boss you met. And I don't know if you can because when I want to tell this story, audience, I want you to listen. It's a great story from a story aspect, but I want people to understand you can be a servant by saying no.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Yes, you can. Yeah, you absolutely can.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

You can tell that story. I think it's a great story.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Yeah, and you threw me for a second because I'm thinking I've been to Chicago a lot and I've got a million Chicago stories. I'm thinking, what did I do in Chicago? It was actually in Detroit where I'm from.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

So okay. Sorry. I love you for clarifying it. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Yep, no problem at all. But yeah, it's funny because my grandfather, um, while he was alive, used to be in the trucking business, and he's got the greatest stories, but he more than anything else had connections just because he worked with both sides, the labor side, the management side, whether um, you know, auto disputes or whatever it is. But his company used to haul steel, and my brother used to work for him, my uncle used to drive for him, my other uncle used to work in the office, but um, they used to haul steel for the big three automakers, Ford General Motors, and Chrysler. And as I came up through the um financial services business, I was with an advanced markets agency at John Hancock in Southfield, Michigan. And the majority of my clients were executives from Ford General Motors and Chrysler. So that's you know, automotive is kind of where I come from. Um, but the long and the short of it is he calls me up one day and says, I have a lead for you, and I don't know if you want to take it or not. And I said, Have you ever known me to turn down a good lead? He says, Well, this one you're gonna need to think about. Um, I've got someone who wants you to handle a major pension, and it's probably gonna be worth three or four million dollars a year to you, but I'm not gonna say it's not without risk. So, you know, I said, you know, let me talk to you about it. And um come to find out, he said my grandfather um has set up a meeting for me to meet with um Mr. Vince Mealy, who um at the time in the early 90s was the mob boss for the city of Detroit. For I can't remember which family, I've got it in my notes, but um, we're gonna make a film about it, and I'm casting some people to play me now, and I'm gonna play him because at the time he was probably in his 70s and I was 25 years old. So I need somebody else to play me, and I'll I'll play the elder gentleman. But um funny thing is, it was exactly like watching a scene from The Godfather. So I drive to this restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, um, called Andiamo's, and it's a big, giant Italian restaurant right on Michigan Avenue, right on the main strip in Dearborn, uh, you know, where Ford headquarters are and all of that. And um, I drive in and I don't know if it was a Tuesday afternoon or what it was, but it was right in the middle of the business day, lunch hour, and this is one of the most popular restaurants in Detroit. So I'm thinking, did I get the day wrong? Are they shut down for remodeling? There is no one in this parking lot. This is an empty parking lot. Did I get my days wrong? What's going on? So long and the short of it, I park my car, I go inside, and um, I'm met at the door with I don't know what they're called, capos or you know, guards or whatever it is, but I open the door, I immediately get frisk. I go through the whole thing, and and again, it's just like a scene from The Godfather. And, you know, how are you doing, Mr. Smith? Follow me. And I'm looking around, there's nobody in the restaurant, it's closed, and I'm thinking, this is a super busy, popular restaurant. Why is it closed? And um, I walk through this empty restaurant, I go to the back of the restaurant, and all of a sudden I feel like I'm Al Pacino or something. But um, I go in there, and this gentleman's sitting down having a salad, and he and he gets up to shake my hand and greet me. And I sit down, they say whatever you like, and I order. I can't remember what it was, but we get to talking, and he's talking about my grandfather and um the business that they had done over the years, not specific or anything because it was none of my business, but hey, I've known him for a long time. And um, you know, do you know this guy, that guy? And I'm thinking, yeah, I know Jimmy Hoffa, yeah, I know this guy, yeah, I know that guy. Of course I do. So we're talking, and the long and the short of it, we finish up a quick lunch, and he says, I'm just gonna ask you one time. And I said, Absolutely, what is it? And he's asked me, Would you like to manage the Teamsters pension? And I said, I would absolutely love to manage the Teamster's pension. Who wouldn't want a high-profile client like you guys? Of course, I want to do that. And we're going through the whole thing, and then the strangest thing happens. We stand up to shake hands and seal the deal. And just like in the movies, he pulls me in. And it was one of the most amazing things I've ever had happen. And he looks me in the eye and he says, I gotta tell you one thing, though. And I said, Well, what's that? And he said, Well, the Teamsters don't like to lose. And I'm thinking, Well, of course. Not. I don't like to lose either. And when he says that, all of a sudden I have this image in my mind like I'm walking down the street one night, and maybe I've lost a few bucks for them, and a couple of guys are chasing me down an alley. And I'm and then he said, Did you hear what I said? And I said, Yes, sir, I heard exactly what you said. And he pulls me in again closer. And he says, I don't like to repeat myself, but the Teamsters do not like to lose. So now all of a sudden the message is coming in a little louder and clearer, even though he's taking it down and he's whispering because we're almost nose to nose at this point. And now I'm thinking in the back of my head, I see my brand new wife, my new bride, walking down the street at night, and I see a couple of guys following her. And I'm thinking, wow, that's not good at all. And just like in the movies, he pulls me in even closer, where now we can smell what each other had for lunch. That's how close we are. And he says, Do you understand when I'm telling you we don't like to lose? And at that moment, I had this flash forward, I guess, in my mind, and I could envision the same hoods in my mind. Maybe it was the same guys in the restaurant that welcomed me in. I don't know. But um I had a brand new baby at the time, brand new, and she's in her crib. And I can see guys like Jimmy in the window to try to get in and snatch her out of the crib. And I said, you know what, sir, you're right. I know you don't like to lose. I don't like to lose. I don't expect I would ever lose you a dime. However, I'm not willing to take that chance because I read you loud and clear. But what I would like to do is refer you to some other gentlemen I know who are top-notch brokers. They'll handle it for you, they'll be glad to do it. And he said, No, thank you. Um, it's either you or I'll find somebody else. But I don't want any referrals. And this meeting ends here, and this meeting never happened. And yes, sir, and very nice to meet you, and walked out the door and never saw the man again. Um, so it was one of those where was I willing to take the chance just for myself? 100%, absolutely. For my wife, I'll be honest, maybe I wasn't supposed to or I shouldn't have, or maybe people don't care for that, but I was thinking about it. But when it came time to my child, there was no way I would take even a 100th of a percent chance that anything could happen to her. So I turned down what would have been the biggest deal of my life, you know, at that point for certain. Um so I didn't take it. So you can say no, and there's nothing wrong with it, but um even terrifying people will respect you if you say no. So don't ever be afraid to say no is the only advice I can give out of that story.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Well, and Rob, I think you said that because that's what I was thinking when I first heard the story. That he wasn't like, you know, didn't have this meaning. I thank you and move on, I'll take care of it myself. If a mob boss you can say no to and you're still living today, yeah and say no to an everyday person, or they say no to you, it's not gonna affect your life. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

It's not gonna affect you, or you know, what I would say too is there are a lot of times where you might do business with somebody you don't care for, or you know down the road you're gonna regret it, or they're just a pain in the client, you can tell right from the get-go. Don't put yourself through it. You can say no to them, you can say no to anyone. And the funny thing is, you know, you make a decision like that, and you always wonder, did I make the right decision? Because it's life-changing either way. Um, did I do the right thing? And then I did some more research on him after the fact. And this is the early 90s, so there's no internet, there's no Google, there's none of that. But I did some research, I went down to the newspaper, talked to them, and I pulled up some old clippings, and uh, he was one of the people suspected, I'll say suspected, most respectfully, um, in the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance, and some other fellas um who I forget their names, but um, he wasn't a man to be trifled with, so we'll just leave it at that. And I feel like even to this day, I made the right call, but um, it's one of those you look back and you say, you know, who knows if I did the right thing or not.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

But I feel like yeah, and the crazy thing, three to four million a year, you passed on, and guess what? You're still here and you're successful. Yeah, absolutely. You're doing great. Let's have some fun. I want to have some fun with you, Robert. So we'll go back to a restaurant. It's funny, I just told the story that so you're walking into a restaurant, it's a fun restaurant, it's a good restaurant, and there's four seats. You're sitting in one seat, the other three seats are dead or alive, people you want to invite. Why would you invite them? But the most important thing, what would you order for food?

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Oh man. I'll settle for just one, but I would love to have a beer and a hot dog with Babe Ruth. Or are you kidding me? That would just be the coolest thing in history. I mean, I'm an old ball player, but just to talk to him, and it's not just the baseball, but you know, financially, the guy was a legend, still is. But you know, he was asked one time, and I forget what the exact dollar amount was, but you know, they said, You realize you make more money than the president, and he laughed it off and said, Well, I had a better year than he had. So, you know, a guy like that would be pretty cool to sit down with, I think. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Who would be the other two took a shot at?

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Uh, take a shot at um, it's kind of silly, but ever since I was a kid, I always thought it would be cool to uh, you know, have him in with Paul McCartney just because he's a guy who made probably more money, well, more money than any of the Beatles for certain, but more money at any given time than most other musicians alive. And I'm sure he's been pastor. So I heard recently he's the first one to a billion or something before Taylor Swift. I don't know, but um that's just on the creative side, somebody who could be so creative, but at the same time be such a good business person, that's a blend that's hard to find. And I actually, you know, I mentioned the fact that I broke my neck and back in a couple of car accidents that weren't my fault. I got rear-ended a couple of times uh at high speeds. Um, but it's amazing because when I thought I wasn't gonna be able to walk ever again, and I spent about six months walking with two braces where I really had a difficult time walking. And I was going into surgeries, I had I think 14 of them, and I was told you're never gonna walk again, so you need to um face that and figure out what you're gonna do with the rest of your life. So I immediately took two screenwriting courses, degree programs, one at UCLA outwest, one online here at Full Sale in Orlando, and um completed them simultaneously and finished at the top of my class with both, not because I wanted to be number one, but just because I thought if I've got to do a new career shift, I better become good at it. So that was what I did. And thankfully, I'm back walking now, everything's good. But now I've got something a little bit unique. We're like Paul, I've got the creative side we can do, but also the business side, and mostly on the creative side, like with the comic books, we're focusing on how we can help other business owners make more money, how people how their salespeople can make more sales, how they might go from a million-dollar company to a $10 million company in a short period of time. I I love it. Most important for me is what food would you order? Oh, with McCartney, he's a vegan, and I think I might order a big fat steak just to see if he'd still sit with me or if he'd get up and walk away. I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Oh, that's great. Babe Ruth would eat a steak too. And by the way, if Babe Ruth would need multiple beers, it wouldn't be one, as we know about Babe.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

Yeah, I'd I'd give it my best shot. I don't think I could keep up with the man, but I'd give it a try. Um then the third person that's a very good question. Um, probably Thomas Edison, because he's the most prolific inventor I can think of. And uh, you know, I'm from Metro, Detroit. When my kids were small, we took them to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, and it was just fantastic to see what those two men did separately and combined because they were lifelong friends, or at least in their older ages. Um, you know, people like that. And that was one of the things I wrote about in our most recent book is stand on the shoulders of giants. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, you don't have to, you know, invent the assembly line, but learn from Henry Ford, learn from Thomas Edison, learn from Benjamin Franklin or anybody. Um, the everything's laid out. We know what works, we've seen what works. So if you're doing advertising like I read David Ogilvy, just because everything the man did seemed to work, and if it didn't, he would test it until he found something that would work. So um, I just look at what other people did and just you know, don't try to imitate it exactly, but how can I adapt what they did to my situation? Um, and it worked well with the big three automakers in Detroit, and and it helped me get to number one with several Fortune 100 companies, several Fortune 500 companies. And I tell everybody else, if it'll work for some guy from Detroit, it'll work for you because most people had a lot more advantages than I had, you know, coming up and you know, health-wise or whatever. So if I can do it, you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

That's great. What a great table, too. Um, how can people find the book?

SPEAKER_02 31:03

On Amazon, Influence and Action, it's actually a series we created because I started with just one book. I did some work with um Robert Cialdini. We partnered with him. He wrote the book, Influence, uh, the psychology of persuasion back in 1984. I think he sold over five million copies of that alone. Plus, his other books, I think, did another three million copies. Um, and he's helped my practice. Well, I've met him recently, but 20 years ago, before I even knew him, you know, I'd already been living a lot of the seven principles that he's got and just following, you know, the people I talked about before, some of the founding fathers and great inventors and so forth. But I'd always been in the top 1% worldwide in financial services, but never the very top. So I ran across his book that outlines the seven principles of influence. And within six months, I was number one with three Fortune 500 companies and killing it with a bunch of others. Um, so I have to credit him for a lot of that. So our influence in action series started as one book that talks about his seven specific strategies, and it's available on Amazon. Um, we're gonna launch it July 31st. It's in pre-sales now. Um, Apple Books, it's gonna be Barnes and Noble. So anywhere you buy books online, you can find it. It'll be digital version. Um, you can do Kindle, you can do anything else, paperback, hardcover, all of that. But um, you know, Amazon is where everybody normally goes, it's right there. Um, and it hit so well. We had so many co-authors come into that that you know, some mothers came in and said, How do we join up? So now we put out a second book, and now we're already on our fourth book in the series. And I just started this back in February. So we're we're so if anyone out there is an influencer, if you influence clients, if you influence through podcasts, talk to me and you know, we'll put you in one of the books. It's probably one of the better things you can do for authority-based marketing. Um, and if I can sell you know six-figure commissions with comic books and not from comic book sales, but product and service sales, you know, people can do it with books. And we did a book with a publisher out of London back in 2018 called Sales Genius Number One, which is around here somewhere. But um, that book, it's funny, we released it the exact same time that the Wolf of Wall Street released his book, Straight Line Selling Method. And I've got screenshots from Amazon in the UK and Australia, here in the States and Canada, where we're number one everywhere, and he's number two. And the funny thing about him, and I've got nothing against him, great movie. I'd like to have Leo DiCaprio play me in a movie. That's never gonna happen. But um in financial services, most of our clients are financial services agencies, so boutique investment firms or insurance firms, what have you. And a lot of times we'll say, you know, who are you looking at besides our firm for consulting? And the answer almost always comes back, well, we're talking to Belfort. We like his straight line selling method. So I ask these businesses the same question every time. You know, do you want to spend 10 times the money to work with that firm for second best, or do you want to just work with us and be number one in your industry and be number one with whatever you do? And they're like, Well, how do you do that? So I sent them the screenshots, and here's us, and here's the wolf standing like this at number two, and our books at number one. So, you know, I'm not saying that to knock him at all. It's just the point of the matter is I had eight financial services agencies last year that that was the question about who were they going to do business with. And eight out of eight of those companies did business with us, and it was that just authority piece of having the book. He's got a book, but ours came in ahead of his. And then when they Google search us, you know, he comes up at the top because his name's a little more unique and he's obviously got the movie behind him. But when we come up ahead of Robert Smith, that's usually, you know, from the cure, that's more than enough for people to say, okay, we'll talk to you.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Open stores.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Yeah. So I know you mentioned before, real quick, how can people get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Yeah, it's um smithprofits.com. We've got a contact form. We do a 20-minute consultation for anyone, doesn't cost a dime. So smithprofits.com, just go to the contact page, our calendar is right there. You'll see a lot of the things that we do on there. Um, a lot of people we work with, um, Dr. Chaldini, Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank, you name it. There's a lot of people we work with. Forbes Riley does a lot of work with us. Um, but yeah, we can help you get into a book. We can help you do a book of your own. Whatever you need to do to get in front of people, to rank at the top of Google search, whatever you need, just let us know. And if we can't do it for you, we'll find somebody who can do it for you.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

There's the servant's heart right there, audience. Hey Robert, thank you for being on. This has been incredible. Great stories, which I'm so glad you shared with our audience. And audience, don't forget about my TV show, Together We Serve every Friday at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern. And as always, me and Robert, thank you so much for watching or listening to this podcast. And we'll see you on the next episode of Doing Business with a Server Tart. See you soon.