We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carla Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Carla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

We often think that vacations mean sacrificing productive time. But the opposite is actually true. Sure, there’s the obvious of getting out of the office, actually getting sleep, and looking at the beach instead of the computer screen. But there’s more to it. Science shows us that a simple change of environment, especially a big change, wakes up part of our brain that turn off when we’re in the same repetitive routine and environment every day. We become more aware of the little things around us and they spark creativity and connections right in front of us that we’re normally blind to.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As an Innovation Architect, I help leaders break through their status quo thinking.

It’s really easy to get caught up in the “this is how we do it around here” thinking, especially when we’re overwhelmed or under deadline .But that’s a death trip for businesses.

If my background in marketing has taught me anything, it’s that the more we fight change, the greater the chance we’ll become a victim of it. We’re in a world now where the things we think are our safest bets have turned into our riskiest moves. And our comfort zone can quickly become our danger zone.

Through speaking, workshops and advisement, I teach leaders and their teams how to shift their thinking from closed and risk-adverse to open and seeing a world of possibilities. My work is all based on decades of working with top-performing leaders in all industries and companies of all sizes, plus nonprofit and government organizations, to get to the root of what makes them highly innovative thinkers and problem solvers.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

I grew up in the world of professional services, and the biggest lesson I learned was around relationships. Yes, social media and digital marketing can do a lot to spread our message at scale. But the biggest sources of new clients for me has been reaching out to someone who is a target audience member, and simply asking them questions about how my work resonates (or not) in their world. I’m VERY careful to make it clear that this is not a sale pitch in any way. If they prefer, I send them the questions ahead of time. I purely want to know what matters to them, what their world looks like, and what their greatest challenges are.

I learned along the way that the more I listen and the less I talk, especially about myself and what I do, the more valuable I can be to potential clients. Other than introducing who I am and how I use this information (i.e. blog posts, interviews, etc.) I don’t talk about myself at all. Because after having 5-8 of these conversations, with the next person I talk to, I can begin to share what people like them struggle with. This immediately makes them feel that they aren’t alone. And I’ve now become a trusted resource for them.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I have a very robust CRM that includes all sorts of details I’ve learned about clients over the years. Birthdays, anniversaries, kids’ names and where they go to college or live, their favorite foods, what their hobbies are, etc. I’ll send a note to wish them a happy birthday, or ask them how the first day of school went. What their plans are for summer break, or send a link to an article I think they’ll enjoy.

Everyone likes to be remembered. No one like to be sold. There’s nothing that tops a genuine interest in who people are as people. Does it take time? Absolutely. But significantly less time than a lot of other approaches to building new clientele.

People do business with people they know, like and trust. This is a great way for others to get to know you and how much you care about their business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.carlajohnson.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carlajohnson.co/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarlaJohnsonSpeaker/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlajohnson/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@carlajohnsonspeaker