Service Based Business Society Podcast

SEASON1
EPISODE 20
TITLE:Let's Talk PR: Not just for big businesses

Tiffany:
Hello and welcome to the service based business society podcast. I'm your host, Tiffany. Our weekly episodes, we will dig into everything you need to know about scaling your service based business without losing sleep. With my experience in creating over seven figures per month, and a passion for marketing, finance and automation, this show will provide tangible tips and techniques for scaling your business.

Let's get started. Welcome back. Today we're going to be talking to Sabrina Childress. She's an entrepreneur, a best selling author, a philanthropist and a business strategist. Over the years her client list has included many well known musicians, actors, actresses, political figures, medical innovators, not for profit. She is a PR expert, her business Childress enterprises, his legend features in the Washington Post, thrive magazine, ABC, FOX, CBS, the list goes on. She says no matter how good you are at anything, a publicist makes you better. I think so many business owners don't realize that this is a component of the marketing strategy, that a good publicist can really level up your marketing game. And it's almost something that feels like, Oh, it's a big business thing. But realistically, getting people to know about your business, talk about your business. These are the things that help you get to become a big business.

So let's welcome Sabrina and let's dive in. Hi, how are you?
Good, good. I'm so glad to have you here. And can't wait to discuss all of these exciting pieces with you.

Sabrina:
I'm excited as well. I've been looking forward to it all day. Awesome.

Tiffany:
Excellent. Okay, so why don't you give our audience a little bit of background about who you are and how you got here?

Sabrina:
Well, my name is Sabrina Childress of Sabrina children's enterprises, and I am a serial entrepreneur, who lives her life off of her bucket list. I'm very unconventional to most people. So currently, I've had a career in public relations for about 20 years now. And in doing so, it allows me the freedom to have others you know, explore other positions, other careers, things like that. So I'm also a flight attendant and Executive Director, executive director of a domestic violence organization and on boards and, you know, co owns a clothing company that actually we use for charitable charitable causes. So I just yeah, that's, that's me in a nutshell. I'm a paradigm shift.

Tiffany:
Yes. So serial entrepreneurs definitely, definitely kind of captures that. So when did that kind of what if you if you think back when did your first kind of entrepreneur, you know, what, what was that? How old is it? Were you? When did you have that first kind of entrepreneurial experience?

Sabrina:
I honestly can say I was nine years old. If you go and I was watching a commercial, you know, you know, Saturday morning cartoons, right? That stuff is on and the commercials are on. And there was I don't know if you know, the Empire commercial, you know, nine a day to 300 Yes. Okay. You can't say it without saying it. I asked my mother, I asked my mother, why do people you know, why? Why did they advertise? And she said, because they need to make more money. And from that point forward, every commercial I saw, I was like, oh my god, they must really need to make money because they're ever. And I was like, I want to make commercials because I want to, I want to make sure people make money because they need to do that. And that was just it was on from there.

Tiffany:
It must be good marketing, if you can still remember it, you know, this much longer. That's, you know, that person did a good job. That marketing expert. That's awesome. Okay. Yeah, I feel like the entrepreneurs always, you know, there's like this moment where there's a shift or it's, it's, you understand something clicks, that kind of aha moment of, you know, entrepreneurship and, and, and kind of that transformation in your life. You talked about doing PR, in addition to a number of different things. And so what types of businesses or people are you doing PR for now?

Sabrina:
Ah, so my latest list of clientele was actually the voice of the Oscars this year, Mr. Norah McDuffie. So that voice you hear that announces all of the categories and the awards and the commercial breaks and all that fun stuff, was one of my clients and I also have Dr. Heidi and Nicole Green, who is the one who created the cure for cancer, literally. So right now it's in the trial phase. So there's a little laser called Lanning technology and she's an amazing Google Dr. Green. And then I have Dr. Brianna Gaynor, who is a clinical psychologist, but she's also a keynote speaker and she does dynamic work with family and with families. Sorry. And in business and yeah, so I'm pretty much working with people and Lenasia Tyson. Oh my gosh, I can't forget lenasia is number seven on the gospel charts? Actually, yeah. So, um, so she just released a new song and an album. So yeah, I worked, I worked the whole gamut of industry and PR, you know,

Tiffany:
It's interesting, because certain parts of business really can be, you know, all these different pieces. And so that's the same within our business management agency. People always say, you know, what is your niche? Or as the Americans say, what is your niche? I always laugh. And so and I say, Well, we do service based businesses, and I've always focused on service based businesses. And so that's not enough. You need to you need to niche down you need to it needs to be more focused, you know, are you serving plumbing companies? Are you serving doctors, and I like a little bit of everything.

So I have always kind of pushed back on that concept, because realistically, there are certain pieces that whether it's a doctor, or whether it's a keynote speaker or whatever, you know, you know, your piece. And, and, you know, I always I always joke, you know, whatever the people do, when they get there the service doesn't really make a difference to me, I ultimately, I'm looking at the operations and efficiency and whatnot of the business overall. So you know, I'm not going to be here to tell anybody how to do their, their service or their trade when they get there. So what they do doesn't really matter.

SAbrina:
Absolutely. I'm like, people don't, there's, there's like this thought process, like you just said, niche down niche down. And I know, that's like the trend. But let me be real clear. 20 years worth of experience can let you know, if you enjoy it, or there's something you're really good at, you know, I mean, you're just like, You know what, yeah, let's, let's do it. Let's do it. Why not? I mean, because like you just said, it's the same processes that I'm gonna go through with each and you know, with each individual client, no matter what industry it shrinks. So, right, why not?

Tiffany:
Love that? Yeah, no, I totally agree. And there are, it's, it's definitely I often wonder, you know, it's the same thing, and not to talk about politics, but it's the same times with the election, it's kind of the loudest voice is, it feels like it must be the only you know, when there's a mainstream opinion, like, niching down or whatever. And it's like, Well, everybody's talking about it. And it's like, what is? Is everyone talking about it? Or is it just like, the loudest voices that you're hearing at that time? And so sometimes, it's kind of pushing back against what, you know, very successful people are doing and still following and being true to yourself?

Sabrina:
Absolutely. Absolutely. At some point, I always tell people, like, especially in politics, they always wait to, you know, it's kind of the 11th hour, right? And then everybody just says, louder voice starts to scream, right? Because they want to drown out your thoughts and you know, put their thoughts on top of yours so yes, tricks of the trade?

Tiffany:
Absolutely. So talk to me a little bit about PR in the business, you know, from a service based business side. And, you know, what kinds of things should people be thinking about when they're thinking about PR? No, I think PR, I think, you know, big like PR is like, oh, big and but I don't I think that you know, that's that's the wrong probably way of thinking and that it's, it's realistically, every business needs to be thinking and considering this direction

Sabrina:
They do PR because a lot of people confuse PR with marketing. They confuse it with branding. And PR is neither of those things. Those are components that assist, right, like everything kind of works in conjunction, however, PR specifically is all about the, the awareness portion of a brand. And so if nobody knows that you have a product or that you created that great invention, right? Then, you know, that's where PR steps in and says, Okay, let's get some attention and some eyes on this, you know, to let the world know what you've got going on and why it's important. And most importantly, what needs does it solve?

I do come across many smaller businesses that I love to help. Yet their idea of PR is like, Oh, well, you know, we have a new ice cream flavor, you know, coming out this weekend, you know, next week, it'll be different. So can we get that in the news? And you're like, Okay, let's think about that. Isn't it? Yes, maybe locally, we can pitch that but like, is that something that Forbes needs to hear about? Not really right. So you've got to definitely make sure you're scaling when you're working with your PR rep and being realistic about, you know, what's plausible and what's not because again, everybody wants to get on Oprah's you know, lists and that type of thing realistically doesn't happen. Everybody you know, does Joe Schmo just end up like that, no, you know, shooting on lucky stars, but PR is important for every company, even if it's just a press release about you know, your quarterly earnings. Oh my gosh, I don't know if I can say it. But there's this young lady in Chicago where I was like, Oh, she I haven't met her, I actually literally am planning to meet her this week. She doesn't even know.

So surprise. But she has. But equa cupcakes in Chicago, okay, she was she was, it was a feel good story for Chicago. But when I tell you, it's a nation just like her being on local television, because she was, you know, obviously pandemic stuff, you know, you open up a cupcake shop, I mean, you know, people aren't really paying five bucks for a cupcake anymore, you know, and the business is slow. And so she appeared on Morning News order and started flooding in, and she put up a post about how now she's in the green. And she had been in the red for a couple of months, even to the point where, you know, she's so much in the green, and she had to buy new equipment, and she's gonna expand just in one week, to shipping nationwide. And I was like, Girl, we need to talk. Because that type of thing is right there. So I use a cupcake example, that cupcake example is a great cupcake example, right? It's like, that's a nationwide story that needs to be pulled. And if you don't have somebody helping you tell their story, you know, that narrative can either get smushed very quickly, you know, or die out fairly quickly, or be spun in a direction, you don't want it to spin, I am definitely gonna go visit her and try her products. And, you know, just kind of talk to her, free of charge, right about what else she can do to, you know, to help her business. But again, that's an example of how PR worked for a small company that, you know, didn't know whether they were going to survive next week.

Tiffany:
So how does a business owner decide what are good opportunities, and what are bad opportunities. And so you know, you get up, we've all seen an increase in cold email, and cold DMS and all these kinds of things. And everybody's got some kind of opportunity to, you know, represent their brand or be in their article, or these types of things. And a lot of them are, you know, paid opportunities. And so, how does a business owner who's getting all of these, you know, messages and things? How can they decide what is a good opportunity for their business, or what things they should just be avoiding altogether?

Sabrina:
Uh, first, I always advise a business to, number one, pay very close attention to the emails that you're receiving, right? So you know, a lot of them nine times, I'd say, and I hate to say, our spam, and when I say spam, that doesn't mean like, you know, it's the kitschy guy behind the computer, you know, going Ha ha, ha, right? You know, sometimes it really is, you know, just just a little darling up the street who just started a business, and they're promising a lot that they cannot deliver, right, and you want to believe that it's just gonna be this amazing thing. So you know,

I know it sounds lame to say, but do your research, right? And I mean, anybody can build a website, anybody could buy followers, right? And say, I got, you know, a million followers, and that type of thing, run it by two, three other people, whether it be in your business, or somebody who's very computer savvy, because again, never click on links, by the way, I always point to, when somebody sends me a link, always point to it with my mouse, and it'll show you at the bottom of your screen where it's going to go. And typically not again, nine times out of 10, you can tell that it's probably something spammy.

But in deciding on moving forward with the paid opportunity that you're going to pay somebody to do, honestly, make sure that you have a clear return on investment, make sure you have a clear budget laid out. Because again, it's everybody there. I don't know if you remember, there was, you know, when with Facebook, and all this, Instagram and whatnot, and it was all about, oh, Facebook ads and Instagram ads and doing that and doing that, yes, Facebook gets rich, it gets rich, right? And you don't see any return on investment, what's happening, right? You're like, oh, well, it was only $20 And then you did another 20 And no 20 because they kept telling you to keep going. The problem is, you don't have a couple of things happening right? You don't you you either aren't understand your audience, right? You aren't selecting the right demographics, but there's something going on there and you need to know what that is and have a clear understanding before you process that payment. But if a person can't tell you that then you need to not work with them.

TiFFANY:
Right? Okay. Yes. So focusing on the results and the tangible you know, return on investment and not just it's good for business it's good to get my name out there brand awareness is great, or is that to a point still brand awareness offer value or is that what you're referring to?

No to say you know, like, oh, this you know, I'm going to be in this article and you know, it's gonna might get my name out there and it's good for good for branding those types of things is that's that's a lot of you know, people's day was it's not too much money and maybe it's a good maybe it's good to just get my name out there.

Sabrina:
You know, is that a good train of thought
or that in my business is what we call a horrible train of thought. Because of public relations, we do earn media. What is earned media or media is I have a relationship. I built a relationship with these You know, with the journalists with the station with the outlet, whatever it is, and you know, I've pitched them and they're like, Hey, this is a really good story that we can not just, you know, not just for a five minute story right? We can see we get you know, taking this multiple ways, and it costs you nothing right except for your public relations. When you do paid media, and there's a spammy thing going on, actually on Facebook with it there. I don't know if you've seen it. This guy. He says, Oh, I get you on Fox in 24 hours for $97.

Tiffany:
Yes, I have.

Sabrina:
He cannot, okay. What it is, is the guy puts he has an affiliate page. And he creates like a, you know, kind of like an ad or an article or so we mentioned you whatever. Which is why the disclaimer, remember these people, which is why the disclaimer says don't contact Fox, if there's an error contact this other depiction that tells me right there it is not a box. Right? That's doing that. So yes, earned media is earned media will take you so much further because and I'll give you the example with the Oscars. Jinora was X. She's a voiceover actress who also had it and actress sorry, who also had a role on Grey's Anatomy, right. And so we rolled that into, you know, Hey, she's going to be the voice of the Oscars, and, and we had some smaller outlets pick it up at first, because then we already knew the bigger outlets were just going to pick it up and run with the story. So that initial earned media turned into double to triple the coverage because they took those smaller pieces of coverage and transferred and transferred them into larger, you know, media segments. So that's important if you want to, you know, so make sure you don't pay you're not nobody, unless it's an ad. But if it's not an ad, do not pay somebody to put your name in lights

Tiffany:
Oh, come on, sometimes. I feel you know, sometimes it's interesting. It's, you know, sometimes when it feels too good to be true, it is that, you know, the beyond Fox 24 hours $97 There's a few variations of that. And it's so popular on Instagram, as well, it's, you know, I've got this story running and you know, if you pay Yes, I'll include you and, and whatnot. So yeah, very interesting. And when we're looking at these different opportunities, you know, it's so and I don't even I don't notice it as much. But for a while there was every single person who had the same, you know, as seen on their website, and all of the, you know, someone's brand new and they've been seen everywhere. And, and it's Oh, I haven't noticed it as much. Do you think there's kind of a downtrend in just, you know, putting logos and whatnot on your website, and you're trying to use all of these pieces purely for credibility?

Sabrina:
Well, you know what, I'm, I don't think there's a downtrend, I think the people who actually receive that coverage should put it there and then link it, that's the important thing, you can link it to the original or the core story. So you know, it's an evidence base, right? It's not just, you know, I'm just slapping four logos up here and saying, This is what happened, right. And even if and, again, business tip here, if make sure you print when I say print like PDF, save or you know, actually print so you can scan it later I was I'm a paper type of group, the article because again, links could break that, you know, there's other things but once you do that, archive it right on your server, and then that way, you can always link it to you know, if the link breaks, you can always link it to the actual PDF. So you do have that material you know, to use for future use. Right. But I don't I don't think there's a downtrend in it. I think there's more of a scrubbing. fact checking type of Yes. thing happening, and I'm here for it. Yeah, for sure.

Tiffany:
For sure. Absolutely. It's, I was in a Facebook group the other day and someone said Does this mean that you work for all these businesses and someone someone laughed and commented and and made a it was a tech company who had like all of these, but they were very new and they had all of these, you know, we work for and it was an and someone said I don't really they're like brand new? So it was just kind of like Sue far, it was not necessarily very often.

Sabrina:
Yeah, you're like, Oh, so you've been around six months and you've been wearing out and and again, one out of a million probably like, you know, if a person is spouting it that way, it's probably not true.

Tiffany;
Probably not. Right. Right. It comes back to that if it's too good to be true. Yep. So absolutely. When would you suggest that someone starts working with a PR professional like yourself or someone similar who's going to help work with them on some of these other opportunities?

Sabrina:
And this is going to I don't want this to sound crass, but it's a fact. Um, so there's two things one, when you have a you know, an item or project again, that solves a specific A, you need to get that information out there and to when you have a budget of 2000 a month or more and The reason I say that is because most beginning publicists will charge about 1500. And to retain them, a lot of people don't realize there are some, you know, small businesses like, Oh, I can't kind of afford that, you know, I cannot just do like an hourly or you know, something that nature hourly ends up costing you more than the retainer. So it's best to say, okay, my budget is, you know, 6000 for the next three months, okay, great.

We can work with that, let's, let's do something with that. Or if you don't have that kind of budget, you can honestly say, hey, you know, can you not necessarily teach you how to do it? Because obviously, that's a, you know, college, you have to go through but, you know, like, you can say, hey, here's my product, can you write my press release? Can you release my press release? For me? Okay, fine. That's a, you know, a one off fee and that type of thing, right, that fee may be two $300. So it's better if you need to piecemeal it, do it that way, but work with a professional that has relationships, and any PR rep should be able to show you a portfolio, you know, they should be able to link you know, hey, this is these, like, as seen on right? I've got my clients this coverage, I've you know, I've been here, I've done this here, you know, not just here's my resume, but here are my references. Um, and I'm gonna be honest, too. In the PR world, we focus ourselves so much on our clients that we forget, we tend to forget to say, hey, client, can you leave me a recommendation? Because a lot of our businesses use word of mouth. So you know, you don't even think to say, even though like we're trying to do it with for our clients, we're not doing it for ourselves, because we're like, oh, oh, yeah, I should have asked for that, you know, but we do get it, obviously, you know, people are satisfied with your business. But yeah,

Tiffany:
I know how to automate that process for you. If you need that you let me know. That's my area of expertise. Oh, there you go. So when it comes to things like testimonials and whatnot, we've got Google reviews, there's some ongoing issues with Google reviews being removed. And the Google algorithm is a bit of a work in progress at the moment. You've got things like Facebook and Yelp and whatnot, originally, the text review on a website was sufficient. Noticing a lot more video testimonials. Now, how are you depending on the industry, I hear a lot of my clients specifically say that their clients don't necessarily want everyone to know that they're using them because it's either their secret, it's like their secret weapon, or they want to be able to just kind of pretend that they did it on their own. And so, you know, do you find that that's a little bit in the PR industry that you're kind of working behind the scenes and so it's sometimes that someone doesn't want to scream from the rooftops? Hey, I had a professional help me with this.

Sabrina:
Absolutely more and more like there, there wasn't time in life, right in PR life where people were like, yes, my agency is this person, or you know, my PR rep is this person. In the music industry or entertainment, honestly, entertainment standard to say my publicist is right, because, you know, of course, they always wanted to play. But in every other industry, especially small businesses, and not for profits, they really want you not to say anything they don't want. So what I do is, in addition to my NDA, or it's in my NDA, my non disclosure agreement with my clients that you know, I won't release your name, obviously, I won't, you know, take your, you know, any of your proprietary information, but I won't really show name without your permission, right. And, and, under any circumstances, for five years after the fifth year, then I can say, Okay, I worked with, you know, Suzy and that type of thing. I can say it, I can say it publicly, but out in every agreement, I have that in there, just because there are a lot of people who they they just don't I mean, I have a list of those people that I've worked with myself that yeah, you would never know that I was behind all of it. But it's kind of a double edged sword, though, in that respect. Because it's like, you kind of want to toot your horn, you're like, I was behind that project, or I was, you know, behind all this media coverage, or this, you know, this thing, and you can't you just can't.

Tiffany:
Yes, and I think you know, it definitely affects certain industries more than others, you know, no one's going to, no one's gonna say, Oh, I didn't take my car to the mechanic. But you know, I joke because I, you know, a few years ago, I went in and got some Botox in my forehead because I was looking a little stressed, a little tired. And so all of a sudden, I was like, Oh, my gosh, what, like, one day I was wrinkle free. And the next day, I was like, what happened? Something happened overnight. And so I went in, and on the way out, they were asking for Google reviews. And in exchange for the Google review, they were going to give you a $50 MasterCard, like Visa prepaid, oh, dollar, okay, so leave that review, which I it's actually illegal. But anyway, you know, according goals are not allowed to you're not allowed to incentivize people leaving your reviews at all, but so here they are, and I thought $50 I mean, it really paid for like a whole part of the service and I was like, okay, but then I thought but then my name is gonna say My Botox experience was awesome. Yes, I want that. And so now I can joke about it now. But in that moment when I was really feeling insecure about and like rushing off to get, you know, my forearm, I think and I don't really want to do that. If you keep your $50

Sabrina:
In, you know what? That is great oh my god, I love it. It's a great example, I'm sorry.

Tiffany:
But, you know, if you weren't the mechanic, and they said, hey, you know, Can you leave us a review? He would think, Oh, sure. Why not? Right. Like, it's it's, it really is kind of that different clientele and knowing your audience, and I think, you know, the mechanic would not offer $50, because I'm sure people would be well, you know, if they just asked, and you had a good experience, you think, sure, why not? Everybody's mechanic. It's not a big deal.

But it's those other areas where they're still, you know, little, little less. Yeah, public, you know, in your you said, you've been 20 years, over 20 years, yes. 20 years, changes? What kind of changes have you seen in the last couple of years that you think are really going to continue on in the next five years? Where what kind of growth and changes in the PR industry are you going to are you predicting

Sabrina:
print media is going by the wayside, and I feel like it will return but it's gonna take a hiatus. And that's just my, you know, prediction, it's sad to see. Because, yes, we live in a digital age, but there's nothing like paper, you know what I mean? Like, so, there's nothing like that that trend of saying, you know, 4050 years later, like grandpa was in a magazine, you know, that type of thing. So that's one thing. And then a changes, every, I should say, every, I don't want to quantify it that way. I will say this, or I'll put it this way. Um, there are a lot of people who don't realize that, yes, the college portion right there, or the higher education portion of being a publicist, or in public relations just in general is very important. What's equally important is the experience. So those internships and you know, even as an adult, I don't care if you're, you know, you're switching over into the field, find someone to intern with, because, you know, I like say, they gave you a college education for free, right? Because what you learned in that book is not necessarily what's happening in the real world. And, you know, and again, all those those tricks and tips and stuff like that, that really, you know, set you apart, you're not going to learn in a classroom, half the things we learned in classroom that we do outside, they're like, that's unethical. It's not now but then you're gonna be like, Well, you're in the classroom, because the world keeps changing, right? So they're like, oh, and now you're like, Wait, I thought we couldn't do that thing. And now they're, like, do that thing. You know, those are two changes that are just like they're kind of they're important to recognize because you have to and I don't like this word pivot, but this is the best way to describe it. We have to kind of heavy it was overused during this entire pitch.

Tiffany:
Oh, my wasn't it though. Oh, everybody was pivoting. Yes, it's the heart of the pandemic. Yeah,

Sabrina:
so I just think at this point you know, you have to make that kind of transition or be able to integrate those you know those new things into you know, your your plan it just gets more challenging because I know how to use social media I have I manage other people's social media I don't want to manage my own because I manage so many other people's and that's horrible to say because I run so horrible to say but that as the guy truth You know, it's like the the fitness you know, instructor that works out all day and then they come home they're like, I don't want to work out. I did that all right,

Tiffany;
totally. 100% and I think everybody has their different pieces that they love and then there's other pieces that they don't let I mean, I am not. Instagram is like a necessary evil to me. You have to be there in order, you know, just because you're supposed to be there but realistically, if I never turned like open Instagram ever again, I would be fine with it.

Sabrina;
Yeah, I'm like, Oh no, I'm good. I'm getting it like tickets. I feel like it does your industry or your company a disservice when you have to talk your way into their hearts right? Because like let's say you're you know, I don't know your animal shelter. Are you really dancing with the dog to get people like that? I feel like it's kitschy. That's a real kitchen. I can live without it

Tiffany:
so popular right now though. I don't dance. I'm not a dancer. I wasn't a dancer when we were doing dances. Like I was the person who was like, oh, no, the dance is coming. So I didn't dance then and I don't dance now. But you know, I always just look at the Like the production value on some of these, like, you know, you're bluffing scrolling through tic TOCs. And you've got like eight nurses and they're like on some choreograph number. Yeah, I was just like, how long did it take you? To do that? How many takes I want behind the scenes, I want to know what it actually took to make this happen.

Sabrina:
Absolutely. Because people I mean, people are like, everybody's like, let's, let's jump on this trend. And let's do it. And then, you know, 42 weeks later, you're like, I give up, like, that's not gonna work out. It's not gonna work out. But yeah, you know, what it takes a lot of time and energy to accomplish all of that. And the people who get paid to do that are well worth it. They're worth their weight in salt, you know, are worth their weight in gold. And that's all.

Tiffany:
Agreed, I was like, a salt really expensive for your from

Sabrina:
the Himalayas? And you got let's go for the expense, right?

Tiffany:
Yeah, yeah. Yes, it's worth your weight in the pink salt. So if, if people were going to implement one tip from you that would, you know, they can implement today that would offer them great success tomorrow, what would that be,

Sabrina;
I would say, to build a personal or semi personal relationship with your clients in the service based business. So know who, you know, know, their birthdays, know, if they have an uncle in the hospital know, you know, if they have children, and what their ages are just little things that you can honestly gain this insight by just simply having a conversation. And what I mean by that, again, is not jump on the phone go, what's your favorite color? You know, who's your favorite one, you know, things like don't do that? Just you know, in general, when you do your client follow ups, you know, Hey, how's it going? Do you got any fun plans this weekend?

Those little things are going to teach you, you know, hey, oh, my client likes to canoe, okay, my client likes Sue, you know, XYZ, and then you can tailor things around, you know, interacting with that particular person based on their interest. And, you know, the reason is twofold, right? Like, yes, you get to know them and you do create a report. And then the you know, the bigger buy in really is that when it comes time for you to renew the contract for you to you know, ask for more money for you to do you know, whatever it is you need to do that giant thing you need to do with your client, they're more apt to say yes, or just say, you know, what I trust you do whatever you need to do, right? Because you built a rapport with them. Um, I, you know, I even with journalists, I, you know, I'll send lunch, I'm, I'm in Chicago, and I'll be like,

Hey, you're in LA, you know, when we were talking, and I already know that they love Panera. And I'm like, Hey, I just sent you lunch. I know, you're gonna be at your desk at three o'clock. That's it. And then like, Oh, my God, thank you. Just a simple gesture will go a very, very, very long way.

Tiffany:
I think that you are such a brilliant example. But it's knowing and listening, not not just listening for always just the business piece where the How am I going to fix your problem or your challenge? But that building that relationship the whole way through?

Sabrina;
Absolutely, absolutely. And I'm like, one of the things that I pride myself on is and I know, some people say, Oh, that's really old school, you know, we just send an email or you know, that type of thing. I tell anyone in the PR industry, pick up the phone, yes, you can send in your weekly email, or you can say your, but just pick up the phone, even if they don't answer just, you know, hi, it's Sabrina, I'm just checking in. You know, it's four o'clock on Friday, I'll be you know, I'll be on Monday at 10. If you need anything very simple, create a human connection. And there's an old saying, I think in law school, I believe are lawyers, you know, people in law school, the person asking the question is really the person leading the conversation. Never forget that if you're the person answering the questions, you're not leading that conversation, right? And so as the business owner as a service based business, because you need to find out certain pieces of information, you know, and you need to do it expediently most times, ask the right questions, it'll get you a long way

Tiffany:
For sure. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being here. It's been so great chatting with you about this piece that I think almost has a little bit of mystery behind it you know, it is behind the scenes a lot of the time and and so important that businesses of all sizes start thinking and introducing this concept into their business.

Sabrina:
Yes, thank you for having me. I'm like it's been a lot of fun. I'm you know, I'm dusting off the old shops No, I'm kidding. But I hope I hope any you know, any tip incident and things that are on you're not just this particular episode, but you know, on all your episodes really helped, you know, the entrepreneurs and the small business community because, again, we need all the help we can get.

Tifany:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And if people want to connect with you, where can they find you?

Sabrina:
You can visit my website at Sabrina childress.com Or you can find me on Instagram at author Sabrina children.

Tiffany:
Well, we are all out of time for today. If you guys have not joined the service based business society Facebook community, make sure you head on over to Facebook and we can continue the conversation. Be sure to also follow the show by going to any podcast app and searching surface based business society. Click subscribe, click the fifth star and leave us a written review. Have a great week and we will see you soon