How To Be a Multiplier

Episode 9: How To Be a Multiplier, with Jane Pfeiffer

How to be a multiplier? Niche down to grow your business and make an impact. Discover how to be a multiplier here.

How to be a multiplier? Jane challenges and subverts expectations—every single day.

Leading by example, Jane guides the Fieldtrip team to develop sound, strategic work imbued with curiosity and significance. A previous research marketing specialist working in television, Jane started our agency with one client, Ashley HomeStore. As she built marketing strategies for Ashley HomeStore she grew new accounts and staff along the way. In our second decade, she has rebranded the agency, ready to take on the next chapter with the same vigor and tenacity that has helped us grow to this point.

Jane is ferociously dedicated to ensuring everyone in and around the agency knows exactly where they’re headed and how they’ll get there. Jane says her biggest accomplishment is trusting her team on how to be a multiplier and building an agency bigger than anything she could have dreamed of.  But we know the truth of it, as she quotes Yoda —” Do or do not. There is no try.” Jane does.

What you will learn in this episode on how to be a multiplier:

• How Jane and her team at Fieldtrip niched down to grow their business and make a measurable impact in the world by implementing strategies
• What niching down looks like, how long it takes, and where to get started.
• How to use your core values and beliefs to identify your ideal audience and how to be a multiplier
• Why connecting with your audiences is more effective when you focus on impact.
• Why Jane believes that doing great work means doing great things in the world
• How to be a multiplier? What it means to be a “Mission Multiplier”?

Resources:

• Learn how to be a multiplier and start your journey today!
• Website: https://wearefieldtrip.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hellofieldtrip
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janepfeiffer/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewpfeiffer/
• Watch this video on how to be a multiplier while empowering your supporters

 

How To Be A Multiplier: Full Episode Transcript

 

How to be a multiplier? In today’s fast-paced world, mastering the art of leadership is essential for success.

 

Welcome to the Sell with Authority podcast. I am Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI by my team and I. We created this podcast specifically for you. So if you’re an agency owner, a business coach, a strategic consultant, and looking to grow a thriving, profitable business that can weather the constant change that seems to be our world’s reality, well, then you’re in the right place.

 

So, do you want proven strategies for attracting a steady stream of well-prepared, right-fit prospects into your sales pipeline? Yep. We’re going to cover that. Do you want to learn how to step away from the sea of competitors so you actually stand out on the ground? Yep. We’re going to cover that, too. Do you want to future-proof your business so you can navigate the next challenges that come your way?

 

Well, absolutely. We’ll help you get through there. Each episode of this podcast will contain valuable insights and tangible examples of best practices. Never a theory from thought leaders, experts, and owners who have done exactly what you’re working hard to do. So, I want you to think practical and tactical. Never any fluff. Each of our guests has built a position of authority and then monetized that position by claiming their ground, growing their audience, nurturing leads, and then converting sales while knowing it by being helpful.

 

So every time someone from their audience turned around there, they were given a helpful answer to an important question. So, the prospects never felt like they were prospects. I also promise you every strategy we discuss and every tool we recommend will be shared in full transparency in each episode so that you can plant your flag of sorrow, that you can claim your ground, and that you’re able to fill your sales pipeline with a steady stream of right fit clients because that is selling.

 

Visit the website of Jane to gain more understanding on how to be a multiplier

 

How To Be A Multiplier: Jane Pfeiffer’s Introduction

 

How to be a multiplier? What’s the thought? Okay, I’m excited for you to meet our very special guest expert today, Jane Pfeiffer. If you’re meeting Jane for the first time, she’s the founder and president of Field Trip, a branding web and advertising agency based in Louisville, Kentucky. Jane and I are going to talk through how she and her Field Trip team decided on where to niche down and what the process was like.

 

Like, was there a debate and why they felt it was important to go down that path, the path they chose, and how they took the niche even further to actually plant their flag of authority and then claim the ground that they wanted to own. Jane and I are also going to shine a bright light on several of the business issues and challenges.

 

Or maybe they’re better described as the realities that Jane’s audience faces each day, and then how their team smartly took that list and turned it into teaching moments and opportunities to be helpful. So why are Jane and I going to do that? Well, because our guess is by having this conversation in full transparency in front of you and by sharing a series of helpful examples, you’ll be able to take that framework and do the exact same thing for your audience and help them be better at their jobs every single day because that’s what thought leaders do.

 

So, without further ado, welcome to the Sell with Authority podcast, my friend, Jane. Hello, Stephen. Thank you so much for inviting me to the podcast. I’m looking forward to it. You are very welcome. Well, first off, thank you for saying yes. I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule. I know what kind of pressure you’re under right now, so I am grateful for your time.

 

Before we dive into what I’m sure is going to feel like a deluge of questions coming your way, take us behind the curtain and tell us a little bit more about your past and journey. Obviously, I gave our audience just a little bit of a snippet, so take us beyond the bio. Tell us more about your past, and then we’ll dive in.

 

Yeah, you know, there are so many chapters to the story and just so many coincidences. I’m not one of those people who knew from an early age that I wanted to own an agency or be a business owner. And so, you know, I’m fortunate enough to have landed in this position, and it’s greater than anything I could have ever dreamed.

 

But, you know, I have a great deal of doubt about whether I deserve to be here. And yet you have to look at the team that’s grown around me and the things that we’re doing, and my confidence, even 15 years is growing every day. If you’re, you know, an agency owner and Stephen, you probably faced this in your past.

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: Taking Control

You know, there is the cycle that is the business. You go up to the highs, and then there’s the crushing lows, and we just deal with the company that happens to fall in our lap. And sometimes, it’s fast and furious, and other times, it’s drawn out. So one of the things that I knew I had to have for myself, not just for the agency, was the ability to have work that constantly required learning that we were continually stretching our brains.

 

And that’s one of the biggest reasons I really thought the idea of focusing on only a particular segment because I was worried that we would lose that. But the need to, you know, have a greater sense of control of precisely who we needed to speak to, who we needed to market to, and and follow our own advice. We would never advise a client, yeah, just go out there and try and, you know, speak to everyone.

 

Somebody will fall in your pipeline. It’s just not a recipe for success. So, you know, those are the two big reasons is really, again, that illusion of control that we have on our best days. So trying to take more of that control, to have a steady stream of the right type of clients coming our way, and then finding work that was fulfilling.

 

Yes. In part for my need to constantly be learning how to be a multiplier, but also, you know, in a way that we can use advertising, which is a way of influencing others for something that was for good. You know, we’ve got experience in other areas and whether that’s, you know, selling sofas at a retail location or, you know, driving attendance at an event, there’s something much more fulfilling about having our efforts make the world a little better.

 

Okay. I love that you use the word effort, and I think that really illustrates some of the fighting, some of the tensions, some of the back-and-forth indecision. Maybe I’m going to say indecision necessarily concerning the Field Trip. But I think that we all do go through that at some point when we’re thinking about going more narrow.

 

Visit the website of Jane to gain more understanding on how to be a multiplier

 

How To Be A Multiplier: Finding A Niche to Focus On

 

So walking us through a little bit of the effort is such a powerful word through the fighting, but then also this need and desire to create this steady stream using your words, a steady stream. So did you feel like if we can fight through this or maybe like proactively address that, then we get like the other side of it is the steady stream?

 

Yes, I am seeing that more clearly now, though even then when we made the decision. So some of these reasons are actually coming to me as benefits and not necessarily what led to the decision. But there was a real battle, and I mean that in a constructive, positive way. This topic had come up for years, and I, a lot of people on the creative team were pretty strongly opposed to it because, you know, we had been for a few years, you know, 85% of our business was in selling retail furniture.

 

And we were worried about how to be a multiplier and how to keep the best talents challenged and happy when you’re working on just one topic.  But, you know, several things aligned. And when the conversation came up this time we realized that there could be a way to find a segment in a category. 

 

But still, there’s incredible variety within that category and variety not only in the causes that we’re working with, but the type of work and, you know, the readiness of different organizations and where they are in a sophisticated one level or just a resource level that, you know, we have to be creative or, you know, put together something that, yes, maybe they have all the resources, but they’re trying to do so many things at once that it’s really about just clarifying. 

 

So the challenges and those learning opportunities are multiple, and they come to us in multiples. And now that we’ve found the right category, I mean, everybody’s moving in the right direction and the same direction. Okay. So I have a question for you then. What led to the decision and then to share with our audience the niche?

 

So like describe the niche that ultimately you and your team decided to focus on. Yeah. So I would say the decision was actually made twice about two years ago. I had the bright idea that if we concentrate in the startup space, there are startups of all kinds, and that would give us the ability to focus and specialize but still give us a variety of topics.

 

I made that decision unilaterally, which I do not often do at Field Trip. A few people at the agency were into that, and we made some progress, but we also got burned a few times. So last June, we started implementing traction, if you’re familiar with that executive operating system, with our shared good friend Drew McLellan as the facilitator.

 

He took us through a process, and before long, without even thinking about it, as we started to rank our favorite clients, our most profitable work, and where we felt we did the best and boldest work, it was very clear that it was all in nonprofit and civic-driven or purpose-driven organizations, really without exception.

 

So it was right there on the whiteboard. We all looked at each other, and Drew even said, “Do we need to discuss this?” And we just said, “No, that’s where we’re headed.” So yeah, so we’re working, and with purpose-driven organizations, a lot of that is charities, civic organizations, and foundations is most often asked, even in the space where we’re focusing on social and health services for those that are, you know, underprivileged.

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: Don’t Be Afraid to Start Over

 

How to be a multiplier is really great from a timeline perspective, because you mentioned a couple of years and then you mentioned June of last year. The reason why I think this is a great example to share with our audience is that often I think that there’s the perception. I’ll just call it a misperception that if we’re going to niche down, that means the day after the decision is made, we’re going to fire all of our clients and we’re going to start the business from scratch.

 

And in your case, you’re talking about not only multi-month but maybe a couple of years of going through that decision-making process. So, having now gone through it, what were maybe some of the key milestones? Maybe the traction session with Drew was one of those milestones, and there are other milestones along that path.

 

Yeah, so that was the starting point. And then, by October, we made a commitment that by that time, we would do things like competitive analysis. What other agencies are in this space studying the category, coming forward with, you know, what resources do we need, whether they are hires or contract talent or tools that will need to do that?

 

It was still just a leadership conversation on how to be a multiplier. So we went through that process from June to October to vet it and make sure we were following our gut. But let’s prove that gut feeling. Once we confirmed it in October, by January 1, we were going to be ready to roll it out to the agency and, you know, reposition ourselves.

 

So, after October, in the background, we were working on a website refresh, some of our materials, having a uniquely ours position and getting ready to really take it from a small conversation to making it real, alive, and public. Okay, so then let me give that back to you.

 

Make sure I’m tracking with you. So it sounds like you’re at a transition in June, continue to crystallize that, and so forth. October comes doing the competitive analysis, and it sounds like our October, November, December, and January is when maybe you started organizing kind of well, this is what the position is going to be. This is where we will plant our flag and that kind of thing.

 

Visit the website of Jane to gain more understanding on how to be a multiplier

 

How To Be A Multiplier: Take The Risk to Be Different

 

So was it during that period of time that you started organizing Field Trip, you know, smarts and beliefs, and if you want to call it a manifesto, maybe you want to call it a truth around this new niche, or was that a different time period? Now, that coincides with added. So by January, we had, I would say, a draft of our manifesto, kind of our key beliefs, what we felt was needed in the space, what we felt was different, and what most people were missing and where, you know, candidly where the puck was headed in the nonprofit.

 

Not to go too deep into the category of how to be a multiplier, but, you know, marketing is often a taboo word. It’s a, you know, an optional operational expense, instead of in the retail and business world. It’s a leading investment that, you know, informs and empowers everything else that follows. And you know, nonprofits historically have been judged by having, you know, low overhead and high return on the mission.

 

Marketing only happens if they’re lucky enough to have a communications team, but that’s vastly different. So we have to, you know, not only do good work and drive impact, but we know that we’re kind of swimming against the current. We’re fine taking that somewhat contrarian position because those are the people that we’re going to be best aligned with to do things differently.

 

I love that. So, it goes back to when you mentioned being able to do work that requires ongoing learning. And I love the Wayne Gretzky quote you just put in there about skating to where the puck is going, not where the puck is out. That’s awesome because it shows how proactive a field trip is.

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: Deciding On Your Cornerstone Content

 

So, let’s think about that from this. It’s still strategic, but it’s also a little bit tactical. You know that we’re big fans inside the suburbs. It’s already a methodology for creating cornerstone content. Those big pieces of media content that are dense are helpful. They allow you to slice and dice those into smaller cobblestones that leap and then back to the cornerstone.

 

So, what did you and your team decide to create as your cornerstone content to be helpful within this niche? Yeah, that decision was also relatively easy. You know, my background is in research, and so really jumping into research, using leveraging Susan Baier and her experience in Audience Audit and finding an approach that hadn’t been studied before and, you know, being comfortable to kind of put our neck out there in terms of, okay, these pillars that we believe, we believe them.

 

But will the data support that? Or, is it something that we have to be fluid and flexible based on what the data shows us? So, we are in the midst of commissioning our custom study that speaks to executive directors of nonprofits. And we’re really addressing the gap that happens between the lifestyles and the mindset of the beneficiary.

 

So we’re talking about homeless people struggling with addiction, you know, restorative justice programs, people coming out of incarceration, and then the audiences that have the time, the resources, the money to support the organization, their lifestyles and their mindsets are so disconnected, you know, from the beneficiaries reality that it’s often difficult to connect those two and understand, you know, how solving this social issue impacts, you know, the entire world and yes, the world of somebody who’s not had those struggles.

 

Visit the website of Jane to gain more understanding on how to be a multiplier

 

How To Be A Multiplier: Finding A Better Way for Everyone

 

And how are executive directors dealing with that? On how to be a multiplier? What are their challenges, and what are their best practices? What is working to connect very different minds? Okay, so let’s go back to the gap word here because I want to make sure that I understand correctly. And please correct me if I’m not getting it.

 

So I think what I’m hearing you say is that even in our world, there are executive directors and teams. Maybe it’s a board, maybe it’s, you know, whatever the internal stakeholders are. And they believe that they have a job to do in order to, you know, execute the mission, if you will, of the nonprofit. And then there’s the people that the nonprofit is there to serve.

 

And I think you use the word beneficiaries, there are the beneficiaries who are there to benefit from the services of said nonprofit. And I think if I understand the gap correctly the day-to-day work that the internal, and external stakeholders are doing might not be directly benefiting the beneficiaries in the greatest way possible, or do those stakeholders actually genuinely understand the trials and tribulations, the things that the beneficiaries are really dealing with, like on the ground, like every single day?

 

Yeah, very well put. I’ve presented work on restorative justice to a nonprofit’s board of directors, and in that room, these are people who are intimately aware of the organization’s mission and purpose. They come out and say, well, you know, that’s going to be soft on crime. And that’s just going to encourage more people to do, you know, illegal things.

 

Well, you know, history and statistics show that what we’re doing is not working for juveniles, and we have to find a better way. Restorative justice is one of those ways. But still, the immediate emotional response of someone who should be really well informed is just that person made bad choices and they got themselves into it. They can get themselves out.

 

And you know, that might sound good because it distances us from that pain and why it might not happen to us or those we love. But it’s not that simple. And so we have to help break down those myths and make it again. How do you know, helping a juvenile who did make a bad decision but should not have to live with that for their life or limit their life because they can’t learn from it or recover from it?

 

Wow. Okay. So let’s stay with this gap piece of how to be a multiplier for just a second more because the reason why we’re doing this for everyone who’s listening here is that, again, if I interact with you, Jane, it sounds like the research that you and Susan and team are crafting is kind of revolving around this gap, because if you can help shine a bright light on that, that’s going to be a series of huge moments for your audience, meaning the executive directors.

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: Establishing Communication That Speaks to Everyone

 

How do nonprofits have so many different audiences? They have their beneficiaries, volunteers, donors, and board of directors. They might have civic or legislative audiences. Then they’ve got their employees. And so they think very broadly about creating communication or messaging that, you know, speaks to everyone. What happens is they end up talking about what they do, how they do it, and what people need to see today as their impact.

 

And we believe that there’s only one audience that matters, and that’s the beneficiaries. So if I am the leader of a nonprofit, focus on maximizing utilization, meeting people where they are and bringing them forward, treating them with a trauma-informed approach and the whole person as a person all those little things make it a welcoming place so that they can find the support and the solutions that are needed.

 

Other audiences will come along because they will see an organization that is so hyperfocused and understands so important only the needs of the people that it’s serving that that’s all that needs to be done. Donors and volunteers will follow because they will see the authenticity and transparency of the work that that organization is doing.

 

How to be a multiplier and please your beneficiairies? I love that so much because you just stole my next question and because you said it so much more eloquently than I was just going to say it. But I just want to shine a bright light on what you just said about if we get the beneficiaries right, like taking care of the beneficiaries, everything else will follow.

 

So, for everyone listening to you right now, that’s like distilling all of this myriad of audiences down into the core. And if we do a great job with the one, everything else falls into place, right? Absolutely. That’s not an easy fix. That is not an easy thing for some people to jump into because, sure, we are all torn in so many different directions.

 

There are opportunities to say this and say that. But our job is to make things more effective, not more complicated. Being more effective and practical is really about a singular focus when it comes to messaging and communication. So, let’s go back to one of the words that you mentioned a few minutes ago.

 

You mentioned pillars and then tied that into the research, and you asked whether the data didn’t support that or not. So what are some of the pillars? Yeah. So essentially, there are three pillars. One is the beneficiary, which is the single audience that matters, can take care of them, and others will follow.

 

Visit the website of Jane to gain more understanding on how to be a multiplier

 

How To Be A Multiplier: Making Sure the Fundamentals Are Done Properly

 

The second pillar of how to be a multiplier is about getting the fundamentals down. Leadership in nonprofit spaces and civic spaces tends to think that community actions or PR equals marketing. And it’s vastly different. So even the most robust communications team often hasn’t done the bare basics in terms of marketing things like claiming your Google Place page or all the basic things, making sure your website is accessible to people with different visual disabilities. All of those types of things that we probably take for granted.

 

So, we need to make sure the fundamentals of how to be a multiplier, including the brand and how it’s positioned, are done and done well. Finally, the story that we need to tell is not really the Cinderella story of rags to riches. It’s about the impact of helping somebody take that journey for themselves and their families. What’s the larger story, an impact around helping a family? Get back in a home, get their children back into school? 

 

They’re having regular meals. Yes, it’s a great warm and fuzzy story to tell. But the bigger thing is that now we have a whole family who can be self-sustaining. That impacts the community, the schools, their employers, and a much larger circle of people than just the one individual who has a hero story to tell.

 

It’s bigger than that. Yeah, this is really smart. So let me give those three back to you. And here again, make sure that I’m tracking with you. So I’m going to distill them down to just one word each, although I guess the third one is two words. So beneficiaries, fundamentals, and impact story, right? Well said.

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: Difference in Lifestyle Between Benefactors and Beneficiaries

 

Yeah, well, I’m just stealing from you. So. But what I love about that is the distillation of it and the simplicity of how to be a multiplier. So when we’re thinking strategically and/or sharing strategically in front of our audience, let’s say that you met with an executive director, his or her staff, the board, the internal and external stakeholders, and they say to you, “You know what? What is the course of the strategy?”

 

Again, if I’m tracking with you, Jane, it might be light and sound like, well, you’re Field Trip. We believe there are three pillars or three core strategies that we need to focus on in our conversations, and that’s beneficiaries. That’s fundamentals, and that’s the impact story. And those are levers.

 

So we need a pullover and over again in order to get this right. Am I kind of following the process? Yes, you are. And Stephen, I will be really curious because I bet you have similar pillars for your business. And I’ll ask you, is that how you’re approaching it? Yeah.

 

So first, thanks for asking. Wow. Okay. So, yeah, we do have some commonality there. You know our audience knows that for us, that’s grow, nurture, sell – that’s grow audience, nurture leads, and increase sales. And there’s, of course, some tactical execution around each of those three. But it seems it seems more straightforward when a client says or a prospective client, “How would you go about helping us solve our problems?”

 

Well, we will help you grow your audience, nurture leads, and increase sales. It’s distilled and easy to consume that way. My guess is that you’re nonprofit, that you’re sitting down and having conversations with when they hear beneficiaries’ fundamental impact stories that are pretty simple to follow. Yeah, and you know nonprofits when they work with us may have one of those fundamentals or pillars kind of already in progress or already fully embraced.

 

But most often, they haven’t got all three of those are areas for improvement and work and collaboration. Okay. So let’s think about it. Maybe this dovetails into or connects somehow to those three pillars. But when you and your team thought about, okay, executive directors in a team’s internal, external stakeholders, they’re dealing with these things like, what are the common challenges or obstacles that our audience, our grantor beneficiaries?

 

You could probably argue it’s the audience. But if we’re thinking about the decision makers, were you able to distill that down into maybe a common few? And if so, I think it would be really helpful for us to walk through each of them. Now, granted, it’s unique potentially to the nonprofits that you’re working with. Still, it’s a great strategic framework, as I mentioned to our audience in the introduction, that I’m hoping that they will essentially copy from you and then replace it with whatever the realities are of their audience.

 

Were you able to distill it down into a common view? Yes, we were. I would say the first one is the gap that we talked about earlier in terms of completely and radically different lifestyles between the benefactors and the beneficiaries. In addition, what we find is that the relevance and need of nonprofits and change organizations have never been stronger.

 

Visit the website of Jane to gain more understanding on how to be a multiplier

 

How To Be A Multiplier: There’s Still a Competition Between Non-Profits

 

The need has never been greater. But everything that they’re doing is harder. There are fewer resources, and there’s less support. Staffing is an issue. It’s just that they’re trying to go uphill. Meanwhile, the weight is getting heavier. The other thing is awareness. You know, nonprofits will often tell me that we don’t have competition because we’re all trying to work alongside each other.

 

And that is true. But there’s still competition because there is competition for sharing, mind share of wallet, and ownership of a particular space and segment. You know, I could take the hunger sector or Louisville, Kentucky, and name half a dozen organizations that are working in that space. Each is slightly different, and none of them need to necessarily go away.

 

But only a few can command a large amount of awareness, and they will ultimately have the greatest impact. Finally, I think directors are really tired of constantly explaining what they do and why it’s important, as opposed to just doing the mission and why they’re there.

 

You know, they didn’t get into this business to talk about marketing and pillars and promises and those types of things. They got in there to fulfill a mission, and they’re required to change their behaviors. Yes, they have to change perceptions first, but change behaviors, whether that’s who to donate or going to spend my time or that now is the time for me to step away from addiction or this particular situation.

 

And I’m going to take control, and I have to get help, ask for help. But something in my life has to change. All of those are challenging. Amen to that. So you just gave us three huge topics that we will slice apart. We’re going to take a break first. Then we’re going to come back and go through each of these because I want to, not only have even a more profound discussion around each of them but also see if we can establish any hooks back to the research and your cornerstone content and how you and your team are teaching around each of these three. Again, that’s going to be an excellent framework for our audience. So just hold that thought, and we will return after this break. 

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: Putting The Plan into Action

 

Okay, everyone, welcome back. And as a reminder, before we went to break, we had just stepped through three big pieces. We stepped through the gap, and we stepped through awareness. You could call that market awareness.

 

Consider calling that self-awareness. But then we also talked about the need to constantly explain why they do it, why they, being the executive directors, do it. So what we’re going to do is go back through each of these three and slice them apart in a little bit more detail. Here’s why:

 

Again, this is a great framework and exercise. Once these three are really defined with clarity, what you and your team can do is create a topic list, ideas, and what you can teach in each of these buckets to address those challenges.

 

So, because that’s what thought leaders do, they steal a word from Jane. Leaders step into the gap, teach, share, and generously provide insights and wisdom so that their audience can be better. Every time your audience turns around, there you are with a helpful answer. So Jane’s framework here of the big three is absolutely something that I want you to take and steal and use for your own business.

 

Okay, for your own thought leadership. Well, it is not for your business but for your own thought leadership position. Okay, so, Jane, let’s step back through gap four, and then we’ll go to the need to constantly explain. So, the need has never been greater, but the future of the resource is how I heard you describe it.

 

So, let’s add a couple of additional layers to how to be a multiplier. Is the gap going back to the core of the pillar of beneficiaries? Is that one that hooks into most tangibly? Yeah, it does. And there is such a deep gap, and yet there is probably a rare window of opportunity as our community becomes more sensitive and open-minded to learning about others and being more inclusive.

 

So, hopefully, that gap becomes closer and smaller. But, a lot of organizations realize that this is an issue that they have, and it’s very common for them to hire strategic consultants to create a plan, a multi-year plan, or a one-year plan. And that work is really important because it does have a vision.

 

However, one of the things that’s lacking is often the capabilities in the hands to put that plan into place. I know myself as being on the board of directors for nonprofits, the plan comes forward, and being on the board, you have your own job to run and your own things to do. And it’s either, well, okay, that tactic isn’t due for another two years.

 

I don’t need to think about that now or it’s something so big and comprehensive that I may not even know where to start. So, having those big, bold ideas is great. And I encourage leaders to think very boldly. But it has to be married with the hands and the skills and the talent to put it into action.

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: From The Perspective of Thought Leadership

 

How to be a multiplier is one area that we step in, whether we’re needed for strategic thinking or,  putting a strategic plan that already exists into play because again, marketing, branding, and positioning. It’s just not a skill set that is available to most executive leaders. Okay. I love that. And so as you’re walking through that, I literally wrote in my notes in the support, put it into action.

 

And so this is how Jane is really a good proof point, I guess, is what I’m trying to say from what Jane just said. So, like your weekly video series, it’s both a 30,000-foot strategic and a 10,000-foot view. Then, you come in at a 10,000-foot view and provide some examples of how to get it done.

 

Right. And that’s so from a thought leadership perspective, that’s awesome because it’s not theory or fluff. This is what’s going on at the 30,000-foot strategic level. Do you want to address that? Great. And so then you obviously address it with some tangible golden nugget ideas that they can take out of that. And so in hearing you walk through the explanation, it makes me think, “Okay, that’s a great way to address this gap” and it shows up, Stephen, in so many different ways, it can be dirty fingernail work or the boldest, brightest strategy.

 

One example that comes to my mind is, in a client-facing meeting earlier today, somebody on my team, not me, expressed the need to that, “Hey! we’re doing this action.” And right now, you’re not your client, so you need to do your part in terms of providing us with the information that we need to know that we’re moving the needle.

 

We know this information is available. Agree? You haven’t looked at it this way, but this is our expectation. We have to have this. And so she was like a dog with a bone. We have to have this data, and quite frankly, it would be easier if we could just do the work and work the needle, move the needle.

 

But that’s just not the way, we can’t be accountable that way. That ties back into the fundamentals piece, and so actually, that might be a great transition because let’s go into the second piece where you said there is actually competition in the space. You mentioned the six different nonprofits in the Louisville area that are focused on hunger and food and so forth and providing that service.

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: Getting People Interested and Bringing Them Forward

 

So, let’s think about how that might hook into the fundamentals piece and really get that right. And it’s challenging to get the fundamentals right. We’re not looking at the right metrics or even willing to look at the right metrics, right? Yeah, that’s very true. Awareness – it’s about the short-term game in terms of getting people, utilization from the beneficiaries, and engagement from the community.

 

So, things can happen right here and now. But it’s also about planting seeds that you can harvest months and years from now. And it’s tough to really do things now that may not pay off in a way that you can see maybe while you are still in that position. But it’s the right thing to do.

 

So getting those fundamentals of how to be a multiplier is very important. And also, shifting marketing away from that optional operational expense towards that forward-leading investment, that benefits every audience, and every initiative because the more people understand the importance of the work and the mission, the easier it is to ask for the help that’s needed. And so would you agree or disagree with this that the the marketing and investment.

 

Sure, there is a dollar component to that. And also sometimes it’s a paradigm shift, sometimes it’s a mindset, sometimes it’s just embracing a marketing-oriented culture or creating one so that we recognize the fact that this actually does matter, right? So the analogy I often use is, that there’s a difference between a recipe and then the menu at the restaurant and nonprofits tend to think about communications and work.

 

Here’s the recipe: we do this, and we have this many facilities. We help this many people. And, everyone makes a decision, an emotional state. It starts an end, an emotional state. And yes, we may use the recipe to rationalize that decision, but we need to do more work in staying in that emotional, compelling attraction and getting people interested in hooked and bringing them forward.

 

And then if it’s warranted, we have the conversation about the mechanics and the details of how we do the work. But first, we have to bring them in with something that’s appealing and inspirational. I am so glad that you said that you would laugh if you saw my chicken scratch of notes here, but at the top of the page, no joke.

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: Teaching The Fundamentals

 

So I’m thinking about the sort of from the perspective of beneficiaries fundamentals, the impact story, and what it is that we’re trying to accomplish. And I get at the fact that those are core strategies or pillars is using your word. But then I’m transitioning the the second half of the page, the lower half of the page is more of the how. 

 

Well, we’re going to close the gap. We’re going to teach fundamentals. We’re going to get the fundamentals into place correctly and gain progress by doing these couple of things. And I know there’s one more hour and before the break, you had said I’m paraphrasing, of course. Still, there is a need to explain this constantly from the perspective of executive directors.

 

I should clarify the need to constantly explain why they do it versus just being able to fulfill the mission, right? So let’s slice that piece apart a little bit more, too, because again, there are probably some teaching moments in there for you and your team to help executive directors not only learn but then also see that you’re on their side.

 

Yeah, that’s a perfect way to reflect that. There is a lot to do, and like I said, everything’s a little more complicated. And I sympathize with the need to explain what they’re doing constantly. But if you think back to what we talked about earlier, if you focus on the most critical audience—your beneficiaries—everything else will follow.

 

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How To Be A Multiplier: Closing Remarks

 

How to be a multiplier, rather than explaining the recipe and how to make it and know what goes into the soup, let’s just talk about the benefit and the impact that we’re making in human souls and their friends and family, in the communities that are around them and how we’re making the world a better place.

 

So, it can actually be done beautifully by simplifying and having that singular focus, as opposed to this. I’ve got to speak in seven different directions with one newsletter and cover everything. So instead of being exhaustive, be narrow and focused. I love that from end to end.

 

Thank you for generously sharing your smarts. I know that we’re quickly running out of time but before we go before we close out and say goodbye, do you have any final advice, recommendations, or anything you think we might have missed? And then please do tell our audience the best way to connect with you now. Well, thanks so much, Stephen, for having me with you today.

 

And, allowing me to think out loud. The more I share this, the more apparent it becomes in terms of our way forward. The one thing that I’ll end with is connecting some of these lessons back to the Field Trip and saying that we don’t present ourselves as an agency that builds brands and websites and runs advertising because, again, that’s the recipe.

 

What we do is multiply the mission of non-payroll efforts and allow executive directors to really focus on what they do best. And that’s our promise to our constituents and clients. In terms of reaching me, the best way is to visit WeAreFieldTrip.com or look me up on LinkedIn. Okay everyone, no matter how many notes you took or how often you go back we listen to Jane’s words of wisdom, which I sure hope that you do.

 

The key is to take this really powerful framework that she just architected and mapped out in full transparency, apply it, and accelerate your results. And Jane, again, thank you very much for taking the time to share your smarts, be our guide, and help us move our businesses onward to the next level. I am grateful for your generosity.

 

Thank you so much, my friend. Right back at you.

 

Visit the website of Jane to gain more understanding on how to be a multiplier