0064: Increasing your Private Club Membership with Private Club Radio Host, Speaker, Author & CEO Gabriel Aluisy

Intro [0:00]  

EA Interviews Episode 64. Inspiration, transformation, success stories and the Imperfect Action Round seven days a week. Join Mario Fachini for today’s Expert Authority Effect interview. Welcome expert authority world, I am super excited to bring to you today Gabe Aluisy from Private Club Radio. And he is an author, a speaker trainer and he helps private clubs all around the country get more members. Would you like more members for your club? He’s going to share some of the ways he does this with you right after we thank our sponsor.

SPONSOR – Wirecast Pro  [0:35]  

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Mario Fachini  [0:53]  

All right, ladies and gentlemen, here is Gabe Aluisy. Gabe, how are you today?

Gabe Aluisy  [0:58]  

Hey, Mario, it’s great to be with you, man.

Mario Fachini  [1:00]  

I’m excited. I’ve been wanting to showcase you for a while. And I’m glad that we can make it happen. So let’s jump into it.

Gabe Aluisy  [1:06]  

Thanks for inviting me in your show.

Mario Fachini  [1:07]  

It’s my pleasure. It’s my pleasure. I’ve seen what you’ve been doing. And the world needs to know about you more as far as I’m concerned.

Gabe Aluisy  [1:15]  

You’re very kind.

Mario Fachini  [1:16]  

Tell us about how all this started. What inspired you to start your company?

Gabe Aluisy  [1:22]  

Yeah, so I’ve always had a real passion for golf. My dad was a private club golf professional when he was younger. And so when by the time I was growing up, he wasn’t in the business anymore. But golf was still our thing. We go out and golfing and I love to spend time with my dad on the golf course. By the time I was in high school and things, all my friends had jobs at golf courses. They were the bag boys or they clean the place. You know, some of the low end jobs at clubs and I just always had a passion for it. And then when I started my own business, I really saw that there was a need that I could fill because this is industry, the Golf and Country Club and hospitality industry, often I saw was lagging five to 10 years behind in terms of technology or best practices or things, especially having to do with marketing, which was my strong suit. And that started the business, private club agency really to solve some of the problems that I saw out there in the industry.

Mario Fachini  [2:20]  

So how do you really help the clubs get more members? Because I’m thinking of the Skyline Club here in Detroit, which I had my VIP book launch party at and have been going to for you know, I’m not this old, but over 10 years now. How do you really help them? Because I know with any business or club, whatever the case may be, it’s how do we get more clients? How do we get more members? How do we get more students? If it’s a school? You know there’s always this marketing and PR, and it’s why I got into – I love helping people. And it’s one thing that every business needs. So what have you found are the biggest problems that the clubs are having? And how do you youdo you help them solve it?

Gabe Aluisy  [3:01]  

Yeah, there’s there’s three major problems that I see in the club industry. Number one, there’s a generational shift that’s happening, right? So you’ve got a lot of clubs, I don’t know if it’s the case for the Skyline Club in particular, but a lot of specially golf clubs, and clubs around the world, there’s a much older demographic that’s been a member of these clubs, and now they’re starting to age out. And the generations coming behind them, the Gen Xers, the millennials, they’ve got a completely new set of wants and needs. And so clubs are really having to make a shift there. I’d say the second, the second biggest thing is clubs historically have been thought of as like old boys clubs where the guys went and played golf, they left the kids and the wife at home. And again, I think the newer generations that are coming to be the new club members, they really want a family friendly environment. They want the children to be taken care of the wife to be taken care of. And to be honest, a lot of the ladies in the family are controlling the purse strings as it will. So we got to makegotta make sure that we create a product or a service that’s appealing to the whole family. And then number three is clubs have just more competition than than they’ve ever had. So before the economic downturn, they were building golf courses at an enormous rate. They were doing like a couple golf courses a day were popping up. And there was just so much competition. But not only competition from golf courses, but the level of expectation from the consumer. And other things in town became competition. So like high end restaurants or amusement parks and really, I say that golf clubs aren’t just in competition with other golf clubs, they’re in competition with all the other entertainment options that are available to a family. So those are the three major problems. And we try to solve those problems, really make the club much more appealing to again, the Gen Xers the millennials. We’re introducing a lot of digital marketing tactics, very high level tactics that weren’t really seen in the club industry before. And just bringing kind of abringing a fresh new approach to these clubs, and giving them some advice along the way. We take a real consultative approach, when we when we help some of these clubs out there.

Mario Fachini  [5:15]  

Well, I’m happy to hear that. And that’s one of the things I noticed about you, is you actually have the heart to want to do it. You’re not just doing it for the numbers and saying, “Hey, we want to get X amount ROI increase.” But I mean, that’s all well and good. You need to know your metrics and everything. But I know, you definitely have the heart. And I’m glad you’re taking it to that degree with them. What have you been finding is working really well with the digital marketing that you’re doing with it. Because I mean, it’s hard to believe, but it wasn’t too long ago, when iPhones didn’t even exist. I mean, cell phones didn’t even exist and everything, but golf has been around for ages. What are you finding now with the younger generations? Do you find that they’re still even wanting to go to the clubs and do stuff in real life just as much? Or do you think it’s more of a digital society? How are you bridging that gap to say, “Hey, look, you know, this is going to give you some fun time with your family or alone.” Or whatever the case may be, but pulling them away from those other types of entertainment. Because I mean, truthfully, you can spend 24 hours on YouTube now.

Gabe Aluisy  [6:21]  

Yeah, that’s true. I think one of the big major things that we want people to tell the story of the club. And so we’ve got to create an experience that I call as Instagrammable. So that’s really a major, major portion. I like to say to my clients that if you’re not being talked about online, it’s like you don’t even exist anymore. You know, it’s like the old analogy that when the tree in the forest falls, and nobody hears it isn’t even there. Well, it’s the same way online. Like if people aren’t saying nice things about you online, whether it’s on Instagram, or Facebook, or on Google or any of the review sites out there. That’s really a dangerous place to be. So the other thing about the private club industry that’s interesting is that historically, it was only membership by referral. And so again, this is a real brave new world for them, because for the first time, they’ve really got to “market themselves.” And there’s a lot of misinformation about what you can and cannot say, a lot of these clubs are 501(C)(7) nonprofits, and there’s a whole bunch of legalities and stipulations that go along with that. And so we’re trying to help them navigate this new digital world that’s completely different, nothing like it’s ever been there before. Now, some of the ways that are that are really working for us right now, Facebook and Instagram, we’re running ad campaigns, pay per click ad campaigns that are driving tons and tons of leads to these clubs. Our clubs, average, 30 to 60 membership leads a month, which if you were to pull most clubs, I’m sure they’re not anywhere near that rate. And we’re able to drive the right eyeballs again, that next generation of potential members to these clubs, using those platforms. We’re also, as you said before, I’ve always got my client’s best interests in mind. And so I recommend a lot of best practices that we don’t necessarily make money on for the business. But I think that that information is really important for people to know in the industry, and whether they’re my clients or not even in fact. So for instance, right now, with Google, I tell people, “You know, there’s you don’t need to invest in SEO and pay an SEO expert like you used to have to.” Now if you focus on the reviews, and again, what people are talking about and saying about you online, if you were to do any kind of Google Search right now, or even a Bing search, the first results that come up are map results. So it’s so important to get your members again, telling the story of your club. So you know, if clubs would start to shift away from the old traditional marketing methods to these digital methods, that’s how they’re really going to attract that new generation.

Mario Fachini  [8:59]  

That is such a value add, and I know it works, because I’ve done it with my clients. And a lot of people don’t realize it, the customer testimonials, one of the things I recommend, because everything that should be done on video, as far as I’m concerned, get video testimonials. Because I’ve heard people say, “Well, they probably just had someone write that are they paid for it.” It’s like you get someone on video, like right now, no one’s going to refute that this is actually happening and it’s actually us. But if it was text, maybe they will or won’t, I think your reputation and name. Ultimately, if they trust you, they’re going to trust you if they don’t, well, you need to fix that first and foremost and be a better person. But the video adds a different level to it. For anyone who doesn’t know, can you speak more on the nonprofit status? You said 507?

Gabe Aluisy  [9:48]  

Yeah, 501(C)(7) It’s interesting designation. Basically, it provides a lot of tax benefits to private clubs, because they have big swathes of land. Let’s say you’ve got a golf course, and you’ve got 100 acres of land or more, there’s a lot of tax benefits that go around with that status. So the little caveat is that you cannot have membership open to anybody. Or you cannot market your membership to just anybody out there. It’s got to be membership by invitation. And you’ve got to be really careful about the things you say when you market. So it’s interesting. That’s why I’ve kind of really studied this niche, it’s very interesting one, because there’s legality issues involved, it’s kind of cool.

Mario Fachini  [10:31]  

Well, that is a lot of fun, because I’ve seen some of the pictures you share. And a lot of my family are into golfing, and a couple of them live on golf courses. And it’s gorgeous. It’s a lot of fun. And, you know, it is easy to get good pictures, you know, it’s definitely better than the bathroom selfie, or whatever in the mirror, which doesn’t make any sense to me, because cameras now have rear cameras. And that whole thing has been outdated by about 10 to 12 or 14 years. Just saying, but at the same time, it’s like how do I get a better shot? Well go to somewhere better, it’s real hard to get a bad shot when you’re on the lake or a golf course.

Gabe Aluisy  [11:09]  

That’s right. There’s beautiful landscapes we have everywhere.

Mario Fachini  [11:14]  

So with all the golf courses you’ve been to, I’m gonna I’ll save that one for later on. But what’s the biggest transformational story you’ve been able to give someone for one of the clubs, whether you use their name or not, I don’t know the legality of that. But where did you take them from? And where did you take them to?

Gabe Aluisy  [11:33]  

Well, I know you’re in Michigan, so I’ll use a club up in Michigan that we worked with last year. This was a club just outside of Flint, very economically depressed area, obviously, not not the best water in the world. Not the best water, that’s an understatement. But obviously having some challenges in that part of the world. And so I was really proud of that one in particular, because I think we drove 96 new members in the in the first here that we worked with them. And, you know, again, in a real small market, that was a big win. And it was a great club to begin with. And it just really needed folks to learn more about it. They’ve never done hardly any marketing before. Never mind, like digital marketing. And so it was really interesting, because people in the neighboring towns and clubs would actually start asking them like, “What is going on over here?” In fact, I think they had a board member from a neighboring club come join their club, because of the excitement that they felt just by seeing them online. It was kind of cool. So 96 new members, that was a real win.

Mario Fachini  [12:35]  

That’s huge. That’s a great story. When you start having other people, your competitors come to you.

Gabe Aluisy  [12:42]  

Yep. Yeah, and the way we did that, I mean, we, we did a digital marketing campaign, we also activated the local real estate professionals. So we created an incentive program that the real estate professionals could give a closing  that invited people to come have a round of golf or sandwich and some lunch at the club. And then the realtors that got an incentive too if that member joined. And so it was nice to actually have a sales team on the street working for the club. And we did a couple other things, we created a new member passport, where when you join the club, you get to experience all the different areas of the club. And that serves a big hole. Because the time to really make sure that you keep your members is in the beginning. They’ve got to really get connected to the people in the club in the beginning for you to have the best chance of retaining them. Because it’s 10 times more expensive in any business to get a new customer and then in our case, a new member than it is to keep the one you’ve got. And so a program like that for member retention was really important as well.

Mario Fachini  [13:46]  

I’m glad you mentioned that, because so many people are like how do we get more? How do we get more? I go, “Are you helping the people you already have the best you possibly can?” Why do you want 100 new ones when these 10 are agitated?

Gabe Aluisy  [14:00]  

That’s right, yeah. I read a great book, I mean, you’ve got a few different levers as a business owner or as a business to pull. I mean, you can get new customers, you can have a bigger ticket item or a bigger shopping cart, or you can just take better care of the once you’ve got. And that’s what I decided to stick with.

Mario Fachini  [14:19]  

Yeah, you and me both. So I’m glad you’re like that. Because again, there’s not everyone out there who is. So thank you for being you.

Gabe Aluisy  [14:27]  

Thank you.

Mario Fachini  [14:28]  

And thank you for sharing the transformational story. That’s inspiring. And I gotta be honest, that sandwich sounds good, too. So with all the different clubs, and I mean, do you work with any international?

Gabe Aluisy  [14:42]  

I’ve worked at a club in Wales, rather, and then I’ve spoken in around the world. And so I’ve gotten a chance to talk to some of these clubs in Asia, in Europe and other places. Which is really fun.

Mario Fachini  [14:55]  

That’s pretty cool. So as far as your Private Club Radio goes, tell me about your podcast, what has that done for your business over the years?

Gabe Aluisy  [15:06]  

I’d say that was the single biggest driver of my business in the last five years of being in business by far. Because it did a number of things, first established a platform for me that I didn’t really have. So even though I was working in this space, working in the private club world, not many people outside of my local market really knew who I was. And so the podcast has now been listened to, I think, by 120, 140 countries or something like that. And well over like five people per club, if you were to break down, you know how many private clubs or aren’t having listeners of the show, have heard the show. So pretty much everyone at this point in the club industry heard the show. And it was cool, because a podcast didn’t exist in this space before when I started the show. So I got kind of lucky, the timing was right in in a way or blessed, however you want to consider it. But the timing was right. And the reason I named my show Private Club Radio Show is because people didn’t even know what a podcast was. So I literally had to kind of make it really simple for people to understand what the heck I was doing. So it’s just been amazing. I mean, it continues to drive inbound leads to my agency. And if you hear my show, I’m not even promoting my own services. But I’m just the expert on that show. Every week, I make sure I have a show every single Monday. And people love to hear the guests that we bring on and learn from them. And so vicariously leads flow through to my business. And then establishing that platform. Now I had an audience. You know, it led to books that led to speaking engagements, gone really all over the world now. And it’s really cool all because the podcast.

Mario Fachini  [16:54]  

That’s inspiring. That’s really inspiring. Because before I started my show, I was given the vision, and my goal is to inspire millions of people and exponentially elevate the identity of humanity and help them and grow their business. And I had no clue what I’m doing. I’m still let’s say, learning.

Gabe Aluisy  [17:13]  

I love that mission statement, though. Do you have that written down anywhere?

Mario Fachini  [17:16]  

Yeah, my head.

Gabe Aluisy  [17:17]  

Okay.

Mario Fachini  [17:18]  

I’m gonna throw it off and put it on the wall.

Gabe Aluisy  [17:21]  

There you go.

Mario Fachini  [17:21]  

But seriously, that’s my goal with it. And I’m just grateful. Because even now, right now, in this moment, I’m going this was my goal four or five, six months ago. And when you’re telling me these stories, and for anyone listening, it’s definitely possible. It’s not going to be overnight. It’s going to be more work than you thought. But listen to what Gabe is saying, it’s taken me all around the world and led to all these great things. And you’re not even talking about your business.

Gabe Aluisy  [17:51]  

Right. Yeah, we’re just helping people, which is fun. But it’s, it’s it’s really it’s about consistency, consistently showing up. You know, I’ve done the show now from the back of a taxi cab in Thailand. I’ve done the show from China. I’ve done the show whenI had the flu, before a hurricane. But people know that every single Monday, my show is going to be there. And that’s a direct reflection of how I run my business. You know, because if I’m there for them every single Monday, of course, I’ll be there for them as a vendor or somebody who whosomebody who provides a service for their club.

Mario Fachini  [18:24]  

They know you’re going to show up.

Gabe Aluisy  [18:26]  

That’s right. Yeah.

Mario Fachini  [18:28]  

That’s huge.

Gabe Aluisy  [18:28]  

You putting that work, people will recognize that I think.

Mario Fachini  [18:33]  

Yeah, when they know they can count on you, and that you’re actually going to help them out with all of that.

Gabe Aluisy  [18:37]  

Right.

Mario Fachini  [18:38]  

And that’s what I keep hearing, you know, what’s the secret? Be accountable, be respectable, and be a good person and the business is going to follow it. I love it when people go, what’s the best day for an email? Well, Tuesday at 1:30pm. and Thursday at fourth. Really? That’s the secret? You don’t think like 400 million businesses would have just skyrocketed following tha? And I’ve been monitoring my own inbox, because I’ve been shifting, so I can stay focused on the show. It’s not that I’m unsubscribing necessarily. Some of them I am. But I’m shifting them all to a new box. So I don’t miss anything show related because I’m fully committed to this. And it’s interesting. It’s like, [9:36] it must be Thursday. And they’re all at the same time.

Gabe Aluisy  [19:27]  

So who gave the advice? That’s right.

Mario Fachini  [19:30]  

That’s a whole show in itself. And I know you know where I’m with that. But let’s talk about your book. How is that helped your business?

Gabe Aluisy  [19:38]  

I’ve got three books now. And they’ve they’ve exponentially helped the business absolutely. So first book, I book I wrote was really just to get something out of my head about branding that I always wanted to share with people, just my philosophy on branding. It wasn’t really related to the golf industry, per se, although I think a lot of the lessons are applicable in the golf industry just as much as they are to entrepreneurs or businesses in general. But that again, just gave me credibility, that first book gave me credibility that, “Hey, this guy’s an author, he’s got something to say.” And if you read the book, I think it was a pretty decent job and had some great lessons in there. And a lot of people just enjoyed me giving them some, you know, that knowledge. Then book number two really sprung from the podcast. So again, having the platform of the podcast, I knew that people really, you know, just talking to people on my show, having the guests, I knew that again, there was a hole that I could fill in terms of education and marketing. And so I wrote The Definitive Guide to Membership Marketing, which became the guide that one out of every three clubs in the country uses to build their membership and marketing. So that was just like crazy. I never expected that, that particular book would catch fire. And then I just released my most recent book two months ago with a great author, who to be quite frank with you did the lion’s share of the work. Michael Crandall – CNG. CNG stands for Certified Nice Guy, and he absolutely is. But it’s called The ABC’s of Plutonium Private Club Leadership. And that book is more about the management side of being a leader of how to manage a team, and of how to run a club and steer the ship in the right direction. And that one, we sold out the first two print runs of that, again, because of the show, all because Michael is also just an amazing guy. But the books continue to really just amaze me like it’s, it’s amazing that people want to read what I have to say sometimes.

Mario Fachini  [21:37]  

Well, that’s the fun of doing them. I remember when I did my first one, I failed English seven times. Now I’m gonna write a book, let alone a best seller. I’m like, right. But thank you the fun thing is that there’s still people who told me prior to that one, seven plus years ago, I’m going to do one, I’m going to do one. Well, I did one, done multiple. But if you don’t implement any of this is just, it’s for not basically.

Gabe Aluisy  [22:06]  

Yeah.

Mario Fachini  [22:06]  

Let’s tell everyone right now where they can find your books.

Gabe Aluisy  [22:11]  

Yeah. So the Definitive Guide to Membership Marketing, you can find it at membershipmarketingbook.com. And The ABC’s of Plutonium Private Club Leadership, you can find that at plutonium.club.

Mario Fachini  [22:24]  

I love that. You’ve done this just once or twice, because most people are like, “Oh, you can go to Barnes and Noble and go to wherever, wherever, wherever.” It’s like, you actually have a URL, I tell my clients the same thing. That’s awesome.

Gabe Aluisy  [22:36]  

Yeah. And you can download free samples of the book. See if you like it. Try before you buy.

Mario Fachini  [22:41]  

Excellent. Well, we’re going to do something fun. I just started doing it, I’m calling it the Entrepreneurial Roller Coaster where I spin the imaginary wheel here and I have about a dozen different questions on it. All from a onefrom one to 10 of seriousnessseriousness, like how would you change the world versus who’s a cool actor you’d like to talk to? So what are you feeling today on a one to 10?

Gabe Aluisy  [23:05]  

What am I feeling? Oh, I’m feeling a 10 today. Absolutely.

Mario Fachini  [23:08]  

Okay.

Gabe Aluisy  [23:09]  

You just chugged the power drinks and I bet you’re on the 10 as well.

Mario Fachini  [23:14]  

If you want to go 10, we’ll go 10, we’ll go 10. Who was the one person you’d love to have a conversation with again that you’re no longer able to?

Gabe Aluisy  [23:27]  

My mother. So my mom died when I was 13. I’d love to have that one more moment with her for sure.

Mario Fachini  [23:34]  

Sorry to hear that. But I can relate, with my dad.

Gabe Aluisy  [23:38]  

Yeah, it’s tough to lose a parent. I know.

Mario Fachini  [23:41]  

Two years ago, just Good Friday.

Gabe Aluisy  [23:44]  

Wow. Yeah.

Mario Fachini  [23:46]  

That’s fun every year.

Gabe Aluisy  [23:49]  

Yeah, sorry to hear that.

Mario Fachini  [23:53]  

Yeah. Okay. You went for 10. All right. That means I might ask you a bonus one. Some people are like, “Holy crap, what are you going to ask?” So I have a few softball ones, too. We’re actors and stuff. But All right, we’re going to go to the imperfect action round and right after we thank our sponsor. 

SPONSOR – Wirecast Pro  [24:10]  

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Mario Fachini  [24:41]  

And we’re back with the Imperfect Action round. Gabe, are you ready to take Imperfect Action?

Gabe Aluisy  [24:47]  

Let’s do it. I have no idea what that means. But I’ll do it.

Mario Fachini  [24:51]  

You do it every day, you have a successful business and all yourshowsyour shows and books.

Gabe Aluisy  [24:55]  

Yeah, I have taken a lot of imperfect actions too. I guess I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way.

Mario Fachini  [25:00]  

That’s that’s a good start. That’s a good middle. And that’s how we’re all going to finish.

Gabe Aluisy  [25:05]  

Yeah. Let’s do it.

Mario Fachini  [25:06]  

First question, what in your experience is the fastest path to the cash?

Gabe Aluisy  [25:11]  

Well, I would say is to not worry about the cash. Honestly, it’s to focus on the client or the customer, whatever you call those folks in your world. But to really try to understand their needs. Because if you’re going to build a successful business, it’s really not about you. It’s about solving someone else’s challenge. And so diving really deep into what that person’s challenge is, the first way that I do that is I create an app, what marketers called avatar, but it’s basically like a customer profile. And I really think about that person’s day, what does that day look like? What’s getting in the way? What WhatWhat could they use? And if I concentrate on the on the customer first or the client first, then all that other good stuff will come at me I know in the end.

Mario Fachini  [25:56]  

Excellent. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and what’s the fastest way they can fix it?

Gabe Aluisy  [26:05]  

I think the biggest problem I see is that a lot of clubs are discounting. And when you discount, you lower the value of that brand irreparably so you’ve just set a new lower bar when you create a 25% off discount or something like that. So the way I fix that is I try to elevate the brand value. I try to showcase the story and the history and the tradition of my clients so that it’s irresistible to people because they want to be a part of that story.

Mario Fachini  [26:34]  

I love that. Always add value don’t lower the price.

Gabe Aluisy  [26:38]  

That’s right. Yep.

Mario Fachini  [26:41]  

Number three. How do you maximize customer lifetime value? Or in your case member? Yeah, your client I was gonna say members, but how do you maximize your – Let me ask you two part, how do you maximize your client lifetime value? And how do you do it for the members of the club, for your clients?

Gabe Aluisy  [27:04]  

Well, for me, in fact, I’ll give you an example. We launched an initiative this year with my team of just finding ways that we could do something unexpected, surprise and delight our own clients. And it serves a few purposes, right? It keeps us at the top of their mind, because when they get something from us, so I’ll give you a couple examples we gave people, well, I’ll let you in on something we’re about to do. We’re creating little notepads, personalized notepads for each of our best clients, and we’re going to mail them to them. Just they have something nice on their desk, we’ve created event calendars that we just emailed to our clients, they know about all the events that are happening, that they might want to put programs together in their clubs for. So it’s it’s basically touching your clients in unique, unexpected ways. I think that’s one way for you to stay top of mind with them, which again, in turn will lead to a longer client, which hopefully, that leads to the the the higher customer value, obviously. Now for our own clients, in terms of how they add more to their members, it’s again from the consultative approach, showing them strategies that I’ve learned, because we honestly don’t have to even reinvent the wheel. But I do a lot of learning from all the visits that I take around the country and around the world and just taking those ideas back into the clubs, so that they can repurpose those for their members with more exciting events, more exciting promotions, or amenities and things like that.

Mario Fachini  [28:36]  

That’s huge.

Gabe Aluisy  [28:37]  

Yeah.

Mario Fachini  [28:39]  

Books. What is a book you would recommend that’s made the biggest impact on your life?

Gabe Aluisy  [28:45]  

Oh, man, there’s a ton of books that I love. I love all the Malcolm Gladwell books. So Blink was probably my favorite book by him. I’m also, if you go into the fiction world, I love Ernest Hemingway’s writing, I think that he’s just a great storyteller. And telling a great story again, even as a business owner, that’s such an important, important thing to do. And then I recently read a great book called Breeding Gazelles. And it was great, great for my business. Because, I’ve had this kind of certain level of business now for I know, the last three years or so. And to really break into that next level. This book is great in terms of – the core lesson is that in order to get better results, you really got to change your thinking. So when you’re a business, that’s maybe in the half a million to a million dollar range is completely different thinking than the businesses, they’re doing 10 million, completely different, you know, thinking that a business that does 100 million. And so there’s some pretty interesting strategies in that book, Breeding Gazelles.

Mario Fachini  [29:51]  

Excellent. I will make sure that makes into the show notes. That’s a great recommendation, because a lot of people don’t realize thinking that got them there will get them where they want to go, and it won’t, you have to change, like you’re saying,

Gabe Aluisy  [30:05]  

Yep. We have to have a whole new skill set. And so I’ve been learning a lot this year in terms of learning some CEO skills as I’m trying to scale my business.

Mario Fachini  [30:13]  

Excellent. So as far as the storytelling, when you were saying Ernest Hemingway, let’s touch on that real quick about why you feel it’s so important to be a good storyteller with a business even if you’re not a writer, so to speak?

Gabe Aluisy  [30:30]  

I think it’s because you know, just as humans, our entire history, you know, from the days we sat around the campfire is listening to the chief, you know, stories have been a really important part of human history. And it’s a way of breaking through that critical barrier that people have in their minds of, “Hey, I don’t want to be sold to.” But we want to learn and we want to hear a story. And we want to be compelled. And we want to be part of the story in the end. And so I think that it’s probably the most powerful and most underutilized tool that a brand has. Again, whether you’re a golf club, or any company out there. But telling a story, and if you look at most stories, they have a very similar narrative arc, you know, you’ve got the hero’s journey, for instance, is one narrative arc, you could Google and, you know, you got to have something that you’re striving for, you got to have some horrible circumstance that happens or some challenge that needs to be overcome. And you’ve got to overcome that. And if you look at some of the, you know, there’s only three to 10, I don’t know, story arcs that are very pervasive in our culture. And it’s a shortcut, again, to getting past that resistance to the sale. And so I think the other part is that, you know, as we become more social, as we come online, we’re looking to do business with the human side of business, right, rather than just a corporate brand. People are wanting to interact with people or with stories. And that’s why I think it’s so important.

Mario Fachini  [32:01]  

Thank you for sharing that with us. Because I’ll have to see if I can find the name of the book. But there is a book that talks about the seven different, there’s only really seven stories.

Gabe Aluisy  [32:10]  

Seven? There newest is between three and 10.

Mario Fachini  [32:12]  

Yeah, the name is eluding me at the moment. But I mean, when you can narrow everything down into this or that and help you because you know, you can joke about the sales and the marketingand marketing. But unfortunately, the truth is, if you don’t ever get it right, you’re going to struggle as an entrepreneur, and I see so many people that have these great gifts, talents and abilities. But that’s because of their skill set, wouldn’t try to do it as a business. It’s a whole other ballgame. You might be the best, whatever it is in the world. But if you can’t sell it, market it and still be around five years from now, it’s a whole other ballgame. Because, you know, that’s what someone else was doing for you prior that now you’re responsible for. So –

Gabe Aluisy  [32:55]  

Yeah, one of my things that I that I preach is that the best products don’t win. So for instance, if you look at a Timex versus a Rolex. The Timex technically tells better time than a Rolex. It’s almost never off, whereas a Rolex, is off about anywhere from one to…

Mario Fachini  [33:15]  

I’m sorry. Can I pause you right there? Can you go back to where you were saying Timex and Rolex, the audio –

Gabe Aluisy  [33:21]  

Oh, sure. Yeah. I’ll just start from the beginning. I think let’s see. So you know, there’s a huge difference in perception. You don’t you don’t ever want to be commoditized as a brand. And the example that I love to give is Timex and Rolex. A Timex technically tells much more accurate time than a Rolex. A Timex is never wrong, other than when the battery fails. Whereas a Rolex is off one to three seconds every single day. But why do people buy a Rolex instead of a Timex? It’s because of the story. It’s because of the prestige that goes along with it. But that prestige was really all wrapped into the story that that brand told of the tradition and the passion, and the things that go into a Rolex. And so again, if you don’t want to be in a red ocean, or be thought of as a commodity, it doesn’t matter how good you are, you’ve got to tell a compelling story that people want it to be a part of.

Mario Fachini  [34:19]  

That is powerful. We could do a whole half day training on this. Maybe we should, but I want to say thanks for sharing with us for now. And this has been very powerful. Thank you.

Gabe Aluisy  [34:30]  

Thank you, Mario.

Mario Fachini  [34:31]  

Where can people find you?

Gabe Aluisy  [34:34]  

Probably easiest is my crazy last name, Aluisy.com. You’ve got all my podcasts there, the books, speaking tour that I’m on and all that kind of good stuff.

Mario Fachini  [34:48]  

Excellent. I’ll make sure that’s in your show notes for the episode here. And Gabe, thanks again. It’s been a real pleasure. I’m glad you were able to come on.

Gabe Aluisy  [34:57]  

Thank you, Mario. Thank you for doing the show. It’s really important. It’s gonna change a lot of lives.

Mario Fachini  [35:01]  

All right, expert authority world we got another great one. Have a great day and I’ll see you tomorrow. God bless.

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