This episode originally aired on KDNL-ABC30 in St. Louis, Missouri as part of the Fall season of The Rise To The Top. You can catch new episodes every Sunday at 9:30 AM CST before “This Week”, with replays at 1 AM CST every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after “Jimmy Kimmel Live”. In This Episode 1. I have a rapidly expanding practice that is very niche-focused and growth is becoming quite a challenge. When what you sell is not a computer program or a can of beer, but instead is your time, what is the best way to grow and scale up your operations? – Question submitted by Martin Kamenski, President, Rock Star CPA. Panelists:   JoAnna Dettmann, Co-Founder, tSunela       Ryan Mortland, Founder, MB Consulting Group       Interview with Jeff Michelman, Principal, Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal P.C.     2. Learning about sales incentives. Briefly, explain what is sales incentives? If you wanted to get started with a sales incentive program, what are maybe three tips?   Interview with Michelle Pokorny, Solution VP – Sales Incentives, Maritz     3. Two massively successful restaurants. You have cloned yourself. This is a problem many entrepreneurs have. So let us know the secrets.   Interview with Brad Beracha, Founder, Beracha Concepts     4. Becoming a better storyteller. All marketing and media is really stories. What would be one tip for entrepreneurs? Panelists:   Interview with Jamie Allman, Show Host, Allman In The Morning on FM NewsTalk 97.1… Read More

This episode originally aired on ABC (KDNL-ABC30). You can catch the new season every Sunday at 9:30 AM CST (before “This Week”), with replays Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, and of course here on The Rise To The Top. In This Episode Discussions on… 1. How do you find the right partners for your biz? – Question submitted by Michael Daehn, Founder of Marketing Genius. Panelists:   Bruce Gibbs, President, GFI Digital       JoAnna Dettmann, Co-Founder, tSunela       Kevin Gagnepain, Marketing Coordinator, APC Direct     2. The LLC is commonly known as the best way to setup a company. Why would someone do something else? What is the absolute WORST legal mistake entrepreneurs can make?   Interview with Jeff Michelman, Principal, Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal P.C.     3. How do you spice up your content?   Interview with Jamie Allman, Show Host, Allman In The Morning on FM NewsTalk 97.1     4. Big vs. Small: What are the keys to selling to big companies vs. small companies? Panelists: Ben Scully, President of Business Development, Abstrakt Marketing   Scott Scully, President of Agency Division, Abstrakt Marketing       Michelle Pokorny, Solution VP – Sales Incentives, Maritz     5. Customer Service: What are two ways to keep customers coming back? Panelists:   Johnny Londoff, President, Johnny Londoff Chevrolet       Brad Beracha, Founder, Beracha Concepts       Ryan Mortland, Founder, MB Consulting Group     6. Does every… Read More

Little change up today (and who doesn’t like a change up now and then?) These are four talks from this past month’s RISE Lunch in St. Louis, Missouri which brings together entrepreneurs, forward-thinkers, marketers and innovators for some schmoozing, great food from Araka Restaurant and short, powerful, actionable presentations. Here are the presentations in their entirety (I will get some slides for you as well up soon). The next RISE Lunch is May 5th and is going to be a heck of a good one focusing on Sales 2.0: Online, Offline, Everywhere. From lead generation to closing the deal. Tickets for these events fly (limited to 50) and last time it sold out with just one email…tickets will go on sale later today. TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE (Nab ‘em before they are gone!) Note: This are a little low-rez. I’ll have high-rez up soon. In order of appearance: #1: Picking The Experts Brain: Search Engine Optimization. Three buzzwords heating up this year in the business world. But what can SEO do for your business? JoAnna Dettman and Kaysha Kalkofen co-founders of tSunela (a top search engine firm in St. Louis and disclosure: Sponsor of RISE) join David to discuss the current state of SEO as well some basics for business owners…without getting too techy: Bonus: As mentioned in the video, if you want a free website audit (sweet) from tSunela, they have generously offered it to the RISE community. You can take ‘em up on it here. #2: Building… Read More