Rylee Meek: Social Dynamic Selling System Expert Rylee Meek

Rylee Meek Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast

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Introducing Rylee Meek

Rylee Meek is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

He is the founder and CEO of the Social Dynamic Selling System, which turns dinner seminar marketing into a science.

After responding to a small ad on Craigslist in 2009, Rylee was introduced to a new concept of selling, one in which radically changed his life forever.

Having just $673 in his bank account, but more importantly a burning desire for more, Rylee went on to produce over $80 million in sales over the past 8 years.

Now that he has perfected his model, through continual trial and error, he is sharing this learned wisdom, and is on a mission to help other entrepreneurs and
business owners achieve the revenue goals they have to live the lifestyle they desire.

Everything he teaches is tried, tested, refined, and proven to create a predictable, sustainable, and scalable selling system.

As he says “Our mission is to help you create predictable, sustainable and scalable business, so you can generate leads on demand, have people showing up to appointments and closing those leads into sales without spending a dime on advertising online.”

Sounds pretty dam fine to me.

So what was it about that small ad on Craig’s list that grabbed his attention so much?

And when you think that people buy from people they trust, why do so few people actually attempt to meet and discuss over dinner?

Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Rylee Meek

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such deep weighty subjects with Rylee Meek such as:

Rylee shares how the world has lost the ability to truly sit down and build a level of trust with the people they want to go into business with.

Why it is so important to grab an opportunity when you see it (although so many people fail to move on past that first look)

We discuss Rylee’s journey from first selling products that he didn’t care about, to truly wanting to make a difference to other peoples lives.

and lastly……

Why the world is missing a huge piece of the pie, by ignoring local search and attempting to find a customer on the other side of the world.

How To Connect With Rylee Meek

Website

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Return To The Top Of Rylee Meek

If you enjoyed this episode with Rylee Meek, why not check out other inspirational chat with Tosca Reno, Roz Savage, Dan Lok, and the amazing Jack Canfield

Interview Transcription Of Rylee Meek Interview

David Ralph [0:01]
Once upon a time, there was a guy with a dream a dream, which is Jobs himself online and have a kick ass life working when he wanted him where he wanted across the world. Little did he know that dream would lead him into a world of struggle, burnout and debt. Until he found the magic ingredient and knows drunk was became a thing of the past, of course, was bad person. And now My dream is to make things happen for you. Welcome to Join Up Dots.

Intro [0:31]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.

David Ralph [0:57]
Yes, hello there. Good morning. Well, good morning to you. After 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, somebody comes along with a different spin on things, something that breaks my attention and makes me turn in their direction. Now he is the founder and CEO of the social dynamics selling system. Yeah, I know you’re keeping hearing about selling, but this is slightly different. This turns dinner seminar marketing into a science. Now, after responding to a small ad on Craigslist in 2009, he was introduced to a new concept of selling one in which radically changed his life forever. I mean, just $673 in his bank account, but more importantly, a burning desire for more even went on to produce over 80 million in sales over the past eight years. And now that he’s perfected this model, through continual trial and error, he sharing this learned wisdom and he’s on a mission to help other entrepreneurs and business owners achieve the revenue goals. They have to live the lifestyle by design, everything he teaches. He’s tried, tested, refined and proven to create predictable, sustainable and scalable setting system. As he says our mission is to help you create predictable, sustainable and scalable business. So you can generate leads on demand have people showing up to appointments, and closing those leads into sales without spending a dime on advertising online? Sounds pretty damn fine to me. So what was it that about that small ad on Craigslist that grabbed his attention so much back in 2009? And when you think that people buy from people by trust, why do so few people actually attempt to meet them and discuss stuff over dinner? Well, let’s find out as we bring on to the show, to start Join Up Dots with the one and only Rylee Meek. Good morning. How are you sir?

Rylee Meek [2:47]
Doing well. Thanks, David. lovely introduction, man.

David Ralph [2:51]
It’s great to have you here. It really is. And you are in Minneapolis at the moment you are in Trump land. You delighted with everything that’s going on around you at the moment?

Rylee Meek [3:03]
You know what I am? I am, I am absolutely pumped with everything that’s going on at the moment. So happy to be a Minnesota and happy to be here in the USA.

David Ralph [3:12]
Now with yourself with a business like yourself, you said to me that you’re in a place right starting to get colder, so you’re not missing much and I always wonder why anybody doesn’t sort of um, follow the sun with a transportable business. Is yours transportable or does it need a centralised hub to make it operate?

Rylee Meek [3:34]
It’s actually quite transportable. You know, I do reside temporarily in in Minnesota. But thankfully, my wife and I have a condo on the beach down in Florida as well. So we are back and forth there. I’m not one of the crazies that live full time up here in Minnesota, that’s for sure. It really just the system that we’ve built here is what really has allowed us to do that pretty much anywhere throughout the entire Country here utilising the system that the social dynamic salad system.

David Ralph [4:05]
It’s interesting base because I haven’t seen this but as soon as I saw it float in front of me, I thought, this is obvious really this this seems to me, you know, time immemorial, people have met over a couple of pints and business deals have been struck. Is it because nowadays it’s so easy to click a link and sit behind our computer screen that we’re losing that ability to really understand that all business is about personal connection and trust.

Rylee Meek [4:35]
Absolutely, man, I really think that that’s one of kind of the last Arts in the selling kind of platform that’s really just come about over the last you know, not even really less than a decade even its people have that, that desire that that like thirst to still have that that human interaction there’s there’s nothing better than like you said having having a pint or a glass of beer here in the in the US and chit chat and like, like buds are, you know, sitting down breaking bread and being able to shake somebody’s hand that that human interaction i think is something that has really been kind of a lost art here. And part of the reason why I think we’ve experienced so much success is we’re able to gather a group of people in a neutral setting that’s comfortable and fun and, and we can talk about really anything and everything and and I think that’s what allows our system to work so well. It’s is there to hang out and and have a good time and learn and not necessarily feel like they’re being sold something at any given time. Now there’s a guy that I

David Ralph [5:38]
first interviewed on Join Up Dots back on episode 12. over six years ago, it was before I actually launched, called Jason gainer. And he created a kind of mastermind event where the movers and shakers would congregate they’d have dinner, it be all closed behind doors and you know, once again, they break bread. They make Business missions and businesses were formed. I was six years ago and that was the last time that I’ve heard about this kind of thing occurring which is kind of rocked me on my heels suddenly and I thought to myself, I thought it was a good idea back Then why have I only just heard it again from Riley meek, Alia, thousands of people doing this? Or is this a sort of new one that you’ve tapped into?

Rylee Meek [6:24]
Well, it’s certainly not new. You know, what we specialise in is is BSc in and getting you know, helping a business owner or an entrepreneur or young person that has an idea as a great product great service, but they don’t know how to take it to the market you know, you can have the greatest product in the world and and service in the world. But if you don’t have a way to reach the masses, you’re going to go broke doesn’t you know, if you build it, they don’t come you got to go out there and get them and you got to have a system to figure that out. And, and so what what we do it’s it’s not necessarily new, but it’s we’ve taken it to a kind of the next level you Know here in the States financial advisors and you know, insurance producers have been doing this for decades where, you know, they didn’t invite you out and try to get you to roll over their annuities or assets or whatever into their portfolio and things like that. And, and I was aware of that at the time. But I what we’ve done is we’ve kind of taken that in transition that into multiple different verticals in different industries, not just like the financial service industry. And so we’ve been doing this and I mean, home remodelling industry, the cosmetic industry, the medical industry, investment clubs, travel, you name it, we’ve we’ve pretty much been able to fill rooms throughout the country here in and just getting people to come on out to that neutral environment, just to get break bread. And there’s something to be said about that. You know, that law of reciprocity where if you’re giving somebody something there, they’re going to give you something in return and even if that’s just their time, If you’re able to at least gain their attention for a period of time, if you do a good enough job or have a compelling enough product or service, they’re going to do business with you.

David Ralph [8:09]
Right? Let’s take it back. I’m sure you’ve been asked this question many, many times, but it’s a good question. So I’m going to ask it again. 2009 Riley’s walking around he sees Craigslist which over here in the United Kingdom we know of it but it doesn’t seem to be as big thing. He just doesn’t seem to have hit home over here at all. What was it about that one ad that made you stop and and look at it twice?

Rylee Meek [8:36]
Well, I don’t know about that ad in particular, but it I’ve been searching online for the last three to four months. You know, the I could give you the whole backstory, but really leading up to this it was I was searching for something. And I was, you know, just spending hours and hours online trying to figure out what am I going to do next. And the ad was simply work three days a week and make 10,000 bucks. Uh, you know, it’s like you see those ads all the time. It’s like yeah, right whatever. But for something that there’s just something about this call it divine intervention or whatever you want to call it, but I clicked on it and I had inquired, and it after multiple conversations with this gentleman, I kind of grasped what he was trying to do, but it didn’t really hit home for me until I actually he invited me out to an event. A couple weeks after that I was a couple hour drive from from where I live, but I was I was willing to take a look at it and see what he was actually doing. And when I

David Ralph [9:34]
was it was in a little bit at that time, but you fall right on the day because most people will click something they will do the first part of work, but then on the day where you’ve got to drive two hours you can’t be bothered what was there ever that fine line at that moment that could have changed your life forever.

Rylee Meek [9:54]
There wasn’t I mean, really because I couldn’t wait for that that you know, two weeks to come because at the at that time. I was at a pretty unique spot in my life. I had, you know, multiple, you know, great successes but multiple failed opportunities and I was kind of in one of those, you know, the the valleys I was certainly wasn’t at a peak time in my life. I was sleeping on my sister’s couch, I had no less than 1000 bucks in my bank account, like you had said, and it was like I needed something I was searching, I was hungry. And I was willing to take a look at anything. So it was almost opposite of like, I couldn’t wait to actually get to the at that event and actually see what was actually going to be what was going to be taking place.

David Ralph [10:33]
When you walked through the door, how much of the imposter syndrome was sitting on your shoulder? How much did you slink in sideways? And think about you’d gone into some kind of, you know, weird occult.

Rylee Meek [10:49]
Well, I knew I knew the concept was, you know, he was inviting people to this event. And he was he was ultimately presenting a product to sell to them and You know, just with my communication with him, it was a, I knew I was going there to look at an opportunity to do something similar of the sort. So I didn’t really feel like that, but it did completely blow my mind that people were actually there. You know, my background, my whole family has been involved with like, you know, network marketing and these MLM and things and it’s like, okay, you’re going to go to this event. So I’m like, when I walked in, and he had like, 23 people in this room, I was like, what, holy, what’s going on here? And they and, you know, he gave us a nice little 45 minute presentation, which was great. People were intrigued. They were energise, they got to eat. He picked up the tab for dinner, but they got to eat and then he simply asked for an appointment to meet with them one on one after the fact and, and that’s what really blew my mind. It’s like, Okay, we got people there. Step one. Now Is anybody even care about this? Are they interested and he ended up getting like seven appointments to meet with people the next day. That’s what really blew my mind. Because I, my background was more so selling one on one where I would do presentations to, you know, whether it’s cold calling telemarketing door knocking whatever I would, I would my goal is to get down no soup kitchen table, you know need any whatever you want to call in and be able to do a two three hour presentation and ultimately ask for the sale. So taking somebody from A to Z within a two to three hour time period and you know, hopefully making some money in the process but if you didn’t sell you didn’t make any money. And so what blew my mind was that he was able to get a group of people together, do one Rockstar presentation. And then he simply asked for the appointment after the fact and so they already knew what the product was. They knew they wanted it or they were at least intrigued enough to find out how much it was going to be. And now all he had to do was present price and so that’s what like rocked my world was like whoa because of my you know I’ve made decent amount of money. Throughout this process, but at this time I was struggling. And I always knew just as a commission based sales rep, it was like, my income is always going to be capped by the amount of time in a day. And you know, I could go do 234 or five presentations in a day, but realistically, you’re not going to do many more than that. dependent upon, of course, the product that you’re selling and so when I when I saw him do one presentation to a group, selling one too many, that’s what really rocked my world and and kind of opened the lid on my thinking of Holy cow. I if he did one presentation, I got seven appointments, how I’ll do seven presentations and get, you know, 49 appointments, and so that that’s what really opened my eyes and the vision to this actual this concept of selling one too many versus selling one on one.

David Ralph [13:48]
Well, we see that now of course online with the the webinar where people can click on it and you get multiple people turn up now. I do I used to do a lot of webinars, I don’t do them anymore, because I just got annoyed by the amount of people, but I had to turn up. And you know, now, this is different, isn’t it? Because it’s an actual event, it’s a place. I think there’s for far more commitment. When somebody says they’re going to go, would you think?

Rylee Meek [14:18]
Oh, absolutely. And I’ve done webinars to and that’s the most frustrating part, you’ve got to get, you know, 1000 people registered to get 100, to show and that those are good numbers. And that’s definitely and part of that, too, is, you know, everything that I’ve kind of designed in this system is, is measurable, and there’s steps that we take and every every step has an outcome. And I know how to adjust things kind of on the fly and, and to get people to take action, even if it’s that little action of getting into their car to drive to this venue. And even if they’re coming there because they’re getting fed a free meal. I don’t care how they got there. Like if you do a good enough job and have a compelling enough product or presentation, they’re going to they’re going to buy from you I you know, I call what we do is really a call it fishing with corn dogs. And what I mean by that is, is like we’re, you know, there’s not a fish in nature that will sustain a quality life off of solely eating corn dogs. But if you throw a corn dog on a hook and then throw it in the water, they’re gonna bite it every single time. And that the concept of this, this free dinner, that’s our that’s our corn dog. Okay, because you know, if I just if I said we do a tonne of direct mail here in the States, and if I sent 5000 pieces out that just said, Come learn about x, I’m going to get a absolutely, you know, horrific official rate for that type of event. But if I say come on out, I’m going to teach you about x and enjoy a nice steak dinner on myself. We get incredible response rates. And again, some of them will come out just for the free dinner but I don’t care. That’s that’s to me a cost of doing business and I’m happy that they’re there because That helps create that social dynamic Yeah, of what we have in that room. And, you know, that’s really where the name social dynamic kind of came from, is that, you know, as you know, we’re sitting in a bar having a pint, there’s a social dynamic going on there, you know, there’s people conversing, they’re laughing, they’re having a good time, there’s the server, the bartender, that’s a whole dynamic that’s going on or you know, or if your church it’s the same thing, it’s a social dynamic that’s taking place there. And we’ve been able to kind of refine this where it’s your, it’s your room, it’s your atmosphere, you know, it’s your circus will call it and you’re the ringleader and, and you’re able to control that dynamic in that atmosphere of keeping them energised and excited, and taking them on that emotional journey to ultimately make that buying decision.

David Ralph [16:46]
Well, of course, we’re going to touch on your sort of your starting point to this but I do have to tell you, I had my first corn dog recently. It was horrible. It was disgusting. What is battled about that Each week we’ve accomplished one I don’t get it

Rylee Meek [17:04]
you know, I’m not a fan either. But I’ll tell you my my seven year old daughter is loves them. I have no clue that where that came from, but you know that the state fairs and county fairs here selling like crazy.

David Ralph [17:16]
ain’t so bad idea. Now what wasn’t a bad idea was the fact that your first sales company that you started back in 2011. So you’ve got to remember listeners, it was 2009. He was walking around looking for things clicked on this ad 2010 probably didn’t sort of set the world alight. So there’s a couple of years journey on this. from your home office generated a little over $2 million in its first six months. What was the difference? What where where was 2009 to 2011 in your competence level because a lot of it online and in the real world, is about the winning the inner game isn’t it is when we finally believed That we know what we’re talking about, we finally believe that we’re better than other people. That’s when the world starts looking at us and go, yeah, we actually believe that too. And things become a bit easier.

Rylee Meek [18:11]
Yeah, absolutely. It was definitely a journey to get to this point of, you know, even from 2009 to 2011. I saw this ad and had this great idea. And from there, it was like, Okay, what can I sell? Like, what what can What can I sell to reach the masses? Because usually people have a product or service that they are excited about, you know, and now it’s like, Okay, how do I get the client or the customer? And that’s usually their struggle, and mine was opposite. Like, I realised that I thought I had this system, you know, this idea of getting groups of people together. But now it’s like, what the heck Could I sell? And so that’s really what what took the, the, the the struggle or the time that it took me to figure this out on what I could sell through this concept, and it ultimately came down to You know, what, what, what problem is out there? And you know, is it can I figured out a solution to it? And if so, could I make it, you know, a streamlined system that had high enough profit margins for the system to work because, you know, if you sell a $40 widget online, I will be the first to tell you that this is not the system for you. Okay? Now, if you have a lifetime value to your customer, where you can step them up from a $40 widget to a, you know, $5,000 item, then this maybe would be the system for you. But this does take money to get going. And that was part of my struggle, as well. And as you mentioned, you know, I hosted my first event, I had 673 bucks in my bank account in full well, knowing like it was do or die if I didn’t go make some sales. I wasn’t going to make rent that month. And so that was that’s a real situation that, you know, as an entrepreneur, we go through it, but I think those are the most defining moments in our lives of being able to know what it’s like. back against the wall, and you got no other option.

David Ralph [20:03]
Yeah, but you always have an option, don’t you? That’s the thing. You know, I think everything, the fact that How old are you at the moment Riley? I’m 34, right? You’re 34 You’re just a baby, right? I’m gonna be 50 next year. And I really, it really dawned on me recently that I’m 50 years old, and I’ve made a billion plus decisions. And I’m still here, rocking and rolling. I’m still moving on, you know. And so when you have that thing where you go, right, the 673 it’s do or die, and a lot of people will go, I will protect what I’ve got. I now say to people, do it and then see what happens and then do something else that you always find your way through. I just don’t think that there’s anything which is, you know, bad cut and dry anymore. Do

Unknown Speaker [20:52]
you really?

Rylee Meek [20:54]
Sure. No, no, I definitely agree with you because leading up to this point, that was that was my life. It was I’ve Felt like I’ve had, you know, three midlife crisis is at the age of 34 already. So it’s like, there’s always options. There’s always different routes to go. But for this particular situation that I was in that was my mindset was like, I burned the boats like this is I’m throwing everything at this thing right now. And yeah, there’s always options. But that wasn’t my mindset, because if my mindset was that, oh, I can always go do something else. I knew I wasn’t going to, you know, Excel to the ability that I could in that particular situation. So I think it was more of a mindset that I had to put myself in than just knowing that well, I can go ask my mom or dad for money, or I can go you know that like that’s was never an option in my mind.

David Ralph [21:42]
Well, let’s play some words now and then we’ll come back to Rylee Meek

Rocky Balboa [21:45]
You mean nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take a keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.

David Ralph [22:01]
Now I’m always intrigued with those words, and I play them every now and again, not all the time. Because how much now do you look back on and just see as training, the punches you were taking, if you did achieve right at the very beginning 2008 2009 I now think that you’ve got to be punched around. I think a spike becomes better, because it gets beaten up a bit. What do you think?

Rylee Meek [22:26]
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think, I think the struggles that I’ve gone through early on, I don’t regret a single thing and my life in it. I don’t think anybody really showed that there’s, there’s never failure, there’s only feedback. And you know, to kind of play off what we were just talking about. It’s like, yeah, you’re going to fail, you’re going to struggle at many times, you know, it’s very rare that somebody hits a home run on their first swing at it, you know, if you do usually will go go back and swing again and then you realise what failure is actually like, but like, that’s if you take That concept of you know, there’s there’s only there’s never failure, there’s only feedback and you can build off that and know what you need to fix and refine and constantly be, you know, checking your your processes and systems and things like that. I think you’re you’ve got nowhere to go but up. And it. I think that’s key with any entrepreneur and just the mindset that they have that you’re going to fail, you’re going to struggle, but you can’t, can’t let that keep you down. And I love that clip to by Rocky. Now,

David Ralph [23:29]
there’s going to be a lot of people out there thinking, right, this is all right, I’ve got nothing to sell, you know, yeah, I could start this. I could get a whole I could get in a band, but I’ve got nothing to sell. So how would somebody start? Is it about joint ventures Is it about you know, because when you’re sitting here listening to these podcasts, I’m very aware. But not only have you not built a network around you, but you haven’t grown those muscles, of seeing things in a different way. It’s very black and white.

Unknown Speaker [23:59]
What would you suggest?

Rylee Meek [24:03]
Yeah, this is where I was at early on. And this is what what I kind of struggled with was what could I sell utilising this format or this system and, and as I mentioned before, it was like I needed to find a need and be able to find that solution. But more importantly, I needed to be able to craft a message of how I could get a person to make a buying decision on that because people don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want. And you know, you can you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink, but you can certainly put salt in his oats and making want to drink. And that’s what I had to really develop or figure out in this process of, you know, what could I sell, which was a struggle for me because we were selling products that I didn’t give two reps about, like it was just like, I don’t care anything about it. But I loved the ability to provide for my family. And that was you know, that was my my first endeavour. And like you’d mentioned we did 2.1 million are for six months in doing that, and that’s kind of what you know, really not knowing what I was doing. But again, I was doing this to provide for my family. And you know, kind of going through the,

Unknown Speaker [25:15]
the,

Rylee Meek [25:17]
what we call the ups and downs of an entrepreneur, or early on it’s usually all about the money all about the money all about the money. Until once you once you make enough money, it doesn’t become about the money, then it becomes more you know about something more fulfilling. And really what how the social dynamic system really kind of came about.

David Ralph [25:37]
Now that 2.1 million were you sitting there going? Haha, yes, I’ve made it I’ve made it. Or were you thinking like so many of my guests on Join Up Dots who’ve had great success. a fluke this base, it’s gonna go wrong and I won’t be able to replicate it.

Rylee Meek [26:00]
No, I think that was I was actually opposite because it was certainly have those those thoughts, those doubts, we I think we all have those doubts and to not be able to own them, I think you’re lying to yourself that we have those, like, is this really real? You know, it’s even even now I question myself have Am I really good at this? or What am I really doing it? You know, it’s like I have we have those thoughts, those, those negative thoughts, and how we, you know, respond to those i think is the most important, but when we when we first did that, that 2.1 million for me, it was like, Okay, perfect. Now how can we grow? Like, how can we scale this thing across the country, and that’s what we did, the entire next year was focusing on growing scaling, teaching and training and which I stepped back from actually doing the sales myself and, and became more of a coach and trained my team to do so. And that’s what we did the following year, as well. And then we looked at other products to sell and so it was more of a What else can we do? What else can we do? Let’s do this capitalise on everything now, because maybe I did have that thought in the back of my head of like, I don’t know how long this is going to last or, you know, is this all going to blow up in my face at some point? You know that that certainly I think is a thought that we all have. But how you respond to it, I think is the most important.

David Ralph [27:19]
Now, you mentioned earlier having a very low and yeah, and basically, people always talk about this. And there’s a logic that kind of makes sense. I go against it for certain reasons, but having a very low entry product that leads people through a series of steps onto a lifetime membership or some kind of subscription model. Now with your business for my way of thinking in my very naive way of thinking, it’s very much of you’ve got to keep on getting clients through the door over time, or do people keep them coming back because I like the social and they like the free food, you know, how does it work to get that recurring income

Rylee Meek [28:01]
Yeah, well it just you know, again My background is like the network marketing MLM world where that’s like, that’s the vision That’s the goal. It’s like all that mailbox money or you know, whatever they used to call it like you want that residual income where you can lay on the beach and sip Margarita is all day long. But I think if any entrepreneur actually has that as like their goal in mind, I think once they got to that point, they’d quickly change their goals because the reason you’re an entrepreneur The reason you hustle is because you love it. And I don’t my wife and I talked about this like winner wins retirement everything even be even for herself. It’s like, I could never, absolutely could never retire because this is like, I this is what fuels me is that the thrill of the hunt, of being able to, you know, come up with the next marketing programme or the next product that we’re going to sell and, and to really answer the question, it depends on what you’re selling with within our system, so You know it early on, I was creating, I was figuring out the products of what to sell. And personally, we’ve sold multiple different products use utilising the system, but since I’ve kind of transitioned and and actually created this more more of a coaching and consulting type of platform, depending on the product that my clients have, we can build a system back into that. So we always start with the end in mind of like, what is your ultimate goal here? What are we selling? And then we kind of back into it and determine, you know, what is your client acquisition costs now? Do you have a lifetime value of to that client, and then we kind of back into it and see if it’s even feasible to develop a campaign that would work long term. And again, it this it takes thousands of dollars to make these events happen. So that’s where if, if it is a $48 widget, and we gotta sell 400 of these to make a profit, I will not I would be the first one to tell you. We’re not the programme for you. You should, you know, build a funnel online or do do whatever you’re going to do. From that standpoint, but if you have a high enough margin of you know, profit margin on your product, in which we could create a, a message model that’s clear from the invitation to how we deliver the presentation to the group of people to how we ask for the appointment, how we ask for the actual sale, we can create a sustainable system that you could do weekend and week wow, you know, in multiple different markets throughout the country. And that that’s what we did. The first couple years. We started in one one state one market. And by the end of the second year, we already had 26 sales crews selling in 38 different states every single week. Now, one of

David Ralph [30:43]
the things I mentioned in the intro is that you can do all this without spending a spending a dime on online ads. So how are you getting the people through the door in the first place? Is it just word of mouth? How have you do you doing that?

Rylee Meek [30:59]
We do a lot of Direct Mail, good old fashioned direct mail. It I love talking about this because everything’s kind of shifted to online and you know, Facebook ads or SEO or whatever it is. And I’ve tried both. But without a doubt that the highest return on investment that I’ve ever gotten was using good old fashioned direct mail, where we’re, you know, we’re highly targeting the client that we’re attracting. So again, starting with the end in mind, we want to know, what are you trying to sell? Do you know who your true client avatar is? It’s surprisingly, a lot of people don’t they don’t have any clue. And so we help kind of reverse engineer what is their ideal client? Like who what what do they look like? Is it is it five foot four to five foot eight brunettes with blue eyes, or is it six was good on that one, blonde hair, blue eyes, you know? So it’s it, we highly narrow it down, not only demographically, but then geographically as well, too. Know the list that we need to purchase. And then we create a very personalised invitation about the product or service that they’re, they’re looking to teach them on or educate them on. And that’s how we get such a high response rate, because it’s very personalised, you know, it’d be a Mr. Ralph, would you like to come on out to a free steak dinner, we’re going to teach you about XYZ. And if you know if we’ve hooked them, if we’ve got them with that corn dog, now we get them to the event. And then now, you know, our second measurable comes into play where we’re presenting, we’re doing the presentation. And so there’s, there’s, there’s steps and processes throughout this whole thing. But majority of what we do is solely offline. You hear a lot about the online funnel system. And I really think we’ve created an offline funnel system that allows us to track you know, all of the measurable strength is process all the data so we know exactly where we’re struggling or or we’re knocking it out of the Mark,

David Ralph [33:00]
I think this is very wise because I’m in the online world. Most of my business is online but I also hate it because it’s it’s too lazy in many ways, and there’s a world of achievement and success I operated before the internet. So why are we switching off from it? Now? I know somebody like Russell Brunson, who runs the Click Funnels thing. He basically took direct marketing and re engineered it into online and saw it was exactly the same. where people were seeing adverts on radio. Nowadays, it’s podcast, getting emails, Ben, it was letters. There’s there’s so much success out there that can be copied. It seems ridiculous to me, Riley that so many people just go. I’m not doing that. Now. I’m just going to do Facebook ads. I’m just going to do this. I’m just going to do that.

Rylee Meek [33:52]
Right. Absolutely. I mean, if you find your niche, and you’re good at it, run with it, but full well knowing any good entrepreneur and Nobody that has any vision knows, like Russell knew, like he, you know, even everything he’s doing today, you know, he’s planning the next steps. He’s he’s got plans two years, three years, five years down the road, as do we and so if at any point, we need to pivot and you know, market differently, we have the means to be able to do so. But you know, what, I know what works, I’m going to continue to, to make that thing work as long as possible and, and why partly, I think direct mail works so well now. Because there’s a period of time where people just thought direct mail is dead direct mail is dead. And I still love hearing that because that means there’s less competition out there for me. You know, it email. The online world is such a cluttered platform to get your message across because there’s so many people doing it, where I can send a personalised invitation and I’m competing with maybe three to four other pieces of junk mail. And, you know, all I have to do is, you know, everybody stands over their, their garbage can when they go The Mailbox, it’s like they’re you, what you gotta do is catch their attention right away. And that’s what we’ve been good at at being able to again, hook them with that that corn dog. And then if I can get them to open that invitation, there’s a good chance that I can get them to take action.

David Ralph [35:14]
Also, what I love about what we’re talking about here is the concept of local. I’m absolutely obsessed about local search, local businesses, local connection, because I know that there’s so much power to be had to the fact of locality. And the fact that people are just down the road. And I’m building a several businesses behind the scenes on Join Up Dots at the moment, which is purely about targeting local businesses, and that ability for people to get in their car and drive to you or just just turn up at an event. People will skip that don’t know it all seems to be Oh, let’s sail to Australia when you’re in America, but actually the person doors down from you is just as good a customers, the other people,

Rylee Meek [36:05]
right? Yeah, absolutely. And that I think that’s what we thrive on. And not only being local, but we were able to bring something to people that wouldn’t normally have access to it. And what I mean by that is, you know, I, I’m in Minneapolis, Minnesota right now, but we’re doing events in hundreds of different markets throughout the whole country. For instance, I actually just just this on Monday and Tuesday of this past week, I held the events in this small community over in Wisconsin, and I went over and worked with the client and helped deliver the presentation and get them appointments and, and one of the most beautiful things is is that I was able to help them take a product to people that lived in a small community that would normally not have access to this. But again, we’re inviting them out to a local, neutral atmosphere, a well known restaurant, a list of family owned and operated state Coulson that community and they’re happy to come on out to hear about this, this new and exciting product that we’re bringing to the market there and, and I think that that takes down a lot of the the walls of you know I’m going to be sold something as we bring them to that neutral environment and and just presented in the really the whole point of what we do from a presentation standpoint is to is to get that end user that client or customer to know like and trust you and and I’m not having to do that in a hard pressure kind of sales tactics. standpoint, I’m able to do that, like, come on out, we’re joking around, we’re having a good time, everybody’s enjoying themselves, we get to break bread. And at the end of it if you know like and trust me, I can you know, let you know what the cost would be in a one on one environment. And so I think not only is it is it local, were able to keep it local with you know, wherever your proximity is now but we’re able to go take it to others. markets, which, which is really what allows us to scale so quickly, and why, you know, companies come to us who don’t necessarily have a brand in a certain market, but they know they have clients, their potential customers there, they come to us because we could schedule an event so that they they show show up into town, they can have a an audit, an audience actually ready to listen to what they have to offer without having to have the brand awareness or recognition in that community.

David Ralph [38:29]
So let’s jump back to that question that we kind of pose but we moved on from about the struggle of finding something to sell. So people understand the concept of what you’re arranging and how to organise it, but still, that stumbling block of what do I do what you know, how do we overcome that?

Rylee Meek [38:51]
Yeah, so again, not knowing what to sell for me was I had to find something that was universal that I could that I could reach the masses and It was it for me, I’ll tell you exactly what I ended up doing was I knew every most people that I’m targeting to was homeowners. Okay, so all right, what does every homeowner have? What bills do they have? You know, what are they upset about? And I came up with the concept of every homeowner wants to save money on their utility bills, right? Like everybody’s paying, you know, too much money here in the states for their electric use, or their gas use? And what were some simple things that we could we could do to offset that. So it was like creating the, you know, the finding the problem now Could I figured out a solution to it, you know, a good solution that would that would relieve these guys as problems. Now, some of them may not even know that they have that problem, because that’s just a way of life for them. And that’s where I had to back into Okay, how do I get that across? You know, how do I how do I expose the fact that we’re spending too much on our utility bills, and and then back into that creating that message not only in my My invitation so they know what they’re coming out to listen to, but also in how I present that in front of the room and then ultimately get them to take action. So it’s it’s good that you could find the problem, ultimately seek out the solution but then we need to figure out how to craft that message and make it saleable, because as I mentioned before, people don’t want what they need. People don’t buy what they need, they buy what they want, and that’s where you got to make them want what you have to offer. I agree

David Ralph [40:28]
with that to a point but people don’t buy what they need, but if they need it badly enough, they’re gonna buy it. You know, if you look at an emergency plumber, you’re not going to quibble if you’ve got water pouring down your ceiling you’re just going to go for that straight away so he’s not simply wanting need is it?

Rylee Meek [40:47]
Sure yeah. But that’s where I you know, I wouldn’t a plumber is not my customer, not my not my client. I wouldn’t tell a plumber to go to dinner seminars, hoping somebody’s gonna have a leak in the toilet. You know? That’s You know that’s got that’s that’s a different type of marketing that’s

David Ralph [41:02]
a good point you just made man is a good point and you put me in my place with that one

Rylee Meek [41:09]
so yeah, it’s it’s more about creating that emotional, emotional attachment same thing I struggle with this with like, you know, ah, fact people a air conditioned people are roofing people it’s like, Yeah, everybody should replace the roof. But if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, that that’s kind of the concept that people have. And so it’s probably not the best form of marketing, to be optimised. Marketing might not be the best form for that particular product or service. I’m not saying what I do is the best thing for everything. We have specific niches that work extremely well. And then we have some that will be and that’s why I always do an initial call before I ever encourage somebody to take on what we do. Or not just because it’s like it’s not for everybody, by any means.

David Ralph [41:55]
So somebody comes along on your website, is this how it works. It’s like they get a letter through the door, whatever they look at it, they think is interesting. My vein come to your website, do a discovery call, or did I go straight to the event? How do you do it?

Rylee Meek [42:13]
So, it depends on the product that we’re selling. You know, if we’re talking about marketing to onboard new clients in the system, that’s completely different than if I if I’m working with a client that’s selling, you know, cosmetic surgery, dental, you know, say I’m working with a dentist. If you know if they’re getting an invitation to come learn about getting veneers or whatever the case is, they’re going to usually pick up the phone, they have an option to reserve online, but usually the picking up the phone dial in our 800 line, we have a 24 seven call centre that that takes those confirmations and RSVP for the actual event. So we’re getting that the end user that customer to actually take action to call in and RSVP and that’s that that kind of first step to getting commitment that they’re going to actually show up for the event.

David Ralph [43:05]
Now where is this business heading for you? Is it just scale scale scale? Because I do see there’s a tipping point when people say Actually, it was all about the business it was all about the hustle but now other passions come You know, we we start building schools in Africa or helping homeless people or whatever. Certainly, it seems to go from being inward outward. whereabouts are you on that journey? Riley?

Rylee Meek [43:34]
Yeah, absolutely. Initially it was all about okay scale scale scale, let’s grow how much money Money can we make but I had, you know, kind of a epiphany will call it one night when I just come home off the after a decent sales week. It was I know it’s a Wednesday night I was I was sitting down just kind of get an ad made a decent amount of money. I was I was happy. So to say from that standpoint, my family we lived a great Life we, you know, we could pretty much do what we want when we wanted. But it was just this this unfulfillment feeling within me and that that’s when I really realised it wasn’t about the money that there’s more out there to life than that. And for those that have made a lot of money, if you probably had that same type of realisation, or if you haven’t yet, I guarantee you will. I know, money isn’t everything until you don’t have enough of it. And when you don’t have enough of it, that’s when it really becomes everything. And thankfully, at that point in time, I, I had enough of it, but it was looking for like, what, what’s next? And I thought back to like, you know, the early days of when I was 17 1819 year olds trying to figure out how to sell and, and Okay, I thought I had a good product, but I couldn’t figure out how to take it to the masses. And I thought, Man, like maybe, maybe the system that we had was the actual product. And I thought about like the struggles of the feast and famine really of most honourable printers or most business owners were there, you know, whether they’re buying leads or, you know, door knocking or cold calling, or whatever the case is, that’s socks, you know, I mean, that’s just not a fun thing to do. And I thought about that. And I thought, Man, if I had, maybe the system could be the product, if I found those business owners, those entrepreneurs or those, those even sales reps that that have a passion for their product or their service, but just don’t know how to take it to the masses or even how to take it to a local group of people. Maybe I could help them. And that’s when I really just started to write and I started to think about everything that I had been doing over the past few years of, of, you know, not the products that we had sold but how we how we perfected our system with how we crafted our message to how we booked our venues to how we answered phone calls, how we did our confirmation calls, how we’ve laid out the room of the venue did we did what at what time did we have Have salads at what time did we have dinner, the follow up process how to ask. I just started to write and write and write and write and and that kind of laid the initial foundation of the transitional period for myself from continually selling my own products and services to teaching people how to sell their products and services. And that’s really what I’ve been doing the past few years now is is coaching and consulting people versus taking on my own and ever in own business of selling products and services.

David Ralph [46:33]
And you must have learned so much in in the process of doing that, because I’m just reading your book, and she was talking. And you say, you know, creating the course wasn’t easy, something I’d never done before knowing about the entire process. And so all in my head, I had to pull it out of my head and put it down on paper. And so as you were doing it, I imagine it was quite cathartic and you realised that there was obstacles that could be moved into a different position. There were stumbling blocks. Maybe you didn’t need going forward?

Rylee Meek [47:04]
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it really helped me lay it out because I never thought of it in that aspect. You know, I was always working in my business, not on my business. And so I was able to kind of take a step back and go, okay, it was like, you know, human chess of what we do, and how we get people to take action, just the moat, the smallest little things to, you know, adding into the confirmation call of, you know, because we got the RSVP. Now, it’s like, we want to want to make sure they actually show up. So adding to the confirmation call of, you know, we’ve got to let the restaurant know what you what you would like to eat as a steak or the chicken and making them make that little commitment, whether it’s subconsciously or not, they’ve now recommitted to themselves that they’re coming to the venue. Yeah. And so that that made a huge jump in our show up rates versus just pay reminding you of coming to your event. It’s like those little tiny little things. Have again I really feel we’ve we’ve been able to perfect every aspect of our model here. But it wasn’t by me just continually doing it. It was it was me stepping back and then, you know, viewing it kind of a bird’s eye view of the entire platform.

David Ralph [48:17]
Those micro commitments, they are hugely powerful. I remember those back in the day selling cold calling in London. You know, try try and get a yes out of the person as soon as you possibly can, even if it means nothing. Are you having a nice day today? Yes. And then just sort of move forward from there.

Rylee Meek [48:35]
Yeah, exactly. All that stuff is very, very important.

David Ralph [48:38]
Okay, as all the words that Steve Jobs said back in 2005. Let’s hear him again.

Steve Jobs [48:43]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards. 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.

David Ralph [49:18]
Yeah, good words on I Riley.

Rylee Meek [49:21]
Absolutely love that.

David Ralph [49:23]
When you look back on your life now, I asked this probably to 85% of the guests. I’m going to ask it again. Do you have a big moment when you look back on anything like my god? Yeah, that that could have been a terrible time. But without that, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

Rylee Meek [49:42]
I do. I do one of my first sales jobs prior to social dynamics selling. I remember I went in and interviewed for this job and it was a direct sales one on one selling. They set the appointments for me, but then I would have to go out do a presentation, you know, first off trying to get into the home, do a presentation and close the deal. And one, one moment in that time in that interview, my manager at the time it looked across the table at me and said, Riley, this job is 85% negative. And I was like, okay, he said, but if you can focus on the 15%, you’ll make six figures and I was 19 years old at the time. And I thought, okay, I can do that. That’s easy. And I never really realised how important that was, to me. Even my first week out selling because, you know, getting door slammed in your face. And that that was really the initial kind of thought concept of it’s a numbers game, you know, if I have to go see 100 people, but I only have to actually meet with 15 of them. I know I’m going to be successful at this and I clung to that and I still cling to that to this day that all the negativity, the nonsense what we focus on is You it’s irrelevant, what you shouldn’t focus on is irrelevant that the struggle with a lot of sales reps and even entrepreneurs is, is we get caught up in that head trash of, you know, one customer didn’t buy or, you know, five customers didn’t buy in a row and just full well, knowing that, you know, you just gotta stick to the programme. If it’s a system that you know works, it’s a proven system, it’s going to work out, you may have a bad day, you may have a bad week, you may have a bad month, but at the end of the year, you’re not going to have a bad year if you just stick to the proven system that actually works.

David Ralph [51:32]
I agree with that. And that’s what you know, dammit, marketing, why walk away from it? If it’s there, it works. Absolutely. We said why is that we Riley? We’ve got knowledge beyond our years here. Well, we’re going to find out how much knowledge you have got because we’re going to send you on a journey back to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the younger version, what advice would you like to give him Well, we’re going to find down because I got to play the music. And when it ain’t you up this is the Sermon on the mic.

Rylee Meek [52:30]
Early on, I knew I remember a pivotal moment. I was eight years old walking down my driveway. I grew up in small town, South Dakota, which most people don’t even know where South Dakota is. But it’s one of the states here in the US. And I remember this kind of, again, call it divine intervention or what have you. But I just remember specifically, I had this thought that I was going to make a lot of money when I was older. And I didn’t you know, when you’re eight years old, you don’t even have that. I mean, for me to even Remember this time is bizarre to me because you don’t even know what money really even is. But I just felt like I had that, that thought in my being. And, you know, I’d gone through high school, my original thought was I was going to be a chiropractor and, and I was going to go to school and I started down that path of two years of school. But during this process, I started to, to learn about marketing, and, and actually selling and I put together this kind of this this cool campaign of that, that started my phone during actually off the hook. And I started to make a decent amount of money at the age of 18. I was making over 10,000 bucks a month selling like silly nutritional products. And I remember, you know, during that time, it’s like, okay, I can go to school and I don’t have to go to school. What should I do here? You know, if I’m going to be a doctor, but there’s tonnes of student loans. And that’s when I thought, you know what, I’m an entrepreneur at the core. And that’s what what I do decided to do and I have pursued that path and had so many ups and downs. As I mentioned, I had like two or three midlife crisis is by the time I was 24 years old, you know, a column that at least but that’s just the the highs and lows of, of entrepreneurship. And it was through that that process of that time period, I regret absolutely nothing in that. But what helped me the most kind of get through those those time periods in my life was having that having, you know, I never really had a true mentor in my life. That was something that I didn’t. My dad was delivered mail for a living. You know, my mom, waitress ran a bar for little living things like that. But it wasn’t like a true mentor of like, that I could call out and say, Hey, I’m struggling with this. And so I just tried to read and cling to as many books as I possibly could just to learn, you know about this personal development world and and what it was all about. And I think that really is what helped me kind of get through these, these highs and lows and, and through that process, you know, seeking out people as I as I got a little older, seeking out people that could speak into my life, which wasn’t always what I wanted to hear at certain times, but it again allowed me to have kind of that out that outside input allowed me to digest things, certain ways to to really get to the point where, where I’ve at in life now. And so I think the most important thing if I could speak to, you know, to my younger self was that, you know, seeking out a mentor or somebody is is crucial. And it may not be somebody that you know, it may just be you need to hire like a coach or something along those lines, but not seeing that as a an expense, seeing it as a true investment into yourself because that was kind of my struggle. It was like I don’t want to spend this money. This guy doesn’t know any more than me. or anything like that. And it wasn’t really until I tried dropped some coin on a business coach that helped me really, not only it wasn’t that it was like any, anything that I didn’t know, but he allowed me to. He pulled it out of me and allowed me to express it and then ultimately put it into action. But more important to me was that we had a follow up call every single week and if that was my accountability partner in that situation, and if I didn’t do what I said I was going to do, oh man, it was it was not going to be a fun phone call. And so it for me I just didn’t want to disappoint in that situation. And and that was what kind of fueled me and spurred me to continually do action. I mean, we’re called the excellence in this life. And if anybody thinks otherwise, I think they’re a fool because we have all amazing God given talents and gifts, some, you know, some are good at some things that I’m not at. And when I realised What I was actually good at, I knew I was going to do that with all my mind with all my power. And was that when I found the things that I knew I was bad at, or not even bad at, I just wasn’t, I didn’t like doing what I didn’t enjoy doing. Certainly, I could be good at it if I applied myself, but I didn’t enjoy doing it. And that when I had the ability to delegate, that’s really what allowed me to scale my business to the next level. And I was able to bring on a couple, you know, employees really and delegate the tasks that that were kind of no life suckers out of me that wasn’t allowing me to do what I was really good at and called to do. I mean, our systems now it’s like, we let the pilots fly the chef’s cook, everybody has a role. And if you do what you’re excellent at it, you know, with all of your ability, you you’re gonna, you’re going to do well, I mean, you just can’t not. And so I think that’s the most crucial thing. was figuring that out. And it was a coach that actually helped me do so. But then once I once I had that, that

clarification or that that hindsight will call it, I was able to delegate the certain tasks that I wasn’t good at. And it allowed everybody to excel in their roles and their positions.

David Ralph [58:19]
Right Stuff, great stuff. And I hope the young, the young Riley was listening to that. Now, what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you, sir?

Rylee Meek [58:31]
Our website it’s social dynamic. selling.com. So social and dynamic with a D. Selling com.

David Ralph [58:40]
We will have over links on the show notes ready. Thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining up those dots and please come back again when you’ve got more dots to join up because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Rylee Meek thank you so much.

Rylee Meek [58:57]
Thanks, David. appreciate being on here, man. It’s been fun.

David Ralph [59:01]
Mr. Riley meek. So it’s about building connections. It’s about building trust. Do you trust somebody that you sit in front of? I always do. You think, Oh, I’m not sure about this person or I like that person. That’s why the sort of webinars and stuff works so well. But you get the fail failure of attendance. What I liked about that was the micro commitment that that one statement that Riley made about sending out a follow up to say, just want to confirm, do you want this or do you want that blew me away. Now, it may not mean as much to you as it did me. But I realised that that could make such a big difference to so many people’s businesses, sending out a follow up email to just say, okay, on the Discovery call that we’re doing on the meeting or whatever, I just want to make sure you’re okay with someone. So just that follow up question builds those commitments, and means that the attendance becomes bigger and bigger and bigger. A very, very important to your business. Thank you so much, always of listening to Join Up Dots. I really appreciate it. Some of the shows are quite long. Some of them are quite short, but you’re giving me your ears. Hopefully somebody out there or more than somebody is ready to change direction because it’s very easy to do until next time, I will see you again. See ya. Bye bye. When we’re young,

Outro [1:00:23]
we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK, David Ralph