Talk Triggers by Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin: Issue 58 | January 2019

I saw Jay speak at a conference a couple of years ago, and, like I said, he was just so entertaining and magnetic. He really had me glued to my seat—which is no surprise since he speaks hundreds of times a year.

The point is, he’s REALLY good. The topic that he was speaking about at the conference was how to deal with bad reviews and haters—something many small businesses have to be mindful of and strategic about. Jay was promoting his book at the time, Hug Your Haters, which focuses on the idea that, although it sucks to get negative reviews, they are sometimes important to listen to as they can reveal gaping holes in your business.

Plus, many of those haters can, if the problems are fixed, turn into some of your biggest fans.

Jay’s latest book, Talk Triggers, (Amazon link) flips the switch. Instead of haters, he’s focusing on the fans—the ones who will talk endlessly about you and your brand—and how to make that happen for your business. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

What I love about this book is, no matter what kind of business you have, the focus is not just on the strategies, but the actual implementation. Jay gives you the why, and he has the numbers to back it up too.

I love how he also involves not just what you can do as a business owner, but what your company can do. For instance, your team and how they can also play a part in word-of-mouth marketing. Even more than that, he offers something called The Talk Trigger SEE Framework—which reminded me that, as my business grows, I can still implement strategies to get people to start talking about me. How? As Jay says, “Talk triggers are about stories.” Unlike Unique Selling Propositions (USPs), which are about bullet points.

And I’ve found this true about my business, too. People don’t talk with each other about the specific points I list out in my posts. They tell new people stories, whether it’s a story I tell on stage, a story I share in my videos, podcast or blog, or read about in books.

What’s also great is that Jay includes a lot of examples from all kinds of different companies and brands, from larger companies like Freshbooks (shoutout to my awesome AskPat sponsor!) to solopreneurs and personal brands.

The underlying theme of Talk Triggers is generosity. Generosity is a huge part of getting your audience to talk about you and spread word about your brand. So, that’s my ask of you: be generous with your time, your effort, your heart, and you’ll always at least give yourself a chance to be spoken about and shared among your audience and bring new people into your community.

Finally, I’ll say that Talk Triggers by Jay Baer is for anyone who wants to be talked about, and in the words of the LEGO CEO, Niels B. Christiansen, “if you aren’t being shared, you don’t exist.”

Buy the Book on Amazon