1. You'll learn why connection matters more than content in small business marketing
2. Chantal shares a zero-cost way to win new clients that still works a year later
3. Discover how one clever tool matches your message to your clients' emotions
4. Hear why simplifying your to-do list could be the key to getting more done
5. You’ll meet the Cat of Connection… yes, really

Chantal's Valuable Free Resource (VFR):

https://appletreeuk.com

Marketing strategist Chantal Cornelius reveals how to grow your business by building strong emotional connections — not by churning out social media. Discover her standout strategies, a zero-cost client-getting action, and a brilliant free test that shows which emotion-based approach will help you stand out.

02:50 – Ideal Client. Coaches, consultants and trainers — typically solopreneurs — who make their own decisions and want marketing to feel less overwhelming.

03:25 – Problem Solved. Chantal helps clients cut through the noise and confusion of marketing tools, saving them time, money, and stress by simplifying what works.

04:20 – Valuable Free Action (VFA) Call your past clients and ask who they’d recommend you to. No emails — just real conversations that build trust and bring in work.

06:00 – Valuable Productive Action (VPA) Add time slots to each task on your list to reduce overwhelm and follow through with more focus and clarity.

09:15 – Bonus Material Meet the “Cat of Connection” — one of Chantal’s five hand puppets used to visually explain emotional marketing strategies in a way people remember.

10:10 – Valuable Free Resource (VFR) Take the free ‘Standout Strategies’ word test at AppletreeUK.com to discover which emotional language resonates most with your ideal clients and how to use it.

(Note, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not fully reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Welcome to the Goalbusters Expert Peak Productivity Tips podcast, where top business experts get just seven minutes to answer five rapid fire questions about what they do and how they stay productive.

Each episode is packed with actionable insights to help boost your efficiency and achieve your goals. Let's dive in and unlock the secrets to peak performance.

00:22 ROBIN

Well, hello everyone. My name is Robin J. Emdon and I'm an accountability coach and the author of Get Resultsology® - The Science of Getting Stuff Done! I work with people who run their own business, no boss, distractions everywhere and never enough hours in the day.
Together we cut through the noise, sharpen their focus and follow through on the big ideas that actually move the needle. That's what I call the momentum formula.

Do it today, profit tomorrow and repeat!

So if that's the kind of breakthrough that you are looking for, then you're in exactly the right place. 

And speaking of being in exactly the right place, I am delighted to welcome our guest expert today, Chantal Cornelius.
Since funding Appletree Marketing in 2000 she has helped hundreds of coaches, consultants and speakers grow their businesses by making strong emotional connections with clients.

Chantal believes success doesn't require churning out endless social media content.

Instead, she helps business owners stand out by building lasting relationships.

Her Standout Strategies show how to bring more empathy into your work, connect on a deeper level, and rise above the competition, proving that emotional connection is the real secret to business growth. 

Chantal, welcome to GoalBusters!

CHANTAL
Hello. Thank you for having me, Robin. Thank you. That fabulous introduction. Love that. She sounds amazing.

ROBIN
She does sound amazing, doesn't she? I wonder who she is. Shall we go and shall we try and find out?

CHANTAL
Go and find her, yes.

ROBIN
Yeah, let's do that. But first of all, whereabouts in the world are you? You sound as British as I am, and I think that's because I know you are.

CHANTAL
I am. I am very British. I used to be American and I was born in Hong Kong, but I have spent the majority of my life living in England, and I'm currently about twenty miles south of Oxford in beautiful green countryside.

ROBIN
Fantastic. So you decided to come back from the colonies and try life in Britain?

CHANTAL
Yep. Yep. Well, I decided at the age of one that I was gonna do that. An early decision.

ROBIN
Always in charge of your life. I love to hear So I'm waffling on as I always do at this point. Shall we do the questions instead?

CHANTAL
Let's do the questions, Robin.

ROBIN
Alright. Here we go. I'll get the clock up on the screen.

And there it goes. Chantal, could you tell me please, who is your ideal client?

02:50 CHANTAL – Ideal Client
That's an easy one, Robin. It's you.

ROBIN
Oh, that is easy. Okay. Where do I sign on the contract? 

CHANTAL
Okay.
But let me tell you what. I work specifically with coaches, consultants and trainers. The majority of my clients like yours, there's just them. There's no boss. They are the ones who make the decisions in the business. So yeah, it's coaches, consultants and trainers.

ROBIN
Perfect. And in the description, we could also almost cut out question two, which is what problem you solve? But I always say, I'm sure you solve more than one. Perhaps you'd like to expand on the problems that you solve.

03:25 CHANTAL – Problem Solved
I would like to expand on the fact that most of my clients come to me because they don't like doing marketing. They know they need to do it, but they are overwhelmed.

There are so many marketing tools that they could use.

They don't know which ones to use and they don't know what to do and how to do it without spending a stupid amount of money and without an awful lot of trial and error.

So I show them what marketing to do and I simplify it for them. I think that's the big part is I simplify it for them. I show them how to get clients easily and inexpensively.

ROBIN
Yes. I was going to say the trial and error and stupid amount of money usually inevitably go together and it's just very embarrassing. All right. So what is one valuable free action that the audience can implement that would help them to solve that problem?

04:20 CHANTAL – Valuable Free Action (VFA)
It's really technical.
Pick up the phone and talk to your clients and ask them who they can recommend you to.

Simple as that. I did this, I started this about a year ago, I wrote a list of fifty past clients, current clients, contacts, networking people, general hangers on, and I phoned every single one of them. It took about six months. So I'm not saying do fifty, but I phoned every single one and said to them, knowing what you know about me now, who can you recommend me to? I also confessed that I was a marketing consultant who hadn't done any marketing for about six months and therefore needed work. And most of my clients laughed and said, gotcha.

And it worked. I spoke to forty eight of them. There were two that I never managed to get hold of. And a year on, the work is still coming in from those phone calls. I've sent postcards, Christmas cards, birthday cards, thank you cards as backup, but the work is still trickling in from those calls. So yeah, pick up the telephone, you're not allowed to do this by email, you have to make phone calls.
Simple as That.

ROBIN
There’s a novel approach. You mentioned what you do. You talk to teenagers today about using your phone. They go, what's that?

CHANTAL
Yeah. Phone calls? What are they?

ROBIN
What are they? Yes. And we don't do that. We don't do. We don't even know what it is.

CHANTAL
Nope. 

ROBIN
Alright. So now but that is brilliant. Thank you. Now that we have a better understanding of what you do.

Let's dive briefly into GoalBusting, which is focusing on how to maximize productive time to achieve business goals. Could you share any tips or advice for someone looking to improve their productivity habits?

06:00 CHANTAL – Valuable Productive Action (VPA)
Indeed I can. And again, this is something that I've been working on recently. I use an online project management system and it has far too many tasks in it. Some mornings, well, firstly, I spend at least five minutes planning the day and then at the end of the day I look at tomorrow.

But I sometimes look at the list and think there are far too many items on the list, I'm never going to get through them all. What works for me is putting a time onto each one. So rather than saying, oh, I'll start and see how I get on. I'll go right, I'm going to do this first at ten o'clock and I think it's going to take me fifteen minutes.

So I'll schedule the next task in for ten fifteen. That actually… it takes longer to plan in the first place, but it makes me think about how long each task is going to take, because some take longer than expected and some are much, much quicker.

And that really helps me focus. It stops the overwhelm because if I look at a list of a hundred things to do, I just go, I've got too many. And I go off and play with a cat or put the washing on or something else to distract myself. So specific times for each item on the list, and that's how I work through them.

ROBIN
Yes, a brilliant example of how structure can really be supportive of productivity. Yeah, I love it. And it means also it's pre decided what you're doing. More structure, less overwhelm.

CHANTAL
Yeah, it's almost like somebody else has said, right you, sit down and work through this list. And while I was always rubbish at working for anyone else, every now and then I need somebody to tell me, just sit down and work through this list and these time elements, and then you can go and play with the cat or put the washing on or whatever.

ROBIN
Yes, because cats have no structure in their day. They're rebels, aren't they?

That's brilliant, thank you, I really appreciate that and very, very sound, solid advice, of course it is. All right, so finally, my final question is what should I have asked you today Chantal that I didn't end your answer please?

09:15 CHANTAL - Bonus Material
You should have asked me, Robin, why I have a cat hand puppet. For those of you watching, there is a cat currently waving at you. This is one of five creatures that live on my desk. They travel the world with me.

They come to, yeah, I'm talking about you now, shush. They come to events with me. They've been on main stages at conferences. I use them to talk about my five standout strategies and this is the cat of connection And it's a fun way of explaining a bit more about yeah, I know.

Shush. I'll explain what I do with hand puppets, makes it more visual. So it's good fun.

ROBIN
Yeah. Okay. All right. That's different. I've not come across that one before. Yeah, excellent, alright.

CHANTAL
All about how to stand out, Robin. I had to do something stand out, didn't I?

ROBIN
Well, yes, exactly. And that's a very strong marketing point, isn't it? Oh, she's the lady that uses the cat puppets. They can't remember your name. They probably can't even remember where you're from but they'll remember that.

CHANTAL
That's fine, that works.

ROBIN
Yeah, if it works why not. Okay, that's brilliant. And look at that, we've still got some time to spare but thank you.

CHANTAL
A whole 30-seconds… Should we talk about the weather?

Yes, we were saying that we really ought to, as we're both British on this call, we really ought to talk about the weather because of course the British never talk about the weather, do they?

CHANTAL
No, I'm having lots of weather today. I don't know about you Robin, but weather going on.

ROBIN
It's weathering here too. And I'll look, oh damn, I think we're nearly out of time. Think we'll probably call it a weathery day and move on, shall we?

All right, thank you so much. Right. So one final question, which is not part of our five, but I always ask it at this point, which is how can people reach you? Part a. And also part b, is there like a valuable free resource that they could get from you? Which I always I always say it's quite a cheeky question, but it's not really. It's a serious point about that's a really good way to dip your toe in the water and find out more about your offer.

10:10 CHANTAL – Valuable Free Resource (VFR)
Absolutely.

And thank you for asking them both. The two answers are linked because if you go to my website, which is AppletreeUK.com.
You'll find loads and loads of free information there. There are newsletters, downloads, blogs that you can read. Stacks and stacks of free marketing advice for coaches, consultants and trainers.

Also on that website where you'll find an email address and a phone number you can get in hold of me that way and a link to my LinkedIn page. But also on that website there's a page called Take the Test.

This is a free test that we have created. I speak about these five standout strategies, and they're all about the emotions behind why people buy. And there are five of them. You've already met the Cat of Connection.

I can generally tell by just talking to somebody which strategy of the five is going to be the best for them. So I've created a test, it's free. There are about sixty something words on the screen and you have to pick between ten and fifteen, very important, only between ten and fifteen, And they are the words that you hear your clients say. So if Robin, if you said to one of your clients, how do you feel when you work with me? When you've had a coaching session, how do you feel when we've done that?

Pick ten to fifteen words that their emotions on screen.

Fill that in, fill in some details, hit submit, comes through to Appletree HQ. We crunch the numbers through some software and then you get a report coming back and it will tell you which of the five to use and how. So how to actually use the language in your marketing. So for instance, if you are connection, it will give you a whole list of the connection words to weave into your marketing. It's very clever. And it's on my website and it's free.

ROBIN
Right. Brilliant. That sounds really good actually. That sounds very exciting. I was just transfixed by the cat there for a minute and the sudden thought was do you wash the dishes with the cat on your hand as well?

CHANTAL
Cats don't like water, Robin.

ROBIN
That's what I was thinking. That's really you could get done for cruelty.

CHANTAL
He is no exception. He does not like no, I know you don't like water. He doesn't even go out in the rain, this one.
He sends the Sheepdog of Significance out if it's raining, so he stays inside where it’s dry.

ROBIN
Yes. And I've got to say that this is a podcast, and we have a YouTube video as well. But for the people just listening, you are missing a treat.

CHANTAL
Oh, You are.

Well, go and watch the YouTube version, and you'll meet the Cat of Connection.

ROBIN
Yes. Absolutely. And I think that perhaps that might be a good note on which to end this particular podcast. Chantal, it's been an absolute pleasure, a delight and a joy and very, very, very informative and insightful.

CHANTAL
Lots of fun. Thank you for having me and the cat on your podcast, Robin.

ROBIN
Oh, you're very welcome. I didn't two for one. I didn't realize how I feel ever so lucky now. Was getting two for one today. That's a that's a classic British bargain, isn't it? Two for one. 

CHANTAL
Oh yes, I Like that.

ROBIN
Alright. Thank you, Chantal. That's been brilliant. Thank you.

CHANTAL
Thank you, Robin.

ROBIN
Thank you. And remember, everybody, please keep GoalBusting and make your future self proud.

Bye bye.

OUTRO
Thanks for tuning in to Goalbusters. If you're enjoying it, please subscribe, rate, and review it on your favourite podcast platform.
Your support is very much appreciated!

And if you're ready to boost your online profits, skyrocket your productivity, crush procrastination, and see a positive change in your bank balance all within just thirty days, this is your opportunity

Take my free five day challenge at skyrocketyourproductivitychallenge.com

Robin J. Emdon is the creator of GetResultsology®: The Science of Getting Stuff Done!, a research-backed system that helps solopreneurs beat procrastination, build momentum, and follow through on what matters most.

Robin was one of a small, invitation-only group selected for an intensive life-coach programme taught by Tony Robbins* and his faculty in 2001. The training was meant to prepare them for roles at his organisation in San Diego, but when that opportunity changed Robin stayed in the UK, launched his own life-coaching practice, and later stepped back to raise his two young sons.

Known to clients today as The Procrastination Slayer, Robin had a face-palm moment in 2019 when he realised it had taken him ten years to finish a six-year degree. That wake-up call launched his mission to master procrastination.

During the Covid lockdowns in 2020 he discovered that researchers had published more than 900 studies on procrastination in a single decade and pulled the most practical lessons from the strongest research and leading books to shape his momentum formula:

Do it today, Profit tomorrow, Repeat.

Peer-reviewed research from the Dominican University of California shows that working with an accountability partner can raise goal-achievement rates by up to 33 percent, a finding woven into every GetResultsology® plan.

Robin hosts The GoalBusters Podcast, now past 100 episodes, where he talks with fellow solopreneurs and uncovers the real-world productivity tactics behind their success.

From South Devon, England, he coaches clients worldwide, helping solopreneurs, creatives, and other no-boss professionals turn scattered effort into consistent progress and profit.

Want an engaging guest who sparks action or an accountability coach who keeps you on track? Book Robin for your show or request coaching details.

*Tony Robbins and Robbins Research International are not affiliated with, and do not endorse, GetResultsology® or its services.

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