#131 - Chris Kneeland On What Cult Brands Do Differently, Being Intentional About Pricing And The Problem With Media Commissions

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Chris Kneeland is the co-founder of Cult Collective, a marketing service firm that teaches how to build a cult following, a fanbase of raving fans that absolutely love your brand, purpose and mission —and that will buy anything you put out. Chris is on a mission to rid brand leaders of archaic beliefs and practices regarding internal and external audience engagement. He wants to stop the insanity of wasting obscene amounts of money on mass media and markdowns, since he knows that money is best used making products, programs and people more remarkable. Chris is also the author of FIX: A new prescription to cure disengaged customers, prospects or staff and the co-founder at The Gathering, a Forbes top rated virtual summit for business owners.

Bullet points

(00:35) Intro

(03:28) The start as an entrepreneur

(05:40) The client concentration problem

(07:10) How Chris rebuilt his agency into something better

(08:10) First: Eliminating media commissions

(09:04) Second: Scaling back the production team

(09:46) Third: RFP

(10:35) The problem in the media industry

(13:06) The Domino’s Pizza turnaround

(14:38) &BAM

(16:27) What does building a cult and attracting raving fans mean, and how does a brand start down that path?

(18:19) The four ways to get people to interact with you brand

(20:02) What are cult brands doing that others aren't?

(27:22) The problem with markdows

(30:36) Should you do flash sales?

(34:12) Where to find out more

(35:41) Rapid fire question round

(35:57) If you ever had to start again, how would you make your money?

(36:12) What is the most common or biggest mistake that leaders make?

(36:23) Who is a great leader (alive or dead) and why?

(36:50) How do you hire top talent?

(37:26) How do you identify a good business partner?

(37:50) What is one of your proudest moments?

(38:18) What is one interesting fact about you that not many people would know?

(39:02) What daily routines do you have (morning or evening) that have helped make you successful?

(39:37) What book (or books) changed your mindset or life?

(40:34) What is the most exciting question you spend your time thinking about?

(41:46) What advice would you give your younger self?

(42:04) What was your biggest challenge starting in business and how did you overcome it?

(43:11) What unusual or underrated food or drink should more people try out?

(43:51) What makes you happiest?

(44:44) Any asks or requests of the audience?