Janice Porter: Chris, hi everyone, and welcome to this
week's episode of relationships rule. This week, we're exploring
the powerful intersection of video authenticity and online
connection. My guest is Chris Bogue, a video coach, improv
performer and sales strategist who helps professionals use
short, impactful video content to stand out and build real
relationships on platforms like LinkedIn. Of course, LinkedIn,
being my favorite, that's where we'll focus in a digital world
where most people just scroll past, Chris teaches us how to
stop the scroll and start the conversation. If you've ever
wanted to show up more confidently and connect more
meaningfully online. You'll love this conversation. So welcome to
the show, Chris,
Chris Bogue: thanks for having me. My dog is making a bunch of
noise trying to get my attention. That's okay. I can't
hear him at all. Or put her in the I might need to put her in
the crate. All right, go ahead. Go for it.
Janice Porter: Okay, Chris, so first question I want to ask you
is, can you take us back to when you first realized video could
be a relationship building tool, not just a marketing tactic?
Chris Bogue: Ooh, yeah. So I stumbled into video kind of by
accident. Do I was not an online content creator. I was doing
comedy on the stage. I was not doing anything on video, but I
had a little bit of experience on camera. I've done a little
bit of work on television. I've done some web series, I've done
some things on video. And I was selling to universities. At the
time, I was selling AI based software to universities as part
of the job that I was doing that was my full time job. COVID
happened all of a sudden the three best ways to reach our
prospects were no longer available to us. So three best
ways to reach college professors and university administrators
was visit them on campus, visit them at an educational
conference, or call their office, which all three of those
suddenly were no longer available, right? Nobody on
campus, nobody's in their office anymore. I still had a quota to
hit, so I was thinking about, how can I get these people's
attention? How can I talk to them? How can I read? I reach
these people who've been ignoring me and my company for
years? And I got on video, and I started talking straight to the
camera, and I started sending super short, like 32nd videos to
my prospects, and I quickly realized that I could get a
meeting with just about anybody like people who were ignoring my
messages and ignoring my company's message, ignoring our
cold emails for years, all of a sudden, I was able to get their
attention and get them in a conversation, and I hit my quota
super early. So
Janice Porter: let me stop you there for a second. So were you
creating video on your phone and just sending it through in an
email. What? Yeah,
Chris Bogue: so this was a very primitive version of, like, I
was just emailing them like a YouTube link. Okay? I didn't
know what I was I didn't know how to film videos. I didn't
know how to edit videos. I didn't know how to if anybody
goes and watches my stuff on LinkedIn today, it's very fancy.
I've got multiple characters and transitions and all sorts of
crazy things on screen. I didn't know how to do any of that. I
was not a video editor, but I figured out that if you just
talk straight to the audience and you send it directly to
them, they kind of got to respond to you, or at least when
you talk to them and you're like, I'm a guy that sent you a
video. Do you have a minute to talk? They will know who you are
exactly. And it's this kind of wonderful format where you know
when you cold call somebody, they're on the defensive, right?
They don't want to tell you the truth, because if they do, maybe
you'll keep them on the phone longer. They don't know when
like they want to get away. The video is nice, because even if
somebody doesn't agree with me, they're listening. They're like,
what is this guy? What is he saying? So I'm like, All right,
I'm going to be a video sales coach, because I don't see
anybody else doing that. So I started coaching people to do
the video thing, just like, on a whim, I started making videos on
LinkedIn, because I'm like, Well, I want people to hire me
as the video guy. They're not going to do that unless they can
see that I'm good on video. So I started making video content,
and then that just kind of blew up, because I have the secret
background as a sketch comedy performer, not only a sketch
comedy performer, a sketch comedy writer and director. I
spent many years in Chicago's writing shows, directing shows
for actors that were not me. And I developed, you know, a set of
chops over the years because I just I performed for so many
hundreds of audiences, tourists from all over the world come to
Chicago to watch these kinds of shows, right? So I got a lot of
experience working small rooms do. Doing improv sets with small
groups of people trying to bring down the house. And I was like,
I don't see anyone doing that kind of stuff on LinkedIn,
right? So I started kind of finding my own style on
LinkedIn. I was like, I have to teach people how to do sales. I
have teach people to do video, but I'm gonna infuse my style
into it. And my style involves sketch comedy. It involves a lot
of interactive crowd work. A big difference between improv and
theater is in improv, the audience is part of the show.
You constantly go into the audience and getting ideas from
them. You're pulling them up onto the stage and into the
games with you sometimes. So I'm very comfortable in a totally
live moment with a random stranger, right? Most people
aren't. So started doing stuff on LinkedIn. It worked like a
charm. Started getting coaching clients, started getting
consulting gigs, started getting voice acting gigs, all this
stuff. I started getting all these opportunities. And people
would hire me, and I would come in. I'm like, Okay, I'm going to
teach you video prospecting for sales. You make a little 32nd
video, and you send it directly in the What are you doing on
LinkedIn? What is this madness you're doing? Yes, in my news
feed, because I keep seeing you there. And I want to learn how
to do that too. And so I started teaching content, and now I
teach this kind of infused system where it is is the
outbound and the inbound. They are not separate things. They
are connected always. And I have a lot of fun doing it, and I
just go out there and try to do things that I don't think the
audience will expect well,
Janice Porter: and I think that's, that's the biggest piece
right there. One, that you're talented at it and and it's
comfortable for you. But two, it's disruptive, because there's
nobody out there doing that except you, and you are unique
in in what you do. I mean, there's a there are other
comedians or whatever out there trying to be funny, but it has
to come from. It has to be internal. It's funny. I was when
I was driving home this afternoon thinking about the
fact that we were going to be meeting and our interview, I was
listening to a podcast. And I don't know if you ever do you
listen to podcast? Well, you have a podcast too, right? Yeah,
do you listen to smart lists at all?
Chris Bogue: Sounds familiar? It's not on my
Janice Porter: it's probably one of the top podcasts out there
for actually, entertainment. It's Will, Will Arnett, Jason
Bateman and Sean Hayes, and they were interviewing Amy Poehler,
who was married to Will Arnett, actually, right at one point. So
they were all very funny. And she's, I love her. She's She, of
course, she's a writer too, at heart. Anyway, it just made me
think it was ironic, because that's your world Second City,
right? And that's and she said in that interview, which I was
surprised at she was never she said on the main stage at Second
City,
Chris Bogue: now that no, no most, no ground on the main
stage, that would mean
Janice Porter: something to you more than me. But yeah, I
thought that was interesting. Yeah, and she would have
Chris Bogue: been on the main stage she went to start the
Upright Citizens Brigade theater.
Janice Porter: That's right, that's right, that's right.
Which, yeah, she
Chris Bogue: did improv Olympics. She did other stages
at Second City. There's a lot of there's like, millions of
people, I don't know about millions, but like, a lot of
people have done this kind of training. Yes,
Janice Porter: I know, I know. But most of them are not hanging
out on LinkedIn like you. So let me yes, no,
Chris Bogue: you agree. Want to make your point. I've got, I've
got things to jump off on whenever you Okay,
Janice Porter: so what would you say, then, makes a great video
introduction on LinkedIn. What do you include and what do you
leave out? So you're doing a video intro with someone, or
you're doing a video for the first time, or you're
introducing yourself to this audience right on your news
feed,
Chris Bogue: right? So let's take a step back and talk about
Amy Poehler and improv for Okay, okay, so the reason why I
started doing improv out here is because when you see someone
like Amy Poehler or Will Arnett and they're doing stuff, you're
like, oh my gosh, they're so fantastic. I could never think
that fast. I could never do that. But actually, all
improvisers are trained in this very simple framework, and that
framework is called yes and yes and yes. I do know that yes and
yes comma and you have to yes and your partner. There's only
and there's all these different schools of improv. Amy started
her own School of Theater. So the Upright Citizens Brigade is
its own thing. Second City is a different thing. There's the
Groundlings, which is in Los Angeles. Us. They are a
different thing. Each of the schools has their own kind of
philosophy, like the own thing that they emphasize. Ironically
enough, in Chicago, we emphasize the relationship. That's
probably why I'm on relationship rules, right? But a scene is all
about the relationship. Who are you to each other? The
Groundlings is more about the character. Okay? All about
building a strong character. That's where Kristen Wiig and
Will Ferrell and them from the Upright Citizens Brigade, is
more about the game of the scene. What are you doing
together? What is the thing that you are doing that is really
what the what the UCB focuses on. So there's all these
different types of schools to play, but you can throw anybody
on stage who has been trained in any of these styles, and they
can do a scene together, because they are always functioning on
that principle of Yes, and you do not get to second guess your
partner. It doesn't matter that your partner said something, and
you have a better idea in your head. You have to take what they
give you and go and then the and comes in, then you add on to
that. So how do you make a video for LinkedIn? When I am starting
with a new cohort of people, when I am working with people
for the first time on LinkedIn, before I have them make any
video, the first thing I have them do is go talk to the
audience. On week one, I give them assignment. I go go out
there and ask your audience one question and report back to next
Janice Porter: session. You mean in a in a post, is that what you
mean in a
Chris Bogue: post? Make a post. Okay, make a poll. I use the
poll feature all the time. I do too. Ask your audience
something, and then in session number two, then we make the
video, and we're doing it because you are yes, and in the
audience, you're gonna go out there and you're gonna say, Hey,
I am. I've been thinking about this subject. I want to know
what you think. Then your audience is gonna tell you, and
maybe you agree with them, maybe you disagree with them. I
actually think the most interesting videos are the ones
where I disagree with my audience, or I might, hey, 70%
of my audience thinks this. Here's why I think they're
wrong. Here's what I think they're missing. But,
Janice Porter: but it's a teachable moment in that case,
Chris Bogue: yes, building a shared context. Okay, that's the
thing in improv. You have to snap into the scene immediately.
That's why it's so important to say yes, because you don't have
time for backstory. You don't have time to come up with the
funniest idea on Earth. You have to have a shared context that
you both agree to. You both need to agree with what reality is.
So, yeah, it's like, what do you want to talk to your audience
about? Who do you want your audience to be? That is the more
challenging question. Usually people want to appeal to
everyone, right? A little bit, you got to get a little bit
choosy about who would you like to be in the audience. Stop
complaining about the algorithm. Let's assume you control the
algorithm, right? And you can send your content to anybody you
want. On Earth. Who would you want that to actually go to?
It's
Janice Porter: a good way to put it, yeah. Start there, yeah. And
you go
Chris Bogue: ask them a question, and, you know, be
creative about the question. I say it's good to ask questions
about trends, about controversies. I like asking
about things that I don't actually know the answer to.
Like, which of these three things do you think is worth
spending the most time on? Or which do you think people spend
too much time on? Or I've had a lot of my great comedy videos,
because I will make a post being like, I do this literally every
year, January of every single year, I go, which of these
catchphrases are you most sick of? And I give like three of the
top buzzwords of the past year. And then the fourth option is
comment with your own right. And this gives your audience a
chance to become the storyteller they're gonna they're gonna
start giving you stuff.
Janice Porter: Yeah, so then it becomes common ground, because
you brought it up, they've answered you. Now you've got
this base from which to to talk. And
Chris Bogue: we're gonna talk about how the blank page is the
enemy, and how people get in their heads when they have to
sit there and think of the most brilliant thing ever. But no,
you don't have to think of the most brilliant thing ever,
right? You asked a question. Your audience gave you a real
answer. They commented and they gave you their real thoughts and
feelings and opinions. And now you got to go do 30 seconds
about that.
Janice Porter: Got it. And speaking of that, is that the
average time of a video post you would do between what 30 and 60
seconds. Usually, I don't
Chris Bogue: like to put a strict time limit on the video.
Okay? I will say every five to seven seconds, you could lose
your audience. Do you always could. We are in this one. World
where everybody is competing for attention. So the longer your
video is, or wonderful things, you have to keep putting in
there, to keep them going through to the very end. So it's
harder sometimes to make a longer video, but if you do it
with intention, if there is a reason, and if you have an
ability to pull somebody through from beginning to end, you could
put a five minute video out there. I think that's fine. The
data says somewhere between like 60 to 120 seconds right now at
the time of the recording of this is the ideal time. But, you
know, don't put yourself in a box if you got a really good
idea and it's long like, what's more important is that you
actually are intentional with your time and intentional with
your message.
Janice Porter: So do you cover in your course? Do you talk
about the hook? Does there need to be a hook? Can you speak to
that a little bit?
Chris Bogue: So the three part structure that I explain in my
latest course is just hook, substance, call to action.
Janice Porter: Got it makes sense, okay, but the hook is,
right? That's what makes or breaks it. Yes,
Chris Bogue: it depends. So the hook is, so there's actually two
different hooks when you're making videos, right? So hook
number one is your first sentence that pops up in the
feed, right? So the first this the sentence of your post, the
actual text, so people see that, and then there's also the first
1.5 seconds of the actual video. So I love video because you have
so many options for things you can do in that first 1.5
seconds, people are like, one and a half seconds, that's
that's not enough time. I said, No, no, that's plenty. That's
plenty. You you can you have so many different ways to grab the
audience's attention. You can be doing something interesting. You
can have text on the screen. You can be in an interesting
location. There's all these different things you can do to
grab your audience's attention, but you do have to grab their
attention somehow, because your audience probably was not coming
there to watch a video.
Janice Porter: Okay, that already makes me stressed. Okay,
so, so when you want someone, when you're coaching them, you
want them to come across as authentic and relaxed, not
awkward, right? So if this is new for them, if the video, like
I've done video I've done off the cuff video, and I've done
scripted video, which I don't really like, because I don't
feel like me, I like more off the cuff, but then I lose, I get
nervous, and so I might lose my my thought or whatever, and be
umming and AWing that I don't want to but, or so, um, so when
you're new at it, you're not thinking about being or you
probably don't have as many ideas as you have. So can you
just give me? Well, you just gave us some ideas of of what
you can do, but like, I'm just here with my camera on a tripod,
and I'm not out in the world, and I just want to try it. So
what would be a good hook? It's not going to be. Hi, I'm Janice,
and I want to share this with you today. That's not a good
Chris Bogue: hook, no. So the you can just cut past the
exposition, that's an easy thing to remember, is like, yeah,
don't even bother with that. Yeah, don't bother with the
exposition. If you're somebody who's nervous and you can't
really think of a good hook, or it's it's preventing you from
getting the video out, then my advice would be, the hook should
be the last thing you come up with. And this is also why I
come up with the three part structure is because you don't
need to do all three of those in the same order. Sometimes I see
something, there's a waterfall, and I'm like, oh, cool, I'm
right here, but that's such a beautiful waterfall. Of course,
like that would be interesting if that reached out and grabbed
my so I have the visual, but I don't have anything to teach my
audience yet, right? I just know, okay, that would be really
interesting. And again, as a comedian, you realize all the
time, like, oh, it would be funny if I was out here doing X,
Y or Z. You know, sometimes I get the hook first. Normally, I
get the substance first. Normally, the substance is the
first thing I plan. So do you want to do? Are you going to
convey something to your audience? It's usually the
substance. Do you have something to say?
Janice Porter: No, I interrupted you. I apologize, and you lost
it. Okay?
Chris Bogue: So, yeah, you, let's say you want to start with
the substance, right? I want to teach my audience one simple
thing. Great. Now you've got that's an important part. You've
got one of the three parts down, right? So go practice it.
Improvise it. However you get that footage out. Your substance
is the substance. But. Just because it's really useful
substance does not mean it's going to catch the attention of
people who are scrolling through the feed. So if you do your
substance first, once you have that done, once you have the
edited, then I would probably do something like add some text on
screen for that first 1.5 seconds. Maybe it's an
interesting question. Maybe I've got it framed interestingly
there. Oftentimes my attention grabber is an interesting first
line of dialog, just one sentence that's a little bit
unusual, that can be enough to get someone's attention. And
especially if you're posting video, I recommend everybody put
subtitles in. If you can put captions in your video, almost
all video platforms have it where you can do the auto
captions. You can up. You can, you know, change those. You can
make sure that the sentences are grammatically correct, but yeah,
just an interesting first line of dialog, or again, just
putting an interesting question. Sometimes the person is talking
about something interesting. If you just put the name of the
lesson or the name of the question you're trying to answer
on the screen, you just have one more tool to stop a curious
person while they're scrolling through their phone, going, huh,
that's an interesting question that they maybe don't know the
answer to, and they're like, I'm gonna stick her. I'm gonna watch
this for another three seconds to see where she's going with
this.
Janice Porter: Well, I'm just looking at a video you did about
him, or, sorry, the post before the video that you did. And
usually I would scroll through that first and before it looks
like you're you've got someone else in here with you. I haven't
gotten that far. So it says at the top, you want to get better
on video. Cool. Let's start with the thing you hate the most,
watching yourself. Yeah, my hands up. So I'm your I'm in
right? So I like that. That's a good hook. And so that's what
you that's who you want for your audience, right? The people who
are like that, who? So you, right away you've decided you've
shown who you are attracting, and those are the people that
are going to come and watch more and listen more. I love that.
Chris Bogue: The other thing that I want to jump here and say
too, so I do in the newest course, I have a lot of material
about repurposing. Oh, talk to me about that. So a lot of
content creators, they make a lot of wonderful podcasts and
live streams, and then nobody ever sees it. That's right, they
make a video once it bombs, and then they just never try it
again. You can just post the same video with a different hook
Janice Porter: and see if it gets more traction. For example,
yeah, yeah.
Chris Bogue: Like, literally, sometimes, I mean, I'll look
through my videos, and the lowest performing videos are
almost always I didn't have something dynamic enough in the
first 1.5 seconds. Maybe I just had a title sequence, but they
didn't see any human beings there, yeah, me or my guest on
there. So they just, they, they kept scrolling. I didn't get
them, you know. So sometimes it's just like you chop the
beginning off and you put a little On screen text, and the
exact same video does way better.
Janice Porter: So if someone's just getting started, though,
and they don't, it's enough to get used, to get comfortable, to
be on camera, and to figure out how to do all that. I don't want
to have complicated technology around putting this on the
screen as well and doing the special effects. So how do how
do new people start in when they come to you? Do we keep it
simple? Well,
Chris Bogue: again, when they come to me that first week, I'm
having them ask their question to the audience, so at the very
least, you get an easy one for that first video, right? Because
your attention grabber can be I asked my audience blank, yes,
yeah. And now you give us your reaction. Okay? And it's another
thing that I explained in the hooks thing in the hook section,
that unexpected emotions, like interesting emotions, those are
another thing that stopped the scroll. So you just starting
with, I asked the question and it made me feel blank. Yeah,
that is inherently a strong hook. Okay,
Janice Porter: that's good. That's great information. Do you
have, like, an example, a real example, where a short video led
to a valuable business relationship or opportunity,
either for you or for one of your people?
Chris Bogue: Yeah? I mean, yeah. I mean all my clients, they,
some of them use video better than I do, you know. But for me,
it was like I lost my first coaching client because she
wanted to pay me and I didn't know how to accept her money. It
was the most embarrassing thing. I didn't have a business bank
account. I didn't know what to do, yeah, and I asked her to
write me a check, and she did. Good, and then we had to re up.
And I was just like, Okay, well, just mail me another check. And
she's just like, why don't you just call me once you get your
act together. But it was like, I lost like, a $12,000 contract
because I just wouldn't accept the money. Yeah,
Janice Porter: that naivety, though, got you going. I love
it. Well, you
Chris Bogue: learn that it's possible. You learn someone was
willing to and if you had simply been like, oh yeah, here's the
payment link, thanks a lot. Yes, that would have been an extra
$12,000 in your bank account. So it's like, once I realized that
people wanted this knowledge, and people were willing to pay
for it, but I just had to make it easy for them. Then, like,
yeah, it changed my life. There's a reason why I'm doing
video all the time. There's also a reason why I'm doing
entertaining video all the time. So I like to think that I'm very
educational. I'm always trying to give my audience practical
advice and, like, practical, useful knowledge, but I still
always have a little bit of surprising sketch comedy out
there. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, because it makes more money,
yeah, that's when it's, it's who I am, but it's, it's also like
the entertainment is in some ways more valuable than the
knowledge, like the ability to grab their attention is half the
battle. And, you know, I call this talking about hooks and
substance. I call it the broccoli cheese dilemma
Janice Porter: of LinkedIn. So do explain everybody
Chris Bogue: comes to LinkedIn being like, I'm just gonna make
valuable content. I'm just gonna make something that's useful for
my audience. We all wanna be successful. I'm gonna give good
knowledge, and that's the broccoli. That's your substance,
right? You're out there giving people broccoli, and people,
it's fine, healthy people, ambitious people, are gonna eat
broccoli. But somewhere along the line, you notice that people
are more likely to eat your broccoli if you just sprinkle a
little bit of cheese on so putting cheese on the broccoli,
broccoli sales are up. People are eating it all the time.
You're doing great. You're getting clients. People know who
you are. Maybe you hire a marketing guru. They come in,
they look at your analytics, and they're like, man, people really
like this cheese. Yeah. Have you considered selling only cheese?
And then you do that, and then you lose your audience, because
now you have to compete with cheese stores, and you were
supposed to be selling broccoli. Yeah,
Janice Porter: that's great story. Okay, gotta have the
Chris Bogue: substance in there, but the hook is the cheese. And
unfortunately, even people who love broccoli are not
necessarily gonna go grab handfuls of it from the break
room. Just because you put it there. You gotta entice them
with something a little bit
Janice Porter: tasty. Yes, good point. So you you're a writer,
you're an entertainer. Do you find with your um, your content,
that you're getting, because you mentioned this earlier, that
you're getting more people reaching out in your DMS and
wanting to connect with you and wanting to find out more. Is
that how you get your business? Because for me, I'm in the DMS
trying to connect with people and finding more. Like we met on
LinkedIn, and we had that I was curious. We had the
conversation, then we got on Zoom and had one. That's what I
like to do, to meet people I'm not prolific with with content.
So I'm looking at the, you know, the the yin and the yang of it
really, do you get most or more of your clients through your
content, or does it come down the
Chris Bogue: relationship about 5050, I and like, that's why I
teach the courses I do, whereas, like most of my biggest clients,
I got through outbound of some kind and like, maybe they're big
fans. Maybe they click the Like button all the time. Maybe they
click the comment button all the time. I do have to reach out and
be like, Hey, we should chat. Yeah, okay, yeah, it doesn't.
They don't just jump into the boat.
Janice Porter: No, they know it's funny, isn't it, but you
have to, okay. That brings me to an, actually, to an interesting
thing that so somebody reached out to me yesterday to connect.
I looked at his profile, I saw that he was connected to someone
that was just on my podcast, so I kind of wondered if maybe
that's how he'd heard me, because actually, I was on that
guy's podcast as well, and and he said he just read an ebook of
mine, and he and great. So I started conversation with him,
and I. There's a fine line between whether you say, oh,
like, I asked him what brought you to reach out, you know,
like, I'm curious. And he said it was something about doesn't
matter. But it was, you know, it was about my touching base with
people with cards. You got a card for me, right? And so, so
So then it was like, Okay, so now I've got to be careful,
because I don't want to pitch him, but, you know, but he's
mentioned that, so I kind of said in the next message, so do
you have that's great. Do you have a system that you use? And
he said, No, but would you recommend one? So now I'm in
right to be able to say I do, and if you'd like, I'd be happy
to share it with you. That's it. I haven't heard back from him
yet, and that just happened, but, but if you don't ask, you
don't get but it's a fine line between when to do that. So you
know what? What do you find in terms of how you balance sort of
the genuine connection with the prospecting,
Chris Bogue: yeah, I don't really view them as, like, super
different things. You know, it's like the calm I try to be well,
yeah, I try to just be the same person with everybody, okay? And
the call is always more like again, I'm always trying to
figure out what my audience wants. And like, you know
anything, whether I'm doing a regular call or a sales call, I
ask a lot of the same questions, you know? So one of my favorite
sales questions, and you can use this in any meeting, as we sit
here, and I say, before it starts, like, Okay, well, and
again, I'm a sales guy, so usually when I come to a
meeting, I have an agenda planned. I have the agenda up.
I'm like, Hey, this is what we're going to talk about today.
And you did that with me, actually, yeah, it's what I do
with that. I don't, I don't have my titles up here, but, yeah, I
do. I it's a it's a business thing I learned, like, be
intentional with your time. Let people know what you expect out
of them. So I always say, here's what I had in mind. Usually it's
some variation of, I'm going to ask you some questions about
what you're doing, and then I'm sure you have questions for me.
And then we'll talk about next steps. Like, that's a pretty
generic thing. But before I start, I ask, what were you
hoping to get out of this today, or the variation that I go
before I get into any of this, I'm curious, what were you
hoping to learn during this conversation today? Super easy
clarifying question. If somebody's like, Hey, I'm just a
big fan, I've been making some sense. I just want to have like,
a friendly chat. Then I'm like, Cool. I know. If somebody's
like, where do I sign up? Do you have like, a payment link or
something? I know this person's
Janice Porter: ready to close. You've got that one managed now,
yeah.
Chris Bogue: But again, it's like, I have to be open to the
audience, and this comes back to Yes, and where I have to accept
whatever the audience says. If they if they don't give me an
answer that I want, I can't just pretend like they did right,
right? You have to say your partner is a genius, and
everything they give you is a gift. What gifts is your partner
giving you? And gifts is a word I throw around a lot. We say
that in improv. Don't ask questions. Give gifts
Janice Porter: is what we say. So set them up for the next
piece, right?
Chris Bogue: Well, so what you're looking at right now,
I've got so many gifts in my setup right here, like that
saxophone?
Janice Porter: Yeah, is a gift. Yes, I get it. So anybody
Chris Bogue: who's not who can't see the videos here for this
podcast, I've got a saxophone and a clarinet and a synthesizer
behind me. I don't need to say anything about that. I can't
tell you how many people I've gotten on a call with, and it's
the first thing they start talking about. They're like, I'm
a musician too. I play saxophone too. They start telling me all
this stuff about themselves. Yeah,
Janice Porter: that's a great example. I think we did talk
about it on our last call. Everybody,
Chris Bogue: yeah, because, yes, it's attention grabbing. Of
course, put yourself out there. And again, if it that often
leads naturally to a person talking about how they wish they
were doing more out there. They wish they were expressing
themselves more. They wish they were doing more stuff out in the
feed that showcased their talents. And then I just get
very curious about that. And do you
Janice Porter: find in your teachings, in your coaching,
that you are able to easily help people relax and be their true,
authentic self. That's your gift, one of your gifts, I'd
like to think so yeah. I think that's yeah. I think that would
be really fun and and rewarding to watch them grow in that
respect. Yeah. Yeah, so we came full Sorry. Go ahead.
Chris Bogue: I was say because people are already very
talented. People have all sorts of wonderful gifts that they
never share with the world. I think the average person feels
like they wish they said more or did more, or put themselves out
there more. And this style that I'm trained in is a very
collaborative thing. It's not like, I know, stand up comedy,
where it's a very selfish thing, where it's like Everybody look
at me and what I'm saying. It's not like I'm roasting people or
insulting people. I let them say anything, and then I say yes.
And then we find something together. We discover something
together. And it's a very it's a great way to get people to open
up, because once people realize that you're not going to cut
them down, you're not going to criticize them, you're not going
to poke them apart, then yeah, they just kind of relax and
start actually saying what's on their mind. And you need someone
to get into a state like that before you can sell to them.
Because if I'm just assuming what your problems are, then
you're probably going to get defensive about it. But if you
start telling me what your problems are, yeah, and I have
some way to help you with them, well then that is actually what
sales is supposed to be, right?
Janice Porter: And you and by being so comfortable drawing
people out that makes it easy, because they do give you what
you need to help. So I'm going to test a new question on you.
It's my last question, but before I do, I need to ask you a
prelim to that, and that is, Do you ever watch Jeopardy?
Chris Bogue: Yes, not recently. But I you know the game. Okay,
I'm familiar with the game. Okay,
Janice Porter: so in I'm a huge Jeopardy fan. But one thing that
always drives me crazy is the interview he does Ken Jennings
and before him, Alex Trebek used to do with each of the
contestants. He does it after the first commercial break, and
everybody is introduced, and they all have to tell a silly
story, or some story that's funny, or whatever. What would
your story be on Jeopardy that you would share with the
audience? Do you? Do you? Do you remember? Like, do you get an
idea of what I'm saying? They all have an anecdote that they
share, and everybody laughs. And, you know,
Chris Bogue: yeah, see, it's like, this is tough too, because
I, I am more comfortable talking to somebody about them what
happened to them earlier today than me being like, what's the
funniest thing that ever happened to you, you know? Or,
like, that's the most amazing thing that's ever happened to
Janice Porter: you. Yeah, and they've pre rehearsed this,
right? They've got the question already set so that they know
what they're going to say when Ken or before him, Alex would
prompt them like, I know you traveled a lot when you were in
university, tell us about that time you right. So that's kind
of the premise of what so I'm giving you a chance to think
about something. Okay,
Chris Bogue: so I would probably tell him that whenever I play
two truths and a lie. I lie about being on Jeopardy. That's
always my go to lie. Okay, I'll tell them. I'll be like, say,
Okay, two truths and a lie. I go. When I was in sixth grade, I
spoke to the International Space Station through a ham radio I
was a college improv national champion, and when I was 14
years old, I went on teen Jeopardy and got demolished on
national television. Perfect. Those are perfect, okay? And
it's because, like, people like, Oh, I could see maybe he's smart
enough to be on Jeopardy, but probably not smart enough to win
as, no, I was never on Jeopardy, but I have been that has been my
go to lie for years, and I have stumped people, often by lying
and pretending that I lost on teen it's always teen Jeopardy.
I say lost on teen Jeopardy, and it was humiliating.
Janice Porter: Thank you for sharing that with me. I think
that's perfect, actually. What do you think of my question? Do
you think it's okay?
Chris Bogue: I think on the spot, well again, I think it's
illustrative of how people think improv works and stuff like that
too. Where it's like people get really a lot of they try to
think of the best thing ever, or the funniest thing ever, the
most amusing thing ever, and that's very intimidating, yes,
and when I do sometimes companies hire me just to do
improv workshops with their team. I do improv storytelling
workshops, nothing content created, nothing sales. It's all
just like getting people up and having fun and teaching them the
improv games. And the first thing I do, and I do this with
my clients too, is I get up, everybody gets in a circle. We
all like shake it out. We're stretching out. And then I go,
Okay, everybody, I want you to take a nice deep breath in, and
now I want you to breathe out the need to be funny. Exhale.
The need to be funny. You do not need to impress anyone. You do
not need to say anything funny. Today. We. Are going to say the
100% truth. And when you free people from the need to be
funny, and you just start saying, don't come up with a
joke, I want you to say the most truthful answer possible when we
ask you a question, all of a sudden, everybody's dying of
laughter. Everyone is just laughing so hard it hurts
because the version of you that is funniest is actually the
version that's not trying to be funny, and that's the
comfortable version of you. Everybody said, I can't tell you
how many times people tell me, Oh, I'm not funny, but when I'm
around my friends and family, I'm hilarious. Yeah, it's like,
yeah, because that's the funniest version of you. That's
the version of you that is relaxed. You are not thinking of
being funny, and you just naturally do these things that
are uniquely you. And that's the version I try to get on camera
of people, because everybody has that version of them. It's just,
how can you get into that mindset?
Janice Porter: So tell my audience, please where they can
find you. And I know LinkedIn is you're on LinkedIn often, so
that's one place, and you are you have your own website, which
is yes,
Chris Bogue: so everybody go to Chris bogue.io, if you want to
check out my content. I also have a free course that you can
check out called the pattern breaker. So if you want to stand
out on LinkedIn, make some cool videos, do some things that are
going to grow your audience, and create interactive experiences,
and create original content that's going to help you stand
out from the AI. Go to chrisboog.io get on the
newsletter. Check out the free course, and yeah, go check me
out on LinkedIn too. Look up Chris Bogue and make sure you
ring the bell so you always get updates from my crazy new stuff.
Sounds good,
Janice Porter: and I want to thank you for being here. And I
think that for my audience, I think that Chris has really
shown us that relationships don't just happen. They've
they're sparked by showing up, being real and reaching out in
ways that break the pattern and and he does it so easily. You do
it so easily, Chris, it's inspiring, actually. So whether
you're new to video or looking to deepen the online your online
connections, the key is to stop chasing attention and start
creating conversation. Thanks for tuning in to relationships
rule, because in business and in life, it's the relationships
that matter most, so remember to stay connected and be
remembered. Thank.