Director Briefing with John Grant – Co-Founder and CEO of YB12
We spoke to the co-founder and CEO of YB12, John Grant. YB12 specialises in providing personal development training and is looking for aspiring professionals to join the YB12 family as trainers. In this director briefing, John discusses his journey in co-founding and running the business, what he is looking for in a potential YB12 trainer and the passion that drives him and the team at YB12.
Eden Exchange: Hi John, thanks for speaking with us today.
John Grant: My pleasure.
Eden Exchange: Could you start off telling us how you first became involved with YB12? What drove your interest in the opportunity?
John Grant: For me it was having more control over my life. I figured if I worked for someone else, I would only ever receive a very small percentage of the overall business outcomes. Doing my own thing meant I had more control over my future; I could work my own hours, use my creativity and do what I absolutely love doing, which is making a difference in the lives of people through personal development training. Our goal at YB12 is to make a difference in the lives of 1 million people.
Eden Exchange: What are some unique characteristics of the YB12 business? What sets you apart from any other personal development training companies in the market?
John Grant: YB12 offers everything a person will need to build a successful consultancy.
Our products are tried and tested and proven for over nearly three decades, with tens of thousands of people experiencing them. However, products alone do not make a consultancy – the tools for procuring clients are tantamount to success. We have developed an approach to generating client revenues that is also tried and tested and proven for more than 20 years. The third part of our successful formula is that we provide the highest level of support that anyone can receive to help them transition from a job to a consultancy. We leave no stone unturned to help people who do the work to succeed.
It is our enduring history as well as our product and marketing development that makes the difference and sets us apart. We have only successful people from the field in our senior leadership roles. People who have done it and built it. My role as CEO puts me front and centre. I ensure that I play an active role in YB12 and work hard to get results, helping whoever wants to truly bridge from job to a career in personal development.
Eden Exchange: Who would suit running a YB12 business? What type of backgrounds and experience would trainers usually come from?
John Grant: YB12 is the perfect place for someone that reads personal development books, goes to seminars on personal development subjects and sees themselves as a public speaker. They want the freedom of a consultancy business but not the rigours of a traditional retail business. When it comes to background, that is a little harder to pin down. I came from a general engineering and small business background, but I always read the books and did the seminars. I started several businesses before committing to personal development as a lifelong path.
There’s a crowd in every city, I call them the torch bearers; they are the people who just want to help others progress in their lives. They are fascinated by 101 psychology, seekers of greater understanding about how life works and they LOVE to impart this knowledge to others. The urge to do so is proven to be at its peak at about 44 years of age, so the bell curve ideally places our potential trainers on 10 years either side of that. There are exceptions – I was one. I was hardcore bitten by the bug at 28 years of age, and speakers can often roll up on the stage into their ‘70s and older. Nikki, will you push my wheelchair?
Eden Exchange: Training another business to be successful is not easy. Is there a process YB12 follows? What type of training is provided to new team members? How do you ensure standards remain high?
John Grant: We have a global authorisation framework to protect the brand and our trainers; this is a step by step process that the trainer goes through at their own pace with the support of their regional director. The training is a comprehensive combination of one-on-one strategy sessions with a regional director, weekly live webinars, face-to-face training in most capital cities (where available) and a comprehensive back office. Progress through the authorisation is overseen in conjunction with the regional director and training and support is always continuous.
To the passionate, connected, confident and driven person, it is EASY. We must shoot for self-reliant people who just want a track to run on. When we call out to these people I would like to be making sure there is a deep level of conviction from the start.
Eden Exchange: What would you class as a successful trainer?
John Grant: A successful trainer works the numbers, and the numbers never lie. If a person learns our KNP well, gets in front of the right audiences (which we show them) and asks for the business, the conversion rates are simple. Most capable presenters convert 30% of their audiences into clients, and that is consistent with most of our products. The key is for them to be willing to:
- Follow the System
- Do the Work
- Have the right Attitude, and
- Develop their Talent
This spells SWAT, and that is our system. We can guarantee success if people follow this SWAT technique.
Eden Exchange: How has YB12 grown since you first entered the market? What are your goals for the business?
John Grant: I started the business in 1990 with our first workshop called The Magic Power of Goals. I developed this into Total Focus which ran for 12 years, before developing another course to help people start a business called The Workshop Leader’s Course. I then developed our 12 month program called the Classic program, and decided that I wanted to be closer to people’s long term success and started YB12 in 2011. We’ve since grown this business with additional products, as well as spawning two other brands.
I intend for YB12 to continue its development and growth until we surpass our goal of having helped one million people. At present we are approaching 280,000 clients amongst our various offerings. The industry is worth billions worldwide and growing by about 5% annually.
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About YB12
YB12 is a full-service training company, offering consultancy opportunities for aspiring and experienced public speakers, coaches, and business advisors. From one-on-one training to comprehensive business advisory services, YB12 is all about helping clients have the best year of their lives.
YB12’s history is long and successful, with 25-years of experience with more than 200,000 people having already attended workshops, introductory seminars or one-on-one training sessions.
