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Bill Cates is an internationally recognized client-acquisition expert, author, and speaker who motivates others to take action with proven strategies. 

A successful entrepreneur, Bill started and sold two book publishing companies. Turning his attention to help other businesses grow, Bill has written four best-selling books: Get More Referrals Now, Don\\u2019t Keep Me a Secret, Beyond Referrals and Radical Relevance.

Bill is also somewhat of an adventurer. He has trekked through the Himalayas of Nepal and the Andes of Peru. He has lived on a houseboat in Kashmir, India, climbed Machu Pichu, reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, camped in Arctic Circle\\u2026 and Bill has toured the country as the drummer in a rock and roll band.

Most passionate about

• I\\u2019ve been in business for 40 years, always in marketing and in growing businesses. I built two book-publishing companies and sold both in 1989. Then I got into the business of writing, speaking, coaching, and helping other entrepreneurs build their businesses.
• I love writing. I plan to write a book every year now for the next five years. Today I also enjoy doing a lot of videos.

Bill\\u2019s career and the story of the WHWE community

• I published cookbooks. I started when I wrote my own book. I worked for American Airlines, so I wrote a book about airline careers and started selling it a bit by myself. I was using direct mail, mail orders\\u2014this was long before we had the internet. Then a woman asked me to help her self-publish a cookbook, so I did that.
• I realized that cookbooks were a really good business. People love to read cookbooks, and not only for cooking. They enjoy following the process of preparing a dish. People also collect cookbooks. So, I borrowed $40,000 (which was a huge amount for me) from my father.
• I came back with several cookbooks that we sold in cooking stores, kitchen stores, and gourmet product stores. I published 45 cookbooks throughout the time I had my business.
• After nine years, I discovered that I didn\\u2019t really have a passion for what I was doing. I was looking for the next thing. A friend of mine told me, \\u201cYou have built up a lot of knowledge, you\\u2019ve got a lot of experience, and you can help other business owners. You can write, you can speak, you can consult, you can coach.\\u201d
• I never really thought about that and I slowly got into it. I started helping some clients. In 1995 I began writing my first business book. It was called Unlimited Referrals and it was about how businesses can create more word of mouth. It\\u2019s not available anymore.
• My most recent business book is Radical Relevance, which is about how to cut through the sea of noise that the internet creates. Creating word of mouth is more relevant now than ever. You need to have the right mix of marketing and sales.

Bill\\u2019s best advice for entrepreneurs

• The second rule in my book, Radical Relevance, is to give your customers or clients a seat at the table. What I mean by that is to not ever develop a product or service or any marketing or sales messages without first talking to your customers or clients.
• We think we know what\\u2019s in their heads and hearts, and to some degree we do. We think we have empathy for them but there is nothing like talking with them. What happens is that we start learning things and getting phrases and words and expressions that we can use and that we wouldn\\u2019t have thought of.
• One of the great questions to ask our clients is, \\u201cWhat do you value about what we do and how would you describe to other people what we are doing?\\u201d When I asked that, one of my clients said, \\u201cYou make asking for referrals as natural as breathing.\\u201d

Biggest failure with customers

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