Storytelling Produces More Than A Happy Ending

Posted on October 19, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

Once upon a time, I win! That is the whole story. This short story completely summarizes the emotion, tension and finality of an epic adventure. From a business perspective, a great story incorporates a foundation for intelligent planning, strategic processes and detailed execution. These story elements are essential to business success because great ideas are only recognized with proper execution. Essentially, the business team must buy into the vision, then fulfillment begins. Storytelling articulates specific and powerful roles in connecting multiple sides toward a mutually desired and emotionally binding outcome. Yet, the only way to achieve the desired outcome, better known as the happy ending, is through incorporating specific elements that execute a satisfying story for customers.

Storytelling Is Content

Too many business leaders mistakenly approach business growth as logic-driven activities where superior reasoning dictates outcomes. This common belief suggests that the best facts in a proposal, or pitch wins. In reality, the winner typically involves emotional connectivity. Written words and communicated attitudes resonate loudly. Truly, how often does a high-powered executive enter a high stakes meeting while wearing the most practical shoes? Success explicitly communicates boldness! To influence, persuade and impose one’s will, somehow the story must articulate the winning side’s superiority. Style, price, brand name, and swagger communicate specific images that reflect perceived value. Communicated stories across visual, audio, or written channels extend beyond verbal communication to include cues that express emotional connectivity. The logic will eventually justify the decision after the emotional experience has dictated it!

Simply, stories connect people because they strike at emotions. Even when logic completes the decision, emotional triggers have already been integrated. In “Storytelling Wins the Best Engagements” by Glenn W Hunter, a critical point emerges as both parties approach entering the engagement: “it is important to realize that the customer has the most important item in the transaction. The customer has the seller’s money!”. This reality applies to goods, services, and ideas. The seller must extract what he believes to be his money from the buyer. Consequently, whether the customer makes a rational, emotional, quantitative, or whimsical decision, understand that the story must communicate decision-making information in a way that the buyer wants to receive it. Otherwise the deal goes nowhere. Eventually, the connection must be established where the buyer trusts the seller, so that the transaction can close. Above all factors, the decision really must feel right!

Storytelling Is Nuance

The next key to engaging under the cloak of Storytelling is the communication’s nuance. Honestly, facts do not execute transactions. Communicated value executes transactions! Interactions get interesting when communicated value reflects subtlety! For example, a customer enters a commercial equipment retailer for a specific machine part. On the surface, a buyer seeks a specific piece of equipment to resume manufacturing. In reality, the buyer desperately needs a piece of equipment ASAP so that manufacturing can resume! Furthermore, the buyer knows that every minute that he spends negotiating on price is one minute of revenue generating productivity that the buyer’s business loses! The reality of commercial transactions are often more complicated than “Give me part number 12 in blue out of the catalogue.” It is terrible business to spend time negotiating $500 in savings while foregoing $10,000 in revenue productivity!

Regarding business dealings, the “Happily Ever After” typically occurs after much work and sacrifice. Whether the deal involves products, services, or the latest, greatest acquisition, integrating the purchase into established processes comes with challenges. Routine products most likely integrate seamlessly into their designed function. However, innovative services or products may involve training, adjustments, or additional headcount. Because storytelling is designed to create more vivid understanding, it helps in navigating complex entanglements. Furthermore, creating a culture that emphasizes information moving from person to person, much like a memorable story moves, results in significantly stronger outcomes. Literally, regularly reminding an operations team about the company’s equivalent to the “Three Little Pigs” story could be the vehicle to create stronger physical structures that insure safety. No one wants to be involved in having their house blown down because someone was lazy!

Conclusion

Ultimately, business operations should be designed to perform smoothly. The content that is involved with instructions or processes works best when readily available and easily digested. In most cases embedded operations already know how specific widgets interact with the adjacent functions’ responsibilities. That is training’s job. Regarding nuance, proper repetition is the secret sauce for business operations to continue performing according to plan. Ultimately, happy endings result from executing according to expectations. Expectations regularly extend beyond targets because true competitors realize that complacency can lead to elimination. Frankly, disobeying operational content, or being lazy toward urgent business processes, results in consequences without a happy ending. Any functioning business can perform ordinary tasks consistently from procurement to delivery. To achieve consistently happy endings, business leaders must enforce cultures that innovate, follow directions, and work cooperatively. Choose happy endings!

By Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director of Hunter And Beyond, LLC

Author of “Storytelling Wins The Best Engagements“

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Find The YES In The Room

Posted on September 28, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

“So Bob, what’s it going to take to get you in this beauty today?” While this cheesy sales line is a classic, it does have merit! Closing the transaction is clearly the point. And in any sales opportunity, “Yes” represents progress. While many “Yeses” may be involved in a business transaction’s ultimate closing, make no mistake that the final “Yes” indicates success! This fact becomes even more important during more complex transactions where multiple milestones and ongoing communication are part of the process. With so many milestones to meet and opportunities to fail, each step toward progress is essential to the goal. Ultimately, enough “Yeses” results in closure. And closure means revenue, then compensation!

ATTITUDE ENJOYS BETTER MARGINS

However, before maximizing compensation, numerous detailed steps are required. Confidently setting aggressive targets is a great place to start. “Your attitude determines your altitude.”, is a clever reminder for sales professionals to remember how they influence their own success. Realize that this simple saying has multiple layers contributing to its fundamental truth! Consider that a positive attitude can have a positive impact on a transaction’s success. Also, as like and trust grows in the relationship leading to the transaction, price becomes less critical. Value and intangible benefits begin to carry more weight. Potentially, the seller’s margin, become less contentious once value is established.  

On a deeper level, as positive attitudes emerge in the potential transaction, stories are repeated and shared. Connections strengthen. While this process could be brief, time invested in strengthening “like and trust” creates more straightforward paths to “Yes”. At no point does a sales professional want to rush prospects, and especially not established clients. Nevertheless, a significant part of sales success is a keen awareness of invested time.  Beware that on the way to “Yes”, a pleasant interaction throughout the sales process often results in cross-sales and referrals. Consequently, a healthy respect for time during the process must be managed masterfully. Success requires finding the “Yes” in the room and methodically moving the emerging customer toward it.

ACTION SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

Phrases like “No Problem”, as well as, “Yes, and” are particularly effective in developing a sales pipeline. Besides representing a can-do attitude, the phrases create a favorable environment for future possibilities. As these affirming phrases’ positivity permeates the atmosphere, the expectation of additional interactions escalates. From a psychological perspective, each “Yes” acts as a steppingstone toward the next “Yes”. Essentially, repetitive positivity facilitates more potential future outcomes in the positive. Include positive body language like displaying an open stance, and gently nodding while listening, then the environment has evolved into a space where success and agreement flourishes.

Now, actions speak for themselves because the conversation has evolved to facilitate agreement. From a communication perspective, posture, visuals, and language have become conditioned for agreement. These tactics are not hard rules to be manipulated by the crooked salesman. Instead, these affirming communication techniques facilitate agreement at a human level. Realizing that the exchange now expects that a “Yes” is in the room, these verbal and non-verbal communication techniques make it easier for both parties to find it. Still, the professional must communicate value. Likewise, the buyer still must maintain trust in the professional. Nevertheless, a path toward agreement has been subtly established so that the engagement can transform into a transaction!

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, finding the “Yes” in the room focuses on establishing common ground. The sooner that the seller can identify the most valued benefits for the buyer, the quicker the buyer can establish closing. Time is a crucial factor in any transaction. The quickest, best offer does not necessarily win the deal. Yet, locating the “Yes” from both sides of the transaction communicates knowledge and value so that the transaction can conclude. Realize that posturing remains a necessary factor in locating the “Yes”. Nevertheless, guessing and shooting in the dark are inefficient uses of time with regards to the current transaction and probably the next one. Ultimately, the seller who knows their target market’s industry as well as their industry benefits from efficiency leading to successful transactions happening faster. From the seller’s perspective, that means that referrals and cross-selling opportunities happen faster, too. More customers to serve are clearly the ultimate reward for finding the “Yes” in the room!

By Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director, Hunter And Beyond, LLC

Author of “Storytelling Wins The Best Engagements”

Available on Amazon

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The True You Comes Through

Posted on August 20, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

A persuasive, well-trained, eloquent subject matter expert confidently glides into a polished conference room. Although the audience of mid-level leaders sees a salesman, the visitor brings specific, game-changing solutions to the waiting assembly. From his dress to his vocabulary, the visitor exudes authentic, genuine success. On the other hand, the audience simply awaits the dog and pony show. Regardless of how large the portfolio of goods and services appears to be, the best sellers must always present the goods or services that they absolutely believe in the most for every prospect.

Belief

Proposed goods and services need to align with the seller’s personal strengths. They must become the driver for anticipated success. The emotional investment must be sufficient enough so that successful execution conveys inevitable financial rewards for all parties. Products and/ or services need to be aligned with individual sellers’ interest so that success ties in psychically and tangibly. If the sales gig’s purpose is to “fake it until you make it”, then work to make it soon! Otherwise, first interest will wane and then possibilities will wane shortly afterwards. Remember the prospect and its leadership are aware of productivity. A hostile and temporary interaction awaits the pitch that fails to communicate belief in future accomplishment.

Authenticity within a successful approach is undoubtedly essential. While belief demonstrates an individual sales professional’s confidence, the authenticity and detail conveys that confidence to the buyer! Authenticity facilitates connecting emotionally to other people who are exposed to the presentation. The emotional connection is important because it enhances persuasiveness in the presentation. It facilitates an intangible attraction between the buyer and the item for sale. In reality, that explicitly crafted attraction attaches to the decision makers’ heart strings that largely drives the final decision. Buyers purchase according to inner motivations. If the lowest price drives the decision, it is because the decision maker believes that thriftiness will provide the most security and satisfaction for his role.

Persistence

Realize that at some point this go-to item may not be the solution that the customer needs. Under any circumstances, do not sell something that does not help the prospective client. Yes, it is the end of the month. Yes, that exact amount of revenue gets to the next bonus tier, or meets a recognized accomplishment. Of course, in specific instances practical perspectives must prevail, so seal the deal. But, what must not happen is to allow desperation to become the common mode of operation. Saving one’s butt for monthly targets is one matter. Making that decision a way of operating is a clear path toward disingenuous sales tactics and eventually poor performance. The next step features selling for another organization!

Remember, poor preparation promotes poor performance. Poor performance promotes pain! Ultimately, enough pain results in separation from the organization. High performance professionals do not sell their principles. Likewise, they try real, real hard not to loan them out or rent them, either. Integrity is more than honesty; it is also the path to principled longevity. Along with adhering to principles, apply insight to discern between genuine opportunities and false prosperity. While persistence means pursuing opportunities with confidence and tenacity, it also means cutting dead ends quickly. The polished professionals’ experience and confidence realizes that equally attractive opportunities have been strategically established in the pipeline over time.  Consequently, mature sales funnels produce at a pace that is designed for longevity.

Conclusion

Ultimately, vetting opportunities so that personalities and similar business styles align with prospects, increases the likelihood of successful results. Additionally, the importance of emotional connectivity must be recognized. Realize even in connecting with organizations where models and quantitative analysis drive decisions, people who are led by their emotions and biases are building these models. The human condition is inescapable in commerce. Consequently, the individual contacts and their personalities never stray too far. Likewise, the individual personality that drives the purchase decision ultimately has influence on the process. Allow the experienced decision maker, who eventually influences the selling process in whatever capacity, do the job that they are empowered to do. Connect with that true person for success!

By Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director, Hunter And Beyond, LLC

Author of “Storytelling Wins The Best Engagements”

Available on Amazon

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Did You Catch That? Sales via Ears, Eyes, Heart

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

Great sales professionals realize that low prices do not always win. To maximize revenue several factors enter the sales equation. Emotion matters! Successful sales professionals realize that they must first tug on the heart strings before they can pull on the purse strings. At a certain point, price matters. But common understanding, credibility and relationship matters a lot more. What good is an initially low price if the buyer now owns an item that must constantly be repaired? Successful sales efforts recognize that contribution based on value creates the most profitable engagements. Did the seller pay attention to all inputs to get every need met for both parties? Were ears, eyes, and heart really working together?

Sell Through Superior Communication

How does a buyer maximize benefit for the purchase price? Simply, “Did the buyer really get what she paid for?” Every customer has an idea of specific wants and needs. Meanwhile, the sales professional desires to meet that need while maintaining integrity regarding profits and professionalism. To balance that tricky goal, listening with ears, eyes, and heart is imperative! In short, multiple senses are accepting information so that all needs are met. For the business engagement to happen, both parties need to find common ground concerning the real sales drivers. What one party wants, the other party has to deliver. Words communicate these needs. Tone of voice, body language, eye contact, even subtle physical tics reinforce them.

Regardless of products, services, or sales cycles, certain consistencies provide the sales professionals certain advantages. Emotion is part of the deal. For sellers, high prices are better than low prices when all factors are equal. Yet, all factors are rarely equal. Realize that purchases are often emotion driven to a certain extent. In commercial sales, is this transaction going to enhance the buyer’s reputation in the eyes of peers or superiors? For the seller is there confidence, or stammering while communicating? Who displays more confidence when individuals are literally looking into each others’ faces? How genuine is the counterpart’s smile? All these clues communicate comfort levels regarding the transaction’s terms, thus requiring sincere attention.

Buy With Emotion

As non-verbal and verbal communications collide, consummating a transaction requires that a moment of trust emerges. A high price can communicate bad value for the buyer’s needs, or comfort with the seller’s brand integrity. Still successful closure requires clear convergence based on emotional connectivity by both sides. Acknowledging trust is pivotal.  Especially in environments where the low price wins, the domineering emotion remains that fidelity to valuing thriftiness prevails. In all transactions, bridging the buyer’s and the seller’s culture is part of reaching agreement. The better deal goes to the party that satisfies their side’s needs with the most integrity.

Consider that listening through the heart reflects positive, fluttering feelings in the chest when good news has been received. The sensation is clearly emotional. Furthermore, listening with the eyes is a metaphor where the transaction’s value is so pleasing that the satisfaction transcends multiple senses. Consider observing someone listening to another person while watching their mouth. Subconsciously or explicitly, the viewer is watching to address verbal cues that are not aligned with audio clues. Is the buyer preparing to disagree with a key point by forming their mouth to interrupt? The savvy sales professional allows the objection to come out. The buyer may be preparing to provide essential intel that expresses their interest, or sets the stage for pushback. Regardless, winning the engagement often means seizing advantages by understanding multiple communication channels.

Conclusion

Ultimately, securing the better of any deal relies on acquiring better information. Words, body language, eye contact, even perspiration all provide clues to the transaction’s true value. Consequently, the advantage goes to the side that manages their emotions while extracting emotional clues from the other side. Consequently, in any engagement, the side that protects its intentions and satisfaction has a clear advantage. Furthermore, by catching what the eyes, ears, and heart are conveying, opportunities emerge to give the advantage to the more astute and sensory aware side. These tips are useful to figure out the underlying story. Act upon the revealed tips to win the next engagement, and the subsequent larger engagements that will certainly come forth with this knowledge.

By Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director, Hunter And Beyond, LLC

Author of “Storytelling Wins The Best Engagements”

Available on Amazon!

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Selling Services – What Do Customers Get Again?

Posted on June 11, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

How do certain business development professionals seem to demonstrate excellence and to enjoy superior rewards with relatively basic skills? Insurance agents, enterprise software sellers, professional speakers, and life coaches all make amazing livings when they perform their skills at reasonably competent levels. Clearly, off-the-chart excellence in a given profession provides opportunities to enjoy significant rewards through their efforts. Yet, why do professionals with seemingly basic skill sets find ways to prosper beyond apparently more brilliant peers?

Efficiency

The old saying goes, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” In the business development arena, this fight has a time clock and it is relentless. Every minute that a sales professional is not prospecting, selling, or closing, equates to a minute that is not directly impacting their progress toward their revenue targets. In the sales field, achieving revenue targets ultimately takes precedence over everything. This priority toward closing transactions clearly does not eliminate the need to sharpen the saw, or re-energize personal energy sources. However, time that is not re-energizing, prospecting, selling, nor closing represents time that is not contributing toward explicit, quantitative results. Ultimately, investing in these results are the difference between success and failure!

Highest Value Contribution sounds like another nerdy concept, yet it makes a big difference on the commission report. Unsurprisingly, wasted time is extremely hard to recoup. Specifically, inefficient time usage is detrimental to achieving time-based goals. Highest Value Contribution plainly comes down to spending time that results in reaching a desired level of accomplishment. Specifically, if selling a $100,000 policy takes the same amount of time and energy as selling a $25,000 policy, then for goodness sakes sell the $100,000 policy! Of course, other factors play into the calculations of how allocated time, future sales value, or potential for referrals equates to the likelihood or urgency of closing the deal. Still, without overthinking the matter, invest highly valued sales hours to opportunities that will yield larger tangible, financial results.

Good Feelings

On the buying side of the transaction, besides the quality of the service, or product, another key differentiator is good feelings. In many cases, the buyer does not simply want the best deal. Many buyers want the best experience! Of course, money matters. Yet, as comparable competing deals converge, a key differentiator emerges in the form of like and trust. Beyond the good or service delivering to expectation, will the buyer want to tell the story of the purchase? Did the sales professional over-deliver in such a way that the buyer is eager to tell others about the incredible experience?

While these positive experiences seem marginally consequential to the deal’s closure, the experienced sales professionals realize that these positive experiences are exactly where their value differentiation resides! Overly satisfied customers are willing to refer other prospects. Those customers actually minimize prospecting time, because the first customer has now gladly provided that function. Having warm leads delivered to effective sales representatives results in a seasoned professional now needing to invest less time to keep the sales funnel equally full. In fact, referrals are much more efficient since they arrive with a sense of confidence in the receiving sales professional. The preceding customer has already taken care of that part of the deal. Ultimately, developing positive emotions in the sales funnel is great for business because establishing credibility takes time, unless the prospect shows up fully equipped with good feelings toward the sales representative.

Conclusion

Fidelity to successful processes is essential for exceptional results! In the aggregate, more calls typically mean more yeses. Furthemore, releasing weak prospects quickly leaves more time for identifying strong clients. Realize that the amount of time selling in a specific niche is relatively consistent. Securing a whale may take more time than getting a trout to buy. Nevertheless, this metaphor definitely does not reflect a linear relationship. Expend energy on bigger payoffs, as long as your product or service mathematically supports that logic. Finally, practice, practice, practice. Know your product, your delivery and your prospect! Those ordinary sales professionals that smear their competition simply do the mundane, busy work to understand their target market and prospective customers much, much better. Late nights yucking it up at the bar may be more memorable. But, spending those exact same hours planning your calls and studying the nuances of the industry pays better. It pays much better!

By Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director, Hunter And Beyond, LLC

Available through Amazon: The Must Read New Release by Glenn W Hunter!!

https://www.amazon.com/Storytelling-Wins-Engagements-Glenn-Hunter/dp/B094SZRYZ5

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Growth Now! Then Connect!

Posted on May 17, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

This is a big deal! You have completed the preparation. You have gone through the checklist. You have adrenaline rushing through your body. You realize that you are about to jump out of the plane. After every bit of planning and precaution, it is now time to grow! Success is not recognized by boarding the plane and putting on the gear. Success is jumping out of the plane and landing safely. Feel the fear and do it anyway! If success is the goal, then connect with others after accomplishing the process to achieve success. Then, return to the plane in order to embrace the thrill again!

Focus on Action

Every sales professional recognizes the fluttering in the belly when engaging a prospect. Seasoned pros recall the old advice,”It is OK to have butterflies in your stomach. The trick is to get them to fly in formation.” When the butterflies are incapable of getting into formation, a default reaction is to remember the training. Nearly every sales professional has participated in some level of training. However, whether the training program was intense, or consisted of checking the necessary boxes, the marketplace is much more difficult than practice. Yet, still someone is actually selling goods and services! Why in the world should it be a competitor?

Natural aptitude, fearless attitudes, superior products, better opening lines are all possibile reasons for business development success. But, the truth before exploring all these tactics is simply ACTION! Success resides in the details. Product knowledge, passion for success, belief in the employer, a superior product portfolio, old-fashioned personal tenacity are unquestionably contributors. But, action makes a difference because the individual can directly influence that input. Furthermore, many intangible outcomes emerge from positive inputs because of action. Action includes proactively studying products, rehearsing winning scripts, performing intelligence on competitors, and connecting directly with prospects. All these are examples of tactics that a sales professional can do! At the end of the day, week, or month, the goods and services are not going to sell themselves.

Focus on Iteration

After action takes priority in the professionals’ activities, the desired outcomes are not automatic. Sales success leaves clues, but does not have a foolproof formula. If such a formula existed, then plenty of fools would enjoy success because many approached their sales careers with the expectation that it was foolproof. Nevertheless, persistently applying established fundamentals have proven to be successful. Assuming that the goods and services in the professional’s portfolio are competitive, the ability to connect with more prospects tends to improve the desired outcomes regarding more sales to customers.

No magic incantations nor wishful expectations will substitute for persistence on a consistent basis. Success results from connecting with lots of buyers who have a likelihood of purchasing the salesperson’s goods and services. The desired outcomes require more than returning to the same prospect expecting them to buy on some schedule. Customers may come and go. However, the consistency that drives excellent results fundamentally builds upon high performance habits. And, those habits require repetition with adaptation to specific shifts in taste and requirements. Essentially, intentional, proven behaviors from preparation to follow-up are the keys to consistent success. Professionals who thoroughly understand foundational similarities and individualized nuance are the winners that adapt to very specific requests for profitable excellence!

Conclusion

Ultimately, business growth generated by specific, high performance is a direct result of passion for the craft, as well as service for the specific prospect. Recognize that the specific individual may ultimately represent an entire department, region, or company. Yet, the personal interaction drives the exchange. Support systems definitely are involved in preparation and delivery. But, the voice and face that represents the selling entity drives the decision to establish the transaction. Regardless of technology, the ability to connect a person to a solution is the core of business development success. When exceptional sales professionals are ready to grow and soar, they will commit to repeatedly connecting to prospects and opportunities.

By Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director of Hunter and Beyond, LLC

Click for New Release by Glenn W Hunter! Storytelling Wins The Best Enagaments

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What’s At The Top?

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?”, a local commentator asked legendary climber George Mallory decades ago. Mallory allegedly answered, “Because it’s there.” While the interview produced a memorable quote, actually climbing the world’s largest mountain is undeniably more complex. Even from an attitude perspective, the reasons vary why anyone would attack that task. Pure desire to defeat a unique challenge is an important motivator. Being the individual who defies death in this pursuit furthermore provides a unique rush. Ultimately, a common motivator for any singular accomplishment is the ego-driven desire to be recognized as the leader of their category. The specific drivers vary regarding their insatiable motivation. Yet, what’s at the top? Only the individual champion’s ego can accurately answer that question.

Viewpoint

Validation can be one essential driver to achieve legendary accomplishments. Prevailing conquerors can easily own the point of view that “I worked hard for it and I achieved it.” This hero can now confidently propose to accomplish the next superhuman task. “Faint heart never won fair maidens.”, according to the romantic poet, further confirms that fearless perspective to obtain glory just beyond one’s reach. While that viewpoint is easily accused of being self-centered, rarely does an exceptional, never-done-before, feat occur in a vacuum. A clear viewpoint reveals that other individuals and ideas competitively contributed to achieving subsequent, superhuman accomplishment. Fundamental items like tools, training, and inspiration are essential to perpetuating mindsets and foundations to secure epic accomplishments.

At the core of the ego-fueled drive for superiority, an individual must possess supreme confidence. Core competence regarding necessary skills runs a close second! Perspective completes the triangle because achieving singular feats require more than nerves and talent. An intelligence requirement provides a necessary level of respect for the achievement, as well as vision regarding the risks. That balance allows fearless conquerors to avoid destructively reckless behaviors while sustaining supreme confidence. That viewpoint empowers the drive for greatness to align with respect for the victory.

Camaraderie

Although accomplishing legendary feats is a straightforward way for an individual to enjoy individual accolades, an unexpected benefit emerges. Realize that world-class performers are unique by definition. The individual efforts and competence that superior performers require, make them singular, even in a team sport or endeavor. That unity reinforces aligned efforts toward singular achievement. Consequently, even group efforts that result in singular achievement still form a unique team accomplishment.

Specifically, champions are unique because they reach the pinnacle of their particular arena. Whether the conqueror emerges as a Nobel laureate or a Super Bowl champion, additional team members contribute to the ultimate win. Consequently, champions rely on teammates, trainers, coaches, strategists, nutritionists and multiple other supporters to prepare winners for their ultimate victories. At nearly every level, elite victories require several contributors, who are part of the team, that eventually unveils individual success. 

Conclusion

Ultimately, the champion does not achieve the accolades associated with reaching the top alone. Anyone who arrives at their particular mountaintop, benefitted from extraordinary drive, as well as detailed attention to teamwork. As any honest champion will admit, the crowning victory was not a singular success. The event that revealed their conquest undoubtedly provided a stage for recognizing communal greatness.

Champions realize that they do not perform in isolation. Consequently, they all have a unique camaraderie among the supporters that contributed to the conquest. At the literal mountaintop, one individual places the flag declaring the victory. Yet, even at that point, the individual is not alone. The people patting the conqueror on the back are contributors, not cheerleaders. At the mountain top is a group that cooperates for victory. Still, another mountain awaits. Get a team together to conquer the next desired mountain top!

By Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director of Hunter and Beyond, LLC

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Grow Big or Grow Home

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

“It’s Alive! It’s Alive!!” according to Dr. Frankenstein, in the movie Young Frankenstein when the monster came to life. Now it is time to feed the beast.  Living organisms must eat to grow, thrive and mature. In many ways, a business acts like a living organism with expectations to mature and perform. It needs to be nourished and cultivated in its own way. However, instead of meats and veggies, businesses run on sales, profits and cash flow. Because these elements are quantified, they need to grow and thrive in a measurable way. Big, strong, healthy, vibrant, growing businesses in essence have one objective: Grow Big or Go Home!

Growth Tactics

Businesses have many tactics to drive success, yet they all basically focus on deploying resources to generate revenue. Growth in itself does not result in success. Fundamentally, any business who sells large quantities at a loss is not performing profitably. So, what tactics drive profitable activities? The answer is not in the good or service. It actually resides inside strategic marketing. Curiously, an emphasis on strategic marketing often does not exist outside of large organizations. The reason often seems to be the inability for scrappier businesses to unite the two functions. While strategy and marketing exists in profitable businesses, their operational separation often limits the growth capacity of many businesses. 

Strategy and marketing are fairly common business terms for people who lead businesses. However, when the two concepts collide in the business environment, murkiness results. For this blog’s purpose, “Strategic Marketing” is defined as a process of business planning activity where “ultimately it is around creating a sustainable competitive advantage which enable future profitable growth for the business.” Consequently, the outcomes from these exercises create measurable and aspirational forecasting. Business decisions, and eventually performance, heavily rely on maximizing execution of superior ideas and plans. No enterprise will grow successfully, nor significantly large if the foundation is not established between superior internal collaboration and external delivery on communicated tactics! “Build it and they will come” only happens if the plan is great and the execution is better!

Elite Performance

A cold hard fact about business is that the marketplace has options! If a customer cannot find satisfaction where they expect it, they will pursue other avenues to find their solution or a reasonable proxy. Furthermore, the strategically prepared business will already have insight into the market’s upcoming desires and demands. Knowing is part of their process. With regards to “Grow Big”, this means that resources and research need to be in place anticipating potential opportunities. While these operations may seem expensive to study and execute, the alternative is that the competitor who decides against this level of investigation will have their capital tied up in outdated inventory and underperforming headcount.

Approaching the marketplace with a “Grow Big” attitude means that resources are not just for performance, but also for projected success. For example, the auto industry introduces new models of cars annually. That type of innovation epitomizes the “Grow Big” mindset. Every new model will not be a hit. But, every old model eventually phases out! Creating an environment of constantly seeking growth in ideas, customers, and trends, is the best tactic to keep a business and its leadership from the “Go Home” option. Ultimately, market influences prioritize and reward innovation. Typically, premium products have better margins. A business that has the courage to embrace innovation, still needs the fortitude to iterate and to execute through assorted problems and secure profitable solutions. Use market data to understand. Execute marketing plans boldly to secure customers. That is the path to “Grow Big!”

Conclusion

In business growth is inevitable, but not universal. Hungry new competitors and alternatives consistently chomp at the heels of market leaders. Consider the expanding marketplace for organic produce. “What makes one set of fruits and vegetables so much more attractive than another?” is a huge question for this specific segment of the marketplace. However, another market segment cannot wait for their premium priced organic produce to be delivered. That customer even has a generous gratuity for the delivery person. Ultimately, recognizing marketable innovation across products and services continues to drive economies. Niche providers will continue to exist, but they are always looking around the corner for bigger competitors lurking to conquer their market share. Even in a niche, and especially among larger conglomerates, “Grow Big or Go Home” is not just a rallying cry. It is the oxygen that sustains life in businesses of all sizes. As for more modest competitors, niches can be dominated, too. Businesses of all industries and sizes that claim this mindset get to prepare to own their destiny.

Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director of Hunter And Beyond, LLC

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Business Planning, Then Pivot

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”, according to Mike Tyson, former heavyweight boxing champion. The challenge with current business environments is that it continues to hit entrepreneurs in the mouth. Actually, business owners and leaders of all stripes are taking a few blows in the current environment. Likewise, the business environment seems to fight back in several ways. Realize as small and large businesses both constrict and close their doors, the result is fewer employees with paychecks, as well as fewer businesses spending less or not at all in the current economy. Consequently, customers and service providers are unexpectedly participating less in the economy, resulting in pivots happening more often and the results having less room for error. How does business prosper and not get punched in the mouth, or worse yet get knocked out?

Plans

Business planning is clearly important to positioning any business to launch and sustain progress. Old sayings like, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”, get to be old sayings because they continue to be true. What else is true? Putting products and services into the marketplace and selling them generates revenue! Literally, connect with a prospect who is willing to buy. Yes, many available business plan templates and entrepreneurial guides are available. But, which business plan works best? Simply, the answer is the plan that is produced, executed, and then pivots. To be clear, pivot means that the plan is documented, and then changes in the heat of execution. Plans do not make successful businesses. Business leaders that execute plans at least have a shot at successful businesses! The plan is the launching point. Business is action. It is a full contact endeavor!

However, without preparing and starting how does anything finish? Obviously, starting gets the whole operation going. In entrepreneurs’ case, plan, then start fast. Plans are designed to map the process. Nothing truly happens until revenue happens. In that spirit, the young business requires action. Engage prospects. Get feedback. Polish your pitch. Revisit the marketability of goods and services. All these activities point directly to addressing prospects who will offer feedback, yet they also offer money resulting in sales. Success depends on the boldness of customer-facing resources communicating value to generate customers. And, they are only customers once they pay!

Execution

The execution is simply repeating the activities that created revenue. While the process seems that the marketing and planning activites should generate several customer-facing opportunities, the idea is to get customers. Customers that pay! That means a fair amount of business features jumping out the window and securing the parachute on the way down. If that mindset seems too risky, then entrepreneurship is too risky. In this case, execution involves acting with enough information that you will figure out the details as they present themselves.

Why is this professional mindset even desireable? Simply, it is exhilaration; maybe a little greed! The entrepreneur, the start-up employee, the investor, all knowingly accept risk and the premium return that comes with it. That premium comes in returns, salaries, equity, and psychic benefit. The successful start-ups provide these benefits because when mixed with success they inspire stakeholders in a singular way. Business leaders that willingly take on the risk, yearn for the exhilaration of success. Execution based on an individual’s boldness presents opportunities to experience emotional exhilaration and a jolt in individual financial results. Ultimately, successful execution and the coinciding rewards kills any other type of business conquest!

Profits As Endgame

“Success leaves clues”, according to entrepreneurial giant, Jim Rohn. Every situation is different. Consequently, the business talent that embraces the risk and seeks the tools situate themselves for unique expertises. Regardless of the quantity of information concerning entrepreneurial conquests, each one is singular. But, the most gratifying undoubtedly involves the most rewards. In summary, business keeps score! A good plan is a good start. However, it does not put points on the board. In the case where the enterprise starts to score, there is not enough, fast enough! But upon pivoting, now new opportunities begin to reveal themselves. Own the opportunity to acquire more. Still, embrace the plan. Yet, start executing before the ink is dry. Then pivot and hold on! Good luck! Enjoy the ride!

Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director, Hunter And Beyond, LLC

Posted in Business Development, Client Relationships, Creating Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Retail Stories Drive Dollars & Senses

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Hunter & Beyond, LLC

Amazingly the American wheels of commerce continue to turn despite health scares and community unrest! International innovation has developed the ability to energize sales and maintain safe practices. Retailers have created systems and consumers have evolved technology so that both sides of sales tractions more efficiently have their needs met! Oberlo, a leading retail industry analyst, projects international retail to grow 4.5% over the next couple of years! How does that happen?

Large retailers have changed practices to more effectively sell products; driven by buying preferences that shifted toward boutique and virtual retail. More knowledgeable customers know what they like and return policies are more convenient. An important driver to retail progress exists with social and commercial pivots enabling sellers and buyers to communicate effectively before, during, and after purchasing. Retailers compete by being flexible in managing customer service demands. Meanwhile customers buy aggressively because of the service safety net. So, what changes drove this behavioral shift on both sides of the cash register?

Feedback

Surprise! Technology has made sales more efficient! Notice how consumers even in their teen years now evaluate purchases in real-time while walking through a store. A consumer with an iPhone strolls through Macy’s communicating through the internet and learns that her next pair of Wonder Woman Vans are three miles away for four dollars less; plus a coupon is included with an additional purchase. Always accessible information drives better price offerings, as well as a sense of retail adventure that previous generations could not fathom. 

Of course, the product matters. The price matters. Certainly the story matters, too. Very little says “power shopper” quite like a wirelessly connected young professional with cooler apps and better deals via the web. Of course, the technology directs the soon-to-be-purchaser, toward submitting a rating, plus comments about the buying experience. Now the next customer knows exactly where the updated coolness threshold exists. The ability to communicate with other customers and retailers creates unprecedented buyers’ strength. Through assorted forums and instant discounts, a savvy retailer has all the necessary information to sell competitively and stylishly. All it took was an electronic dialogue between retail options and determined shoppers. 

Emotional Connection

To be clear, the emotion that drives retail has existed at least for the last century. However, today’s hyper-connected world, with too many choices and even more competition for consumers’ time and attention, creates elevated stress when buying the old way. Consequently, customers now pay more attention to brands and what they communicate. Listening to the marketplace has come a long way from buying whatever was advertised on a favorite radio station or sitcom. Sellers are much more pointed. Now the dialogue means listening to how favorite brands are portrayed in media outlets ranging from movies to web-based personalities. The latest internet sensation, podcaster, and blogger disseminate multi-media stories concerning current fashion. Now young consumers select a media personality, steal their look, and represent them until the audience ignores their message. Listening now represents every multi- sensory channel where influencers communicate with followers.

As a result of increasing communication channels, marketing messages are rapidly expanding among retailers in quantity and by type. Who has not epically failed walking or driving past a Krispy Kreme outlet despite the best intentions? What clearly matters is the inner dialogue that the retailer has imposed! Everyone knows that warm, sugary goodness is on the other side of the red light! Clearly, retailers who win are best at creating communication among customers and sellers. Regardless what sense is targeted, it is external stimuli and human socialization processes that accelerate retail momentum. The ability to interact emotionally with the desired good, then with any combination of prospects’ five senses, manifest successful sales. Include the ability to share information and experiences with live people, or through social media, then validation is done. The story has been told! The sale is ready to be transacted.

Conclusion

Ultimately interaction creates value. Circulating art, publishing literature, delivering music into the marketplace is how the masses now learn to appreciate artistic superiority across the senses. Of course constantly evolving fashion and gadgets helps, too. Merchandise and sensory images must be available for style and creativity to circulate. “Create value” has to resonate emotionally! Consequently, creating value keeps creativity and its creator alive! The entire retail system demands stories that grab the senses, emotions and mind! Then, popular products monetize the most dominant emotions to reward overstimulated senses! Then retailers will extend thanks, and ultimately receive their financial rewards!

By Glenn W Hunter

Managing Director, Hunter and Beyond, LLC

Posted in Business Coaching, Client Relationships, Creating Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment