System Execution Podcast

Allen Adamson is a noted industry expert in all disciplines of branding. He is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Metaforce.co and the author of BrandSimple, BrandDigital, The Edge: 50 Tips from Brands That Lead, and Shift Ahead: How the Best Companies Stay Relevant in a Fast Changing World. Prior to Metaforce, Allen was Chairman, North America of Landor Associates, a global branding firm.

• Allen’s experience and the expertise he has around branding
• The evolution of the term “brand,” what it has come to mean today, and why branding is all about getting your story out to the world
• What has changed in the branding space with the omnipresence of technology
• Why you need to constantly reinvent and re-sharpen your brand in today’s market
• Ways to know whether your branding is working or not including the most important thing for a brand to focus on
• The process Allen takes his clients through to determine what makes their brand different
• What you need to get focused on in your brand’s story if you want to get it out there
• One of the biggest challenges of working collaboratively as a company and who should be at the table when coming up with the brand’s story
• What an editorial reduction process is and why that is really the important part of branding
• The process Allen uses to help businesses figure out where to put their brand’s story and how to know whether the advertising channel you’ve chosen is the right one or not
• An example of a brand that has been successful over time and why they have been able to accomplish this
• Your best chance of breaking out against your competitors
• The danger of trying to do too many things with your brand and how to avoid that trap
• Why you should have a founder’s mentality
• Reasons brands might want to look outside the digital space to get their name out there

• Website: www.shiftaheadbook.com
• Website: metaforce.co

Berkley Egenes is the Vice President of Marketing for MERIDIUN. A results-driven strategic marketing leader solving business challenges at the intersection of consumers and technology, Egenes is committed to building brands, launching products and producing returns for his partners.

With a strong entrepreneurial spirit for creating insights-based understanding using a data-first brand strategy and development process, he has delivered measurable cross-channel platforms and technologies in the global economy with brands like Kellogg’s, AB InBev, Alcatel, VIZIO, Walmart, Seiyu, ASDA, Sam’s Club, CVS Pharmacy, Ahold USA, A&P, Spartan Stores, Hy-Vee, Inc., Big Y and Weis Markets.

Always focused on the impact of technology in the global consumer ecosystem, he has an extensive background in augmented and virtual reality, retail, IoT, consumer electronics and mobility, consumer packaged goods and shopper marketing experiences working on the brand side at NextVR, NASCAR, and creative agency and services with CSE, Envoy and IBM.

A graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and certificate in international business, Egenes also earned his master in business administration from the University of Notre Dame.

• Berkley’s client engagement process with his AR and AI business, MERIDIUN
• What exactly the AR and AI space is and how it creates personal experiences for users as well as how consumers are driving the convergence of AR and AI
• What new clients should expect when they come to MERIDIUN (including the first thing they look at to help their business)
• Reasons consumers aren’t buying merchandise in stores as much anymore and why mobile devices are now driving half of all revenue
• The importance of methodically following a process and what MERIDIUN does during that process to ensure their solution is going to provide value to the client
• How Berkley works with clients whether they know everything or nothing about AR and AI
• Monetizing the content experience for retailers including ways AR can pay for itself
• How long a typical engagement can last and what happens over that time, including handling periods when there is a lot of working going on but not a lot of communication with clients
• Communicating with clients to constantly improve their experience as well as the end product and how actively engaging with clients and data helps with this
• The concept of failing fast and how it can actually help you succeed along with real-world examples of how this can happen
• Berkley’s plans to scale appropriately and how plans and processes are a huge part of that
• Advantages of being forward thinking and jumping at good opportunities

• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: @berkleyegenes
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/berkleyegenes

Peter Lovenheim is an author and journalist whose articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, New York magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Parade, Moment Magazine, The Washington Post, and other publications.

His five previous books include In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time, winner of a Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the First Annual Zócalo Public Square Book Prize, and Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf, a first-hand attempt to understand the food chain.

Lovenheim holds a degree in journalism from Boston University and in law from Cornell Law School. He teaches narrative non-fiction at The Writers Center in Bethesda, MD and splits his time between his hometown of Rochester, NY, and Washington, DC.

• The attachment effect and its elements including how a knowledge of attachment can help managers and owners
• The hunger we all have that drives the interest in attachment and how that stems from the nature vs nurture debate
• What drives attachment from birth and how the quality of early attachment helps shape who we become
• The types of attachments people can come out of childhood having
• Why a person’s attachment style shows up a lot in the workplace and different ways of measuring attachment in adults
• Why it’s advantageous for managers to know their employees’ attachment styles
• Traits that different attachment styles bring to the workplace as well as what mix of styles is best to have in a business
• What Peter found in his observations while observing different attachment styles in a real business
• The attachment style that is best suited for a management position
• Advice on how to best manage employees with insecure attachments and ways people with different attachment styles can help each other
• All the areas of your life your attachment style can manifest itself

• Website: peterlovenheim.com

Rami Jebara is the Co-Founder & CTO of Tuangru, a software provider of next generation data center infrastructure management (DCIM), designed for today’s hybrid IT environments. Whether a users application workloads reside on-premises, in edge data centers or in the cloud, Tuangru provides users with a holistic view of their entire infrastructure for management and optimization. The company was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in North America by Deloitte Technology Fast 500™.

• What Rami’s company, Tuangru, is focused on as well as the premise and belief it was founded behind
• How Rami got started in the IT world when the internet was still pretty new
• Hybrid IT- what it is and what’s happening with it in the IT world including what stays the same and what the challenge is with this different IT management
• The software system Rami uses to keep everybody in his company aligned and the agile process and system Rami’s team uses
• Two things that processes are made out of with an example of a system and process that is more important than software tools
• The most important aspect of onboarding to help you build a knowledge base to help the process
• Reasons it’s so important to make sure you start with the right people and how to amplify and enable humans to work more efficiently
• Two different types of missteps and examples of each
• What happens if you have an imbalance of process in engineering
• How software development has changed and become more systematized
• The importance of reflecting and asking questions about your processes
• Meetings and rituals that bring the team closure including weekly check-ins that Rami runs and who is involved in those
• Why different departments need to communicate with each other

• Email: [email protected]

David Thomas, CEO at Evident, is an accomplished cybersecurity entrepreneur. He has a history of introducing innovative technologies, establishing them in the market, and driving growth with each early-stage company emerging as the market leader. Today, as CEO of Evident, he helps provide innovative business solutions to simplify interactions with personal data assets.

• Why David enjoys building a business from the ground up and prefers working as a smaller business instead of as a larger corporation
• The importance of a rigorous process not only for businesses that specialize in data security but in all businesses seeking success
• The role automation plays in David’s organization and why it is so important for smaller businesses to help them achieve the larger visions of the organization
• Why David believes it’s important to hire quality people to handle the things that are outside of his expertise
• The way David responds to problems, with a team approach
• How David feels about having the customer’s best interest at heart and why he believes that philosophy has served his entire organization well
• The importance of positivity even when dealing with sensitive topics that may be emotionally charged
• The role of educating and training his workforce plays in David’s organization and why it’s important for all businesses that expect to grow
• The necessity of auditing the effectiveness of workers and the quality of David’s organization’s work
• How David’s organization prefers to focus on every single touchpoint of the customer experience rather than simply focusing on marketing or production
• David’s words of advice to entrepreneurs starting their own businesses

• Website: www.evidentid.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company-beta/17901517
• Twitter: @EvidentID

By his 35th birthday, Mike Michalowicz had founded and sold two multi-million dollar companies. Confident that he had the formula to success, he became an angel investor and proceeded to lose his entire fortune.

Then he started all over again, driven to find better ways to grow healthy, strong companies. Among other innovative strategies, Mike created the Profit First Formula, a way for businesses to ensure profitability from their very next deposit forward.

Mike is now running his third million dollar venture, is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal; is the former MSNBC business makeover expert; is a popular keynote speaker on innovative entrepreneurial topics; and is the author of Profit First, Surge, The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, which BusinessWeek deemed the entrepreneurs cult classic.

• Mike’s Pumpkin Plan system and the specific processes it includes
• The lessons Mike learned from being an angel investor
• How to determine whether a seed is strong and has potential
• How to match the uniqueness of an idea with the demand
• How to put a value on each client based upon the cringe or crush factor
• The importance of focusing on a few strong ideas rather than many weak ideas
• How to promote explosive growth
• The critical questions that every business owner should ask their best customers

• Website: www.mikemichalowicz.com
• Twitter: @MikeMichalowicz

A transcript of this episode is available here: http://systemexecution.com/the-pumpkin-plan/

Kristin is the founder and managing director of Creative Development Agency (formerly award-winning firm, Marquet Media). She oversees the day-to-day operations of the agency as well as directs all client accounts and projects. With a strong eye for creating memorable brands and a diverse range of knowledge, Kristin provides strategic counsel to clients interested in developing successful internal and external communication programs across all media platforms.

Kristin has forged successful partnerships with celebrity fashion designer and correspondent NV Nick Verreos; prestige hair care brand Briogeo; luxury skincare brand BubblePopBeauty.com; and many more. She has generated media placements in Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, Seventeen, Glamour, and ELLE magazines, Refinery29.com, and countless other outlets.

Passionate about learning, Kristin has attended MIT, Boston University, and New York University, and holds degrees in Literature and Marketing/PR. In 2015, she authored of the book, Squash the competition and Dominate your marketplace: 55 Easy Tips to Generate Big Publicity for Your Startup or Small Business.

Most recently, she joined the Young Entrepreneur Council, and is also a contributor to Forbes.com, Inc.com, HuffingtonPost.com, Entrepreneur.com, and NYDailyNews.com

As someone who loves everything about the startup world, Kristin launched the design studio FemFounder.co to help emerging entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.

• How Kristin’s team of just 5 people uses systems and processes get a LOT of work done for their 31 clients
• Kristin’s whiteboard system of physically writing everything that she and her team needs to accomplish in schedules, workflows, checklists, etc. on paper and whiteboards
• The meeting Kristin’s team has on every Friday to go over what’s been accomplished and what needs to be a priority in the days and weeks ahead
• Why digital project management systems like Trello and Asana didn’t work for Kristin
• What goes on each of the six whiteboards (and why Kristin duplicates what’s on her whiteboards at work on her whiteboards at home)
• How Kristin takes what’s on the whiteboards with her -- without ever entering that data into her computer
• The importance of detailing every single step to make sure nothing slips through the cracks
• Kristin’s color coding on her whiteboards using black (pending), red (urgent), and blue (new) markers
• Creative Development Agency’s upcoming proprietary algorithm as part of their analytics department
• Experimenting to find the system that works best for you

• Website: creativedevelopmentagency.com

With experience in both office interiors and product design, Ken Baker understands the inside and out of the architecture and design field. Ken has been a Gensler Principal for 20-years and is currently serving as a member of the Gensler Management Committee.

As a Co-Managing Principal of Gensler’s Southeast Region and past Co-Managing Principal of Gensler’s U.K., Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Gulf Regions, Ken is considered a global expert on workplace design and planning, particularly for law firms. He has designed over 10 million square feet of corporate headquarters and offices for law firms and financial institutions, and is one of Gensler’s major Global Account holders, managing relationships with clients such as Sidley Austin, LLP; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; JP Morgan Chase, and Barclays Capital worldwide.

Ken is also a leader in Gensler’s furniture and product development practice and frequently speaks about the power of design at industry events around the world. A fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and a member of the Board of Trustees for the National Building Museum, Ken is passionate about producing design solutions that optimize trends that align with clients core objectives.

• How design thinking makes the world better and thinking creatively about our environment makes a better environment for people to live, work, and play in
• How changing technologies have impacted design and the way buildings are laid out
• Using design thinking to create efficiency by diminishing wasted space and unnecessary employees which saves a lot of money
• The Gensler process for designing the best space that gets customized for every client
• Putting people at the center of the design so they have a positive experience when using the space
• Focus, socialization, collaboration, and education: the four modes of work every design has to incorporate
• Morphable design: designing a space that can adapt over time as needs change without significant cost
• Things to look out for when designing (or redesigning) a space

• Email: [email protected]

A transcript of this episode is available here: http://systemexecution.com/design-thinking/

Ken is the co-author of the recent manufacturing sales book, entitled “Selling in Manufacturing and Logistics.” Ken and his co-author are experienced Sandler trainers who play very important roles in the Sandler’s worldwide organization. They advise organizations and individuals on how to help discover their true potential and develop innovative solutions that create sustainable change. Ken is currently head of Sandler Training Consultancy in Akron, Ohio, and he and his co-author have really focused in on selling in manufacturing and logistics.

• The systematic approach to manufacturing sales that led Ken to Sandler Training
• “Selling in Manufacturing and Logistics”: Ken’s book with Mike Jones
• The systems that most manufacturing sales people create that are really ineffective (and what can be done about that)
• Why finding new customers is such an essential part of the sales process
• Why sales isn’t as much about relationship building as it was in the past
• Prospecting the right clients and not trying to sell to everyone
• The questions salespeople should ask leads to make the best proposal
• Why many salespeople are afraid to ask these questions (and why they shouldn’t be)
• The importance of having a conversation with prospects instead of telling them what they need
• How the internet has opened up what we know about prospects before talking to them
• Looking for prospects that have a lot in common with your best customers
• Why cold calling is not as effective as it used to be (and what methods you should use to talk to prospects)
• A2ikfrom people you both know
• Making sales a science and not an art by scripting out whatever possible
• How to avoid the most common pitfalls sales people face

• Email: [email protected]
• Book: “Selling in Manufacturing and Logistics”

A transcript of this episode is available here: http://systemexecution.com/manufacturing-sales/

Peter Strohkorb has over 15 years of corporate business experience in executive-level Sales and Marketing executive roles with some of the biggest brands on the planet.

Today, he is a sought-after expert business advisor on how to achieve significant sales revenue and business growth through better managing the intersection between your Sales, your Marketing and your ideal Customers. Peter’s clients have experienced sales revenue growth of up to 433% (!) and won more repeat business from existing clients.

He is a published author of the Amazon 5-Star rated book The OneTEAM Method, which describes his holistic Sales and Marketing collaboration framework to lift sales results, enhance customer experience and boost staff engagement. Peter holds qualifications in Marketing and Management from the prestigious Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) in Sydney, Australia.

• The 7 Figure Sales Introduction system for improving your sales process
• Changing sales from product-focused to customer-focused
• Why spamming people to get as many leads as possible in the top of a sales funnel is a bad trend for the industry
• Using the right language to actually make a sale
• How long you have to make an impact in a cold call
• Peter’s prediction for 2018: winning new business won’t be the top for priority for most businesses anymore
• Why your “about us” page shouldn’t be about you
• How the OneTEAM Method has expanded since Episode 22 to bring sales and marketing teams together
• Why customers buy with their hearts, not their heads, and why you need to change your sales and marketing tactics to take advantage of this
• How to do proposals so they actually convert

• Course: www.peterstrohkorb.com/PermissionBasedSelling
• Email: [email protected]

A transcript of this episode is available here: http://systemexecution.com/how-to-improve-your-sales-process/