The King of Clarity, Steve Woodruff

Steve Woodruff helps business owners, leaders and others discover their fit if they’re in charge of a business or brand, and are asking these kinds of questions:

1. With all this stuff that we could be doing, where should our strategic focus be?
2. How can we differentiate in the marketplace?
3. Do we have a core message that our customers are grasping and remembering?

Steve does this through something he calls Clarity Consulting. He says it's like a combination of personalized strengths-discovery, strategic brainstorming, and targeted branding. The goal is simple: Discover Your Fit. Then, he  helps you craft the words that become your verbal business card. Words that lead to the ultimate business advantage – referrals.

Sound like a plan for growth?

Today’s Sponsor is Impulse Creative’s Video Marketing Masterclass - George B Thomas built out an 11 module On-Demand Course on how to leverage Video in your Business. He covers everything from how to choose the right equipment, to what you can do videos about in your business. Check it out at impulsecreative.com/vfm and preview 2 modules for Free.

Clarity is: Identity, Focus, Message

Every company needs to be crystal-clear on their identity. What's your mission? You vision? Who are you really? #identity

Where do you fit in the marketplace? Who do you reach? #focus

How do you tell people about what you do and who you are? #message

Steve has found that many companies that come to him are lacking in at least one of these areas, more commonly two or three. 

When you don't know who you are, you don't know who to go after, and you don't know how to say what you do. 

This work, Steve says, really has to be done by the people running the company. Founders, C-level executives... the leaders of the brand who set the vision. If you don't have the captain of the ship using a compass, you're sunk!

"It's a scary thing because you're going to have to say yes to very specific things. Which means you'll say no to a lot." - Steve Woodruff on getting clarity

Clarity Leads to a Simple, Memorable Message

Steve describes his original consulting gig in the pharma world as the "eHarmony of Pharmaceutical Training." It's a great way to give people a quick picture on who he was. This is the goal of your clarity exercise: get your message to people in a simple-to-understand way. 

This symbol, or metaphor, is the pinnacle to clarity. It's the most powerful way to portray who you and what you do in a matter of seconds. Take everything you've uncovered, your who, your what, your why... and distill it down into symbolic language. A word picture, an analogy. That's the goal.

Navigational Tool to Growth: Your Network of People

One of the most powerful tools for navigating your growth you have, and may not even realize, is your network. Steve learned that as his happy clients became his ambassadors, having a clear message helps tremendously in empowering them to help you grow. 

This network should be full of people you can help, who can help you, and where you can be mutually beneficial when it comes to things you need like input and mental support.

"Look beyond your tools and software. It works much better when you have a bunch of sympathetic souls with you." - Steve Woodruff on the importance of a network

Sometimes Your Niche Has More to Grow

You can't be everything to everyone. Find your niche, and explore it deeply. Steve works in the world of pharma training, which one would think gets tapped out quickly with only a few big players in the industry. What he's found, even in his own work, is that he's "barely scratched the surface." 

Like many entrepreneurs, Steve faces the risk of shipwrecks due to lack of focus. Some call it shiny object syndrome. He found that over time he'd want to branch out and find clients in other industries. But diluting his message and chasing clients outside of the industry in which he's well known slowed down Steve's growth. Instead, focusing on his niche and digging deep gave him more ideal clients and more business.

Connect with Steve

• Steve's website
• Steve on LinkedIn
• Steve on Twitter
• Clarity Wins the book 

Other Helpful Links

• Forging an Ironclad Brand by Lindsay Pederson
• Whiskey Nate

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!