ValuClarity

Barry Neal owns and runs the House of Flavors Restaurant/Ice Cream Parlor in Ludington, Michigan, a beautiful town on the shores of Lake Michigan. House of Flavors isn't just a local ice cream parlor. It's a multi-generational family relationship with a loving community of friends/customers. You can't fake the love that people have for HOF, and the relationships built over generations. Barry believes in selling an authentic relationship disguised as an ice cream cone. Listen to Barry's approach to being the chief happiness officer for his company.

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JIm Dickie is the co-leader of Sales Mastery a research and advisory firm serving companies who sell business-to-business (B2B). Sales Mastery just introduced their survey of B2B buying behavior. We shared some of the insights his firm uncovered, and what that means to selling...now and in the future. Some highlights: Salespeople are not viewed favorably by customers, and that decreases the quality of 1) selling and 2) more importantly the quality of buying decisions.

Jim also stays close to developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence, and had some positive news regarding some new tools that help sales people have meaningful customer conversations about outcomes...in contrast with some current automation tools which simply accelerate a cycle of sales mediocrity.

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Garry Ridge is the CEO of WD-40, and has turned "oil in a can" into "Creating positive customer memories". That's not a marketing tagline, it's a visionary mantra. Thus, it creates a lot of virtuous cycles. Everyone in the company understands how their role creates those memories. Every decision is filtered through that standard, and if an idea doesn't create those memories, it gets jettisoned. The company is one tribe, one purpose, not a collection of departments/silos/sub-tribes engaged in internal range wars. Oh, and this culture keeps its happy workers when all around them are suffering from "the great resignation". THere's a lot to learn here, and a lot to emulate. Thanks Garry!

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Chris Kneeland is the CEO of Cult Collective (https://cultideas.com). His company has studied what makes a brand a cult, and why consumers become so dedicated to some brands that they become unpaid salespeople. He talks about marketing engagement in ways far different than most marketing departments have turned into practice. I love his focus on his clients' customers, and what it takes to make them evangelize for you. Great conversation, Chris. Thanks!!

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Ian Bower leads Graphic Rhythm (https://www.graphicrhythm.com), a graphic design agency that serves as a resource for companies without sophisticated graphic departments of their own. He has built a company on the premise, that "The way your company appears visually -- in website, social media, content, etc. -- is like dressing for a job interview."

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Eric Miller Is a Managing Partner at PADT, who serves mechanical engineers with sophisticated tools and service to help them build THEIR businesses. We talked about how engineers hate to be sold to, and trust fairly slowly. Those characteristics of his primary customers forced PADT into a business model of becoming a trusted resource and co-creation partner for his customers. It's something many organizations aspire to do, and I was excited to have him share those exceptional value-focused behaviors that PADT thinks are table stakes. Thanks, Eric!

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Adrian Walker and his wife Natalya founded Boataffair to fill a gap in the boat rental/charter market. Boataffair provides a highly personalized rental/charter experience between regular mass boat rentals and super yacht charters. Boataffair differentiates their customer experience by paying attention to all of the details. When that's your business model, you need to develop skills in listening and getting feedback to constantly improve. Adrian provides some great guidance for others to follow.

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Scott Jordan started SCOTTeVEST for the purpose of simplifying a traveler's life through more and better pockets. This sounds almost amusingly simple, but like any simple-at-first idea, true expertise is a hard-won prize that takes a long time. SCOTTeVEST is the pre-eminent travel convenience garment company, and Scott has become a pocket scientist. But it isn't about pocket features: Scott personally reviews his customer interactions to take more lessons and continuously improve. It's simple, but remarkable at the same time. Thanks for sharing some powerful insights, Scott!

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Dr. Amy Czyz (pronounced "Chez") is an eye doctor turned consumer product entrepreneur. We discussed how she operated her medical practice with patients at the core...and how that became a great foundation for her newest venture: Intent, a vehicle for helping people be their best throughout the day...that looks like a set of beverages engineered for balancing the wake/sleep cycle. Amy doesn't call her business a circadian rhythm beverage -- she knows it's about that customer outcome. It's brilliant, and I predict that focus is going to serve her and her company well.

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Tyler Hayzlett is the Chief Marketing Officer of the C Suite Network (www.c-suitenetwork.com), where he is in charge of marketing strategy and execution for a the world's largest B2B media network, and for a membership organization devoted to growing members' businesses. We talked about making sure that marketing focuses on customer outcomes, and on building a tribe of followers to close loops in customer feedback, innovation, service and more. He also teased his organization's new e-book (https://click.c-suitenetwork.com/the-insider)!

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