ValuClarity

Chris Van Timmeren is the head coach of the ACHA national champion Hope College Hockey team. You probably haven't heard of Hope College... just like you haven't heard of a lot of small companies who have carved out dominance in their niche. Chris talks about recruiting (a combination of sales and hiring), and how he approaches his competitive environment (here's the concept, here are some optional actions to take, but players need to read and react). Most interestingly, he talks about how his players have changed over the 22 years he's been in charge, and how his management style has had to change in order for him to stay on top. Thanks Chris!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kara Goldin is the founder of Hint Inc...as in Hint Waters. Now, the company has expanded into sunscreens, lip balms, deodorants. Through the founding of her company until now, she's learned lessons on entrepreneurship that she shares in her book, "Undaunted". As I read it, her focus on improving peoples' health was the purpose at every stage, and the principle that guided her decisions. We talked about how combining her curiosity, drive, creativity, and outsider's perspective with that focus on Hint's value was proved to win in an unlikely product category.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fares Ksebati (pronounced "se BAH tea") and MySwimPro came on my radar when they were pre-revenue and I was a mentor at the accelerator whose wing they were under. I've had a seat to their growing and maturing through some tumultuous years, and I've watched as the value focus has become more robust through the years. Now, MySwimPro isn't just a training app for adult swimmers (the #1 such app in the world), it's a community of dedicated members, all trying to co-create a better experience that improves performance, physical health, mental health, and enjoyment of a group of like-minded people. That community has become a strategic advantage.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michelle Cirocco has been a key executive at Televerde for many years. Currently, she's the chief social responsibility officer. At Televerde, that's not a fluff title. Televerde's mission is social responsibility, in the form of providing great customer value by employing highly committed, dedicated, motivated people as outsourced lead gen, sales, and marketing experts. When you hire a superior class of BDR or SDR, you deliver better business results...and oh, yeah: you build careers for people who really appreciate them. What a virtuous cycle! Thanks, Michelle.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nikolaus Kimla founded and leads PipelinerSales, a full featured CRM solution built for sales person success first. Thus his software drives salesperson utilization by rewarding use for great selling, not forcing compliance, the way many CRMs do -- the ones built for sales manager monitoring first. We talked about incorporating methodology into CRM, and a great innovation: opening the environment up to ALL of the roles that touch a customer, especially in a key account management scenario. I was impressed with the salesperson-first focus: one that gives sales managers the benefit of reports based upon high system utilization. Thanks Nikolaus!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

C. Lee Smith leads Sales Fuel, a company that helps sales organizations build sales capability in talent, hiring and coaching. Lee has written several books, most recently "Sales Credibility", to help sales forces build that credibility foundation. We had a great discussion talking about how he focuses his company on client outcomes, and invests the greatest resources on clients who he can deliver outcomes to most effectively and profitably. HIs focus on profitable customers is a great one. Give it a listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aric Faber heads SalesPage Technologies, a software and solutions company serving part of the financial services industry. His software competes with the likes of the big four consulting firms, down to DIY efforts by IT departments. SalesPage differentiates based upon customer focus...and Aric describes his business as "growing our clients' business by helping them understand THEIR customers better". Aric and I had a great conversation about wrapping your entire company around a customer to have expert-to-expert relationships at all levels, and how he leads an organization to superior customer outcomes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Sundberg leads MedTorque, a company that machines precision instruments for surgeons. One of the finest leaders I've ever met, Steve is highly attuned to pointing everyone in his company toward expanding customer-perceived value. As you can imagine, we're kindred spirits, and we had a great conversation about value, how COVID has affected his business, key employee retention, and more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Rollins helps medical professionals grow their practices. Doing this, he helps them sell their now-more-valuable practices. His consulting is about helping doctors become more patient-centric, learning more about their daily lives, and helping patients see better in every aspect of their lives. This isn't selling -- or doesn't feel like it. It's being of greater service. The examples and stories Eric gives are ones we can all apply in our own businesses.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duncan Blowers is the Managing Director for Henkelman USA (https://www.henkelman.com/us/), who is the major producer of commercial grade vacuum sealers, used mostly in food service. Before the pandemic, Henkelman was engaged in changing hearts and minds about extending food shelf life. The pandemic shook the food industry deeply, and the same product became a solution to a much larger set of problems, which Henkelman had to become adept at articulating. In addition, they use a complex channel of manufacturers reps, distributors, and dealers who also need to articulate additional value. What a great lesson in learning the importance of finding all the wins for all the players. Thanks Duncan!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices