On Your Mark, Get Set, Grow!

Most companies get customer service all wrong. They make a big show of designing shiny apps, building amazing showrooms, and rolling out cutting edge products. But they forget to put a laser focus on who actually pays for all that—the customer! When you deepen your customer relationships and focus on creating a memorable experience, you can charge a premium price and retain clients for life. “Technology is only 10% of the experience,” says customer service expert John DiJulius, while your person who delivers the service is the other 90%. “Technology can never build a rapport, show empathy, or make a brilliant comeback when we drop the ball, but you can,” he said. Many businesses are trying to de-emphasize the importance of the employee and replace them with chat bots and AI. But that technology will never outperform a well-trained human who steps in when your customer needs personalized help. In this presentation, recorded live at the 2019 CEO Coaching International Summit, John DiJulius explains how you can

If Emma Cohen and her collapsible, reusable straws sound familiar, you probably caught her appearance on the TV show “Shark Tank.” After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Emma stood face-to-face with sharks Mark Cuban and Mr. Wonderful himself, Kevin O’Leary, to try to secure an investment. And not only did Emma field multiple offers from the sharks … she actually turned them down! On today’s episode, recorded live at the 6th Annual CEO Coaching International Summit held in Santa Monica, CA, Emma Cohen and her coach, Chris Larkins, discuss where she got the courage to make such a difficult call and stand her ground against the sharks. Fans of “Shark Tank” are going to enjoy Emma’s  behind-the-scenes peek at how the show really works. But the lessons Emma learned are going to help all entrepreneurs who are fine-tuning their pitches and deciding how much an injection of much-needed cash is really worth.

Ron Carson’s family lost everything in the 1980s farm crisis. Instead of preparing to follow in his father’s footsteps, Ron had to watch his father cry for the first time and move into a trailer. Then, when he was studying at the University of Nebraska, Ron read a magazine article about becoming a Certified Financial Planner®. Thirty years later, Carson Wealth is one of the BIGGEST names in finance. And I’m proud to say that my good friend Ron Carson is a person who runs his business and his life with a passion we should all try to emulate. In this special episode, recorded live at the 2019 CEO Coaching Summit, Ron Carson discusses how his family’s hardships motivated him to push past fear, figure out his “Why,” and dedicate himself to things he loves doing.

Hiring the best people is always critical. Right now, it’s also very challenging. According to the staffing pros at Integrity Staffing Solutions, unemployment is near the lowest figure in decades. That translates to around 7 million open jobs, and only 6 million people looking. Add in the retiring baby boomer generation and the rise of the millennial workforce and it’s absolutely imperative that your firm is doing everything it can to make open positions as attractive as possible. On today’s show, Todd Bavol and Megan Couch of Integrity Staffing Solutions give some important tips on how to make your company a preferred destination for top talent.

About ten years ago, Josh McCarter was running a struggling SaaS business in New York. His company was generating about $700,000 in annual revenue, but burning through $350,000 a month. He didn’t have enough cash on hand to cover next month’s payroll. His customer base had flatlined. And just when it seemed like relief was on the way, a terrorist attack disrupted a critical investment. Not even his YPO forum mates thought Josh was going to make it. I should know – I was in that forum! Fast forward to 2019, and Josh is in charge of a company that was recently purchased for $2 billion. In this conversation, recorded live at the 2019 CEO Coaching Summit, Josh and I talked about how he kept cool during all this adversity and focused on a plan that pivoted his company to BIG. Josh also describes how turning around his original company and zeroing in on one key strategy prepared him to run a billion-dollar business.

Cole Zucker turned a sudden job loss into a BIG opportunity. He booked an eight-week stay at a hostel in China that turned into a three-year fact-finding and networking mission. Eventually, Cole spotted a market that he thought was ready to explode in the US: LED lighting. Green Creative was born, and five years later, Cole was riding a rocket ship from $0 to $40 million in growth that landed him a significant exit. On today’s show, Cole Zucker discusses those early years of explosive growth in terms of what he learned and what he would do differently. He also shares a couple of great insights on what he did to overcome a major challenge that he hit in the company's early days.

In 2017, Sarah Dusek came to CEO Coaching International looking for some guidance on how to get her glamorous camping (“glamping”) company to the next level. Two years later, thanks to some courageous decisions and a commitment to our processes, Under Canvas has grown BIGGER than Sarah dreamed, and recently secured a major private equity investment that will help expand its operations across US National Parks. In this special episode, recorded live at the 2019 CEO Coaching Summit, Sarah Dusek talks with her coach, Sheldon Harris, about her incredible journey, the importance of resilience, and how staying true to her company’s values helped her guide Under Canvas around some potential potholes and stay on course for BIG.

Blockbuster. Xerox. MySpace. And, yes, Kodak. These businesses are long gone, but they endure as cautionary tales to any CEO who’s complacent. But dealing with disruption isn’t just about planning ahead: it’s about cultivating a culture and a mindset within your team that prioritizes innovation, experimentation, and above all, BIG thinking. On today’s show, Jaime Szulc shares the steps you can take to position your company so it's on the giving end of disruption, not the receiving end. Jaime also discusses some warning signs he spotted during the end of his tenure at Kodak that all CEOs should be on the lookout for if they want to avoid a similar fate.

Government contracting can be lucrative, but it can also be a cutthroat competition between companies trying to outsmart and under-bid each other. Winning major contracts requires a detailed proposal strategy that balances innovative thinking with a clear-eyed understanding of what your company can and can’t bring to the table. On today’s show, Rafe Wilkinson shares three key steps to accelerate your growth in the government contracting space – including an ingenious acquisition strategy that Rafe has seen get BIG results.

Branding has never been more important to successful businesses. The number of choices that your customers have multiplies every single day. Companies with strong brands are able to stand out from that crowd and make clear, direct value propositions to the public. Companies with weak, or worse, inauthentic brands are never going to separate themselves and will just get swept away in the non-stop marketing din buzzing across our screens every day. On today’s show, Mike Marchi discusses how building and maintaining a strong brand can lead to higher profits for your company. He also shares some key lessons on leadership he learned from working under Jack Welch.

There’s more than one way to get BIG. If your company is really firing on all cylinders, hitting its targets, and keeping you in the black, an acquisition might be just the thing to take you up to the next level. But whether you’re looking to buy or sell, it’s critical that you and your team don’t get too caught up in the excitement of the opportunity. CEOs who chase acquisitions like they’re shiny new things to collect risk stretching themselves too thin. A smaller business that wants to sell quick might be too focused on a payday and not as attentive to all the fine print that’s attached to it. A careful consideration of strategy, partner fit, and your long-term goals either inside or outside of this new entity should be what drives this process. On today’s show, Jim Weaver outlines a well-planned, seven-step acquisition process that will help ensure proper execution, strong growth, and BIG profitability.

Today’s best-seller will be in tomorrow’s bargain bin. The companies that avoid this fate always have one eye on what’s next. They’re creative, they’re innovative, they’re willing to experiment, and they’re prudent about how they expend time and resources when it comes to refreshing their product lines. On today’s show, Alberto Carvalho outlines a four-step process to product development that he honed while working for some of the world’s biggest businesses. Alberto’s process won’t just get you from prototype to finished product – it will get you there with minimal waste and with a maximum shot at hitting BIG returns with your customers.

In her 30+ year career, Cynthia Cleveland has driven significant growth at major companies like Universal Studios, Mattel Toys, and Teleflora. And while these companies all had their unique challenges and opportunities, Cynthia found a recipe for success by focusing on three key drivers that she believes are essential to getting any business BIG. On today’s show, Cynthia discusses her “3 P’s” and how CEOs can master these essentials to build a great business.

The absolute best companies don’t get BIG by accident. They grow fast and achieve meaningful scale because their CEOs are rigorous in their planning, committed to working with top talent, believers in the culture they’ve built, and dedicated to learning and growing every single day. On today’s special episode, we dig into our archives to see what some of our past guests have to say about these four key traits that the CEO Coaching International team helps its clients cultivate.

No, Amazon and the other tech giants have not wiped out family-run businesses. In fact, one third of Sheldon Harris' coaching clients are family-run businesses that feature multiple family members in various roles. And in Sheldon’s experience, that arrangement can be just as complicated as it sounds. “It's hard to find a business that doesn't have challenges,” he says, “and it's hard to find a family that doesn't have challenges. So those things are just amplified in the case where you've got both of those dynamics going on.” On today’s show, Sheldon Harris discusses how family-run businesses can learn to keep their family issues from running the business into the ground.

Entrepreneurial inspiration can strike at any time. In Brian Scudamore’s case, he was sitting in a McDonald’s drive-through, trying to figure out how to pay for college, when he noticed a beat-up old pickup truck with plywood sides built up around the bed. “I looked at the truck and I went, ‘Aha, that's my ticket,’” Brian remembers. “I took a $1,000 investment, $700 into a truck, the rest into flyers and business cards. Within a couple of weeks, I had a business that actually paid for itself. It was ironic because what funded my college education also inspired me to drop out.” On today’s show, Brian Scudamore discusses the 3 key mindsets he used to grow 1-800-GOT-JUNK into the core business of an organization that now generates more than $300 million in annual revenue. We also discuss a really tough and really courageous staffing decision Brian made early on that allowed him to regroup, reorganize, and refocus on making BIG happen.

Jim Bennett’s parents never gave him an allowance, and so from a very young age he was always doing something to earn money. Those early experiences mowing lawns, delivering newspapers, and stringing tennis rackets planted the seeds of an entrepreneurial spirit. “I learned quickly that starting your own business always paid more than just a job,” Jim remembers. After college, that’s what Jim did. He became a Worldwide Express franchisee, and through determination and perseverance, went on to compete with the big boys in global shipping—and win. On today’s show, Jim Bennett discusses how he homed in on the best business for him to grow, the talent he targeted as the best for the job, and the mindset that all CEOs should adopt if they want to get BIG too.

How did Grasshopper grow from a virtual voicemail leader to a $170 million-dollar sale? In no small part, because they hired a superstar COO: Don Schiavone. Don’s SaaS and technology expertise combined with his commitment to rigorous testing and annual planning were instrumental in getting Grasshopper BIG. On today’s show, Don Schiavone, who is now Managing Director of CEO Coaching International, explains how to fine-tune your baseline forecast to create a compounding effect that will accelerate your growth way beyond what companies can accomplish with more traditional top-down planning. If you incorporate Don’s proven best practices into your own upcoming planning sessions, you’ll be well on your way to a BIG 2019.

For the past 25 years, StoneAge has been experimenting with ways to give its employees a stake in the company’s success, a path to personal wealth-building, and more ownership over their individual job performance. What began as a profit-sharing program evolved into a homegrown stock ownership program, and now a federally-regulated Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) that could provide a model for other businesses looking for creative ways to build an inclusive, winning, and productive culture. Kerry Siggins has evolved along with StoneAge as well. On today’s show, we discuss her 11-year rise from general manager all the way up to CEO, and why she believes more businesses should consider forming an ESOP to get employees on board with making BIG happen.

Dr. Gill Heart served more than seven years in the Israel Defense Force's most elite and stressful unit. He went undercover behind enemy lines and came face-to-face with life or death situations. After receiving his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College, London University, Dr. Heart moved to the United States and became an entrepreneur. He founded and successfully managed venture-backed medical device startups that were primarily focused on neurological and brain applications. Now Dr. Heart has combined his military training, his study of Jewish mysticism and philosophy, and his business acumen to create a training regimen to help people manage stress in both their personal and professional lives. On today's show, Dr. Gill Heart discusses the mental training that is necessary to deal effectively with extremely stressful situations. CEOs may not be able to control when a cash flow crisis or social media firestorm flares up. But we can control how we react to stressful situations so that both our