Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

It can be difficult to hang on to your loyal customers as you begin to scale and grow, especially if you plan to increase your prices. Today’s guest knows a thing or two about keeping customers for life, no matter the circumstances. Paul Brown is the creator and writer of the What’s Offline column, which is featured every Saturday in the business section of The New York Times. He and his wife also wrote the Dream Home Diaries blog, also featured on nytimes.com. When he is not writing for the Times, Paul, a former contributing editor to M.I.T.’s Sloan Management Review, serves as an editorial consultant. He has worked with everyone from individuals to Fortune 500 companies and leading academic institutions such as NYU, in developing products that have ranged from software programs and videos to op-ed pieces, TED talks, books, and more. He also had his own twice-weekly blog in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and The Harvard Business Review. Paul accidentally stumbled into writing for Forbes. His trick was to just ask as many questions as you can, and eventually, you’ll learn something. Fast forward to today, Paul has written several books, including Customer for Life, which was first published in 1990. At the time, there weren’t many books out that thought about the customer in this particular way. Paul co-wrote the book with a car dealership owner, Carl Sewell. They both realized that they had a very short attention span, which is why the book is structured in a quick and easy way for readers to process. People tend to gloss over customer service as a business strategy. Everyone sees the value of turning a one-time customer into a lifelong customer, but a tangible and tactic strategy that makes it easy to execute on is much less talked about in business. If a customer asks for something unusual, it’s your job as a service provider to deliver on it. Good customer service often looks like this. Paul shares an example of a customer asking for something somewhat ridiculous and out of the box, but by delivering on her ask, the company ended up gaining a lifetime customer.   Interview Links: Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech Paul on LinkedIn Paul’s work in The New York Times Paul’s Book: Customers for Life: How to Turn That One-Time Buyer Into a Lifetime Customer, by Carl Sewell and Paul B. Brown   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies. We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Is there someone on your team trying to sell you on why they haven’t been hitting their numbers? Or are you trying to sell yourself on why you can’t achieve certain KPIs? If that’s the case, then this episode is for you! How do people accomplish extraordinary things when it doesn’t look or sound very reasonable? Bill was working with a cancer survivor who was passionate about creating healthy meals for restaurants. While she was in the middle of growing her business, she found out her cancer came back. Ouch. How do you keep going when you have a health crisis? Bill knew her mission in life, and he knew as her coach, he couldn’t let her quit. She couldn’t quit. Yet, how do you prevail when you have odds, especially health odds, stacked against you? In circumstances like this, you have to use your team and your leaders more than you ever did before. You have to do that scary thing and delegate. Bill’s client knew that her project was important, and she went on to finish what she had set out to do; not by herself, but by leveraging the power of her team. She created a legacy for herself and didn’t let obstacles stop her from moving forward. Anchor yourself to possibility and your legacy, and when obstacles get in your way, get creative and solve for one problem at a time.   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling business growth book by Verne Harnish and our team of coaches. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading coach.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash, and the 5th Decision about what kind of leader you want to be. Our purpose is helping you Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success.  

There’s a lot to cover on this week’s Scaling Up Insights show! We have two returning guest panelists, Liat Lazar and Daniel Marcos, and a new panel guest, Kristin McLane, a 25-year veteran in the computer manufacturing software space. Kristin notes that people are 60X more likely to remember something if it’s in the form of a picture. Bill agrees and this visualization exercise has helped him and his clients. Daniel would find certain staff members doodling in his meeting, which would often offend him until later he realized they were the people who remembered the most about that meeting. They were getting much better results! Does the American dream still exist? Daniel still believes so. Yes, some communities have it harder than others, but with a good mindset, anything is possible and you can overcome it. Just look at the power of social media. We are no longer confined by borders and it doesn’t matter what country you’re in, you can add value no matter your geographical location through the power of the internet. Liat agrees. As coaches, it’s our job to change CEO’s and executive management’s stories. Coaches help people change the “old” narrative, and to help them see what’s possible. Kristin is fascinated by the Olympics right now. You see what 10,000 hours can do, and these athletes prepared all their life for this one event. For the entrepreneur, that one event is not always so cut and dry, or clear, but they’re always working on it for a brighter future.   Interview Links:   Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech   Liat: Liatlazar.co.il Daniel: Danielmarcos.co Kristin: Cimx.com   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Do you sometimes feel defeated and like you’re never going to be good enough? Are you worried that you’ll never truly measure up and enjoy the success you do have? Bill can relate. He was the same way! He felt that maybe “one day” he’ll be done. Until something clicked in place for him. He noticed a highly skilled expert completely and royally screw up. Wasn’t he supposed to be the guy who knew all the answers? That’s when Bill realized, maybe, he’d never truly be finished in the work he was set out to do. Maybe it’s a journey, not a destination. At first, Bill was depressed, but he was able to find enlightenment and really believe and enjoy the process a lot more than just trying to be “done” all the time! We’re all working on skills. We are all working on ourselves. Our work never really is done.   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling business growth book by Verne Harnish and our team of coaches. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading coach.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash, and the 5th Decision about what kind of leader you want to be. Our purpose is helping you Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success.  

In this week’s episode of Getting Real, we learn about an entrepreneur and her journey towards working with some of the world’s leading companies and how she provides intentional and measurable creativity. Anastasia Leng is the Founder & CEO of CreativeX, an automated creative excellence platform that aims to showcase creative expression through the clarity of data. CreativeX is used globally by Fortune 500 brands like Heineken, Nestle, Unilever, and Facebook to measure creativity efficiency, consistency, and impact across their content. We are producing more content than we ever have before. What used to be easily managed by a team of people can no longer be done at scale. This is where the power of AI and data comes in. Anastasia leverages AI to help build a consistent tone of voice and image throughout a brand. There are a lot of “little” things you must think about and it’s impossible to do this at scale, especially when there are cross-departmental teams to consider. Things like brand consistency, creative quality, and accurate representation are all important factors at play. AI brings these important data points together to ensure a brand is producing the right creative message at all times. Anastasia learned from her previous startup that imagery and video were important to brands, but she couldn’t figure out what made certain videos click, and why others would fall short. She realized her company was running out of time and money, so she had to get smart. This is where the seed got planted and how CreativeX was eventually born.   Interview Links: Creativex.com Anastasia on LinkedIn Sponsored by: Eonetwork.org   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

What is a human-centric business? For business owners that want to scale and grow, they have to move away from a purely systems and process structure and focus on the human element. The biggest resource drain in any organization is its people. They are hard to predict, and sometimes difficult to manage. Today’s guest has some insights on how to position yourself for an uncertain future. Deborah Westphal’s career spans more than 30 years and she has worked closely with government agencies and Fortune 100 companies on virtually every continent. In 1999, Alvin Toffler tapped her as one of the founding members of his eponymous consulting firm. A passionate humanist and life-long learner, she has guided leaders to challenge biases, ignite ideas, and build resilience for a secure future for organizations including Lockheed Martin, Marriott, the U.S. Air Force, Bayer, Microsoft, NASA, and more.   Deborah grew up working with her hands and fixing things, whether that be houses or cars. This sparked a love for building things and she knew she wanted to be an engineer of some kind when she grew up. Her path led her to the Air Force, an organization that she dedicated 13 years to, and then she became passionate about the business of making things. Through Deborah’s findings, she decided to write a book with the premise of exploring how organizations have been built over the last few decades. There has always been a priority on efficiency and effectiveness, but the human element seemed to have slipped by the wayside.   Although that might have worked a few decades ago, with the rapid pace of our technology, leaders are faced with unique challenges and it requires more than streamlined efficiency to solve those challenges. If anything, our current working model is broken and we need to embrace a new era of business: the human side.   Interview Links: Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech Deborahwestphal.com Deborah on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Are you feeling a little out of whack right now? Are you not quite sure what’s going on but you just feel “off”? Leaders go through these phases all the time. Here’s how you can get back on track. Bill was working with a franchise client and it was apparent that this entrepreneur had her plate full. Not only did she have children and an ex-husband, but she had hobbies and activities and outside passions. All good things! But, they were draining her. This is where a life purpose comes in handy. When you have a clearer vision for your overall life, you can be really particular about what types of quality things you want to pursue and do in your life. If you have a task that you aren’t passionate about doing, it’s important to find a new “why” so that you can change the narrative on the thing you hate and turn it into something you end up loving and can’t wait to do. This positive psychology trick is so powerful in helping you find joy in your life again!   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling business growth book by Verne Harnish and our team of coaches. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading coach.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash, and the 5th Decision about what kind of leader you want to be. Our purpose is helping you Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success.  

In this Getting Real episode, Bill and his guest dive into the intersection of people and process, and how you can leverage this power so that you can scale and grow! This week’s guest is Ankur Agarwal! He is an active Angel Investor and the CEO of Clarion Technologies, a company he co-founded in the early 2000s. Today, Clarion has over 400 employees and over 1,000 clients across the world. Ankur is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs, and through his Angel Fund and Incubator, has invested in multiple companies including food startups, e-commerce companies, social ventures, and more. Ankur provides a bridge to highly skilled talent in India for companies that might not need a full-time in-house employee just yet. The great part about Ankur’s company and process is that you have a dedicated team member that you can work with regularly, and you are able to put a name to a face. The biggest challenge Ankur faced at the beginning of his entrepreneurial career was in 2002. He and his wife were looking for jobs, they were completely broke and on the verge of being homeless, and despite their best efforts, no one was hiring. Pushed into a corner, Ankur had to get creative. Ankur’s struggles paid off; after five years of scrapping for small gig after small gig, Ankur was able to turn his business into a $5 million company. During this time, Ankur never really had that “big break”; it was an accumulation of small habits and clients that lead to bigger opportunities over time.   Interview Links: Clariontech.com Annkur.com Ankur on Twitter Sponsored by: Eonetwork.org   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

There’s a lot of pressure to innovate and break through ceilings. It’s not always easy, and it can be a double-edged sword. You put too much stress on it and you won’t be able to create. Put too little emphasis on it and there’s no direction. Where’s the fine balance? Today’s guest has ways to make this process easier! Josh Linkner started his career as a jazz guitarist, which has been a foundational piece to his extensive experience in creativity, entrepreneurship, and disruptive innovation. He is the Founder and CEO of five tech companies, which have sold for a combined value of over $200 million. What does Josh mean by achieving “big little” breakthroughs? Is that even possible? The concept of this is to flip innovation on its head. We often think innovation means big breakthroughs that change the world. Uber, Google, Airbnb, all come to mind. However, what we often don’t see are the tiny micro-steps that lead us there. Instead of cultivating wildly risky “moonshots,” why not just start small? You can work on little innovations every day, which then lead to big breakthroughs over time. Baby ideas are also way less risky and more accessible for your team to do. There isn’t a pressure to “perform” or to “think creatively” when you just start small. Like those big tech giants, most of us cannot make a billion-dollar bet. A Harvard study showed that 77% of the U.S. gross domestic product comes from big little breakthroughs. Don’t let the news headlines fool you into thinking everyone is achieving big “aha” moments! It’s only a small percentage.   Interview Links: Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech Joshlinkner.com Josh on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Do you find it hard to make a decision or to stick with the same course of action over time? If you’re on the fence, Bill has some quick tips to help you commit and move forward.    Bill was working with a client that constantly had other things on his mind and these thoughts kept spinning off into other thoughts and action steps. Bill noticed that he’d come in sudo-commiting to a plan and then the next shiny object had his eye.    A lot of leaders have some form of ADHD. We’re always getting our attention pulled in different directions, but if you don’t commit yourself, you’ll constantly be the dog chasing its tail.    Bill helped his client lock things in and focus. One of the best ways he was able to do that was through making an outloud statement and commitment to his team so that everyone could be held accountable and moving forward.    Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up is the best-selling business growth book by Verne Harnish and our team of coaches. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading coach.   We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash, and the 5th Decision about what kind of leader you want to be. Our purpose is helping you Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success.