Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

Let’s talk about sales! If you don’t have sales in your business, you’re pretty much a dead fish in the water. Today’s guest expert has all the insider tips on how to make your business soar!    Dan Morris is an Investor, Advisor, and B2B Growth Expert. He is hyper focused on helping businesses grow via strategy, mentorship, and leveraging the tools and connections in their market. Dan ran a successful marketing agency and grew it to a 60+ people organization with multi-million dollars in top-line revenue.    The key to any successful strategy is to review, refine, and roll out those new changes. By doing that, you can see some big percentage increases. Dan worked with a team that saw a 225% increase in conversion rate and average order size by 40%.    When you look at the sales process in an organization, it usually doesn’t exist or it hasn’t been updated in a long time. The key is to always look back and update it, and to roll out continuous training to the team so that they can keep it in the back of their mind.    You can find fantastic sales people, but why leave it up to talent alone to get your sales pipeline full? By having a strong system in place, you don’t leave things up to ‘chance’ or ‘talent’, and you have a faster way of accessing what’s working for your organization. Interview Links: Mindracerconsulting.com Dan 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

Are you frustrated with your team’s performance? Do you feel like they just keep letting you down? Are you having days where you just feel like you just have the wrong team and you just want to start all over? Bill was coaching a CEO and the biggest complaint was that his team was passive, late, and just not ‘in the game’. After witnessing how the CEO interacted with his team, Bill could recognize the core problem right away. The problem was the CEO! He was showing up late, and setting the tone for the company. As leaders, we often have the company that we deserve. Your team, your people, will model exactly what you put to the table, and if being late is okay in your book, it’s going to be okay in theirs. The good news is that you can change as a leader and you can model new behavior for your team to follow. It just takes a little bit of self-awareness, and a change in pace to help get you there.   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.  

Bill chats with Elliot Kallen to uncover some of the early challenges he’s had in his life and how he used one of his core principles of making a positive impact on people’s finances to start his company and charity. Elliot Kallen is a leader who brings over 30 years of robust entrepreneurial business ownership experience to his elite Financial Planning & Advising firm, Prosperity Financial Group. Throughout his career, he has built internal organizations, been a CEO for two other companies, and is a frequent keynote speaker to charities and radio shows on motivation, marketing, and various financial subjects. Elliot is the son of an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor and feels as though he has lived a very blessed life. His parents taught him the value of family and a good work ethic and at a very young age, he was “put to work” to help out with his family. It was rewarding and Elliot learned a lot. However, Elliot has had some challenges along the way. He lost his son when he was just 19 years old in 2015 to suicide. Elliot received a 6-page suicide letter and it made him say, “Wonder how many parents feel this way? Wonder how many teens feel this way and are not sharing this with their parents?” The parents are always the last ones to know what’s going on. These thoughts and the events that occurred sparked an internal drive in Elliot to start a charity to help teens with stress and depression. This loss has made Elliot show up for his team in a completely different way. He has created a level of integrity in his company and shows up every day for his team, letting them know he cares deeply about them and their mental wellbeing.   Interview Links: Prosperityfinancialgroup.com Abrighterday.info 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  

In this new episode of Scaling Up Insights, we have returning panelists, Judy Guido and Daniel Marcos, and a new panelist, Doug Walner, the CEO of Align Today and he has over 25 years of technology business management. Client case study: Alltite ends up pivoting and they were able to double the size of their firm almost overnight. People think when you pivot, it has to be a big idea, but Alltite is the perfect example of just stepping one step to the left and reaping the benefits of a slight shift in focus. The biggest hurdle entrepreneurs need to get over is having accessibility to cash. If you really want to grow, you need to have cash in the bank to execute on it. Alltite is another example of how they focused on the right cash cycles so that there wasn’t a “halt” in production as things really started to ramp up to double their usual output. The businesses that are unfortunately going under are those that just don’t want to change with the times. With a new environment, with a new crisis, or even when a new technology comes out, it’s always important to look at how you can take these newfound tools (or circumstances) and figure out how you can run with them. The reality is, a lot of leadership is just struggling to stay afloat and they’re in it to just “not lose.” This is detrimental to the business on a lot of levels. You need to be in the game to win it and that means being open to new ideas. Interview Links: Judy: Guidoassoc.com Daniel: Danielmarcos.co Doug: Aligntoday.com Resources: “Alltite Slashes Cash Conversion Cycle by 60%” “The 15 Most Profitable Minutes Of The Workday” “Making the Hybrid Workplace Fair” “10 Big Things: Social Media's Next Generation” Love Is Free. Guac Is Extra: How Vulnerability, Empowerment, and Curiosity Built an Unstoppable Team 12 Lessons in Business Leadership: Insights From the Championship Career of Tom Brady Scale Through Acquisition — 5X in 36 months

Do you have trouble with making clear decisions? How about trying to commit to something for the long haul? It’s a hard thing to do when there’s so many options to pick from. Bill worked with a CEO who just loved to pile more and more things onto his plate; without finishing the critical pieces first. He also had fears when it came to committing to something, like job score cards and the strategy. However, when he turned inward and noticed how his behavior was killing his team’s productivity, he knew he had to make a change. When we decide something, it’s no secret we kill off all the other options and all the other ‘potentials’. It can be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s a necessary one because when we fully commit, knowing full well we might make mistakes and stumble up, that’s when we can truly grow, and pivot! 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.  

Bill interviews Corey Veverka to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey and how he started his company, Total Validation Services. Corey grew up without a lot of money, but through sports and his competitive edge, he worked himself into an elite-level competitive rower and used his mechanical engineering degree to create a patent on a rowing shell accessory. He worked in consulting as an engineer and 20 years later, he decided to dip his toes into entrepreneurial life. Corey’s biggest challenge so far with transitioning from an operations role into an ownership role is understanding the difference between leadership and ownership. Your highs are higher and your lows are lower as an owner. Corey’s biggest lesson he’s learned is the importance of keeping good records and keeping track of the expenses. The little things added up into big things and the company ended up spending way more than it should. It took a couple of years to get into a good financial rhythm. Another mistake Corey learned, unfortunately, came from losing a long-term business relationship due to Corey being a bit too cocky in his new ownership shoes. He took the relationship for granted and assumed the client would just “do what he said” based on their long-standing relationship. It was a big, and costly, lesson that you have to earn/cultivate your relationships, even long after trust has been built. Interview Links: Total Validation Services 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    

Today’s guest has devoted his life to environmental and social responsibility projects and boldly advocates for “risking it all for what really matters,” Here’s how you can think about your business and how it interacts with a purpose-driven mission a little bit differently on this week’s show! Nigel Bennett is also the Co-Founder of Aqua-Guard Spill Response Inc., where he and his company recently received the RuleBreaker Award for game-changing innovation in oil spill response technology. Nigel received the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award and he is also the author of Take That Leap: Risking It All for What Really Matters. Nigel has set up his business to run without him back in 2012 and he has been able to exit his position as CEO without selling his business. The older Nigel gets, he realizes it’s all about living with purpose and leveraging his business to have purpose. Nigel was on a trip to take photographs of an oil spill for his father’s oil spill contingency planning company, and the helicopter pilot, a Vietnam vet, told Nigel that he didn’t think he could make a difference. This struck him at a young age and suddenly Nigel had something to prove. He quit his father’s company and set himself on a different path. For 20 years, Nigel was just putting out fires in his business. It was complete hell. He would only think about whether he would make payroll. He had young kids, he didn’t have room to “screw around” when he was in this business. However, when he joined the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, he found himself with a support group of like-minded individuals, and things began to change in a profound way.   Interview Links: Sponsored by: Sweetprocess.com Davidhorsager.com Trustedleaderbook.com/scalingup   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

Are you having trouble getting your team’s performance up? Do you feel like you’re working -on- things, but you can’t see the real tangible results? Bill worked with a client a few years ago, but something that really stood out was the way they utilized whiteboards across executive leadership as well with their own middle management teams. Every area had a whiteboard and everyday each team would huddle up around the whiteboard and a staff member would take ownership for what was on the board for that day. It became a team activity to grab different colored markers and to update the board on what was going well, and what wasn’t. This allowed for everyone to tap into their competitive drive and hold the whole team accountable.   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 series, Bill sits down with Mike Birdsall to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey. Mike is the co-founder of DateBox Club, a monthly date night subscription box. Prior to DateBox Club, Mike launched Birdsall Interactive, a web design firm, and FanConneX, an in-venue sports fan experience. Mike has been an entrepreneur all of his life, but how did he get from his start to here? Let’s find out. Mike and his wife started his most recent business in business 2015 when they had become empty nesters. In the beginning, the journey was tough. They were putting their heart and soul into it and weren’t sure if the payoff was there yet. They were struggling in this business for four years. The bank accounts were just slowly being drained. One of the challenges within the business was that they’d come up with a new date night idea, get the samples, and realize that they were awful. This meant they were forced to pivot into a new idea almost immediately as they had to get something out to their clients within a week. Mike calculated that they walked 9 miles around their table during “launch week.” What was it like working with a spouse? Bill did it and there were a lot of challenges that they had to overcome as a team. Mike had to learn how to stick to his lane and let his wife run in hers. Both of them are pretty alpha and driven people, so it was important to set clear boundaries in the very beginning of the relationship.   Interview Links: Dateboxclub.com 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).  

Are you working on the right things as a leader? When leaders struggle with influence, direction, and having everyone work together as a team, the key component that might be missing is trust. Today’s guest has more on how you can build this vital skill. David Horsager, MA, CSP, CPAE, is the CEO of TrustEdge Leadership Institute, national bestselling author of The Trust Edge, inventor of the Enterprise Trust Index, and director of one of the nation’s foremost trust studies: The Trust Outlook. David has developed an eight-pillar framework to help build trust quickly. David started his entrepreneurial journey from humble beginnings and rented out a $350 windowless apartment with no bathroom or kitchen, and black mold growing alongside the walls. When you have a dream, nothing will stop you. People say that you need someone to like you in order for them to trust you. That’s not true. There’s a ton of people you might not like, but you still trust them to get the job done. Have a leadership problem? No, you don’t. You have a trust problem. People might think you have a communication issue or a sales pipeline issue… nope! It goes back to trust. David conducted a study asking if people lead with trust first and withdraw when it’s been broken or lead with skepticism first and then build trust over time. Americans answered this question 50/50. That’s what leaders are working with. What’s true overall is it’s hard to gain trust and accountability if people feel like you don’t care about them at all.   Interview Links: Sponsored by: Sweetprocess.com Davidhorsager.com Trustedleaderbook.com/scalingup   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