A sampling of the tools we use.

Our coaching employs narrative storytelling, mind mapping, human-centered design, and lean startup methodologies. We employ other tools and thought processes, however, these are the tools central to the work we do, with you.

We leverage these tools because when taken together they have delivered great results for the people and businesses we serve.

First, we will dive into liberating the Narrative Stories which will tell us about you, how you became the person you are today, and what you know about the people in the markets you serve.

While we explore your stories we begin creating a mind map. So what is Mind Mapping = A diagram used to represent ideas or information branching from a central keyword or idea and used as an aid in study, organization, problem-solving, decision-making, and writing.

We use mind mapping because when exploring, gathering data or ideating mind maps are very useful in allowing us to find order, to find relationships that exist between seemingly unrealted data points when information density is high. Yes, mindmapping can help you identify where the needle is within the haystack.

Mind mapping helps us find the meaning hidden within all of the information we expose. Our mind maps become the dynamic surface we use to watch your stories first appear, then morph, and grow into a powerful resource for you and your business.

There are five stories that are foundational to our work together. These stories fit together like Lego pieces.  Each story supports the others.  One of my favorite philosophers said this “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” – Aristotle

The Five Stories Are:

Origin – Your first memory of that thing which makes you remarkable?

Founding – Why you decided to use your talent to found your business?

Customer – Who you founded the business to serve and why them?

Product – How you determined your product or service design and value?

Evolution – How and why you and your business vision have evolved over time?

With our stories well in hand, our brand strategy will begin coming into focus.  Next, we move from building our brand strategy to building our strategic marketing & sales plans. To assure our marketing and sales plans generate the kinds of campaigns that resonate with the people in our marketplace we will use the Design Thinking model as shared in the book Designing for Growth authored by Jean Liedtke and Tim Ogilvie.

The process is represented by the process flow illustrated in this graphic:

The process moves us from what is to what will wow our customers.

• WHAT IS the current state
• WHAT IF we tried these things
• After reviewing the what if’s, we position the best few as WHAT WOWS
• When we determine which things that wow work best for the people and businesses we serve we select the one thing we label as WHAT WORKS

The Lean Startup model does not replace your business plan however it does serve as your day-to-day roadmap as you drive your business from one milestone to another (more on the importance of your business plan later).

Lean Startup employs all of the information we will learn about ourselves, our marketplace, and most importantly about the ideal customers we founded the company to serve.

Why Systems Thinking? Because change occurs when we understand a system fully.

Systems thinking is a powerful creative and integrative discipline that helps us explore the multiple factors that affect people, places, and problems. In this article, we’ll take a systems-thinking perspective to identify the elements in a system that have been left out in our current understanding of our current health problems.

Lean Startup forces us to answer the following question and more:

• Our intentions as founders
• Who we serve
• Why we serve them
• How they are changed after they acquire our product or service.

The template above is found in the book authored by Eric Ries, titled: Lean Startup – How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses.

SPIN your way to new customers

SPIN selling is a process created by a company based in the United Kingdom by The Huthwaite Group. IBM and XEROX hired Huthwaite to help them determine what made their top salespeople successful.

The goal was to identify the key performance indicators that led to superior sales success then train all other salespeople throughout the organization on those skills.

The non-salesy selling method S.P.I.N. works because it leverages open-ended questions to help the client arrive at the solution that wows them vs. requiring you to push a product.

That is why we include S.P.I.N. training within our 4R Growth Academy; it helps your business grow without ever having to experience the ick of sales tactics, objection handling, and all the rest of the pushy sales staff.

You know what I mean; S.P.I.N. allows us to take the yuck out of igniting your business growth.

Whatever your background is, never before have we been exposed to a method that is so easy to implement.

SPIN selling is definitely the game changer when it comes to gaining new clients for your business.

Let’s get started!