1754 – Helping Leaders Drive the Bottom and Top Lines with Scott K. Edinger of Edinger Consulting

0:28Hey there, thoughtful listener. million in revenue. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high-ticket sales appointments. You can even chat with me live and I'll see and reply to your messages. Also, don't forget, the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for guests. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. We'd love to have you.

0:59with us right now scott edinger scott you are the founder of edinger consulting and you are management consultant you're found on the web at scott edinger.com scott thank you so much for joining us i'm excited to be here talking with you josh just down the road for me and over in tampa i'm over in eastern orlando so scott tell me about the work that you do and also i need to point out, you are the author of the new book. It's called The Growth Leader. We'll talk about that and what leaders need to know, strategies to drive the top and bottom lines. We'll get to that in just a moment. But Scott, give me an overview of who you work with, what you do, and kind of the impact you have in the world today.

1:39Right. Well, the book title is part of it, The Growth Leader, Strategies to Drive the Top and Bottom Lines. And that's a lot of my work. My expertise is in helping executives to lead their companies to growth, no matter how that gets defined. There's a lot of ways to think about that, whether it be the obvious or revenue, net income, and of course, who doesn't want that? But number of products or services in the market, maybe it measures a customer satisfaction, any manner of growth, no matter how you calculate it. That is my focus because if you're leading an organization today, growth is the name of the game.

2:13It's always the objective for executives. It does not require much leadership to maintain the status quo. So that's where I focus. That's the work I do with executives. And that's always at the intersection of strategy, leadership, and sales. Yeah, so we think about the roles of a leader today, particularly when we think of a lot of SMB founders slash CEOs listen to this. When we think specifically about the leadership responsibilities regarding growth, I guess, Where does our focus need to be and our attention and our activity so that we can be a leader for growth? Yeah, well, particularly in the SMB market, one of the things I find, whether it be venture-backed startups or true mid-market size companies, is a focus on differentiating on what you offer.

3:07The products, the services, the capabilities, which is, of course, vital. You have to have that. But there's a missing link here, and that is differentiating in how you offer it. In the growth leader, I call that the sales experience. And this is when I talk about the connection between strategy and leadership and sales, that there is a strategy to differentiate in the market, not only on what you provide. Of course, that has to be great and differentiated in the as a customers. But when all things look equal or similar, you know, that happens to many of us, then it's the sales experience that can differentiate you and not enough executives put their focus on that or at least put enough focus on that.

3:50And you just recently posted, I really want to have you talk about this in terms of growth being a leadership issue and not a sales issue. And then you go on to talk about research in this LinkedIn post that you'd recently shared. 86 % of CEOs do little to nothing to align sales with strategy. All right. What's going to be doing? It's tragic, right? Well, here's the typical, the 86 % here that they focus on the capabilities or products and services. They say, we're going to sell solutions in the market and sales, just get out there and sell it. And what they usually mean is go tell our customers about how great our solutions are, pitch it, close it, whatever, but find a way to get the business.

4:36And instead of being more strategic, this 86 % is often disconnected or not involved with sales. It's sort of a, like I said, just go sell it. When instead, what leaders could be doing, what executives could be doing to drive a more powerful kind of growth that helps expand margins and grow revenue is to be more engaged with their sales team, recognizing that the sales experience can be differentiating, number one. And number two, that sales is the execution of your strategy every day, dozens of times a day, maybe hundreds of times a day, depending on your size. And if you recognize those two things, then you start to engage with your sales team very differently beyond saying, get out there and sell, make the number.

5:19There's a lot behind that, but those are the two big ones. Yeah. So sales leadership, a bit more than giving away a Cadillac Eldorado for first place, a set of steak knives for second, you're fired for third. Right. Exactly. So this whole idea of understanding for executives that there aren't any customers at headquarters and your strategy does not get executed in the boardroom. It happens in the field with customers and success or failure of your strategy occurs on every sales call. It's the only place where every element of your go-to-market strategy comes to life. It either wins or loses right there.

6:00So the book is The Growth Leader, Strategies to Drive the Top and Bottom Lines. Congratulations. I mean, as we're recording this, this was just published about a week ago. And it's on Kindle. You've got the audio version as well. Yeah, we've got the audio book version. And I had the misfortune of being the person who recorded that. I volunteered. I thought it would sound cool. I put this on LinkedIn also. I was like, it sounded like I'd be the kind of actor who did my own stunts. I would record my own audio book versus hiring a professional voice actor. And boy, did I learn a lesson about that.

6:36harder than it looks. Yeah, that's what I've heard. It takes a long time to get to do it well. Well, congratulations on that. Currently, as we're recording this, you've got a lot of strong reviews and ratings, five stars all the way. It's also currently the number one new release in Management Science. So congratulations. Definitely getting some traction, Scott. This is exciting. Who should be reading this book and what would you expect the transformation to be by the time they read and apply? Well, who should be reading a book? If you are a leader who is responsible for the future value of your enterprise, whatever that is, are you responsible for next year's financials, three years results, earnings per share, stock, whatever it is, a valuation.

7:22If you're responsible for the future value of your business, this book is for you because it is about differentiation. It's about inspiring and motivating your teams to high levels of performance. It's about winning in the market. Those things are required. So that's the first question you asked, who's it for? Future value of the business, you're the leader of that, this for you. I wrote it specifically for you. And then as it relates to results, I would expect two or three things to be different. The first would be an aha moment to recognize that you can differentiate and you can win more than your fair share of business in the market.

7:59If you put a little bit of attention on how you sell, how your team goes to market versus just what you provide. Here's what I mean by that. To start thinking about the sales experience as a vital part of the customer experience and recognizing that it has to create value. You have to provide insight and expertise and help your customers to think differently. If you do that, you'll find new ways to win in the market. That's first. Second, I would hope that anybody reading the book recognizes that I need to be more inspiring, that I will not get the growth that I want by declaration. I will not get the growth I want just by acquiring businesses or creating products and services.

8:42I have to bring out the best in my team. And that'll only happen if I connect with them, if I inspire them to do more. Yeah. All right. Also, Scott, you've done a lot of management consulting. You've worked with companies like AT &T, Lenovo, McDonald's, LA Times. They've hired you. And what does that engagement look like? It usually starts with my work with a senior executive. It might be a C-suite leader. It might be an EVP level leading a division. It might be a founder of an organization. It always starts with beginning to frame a go-to-market strategy that says, this is how we're going to win.

9:20This is the part of the market we're going to win. And here's how we're going to differentiate. And then most importantly, don't leave this part off. How are we going to execute? What are we going to do to make this happen? So it always starts with that kind of strategy. It often gets into working with a management or leadership team. How are we going to drive this strategy through our business? In particular, not neglecting the sales organization who usually become an appendage to a business. It's like we've got everybody at headquarters and sales just needs to get out there. So how do I align all of my teams on execution?

9:55And then depending on my level of involvement, I sometimes get into the actual execution work, developing talent at the mid levels and front lines of a team. That's rarer. Most of it is in the advisory capacity with executives. Yeah. Your website is scottenninger.com. And I know you've got some, by the way, you're a good LinkedIn follow. I'd recommend connecting you with on LinkedIn, but you've got a lot of great case studies on your website, but talk about maybe, you know, someone that's been listening to our conversation and they want more Scott, obviously go buy the book. It's called the growth leader strategies to drive the top and bottom line.

10:34It's on Amazon. It's on everywhere. But Scott, do you also have additional resources where someone that's just getting to know you may be interested to get a little bit more of your work out there? Yes. Well, of course, let's start with the free stuff because that's the easiest, right? So if you go to the website, scottedinger.com, I make a point of being easy. It can't be easier to find me on the web. It's just my name. But if you go there and you go to the articles page, I've written 100 articles for Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, Chief Executive. There are links to all of them.

11:05So you can go to them. There's a quick summary of all of them and links to all of them. And you could just browse the titles, which interests you. They're all about leadership, strategy, sales. How do you drive the results? And then if you have bought the book or if you go buy the book, then there's a 30-page workbook, the Growth Leader Workbook. And you can download that. It's on the website on the books page. If you go there, enter your information, you can get a free download, a 30-page workbook. It's a great companion on application of the ideas that are in the book. Yeah, look at that. Well, very cool.

11:40I see lots of charts and graphs in the workbook. Again, the website for that, scottettinger.com, it's linked if you're listening to this podcast in a podcast app. You'll see all the notes just right there. Click on the information icon. Just click around. You'll find the direct link to Scott's website. Go get the workbook. Hey, Scott, I want to circle back. We have a few more minutes. I want to ask you just a bit more about what you see working well in sales today in terms of, again, how we should be inspiring our sales teams? Because I think, you know, coming in a sales professional has their own goals, right?

12:18And as a leader, we may have slightly different goals, but together we want to kind of come together where everybody wins. But what do you see in terms of like that duality there in the role of a leader, particularly in light of what is working well today? Right. Yeah. If you're the leader of the organization, then shifting the focus of your sales team from just communicating the value of what you offer to creating value. And if you focus on creating value in the sales experience, which, by the way, I got research in the book, 25 percent of the decision factor, focus on creating value. you, that will not happen with a pitch.

12:57It won't happen with the capabilities presentation. It'll happen in a conversation where you can share expertise, where you can help customers think differently about their issues, help them to see the unintended consequences of challenges that they've struggled with. But you offer a unique vantage point to your customers because you've seen their movie hundreds of times, right? So use that experience to help them see things differently, Not to pitch, not to try to close, but to help them with insights that could help them to achieve their objectives. You do that. You will differentiate in the way your sales team goes to market.

13:34And you'll get all the business you need without trying to pressure for a close at the end of the quarter. I absolutely love that. Because, you know, if there's one thing I think most of us love, well, I hope, right? Again, we have our own wants, needs, and desires and so forth. But I think at the end of the day, I mean, we want to create impact. We want to advocate for the well-being and success and happiness of others. At least I hope so, right? That feels good. I can tell you that in sales, a sales professional that is truly focused on just delivering value and good in the lives of their potential customers, it feels so much better coming to work rather than you got to close baby clothes.

14:19And by the way, it flat out doesn't work. When I talk with executives and say, I need closers, I need people with a fire in the belly, I often will say, when was the last time you had someone sit across from you trying to sell you something that was trying to close you hard, that was hungry, that needed a deal? How was that? Did it make you want to buy? Of course it didn't. So there's a section in the book I read about sales stigma. We still have this idea of what it takes to be successful in sales that is fundamentally misguided and wrong. Yeah. All right. Scott Edinger, again, your website, scottenger.com.

14:55Go get the free workbook. Just click on books, scroll down to where it says, start leading today, order the book and download the free workbook right here. Scott Edinger, it's been great having you. I really appreciate your insights, especially that that last bit at the end there to anyone who's responsible for growth within your organization, really lean into being customer centric. I mean, truly deliver value. And I believe, you know, I forget who it's like, you're paid relative to the value you bring to the marketplace. And that, you know, that compensation is a very natural by-product of that value that you truly bring.

15:33Sure. Absolutely. You know? Yeah. Scott, thank you so much for joining us again, scottedinger.com. Thanks, Scott. Thanks so much, Josh. Great to be here.

16:07by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or join our listener Facebook group. Just search for The Thoughtful Entrepreneur in Facebook. I'd love even if you just stopped by to say hi. I'd love to meet you. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful entrepreneurs. Hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning, that's right, seven days a week, you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed. I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes each day.

16:50Thanks for listening and thank you for being a part of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Movement.