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EOS Rapid Fire: Issues Lists, Solo Founders & More

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 18:05:24 GMT

Show Notes: Inside the 90™ Episode #32

This episode takes a different format: rapid-fire answers to real EOS questions from teams in the field.

Three questions. Three common friction points. And practical answers that apply whether you’re a team of one or a growing organization trying to gain traction.

EOS issues list: why teams struggle (and how to fix it)

One of the most common challenges: teams not using the issues list effectively—especially outside the leadership team.

The root problem is usually not discipline. It’s understanding.

Many team members don’t know:

what qualifies as an “issue”
when to bring something up
where to put it vs. solving it immediately

Reframe the issues list: it’s not just for “problems”

A simple shift helps unlock adoption:

The issues list is just the team’s list , and it should include:

FYIs (things the team should know)
Input requests (I need help or perspective)
Problems to solve (true issues)
Clarification needs (I don’t understand this)

When teams see it this way, participation increases quickly.

Stop solving everything in real time

Another common blocker: teams solve too much during the week.

Instead:

ask: “Can this wait for the issues list?”
push non-urgent items to L10
let the whole team benefit from the discussion

Two things happen:

You reduce unnecessary meetings
Many “urgent” issues disappear on their own

Leadership sets the tone

If leaders consistently say:

“Put it on the issues list”

…the behavior sticks.

And most importantly: every team member needs a place to raise issues. That’s what builds trust and engagement.

EOS for a team of one: how to actually use it

A second question: Can EOS work for a company of one?

Short answer: yes—and it may be even more valuable early on.

Start with your personal 10-year target

Before anything else, define:

what you want your life to look like in 10 years
what role the business plays in that outcome

This becomes your anchor.

From there:

define a 3-year picture
set a 1-year goal (often revenue early on)
work in 90-day cycles

The power of 90-day cycles

For early-stage founders, 90 days does two things:

creates focus
allows experimentation without chaos

You can test ideas, iterate, and still stay aligned to a longer-term direction.

Use the tools simply

Even as a solo operator, you can run EOS tools:

a personal scorecard
a running issues list
rocks (priorities) every 90 days
a weekly review cadence

The goal is not perfection. It’s momentum with structure.

What to expect when your company starts EOS

The third question: “My company just started EOS—what’s happening?”

This is where confusion (and sometimes skepticism) shows up.

Why companies adopt EOS

Most organizations turn to EOS for three reasons:

Lack of alignment
Teams are busy, but unclear on direction
Lack of traction
Goals are set, but not consistently achieved
Team health issues
Unspoken problems, low trust, unclear ownership

EOS addresses all three through a simple, shared system.

What EOS actually brings

When implemented well, EOS creates:

clarity (where we’re going)
alignment (how we’ll get there)
accountability (who owns what)
visibility (what’s working vs. not)

It also introduces:

a shared language
structured problem-solving
consistent meeting rhythms

Why it can feel confusing at first

Early in rollout, leadership teams often work ahead of the rest of the company .

That’s intentional.

They’re building:

the vision
the structure
the foundation

Before rolling it out broadly.

But without communication, this can feel like:

“something happening behind closed doors”
unclear expectations
cultural change without context

What leaders need to do

Leaders should:

communicate early and often
explain the “why”
bring teams into the process as soon as possible

Because EOS is not about control.

It’s about:

building a healthy team
creating shared direction
giving everyone clarity on how to win

Final takeaway: simplicity, consistency, and shared ownership

Across all three questions, the theme is consistent:

Don’t overcomplicate EOS
Use the tools as intended
Build habits, not perfection
Create space for everyone to contribute

Whether it’s:

using the issues list correctly
running EOS as a solo founder
or rolling it out across a team

The goal is the same:

Clarity. Alignment. Momentum.

Built one 90-day cycle at a time.

6 Ways to Stop Spending Vendor Co-Op Funds and Start Leveraging Them

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 12:13:59 GMT

How the best VARs use co-op funds to build brand, credibility, and pipeline at the same time

Most partners treat MDF and co-op funds like a reimbursement program.

The best partners treat it like a growth lever.

That shift in mindset is where the real opportunity lives.

If you’re a reseller or channel partner, the conversation with your vendor shouldn’t start with “what’s available.” It should start with “what are we trying to accomplish together?” Because without a shared strategy, those dollars get scattered across tactics that look busy but don’t build momentum.

The strongest partnerships begin with alignment. Your brand leads. Their brand reinforces. You bring the narrative, the point of view, the market intimacy. They bring credibility, scale, and validation. When those roles are clear, MDF stops funding activity and starts driving outcomes.

We guide partners to anchor every co-marketing investment around three distinct goals:

Awareness

Are the right people discovering you, and are they remembering you?

Content Engagement

Are they leaning in, consuming, and seeing your expertise in action?

Lead Conversion

Are you turning that attention into pipeline with intent behind it?

Too often, partners jump straight to lead generation. But without awareness and engagement, conversion becomes expensive and inconsistent. A structured approach, especially in a 90-day execution cycle, creates compounding results instead of one-off campaigns .

This is where most vendor relationships leave value on the table. They stay inside the safe zone. Emails. Logos on a page. The same templated campaigns every other partner is running.

That’s not where growth happens.

If you’ve built a unique, compelling brand, you should be inviting your vendor into bolder plays. The kind that differentiate you in the market while still leveraging their authority.

Here are six underutilized strategies that maximize the vendor-partner relationship:

Co-Branded Video Series

Not product demos. Perspective. Insight. Point of view. Short-form or episodic content where your brand leads the narrative and the vendor supports the story.

Paid Media Campaigns with Shared Investment

Instead of relying on organic reach, align on targeted paid campaigns that amplify both brands to the right audience with clear messaging and measurable outcomes.

Executive-Level Webinars

Move beyond feature walkthroughs. Host conversations that speak to business challenges, industry shifts, and strategic decisions. Bring in leadership voices from both sides.

Industry Events and Private Roundtables

Not just booths. Curated experiences. Small, high-value gatherings where relationships are built and deals actually start.

Solution-Focused Content Hubs

Create a centralized destination around a specific problem you solve together. Whitepapers, case stories, video, and tools that build depth, not just traffic.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Programs

Identify shared target accounts and build coordinated outreach that combines your proximity to the customer with the vendor’s brand weight.

These strategies require more thought. More coordination. More clarity.

But that’s the point.

MDF isn’t there to make marketing easier. It’s there to make it more effective.

When you approach vendor funds with a clear strategy, defined goals, and the confidence to lead with your brand, the relationship shifts. You’re no longer a participant in their program.

You become a partner in their growth.

EOS Secret Sauce: The Visionary and Integrator Relationship

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 17:09:06 GMT

Show Notes: Inside the 90™ Episode #31

This episode opens with a topic that sits at the center of many EOS-run businesses: the visionary and integrator relationship .

When it works, it creates clarity, traction, and stability. When it does not, the whole business feels it through mixed priorities, team confusion, and leadership friction.

In this conversation, Jami and Andrew unpack that relationship from experience. Jami has sat in both seats, first as an integrator inside another business, then later as the visionary at Wonder searching for the right integrator for his own company.

That makes this discussion practical. It is not about theory. It is about what actually makes the visionary/integrator relationship work.

The core truth: this is not just a role match, it is a relationship fit

One of the biggest points in the episode is that the visionary/integrator dynamic is often oversimplified.

It is easy to reduce it to labels:

the visionary has ideas
the integrator executes
one dreams
one organizes

But in real companies, it is more nuanced than that.

This relationship works best when the two people fit together like puzzle pieces. It requires trust, complementary strengths, and the right amount of healthy friction. That is why finding an integrator is about more than checking a box on the accountability chart.

Why experience matters as much as EOS knowledge

Jami’s own story reinforces this. He was first pulled into the integrator seat not because he was a textbook integrator, but because he understood the business and could help lead it well.

Later, when building Wonder, he looked for the same thing in reverse. He did not just need someone who knew EOS. He needed someone who understood the agency world, could bring accountability, and could add structure without making the business overly rigid.

That is an important takeaway for founders: do not hire for the label alone . Hire for experience, fit, and the ability to work in your kind of business.

Healthy visionary/integrator relationships create friction, not just harmony

A strong point in the episode is that weak visionary/integrator relationships often do not have enough tension.

If the integrator becomes an order-taker, the relationship loses value. If the visionary keeps changing direction without being challenged, the business feels the whiplash.

A healthy relationship creates productive friction:

the visionary pushes forward
the integrator protects priorities
the visionary drives momentum
the integrator reduces chaos

That tension is not a problem. It is the mechanism that keeps the business aligned.

Same-page meetings are what protect the relationship

This is where EOS becomes especially helpful.

Jami and his integrator hold regular same-page meetings to work through issues, misalignment, and anything building beneath the surface. That matters because resentment grows quickly in this relationship if it is not addressed.

Same-page meetings give both people space to clarify:

what changed
what feels off
where priorities are drifting
what needs to be said directly

Without that rhythm, the rest of the company usually feels the disconnect before the two leaders fix it.

The integrator has to own the seat

One of the most practical moments in the episode is the reminder that once the integrator owns the seat, the visionary has to let them own it.

That does not mean the visionary stops seeing issues. It means they stop trying to solve every operational problem themselves.

The visionary still defines:

where the business is going
what matters most
culture
product
quality
EOS discipline

But the integrator owns the “how.” That ownership builds credibility with the team and gives the visionary more freedom to stay in the right seat.

The EOS rules matter because they protect the relationship

The episode quickly reinforces the core rules of the visionary/integrator relationship:

stay on the same page
no end runs
the integrator is the tiebreaker
you are an employee when working in the business
maintain mutual respect

These are not technicalities. They are guardrails.

For founder-led businesses especially, “no end runs” is a big one. Once an integrator is in place, the visionary cannot keep bypassing the system and giving operational direction down the org chart. That weakens the seat, confuses the team, and creates instability fast.

How to find the right integrator

The advice here is practical:

get clear on your accountability chart
define what the seat actually owns
look for business-model fit
prioritize trust and chemistry
treat EOS experience as a plus, not a requirement

The tools can be taught. Relationship fit is much harder to manufacture.

The episode also points to helpful options like EOS-aware recruiting firms, people already in your network, and even fractional integrators if you are not ready for a full-time hire.

Start with the Crystallizer assessment

For anyone unsure whether they lean more visionary or integrator, the recommendation is to start with the Crystallizer assessment at Rocket Fuel University.

It is not about right or wrong. It is about clarity.

Some founders assume they are visionaries when they actually lean more integrator. Others realize they can play both roles for a while, but should not stay there long term. That kind of self-awareness makes the next decision much easier.

Final takeaway: hire for the relationship, not the title

This episode lands on a simple but important truth:

Do not hire someone because they call themselves an integrator.

Hire for:

trust
fit
complementary strengths
relevant experience
willingness to create healthy tension
commitment to building together

Because when the visionary and integrator relationship is right, it does more than help two leaders work well together.

It gives the entire business more clarity, more stability, and more traction.

Paid Search Still Works Well, But It May Be the Most Expensive Place to Start

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 22:59:50 GMT

Paid search remains one of the most reliable ways to generate demand. When a buyer types a high-intent query into a search engine, they are raising their hand. Few channels are clearer than that.

The problem is not effectiveness. The problem is timing.

In most B2B categories today, paid search captures buyers after much of the decision has already been made. Budgets are scoped. Vendors are shortlisted. Internal alignment is underway. At that point, you are not creating demand. You are competing for it at the most crowded and expensive moment in the journey.

This matters now because B2B buying behavior has shifted quietly but decisively. Buyers spend more time researching independently, consume information earlier, and form preferences long before they ever click an ad. When paid search is treated as the primary growth engine rather than a conversion layer, costs rise and efficiency erodes.

The teams feeling the most pressure are not doing paid search wrong. They are asking it to do too much.

What Most Teams Get Wrong About Funnel Order

The common assumption is that demand generation starts when someone searches. That assumption made sense when search volume reflected early interest. Today, it largely reflects late intent.

Search has not lost value. Its role has narrowed.

What has changed is not buyer intent but buyer preparation. By the time a prospect searches for a solution category or vendor, they often already know:

The problem they are solving
The type of solution they want
Which vendors feel credible

Search captures intent that already exists. It rarely creates it.

What still matters is showing up when that moment happens. What no longer works is relying on that moment to carry the entire revenue motion.

Paid Search as a Lower-Funnel Mechanism

Paid search performs best when it is allowed to do what it is structurally designed to do: harvest demand efficiently, not manufacture it.

When used as a primary acquisition channel, several predictable patterns emerge:

Cost per lead increases year over year
Conversion rates remain stable but plateau
Pipeline velocity slows as differentiation disappears

This happens because late-stage buyers are comparison shopping. They click multiple ads. They expect pricing, proof, and clarity immediately. The margin for error is small and competition is constant.

None of this makes paid search ineffective. It makes it expensive by design. Paid search should be reclassified internally as a conversion channel, not a demand creation channel.

ABM and Brand Awareness Reach Buyers Earlier

Account-based marketing (ABM) and brand awareness campaigns operate upstream of search. Their value is not in immediate conversion but in shaping familiarity, credibility, and category understanding before urgency exists.

In B2B, this earlier exposure compounds quietly. Buyers remember the company that helped them frame the problem, not just the one that answered the final query.

ABM works when it prioritizes delivering relevant messages to the right accounts, not surface-level personalization that adds no real value. The goal is not to impress a named account. It is to be consistently present where that account already pays attention.

Brand awareness works when it prioritizes clarity over creativity. Buyers do not need to be entertained. They need to understand what you do, who you are for, and why you are credible.

Neither channel replaces search. They change how search performs later. Aligning ABM and awareness messaging around problem framing, rather than product features, is what makes that downstream impact possible.

SEO and AEO as Mid-Funnel Infrastructure

SEO and AEO sit between awareness and conversion. They are not demand capture in the paid sense, and they are not passive branding either.

Well-structured organic content does three things at once:

Educates buyers during self-directed research
Signals authority to search and answer engines
Pre-qualifies intent before paid media is involved

This content often influences decisions without receiving direct credit. A buyer reads an article weeks before searching. Another consumes multiple pages before clicking a remarketing ad. The journey looks fragmented but is internally coherent.

AEO matters because buyers increasingly receive synthesized answers rather than lists of links. Content that explains clearly, avoids hype, and demonstrates judgment is more likely to be surfaced and cited. This requires examining whether organic content addresses real decision questions or simply reflects keyword strategy.

Remarketing as the Connector, Not the Safety Net

Remarketing is often treated as a fallback. In a full-funnel system, it is the connective tissue.

When someone visits your site after encountering your brand through ABM, awareness, or organic content, remarketing reinforces familiarity. It does not need to persuade aggressively. Its job is recognition and recall.

This is where paid media regains efficiency. Clicks become cheaper. Conversion rates improve. Messaging feels aligned rather than intrusive.

Remarketing works best when it reflects where the buyer came from, not just where you want them to go. For this reason, it is important to segment remarketing audiences based on entry content, not just page views.

Why the Mix Matters More Than the Channel

No single channel is broken. Most are simply mispositioned.

Paid search closes. ABM opens. SEO and AEO educate. Remarketing connects. When these layers work together, the economics of acquisition change. Cost per lead stabilizes. Sales conversations start earlier. Differentiation feels earned rather than asserted.

Credibility in modern B2B marketing is established through consistency across touchpoints, not volume in any one channel. Buyers trust what they recognize, understand, and have seen repeatedly in different contexts.

The teams that perform best are not chasing cheaper leads. They are shaping demand earlier so that when intent appears, it favors them naturally.

Success in this environment looks less like channel optimization and more like disciplined orchestration. The companies that win are generous with insight, clear in positioning, and patient enough to meet buyers before the buying moment, not just at it.

Planning Ahead for Your Trade Show Campaign Starts Earlier Than You Think

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 02:05:40 GMT

There is a persistent belief that success at a tradeshow comes down to how much space you buy and how impressive your booth looks. Bigger footprint, bigger spend, bigger impact. That belief is outdated, and in many cases, actively working against you.

As teams start thinking about 2026, the companies that will win on the show floor are not the ones racing to lock in the largest booth. They are the ones treating tradeshows as a deliberate, multi-month engagement strategy rather than a three-day event.

The First Year Is for Learning, Not Winning

If you have never attended or exhibited at a show, the smartest move is restraint.

Before committing budget, send sales to attend without exhibiting. The goal in year one is not pipeline. It is pattern recognition. You are there to understand:

Who actually attends versus who is marketed to
How buyers move and behave on the floor
Which booths consistently draw crowds and why
What kinds of conversations feel natural versus forced

Too many teams mistake attendance numbers for opportunity. Vetting a show from the floor gives you the context you need to decide whether it deserves a long-term investment.

Booth Size Does Not Create Engagement, Programming Does

Once you understand the show, success becomes far less about square footage and far more about what happens inside the booth.

People do not gather because a booth is large. They gather because something interesting is happening.

I learned this lesson early in my career in a way I never expected. On my very first day as VP of Marketing at KeyMark, I was on a flight to Scottsdale to meet my new team at a partner conference. Stuck in the middle seat, I overheard the two people next to me talking about the same show. When I introduced myself and mentioned it was day one on the job, one of them said, with genuine frustration, “You’ve got the magician!”

They were talking about our booth.

Later, I hired David Harris and literally watched him work his magic. We would brief him on our topic and our audience. He would study it, tailor his performance, and make it directly relevant to the people walking the floor. He consistently pulled large, engaged crowds.

The booth itself was not the draw. The experience was.

Relevance Gets Attention, Memorability Gets Results

Relevance gets someone to stop. Memorability determines whether they remember you when they are back in the office.

Every vendor at a B2B tradeshow claims relevance. Very few are remembered. The difference comes from knowing exactly who you are, what you stand for, and what you want someone to associate with your brand once the show is over.

That means making choices. You cannot be everything to everyone on a crowded floor. You have to decide what matters most and commit to it.

Design for Approachability, Not Comfort

Many booths unintentionally repel the very people they are trying to attract.

Common mistakes include:

Placing a table between staff and the aisle, creating a physical and psychological barrier
Sitting down or clustering together
Looking at phones or laptops instead of making eye contact

An open floor plan signals that people are welcome to step in. Eye contact signals attention. Presence signals respect.

And while it should not need to be said, over-indulging after hours has consequences. If you play hard, you work hurt. The tradeshow floor is unforgiving when you are tired, distracted, or disengaged.

Tradeshows Are Won Before the Doors Open

The most effective teams treat tradeshows as campaigns with three phases: pre, during, and post.

Before the show, promote your attendance. Let customers and prospects know you will be there. Even if they are not attending, it gives you a relevant reason to be in front of them.

If customers or prospects are going, schedule meetings in advance. Do not rely on chance encounters. For those attending, always find a restaurant and book a small dinner. Even if you have no existing clients going, reserve the table and invite qualified prospects you meet during the show.

On the floor, maximize every moment. If a ten-minute conversation with a highly qualified prospect starts to matter, acknowledge it. The tradeshow floor is rarely the best place for a meaningful discussion. Saying something as simple as, “This feels worth a follow-up when we’re back in the office,” creates momentum and clarity.

Simple Collateral Still Works When It Is Intentional

Palm cards remain one of the most effective pieces of tradeshow collateral when used correctly.

They are:

Easy to hold
Easy to hand out
Easy to keep

The discipline comes from limitation. Plan around three core offerings for the show and create one palm card for each. This forces clarity and prevents overwhelming people with too much information in a noisy environment.

Think Campaign, Not Booth

One of the most successful trade show campaigns we executed was for IncWorx , and it worked because we stopped thinking in terms of a booth and started thinking in terms of a campaign.

Everyone at the event was talking about AI. We wanted to be AI-relevant, but more importantly, AI-memorable.

We positioned the booth as a punk rock band’s merch table. The theme was “Death to Legacy Systems: World Tour,” aimed at IT buyers modernizing legacy systems with the Microsoft stack they already owned.

The details mattered:

The headlining band was “Aigents of Change”
Opening acts included Botallica, System Sintegrator, Wasted Workflows, and Ottomation Angst
Dozens of IncWorx use cases were listed as tour dates on the shirts
The activation was “Predict the Picks,” where attendees guessed how many guitar picks were in a jar to win a custom skateboard deck
Most importantly, the IncWorx team was bought in an energized by the concept

Lines stretched over 100 people deep. Other vendors complained their booths were being blocked. More importantly, Incworx generated over 700 leads.

That show will remain relevant for 18 to 24 months because most strong B2B relationships are built over multiple interactions, not a single conversation.

Always Have Swag Worth Stealing

Good swag is not an afterthought. It is a signal.

If someone is willing to wait in line or carry it around all day, you have earned attention and goodwill. The same principle applied to campaigns like “We’ll Cover Your SaaS” for YourSix. The idea was simple, emotionally clear, and directly tied to the brand’s promise in the physical security space.

Follow-Up Is Where the Real Work Begins

Lead capture without follow-up discipline is wasted effort.

One of the simplest systems is categorizing leads at capture as:

Yes – agreed to a follow-up call
Maybe – good conversation, no commitment yet
No – met, but no immediate action required

Each category gets a different follow-up. Yes receives a calendar link. Maybe asks permission to schedule time. No receives a simple thank-you and stays warm.

I have used this approach personally, with follow-ups scheduled to send the next day. It works because it respects context and intent rather than treating every lead the same.

Tradeshows Reward Discipline

Tradeshows are hard work. The teams that succeed do not drift into casual conversations or rely on luck. They plan hard, work hard, and follow up relentlessly.

They stay focused, build trust quickly, and understand that most good B2B leads convert through relationships built over time. The work does not end when the floor closes. That is when it actually begins.

How to Build EOS Scorecards

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 18:39:23 GMT

Show Notes: Inside the 90™ Episode #30

This episode starts with a simple admission: scorecards are one of the most powerful tools in EOS, and one of the most misunderstood.

Jami and Andrew dig into why that happens. The issue is rarely that leaders do not believe in data. It is that they try to build the perfect scorecard before they have a usable one.

And in EOS, that mindset gets in the way.

A scorecard is not supposed to be a flawless reporting system on day one. It is supposed to be a practical weekly tool that helps a team see the health of the business, spot issues early, and create accountability around what matters most.

The core truth: scorecards should simplify the business, not complicate it

One of the clearest takeaways in the conversation is that teams often overcomplicate scorecards before they even get started.

They ask:

What are the perfect KPIs?
What should be automated?
How do we make this dashboard look polished?
What if we do not have the data yet?

But the better starting point is simpler:

Start with the major functions of the business and identify two to three key measurables in each one.

That means looking at the natural flow of the organization:

marketing creates demand
sales converts demand into customers
operations delivers the work
finance tracks the money

From there, the first scorecard begins to take shape.

Not perfect. Just useful.

That is the point.

Start with the accountability chart, then build the scorecard

The episode ties scorecards directly back to EOS structure.

Once the accountability chart is clear and the major functions of the business are defined, the next question becomes:

What are the few weekly measurables that tell us whether each function is healthy?

That gives teams a simple and practical place to begin.

Instead of trying to build a complete business intelligence system, you build an early scorecard around the seats and functions that already exist.

That first version may be rough. It may involve manual reporting. It may expose gaps in your systems. That is not failure. That is exactly what it is supposed to do.

If you cannot get the data, that is not a blocker. It is an issue.

A strong EOS theme runs through this conversation: if you cannot get the number, do not stall out. Put it on the issues list.

That mindset matters because it keeps scorecards from becoming theoretical.

Too many teams stop at:

“We should probably track this”
“But we do not have the system”
“So we will wait until later”

The better move is:

identify the number
try to report it
if you cannot, drop it down as an issue
solve it over time

In other words, the scorecard does not need to wait for the business to be perfectly instrumented.

In many cases, the scorecard is what reveals which systems need to be built next.

Do not automate what you are not already doing manually

This is one of the most practical points in the episode.

There is a natural temptation to jump straight to dashboards, automation, and slick reporting. But that often happens before the team has even confirmed that it is measuring the right things.

The advice here is simple:

Do not automate anything you are not already doing manually.

If the first version of the scorecard lives across a few spreadsheets and requires manual collection, that is fine. Manual is often the fastest way to test whether a measurable is actually useful.

Automation should come after clarity, not before it.

EOS scorecards are meant to trigger better decisions

A scorecard is not just a reporting sheet. It is a trigger.

That is where a lot of teams miss the point.

The conversation makes two important distinctions here:

1. Leaders should prepare the scorecard before the L10

If you own the number, you should already understand what it says before the meeting starts.

That means:

reporting it accurately
analyzing it ahead of time
bringing the right issue if something is off track

2. Repeated red numbers should create action

If a measurable is red for multiple weeks, the team should not normalize it. It should become an issue worth discussing and solving.

The scorecard is the business dashboard. Its value is not that it shows color. Its value is that it tells the team where attention is needed.

A bloated scorecard loses its power

Another reason scorecards break down: they start tracking too much.

When a scorecard gets overloaded with numbers that are interesting but not essential, teams stop using it the way EOS intends.

That is when the real health signals get buried.

The episode makes the case for fighting for simplicity:

not every metric belongs on the scorecard
not every point of analysis should be reviewed weekly
only a handful of numbers really need leadership attention

A great scorecard is not impressive because it is detailed.
It is powerful because it is clear.

Everyone has a number, but not all numbers belong on the leadership scorecard

As EOS gets rolled out deeper into the business, scorecards become more structured.

At first, the leadership team may track an entire function at a high level. But over time, those numbers should move down into departmental scorecards, where the individuals closest to the work own them directly.

That is how EOS creates the idea that everybody has a number .

It does not mean the leadership scorecard gets bigger forever.
It means the organization gets more aligned as each team builds its own scorecard and reports into the larger system.

The result:

cleaner leadership visibility
clearer team accountability
less confusion about who owns what

Sometimes the solve is simply tracking the issue

One of the best examples in the episode comes from account service.

The team was short-staffed, and while work was still getting delivered, client communication was starting to feel reactive. So they introduced a new measurable:

How many times did a client ask for an update this week?

That one number created visibility. And because it created visibility, it changed behavior.

Everyone became more aware of the need to communicate proactively. Over time, the metric dropped back to zero.

That is an important lesson:

Sometimes the solution to a recurring problem is not a major strategic initiative.
Sometimes the solution is putting the right thing on the scorecard and watching it weekly.

Scorecards, Rocks, and To-Dos each play a different role

The episode does a good job separating three EOS tools that often get blurred together.

Scorecards

The weekly numbers that tell you if the business is staying on track.

Rocks

The major priorities that must get done by the end of the quarter.

To-Dos

The action items being completed week to week.

That distinction matters because it helps teams decide where something belongs.

If it is a weekly behavior or process condition, it may belong on the scorecard.
If it is a quarterly priority, it is probably a Rock.
If it is a next action, it belongs in To-Dos.

That kind of compartmentalization is what makes EOS workable instead of messy.

The best scorecard metrics are often simpler than leaders expect

A recurring theme in this conversation is that many leaders think scorecards need highly sophisticated measurements when often the best ones are simple.

Some of the examples discussed:

was the checklist followed: yes or no
was the phone answered within two rings
was the truck loaded in 45 minutes
were there zero incidents
did the customer leave a positive Google review

Those kinds of measurables work because they are:

clear
behavior-linked
visible
easy to understand
directly tied to outcomes

Simple does not mean shallow.
Simple means usable.

Good scorecards create alignment because they make winning obvious

One of the strongest illustrations in the episode is a moving company team with just three measurables:

load the truck in 45 minutes
zero incidents
positive Google review

If that team hits those three numbers, they know they won.

That kind of clarity does something powerful inside a business:

it reduces ambiguity
it improves engagement
it helps teams self-correct
it makes accountability feel fair instead of arbitrary

This is especially important for field teams or operational roles where employees can otherwise feel disconnected from the broader business.

A scorecard turns “do your job” into “here’s what success looks like.”

The “napkin test” is the best way to know if your scorecard is working

The story they use near the end is a great one.

Imagine you are on vacation. You are offered an extra week in paradise. Someone walks up and hands you a napkin with six to eight numbers on it.

No context. No conversation. Just the numbers.

Would you know whether the business is healthy enough for you to stay?

That is the standard.

A strong leadership scorecard should be simple enough and meaningful enough that, at a glance, you can understand the condition of the business.

Data cuts through opinion and creates focus

The conversation closes on a point that feels especially relevant for growth-stage teams:

If all you have are opinions, the loudest voice can win.
If you have the right scorecard, the data helps the team focus on reality.

That is why A players tend to want this system. They want clarity. They want accountability. They want to know what winning looks like.

And that is why resistance to scorecards is often revealing. When someone consistently overcomplicates the numbers, avoids reporting, or pushes everything into vague analysis, it may not just be a systems problem. It may be a commitment problem.

Final takeaway: do not overthink the scorecard, strengthen it every week

The clearest takeaway from the episode is this:

Do not overthink the scorecard in the beginning.

Build a simple version. Use it weekly. Let issues strengthen it over time.

If you cannot access a number, that becomes an issue.
If a recurring problem shows up, maybe it belongs on the scorecard.
If the scorecard is bloated, simplify it.
If it is helping the team focus and act, it is working.

That is the real power of EOS scorecards.

Not perfection.
Not polished dashboards.
Just a practical tool that helps the business stay aligned, accountable, and on track one week at a time.

From SEO to AEO: Earning Trust in the 2026 AI Answer Economy

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:33:19 GMT

The Most Important Lead Gen Conversation in 2026

I’ve been in lead generation and B2B marketing long enough to see several “end of search” moments come and go. In 2024, the loudest version of that story was simple: OpenAI is going to kill Google.

That narrative didn’t age well.

Google adapted faster and more decisively than most people expected. AI Overviews, integrated answers, and tighter coupling between traditional search and generative systems didn’t just protect Google’s position. They reinforced it. As we move into 2026, Google remains the fastest, most reliable path to authoritative answers for high-intent commercial and informational queries.

What actually changed is more subtle and far more important. You are no longer writing for Google alone.

Today, answers move fluidly across an ecosystem of large language models. A single explanation may surface in Google AI Overviews, be summarized inside ChatGPT, or be referenced indirectly by copilots embedded in enterprise software. Brand visibility is no longer about ranking pages. It is about being trusted as a source.

In practical terms, brands are now competing for answer visibility across:

Google AI Overviews and traditional search results
ChatGPT and other GPT-powered tools
Perplexity and emerging answer engines
In-application assistants buyers use while doing real work inside their productivity suites

SEO did not disappear. It evolved into something broader: Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) . This is the discipline of making your expertise clear, reusable, and trustworthy across AI-driven answer systems.

White-Hat SEO Was Never the Problem

AEO is not a reaction to SEO failing. It is the result of SEO finally being evaluated the way it was always meant to be.

For years, some teams were rewarded for content that technically ranked but added little value. That gap between rankings and usefulness has been closing steadily, and LLMs accelerate that process. These systems are conservative by design. They prefer sources that explain things clearly, consistently, and responsibly.

In practice, that means AI systems favor content that demonstrates:

Clear, plain-language explanations
Consistent topical focus
Evidence of real-world experience
Claims that are measured, not exaggerated

If your SEO strategy has always been grounded in usefulness and honesty, you are not behind. You are ahead. The work now is not to abandon SEO, but to express that expertise in ways AI systems can confidently reuse.

How Public Trust Signals Reinforce Authority

Strong content is necessary, but it is rarely sufficient on its own. AI systems, like human buyers, look for confirmation that a brand’s expertise exists beyond its own website.

This is where public trust signals come into play. Reviews, industry directories, and consistent public profiles act as verification layers. They don’t replace expertise. They confirm it.

When AI systems evaluate whether a source is reliable, they look for evidence that:

Real customers exist
Third parties recognize the brand
The business is active and relevant today

For B2B brands, this often shows up through a small number of high-quality signals rather than mass visibility.

What a business can do today:

Ensure your Google Business Profile, core directory listings, and review presence clearly reflect what you actually do and who you serve.

Step 1: Stop Optimizing for Rankings and Start Optimizing for Understanding

The biggest mental shift I see B2B teams struggle with is letting go of rankings as the primary measure of success.

Traditional SEO asked a tactical question: How do we get this page to rank? AEO asks a more fundamental one: What is the question being asked, and what would a complete, trustworthy answer actually sound like?

AI systems don’t reward clever phrasing, keyword density, or long introductions. They reward clarity. If your opening paragraphs don’t clearly state what you believe and why, they are unlikely to be reused when an AI assembles an answer.

For LLMs and skimmers alike, this shift looks like:

Fewer keyword-driven openings
More direct statements of position
Less marketing language, more explanation

What your business can do today:

Take one high-value page and rewrite the opening section so it clearly answers the core question in plain language within the first few paragraphs. Remove any introductory copy that exists only to warm up the reader or target keywords.

Step 2: Accept That Google Is Still Central but No Longer Exclusive

I regularly caution clients against betting their visibility on any single platform.

Google remains the dominant gateway to answers, particularly for commercial research. But it is no longer the only system shaping how buyers learn. Your content may now appear in Google AI Overviews, be summarized by ChatGPT, or influence answers delivered inside tools your buyers use every day.

Content written only to satisfy Google’s algorithm rarely travels well across this broader ecosystem.

From a practical standpoint, this means your content should be able to:

Stand on its own without SERP context
Make sense when partially quoted
Retain meaning outside your website

Why Your Brand’s Social Footprint Still Matters

Authority in the LLM era is inferred, not declared.

AI systems don’t measure credibility by likes or follower counts. They look for consistency and legitimacy across the public web. A brand that appears in search results, directories, reviews, and professional networks tells a coherent story. One that exists only on its own site does not.

This is why elements like:

Google reviews
Industry directories
Partner listings
Executive profiles...

All play a supporting role in AEO. They help AI systems answer a simple question: Is this brand real and trusted outside of its own content?

What a business can do today:

Audit your public-facing profiles and remove outdated positioning that no longer matches how you want to be understood.

Step 3: Write the Way Experienced Practitioners Actually Speak

People with experience don’t communicate in endless lists. They explain, qualify, and connect ideas.

AI systems favor the same style. They are far more likely to reuse a short, well-reasoned paragraph than a list of generic tips. That doesn’t mean structure isn’t important; it means structure should support understanding, not replace it.

In effective AEO content, paragraphs tend to:

Explain cause and effect
Define when advice applies and when it doesn’t
Reflect judgment earned through experience

What your business can do today:

Replace one list-heavy section with a short explanatory passage that walks through how and why a recommendation works, including any limitations or tradeoffs you normally explain verbally to clients.

Step 4: Build Authority Around Topics, Not Content Volume

One of the most common mistakes I still see in 2026 is brands trying to cover everything.

Large language models don’t reward volume for its own sake. They reward sustained, coherent understanding of a subject over time. If your organization wants to be associated with a topic, your content must demonstrate depth, consistency, and nuance.

In simple terms, AEO favors:

Fewer topics
Deeper coverage
Clear specialization

This approach replaces content calendars with topic ownership.

What your business can do today:

Identify the single topic where your team has the deepest experience. Consolidate related posts, pages, or guides into one authoritative resource instead of publishing another standalone article.

Step 5: Make the Brand Itself Understandable to AI Systems

In the LLM era, your brand is evaluated as a source, not just a publisher.

AI systems look for signals that help them answer basic questions: Who are you? What do you specialize in? Why should your perspective be trusted?

This is where About pages, methodology explanations, and author bios matter far more than most teams expect. These pages provide the context AI systems need to decide when to use your content.

Clear brand signals often include:

Explicit statements of specialization
Transparent explanation of how you work
Credible author credentials

What your business can do today:

Review your About page and author bios. Rewrite them to explicitly state what you specialize in, who you serve, and why you are qualified, using language a third party could easily summarize.

External Signals That Make Your Brand Easier to Trust

LLMs do not rely on a single signal to determine authority. They cross-check.

When your brand’s website, reviews, directory listings, and executive profiles all reinforce the same positioning, trust increases. When they conflict, visibility drops.

The strongest external signals tend to be:

Descriptive Google reviews that mention outcomes or problems solved
Listings in reputable industry directories, not generic ones
Named individuals publicly associated with the brand’s expertise

This is not about generating buzz. It is about reducing ambiguity.

What your business can do today:

Ask satisfied clients for reviews that describe the work you actually did, not just that you were “great to work with.”

Step 6: Original Thinking Is No Longer Optional

AI-generated answers actively deprioritize recycled ideas.

If your content sounds like everything else on the internet, it will be treated that way. What consistently earns reuse is your experienced point of view, original articulation frameworks, distinctions, and perspectives that reflect how you actually do the work you are speaking about.

Original thinking shows up as:

Clearly named approaches
Distinct opinions backed by experience
Language that feels owned, not borrowed

This isn’t about novelty. It’s about clarity.

What your business can do today:

Document one internal process or decision framework you already use with clients. Name it, describe when you use it, and explain why it works. Publish it without over-polishing.

Step 7: Measure What Actually Matters

Traffic alone has become an unreliable proxy for impact.

Google Analytics 4 and other platforms are beginning to surface traffic from AI-driven experiences more clearly, but attribution will remain imperfect. That’s not a failure of analytics; it’s a reflection of how answers now move across systems.

Effective measurement in 2026 balances:

Quantitative data from analytics tools
Early indicators of AI- or LLM-driven referrals
Qualitative feedback from sales and customer conversations

The goal is not more traffic. It’s better-informed buyers.

What your business can do today:

Pair analytics data with qualitative feedback from sales. Ask what prospects already understand when they arrive and which explanations resonate. Use that insight to refine content, not just chase more traffic.

Visibility Follows Verifiable Expertise

In an answer-driven ecosystem, AI systems surface sources that are both useful and defensible. That defensibility often comes from a trail of public signals that show others trust and reference your work.

When your thinking is visible on your site and reinforced across the public web, it becomes safer for AI systems to reuse. Authority compounds when expertise is not only shared, but confirmed.

Where This Leaves B2B Brands

The idea that AI would eliminate search underestimated Google and misunderstood how people seek information.

What is happening instead is more nuanced. Search is becoming an answer-driven ecosystem where trust determines visibility and expertise compounds over time.

For B2B organizations, the path forward is not chasing tools or trends. It is demonstrating practical expertise in public, explaining decisions clearly, and being willing to give away real answers without immediately asking for something in return.

In an environment where AI systems surface the most useful explanations, the brands that win are the ones generous with their thinking. When you consistently show how you approach problems, what tradeoffs you consider, and why certain choices work better than others, you position yourself as the premium option long before a sales conversation begins.

That is what modern AEO enables. Not visibility for its own sake, but authority built through clarity. When buyers are ready to decide, they already know who understands the problem best.

Brand Authenticity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:02:37 GMT

There is a growing assumption in business today that artificial intelligence changes the rules of brand building. That speed, scale, and automation somehow outweigh clarity, conviction, and identity. This belief is understandable, but it is incomplete.

AI can accelerate what already exists. It cannot compensate for a brand that does not know who it is.

Authenticity has always been the winning strategy. Long before algorithms shaped distribution, the brands that endured were the ones that understood themselves deeply and acted consistently. Patagonia didn't become trusted because of content volume. Apple didn't build loyalty by being everything to everyone. Salesforce didn’t win by selling software the way everyone else had.

They won because they were clear. And distinct.

What People Get Wrong About Brand Authenticity Today

Authenticity is often treated as a tone choice or a messaging tactic. A brand sounds human. A brand tells a story. A brand publishes values. None of that matters if it is not rooted in something real.

The brands that win are not trying to appeal to everyone. They know who they are for, and just as importantly, who they are not for. Nike has never attempted to be neutral. Patagonia has never tried to be broadly convenient. That clarity creates focus. Focus creates consistency. Consistency creates trust.

AI has not replaced this dynamic. It has amplified it. When content is abundant and easy to generate, the absence of a clear identity becomes obvious very quickly.

Start With Your Brand’s Birthright

Every strong brand begins with a reason for existing. Not a slogan. Not a mission statement written for a pitch deck. A genuine answer to a simple question: why do we exist at all?

This is your brand’s birthright. It is the underlying problem you were created to solve and the belief that originally justified your presence in the market. Patagonia’s environmental stance did not emerge from a campaign. It came from why the company was founded in the first place. That origin continues to guide decisions decades later.

When this foundation is unclear, everything built on top of it becomes fragile.

AI can help you express this story faster. It cannot define it for you.

Values Define Culture, Not Optics

Core values are often treated as aspirational words on a wall. In reality, they are behavioral filters. They determine how decisions are made, what is rewarded, and what is tolerated.

When values are real, they shape culture. When they shape culture, they shape brand behavior. That behavior is what customers ultimately experience.

Brands like Southwest Airlines or Costco have built reputations not through polished storytelling, but through consistent internal behavior that customers feel over time. In an AI-driven environment, where messaging can be endlessly optimized, culture becomes the differentiator. Tools can replicate language. They cannot replicate belief.

Brand Pillars Clarify What Makes You Different

Most brands struggle to explain what makes them meaningfully different. Not better in generic terms, but distinct in ways that matter.

Brand pillars create that clarity when they are honest. Three strengths that consistently show up in your work, your decisions, and your outcomes. Apple’s focus on design, simplicity, and user experience has remained remarkably consistent, even as its products and form factors have evolved.

These pillars give structure to creativity and guardrails to AI-generated output. Without them, automation produces volume, not value.

A Brand Platform Is Built From the Inside Out

When a brand is clear on its birthright, lives its values, and commits to a small set of real strengths, it earns the right to make a promise. Not a tagline or a claim, but a clear expectation of what people can count on every time they engage with the brand.

That promise, and the thinking behind it, is captured in a brand platform. This platform is not a marketing document. It is an operating system. It aligns how leaders lead, how employees show up, how products are built, and how decisions are made. Marketing becomes an expression of that promise, not an attempt to manufacture belief.

In a world where AI can generate endless variations of content, the brands with a strong platform feel coherent. They feel intentional. And over time, they earn trust by keeping the promises they are structured to keep.

Authenticity Starts With Belief, Not Messaging

Trust is never built externally first. It is built internally.

As I have always said, if your employees believe it, your customers will buy it. Belief cannot be automated. It cannot be manufactured through performance media or prompt engineering. It comes from alignment between what a brand says and what it does.

AI will continue to reshape how brands communicate. It will not change why people trust.

Six Things Your Brand Can Do Today

1. Clarify your brand’s birthright - Define, in plain language, why your brand exists beyond making money.

2. Be explicit about who you are for and who you are not for - The most authentic brands choose focus over mass appeal.

3. Identify the values your organization actually lives by - Not the aspirational ones, the observable ones.

4. Define three brand pillars you can defend under pressure - Strengths that remain true even when the market shifts.

5. Align leadership, culture, and communication around one platform - Authentic brands feel consistent because they are aligned internally.

6. Build belief internally before trying to persuade externally - Employees are your first audience, not your last channel.

Authenticity is not threatened by artificial intelligence. It is exposed by it. The brands that win in this era will not be the ones generating the most content, but the ones with the clearest sense of self.

Aligning Sales and Marketing: Lessons from Both Sides of the Table

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 20:28:55 GMT

Show Notes: Inside the 90™ Episode #29

This episode opens with a simple visual that says everything: the “sales couch” and the “marketing chair.”

Two seats. One revenue function. And a relationship that can either create momentum or burn time, money, and trust.

In this conversation, Jami and Andrew trade perspectives from both sides of the table. Both have lived in sales and marketing roles, which makes the discussion refreshingly practical. No theory. Just what actually happens inside growing B2B organizations when alignment is strong, and what breaks when it is not.

The core truth: sales secures work, marketing makes it easier to close

A clean definition shows up early:

Sales is securing work (winning clients, projects, renewals, revenue).
Marketing should make that job easier (clarity, confidence, credibility, and support through the buyer journey).

Or as the episode frames it: marketing is anything that supports a sale.

The problem is not that sales and marketing want different outcomes. It’s that they often operate on different clocks, with different incentives, and without a shared picture of what “good” looks like.

When to “turn on marketing” depends on where you are

One of the strongest threads in the episode is this: alignment starts with understanding the stage of business you’re in.

They reference a simple growth model:

Seeker
Starter
Builder
Grower
Scaler
Giver

The big takeaway is timing.

Before product-market fit, the work is sales-led (and should be)

In early stages, the temptation is to say, “We need leads, let’s turn on marketing.”

But if you have not nailed your ICP and offer, marketing becomes an expensive way to create noise. The better move is to get out, have conversations, and “skin your knees.” Learn what the market responds to. Tighten the message through real selling.

Marketing still matters here, but it looks different:

Language and positioning support
Lightweight, on-brand messaging
Iteration through real conversations
Momentum without overbuilding

After product-market fit, marketing becomes the accelerator

Once the business hits a more defined Builder-to-Scaler transition, “turning on the spots” makes sense. Now the story is stable enough to scale. Now systems and tracking matter. Now marketing can add leverage instead of confusion.

The hidden cause of misalignment: marketing is systematic, sales is reactive

A big moment in the episode is when they unpack why misalignment shows up even in good companies.

Sales tends to respond to what is happening now:

the next deal
the new vertical
the pitch tomorrow
the fastest path to quota

Marketing tends to work inside a system:

campaigns that take time
buyer journeys that are measured in months
messaging consistency
long-term brand equity

Neither is wrong. The issue is when those two approaches operate without a shared plan. That is where leaders need to step in and define a longer horizon.

The alignment unlock:
a shared 3-year picture and 1-year goals

The episode keeps coming back to this idea: if sales and marketing do not agree on where the business is going, everything turns reactionary.

Alignment begins when leadership can clearly answer:

Where do we want to be in 3 years?
What does “well-oiled” look like?
What are the 1-year goals that move us toward that picture?
What are the definitions everyone will use (lead, MQL, SQL, expectations)?

When that picture exists, sales can still test and experiment, but it happens inside a frame. Marketing can still build deliberately, but it stays connected to revenue reality.

That is the sweet spot: nimble execution under a shared direction.

The EOS tool that is often underrated: the Proven Process

They make a strong EOS-based case that one tool does more alignment work than most teams realize:

The Proven Process within the EOS Marketing Strategy.

Why it matters:

It forces clarity on how you deliver value.
It gives marketing and sales shared language.
It ties operations into the promise being sold.
It moves the business from “experimental” selling to “systematic” selling.

A Proven Process is not just a credibility play externally. It is an internal alignment mechanism that keeps sales, marketing, and delivery telling the same story.

When employees believe it, customers buy it.

Marketing is not lead generation
(but lead generation is part of marketing)

A key distinction shows up mid-episode:

Marketing is the plan and the activity that supports revenue.
Lead generation is one outcome of marketing, not the whole job.

Marketing also supports:

customer attention and retention
employee engagement
internal alignment
corporate communication
sales enablement (decks, emails, narrative, case studies)

This is part of why “ROI on marketing” becomes such a loaded question. You can measure outcomes, but marketing rarely pays back instantly.

Which leads to the next point.

Buyer journey reality: marketing takes time

They outline a familiar B2B arc:

A buyer becomes aware of their pain
A buyer becomes aware of possible solutions
A buyer becomes aware of your category/product
A buyer becomes aware of the partner they trust to buy from

That journey can take 9 to 18 months. So when teams demand proof in 90 days without acknowledging the journey, they create a predictable pattern:

wasted spend
broken trust
constant “start over” cycles
frustration between sales, marketing, and agencies

The episode lands this clearly: smart work takes time.

And the longer you wait, the shorter the fuse gets.

The operational layer:
tech stack maturity is an 18-month game

They also go deep on the infrastructure side. Alignment is hard without clean systems.

CRM, marketing automation, attribution, integrations, process discipline, and reporting loops are not quick wins. Done well, maturity is built brick by brick:

start awareness
capture leads
qualify and tag
move through CRM stages
attribute outcomes
close the loop back to marketing

Their experience: it often takes 18 months to build , and another 18 months to mature .

The point is not to delay action. It is to avoid pretending this is an overnight switch.

Strategy sets the stage. Activation builds momentum.

Where leads should go first: business development as a filter

One practical recommendation: don’t throw raw marketing leads directly to quota-carrying closers.

Instead, treat business development as a filter that separates the qualified from the noise, protects sales time, and preserves clean data.

They also highlight that the tracking and attribution burden should not sit on the salesperson. The CRM should serve sales, but the marketing engine should handle most of the qualification mechanics before a lead becomes “sales-ready.”

They close with a set of mistakes that show up constantly in growing companies.

1. Expecting ROI in 90 days only

If you measure marketing like a light switch, you will keep turning it off right when it starts to work.

2. Ignoring the buyer journey

If your category buying cycle is long, your marketing expectations must match it.

3. Promoting the top rep into sales leadership too early

This one hits hard: the best closer is not always the right builder of a mature sales function. When that happens, the org over-optimizes for closing and under-invests in building alignment, systems, and scalable process.

4. No “currency of exchange” between teams

When multiple salespeople constantly request urgent one-off needs from a small marketing team, priorities collapse. Sales starts building their own materials. Marketing starts policing. Trust erodes.

Final takeaway: trust the process, surface the issues, build momentum

The episode ends where EOS always brings you back:

Alignment is not an event. It is a process.
If you have issues, put them on the list.
Prioritize. Solve. Repeat.
And do it with empathy on both sides of the table.

Sales and marketing alignment is rare, but when it happens, it is incredible.

Not because the teams agree on everything.

Because they share the same direction, the same language, and a realistic plan to build traction one 90-day cycle at a time.

How an Abundance Mindset Transforms Leadership and Life

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 23:57:41 GMT

Show Notes: Inside the 90™ Episode #28

This episode is a quick one, but it lands. Jami and Andrew zoom in on a single word Andrew texted on the way into the studio: abundance . Not as a motivational poster idea, but as a leadership posture that changes how you make decisions, treat people, and lead through hard seasons.

The punchline is simple: abundance is the opposite of scarcity . And scarcity is almost always rooted in fear.

Defining abundance: the opposite of fear and control

Andrew frames scarcity as a fear-based operating system. It often shows up as:

Control
Protection
Tight-fisted thinking
“There’s not enough” stories (time, money, talent, opportunity)

Abundance is the counter posture:

Trust
Love
Openness
“There’s enough” confidence, even when the situation is hard

A key thread: abundance is not denial. It does not pretend things are easy. It is a decision to lead without fear running the show.

Abundance in the everyday roles of leadership

This conversation keeps returning to how abundance plays out across the roles leaders actually live in:

Husband
Father
Entrepreneur
Advisor and connector

The point is not that some roles require abundance and others do not. The point is that scarcity leaks . If you live in fear in one area, it finds its way into the rest.

A practical business metaphor: the car lot principle

Jami offers a simple visual: car dealerships on the same road.

Volkswagen is across from Chevy, which is next to Toyota, which is down from Volvo. They cluster because buyers want options. No one says, “We can’t open another dealership. The market is taken.”

That is the abundance mindset in business:

Competition is not proof there’s no room
The presence of others can validate demand
Opportunity expands when you stop treating success like a limited resource

The early-stage trap: scarcity as a victim mindset

They call out a common entrepreneurial storyline:

“We’re struggling because we’re small.”

And then they dismantle it.

Every stage is hard:

Team of 8 is hard
Team of 18 is hard
Team of 80 is hard

The difference is not the difficulty. The difference is how you relate to it.

From an EOS® lens, hard is expected. Hard means there are issues to solve. And leaders are paid to solve issues, not to wait for a magical future where the issues disappear.

Scarcity hides in time and money

When the conversation gets concrete, two scarcity categories show up again and again:

Time scarcity: “I don’t have time to call them back.”

Money scarcity: “What if we can’t make payroll?”

Andrew points out something subtle: scarcity can disguise itself as practicality. But many times, a few minutes of generosity changes someone else’s trajectory, and the “no time” story is just fear in a more acceptable outfit.

True abundance: giving without expecting a return

This is where they get precise.

Abundance is not “I’ll do good so good comes back.” That still centers the self. That is still transactional.

True abundance is:

Giving because it’s right
Helping without running the math
Trusting you’re not losing by being generous

Andrew ties this to faith: doing what’s best for others and trusting that provision is real, even if you cannot see it yet.

Provision, payroll, and the fear that lingers

Andrew shares a leadership wound many business owners carry: 2008.

He describes how that season created a scarcity imprint. Even years later, fear can sit in the background of decision-making, especially around payroll and growth.

And then he describes a shift that did not come from more evidence or better spreadsheets. It came from a heart change. He looks back and sees:

Since going out on his own in 2021, he has never missed a paycheck
As the team grew, they never missed payroll
The fear was not coming from the present reality
It was coming from an unresolved past experience

This matters because it names a leadership truth: strategy can be sound and fear can still run the room.

Curiosity vs. being right: abundance’s close cousin

Another key connection: abundance and curiosity go together.

Scarcity tends to create:

Close-mindedness
Rigidity
“There’s only one way” thinking

Curiosity creates:

Options
Openness
Detachment from needing to control outcomes

Andrew references the “curious vs. right” principle (often discussed in conscious leadership frameworks): when you must be right, you’re locked into a single path and attached to the outcome. When you stay curious, you can see a million paths forward while still staying responsible.

Abundance is contagious: the ripple effect in community

One of the most tangible sections of the episode is their description of working alongside other leaders in a shared co-working environment.

Abundance becomes visible when:

People genuinely ask how you are doing and mean it
Introductions happen naturally, without a hidden agenda
Help is offered freely
Collaboration becomes the default culture

They describe abundant leadership as something you can feel. And when you feel it, it spreads.

Teams take on the same posture. Communities rise together. Momentum becomes collective.

The tipping point emotion: courage

A powerful close: the shift from scarcity to abundance often requires one emotion first.

Courage.

Courage is what allows a leader to do the opposite of their default fear response:

To stop protecting
To loosen their grip
To trust again
To lead forward without guarantees

And once that shift happens, they name the real marker of abundance:

You remove the filter that asks, “What’s in it for me?”

That question is scarcity in its purest form. When it quiets down, leadership gets lighter, cleaner, and more effective.

What to take with you

If you lead a team, a company, or a family, this episode leaves you with a clear mirror:

Where are you making decisions from fear and calling it wisdom?
What are you trying to control because you don’t trust provision?
Where could curiosity open more doors than certainty ever will?
What would change if you led the next 90 days from abundance instead of protection?

Because when employees believe it, customers buy it.

And abundance is one of those beliefs that shows up everywhere once it’s real.

One Year In: How EOS Annual Planning is Transforming Our Business at Wonder

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 22:49:45 GMT

Show Notes: Inside the 90™ Episode #27

This episode centers on one of the most energizing (and often underutilized) parts of EOS: annual planning .

Two days. One room. A full year of clarity.

Done right, it aligns your team, sharpens your vision, and gives you real confidence heading into the next year—not just another plan that collects dust.

Annual planning changes everything when you’re ready for it

There’s a noticeable shift once a team has been running on EOS for a while.

Before EOS, annual planning often looks like:

departments building plans in isolation
long documents no one reads
goals disconnected from a shared vision

After EOS, it becomes something entirely different:

a shared leadership exercise
grounded in a 3-year picture
translated into a clear 1-year plan
executed through 90-day rocks

The result: alignment replaces guesswork.

The mindset shift: gap vs. gain

One of the most valuable parts of annual planning is perspective.

It forces teams to do two things:

Look back (the gain):

What did we actually accomplish?
Where did we grow?
What worked?

Look forward (the gap):

Where are we going next?
What needs to be true in a year?
What will it take to get there?

This balance matters.

Without it, teams either:

underestimate their progress
or overestimate how hard the future will be

Annual planning corrects both.

When to do annual planning

(October vs. January)

Timing matters more than most teams realize.

Option 1: October (recommended for most teams)

plan a quarter ahead
align next year before year-end chaos
use Q4 to finish strong with clarity

Option 2: January

close the year fully, then plan
start fresh with full focus

Both work.

The key is avoiding late-November/December planning, when:

priorities are split
energy is low
execution suffers

Why going offsite matters

Most effective teams don’t just plan—they get away .

Roughly:

80% go offsite
20% stay local

The difference isn’t location—it’s focus and connection .

An offsite creates:

fewer distractions
deeper conversations
stronger team bonding

And that bonding isn’t a “nice to have.”

It directly impacts trust, which impacts execution.

The two-day structure that actually works

Annual planning isn’t just “more meeting time.”

It’s two very different days with two distinct purposes.

Day 1: team health + truth

The goal is simple: get everything on the table.

This includes:

reviewing the past year
identifying wins and misses
surfacing frustrations and challenges
strengthening trust

This is where:

vulnerability shows up
tension (productive conflict) is encouraged
alignment begins

By the end of day one, most teams walk away with:

a long issues list (often 30+ items)
a much clearer shared reality

That list isn’t a problem.

It’s progress.

Day 2: vision + plan

Day two turns clarity into action.

You move through:

3-year picture updates
1-year plan
next 90-day rocks

Here’s the key insight:

You don’t solve every issue.

Instead, you:

assign issues to the right place (rocks, goals, priorities)
solve what’s critical now
plan to address the rest over time

By the end, most teams realize:

60–70% of issues already have a path forward

The hidden value: alignment across the team

One of the biggest wins isn’t the plan—it’s the shared understanding .

During annual planning:

leaders hear things they didn’t know
new team members gain context
assumptions get corrected

That alignment carries forward into:

better decisions
faster execution
fewer surprises

What makes annual planning actually work

A few factors consistently separate strong sessions from weak ones:

1. A third-party facilitator

Someone who:

guides the process
keeps the team focused
doesn’t participate in decisions

This removes bias and keeps momentum.

2. Preparation (before you show up)

Teams should come ready to:

reflect honestly
engage in team health conversations
think strategically, not tactically

Day one = team health mindset

Day two = planning mindset

3. Vulnerability from leadership

Especially from the visionary.

If leadership shows up:

defensive → the room shuts down
open and honest → the room follows

Tone matters.

4. Healthy tension (not drama)

Tension is not the enemy.

In fact, it’s required.

tension = honest dialogue
drama = unresolved conflict

Good teams embrace tension and resolve it in the room.

5. Commitment to the team (not just yourself)

One of the most powerful outcomes is individual commitments.

Not:

“what I want to do”

But:

“what I need to start or stop doing for the good of the team”

That shift creates real accountability.

The underrated advantage: time together

The offsite element—meals, activities, downtime—does more than people expect.

It:

builds trust faster
reveals personality dynamics
strengthens relationships

And that trust carries through the entire year.

Two days together can influence:

4–5 quarters of performance

Final takeaway: two days that drive a full year

Annual planning is a small time investment with outsized impact.

Done right, it gives you:

clarity on where you’re going
alignment on how to get there
confidence in your plan
momentum heading into the next 90 days

And most importantly:

It replaces reactive execution with intentional growth.

One year.

Built 90 days at a time.

How to Create a Healthy Leadership Team with EOS

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 23:15:42 GMT

Show Notes: Inside the 90™ Episode #26

This episode tackles one of the most overlooked (and most critical) drivers of growth: leadership team development .

Because EOS doesn’t fail from lack of tools.

It fails when the leadership team isn’t healthy, aligned, and functioning as one unit .

And here’s the reality most teams don’t expect:

Leadership teams almost always change once EOS is implemented.

Leadership team turnover is normal (and necessary)

One stat stands out:

Up to 80% of leadership teams change after starting EOS

That’s not a problem. It’s a signal.

When you introduce:

clarity
accountability
defined roles

You quickly uncover:

wrong people in seats
unclear expectations
misaligned priorities

EOS doesn’t create dysfunction—it reveals it .

Leadership team development happens in three phases

Every team moves through a similar evolution:

1. Forming: defining the leadership team

Before EOS, most companies already have a leadership team.

It’s just:

undefined
inconsistent
based on informal influence

EOS formalizes it using the accountability chart :

define major functions
assign ownership
place the right people in seats

This is where clarity begins.

2. Adjusting: refining people and seats

Once accountability increases, reality sets in.

You start asking:

Do we have the right people in the right seats?
Does each leader truly “get, want, and have capacity” for this role?
Are they acting for the greater good of the business , not just their department?

This is where:

roles shift
people move on/off the leadership team
functions evolve

And this is where most teams hesitate.

They shouldn’t.

Adjustment is part of the process—not a failure of it.

3. Maturing: becoming a cohesive, high-performing team

This is where leadership teams separate from average organizations.

A mature leadership team:

operates as Team 1 (the leadership team), not Team 2 (their department)
commits to decisions, even when they disagree
addresses issues openly and directly
holds each other accountable

This is where real traction happens.

The biggest mistake: prioritizing your department over the business

One of the clearest breakdowns in leadership teams is this:

Leaders protect their departments instead of serving the company.

This shows up as:

defensiveness in meetings
withholding issues
avoiding hard conversations

High-performing teams do the opposite:

they surface issues openly
they accept feedback without defensiveness
they make decisions based on what’s best for the organization

This is the shift from Team 2 → Team 1 thinking .

The accountability chart is the foundation

Everything starts here.

The accountability chart:

defines leadership seats by function
clarifies roles and responsibilities
creates ownership across the business

And most importantly:

It is not static.

It evolves constantly as the business grows.

The role of trust: why vulnerability matters

You cannot build a healthy leadership team without trust.

And trust doesn’t come from alignment.

It comes from:

vulnerability
honesty
consistency

That’s why simple habits matter:

open check-ins at the start of meetings
sharing real wins and struggles
being willing to say the uncomfortable thing

Without this, teams stay surface-level—and progress stalls.

Leadership team “truisms” that change performance

Strong teams don’t just follow EOS tools.

They define how they operate together.

Some examples:

Act with the greater good in mind
One and done (decisions don’t get re-litigated)
Silence equals agreement
Bring the uncomfortable issue to the table

These become a team charter —a shared standard for behavior and accountability.

Why leadership team changes shouldn’t be feared

A common misconception:

Removing someone from the leadership team = failure.

In reality:

it often leads to better alignment
individuals can thrive in different roles
the business becomes stronger

The goal isn’t to preserve structure.

It’s to build the right structure .

The role of the Visionary and Integrator

A healthy leadership team is driven by both roles:

Visionary

sets direction and culture
champions EOS
drives clarity and energy

Integrator

ensures execution
manages the leadership team
maintains accountability and structure

Together, they create:

balance
alignment
forward momentum

What great leadership teams actually do differently

High-performing teams consistently:

Address issues openly (no politicking)
Commit to decisions as a unified front
Stay focused on organizational outcomes
Embrace change instead of resisting it
Use EOS tools as intended—not selectively

And most importantly:

They do the hard work of staying aligned.

Practical takeaways for leadership team members

If you want to elevate your leadership team immediately:

1. Read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team together
Build a shared understanding of trust and accountability.

2. Prioritize Team 1 over Team 2
Make decisions for the business, not your department.

3. Bring one uncomfortable issue every meeting
Avoiding tension slows growth.

4. Stay curious, not defensive
Focus on solving the issue—not protecting your perspective.

5. Eliminate politicking
Once a decision is made, move forward together.

6. Commit to “one and done”
Alignment happens in the room—not after it.

Final takeaway: great companies are built at the leadership level

Most organizations don’t struggle because of strategy.

They struggle because:

leadership teams aren’t aligned
trust is low
accountability is inconsistent

EOS provides the tools.

But the real work is this:

Building a leadership team that is both healthy and smart.

Because when that team works…

Everything else gets easier.

Marketing with EOS with a Marketing Operating System

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 13:54:02 GMT

Show Notes: Inside the 90™ Episode #25

Sales and marketing misalignment is one of the most common—and expensive—problems in growing companies.

Sales is chasing revenue.

Marketing is running campaigns.

And somewhere in between… momentum breaks.

This episode breaks down how to fix that using EOS—and why the solution isn’t just better marketing.

It’s alignment, clarity, and a system.

Revenue is not the vision—it's the byproduct

Every organization has a growth number.

But here’s the shift:

Revenue is not the vision. It’s the result of a clearly defined vision.

That changes everything.

Because now:

sales isn’t just closing deals
marketing isn’t just generating leads

They’re both working toward the same outcome:

a defined future
a shared strategy
a unified plan

The root problem: sales and marketing operate on different timelines

Sales tends to be:

short-term
reactive
driven by “what worked last time”

Marketing should be:

long-term
strategic
focused on positioning and messaging

This creates tension.

Sales says:

“We need leads now.”

Marketing says:

“We need to build the brand.”

Both are right.

But without alignment, both fail.

The “authority of the recent” trap

There’s a pattern most organizations fall into:

Sales closes a deal →
Repeats what worked →
Cuts everything else →
Loses the bigger picture

This is called the authority of the recent .

And over time, it leads to:

inconsistent messaging
broken processes
declining effectiveness

EOS fixes this by introducing:

structure
priorities
shared accountability

Why EOS creates real alignment

EOS introduces two critical things:

1. A shared scorecard

Both teams align around:

revenue goals
leading indicators
performance metrics

2. A shared planning process

Through the VTO and quarterly cadence:

sales and marketing define success together
priorities are clear
trade-offs are intentional

Now marketing isn’t reacting.

It’s supporting a plan.

The missing piece: a marketing operating system

Even with EOS, many companies struggle because marketing doesn’t have its own system.

That’s where a marketing operating system comes in.

It connects:

the VTO
quarterly rocks
daily marketing execution

And answers one key question:

“What should marketing be doing right now to support the business?”

The first 90 days: where alignment actually starts

Most agencies jump straight into execution.

That’s a mistake.

Because the real problem is usually:

unclear messaging
weak positioning
lack of internal alignment

Instead, the process starts with deep insights :

understanding the business
identifying differentiation
clarifying challenges and opportunities

At the same time:

work still gets done
momentum still builds

This balance is critical:

thinking + doing

From insights to strategy: building the roadmap

After the first 90 days, the work shifts:

Define 3-year success for sales + marketing
Align on 1-year goals
Identify 3–5 key strategies
Execute in 90-day cycles

This creates a simple, powerful framework:

clear direction
focused priorities
consistent execution

And most importantly:

Everything ties back to the business goals.

Why prioritization requires “currency”

One of the biggest hidden issues inside organizations:

Marketing has no “currency.”

Meaning:

everyone asks for things
nothing gets prioritized
marketing becomes reactive

When you introduce:

budgets
capacity constraints
EOS priorities

Now decisions get clearer:

what matters most
what gets done now
what gets deferred

Brand vs. marketing: understanding the difference

This is where most teams get confused.

Marketing = activity

campaigns
tactics
execution
constantly changing

Brand = interaction

how people experience your company
how employees show up
how customers perceive value

Brand is the reason someone chooses you.

Marketing simply delivers that message.

Why brand starts inside the business

Strong brands aren’t built externally.

They’re built internally through:

core values
vision
culture
clarity

If employees believe it:

customers will feel it

This is why EOS and brand work so well together:

EOS defines the essence
marketing translates it into language

The power of long-term thinking

Most companies think about marketing in quarters.

Great companies think in decades.

The goal:

build messaging that lasts
create consistency over time
align with the 10-year vision

Because when messaging changes constantly:

trust erodes
clarity disappears
results suffer

Clarity + cadence = momentum

Two things drive successful execution:

Clarity

clear vision
clear messaging
clear priorities

Cadence

regular communication
consistent updates
repeated messaging

And here’s the truth:

If you feel like you’re repeating yourself too much…

You’re probably doing it right.

Why repetition is a leadership skill

Great leaders don’t constantly reinvent messaging.

They:

repeat the vision
reinforce priorities
stay consistent

Because:

new people are always joining
understanding takes time
clarity compounds

The outcome: a mature marketing organization

When this system works, companies gain:

aligned sales and marketing teams
clear messaging and positioning
consistent execution
stronger internal trust
better prioritization

And ultimately:

Momentum.

Practical takeaways

If you’re trying to improve sales and marketing alignment:

1. Start with the VTO
Make sure both teams are aligned on vision and goals.

2. Build a marketing system—not just campaigns
Tie execution to strategy and priorities.

3. Separate brand from marketing
Define your message before promoting it.

4. Commit to 90-day cycles
Create focus and reduce distractions.

5. Prioritize ruthlessly
Not everything can be done at once.

6. Communicate constantly
Clarity requires repetition.

Final takeaway

Most companies don’t have a marketing problem.

They have an alignment problem.

When:

sales and marketing share a vision
priorities are clear
messaging is consistent

Everything starts working together.

And that’s when growth becomes predictable.

How Do I Know If My B2B Marketing Strategies Are Working?

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 16:55:05 GMT

It’s a common, and very important, question: How do I know if my B2B marketing campaign is working? How do I optimize it? And how can I prove ROI on my B2B marketing strategies?

If you're asking these questions, you're already ahead of the curve. You're not just running campaigns, you’re trying to understand what’s working, what’s not, and how to improve your B2B lead generation strategy in a way that supports real business outcomes.

Why B2B Measurement Is So Complex

The B2B buyer journey is longer, more complex, and rarely linear. Unlike B2C, where one or two interactions may lead to a purchase, B2B decisions involve multiple stakeholders, extended timelines, and many different touchpoints before a deal closes. That’s why the typical last-click attribution model doesn’t provide a full picture.

Instead, your B2B marketing strategy needs to account for:

Multiple channels working together over time
Engagement that happens long before a sales conversation
Influence at both the contact and account levels

Build for Multi-Touch Attribution

An effective B2B lead generation strategy connects the dots between all the interactions a prospect has with your brand: from ad impressions to content downloads to event attendance.

You should be tracking:

Website visits and content engagement
Webinar and event participation
Video views and social media interactions
Form fills, trial sign-ups, demo requests, and RFP submissions

These touchpoints contribute to moving prospects further down the funnel, even if they don’t immediately result in a closed sale. Measuring the full customer journey helps you understand how your marketing supports sales and where to invest more.

Why ABM (Account-Based Marketing) Matters

As deal size increases, it becomes even more important to measure at the account level, not just by individual contacts. Most high-value B2B decisions involve a buying committee, not just one lead. That’s why your B2B marketing strategy should align with ABM principles when targeting enterprise or complex sales environments.

At Wonder, we emphasize account-level tracking to evaluate how well your campaigns are engaging key decision-makers and influencers within the same organization.

What a Strong Measurement Strategy Includes

To know whether your B2B marketing strategies are working, your approach to measurement should include:

A multi-touch attribution model that reflects the full buyer journey
Integration between your CRM and marketing platforms for clean, centralized data
A custom dashboard that provides visibility into both contact-level and account-level engagement
KPIs that reflect influence, not just conversions (pipeline velocity, deal engagement, sales alignment)

When built correctly, this infrastructure doesn’t just show what’s working. It shows how marketing supports sales, where to optimize, and where to scale.

From Metrics to Meaningful Insight

There’s no single metric that can tell you whether your B2B marketing is successful. But when you combine multi-touch attribution, CRM integration, and account-level insight, you gain a clear and actionable view of what is driving results.

If you're ready to turn your data into a decision-making advantage, Wonder can help. Let’s talk about how to measure what matters and make your B2B marketing strategy work harder for your business.

How to Start B2B Marketing: The First 30 Days of a B2B Marketing Campaign

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 16:45:40 GMT

Starting a B2B marketing program can feel overwhelming. With so many tactics and platforms to choose from, knowing where to begin is often the hardest part. From selecting the right channels to aligning with sales, the early stages can make or break your campaign. That's where Wonder comes in. We help businesses get up and running in market quickly and effectively, often within the first 30 days.

Reaching the Right Decision-Makers

In B2B marketing, you're rarely selling to just one person. Buying decisions typically involve multiple stakeholders across departments like finance, operations, IT, and executive leadership. To succeed, you need to understand who influences the purchase and who signs off on it. Start by defining your Total Addressable Market (TAM) and Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), then develop messaging for each relevant role within your target accounts.

Ask yourself:

Who are the key stakeholders we need to reach?
What pain points or priorities matter most to each role?
How do they interact in the decision-making process?

Creating Compelling, Differentiated Messaging

In crowded B2B markets, it's not enough to explain what your product does—you have to clearly communicate why it matters. Many campaigns default to generic claims or technical jargon, which makes it hard for buyers to see what truly sets a company apart. Your messaging should reflect your brand, speak directly to your audience’s goals, and clearly convey the return on investment you deliver.

Focus on:

Business outcomes over features
Clarity and brevity
Positioning that highlights what makes your solution unique

Generating High-Quality Leads

Not all leads are created equal. In B2B, one form-fill rarely leads to a closed deal. The goal is to generate leads that reflect real buying intent and are aligned with your ICP. Too often, marketers optimize for volume over quality, leading to wasted budget and sales frustration. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) can help you engage entire buying groups, not just individuals, and support sales through a longer, more complex journey.

Key components of effective lead generation:

Precise audience targeting and segmentation
Campaigns that engage multiple roles within the same organization
Close collaboration with sales to define and refine lead criteria

Proving ROI and Attribution

With long sales cycles and multiple touchpoints, it’s hard to draw a straight line from a campaign to closed revenue. That’s why it’s important to build attribution into your strategy from the beginning. Multi-touch attribution models, CRM integration, and consistent tracking allow you to understand what's working and where to invest more.

To measure success:

Set up conversion tracking and pipeline influence reporting early
Align campaign goals with sales metrics
Communicate results in terms leadership cares about: revenue and pipeline growth

Aligning Marketing and Sales

Marketing and sales must operate as one team. Without alignment on messaging, lead handoff, and follow-up strategy, even the best campaigns can fall short. Define clear processes for how leads are shared, scored, and nurtured. Share KPIs and hold regular check-ins to ensure ongoing collaboration.

Remember, generating a lead is just the beginning. Marketing should continue to support sales through every stage of the deal cycle, reinforcing value and driving momentum toward close.

Let’s Launch Your First B2B Marketing Campaign

Wonder helps you move from strategy to execution in your first 30 days. Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to scale an existing effort, we guide you through each step of building a high-performing B2B marketing program.

There's Power in Clarity.

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:40:14 GMT

Distractions are everywhere.

Focus is hard.

Adam Landrum taught me the importance of Clarity Breaks.

Let’s just call it like it is. We live in the Age of Distraction. Slack messages. Email threads. Meetings about meetings. Threads to read to know if you were supposed to read them. It’s easy to mistake movement for progress. But the real breakthroughs? The real clarity, traction, and transformation? They come when you carve out time for deep, uninterrupted work.

That’s where the magic of a clarity comes in.

That’s the power of a Clarity Break.

What Is a Clarity Break?

In the language of EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), a Clarity Break is time you intentionally schedule to step away from the day-to-day and think. Not react. Not multitask. Just think.

No meetings.

No inbox.

No distractions.

You block the time. You find a quiet space. You bring a notebook. And you give yourself permission to wrestle with the real questions:

What’s working?
What’s not?
Where are we stuck?
What needs to change?

You don't need to have an agenda. You just need space.

Why It Works

Clarity Breaks work because they shift your mind from urgent to important. You’re not trying to check something off a list. You’re trying to understand what belongs on the list in the first place.

It’s like cleaning your windshield after driving through a rainstorm. Same road. Different view.

In the past few years, I’ve built the discipline of taking regular Clarity Breaks. Some short. Some long. And every time I do, I walk away with more clarity, stronger decisions, and renewed energy to lead.

Problems I’ve Solved in Clarity Breaks

This isn’t theory for me. These are just a few of the things I’ve worked through. Sometimes in a coffee shop, sometimes in my home office, sometimes in a cabin on a mountain where I can see for miles. Personally, the mountains are simply good for my soul.

Proven Processes

EOS teaches us to document the way we work. But that doesn’t happen in the chaos of back-to-back meetings. In a Clarity Break, I’ve outlined and refined the processes that drive consistency in our delivery at Wonder.

Core Processes

Big decisions about how we operate need space. And space is what Clarity Breaks create. I’ve mapped the foundational ways we serve clients with my notecards and flow spread across the floor.

Value Propositions

The best messaging doesn’t come from brainstorming with 10 people in a room. It comes from thinking deeply about what your ideal client actually values. That happens in quiet. In stillness. In reflecting on the true needs of others.

Offers Too Good to Refuse

The best offers come from clarity, not complexity. When I stop trying to be clever and get laser-focused on solving a real problem in a simple way, that's when irresistible offers show up.

Sales Commission Structure

Even tactical, structural issues, like how to design a comp plan that drives the right behavior, have found their way to clarity in the space of my Clarity Break.

Get clear. Clear the calendar, that is.

The Clarity Break is one of the simplest, most overlooked tools in EOS — and one of the most powerful. It’s also deeply personal. No one schedules it for you. No one demands it. But if you make the time, protect the space, and show up ready to think, you will find what’s next.

If you're running a business and haven't created a rhythm with Clarity Breaks, this is your nudge. Start small. Block an hour. Bring a notebook. Leave the laptop.

If you're not running on EOS, but the idea of creating intentional space to think resonates, give it a try. The best leaders think. And the best thinking happens when you finally stop doing everything else for everyone else.

If I Ever Write a B2B Marketing Book, It Will Be Called The Myth of Marketing Automation.

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:33:19 GMT

As a marketing leader, I’ve had the privilege of guiding teams, building brands, and helping visionary companies grow. Over the years, I’ve learned lessons that no platform, playbook, or tech stack could teach me. If I could leave B2B marketers with just one big idea, it would be this:

Never automate anything you're not already doing well manually.

The world will tell you otherwise. The market will scream for speed. You’ll see flashy dashboards, AI integrations, and tools that promise more scale, more reach, more results. It will be tempting to believe that automation is the shortcut to success.

But it's not.

In my experience, the best marketing outcomes come from a strong foundation of fundamentals: clarity, consistency, discipline, and a deep understanding of your customer. Those are things you earn over time, by doing the work yourself, with your team, over and over. Getting those reps in to build those muscles up.

Before automation can be valuable, it must be grounded in something proven. Otherwise, you're just automating confusion. Many leaders desire to be automated more than they desire to be truly excellent at what they’re automating. They skip the hard part. And the results show it.

If you find yourself leading others in sales and marketing, I hope you’ll find these tips valuable:

Your tools are only as good as your thinking. Master the fundamentals before chasing features.
Spend time in the trenches. The manual version of your marketing will teach you everything automation cannot.
Build good habits before you build bad systems. Repeatable processes are the true foundation of scale.
Clarity beats complexity. Don't confuse sophistication with strategy.
Walk before you run. And walk with purpose.
Smart work takes time.

So wherever you go and whatever you build, fight for strategy before shortcuts. Fight for simplicity before sophistication. And always fly the plane before throwing it on autopilot.

Because the real myth isn’t automation itself.

It’s believing it can replace the work that only wisdom, clarity, and time can build.

That’s my Myth of Marketing Automation.

Wonder Welcomes Andy Windham as VP, Account Service to Lead Client Brand and Marketing Strategy

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 02:24:01 GMT

Greenville, S.C. — July 1, 2025 — Wonder, a Greenville, SC-based advertising, marketing and media agency, today announced that veteran marketing and agency leader Andy Windham has joined the firm as Vice President of Account Service, where he will lead client brand and marketing strategy across the agency’s growing portfolio of B2B, real estate, and ecommerce clients.

Windham brings more than 30 years of agency and marketing leadership experience to Wonder. In his new role, he will oversee client service and strategic direction for key accounts, including YourSix, AFL, and IncWorx, as well as ecommerce brands such as Woody Brand Knives.

Windham began his career in Charlotte and Memphis, building a reputation for strong client leadership and strategic brand development before relocating to Greenville in 2013, where he eventually served as President of Crawford. Throughout his career, he has developed deep expertise in hospitality and tourism marketing, including overseeing the Tennessee state tourism account.

“Andy’s experience and leadership elevate everything we’re building at Wonder,” said Jami Mullikin, Founder and Creative Director of Wonder. “His 30 years of agency and client leadership bring an incredible level of strategic depth for our clients. Adding Andy to the team strengthens how we guide brands and marketing strategy while allowing me to spend more time focused on creative leadership and innovation for our clients and the agency.”

“His 30 years of agency and client leadership bring an incredible level of strategic depth for our clients. Adding Andy to the team strengthens how we guide brands and marketing strategy while allowing me to spend more time focused on creative leadership and innovation for our clients and the agency." - JAMI MULLIKIN

Windham holds a Master’s degree in Advertising from the University of Florida and continues to stay closely connected to the program as a member of the UF CJC Department of Advertising Advisory Council.

At Wonder, Windham will focus on aligning brand strategy, marketing performance, and client service as the agency continues expanding its work with both B2B organizations and growing consumer brands.

About Wonder

Wonder is a Greenville, South Carolina–based marketing, media, and technology company that helps visionary leaders activate their brands and accelerate growth. The firm combines brand strategy, marketing, media, and automation technologies to help organizations turn bold ideas into clear positioning and measurable momentum. Wonder is the creator of the Next90™ Marketing Operating System, a disciplined framework that helps organizations align strategy, marketing execution, and performance in focused 90-day cycles. The agency partners with leading platforms including HubSpot, Apollo AI, and Factors AI to help B2B and growth-focused brands connect brand, marketing, and revenue.

Wonder Selects Factors AI to Power Account-Based Marketing and Demand Generation

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 18:37:51 GMT

Greenville, S.C. — June 30, 2025 — Wonder, a Greenville-based marketing, media, and technology company, announced it has selected Factors AI as its strategic platform partner for account-based marketing (ABM) and demand generation, expanding the agency’s ability to help B2B clients identify, target, and engage high-value accounts.

The partnership allows Wonder to bring advanced account intelligence and demand generation capabilities to small and mid-sized organizations—capabilities that historically have only been accessible to large enterprise marketing teams.

The decision followed an extensive evaluation led by Mark Henderson, Vice President of Media at Wonder, who conducted in-depth research and due diligence to identify a platform that could deliver enterprise-level ABM strategy without the complexity and cost traditionally associated with the category.

“For years, many of the leading ABM platforms like Demandbase or RollWorks were built primarily for large enterprise organizations,” said Henderson. “Factors AI stood out because it brings sophisticated account intelligence and demand insights into a platform that is actually accessible for small and mid-sized marketing teams.”

Henderson brings more than 30 years of media and marketing experience to the role, having led media strategy and campaigns for major brands including Disney, Peterbilt, and Capital One throughout his career.

At Wonder, Factors AI will support account-based marketing programs, demand generation strategy, and marketing performance insights for B2B clients, helping identify buying signals, prioritize target accounts, and align marketing activity with sales opportunity development.

About Wonder

“This partnership is another example of how we combine strategy, creative, media, and modern marketing technology,” said Jami Mullikin, Founder and Creative Director of Wonder. “Mark has incredibly high standards when it comes to the platforms we bring into our clients’ marketing ecosystem. His decision to partner with Factors AI reflects both the strength of their technology and the opportunity it creates for growing brands.”

The addition of Factors AI strengthens Wonder’s ability to help B2B organizations implement modern demand generation strategies that connect brand, marketing, and revenue performance.

Meant to B2B: Why We’re Wired for Business-to-Business Marketing

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 16:30:25 GMT

If you're leading marketing inside a business-to-business (B2B) company, chances are you're navigating more complexity than most people realize.

You’re building brand and pipeline. You’re enabling sales and educating the market. You’re aligning product, service, and delivery around a story that has to hold up across industries, personas, and platforms. And you’re doing it all inside a long, relationship-driven sales cycle that takes time, buy-in, and trust.

This isn’t about selling sneakers or soda on TikTok. You’re selling something that’s often expensive, technical, and hard to understand without a conversation. That’s what makes B2B different.

And that’s exactly why we love it.

B2B Marketing isn't a category—it's a mindset

It’s about thinking long. Playing smart. Supporting relationships that close deals over quarters, not clicks. You’re not trying to win attention. You’re trying to win trust. And the tools it takes to do that look a little different.

• You need content that educates and converts

• Systems that guide and qualify

• Campaigns that connect to real pipeline

• A brand that actually means something—internally and externally

It also means knowing your real opportunity isn’t always new leads. Some of your best prospects are your current customers. They already trust you. They’re already using your product or service. And they’re likely the fastest path to expansion—if you keep them informed, supported, and engaged.

That’s why we believe customer marketing should be part of every B2B strategy. When your customers understand where your business is going, your prospects take notice too.

And then there's the B2B Brand Story

Most B2B companies are selling a portfolio. Matrixed products. Services layered by verticals. Different value props for different buyers. And without a clear brand platform to pull it all together, it can feel like you’re marketing in fragments.

Your sales team starts customizing the story. Your partner team starts rewriting it. And the clarity you need to scale starts to fade.

Brand isn’t fluff. In B2B, brand is the reason to choose. It’s what makes you distinct when your prospects are choosing between five vendors who all sound the same.

So what do you need in a B2B Marketing Agency?

You need a B2B marketing agency, and system, that are built for the way your business actually operates. One that:

• Honors the relationship at the center of every sale

• Supports the pipeline, not just the top of the funnel

• Makes room for complexity, but builds clarity anyway

• Treats your customers like your next big deal

That’s the work we care about.

We built Wonder to serve companies who live in the world of B2B, high stakes, and long cycles. We’ve been in the channels. We’ve worked in the systems. We’ve sat at the table where marketing has to prove it’s more than a cost center.

Our Next 90™ Marketing Operating System exists to give B2B leaders a framework that creates focus and results inside the 90-day rhythm of EOS®. It’s not about making things flashy. It’s about making them work.

If you’re living in the B2B world, we’re right there with you.

Because we weren’t just built for this.

We were meant to B2B.

How Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Creates Stronger B2B Sales Pipelines

Sat, 10 May 2025 16:24:12 GMT

In B2B sales, the traditional approach has been clear-cut: marketing drives awareness and generates leads, while sales takes those leads and closes deals. But the reality is more complex. Buyers don’t move through a predictable funnel, and purchase decisions aren’t made in isolation.

This is where Account-Based Marketing (ABM) changes the game. Rather than focusing on individual leads, ABM aligns sales and marketing around target accounts—companies that fit the ideal customer profile (ICP). It’s a dynamic, data-driven approach that helps teams work together to engage prospects throughout their entire buying journey.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Not a New Idea, But a Better Execution

The concept of ABM has been around for years—previously known as “Key Account Marketing.” What’s different today is the power of digital data and technology.

With a combination of first-party and third-party data, advanced targeting, and personalized messaging, ABM enables teams to:

Identify the right accounts with precision
Engage the full buying team within each organization
Deliver the right message at the right time based on where each prospect is in their decision-making process

By focusing marketing efforts on accounts that sales has already prioritized, ABM ensures that resources are spent on the highest-value opportunities.

Why ABM Works Better for B2B Sales

1. B2B Buying Decisions Are Made by Committees

Very few B2B deals are decided by a single person. Instead, purchase decisions often involve 8 to 13 stakeholders across different roles:

Initiators - those who start the buying process
Researchers - team members gathering vendor options
Influencers - stakeholders pushing for features they favor
Decision-makers - leaders signing off on the purchase

Traditional marketing often targets just one individual, but ABM engages the full buying committee, ensuring the right people receive relevant content and messaging throughout their journey.

2. ABM Uses Data and Technology to Deliver Meaningful Engagement

One of ABM’s biggest advantages is its ability to meet buyers where they are—not just with broad awareness campaigns, but with targeted content tailored to their stage in the buying process.

Using marketing automation, CRM data, and intent-based signals, ABM delivers messaging that speaks to the unique priorities of each stakeholder—whether they’re just starting research or narrowing down vendors.

The result? Higher engagement, shorter sales cycles, and stronger conversion rates.

Account-Based Marketing: A Smarter Way to Drive B2B Growth

ABM isn’t about generating more leads—it’s about generating the right opportunities. By aligning sales and marketing around a focused list of high-value accounts, engaging full buying teams, and leveraging data-driven insights, ABM helps B2B companies win more deals with the right customers.

If you’re ready to refine your sales and marketing strategy with ABM, let’s start the conversation. Let’s talk.

Are We a Brand or a Marketing Agency?

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 16:07:10 GMT

At Wonder, we get this question a lot: Are you a brand agency or a marketing agency?

The answer is: we are a Greenville, SC-based strategy, marketing, and media firm.

We work with clients who value long-term marketing relationships. That means we meet you where you are—whether that’s building a marketing engine for growth or refining the foundation of your brand.

Brand vs. Marketing: Understanding the Difference

Brand strategy is a once-in-a-decade initiative. It’s a deep, foundational effort that defines your company's identity, positioning, and long-term differentiation. It’s essential, but it’s not something you redo every year.

Marketing, on the other hand, is an ongoing activity. It’s how your brand interacts with the world daily—through campaigns, content, lead generation, and customer experiences. Without a clear marketing strategy, even the strongest brands can struggle to connect with their audience effectively.

The Next 90™ Marketing Operating System

We focus on marketing strategy and execution using our proprietary Next 90™ Marketing Operating System . This system helps define what “good” looks like for your marketing three years from now, lays out a one-year plan with our Marketing Activation Plan™ , and enables activation with 90-day Priorities .

The Next 90™: Setting the Foundation

When we begin working with a client, we start with The First 90™ . This is our initial engagement to assess your marketing needs. If we uncover a misalignment in your internal or external brand perception, we address that first—because without brand clarity, marketing efforts will lack effectiveness.

Marketing is an Activity, Brand is an Interaction

Marketing touches every aspect of your business, from sales to customer experience. That’s why we define a Brand Platform—a strategic framework ensuring your brand is consistently communicated across all marketing interactions.

We activate brands through strategy, marketing, and media, but our media efforts focus specifically on lead generation and demand generation for B2B businesses.

Choosing a Brand Agency: What to Look For

If you're hiring a brand agency, ensure they bring more than just a logo and color palette to the table. Ask yourself:

• Have they led brand strategy for billion-dollar B2B companies?

• Do they understand how to build a brand from the inside out?

• Can they prove their work goes beyond aesthetics and into meaningful business impact?

At Wonder, we don’t believe in branding for branding’s sake. We believe in strategy-first marketing that drives measurable growth. If brand strategy is essential for your success, we’ll make it a priority. If not, we focus on building and activating a marketing strategy that delivers real results.

So, are we a brand agency or a marketing agency? We’re both—when needed. But at our core, we are a strategy, marketing, and media firm dedicated to helping visionary B2B brands grow.

Not sure if you need a brand agency? Take our free Brand Health Assessment to find out where your brand stands and whether a strategic refresh could benefit your marketing efforts.

A Simple Way to Assess Your Brand Health

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

Every interaction—whether with your people, product, or service—is a brand interaction. The best brands don’t just focus on external marketing; they build internal alignment first, ensuring that their teams are unified in purpose, messaging, and customer experience. A brand that is strong from the inside out creates clarity, trust, and builds long-term value.

That’s why it’s critical to regularly assess your team’s internal alignment—not just for culture, but for customer success as well. If leadership, sales, and marketing aren’t fully aligned on who you serve, what sets you apart, and why customers choose you, your brand can become fragmented and ineffective.

A Simple Way to Measure Alignment

At Wonder, we’ve developed a proprietary Brand Health Assessment—a structured, measurable way to evaluate how well your brand aligns across leadership, employees, and customers.

The assessment consists of 20 key questions that evaluate critical areas such as:

• Leadership & Alignment – Is your purpose clear? Are your priorities in order?

• Target Market & Messaging – Does your team understand your right-fit customer? Are your differentiators clearly communicated?

• Brand Perception – Does your brand accurately reflect who you are and why customers choose you?

• Consistency & Relevance – Are your marketing materials consistent? Is your brand recognizable and relevant?

To get a comprehensive view, we recommend at least eight participants, but ideally, 40 or more employees and leaders from different areas of your organization. Each question is scored on a 1-5 scale, creating a Brand Health Index ranging from 0 to 100.

From Insight to Action

Once responses are collected, we:

• Calculate an overall Brand Health Index Score

• Identify the top strengths (the highest-scoring areas)

• Pinpoint key opportunities (the lowest-scoring areas)

This provides a clear, measurable benchmark that you can assess annually to track brand alignment and improvement over time.

Take the Free Brand Health Assesssment

Your brand’s success starts with alignment. Take our free Brand Health Assessment today and rally your team around a shared vision, voice, and purpose.

Wonder Welcomes Hannah Sullivan as Digital Designer

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:21:33 GMT

Greenville, S.C. — February 3, 2025 — Wonder, a Greenville-based marketing, media, and technology company, announced that Hannah Sullivan has joined the firm as Digital Designer, strengthening the agency’s growing creative and digital capabilities.

Prior to joining Wonder, Sullivan was the Founder of Seeded Strategies, a Greenville-based brand and marketing agency where she worked with businesses to develop brand identities and marketing strategies. Her background combines brand thinking with strong digital design, helping companies translate strategy into modern visual and digital website experiences.

At Wonder, Sullivan will contribute to brand development, digital design, and marketing execution across the agency’s portfolio of B2B and growth-focused clients.

Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the University of South Carolina.

“Hannah came highly recommended, and when we met I immediately saw the passion she has for advertising and design. She brings a level of personal standards and taste that really stands out. That kind of care for the craft of design makes a real difference for our clients and for the work we produce.”

- JAMI MULLIKIN, FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF WONDER

About Wonder

Why We Created the Next 90™ Marketing Operating System

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

In most organizations, marketing teams are expected to do a lot with very little. They’re often under-resourced, understaffed, and stretched thin. In these situations, every person, every penny, and every strategic priority must be planned wisely. But how do we ensure that the work we’re doing today builds momentum for desired results 18-36 months from now?

At Wonder, we believe that brands are built from the inside out. If we want to market effectively tomorrow, we must first have absolute clarity on who we are today.

Building from the Core

The foundation of any strong brand starts with Core Values. These values define who we are, how we operate, and what we stand for. Once we’re clear on that, we can establish our Core Focus—a concept from EOS® (Entrepreneurial Operating System®) that helps businesses define their niche and target market.

With our values, purpose, and vision in place, we can build out the critical elements of our brand:

Brand Pillars – What makes us different and why our audience should care.
Brand Personality – How we communicate and our voice and tone.
Brand Promise – The commitment of value we make to our customers.

This foundation is what we call the Brand Platform, and it gives us the clarity we need to move forward strategically.

Marketing with a Clear Vision

Once we’ve established our brand foundation, we can start looking ahead:

5-10 Year Vision – Where is the organization (brand) headed long-term?
3-Year Picture – What does success look like in the mid-term?
1-Year Marketing Activation Plan – A focused, strategic approach to marketing for the next 12 months.

The Marketing Activation Plan is where strategy meets execution. It aligns 4-6 key objectives with 4-6 strategic initiatives, ensuring that marketing is leveraging its resources—time, talent, and budget—in the smartest way possible. This plan is structured over 12 months with clear quarterly priorities, keeping the team focused and accountable.

The Next 90™ Marketing Operating System: A Smarter, Healthier Way to Market for the Short and Longterm

Marketing isn’t about one-off campaigns or disconnected initiatives. It’s about continuous, focused action. That’s why we built the Next 90™ marketing operating system.

Our process starts with the First 90™, where we onboard clients by balancing immediate marketing activities with long-term strategic planning. At the end of this phase, our clients receive a One-Year Marketing Activation Plan and a set of Next 90™ priorities—a clear roadmap of projects and initiatives to drive growth one quarter at-a-time.

By aligning marketing with long-term vision and mid-term sales objectives, we ensure that every move we make today builds the future we want tomorrow.

The result? Smart, strategic marketing that makes a lasting impact—with sales and marketing working together toward the same end goal.

Want to learn how the Next 90™ can help your business? Let’s talk.

How Your Brand Can Change Your Culture for the Better

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 15:47:01 GMT

Changing an organization’s culture is no small task. It requires commitment, clarity, and visible proof of change. Whether you’re looking to turn around a struggling business or simply realign your team with a stronger sense of purpose, two key levers— rebranding and leadership change —can catalyze meaningful cultural transformation.

For organizations running on EOS®, culture change aligns with the foundational values of Vision , Traction , and Healthy . Vision provides clarity on where you’re going and why it matters, Traction ensures you take consistent action to move forward, and Healthy focuses on building a cohesive team and culture. Together, these values set the stage for a thriving organization.

Here’s how rebranding and leadership change can help reshape your culture while staying aligned with these EOS principles.

Rebrand: A Visible Recommitment to Values

A rebrand isn’t just a new logo or website—it’s a visible recommitment to your values. It’s a statement to employees, customers, and stakeholders that the organization is evolving, and it provides clear evidence of that change.

But here’s the key: a rebrand must be authentic. If it’s simply a cosmetic update with no deeper alignment to the organization’s values, it will fall flat. Successful rebrands are built from the inside out, starting with a reassessment of your purpose, core values, and vision.

At its best, a rebrand embodies the EOS concept of Vision : aligning everyone in your organization around a shared understanding of where you’re going and how you’ll get there. A rebrand signals:

A recommitment to what matters most to your organization.
Alignment between your internal culture and external messaging.
A clear direction for where you’re headed and why it matters.

Remember, marketing is an activity, but brand is an interaction. While marketing messages can evolve with trends and market demands, your brand is grounded in the values and culture that define your organization. An effective brand strategy should provide 10+ years of runway toward a clearly defined vision, ensuring consistency and building trust over time.

Leadership Change: Leadership Committed to Change

In any organization, culture starts at the top. When a new leader steps in—whether it’s a Visionary or Integrator in an EOS® company or a new President or CEO in a non-EOS organization—it represents a tangible commitment to change.

A leadership change is one of the most visible signals that an organization is serious about transforming its culture. But for it to work, the new leader must embody the values and vision that the organization is striving for. Their actions, decisions, and communication style set the tone for the rest of the team.

Here’s why leadership change works:

It resets expectations. A new leader often brings a fresh perspective and an opportunity to realign the team.
It inspires confidence. Employees, customers, and stakeholders see visible proof that the organization is committed to improvement.
It reinforces accountability. New leadership often comes with new goals, priorities, and a recommitment to delivering on the organization’s promises.

Leadership changes are deeply tied to the EOS value of Traction , as they create momentum and accountability for executing on your vision. By ensuring the new leader is aligned with your values and vision, you can build a stronger, more cohesive culture.

Values-Driven Culture: The Key to a Healthy Organization

At the heart of both rebranding and leadership change is a commitment to values. In EOS, Healthy is about fostering a culture of trust, transparency, and collaboration. A healthy culture ensures that your team isn’t just aligned on goals—they’re engaged and thriving as they work toward them.

While marketing value propositions may ebb and flow with the market, your brand should be driven by values that rarely change. These values provide the compass for decision-making, hiring, and customer engagement, ensuring that your culture evolves in a way that stays true to who you are.

When combined with a clear vision and effective brand strategy, this values-driven approach gives your organization the consistency and clarity needed to thrive to achieve even bigger, hairier, audacious goals.

Does Your Culture Need to Change?

If your culture needs a shift, maybe it’s time to consider a rebrand. At Wonder, we specialize in helping organizations activate their brand from the inside out—connecting their purpose, values, and vision to their culture and customer experience.

Crafting Authentic Core Values for Your Brand

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 15:23:00 GMT

Core values are not just words on a wall—they’re the foundation of your organization’s identity, culture, and brand. When crafted thoughtfully, they guide decision-making, shape company culture, and attract the right people to the right seats on your team. But creating authentic core values that truly resonate with your team and brand takes intention, collaboration, and time.

At Wonder, we’ve embraced this process ourselves, and our Core Values— Own It, Be Curious, Be Generous, Be Courageous, and Outshine —are woven into everything we do. We believe that your core values shouldn’t just sound good; they need to reflect who you are at your best, especially when tested.

Here’s how to craft core values that are authentic, actionable, and enduring.

Core Values Can’t Be Pushed Too Far

If a value feels like a stretch, it’s not truly core to your business. Authentic core values already exist within your organization. They’re part of your DNA—they just need to be uncovered and articulated. Patrick Lencioni’s perspective on core values is clear: they can’t be pushed too far. That’s why honesty and integrity, while important, are often considered table stakes. No one would say, “I don’t work with Jim because he’s too honest,” or, “I can’t work with Jane because she has too much integrity.” These values are universally accepted because they can’t be pushed too far no matter how hard you try.

For our team at Wonder, the same principle applies. You can’t be too curious, too generous, or too courageous. You can’t own it too much, or outshine too often. These values are authentic to us and pass the “push too far” test. Core values like these are evergreen—they don’t change often. While they may evolve or become more refined over time, they stand the test of challenges and guide your team through both good times and bad.

If your core values aren’t durable under pressure, they aren’t your core values.

Workshop Your Core Values with Your Team

The best core values are born out of collaboration - but not consensus. One effective way to uncover them is through a workshop with your leadership team. Here’s a step-by-step approach we recommend:

List Behaviors You Truly Despise
Hand out notecards and ask each leader to write down 6+ behaviors they absolutely despise—things they never want to see in your organization. These could be traits like “lack of accountability,” “selfishness,” or “closed-mindedness.”
Round Robin the List
Go around the room and have each person share their list, adding them all to a whiteboard. The goal is to capture the collective team’s frustrations and build a clear picture of what doesn’t align with your organization.
Map the Opposite
For each despised behavior, ask the team to identify 2–3 positive behaviors that represent the opposite of what they dislike. For example, if you despise “lack of accountability,” the opposite might be “taking ownership.”
Group Behaviors into Categories
Next, categorize the positive behaviors into 3 groups. Force-fit them if you must, but allow for 4 or 5 groups if necessary. Each group should represent a broader theme that captures the essence of those behaviors.
Name Your Core Values
Give each group a label—a single word or short phrase that sums up its essence. These are your draft core values. Remember Andrew Gissal’ s advice: people can remember the Three Stooges, not the seven dwarfs . Aim for 4–5 core values max.
Live in the Essence
Leave the room with your core values in their simplest, raw essence. Live with them for 90 days and test them against real challenges. Do they bring clarity in tough moments? Do they feel natural and authentic to your brand? Do you see your team living them out regularly?

Allow Your Entire Team to Make Core Values Actionable

Once you feel confident in your core values, the next step is to roll them out to your entire organization and make them actionable. Core values aren’t just principles—they need to be lived out in observable behaviors. A great way to make this happen is by asking employees to identify specific behaviors they’ve seen that support each core value.

This collaborative approach not only helps your team internalize the values but also provides visible evidence of real-world examples that are being lived out daily. For example:

Own It : Taking responsibility for outcomes, owning mistakes, and following through on commitments.
Be Generous : Sharing time, knowledge, and resources generously to foster collaboration and support others.
Outshine : Always being prepared, whether with clients or colleagues.

These behaviors serve as tangible evidence of your values in action and help ensure they don’t just live on the walls—they permeate through the halls. When employees see and contribute to these examples, it creates accountability, ownership, and alignment across the organization.

Core Values as Your Brand’s Foundation

Once your core values are tested and proven, they become a foundational element of your brand platform. They aren’t just internal guiding principles—they inform how you position your brand to the outside world.

At Wonder, we built our values— Own It, Be Curious, Be Generous, Be Courageous, and Outshine —to reflect who we are at our best. They shape how we recruit, lead, and serve our clients. When employees live these values, they naturally shine through in the work we do, building trust and loyalty with our clients and team.

Remember: If your employees believe it, your customers will buy it.

Recruit and Build Culture with Core Values

Core values are a critical part of Jim Collins’ idea of “right people, right seat.” Hiring and retaining the right people starts with alignment to your values. Candidates should not only have the skills for the role—they should embody the values that drive your organization.

By recruiting and leading with your core values, you’ll build a team that lives them daily, reinforcing the culture and brand you’ve worked so hard to create.

Let’s Craft Your Core Values

Crafting core values takes time, reflection, and collaboration, but it’s worth the effort. These values are the bedrock of your culture and a compass for decision-making. Workshopping them with your team can be transformative—ensuring they’re authentic, actionable, and aligned with who you are.

If you’re ready to define your core values and align your team around them, Wonder can help. Let’s uncover what makes your organization exceptional and build a brand that’s rooted in your authentic purpose, values and vision.

10 Reasons to Create a Visionary Brand

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 15:19:00 GMT

Great brands don’t happen by accident. They are built intentionally, with clarity, alignment, and purpose. At Wonder, we call these Visionary Brands —companies that are crystal clear about who they are, what they stand for, and where they’re going. These brands inspire loyalty, build trust, and create lasting value, both internally and externally.

The best Visionary Brands are built from the inside out , starting with a strong foundation. EOS® (Entrepreneurial Operating System®) provides the perfect framework for laying that foundation through the Vision/Traction Organizer™ (V/TO™). By clarifying your purpose, core values, vision, and goals, you can align your team around a shared mission and create a brand that delivers far beyond marketing.

The Foundation of a Visionary Brand from EOS

EOS helps you identify and align your foundational truths. These are the building blocks of your brand:

Core Values : These define your culture and guide your team’s behavior. They help you attract the right people and align your team around shared beliefs.
Core Focus™ : This is your reason for being—your "why." It defines what you do and the purpose or passion that drives your organization.
10-Year Target™ : Your big, long-term goal. It sets the direction and inspires your team to stay focused on the future.
Marketing Strategy : Your ideal customer and the key message that resonates with them. This strategy creates alignment between your brand’s identity and your audience.
3-Year Picture™ : A vivid snapshot of where you’re headed in the medium term. It gives your team a clear, motivating image of success.
1-Year Plan and Quarterly Rocks : Your immediate objectives. These measurable goals and priorities bring your long-term vision into actionable steps.

These foundational elements guide everything from internal decisions to external messaging, ensuring your brand is aligned from top to bottom.

But even with a solid V/TO, many leaders struggle to activate their brands and rally their employees around it. This is where the inside-out approach becomes critical. If your employees believe it, your customers will buy it.

10 Benefits of Building a Visionary Brand

When you combine EOS’s foundational tools with thoughtful and intentional brand messaging, the benefits are transformative. A Visionary Brand delivers results that go far beyond marketing, creating value for your people, customers, and business as a whole. Here are the 10 benefits:

Provide Clarity : Your purpose, values, and vision create a clear and focused brand identity that resonates with your team and customers.
Establish Trust : Alignment between your actions, culture, and messaging builds trust with employees, clients, and partners.
Influence Beliefs : A strong brand connects with people emotionally, inspiring belief in your mission and values.
Instill Confidence : Consistent brand messaging reassures customers and employees that you’ll deliver on your promises.
Inspire Action : Visionary Brands motivate people to act—whether it’s customers to get off the couch to run a 5K or employees going above and beyond to drive innovation.
Rally Employees : Your team is united around a shared purpose, creating alignment and engagement. Every culture has a little cult in it.
Boost Recognition : A consistent, authentic brand identity becomes recognizable and memorable to your audience.
Maintain Loyalty : Customers stick with brands they trust and believe in, leading to longer-term relationships.
Protect Pricing : A strong brand sets you apart, allowing you to maintain or even command premium pricing.
Create Value : Your brand becomes an asset that delivers value for customers, employees, and stakeholders.

How Wonder Brings It All Together

At Wonder, we specialize in building Visionary Brands by combining the EOS foundation with powerful branding. We help you take the clarity and alignment you’ve created through EOS and translate it into language and visuals that resonate both internally and externally.

Here’s how we do it:

Inside : We bring language to your Core Values, Core Focus™, and vision. This creates clarity for your team and ensures your culture aligns with your brand.
Outside : We transform that internal alignment into external messaging, creative campaigns, and visual identities. The result is a brand that feels authentic and inspires trust with your audience.
Consistency : From employee onboarding experiences to digital media campaigns, we ensure that every touchpoint reflects your purpose, values, and vision and props up your promise.

This inside-out approach ensures your brand isn’t just a promise—it’s a lived experience for everyone who interacts with your company.

Are You Ready to Build a Visionary Brand?

If you’re running on EOS and ready to turn your foundation into a Visionary Brand, Wonder can help. Together, we’ll bring clarity to your purpose, alignment to your values, and resonance to your messaging.

How to Define and Qualify MQLs for Better Marketing and Sales Alignment

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 15:28:19 GMT

Marketing and sales alignment is one of the biggest challenges for many businesses, yet it’s also one of the most critical components for success. A key step in bridging this gap is clearly defining what makes a lead Marketing Qualified (MQL) and ensuring it meets the criteria sales is willing to accept. When marketing and sales operate in harmony, using shared definitions and processes, leads flow through the funnel more effectively—and revenue growth from marketing investments follow.

At wonder, we’ve been implementing CRM solutions for lead tracking for almost 20 years. Here’s our step-by-step guide to defining MQLs, ensuring sales buy-in, and optimizing the lead qualification process to improve alignment and outcomes.

1. Establish Service Level Agreements (SLAs) Between Sales and Marketing Leadership

To align marketing and sales, start by establishing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that outline expectations for both teams. These don’t have to be formula, binding agreements but do make sure there’s a shared understanding of lead qualification and handoff responsibilities, including:

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) : A lead that marketing has identified as having potential, based on factors such as engagement with content, demographic information, or an expressed interest in your solution.
Sales Accepted Lead (SAL) : A lead queue that holds all leads to be reviewed and formally accepted as SQLs by sales
Sales Qualified Leads (SQL): A lead that sales has reviewed and accepted after confirming potential for a meaningful opportunity, often using BANT criteria (Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing).

By setting these clear definitions, both teams are aligned on what qualifies as a lead worth pursuing, creating accountability and reducing friction.

2. Use Lead Segmentation to Streamline Qualification

Segmenting your leads into clear categories makes it easier for marketing and sales to understand where each lead is in the buying journey. A common framework includes:

Suspects : Organizations or individuals who may have a need but haven’t yet shown explicit interest.
Prospects : Leads that have expressed a need for your solution or engaged meaningfully with your content.
Opportunities : Active deals in the process of being qualified using BANT or similar criteria.
Customers : Leads who have completed a purchase.

This segmentation improves targeting and ensures that marketing and sales can tailor their communication and follow-ups at each stage of the journey.

3. Define What Makes a Lead an MQL

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) isn’t just any contact in your CRM—it’s someone who has demonstrated clear buying intent or a need for your solution. To define an MQL, consider:

Behavioral Triggers : Engagement with your content, such as downloading an eBook, attending a webinar, or viewing pricing pages.
Demographic Data : Meeting criteria such as job title, industry, or company size.
Lead Scoring : Assigning point values to behaviors and attributes to identify when a lead has reached an MQL threshold.
Expressed Need - They have explicitly stated they need what you sell. Of all criteria, this is the one I recommend the most.

Once you’ve defined what an MQL looks like, document the criteria in your SLAs and make sure it’s communicated across both teams.

4. Get Sales Buy-In

Even the best MQL criteria won’t drive results unless sales is aligned and willing to accept those leads. To ensure buy-in:

Collaborate on Criteria : Involve sales in defining what makes a lead qualified. This ensures the leads marketing passes meet sales expectations.
Define Conversion Expectations: MQLs are not yet opportunities. Understand that maybe 1 in 5 MQLs may become a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL).
Train and Align : Equip sales with a playbook that includes messaging and content to help them engage MQLs effectively.
Lead Queues : Use a Lead Status in CRM, like Sales accepted Lead (SAL), to easily identify all leads that are sales ready.

The goal is to build trust between marketing and sales. When sales knows the leads they receive are high quality, they’re more likely to act promptly and effectively.

5. Automate Lead Nurturing and Scoring

Using marketing automation tools like HubSpot or Pardot, you can streamline the qualification process and ensure leads don’t fall through the cracks. Key strategies include:

Automated Workflows : Nurture suspects and prospects with targeted email campaigns that guide them through the funnel with relevant content and offers.
Lead Scoring : Use automation to assign scores based on behaviors and attributes, helping both teams focus on high-priority leads.
Handoff Automation : Set triggers that automatically notify sales when a lead becomes an Auto-Qualified Lead (AQL), ensuring timely follow-up.

These tools improve efficiency and allow both teams to spend more time focusing on the leads most likely to convert.

6. Ensure Timely Follow-Up with SLAs for Sales

The statistics on lead follow times for B2B buyers are staggering:

21 Times Higher Within 5 Minutes: Contacting a lead within 5 minutes makes you 21 times more likely to qualify them compared to waiting 30 minutes. Chili Piper | Demand Conversion Platform

78% of Buyers Choose the First Responder : Research indicates that 78% of customers purchase from the company that responds to their inquiry first. Vendasta

391% Increase in One Minute : Responding within one minute can boost lead conversions by 391%

Timely follow-up is critical for converting MQLs into SALs and opportunities. Establish SLAs for the sales team that include:

Response Time : How quickly sales should follow up on MQLs after receiving them.
Touchpoint Cadence : A sequence of follow-up activities, such as emails, calls, or meetings, to engage leads effectively.
Lead Routing: Leads not touched within a set period of time will be reassigned to other members of the team.

These SLAs ensure accountability and help both teams measure progress toward shared goals.

7. Track, Optimize, and Improve

The final step in qualifying MQLs is measuring how well your process is working and making adjustments as needed. Use metrics like:

MQL-to-SQL Conversion Rate : The percentage of MQLs that sales accepts as SQLs.
Pipeline Movement : How well leads move through the funnel to become opportunities and closed deals.
Lead Source Effectiveness : Which campaigns or channels generate the most qualified leads.

By continuously tracking and optimizing these metrics, you can improve alignment and ensure that your lead qualification process supports business growth.

A Proven Framework for Lead Qualification

At Wonder, we know that aligning marketing and sales around shared definitions and processes isn’t just a best practice—it’s a growth driver. By defining MQLs and SALs with precision, using automation to streamline handoffs, and building accountability through SLAs, you can create a lead qualification process that delivers a measurable impact on your sales pipeline. .

How to Create Your EOS® Core Processes

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 15:12:15 GMT

If your business is running on EOS®, you already understand the importance of clarity and alignment in your operations. One of the most powerful tools within the EOS framework is the identification and documentation of your Core Processes. These processes serve as the foundation of how your business runs, ensuring efficiency, consistency, and scalability.

Creating your Core Processes can seem daunting at first, but with the right approach, it can be both insightful and empowering. At Wonder, our own journey to define and systemize our 12 Core Processes has allowed us to achieve operational clarity and deliver consistent results for our clients.

Start with Two Postcards: "Sold" and "Collected Payment"

Every business operates between two key moments: when a product or service is sold and when payment is collected. These two moments form the bookends of your operational workflow. Your task is to map out the high-level steps that happen between these points.

This exercise doesn’t require diving into every granular detail. Instead, focus on defining the broad, high-level actions your team takes to move from "Sold" to "Collected Payment."

Wonder's 12 Core Processes

At Wonder, we’ve broken our business operations into 12 distinct processes. Each is a critical piece of our Proven Process, ensuring that we deliver consistent value to our clients. Here’s an overview of our Core Processes:

Marketing - Positioning, generating leads, and nurturing prospects to create opportunities.
Selling - Engaging prospects, defining solutions, presenting proposals, and closing deals.
Onboarding - Setting up new clients with clear communication, billing, and preparation for success.
Planning - Opening jobs, defining deliverables, and assigning tasks with clear milestones and timelines.
Strategy - Gaining client insights, developing a creative brief, and initiating internal kickoff processes.
Concepting - Generating big ideas through brainstorming, mock-ups, and client reviews to finalize creative direction.
Creating - Drafting, designing, and preparing marketing materials, ensuring they meet client expectations.
Producing - Finalizing deliverables, ensuring quality assurance, and delivering the finished product to the client.
Closing - Wrapping up projects, archiving files, and collecting client feedback for continuous improvement.

Supporting Processes

Surrounding these nine core processes are three critical support areas:

Growing Clients - Managing strategic planning, upselling opportunities, and maintaining long-term client relationships.
Resourcing - Allocating budgets, timelines, and resources while coordinating contractor involvement.
Finance - Overseeing financial onboarding, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, and legal processes.

These surrounding processes ensure the infrastructure is in place to support your core business functions and growth.

We use a Google Slides Template and we review the Core Processes monthly with our team and reference them weekly in our L10 meetings. When we have an issue, we identify where and then align on who actually owns that step in the process. We all provide discussion and give feedback, but the buck stops with the owner of that specific process.

Here’s what our Core Processes look like today:

This framework didn’t appear overnight—it came from workshop sessions, collaboration, and iteration. By starting with high-level categories and refining them over time, we were able to create a repeatable system that aligns our team and ensures consistent results. It's the backbone to all of our other EOS tools.

Workshop Your Core Processes with Your Leadership Team

Mapping out your Core Processes is best done collaboratively with your leadership team. Start with the "Sold" and "Collected Payment" postcards, then work together to identify the high-level steps in between. Use Wonder’s 12 Core Processes as inspiration to capture the unique processes that define your business.

Remember, the goal isn’t to create a perfect, detailed manual on day one. Start by capturing the major steps, then refine and systemize over time.

Need Help Mapping It Out?

If you’re ready to tackle your Core Processes but aren’t sure where to start, we can help. At Wonder, we specialize in facilitating Core Process Workshops to help EOS-driven companies like yours clarify their processes and build a foundation for scalability.

Let’s make it happen — contact us to here about our Core Process Workshops.

What’s The Difference Between Core Processes vs. Proven Process in EOS®?

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 14:39:50 GMT

When running a business on the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®), clarity and structure drive results. Two powerful tools within EOS—the Core Processes and the Proven Process—serve distinct, yet complementary purposes in your business. Both are essential to achieving Vision and Traction, yet they operate in different arenas with unique objectives. In my EOS experience, understanding their roles is a vital early step in your EOS journey.

The Core Processes: Simplifying Your Internal Operations

The Core Processes are the backbone of your organization’s internal efficiency. They represent the 20% of activities that drive 80% of your desired outcomes. These processes should occur explicitly and consistently 100% of the time, ensuring that the core operations of your business are streamlined and effective.

Imagine you sell a product. Once the sale is closed, the natural progression leads to billing the client. What happens in between? The Core Processes systematize and document those steps, leaving no room for ambiguity. They help you answer, “How do we do this every single time to get the best results?”

At Wonder, for instance, one of our Core Processes is what happens after a client agrees to work with us. We call it Onboarding. We’ve outlined a clear, repeatable set of steps that ensures every project starts on the right foot and delivers the best outcomes. Here’s a simplified example:

Intro/Brief Call
Billing Worksheet
Initiate Billing
Client Assets/Tech
Job Brief

By documenting and systematizing these steps, we ensure consistency and excellence in how we approach every engagement. Core Processes like these eliminate ambiguity, streamline communication, and deliver predictable results for our clients.

We reference our Core Process weekly as we identify process issues in our L10s.

The Proven Process: Demonstrating Your Value to the Outside World

While Core Processes live inside your organization, the Proven Process is your external-facing blueprint. It’s designed to showcase your company’s thinking, experience, and approach to clients and prospects. Think of it as the story you tell to illustrate why you’re the best choice for what they need.

The Proven Process is:

A visual representation or narrative that simplifies your methodology.

A tool to build trust and demonstrate expertise.
A consistent way to set client expectations.

For example, at Wonder our Proven Process is called The Next 90™ B2B Marketing Method, an organized and intentional approach that strengthens strategy, inspires creativity, fuels activation, and evaluates results to ensure continuous progress toward one-year marketing goals.

Here’s how Wonder's Proven Process works:

Discover: Current State, Future Objectives

We research your market position and goals to uncover key insights.

Define: Strategies, Tactics, Budgets, Timing

We establish the strategies, tactics, and timelines to achieve your objectives.

Concept: The Big Ideas

We develop impactful creative ideas to drive your marketing efforts.

Produce: Projects and Deliverables

We create the materials and assets needed to bring the ideas to life.

Activate: Campaigns in Market

We launch and monitor campaigns to ensure they effectively engage your audience.

Measure: The Results to Objectives

We evaluate campaign performance and refine strategies for continuous improvement.

This structured process ensures alignment, clarity, and measurable results at every step of the way.

Proven Process and Core Processes are Complementary, Not Redundant

The Core Processes and the Proven Process are different, but they complement each other. Core Processes ensure the inner workings of your business are consistent and efficient. The Proven Process communicates your competence to the outside world.

Core Processes answer: “What must we do internally to deliver consistent results?”

Proven Process answers: “How can we show our clients and prospects that we have a systematic approach to success?”

When both are implemented effectively, they reinforce each other. Core Processes enable the Proven Process to be more than just a promise; they make it a guarantee.

Why This Matters for Organizations Running on EOS™

Understanding the distinction between Core Processes and the Proven Process isn’t just academic—it’s a strategic imperative. Businesses that clarify these tools are better equipped to:

Scale effectively while maintaining quality.
Communicate their value proposition with confidence.
Align internal teams with external expectations.

In other articles, I’ll explore how to create both your Core Processes and Proven Process. For now, start thinking about how these frameworks can enhance your organization’s efficiency and storytelling.

Elevating Your Brand in the Technology Channel: A Guide for VARs, MSPs, and System Integrators

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 15:52:38 GMT

In the fast-paced world of technology sales, Value-Added Resellers (VARs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and System Integrators face a common challenge: differentiation. The industry is crowded, and many players rely heavily on vendor-provided Marketing Development Funds (MDF) to shape their marketing and branding efforts. While vendor support can be helpful, it often results in a uniform voice that makes it hard to stand out.

To rise above the noise, it’s essential to build a brand that reflects who you are and the unique value you bring to your customers—both internally and externally.

The Pitfall of Over-Reliance on Vendor Branding for MSPs and VARs

Vendors invest heavily in branding and MDF programs to help their partners. It’s tempting to lean on these ready-made resources, but doing so can dilute your unique identity:

Uniformity Dilutes Differentiation: When every VAR or MSP in the same ecosystem uses identical messaging, prospects struggle to see what makes your business unique.
Reduced Brand Ownership: Over-reliance on vendor content makes your brand feel like an extension of the vendor, not a trusted advisor in your own right.
Short-Term Gains Over Long-Term Loyalty: While MDF campaigns might attract immediate leads, they rarely build the kind of deep customer relationships that foster loyalty.

Building Your Brand From the Inside Out

True differentiation begins with authenticity, and authenticity starts from within. To create a brand that resonates externally, it must be rooted in your internal culture. Your brand isn’t just a marketing message; it’s a reflection of who you are as a company and how you operate.

When your culture aligns with your brand identity, you create a cohesive experience for both employees and customers. Here’s how to do it:

Define Your Core Values:
Core values act as the foundation for your company culture and brand. These principles should guide how you work, interact with clients, and make decisions. Importantly, they should reflect your company’s ethos—not borrowed values from vendors.
Live Your Brand Internally:
Your employees are the first ambassadors of your brand. Ensure they understand your mission, vision, and values, and empower them to embody these in their daily roles. When your team believes in your brand, their authenticity will naturally shine through to clients.
Shape Culture Through Your Brand :
Your brand should influence how your company operates, recruits talent, and serves customers—not the other way around. A strong brand-centered culture fosters trust, collaboration, and innovation, enabling you to build lasting relationships both inside and outside your organization.
Develop Brand-Specific Processes:
The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®) emphasizes the importance of your Proven Process. Create systems that reflect your brand’s unique value—whether it’s in client onboarding, service delivery, or customer support. This ensures your brand’s promise is consistently delivered at every interaction.

Why Your Unique Value Matters

What is your core expertise? Beyond the products you sell, what transformations do you enable?
Who are your ideal customers? What industries, challenges, or aspirations define your audience?
What drives your team? How does your mission align with the goals of your clients?

When you can answer these questions, your brand becomes more than just a reflection of the vendors you partner with—it becomes a trusted, standalone identity that resonates deeply with customers.

Building an MSP or VAR Brand That Stands Out

To elevate your brand and make it truly authentic:

Define Your Brand Voice:
Document your mission, vision, and values to ensure consistent messaging across all channels. Remember, your brand should communicate trust, expertise, and authenticity.
Invest in Proprietary Content:
Develop thought leadership materials that address specific challenges faced by your customers. This reinforces your expertise and positions your company as a problem solver.
Enhance Your Digital Presence:
A professional, modern website and active social media channels should reflect your unique brand, not just vendor assets.
Leverage Success Stories:
Highlight real-world results that showcase the impact of your solutions. Focus on how you add value beyond the products you sell.

Prioritize Brand Authenticity Over Conformity:

Stay true to your internal culture and values. Use vendor support strategically but prioritize campaigns that amplify your unique voice and perspective.

The Long-Term Benefits of an Authentic Brand

When you build your brand from the inside out, you create more than just marketing campaigns—you foster a sense of trust and belonging among employees and customers alike. An authentic, internally-aligned brand sets you apart in the crowded technology channel, positioning you as a partner who delivers real value, not just products.

By rooting your brand in your culture and focusing on the unique problems you solve, you’ll attract loyal customers who see your company as a trusted advisor—not just another reseller.

Activating Your Re-Brand Externally: Why Sales Enablement Comes First

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 15:40:49 GMT

Activating your brand externally is a powerful way to drive growth, create loyalty, and amplify your impact. But where do you start? While many focus first on top-of-funnel activities like advertising or social media, we believe the most effective way to begin external activation is at the bottom of the funnel—with sales enablement .

Why? Because sales is where your brand promise becomes tangible. It’s the moment your prospects decide whether or not to trust you with their business. Starting with sales enablement ensures your messaging is clear, consistent, and aligned with your brand at the most critical point in the customer journey.

Here’s why sales enablement should be the foundation of your external brand activation—and how to do it effectively.

Why Start with Sales Enablement?

The Bottom of the Funnel is Where Decisions Happen
At the bottom of the funnel, prospects are no longer browsing—they’re deciding. This is where the rubber meets the road, and your brand has to deliver. By starting here, you ensure that your team is equipped to close deals and generate revenue quicker.
Sales Interactions Define Your Brand
Your sales team isn’t just selling a product or service—they’re representing your brand. Every conversation, presentation, and follow-up email shapes how prospects perceive your company. Without consistent, compelling messaging, even the best brand strategy can fall flat.
Improves ROI Across the Funnel
Sales enablement doesn’t just help close deals—it makes your entire funnel more effective. When your sales team is armed with the right tools and messaging, they convert more leads into customers, maximizing the ROI of your marketing efforts.
Drives Alignment Between Marketing and Sales
Starting with sales enablement forces alignment between marketing and sales teams. It ensures both teams are speaking the same language and working toward shared goals, creating a seamless experience for prospects.

What Great Sales Enablement Looks Like

Sales enablement is about giving your team the tools, resources, and support they need to sell effectively while staying true to your brand. Here’s how we approach it:

Develop a Unified Brand Story
Your sales team needs a clear, compelling story that aligns with your brand and resonates with your target audience. This includes:
An understanding of your Brand Platform
Strong value propositions for each target market.
Messaging that highlights the customer’s pain points and how your solution solves them.
Stories or case studies that bring your brand to life.
Deliver a Pitch Book
The first and most critical sales enablement tool is your Pitch Book : the 8–12 most important slides that train your sales team and serve as the foundation for presentations to prospects and customers. A well-crafted Pitch Book ensures that every member of your sales team delivers a consistent, powerful message that aligns with your brand. It typically includes:
The problem you solve and why it matters.
Your unique brand pillars and promise.
Key differentiators and proof points.
Client success stories and case studies.
Create Sales Tools That Work
Equip your team with additional resources that make it easy to sell, such as:
Branded pitch decks and proposals.
Product one-pagers and FAQs.
Interactive tools like ROI calculators or product demos.
Train Your Sales Team
Even the best tools won’t make an impact without proper training. Your sales team needs to understand how to use the tools, deliver the messaging, and handle objections—all while staying on-brand.

The Ripple Effect: How Sales Enablement Fuels Broader Activation

Starting with sales enablement doesn’t mean ignoring other parts of the funnel—it means building a strong foundation that supports everything else. Here’s how it fuels broader brand activation:

Middle of the Funnel : Once your sales team is aligned with your brand, it’s easier to create effective nurture campaigns that guide leads toward a purchase.
Top of the Funnel : Sales enablement provides the insights you need to create marketing campaigns that attract the right audience and drive qualified leads.
Customer Experience : A consistent brand experience during the sales process sets the tone for long-term customer relationships.

Wonder’s Approach to Brand Activation

At Wonder, we believe external brand activation should always start with the people who represent your brand most directly: your sales team. By aligning your messaging, tools, and training, we help you create a seamless, on-brand experience that converts prospects into customers and builds trust at every interaction.

From there, we scale your activation efforts to the middle and top of the funnel, creating campaigns and assets that amplify your brand and attract the right audience. This inside-out approach ensures your brand remains authentic, consistent, and impactful across every stage of the customer journey.

Wonder Welcomes Joshua Fleck as Senior Brand Designer

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 14:21:50 GMT

Greenville, S.C. — September 6, 2024 — Wonder, a Greenville-based marketing, media, and technology company, announced that Joshua Fleck has joined the firm as Senior Brand Designer, strengthening the agency’s creative team as it continues to grow its brand and digital design capabilities.

Fleck brings extensive agency experience across print, digital, and website design, having held several senior designer roles at agencies in California before relocating to Greenville, South Carolina. Known for his attention to craft and thoughtful design execution, Fleck has built a reputation for translating brand strategy into compelling visual systems and digital experiences.

At Wonder, Fleck will lead and support brand identity development, marketing design, and digital experiences across the agency’s portfolio of B2B and growth-focused clients.

“Josh brings a deep respect for the craft of design. His experience across agencies and his ability to work across print, digital, and web makes him an incredibly versatile designer. We’re excited to have someone with his level of care and creative discipline on the team.”

- JAMI MULLIKIN, FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF WONDER

About Wonder

The Kolbe A Index: Building an Organization on Individual Strengths

jami@workwithwonder.com (Jami Mullikin) — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 21:05:11 GMT

An Introduction to Kolbe Wisdom™ for Leadership, Team and Personal Development

In the ever-evolving landscape of career development and team dynamics, various assessment tools have emerged, each offering unique insights into personal and professional aptitudes. Among them, the Kolbe A Index stands out as our recommended tool for helping individuals discover work they love. As a certified Kolbe Consultant with over four years of experience using the Kolbe Index, I've gained deep insights into its effectiveness and how it complements other popular assessments like the Predictive Index™, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, CliftonStrengths, and DiSC.

Understanding the Kolbe A Index

The Kolbe A Index differs fundamentally from other assessments by focusing on the "conative" part of the mind, which governs how a person takes action or reacts when striving - or when applying effort. Unlike the affective domain of personality tests (encompassing feelings, desires, and attitudes), which is the focus of tools like DISC, Myers-Briggs or the Predictive Index, the Kolbe A Index taps into innate instincts that are stable over time. This makes it an incredibly reliable tool, with a proven reliability of a 90% retake rate, in contrast to the around 44% test-retest reliability of some affective domain tools.

Four Primary Zones of the Kolbe A Index

Information: How a person gathers and shares information.
Organization : The natural method of organizing tasks and projects.
Change: The individual's instinctive approach to change and risk.
Physical Space: How one interacts with and manages their physical environment.

Complementing Other Assessments

While the Kolbe A Index focuses on the conative, doing domain, other assessments measure traits within the affective domain. This distinction is crucial, as it means these tools are not redundant but rather complementary. For example:

The Predictive Index and Myers-Briggs can shed light on a person’s desires, values, and personality, offering insights into what a person wants or wishes would happen.

The Kolbe A Index, on the other hand, reveals how a person will naturally act and react, highlighting innate methods of problem-solving and action-taking.

Practical Application of Kolbe with Teams

In team settings, combining the insights from both conative and affective assessments can be transformative. The Kolbe A Index's WAREwithal® software predicts how people will naturally work together and the potential roadblocks in collaboration. It focuses on how individuals will act, react, and interact, while tools like the Predictive Index can explain interpersonal dynamics, like why people like or dislike each other.

Assessing Tension in a Current Job with Kolbe B

A significant advantage of the Kolbe B Index is its ability to identify sources of tension in one's current job. This tension often arises from a misalignment between an individual's natural instincts and the demands or expectations of their role. The Kolbe B Index can pinpoint where this discord occurs across the four primary zones (Information, Organization, Change, Physical Space), helping individuals and their managers understand potential areas of stress or dissatisfaction. For instance, an individual with a strong instinct for detailed information gathering may feel overwhelmed in a role that requires quick, high-level decision-making. Similarly, a person with a natural tendency towards maintaining structured organization might struggle in a dynamic environment that demands constant adaptation.

By identifying these areas of tension, the Kolbe B Index enables individuals and their employers to make informed adjustments. This could involve tweaking job responsibilities, providing additional support or training, or even reevaluating the role to better align with an employee's conative strengths. Such insights can lead to increased job satisfaction, reduced stress, and higher productivity.

Increasing Hiring Success with Kolbe C

The Kolbe C Index plays a crucial role in defining the right strengths for a role and increasing hiring success. Unlike the Kolbe A Index, which assesses an individual's natural instincts, the Kolbe C Index measures the attributes and behaviors a manager believes are required for success in a specific job. This assessment helps in creating a job profile that aligns with the company’s goals and the specific demands of the role.

When the results of Kolbe C are compared with a candidate's Kolbe A results, it provides a clear picture of how well the candidate's instinctive methods of operation align with the job requirements - Kolbe calls this the Range of Success. This alignment is critical for ensuring long-term job satisfaction and effectiveness.

For example, if a role requires a high degree of innovation and adaptability, but a candidate's Kolbe A results indicate a preference for routine and structure, there may be a misalignment that could lead to challenges down the line. Conversely, a strong alignment between a candidate's natural strengths (as identified by Kolbe A) and the role's requirements (as outlined by Kolbe C) suggests a higher likelihood of success and job satisfaction.

By leveraging both Kolbe A and C indices, organizations can make more informed hiring decisions. This approach not only increases the probability of hiring candidates who are naturally inclined to excel in their roles but also promotes a workplace environment where employees' natural strengths are recognized and utilized effectively.

Leveraging Kolbe RightFit™ Hiring

Incorporating the Kolbe A and C Indices into the hiring process and ongoing job performance assessments can significantly impact workplace dynamics. The Kolbe RightFit™ hiring software provides a comprehensive understanding of both an individual's innate strengths and the specific demands of a job. By aligning these two aspects, organizations can foster a more harmonious, productive, and satisfying work environment, leading to greater success for both employees and the company as a whole.

Kolbe is Your Retention Strategy

The Kolbe Index, particularly in its A and C variants, serves as a pivotal anchor for both professional and personal development within an organization. By offering deep insights into an individual's instinctive action modes (Kolbe A) and aligning them with the specific requirements of a role (Kolbe C), it creates a powerful framework for growth and fulfillment. This alignment not only enhances job satisfaction and performance but also fosters a culture where personal strengths are recognized and valued. As employees become more engaged and their natural talents are leveraged effectively, the organization as a whole benefits from increased innovation, efficiency, and team harmony. Thus, the Kolbe Index not only guides individual development but also shapes the organizational ethos, making it a vital tool in nurturing a thriving and dynamic workplace.

Kolbe Certified Consultants™

At Wonder, we chose the Kolbe A Index™ is our primary retention strategy to help ourselves and our clients hire great talent, enhance career development and optimize team performance. Its unique focus on innate instincts, combined with its high reliability, makes it an invaluable resource for understanding natural instincts in the dynamic agency workplace. When used alongside other assessments, it provides a comprehensive view of an individual's professional and interpersonal aptitudes, paving the way for more effective team collaboration and personal career satisfaction.

Working with a Kolbe Consultant offers distinct benefits for both job seekers and employers, streamlining the process of finding the right fit for each role and enhancing workplace dynamics.

Kolbe for Job Seekers:

Self-Awareness: A Kolbe Consultant helps job seekers understand their instinctive strengths and work styles through the Kolbe A Index. This self-awareness is crucial in identifying roles and careers where they are most likely to excel and be satisfied.
Career Alignment: Consultants guide individuals in aligning their natural talents with potential job opportunities, ensuring a more fulfilling and sustainable career path.
Personalized Advice: Job seekers receive tailored advice on how to present their strengths in resumes and interviews, helping them stand out in the job market.

Kolbe for Employers:

Improved Hiring Accuracy: By using the Kolbe C Index, a Kolbe Consultant assists employers in defining the conative requirements of a job, leading to more effective and accurate hiring decisions.
Enhanced Team Dynamics: Consultants help in understanding the diverse instinctive strengths of team members, fostering better collaboration, conflict resolution, and productivity.
Employee Retention: By aligning employees' natural strengths with their roles, employers can significantly improve job satisfaction and retention, reducing turnover costs.

In summary, a Kolbe Consultant acts as a bridge between job seekers' innate strengths and employers' needs, leading to more harmonious, effective, and satisfying workplace environments. If you're interested in learning more about Kolbe, please reach out and let us know. We'd love to help.

You can also order your Kolbe Assessment directly on our Kolbe Store.

Wonder Becomes HubSpot Solutions Partner to Expand CRM and Marketing Automation Capabilities

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 14:10:50 GMT

Greenville, S.C. — August 15, 2024 — Wonder, a Greenville marketing agency , announced it has become an official HubSpot Solutions Partner, expanding the agency’s ability to help clients implement modern CRM, marketing automation, and revenue growth systems.

Through the partnership, Wonder will leverage HubSpot’s leading CRM platform to help organizations better align brand, marketing, and sales performance. The agency will support clients with CRM implementation, marketing automation, email marketing programs, and account-based marketing strategies, helping companies build more connected and measurable customer journeys.

Wonder’s leadership team brings more than 20 years of experience implementing CRM and marketing automation platforms for organizations across B2B technology, ecommerce, real estate, and growth-focused brands.

“HubSpot has become one of the most important platforms for companies looking to align marketing, sales, and customer experience. Our team has spent decades working with CRM systems, marketing automation, and account-based marketing strategies. Selecting HubSpot as our lead platform allows us to bring together strategy, creative, and technology in a way that helps our clients grow more effectively.”

- JAMI MULLIKIN, Founder and Creative Director of Wonder

As a HubSpot Solutions Partner, Wonder will help organizations implement and optimize HubSpot across marketing, sales, and customer experience teams, while integrating the platform with brand strategy, campaign development, and digital marketing initiatives.

The partnership reflects Wonder’s broader focus on combining brand strategy, marketing execution, media, and modern marketing technology to help organizations move faster and achieve measurable results.

About Wonder

Paid Search vs SEO – Apples Today or an Orchard Tomorrow?

jami@workwithwonder.com (Jami Mullikin) — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 21:05:11 GMT

Sometimes qualifying your prospects who are interested in paid search or SEO services can be heard. To make it more relatable, let's use an analogy: think of paid search as buying apples and organic search, or SEO, as planting an apple orchard.

If a clients need results today, they may be best served with paid search - or buying apples today at retail prices. If they're looking further out, and desire a longer-term competitive advantage and can postpone the immediate ROI, then organic search, or search engine optimization, may be a better bet - it's more like growing apples.

Should we recommend Paid Search or SEO?

Buying Apples Today: Paid Search

When a prospect or client expresses interest in paid search, it's like they need apples today. They want immediate results, and they're willing to pay for it. Here are the key reasons why this might be the best option for them:

Instant Visibility: Just like finding apples in the store, paid search gives businesses immediate visibility on search engine result pages.

Targeted Traffic: With paid search, businesses can target their ads towards a specific audience based on factors like location, demographics, and even the time of day.

Control Over Budget and Bidding: Paid search allows businesses to control how much they spend. They can set a budget cap to ensure they don't overspend and can adjust their bidding strategy based on the performance of their ads.

Tracking and Measurability: Paid search campaigns are highly measurable. Businesses can track the number of clicks, conversions, and the return on investment (ROI) with precision.

Boost Short-Term Sales: If a business has a seasonal product or a time-sensitive offer, paid search is an excellent way to drive short-term sales.

Increased Brand Awareness: Although the short-term ROI can measured quickly, paid search also provide potentially millions of brand impressions that in essence has no cost at all.

Planting an Apple Tree for Tomorrow: Search Engine Optimization

On the other hand, when a prospect is interested in their Google rankings, they're thinking long-term. They want to plant an apple tree today, knowing it will yield a steady supply of apples in the future. Here are some reasons why SEO could be their best bet:

Sustainable Visibility: Once a website ranks high in organic search results, it tends to stay there for a while. This leads to sustained visibility without the ongoing cost of paid media or paid search campaigns.

Builds Trust and Credibility: Users tend to trust organic search results more than paid ads. Ranking high in organic search signals to users that your site is a credible source of information.

Cost-Effective in the Long Run: While SEO requires an upfront investment, it’s often more cost-effective over the long haul. Unlike paid search, organic traffic from search rankings are free, so your cost per acquisition decreases over time.

Improved User Experience: A well-optimized website is not just search-engine friendly but user-friendly too. Good SEO practices improve site speed, usability, and mobile-friendliness.

Long-Term Growth: SEO, like planting an orchard full of trees, is a long-term investment. It might take some time to see results, but once it starts bearing fruit, it provides a steady flow of organic traffic and leads.

Buying Apples Today and Planting an Orchard for Tomorrow: A Combined Approach

In some cases, your clients might benefit most from a combined approach — buying apples today (paid search) while planting an apple orchard for tomorrow (SEO). This strategy provides the instant results of paid search with the sustainable, long-term benefits of SEO. Here are some reasons why this approach could be their best bet:

Balancing Short and Long-Term Goals: By using both strategies, businesses can meet their immediate sales targets while also laying the groundwork for future, organic growth.

Insights and Data: Running paid campaigns can provide valuable data and insights that can be used to inform and optimize the SEO strategy. You get to know which keywords are performing well, what language resonates with your audience, and which demographics are more likely to convert.

Visibility Boost: Combining SEO with paid search can enhance a brand's visibility on the search engine results page, increasing the likelihood of click-throughs. Your brand appears both in the paid ad section and in the organic results, which can boost your credibility and reach.

Mitigate SEO Volatility: Search engine algorithms change frequently, which can impact your organic rankings. Paid search ads can help to maintain your visibility and traffic during these periods of SEO volatility.

Holistic Strategy: A combined approach ensures you have a more holistic digital marketing strategy. You’re not putting all your eggs in one basket, but leveraging the strengths of both paid search and SEO.

So, How About Those Apples?

In the world of digital marketing, understanding whether your prospects are looking to 'buy apples today' or 'plant an orchard for tomorrow' is crucial to guiding them to the right solution. Both paid search and SEO have their strengths and are suitable for different situations. It's all about identifying the needs of your prospects and aligning them with the right approach to meet their objectives. As an agency partner, your job is to help them understand which option is best for their unique situation and make sound recommendations to help them reach their goals.

Wonder Marketing Agency Launches in Greenville, SC with Focus on brands Running on EOS®

jami@workwithwonder.com (Jami Mullikin) — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 21:05:11 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Greenville, SC - July 1, 2024 –

Greenville’s marketing landscape is set to transform with the arrival of Wonder, a one-of-a-kind agency dedicated exclusively to organizations utilizing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®). Unlike traditional agencies, Wonder specializes in activating brands from the inside out, ensuring that every strategic move aligns with the core tenants of EOS®. Located in the innovative Flywheel co-work space at 25 Goldsmith St, Greenville, SC 29609, Wonder is poised to redefine how businesses in Greenville and beyond approach marketing and brand development.

Founded by Jami Mullikin, a seasoned expert with extensive experience building internal brand culture within companies such as ScanSource, KeyMark and Up&Up, Wonder is set to lead growth-oriented clients to extraordinary marketing success. Mullikin is joined by a team of industry veterans, including Warren Griffith, vice president of operations and EOS Integrator; Mark Henderson of Charlotte, NC, vice president of media. Each leader brings over 25 years of experience in their respective fields and shares a passion for driving marketing excellence.

"Your employees have to believe it for your customers to buy it," says Mullikin, emphasizing the agency’s philosophy on a brand’s core messaging. "Living in a 90-day world means staying focused yet agile, ensuring your employees are constantly aligned with your brand's core messaging. At Wonder, we believe that this alignment is crucial for customers to truly buy into your brand." Wonder's tagline, "Activating Visionary Brands," encapsulates its mission to harmonize internal culture with external market perceptions, driving long-term brand value with clarity and consistency.

Wonder offers a comprehensive suite of services, including brand strategy, marketing strategy and activation, and media strategy and management. The agency employs a proven process called Marketing Momentum™ to align marketing efforts with overall sales and business objectives, running marketing initiatives in 90-day cycles. As EOS purists, the leadership team at Wonder formally runs on EOS, ensuring they embody the principles they support and advocate for with clients.

The agency aims to translate the Vision/Traction Organizer (VTO) of its clients into actionable strategies that resonate both internally and externally. "The EOS VTO casts a vision, and Wonder helps those big dreams become reality by providing the language to activate brands with clarity," Mullikin adds.

For more information about Wonder and its services, visit workwithwonder.com or contact Jami Mullikin at 864-735-0777.

About Wonder:

Wonder is a Greenville, SC-based marketing agency specializing in brand strategy, marketing strategy and activation, and media strategy, placement, and management for organizations running on the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®). Founded by Jami Mullikin, Wonder's mission is to help leaders activate their brands from the inside out, ensuring internal culture aligns with external brand perception.

Media Contact:

Jami Mullikin, President

hello@workwithwonder.com

workwithwonder.com

864-735-0777

The 5 Potential Perils of Remote Work for Young Creatives in Advertising

Thu, 09 May 2024 14:13:32 GMT

Remote work might be a career's silent saboteur for younger creatives.

I'm going against the grain here when I say that remote work isn't for everyone or every profession. It's particularly detrimental in small-to-medium ad agencies, where the environment of an agency is an education in and of itself.

If you’re an aspiring creative, say, a designer or a writer, envisioning a career in advertising, take heed. If your experience comprises mainly of remote work, particularly during the formative years of your career, you may be doing yourself a disservice.

Why is remote work bad for creatives in advertising?

The crucial first two to three years of agency life are simply irreplaceable. These are the years that separate the wheat from the chaff, acting as a veritable crucible for aspiring creatives. The process of enduring the rigors of below-the-line work, learning to handle rejection, taking direction from seasoned professionals, operating at an agency's energetic and often rapid pace, and using the right tools to bring ideas life; it's these challenges that mould raw talent into seasoned professionals.

The immersive experience of an in-office or hybrid environment is more conducive to the growth of these skills than remote work. When you're physically present in a busy agency, you're more likely to understand the nuances of advertising that often slip through the cracks in virtual workspaces. Being in an office provides a fertile learning ground for absorbing the ethos of the industry, understanding the intricacies of your craft, and getting your hands dirty.

Today, we're seeing a talent vacuum at the local level, with younger creatives' work often falling short compared to their pre-Covid counterparts. One plausible explanation could be the lack of in-person experiences, the peer collaboration and the mentorship that's ingrained into great agency culture.

My suggestion? Shift your focus to local agencies, seek out hybrid or in-office roles. It's time to stop chasing the allure of remote work and start investing in solid, on-the-ground experience that will serve as the foundation for your career. Engage in an environment that challenges you, hunker down, and work to develop the skills that will let your stars start to shine.

With a few years of in-agency experience under your belt, the lessons that you learn will reveal how little formal education really teaches about the real-world of advertising.

In summary, here's my 5 Potential Perils of Remote Work for Young Creatives in Advertising

The formative years of your advertising career are crucial and are often best spent in an in-office or hybrid environment.
Remote work, while increasingly popular, may not provide the robust learning environment required for young creatives in advertising.
Being physically present in an energetic agency is beneficial as it allows you to absorb the industry ethos, understand the intricacies of your craft, and cultivate collaboration and creativity.
The industry is currently experiencing a local talent vacuum, possibly due to the lack of in-person experiences and the critical collaboration and mentorship that an agency setting provides.
It's crucial to seek out local or hybrid roles in agencies rather than getting swayed by the allure of remote work.

To make your creative mark in advertising, it's essential to 'think local', lean into hybrid or in-office opportunities, and trust the process. Remote work has its merits, but it may not be the optimal path for young creatives aspiring looking to learn the ropes of the agency business.

Is the Kolbe Index™ the same or similar to other personality assessments?

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 22:04:16 GMT

After using The Kolbe Index™ for over four years, I finally decided to make the investment to be a Kolbe Certified™ Consultant. It was an incredible experience that only reinforces Stellar's mission to help people that love to work find the work that they love.

There's a ton of deep insights and great wisdom that Kathy Kolbe and her team bring to each training and I'll unpack that over time with additional blogs and articles. For today, I wanted to start with the first question that most clients and candidates ask about The Kolbe Index™:

Can you use the Predictive Index™ or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, or CliftonStrengths or DiSC with the Kolbe A Index? Are they compatible or do they measure the same thing?

The Predictive Index and Myers-Briggs assessments measure traits falling within the affective (feeling) part of the mind — entirely different qualities than the Kolbe (which is a measure of the conative, doing, domain), so they do not provide redundant information. Assessment tools for the affective domain and the Kolbe Index identify entirely different human characteristics. If the instrument asks questions related to any of the following, it will gather information related to the affective domain:

Desires
Preferences
Social Style
Values
Beliefs
Personality
Attitude

An accurate prediction of affective behavior will describe what a person WANTS or WISHES would happen. Knowing that desires can change over time, authors Myers and Briggs recognized that their instrument (the MBTI) ought not to be used for selection. Such instruments generally have around 44% test-retest reliability.

An accurate prediction of conative behavior will describe how a person naturally takes action when striving. Instincts are innate and do not change over time, so a valid assessment of this domain would have much greater reliability. The Kolbe A Index has proven its reliability of over 90%, making it the most reliable selection tool on the market today.

The Kolbe A™ Index helps you understand how a person's instincts drive action or reaction when problem solving, or striving, within four primary zones:

Information
Organization
Change
Physical space

Conative and affective tools can both play important roles in team success. Kolbe WAREwithal® software predicts how people will act, react and interact. It doesn’t identify whom they want to be with or whether they approve of behaviors or value similar attributes; these are affective issues. The Predictive Index can help explain why people like or dislike each other. The Kolbe Index explains how those people will naturally work together and the potential roadblocks they will encounter when collaborating.

Does that help with the basic understanding of Kolbe versus other assessments?

I hope so, or at least it's a worthy start to a deeper conversation. If you're interested in learning more about Kolbe Index™, please reach out of visit our Kolbe Store .