Clate Mask is the CEO and co-founder of Infusionsoft, the leading all-in-one sales, and marketing software built for small businesses and eight-time Inc. 500 or Inc. 5000 winner. Clate was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, a Top 100 Small Business Influencer by Small Business Trends, and one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2013 by Goldman Sachs. Clate is a national speaker on entrepreneurship and small business success, and he is the co-author of the New York Times bestselling book, “Conquer the Chaos: How to Grow a Successful Small Business Without Going Crazy.”

What you will learn from this episode:

• Why Infusionsoft created their Mars Mission to help guide them through the transition to working with more small businesses through a new, simpler platform
• Why developing a simpler platform scaled for broader use created new challenges for the company, including splitting their focus and renaming their brand Keap
• How the company began to split their focus starting in 2017, and how their long-term focus was key to navigating the complexity of their two different offerings
• Why developing the simpler platform for small businesses has been a part of the Clate’s long term vision for years, and why that matters to the success of the company
• Why the goal of Keap’s Mars Mission is to simplify growth for 5 million small businesses, and why that specific metric was chosen
• How Clate’s company is inventing a small business solution from scratch, rather than offering a watered-down enterprise solution like their competitors
• Why Clate believes that purpose, mission, and values are the keys to growth, and why leaders must clearly communicate those key aspects to their teams
• What advice Clate has for business owners looking to improve their ability to mentor others
• Clate shares the brand story of his company and of his personal entrepreneurial journey and the many strains and struggles he faced in his company’s early days

Additional resources:

• Website: www.keap.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/clatemask/
• Onward Nation episode 735 with Clate Mask:
  • https://predictiveroi.com/podcasts/clate-mask/
• Onward Nation episode 834 with Brett Gilliland:
  • https://predictiveroi.com/podcasts/brett-gilliland-encore/

Robbie Kellman Baxter has been advising entrepreneurs on business strategy for 20 years. Her clients have included solopreneurs and venture-backed startups as well as industry leaders such as ASICS, Netflix, Electronic Arts, and The Wall Street Journal. She has worked with nearly 100 organizations in over 20 industries on growth initiatives.

A sought-after writer and keynote speaker, Robbie has presented at top universities, associations and corporations, as well as to corporate boards and leadership teams around the world. Robbie has created and starred in 10 video courses in collaboration with LinkedIn Learning on business topics ranging from innovation to customer success and membership.

As the author of The Membership Economy: Find Your Superusers, Master the Forever Transaction & Build Recurring Revenue, a book that has been named a top 5 Marketing Book of the Year by Inc.com, Robbie coined the popular business term “Membership Economy”. Robbie’s expertise with companies in the emerging Membership Economy extends to include SaaS, media, consumer products and community organizations.

Prior to launching Peninsula Strategies, Robbie was a strategy consultant at Booz-Allen, a New York City Urban Fellow and a Silicon Valley product marketer. Robbie received her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and graduated with honors from Harvard College.

What you will learn from this episode:

• How Robbie found her way into business strategy and consulting work and has spent most of her career in this space
• Why Robbie believes that narrowing her focus and niching down has actually strengthened her brand and created new opportunities
• How Robbie worked as a consultant for Netflix very early in their business, and why their subscription model appealed to Robbie
• Why subscription pricing is appealing to many businesses, and why being customer-focused to justify subscription pricing is key
• What “subscription fatigue” is, why consumers are learning to game the subscription model system, and why having the right content to fit the model is crucial
• Why Robbie recommends you clarify what promise you need to make to your customers to make a subscription worthwhile
• Robbie shares examples of surprising businesses that could benefit from a subscription model
• Why being clear in knowing who your customer is and what their needs are is the best starting point for determining how you can best serve them
• Why not every customer is the right customer for you, and why bad customers distract you and can cause you to deviate from your model
• What important daily habit Robbie has developed that helps her maintain focus on her priorities

Additional resources:

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robbiekellmanbaxter/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/robbiebax
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MembershipEconomy/
• The Membership Economy by Robbie Kellman Baxter: https://amzn.to/2Gk3s4H

John Waid has thirty years of sales and sales leadership experience in Fortune 500 companies and twelve years of senior consulting experience in the learning and development field. John earned his MBA in International Business from a top program and is fluent in three languages which has allowed him to work in Europe, North, Central and South America. He started his own firm, C3—Corporate Culture Consulting, to work with leaders and their companies on their cultures.

What you will learn from this episode:

• Why the key to growing a business lies in paying attention to both your people and your business and how John’s parents taught him this lesson early on
• How Chick-Fil-A has built a powerful employee-focused culture that has helped them become a dominant force in the fast-food market
• Why “culture” is defined by your employees and behaviors, and how a major cultural turn-around helped Delta Airlines chart a new path of success
• How a great culture raises employee enthusiasm, which in turn can create brand loyalty and increase profits
• How a Harvard study revealed that a focus on culture offers 3x more profit per employee, 4x faster growth, and 50% better retention
• Key lessons from John’s book, Reinventing Ralph: A Little Story For Salespeople About Culture-Driven Selling, about having a noble purpose, a clear vision, and three values
• Why Southwest Airlines is an excellent example of a company that has developed unique values
• How clear, strong values can help you more effectively hire and onboard new team members and why it is important to train your team on your values
• Why company leadership needs to live their culture and values and why employees will emulate leadership

Additional resources:

• Website: www.c3culture.com
• Reinventing Ralph by John Waid: https://amzn.to/2Llj3oN

Prentice Howe has always believed in underdogs. As Owner and Chief Creative Officer of Door Number 3, a full-service advertising agency based in Austin, Texas, his passion is helping brands embrace their challenger-ability and topple their giants. Prentice has been featured in The New York Times, AdWeek, Inc., and Communication Arts and authored the Amazon best-selling book “The Empowered Challenger Playbook,” which describes his strategies in detail and backs them up with case studies.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Why Prentice thinks that betting on yourself is the best thing you can do for your professional career
• How to adopt Prentice’s growth mindset, what it means for your future, and how to instill that mindset in your employees
• Prentice’s advice for creating a roadmap and acquiring the tools needed to advance your business and achieve your professional goals
• Strategies for “challengers” to shift their focus, make sacrifices, and pursue their goals of competing against market leaders
• The five pertinent personal traits needed to be an empowered challenger
• Finding your niches to diversify your client base and avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket
• What Prentice thinks are the most critical skills for “business masters”
• Why your business should serve YOU and not just your clients
• The life-changing effects of having a mentor and why success leaves clues

Resources:

• Website: https://www.dn3austin.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/dn3austin
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doornumber3/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prentice-howe-54163b4/
• Prentice’s new book: https://www.amazon.com/Empowered-Challenger-Playbook-Brands-Change-ebook/dp/B06WLLLVT8