IAM859- Strategy Adviser Empowers SMBs to Drive Growth

Michael Haynes is a B2B Customer and Marketing Strategy Adviser.

Michael’s passion is empowering SMBs with BUYER-driven approaches to acquire and retain business customers and drive business growth.

Michael works primarily with service-based SMBs in Professional Services, IT, and Financial Services.

He has over 23 years of experience and has advised SMEs, start-ups, and corporates in Australia, Canada, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

• CEO Hack: Planning for the week and reflecting at the end of each day
• CEO Nugget: Have no shame and always do marketing
• CEO Defined: Delivering impact at multiple levels

Website: http://listeninnovategrow.com/

Book overview and chapter sample: https://listeninnovategrow.com/book/
Twitter: @2Excellyourbiz
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-haynes-lig/

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Podcast Interview:

Transcription

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00:02 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:30 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Michael Haynes of Listen, Innovate, Grow. Michael, it's awesome to have you on the show.

00:38 – Michael Haynes

Great, thanks for being here.

00:41 – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on as well too. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Michael so you can hear about all these awesome things that he's doing. Michael is a B2B customer and marketing strategy advisor. Michael's passion is to empower small and medium-sized businesses with buyer-driven approaches to acquire and retain business customers and drive business growth. Michael works primarily with service-based small and medium-sized businesses and professional services, IT, and financial services. He has over 23 years of experience and has advised small to medium-sized enterprises, startups, and corporates in Australia, Canada, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Michael, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:23 – Michael Haynes

Absolutely.

01:24 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Let's do it then. So to kick everything off, I wanted to kind of, I guess, start in the beginning, and hear a little bit more about how you got started. Could you take us through what I call your CEO story? What led you to get started with your business?

01:35 – Michael Haynes

My CEO story. So in a nutshell, I started off in corporate back in Canada, working for a large retailer, Canadian Tire Corporation, then did some work at Kraft Foods, Kraft Foods at their Canadian division. Then I got a bit of the itch to travel, and relocate, moved here down under to Sydney, Australia in 2000, and then had various corporate roles, One worked at one of the big banks as a marketing manager, then progressed over and worked at Accenture management consulting firm, then moved over to one of the large telecommunications companies, Telstra, where I headed up their customer research and analysis in their wholesale division.

And that's where I really got into the B2B space. And then that'll take us up to about, I guess, 2010. And then at that point, I was offered to go into the top talent executive program. I thought of working in big corporations as an exec, but now I think it's time to do something different. So after a career break, as a South American volunteer, I then set up my independent consulting firm under my initial brand Excel in 2011. And I've been working as an independent fundamentally ever since.

02:47 – Gresham Harkless

Nice, absolutely appreciate that. And I don't know if you would definitely agree with this. I almost feel like getting the opportunity to kind of work and have those different experiences. Me, like I always feel like the heart of entrepreneurship is creating solutions to problems. And I feel like Having that kind of varied experience, I guess you can say, gives you that kind of new light to be able to not look at things in the same way that a lot of businesses and organizations can fall victim to.

03:09 – Michael Haynes

Oh, absolutely. So that very corporate experience was very good in terms of building my skills around research, analysis, strategy, how to be customer-centric, what are some of the key approaches of what to do, and also what not to do as well, by seeing some of the things that big corporates do and where they kind of get bottlenecked, and what's important to customers, you also begin to recognize some of those disconnects and some of those things that you want to be able to work through in smaller, more nimble organizations. And you can really see some of those places that can be opportunities for them to really focus on and deliver to customers and be able to win in the market by recognizing some of those potential bottlenecks and problem areas.

03:48 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I think so many times we forget as sometimes smaller, more nimble organizations that we have that opportunity to really kind of see an opportunity and really leverage that a lot quicker than those larger organizations. And I know that's a small piece of what you do to kind of help these organizations that you work with. So I know I read your bio a little bit and talked a little bit more about it. Could you drill down a little bit deeper, and take us through how you serve your clients and what exactly you do to support them?

04:13 -Michael Haynes

So the great question. So I'm all about working with small and medium enterprises, and service-based businesses, as you said, to help them develop the strategies and action plans to enable them to acquire new business clients, retain and expand to get more cross-sells, upsells, and retain those clients that they're seeking. And do it through a framework, which I call the Listen, Innovate, Grow B2B framework, which has 3 core activities that every B2B organization and every SME needs to be doing. So the first part is about making sure that they're listening. Listening is all about getting an in-depth understanding on 3 levels. First is listening to you, which is all about understanding you as your company.

What's your vision, your mission, your purpose? What are your strengths? What are your goals? What are your capabilities and resources that you have? That's one area that you want to be focused on. So you get an idea of where you should be focusing on, and where are you winning in terms of what kinds of industries, markets, and customers. Secondly is listening to the market. So really having an understanding of what's going on in your external environment in terms of your industries, in terms of your geographic markets, what are the regulations, technology disruptions, what are end customers looking for, what are your competitors doing, and that's very, very important.

And particularly in the environment that we're in right now, Gresham, you must be continually doing that market scanning to understand what's happening in your external environments across your industries and markets, which are continually changing. And then the third element is listening to your customers. And that is really about having an in-depth understanding of your customers in terms of their needs, priorities, key challenges, and pain points. But in B2B, it's very important that it's not just enough to understand at a customer level, so I mean at an organizational level. So let's say an SMB wants to get into the IT department, let's say United Airlines, for example.

It's not enough to just understand the organization of United Airlines. You need to understand within that particular department, that part of the business, who are the decision-makers, who are those buyers and influencers, and you need to understand their specific priorities, challenges, pain points, and areas of focus. And then everything that you do in terms of what you deliver, in terms of product services advice, how you deliver in terms of channels, hours of operation, level of expertise, how you promote and engage with those decision makers, all of that has to reflect around those decision maker needs, the needs of those individuals, those people that are involved in that purchase decision process.

So that's hence why it's important that you are buyer-driven. And the reason why that's important is that buyers and users when you're getting into large organizations, those who make the decision to purchase your, let's say you're an IT company and you're trying to get into that airline, those that make the decision to whether or not they're gonna purchase your services And those who might use could be completely separate, different people. So you might have the head of IT who might make the decision, but they may never actually be involved, but they have those KPIs, those business objectives, operational financial objectives they're trying to achieve.

So you have to make sure you're caring about their needs and priorities, in addition to those who are actually using it, your project managers, your analysts, etc. So it's a subtle distinction, but it's quite important that you recognize buyers and users and that you are making sure you're delivering to buyer requirements. Otherwise, you could have missed the opportunity.

07:35 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And it definitely missed value as well too. It kind of sounds like if you don't have that opportunity to create that win-win-win opportunity. And that listening piece sounds like a very foundational piece because I always look at it or approach it kind of like a doctor. When you go to the doctor, you figure out what exactly is going wrong so that you can try and see if what you're providing does provide that solution. But if you don't ever listen, then it's hard to really figure out how to create that win-win opportunity.

07:59 – Michael Haynes

Yes. Once you have done that listening on those 3 levels, gives you really where you need to focus. So what's the industry, markets, customers, and buyers you need to focus on, then it's determining how you're going to win. So based on understanding those needs, priorities, and challenges, then you're going to be determining what are the areas where you need to make some changes, or new introductions and or improvements, which is business innovation. And it might be around your products, your services, it could be around your processes, it could be on how you deliver, It could be about getting into joint ventures.

So then by having an understanding of where you're gonna focus, what those needs and priorities are, you'll determine how you're going to win, new product lines, product extensions, new channels, what have you. And that's how you're gonna innovate in terms of meeting those needs and then your growth phase is about how you're going to sustain that growth. So what are the different, you know, marketing and sales strategies that you're going to be using to be able to, you know, acquire, retain those customers, engage with them so that you can also maintain and get that growth that you're seeking?

09:04 – Gresham Harkless

So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for yourself personally or your business or a combination of both, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

09:15 – Michael Haynes

What sets me apart, and makes me unique is the fact that I am very buyer-driven. I think my secret sauce is my ability to help organizations to do that listening, to bring together those different elements of what's going on within their company, combined with what's going externally with the market and their customers, to bring that together to say what are those areas you need to focus and how are you going to win? What do we need to be focusing on? Because fundamentally your strategies in B2B to deliver to your customers are really 3 things. What you need to deliver, So it's not just your product or solution, but it's the information and advice and insights to help decision-makers make those decisions,

how you deliver in terms of, how are you gonna channel geographic reach, expertise, what quality, what do you need to focus on in your method of delivery and how do you engage? So my, I guess, the secret sauce is really about pulling those insights across from that listening and how you translate that into those 3 elements of how you win, in terms of what to deliver, how to deliver, how to promote and engage, and turning it into very actionable steps. So I'm always big in taking everything to an action plan where you can say, these are the priorities, these are the key activities, and who's going to do them because that's how you get traction and momentum.

10:30 – Gresham Harkless

Definitely appreciate that, Michael. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:42 – Michael Haynes

I guess a CEO hack for me, I guess I'm big on planning. So I like to, at the end of every day, reflect on what I've done, you know, what's worked, what's not worked. And then particularly at the end of the week, I like to reflect on to say, okay, where I'm at and then start on Friday, start to plan for the following week in terms of what are the key things I need to do. And I really break it down to kind of A, B, and C. So A being what are the priorities that are must do.

I'm most aligned to building, and growing the business and then priorities B and C. So it's really that planning for the week and also at the end of each day to say how I did each day and what's gonna happen for the next day. I find it just keeps me focused on what are the things that I really need to do, those A, B, and C priorities on a daily and weekly basis keep me focused so that I'm focusing on the things that matter, cause there's so much that you can get subsumed in.

11:32 – Gresham Harkless

I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

11:44 – Michael Haynes

I would say The tip I got from a good friend of mine who's an entrepreneur in New York and has a couple of businesses and it's, I guess it's 2 things. Have no shame and always be marketing. Yes. Cynthia was always big on you. Always has to be marketing. Always have to be promoting yourself and be switched on because you never know when you're going to meet someone who might know someone, you might be sitting beside someone on the plane and they might be a CEO of a potential client. That happened to me a few years ago. So yeah, have no shame and always be marketing because if you don't promote yourself, no one else is going to.

12:17 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. It's so funny that when I first started my business, I think the first thing that I read or one of the first things I read was that successful people are the people who are telling everybody that they have their business and what it is that they're doing. And I love that, that how you know, not having any shame and always be marketing kind of go in tandem because I think the people, I always say the name of the game is all about visibility and being found. So being able to have that visibility to tell people what you're doing and do that in a marketing way, you never know when or how those opportunities come about. But if you're always doing it, you always kind of have that those actions, that mindset.

12:51 – Michael Haynes

Yes, people will. Yes, you know, you'll start to get that visibility, that cut through people will see you start talking about you. Absolutely.

12:58 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. Absolutely love that nugget. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Michael, what does being a CEO mean to you?

13:11 – Michael Haynes

I guess the CEO for me is about delivering impact. For me, it's about delivering impact to the clients that I serve, so that they can achieve the objectives that they want to achieve. And often with many of my clients, I found a lot of them, have a higher purpose that they're trying to achieve. So it's having an impact on them. And I also am big on giving back. So helping entrepreneurs that are coming up, leaders that are coming up, helping them, you know, providing them insights, guidance, advice, and being a sounding board for them to help them reach their aspirations and their dreams. So ultimately for me, it's about delivering impact.

13:49 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I definitely appreciate you for talking about as we were talking about listening the multifaceted aspects of being able to kind of have an impact because I think so many times we think of, you know, bottom line and of course, you can have an impact when the bottom line is taken care of. But as you said, having those mission-driven organizations being able to kind of reach back and provide insight and influence and mentorship to so many people, there are so many ways we can be of impact. And I think if we forget the holistic aspect of that, of being a quote-unquote CEO, we are, I guess, not really having the impact that we could have if we don't look at all those different aspects.

14:24 – Michael Haynes
Yeah, I know we do have a lot to bring by virtue of our, you know, our skills, our experience of what we've done. There's a lot to bring to our clients, to future leaders, and to our communities as well. So yeah, for me, it's ultimately about creating impact on multiple levels.

14:40 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And just like we talked about with always-be marketing, sometimes that impact is seen, Sometimes it's not seen initially, and it can go and create a ripple effect that we can hear and see for years and years and years. So Michael, truly appreciate that definition, and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

15:08 – Michael Haynes

Fantastic. So for those who want to learn more about how they can develop those strategies and action plans for client acquisition, retention, and growth, visit my website, listeninnovategrow.com. So that's listeninnovategrow.com. There is a wealth of resources, videos, and articles that you can utilize to help you build your understanding of what you need to do. There's also a free playbook, Understanding the Business Buyer in the New Norm, which shows you what you need to understand about today's business buyers in this current environment and how to go about leveraging that to drive those action plans that you need to get those clients that you're after. So listeninnovategrow.com and I'm also very active on LinkedIn as well.

15:53 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I truly appreciate that. Again, Michael, we will have the links and information and the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you. But I appreciate you for providing so much information as we kind of touched on, before we hit the record button and even just now, how important it is in this time and age to really be aware and listening to what's happening in the market with your customers and all those different aspects. So I appreciate you for providing some insight today, and for providing so much insight and information on your website as well too. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:22 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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