The 3 Irrefutable Elements of Sales Growth

by Jeff Bloomfield Follow @jeff_Bloomfield

Over the past several decades, their have been a myriad of books written and talks given on "how to" grow your business, improve your marketing, close more deals etc... etc... Some of those lessons are good, some are useless. I certainly don't want to take the arrogant position that everything ever written or spoken prior to this post is garbage and that I have cracked the proverbial code that now transcends all previous sales and marketing strategies. That said, the following content isn't just my opinion but a collation of commonalities by successful organizations boiled down into three critical elements, that if executed effectively, guarantee results.

As you read through the three elements, keep in mind the key is not to just "have" them but how well you communicate these elements to the world.

Element #1: Company "Why"

In Simon Sinek's book, "Start With Why", he outlines the many reasons why people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. There is a neuro biological reason for this. As humans, we make decisions in our Limbic Brains and we make them emotionally and instinctively. The vast majority of companies today communicate "what" they sell, not "why" they do what they do. It has to be larger than the money they can make. Revenue is simply a positive side effect from communicating their beliefs.

As an example, let's look at Tom's Shoes. Their entire mantra is "One for One." As he traveled to various countries around the globe, founder Blake Mycoskie was deeply moved at the fact that so many children around the world didn't have shoes. He created his company's "purpose" around helping those children. Now, for every pair of shoes he sells, he donates a pair to a child in need. His company is growing by leaps and bounds. People emotionally connect with his "why" and because we all need shoes at some point, wouldn't you rather feel like you're helping contribute to a global cause? Makes you never want to go to Dick's or Famous Footwear to buy shoes again, doesn't it?

It doesn't really matter what your company sells. If they don't tap into the "why" first and foremost, you will limit the engagement of your employees and your customer base. Jim Stengel in his book, "Grow" found that over a decade period since 2000, companies that understood their "why" grew at a much faster rate than their peer group.

Your company "why" needs to focus in one or at most two of the following purpose driving categories.
•It brings Joy to people
•It evokes Pride in people
•It creates Connection for people
•It encourages Exploration in people
•It improves Society in a tangible way

Here are a few companies that have tapped into the power of purpose; Coke=Joy, Mercedes Benz=Pride, Starbucks=Connection, Google=Exploration, Tom's Shoes=Improving Society. There are many others, but by now you have the idea.

Element #2: Brand Purpose

For many companies, they don't understand element #1 above so it leaves them without a true road map as to how to truly do marketing the correct way. Marketing is all about understanding who your customer's are, what motivates them to buy and how your solution solves their problem. Once you know those three things, you must create an emotional connection with that audience and build authentic trust with your brand. How do we do that? Brand Purpose.

Your brand purpose is your brand "why". It generally flows out of your company "why". Step one is to determine whether you are a "branded house" or a "house of brands". An example of a branded house would be BMW. Their purpose category is joy. In fact, their entire marketing campaign is laser focused on "the joy of driving." They allow the house to be the brand i.e. BMW. Yes, they have the 3,5 & 7 series vehicles but everything revolves around the house brand. They know their category and they know their brand purpose. In this case, the company "why" and the brand "why" are the same. A house of brands example would be Proctor & Gamble. They have a company brand but primarily communicate to the market through individual brands. Pampers, Tide, NyQuil are just a few of their brands. Each brand has to have it's own brand "purpose" and shouldn't be too terribly far off from the company purpose or "why" for consistency. Once you know your brand purpose or as we call it, your Brand Driving Purpose, you can begin to create messaging that speaks directly to the emotional buying brain with your prospective customers with laser focus.

I know you may be thinking that this strategy works well for consumer brands but not for business to business (B2B) companies. Absolutely not true. It's simply a case of B2B companies not generally having the sophistication and knowledge of how to do this compared to the high profile marketing budgets of consumer retail companies. EVERY company needs to have a company "why" and brand "why." There is no exception if you want to truly create trust with your market.

Element #3: Personal "Why"

When you look at the Fortune list of top 100 companies to work for, you generally see a consistent theme. The employees of those companies believe strongly in the purpose of the organization. I had the privilege of working at Genentech for most of my corporate career and we were consistently in the top 10 companies to work for. Why? Because the employees there knew the "why". It was to create novel therapies to treat unmet medical needs. We were, literally in some cases, curing cancer. Our Driving Brand Purpose category was clearly to improve society. Now, it's one thing to have a great company "why" and brand "why" but if you don't understand your own personal "why", then all you can ever do is try to use your company's credibility to connect with customers.

What it all comes down to is the individual. Especially in B2B. People tend to want to buy from people, not companies. That being said, we know emphatically through research that the number one driver of sales is trust. Trust is an emotion that happens at the subconscious level. How does one develop trust? You must first make a genuine connection. Guess what? I don't connect with the facts and figures of your products or services. I don't connect with your "ten year" track record of success and awards. I don't connect with your resume of respected companies you've worked for.

I connect with people who believe what I believe. I connect with people who come across with authenticity, humility and honesty. I connect with people that are real. The only way to come across as real is to be real. You must have a personal "why."

Why do you do what you do? It can't be for the money. Again, like with the company "why" the money is a result of effectively what you believe before you tell me what you sell. What universal beliefs do you possess that I will connect with? Why are you trustable and where did you learn that from? What's the story behind your "why"? We teach clients to communicate their personal "why" in 90 seconds in a way that's emotional, visual and experiential. It's powerful. If you want to know why I do what I do, read my profile.

Companies that can take all three elements and communicate them effectively with the world will create growth curves that are out of this world. And the end result is that you will attract the best people to work there as well. We all have a purpose. When we find a place to work that has one as well and has the courage to communicate it, work stops being work and starts being fun.

Question: What is your company "why"? Does your company understand brand purpose? Do you have a personal "why"? If so, would you share it with us?

About the Author:

Jeff Bloomfield is the Co-Founder of BrainTrust, a sales and marketing consultancy that teaches companies how to leverage neuroscience in their overall sales and marketing message strategy.

BrainTrust: www.braintrust101.com

Get Jeff's book,Story Based Selling