Double Down For Excellence

One of the most rewarding feelings as an entrepreneur is when your team brings amazing strategies AND results to the table.

On Thursdays we do a shout out on our all team huddle where we celebrate team members who are making a big difference.

This week I decided that I'd like to share my shout outs publicly here, not only because these team members deserve the recognition...

...but also so I can share with you some of what I've learned along the way about creating leverage.

Here are the shout outs I shared with the team today...

Jezza Jaca:

This week I noticed that in your end of month self assessment you noted the incremental traffic improvements you are making for our clients and our own sites.

That kind of personal performance tracking is outstanding and is why you are one of the long standing and productive team members on our team. Creating your own tracking scoreboard is what an impactful leader like you does.

You set a good example for me and for so many other people on the team. Our clients are lucky to have you in the background helping them increase their SEO performance and PPC!

Rich DeCicco:

Last week you suggested a prospecting pipeline to speed up calls and you tripled your output for dials. This week you invested time in creating a script that the entire sales department can use that doubled your qualified conversation rate.

These are exponential improvements that mean BME gets to serve more amazing clients with effective and profitable marketing. Rock on Rich! We are super grateful to have you here with us.

Kayla Miller:

The way you resolve client challenges with Eunice's support is really amazing to watch. You have a good balance where you protect the strategy which is in our clients' best interest while also hearing their concerns and helping them resolve them.

I'm glad you proactively took time to prepare training for the new marketing strategist that is joining our team too! Thank you.

Danielle Ortiz:

You caught a small contractual detail with a vendor that I may have missed if I had been tasked with onboarding this vendor.

By doing this you protected our long term profits and you also were able to determine which vendors matched our vetting process and which didn't. That is C-Suite leadership and I appreciate you for all you do for the team!

Eunice Arriesgado:

You are part genius project manager, part marketing strategist, part client success genius and an all around amazing leader.

Watching you grow in your role as a leader and join our executive team in the last year has been a joy for me to witness. The way you challenge me and others around you to grow and step up in how we serve our clients is a true asset to our company and a personal inspiration to me.

One of the main reasons we're able to achieve higher leverage as a team is because we all adhere to the same set of guiding principles.

And another reason why our team can make effective and profitable decisions on their own is because we foster a culture that celebrates positive contrarianism.

We ask for, beg for, and require that all team members (including me) receive consistent feedback.

I believe that this cultural tenant creates the space where our team knows that we know there are holes in our systems at times. And this also lets them know that they can optimize and improve things.

And this positive contrarianism that we celebrate is one of the main reasons why the team comes up with better ways to do things all the time.

They know that I hope for and ask for them to challenge what we are doing so we can improve.

This post-it note I have on my desk "Double Down For Excellence" is my daily reminder that doing better work means we provide higher value.

And when we provide higher value everyone wins. Our company, our team and our clients.

So if you're struggling with your team...

Or if you're struggling with acquiring good customers...

Remember that excellence starts with you.

You show your team how it's done and how to keep raising the bar of excellence.

And if you're willing to put in the work and write out your own decision making principles, you can replicate that mindset into your team as well.

I'll leave you with a few questions:

1) Are you setting the example you want for your team? Can they model your behavior and be successful in your company?

2) Are you recognizing and celebrating the behavior you want to see more of?

3) Are you empowering your team so they can make exponential improvements in your company?

Keep growing, keep going. You got this.

- Gabe