Business success requires many, as in many people. While you must have the requisite great team that supercharges your business, that alone isn’t nearly enough. Every business must have fans, evangelists and champions to succeed.
Fans cheer you on and root for you. They believe in you and give you the energy to drive harder and push further than you thought you could go.
Evangelists spread the word about you and tell others to get connected. They deliver referrals, expand your network, assist with prospecting and share the gospel of your business.
Champions have the ultimate say in decision-making. They place the order, deliver the service and make investments. They champion your business to success.
At Findaway, we were fortunate to have many fans, evangelists and champions. What they said about us was more defining than anything we ever said or believed to be true about ourselves.
During our earliest startup period while still refining our brand message and product offering, I was at a coffee shop in Los Angeles interviewing a sales candidate when an apparent military serviceman overheard me mention “Playaway,” our flagship digital audio product.
He approached us and emphatically proclaimed that “Playaway saved my life.” He shared that he had recently returned from Iraq and the only thing he found to provide calm and peace during his deployment was listening to Playaway audiobooks, and without them he would not have survived the rigors of war. From the power of his words and subsequent similar interactions, we expanded our product positioning to include mental health, literacy and other areas to more deeply connect with our fans.
A few years ago, a customer evangelist introduced us via email to someone in her network in the best way possible. “You need to meet Mitch & Ralph (Ralph Lazaro, Findaway chief digital officer), they have an Octane Fueled digital media company in Cleveland, Ohio.” We had been described as many things over the years, but “Octane Fueled” was a new one, and I loved it.
Findaway was filled with creative minds in every part of the business, and we immediately launched a T-shirt design contest using this theme with the winning shirt being created for everyone. To this day, the team often wears these shirts, and when we think back on what we have accomplished, we attribute our success to being Octane Fueled, a testament to our growth mode and culture.
We always identified champions, with every business partner knowing that these key decision-makers are the separators of success and failure. At Apple, we were fortunate to have a brilliant strategic leader as our champion. One time during a new product review, he thoughtfully responded to our offering by stating, “Findaway, always playing offense, never playing defense.” Innovation and value creation always come from playing offense, being two steps ahead and never one step behind the market, and even better when a champion identifies this to define your strategic thinking.
Who are your fans, evangelists and champions? Develop a strategy with your team to identify and maximize these relationships in ways you had never considered. We need all three in business and in life — nobody can do it alone, and it’s always more fun traveling the journey with others.
Mitch is currently the founder & CEO of Amber, his latest startup that acquires e-commerce businesses with a spark of greatness. Mitch is also an active early stage investor, motivational speaker and CEO coach.
