Proven Strategies for Growing & Scaling Businesses

Russ Sorrells, Founder of Own Your Category, is a Certified Pinnacle Implementer & Advanced Sales Team Trainer

I work with business leaders to build self-managing companies.

Managing a capital equipment business can be overwhelming—sales challenges, lead flow, talent scarcity, vendor issues, etc. What if there was a better way

Schedule 30 Minute Conversation

What is Coaching?

Russ explains the benefits of Own Your Category Leadership Team Coaching.

 

"Russ began working with me and our local leadership team in Q4 2021. Initially I wanted an outside partner to help us with our sales planning for the upcoming year. Well I can say we got that and much more. Not just mapping out numbers, goals, getting buy-in, etc. – we developed the who, what, why, when – true action items. It involved our entire team helping develop our plan. This is a work in process, something we continue to work on daily, weekly, monthly. But having implemented items along the way, creating more accountability and buy-in – I am proud to say we are a top performing market in our entire bank. Russ’ continued support is appreciated and helps us keep climbing to the Pinnacle."

Steve Sherrill
Market Executive

FAQ's About Business Operating Systems

  1. Team Advantage - Creates Clarity & Alignment at the top.
  2. Competitive Advantage - Organizes your business in a way that keeps the main thing the main thing.
  3. People Advantage - Makes it easier to attract and retain top talent.
  4. Profit Advantage - Companies that have a system are more profitable over the long-term.
  5. Scaling Advantage - Companies with a system are more effective in duplicating processes, helping them better manage growth.
  6. Exit Advantage - Businesses with an operating system and documented processes command a higher multiple on exit.

Your experience is tailored to your business needs. We don't believe in a one size fits all formula for operating your business. In general here are the steps:

  1. 90 minute Conversation
  2. 1 Day Business Assessment - I will spend a day with your business & leadership team - observing. From this time I create a detailed assessment & qualification. If your business is ready to fully utilize my advisory services we move forward. If not, we revisit in 12 months.
  3. If yes, we coordinate calendars by scheduling five days
  4. Pre Basecamp Day 1 Actions Requested
  5. Basecamp Day 1 - Go Time!
  6. 30 Days after Day 1 - Basecamp Day 2 - We leave with a firm plan & commitments to each other
  7. The team implements the Pinnacle processes for consistent performance
  8. Back together every 90 Days to assess & adapt the plan

Choosing the right coach to lead in the implementation of a business operating system is key to successful implementation. Always begin a search for anything with a vision of what you desire.

  • Act as though you are seeking the ideal mentor for your team. What important qualities would they possess? What is their experience? Does style matter to you?
  • Talk with other leaders about their advisory service experiences. Use your network to improve your chances of success.
  • Ask for references from the advisor you are interviewing. (Call the References!)
  • Be intentional & share your reality.

Advisory services are an investment in the future of your business. If I do my job correctly and leadership follows the plan - my coaching is FREE! The goal is to continually be increasing the value of your business by doing one of the following: 

  • Expanding a Competitive Advantage by focusing on the uniqueness of the value proposition (supply-side) and value chain (demand side) of your business.
  • Hiring & Onboarding A-players - A-players pay for themselves!
  • Improving Operational Efficiency - That is what systems do (when followed)

Look at this as an investment vs a cost. It will pay for itself many times over! My experience has been that when clients see business advisory services as an expense they won't value the experience and implement the changes required. You must be prepared to follow through on the work we do together.

Russ Explain His Background

 

Why do business leaders choose Russ as their Pinnacle Implementer?


  • 27 years of real world business leadership experience.
  • Diverse industry business experience including: manufacturing, medical, & consumer.
  • Multiple seven figure businesses owned & operated w/ successful exits.
  • Eight years of business operating system experience with implementation & execution.
  • Directly involved in over $250M in product sales throughout my career.
  • Specialties include operating system implementation & sales leadership.

 

My Pinnacle Toolkit

People - Team Building Exercises

  • 5 Dysfunctions of a Team Workshop – Based on the Patrick Lencioni’s book. This workshop identifies team disconnects & strategies for reconnecting.
  • Ideal Team Player – The ideal team player has three key virtues – humility, hunger, and people smarts (emotional intelligence). In this exercise we work on the culture of the business starting with the executive team by identifying the weakest of these virtues and taking action to grow it!
  • A.R.A. Team Health – In this exercise we take a few minutes to thoughtfully share what we Like, Admire, Respect, and Appreciate about a colleague.
  • Level Up! – The Level Up Workshop provides clarity regarding the performers on each executive’s team. Our mission should always be “Coach them up or Coach them out”.
  • Lifeline – Powerful workshop for bonding the team through stories. The lifeline is a safe space to discuss highs and lows in our personal & professional lives. Cultivates empathy.
  • Mad-Libs – In this workshop the team fills in the blanks of a worksheet. What is revealed in the answers is enlightening to team members new and old. Creates deeper understanding of team dynamics.
  • Talent Assessment – This simple exercise gets you clear about your top players. Who will we Coach Up or Coach Out? It is all about Culture & Performance.
  • Win with Purpose – In this straightforward and straight from the heart exercise we identify a purpose beyond profits.
  • Strategic Vision & Plan – At the heart of the Day 1 in Basecamp is the strategic vision & planning session. The workshop allows the executive to clearly articulate where the business is heading and the steps necessary to get there.
  • Strength Test Your Strategy – Operational efficiency will not help to accelerate your company’s flywheel. Differentiation will. In this workshop we get clear on what makes your business different from your competitors and how to profit from those differences.
  • Functional Accountability Chart – The Functional Accountability Workshop creates functional clarity & alignment while establish clear criteria for winning in that function.
  • Process Accountability Chart – We often do the Process Accountability Workshop in conjunction with the Functional Accountability Workshop to tie them to each other and performance metrics. We use these to help build our Scorecard.
  • Discovering Core Purpose – This exercise is powerful. Your businesses purpose will attract talent and inspire customers. We use samples and a simple process for creating a deep and meaningful purpose that motivate & inspire.
  • Brutal Facts – Getting real about what isn’t working in your business is critical to keeping the business growing toward its pinnacle. This workshop with the executive helps create rocks and identify issues that need solving to maintain progress.
  • Flywheel – The Flywheel Workshop results in a simple circular representation of how your company wins over time. Customers feed it while people lead it. Keep it simple but make it powerful. We use many examples (Apple, Google, Amazon) to help you build your flywheel.
  • Trends Strengths Weaknesses – This tool helps us stay connected with reality. Where is our industry/market headed? What strengths does our business demonstrate? What are our weaknesses? No place to hide in this tool.
  • FAST Goals Workshop – In the FAST goals workshop the executive team establish Ambitious goals & creates a plan for achieving them as a team w/ a focus on communication.
  • #1 Goal – What is your companies BHAG? The #1 Goal exercise gets clarity and alignment on the pinnacle to climb.
  • Fix This Next – Think everything is ok with your business? Fix This Next is a scoring tool that helps identify what the executive team should tackle next. Identify and prioritizing issues in the business can be a challenging. Fix This Next is humbling yet motivating.
  • Client Advisory Board - This tool is called Client Advisory Board (CAB) Best Practices. It’s designed to share the benefits of a CAB, and a step by step in a simple fashion how to put a great CAB in place.
  • Meeting Structures – We use a combination of daily & weekly meetings to create a communication rhythm in the business. Key part of Clarity & Alignment.
  • Solve Them Faster – This tool helps to accelerate resolution of the issues list. Bottomline is this tool is all about having courageous conversations for the greater good of the business.
  • Playbook Creation – Documenting the plays for your business is critical for consistent performance and business execution. Also, having a fully documented business makes it easier to train and onboard new employees. An added bonus is that a documented business is more valuable to potential buyers. Zero reason to not create a playbook for your business.
  • Cash Acceleration Cycle – This exercise cultivates ideas for decreasing the sales cycle, production cycle, inventory turns, delivery cycle, and Billing & Payment Cycle.
  • Power of One – This tool helps us understand the power of small changes on our business financials. Example: What is the impact of a 1% price increase, volume increase? What is the impact of 1 day less of receivables or 1 day increase in payables? We use this tool to drill deep on small changes that have a big impact.
  • Profit per X – In this workshop we get clear the single measure of success in your business that you should focus on to rev up your economic engine. We use examples from banking, manufacturing, and technology companies to provide context for this powerful exercise.
  • Profit First – This tools allows you to instantly assess your allocations of money at various revenue amounts to verify profitability. When profitability does not exist the allocations of revenue will need to change to ensure profitability. No profit = No business.

Russ Sorrells - Founder, Own Your Category & Certified Pinnacle Implementer

I am a husband, father, entrepreneur, student, and coach. I have spent over two decades building and managing businesses and have the scars to prove it. The coaching experience is not about me, it is about you and your team. I will challenge you, push you, encourage you, and support you. My coaching is high energy, lives in reality, and experience based. The question always boils down to value - How can we deliver more value? The market only rewards value. Nothing more & nothing less. Let's Grow Your Value and as a result Grow Your Business! 

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