He was in excruciating pain from head to toe which was described as a group of thugs swinging bats at him, breaking bones with each crushing blow. Five days in, his doctors arrived with their diagnosis...
The delivery of those words made his world stand still. But only for a moment as Randy responded, "Okay, so what are we going to do about it?"
The calm and direct manner in which he handled that situation – a crisis of the highest order – served him well in the days and months ahead as he battled the illness, determined not to succumb to it.
A fortunate (can we say that?) side effect of the battle and subsequent recovery gave Randy an opportunity to reflect. It dawned on him that had he passed away, he would have left nothing. A realization he didn't like one bit.
Part of that was due to projects drying up and budgets being frozen during the downturn, leading to fewer paying clients with each passing month. And part of it was a sickening feeling that the work he'd done could be summed up as one of checking boxes and saying yes – even when he knew better.
Admittedly, he was doing projects for the money. Not in a bad, greedy way. But rather, in a I've-gotta-pay-the-bills kind of way. The sick feeling wasn't due to the cancer or chemotherapy, but to the thought he'd let his clients down by not taking the lead when he could have.
How we stopped doing projects 'for the money' and discovered how to really grow.
If you've ever worked with an ad agency, web design firm, a law firm, or any other service business, you're likely familiar with buying services from vendors who will do almost anything for you as long as you pay the bill. It's very common and the way most small businesses operate.
Experienced business leaders view it being a vendor (selling Product). What many people aren't quite as familiar with are the presence of Process (improvement focus) and Performance (exponential growth focus), which Randy equates to working with a Partner or a Coach, respectively.
This is the core realization Randy arrived at... that to truly help his clients succeed, he had to stop selling them "products" (or checking boxes), and start providing leadership. The concept was admittedly weak initially, but evolved over time and came to a head one day while discussing the 3 buckets sales strategy with Marty Tascona, when it became very clear.
With that understanding firmly set, Randy began refining Kayak's services and programs to help clients improve their opportunities for success through innovative digital marketing techniques and sound business strategy. In effect, he set out to empower clients to do it themselves alongside our team. Kayak provides coaching, strategy, and technical support services.
As such, Kayak's team works collaboratively with clients (you) to inform, educate, and engage your prospects through each stage of their research and buying journeys.
We are firm in our belief that great content – deployed by knowledgable marketers – helps prospects qualify themselves for a sales discussion.
Fast forward to today and Randy is in excellent health, an avid kayaker and hiker. He was recently named as one of the top 100 marketers to follow by BuzzSumo. Additionally, Kayak Marketing has worked with more than 540 organizations, ranging from 1-person startups to multi-national, multi-billion dollar enterprises.
Under his leadership, Kayak is helping clients grow themselves so they can grow their organizations. Learn more of Randy's story here.
