Selling With Noble Purpose. Lisa Earle McLeod

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Establishing your NSP is the seemingly small shift on the runway that takes you to a more exciting destination. You may already have a clear purpose statement, or your NSP may be found inside your existing mission and vision. Or you may be starting from scratch. Whatever the case, as you read this section, notice how these organizations use their NSP as a starting point to create competitive differentiation, ignite emotional engagement, and drive revenue growth.

      The following are examples of organizations driving exceptional results by using an NSP. Keep in mind as you read these examples that crafting your NSP is the start of the process.

      Atlantic Capital Bank: From Transactional Banking to Fueling Prosperity

      Atlantic Capital Bank (ACB) is an Atlanta‐based commercial bank founded in 2007 with approximately $3 billion in assets. CEO Doug Williams and his team founded ACB to create an exceptional bank. In an industry mired in negative press, they wanted to establish themselves as honest bankers who truly care about customers. Yet after a decade of solid growth, they found themselves becoming just like other banks.

      In the day‐to‐day drumbeat of the financial industry, it's challenging to keep the focus on client impact. With pressure to hit financial metrics, the numbers can often become the only story anyone talks about. But Williams knew a numbers‐only story is a recipe for a transactional relationship with clients and becoming a commoditized brand. He wanted to differentiate.

When we interviewed teammates, managers, customers, and the executive team to uncover ACB's points of competitive differentiation, we discovered that others shared Williams' sentiment. Working with the executive team, we crafted ACB's Noble Purpose: We fuel prosperity.

      In an industry where other banks talk about building personal wealth, ACB chose prosperity because they wanted to communicate a shared commitment to a more holistic ideal.

      The executive leadership team got specific about how their purpose drives strategy. We created purpose maps articulating ACB's Noble Purpose, target customers, points of differentiation, and leading indicators of success. For every employee, the story was clear: we are the team who fuels prosperity.

      The activation plan included personal messages from Williams, leadership coaching, and integrating ACB's Noble Purpose into recruiting, hiring, onboarding, marketing, and sales behavior. A critical element of the rollout was training the sales team and the sales managers. Instead of the traditional product‐focused approach, the team learned how to connect with clients in a deeper, more meaningful way. ACB cofounder and Executive VP Kurt Shreiner says, “We changed the way our people think. You focus on the client and helping them achieve their dreams, versus I'm going to sell another product. Our internal and external conversations are entirely different.”

      In a matter of months, the culture shifted. The team became more engaged. Fueling prosperity was at the core of customer conversations, decision‐making, and daily operations.

      A year after launching their Noble Purpose initiative, ACB's year‐over‐year continued operations before-tax income increased by 81%. Williams and his team say there's a new energy in the air. Clarity about ACB's purpose enabled the executive team to make a smart divesture without belaboring the process. Backstage teams are more customer‐oriented, and bankers are proactively pursuing new clients.

      Atlantic Capital Bank

       We fuel prosperity

      81% increase in continued operations income

      Voted Best Place to Work

      In 2019 ACB was voted a Best Place to Work in Atlanta, based on anonymous employee surveys. They were also chosen as one of the Best Banks in America by American Banker Magazine. As mentioned earlier, Williams was featured on the cover of American Banker with a story describing his team's dramatic transformation.

      Supportworks: Redefining the Home Contracting Industry

Attracting and keeping top talent is a business imperative. It's even more challenging when you're hiring blue‐collar workers, in the middle of Nebraska, to muck out people's basements.

      Supportworks (and their sister company, Thrasher) is an Omaha‐based concrete and foundation repair firm that wanted to establish competitive differentiation for their brand in a bigger, bolder way. Their products aren't sexy, but they're the best in the business. The leadership team needed to help their national network of dealers break out of the price trap that is so common in the home service industry.

      In our first session, the leadership team talked about how the contracting industry had a bad reputation. When you call a contractor, you never know whether they're going to show up or not. Pricing is often sketchy. Contracting firms are also notoriously poor employers.

      Supportworks wanted to change that. They wanted to redefine the home contracting industry for the better. They wanted to set a new standard for how customers are treated in the industry. We landed СКАЧАТЬ