It's Not Rocket Science! Five Questions Over Coffee
Five Questions Over Coffee with Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano (ep. 113)
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Episode notes
Who is Suzanne?
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano is an accomplished leader specializing in guiding organizations within highly regulated and complex industries. With a focus on efficiently managing numerous initiatives, projects, and products, Suzanne excels in promoting services and ensuring their successful execution. Recognizing the challenges posed by limited internal resources, she adeptly maintains organization and drives progress by seamlessly developing and executing both internal and external communications. Her strategic approach and expertise enable leaders to stay on a growth trajectory, hit milestones, and achieve their goals effectively.
Key Takeaways
00:00 Forethought aids leaders in complex, regulated industries.
06:14 Overcoming fear of new initiatives in teams.
09:08 Critical free offer differentiates key marketing messages.
10:39 Request "magic coffee" session via email now.
14:13 Forethought doubled revenue in under 2 years
FREE MAGIC hour for two senior Executives by emailing (Subject : MAGIC Hour) to [email protected]
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Transcript
Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Magic Hours, regulated industries, marketing strategy, CEO, compliance, legal, healthcare, financial industries, education, internal communications, external communications, growth trajectory, customer support, patient caregivers, new product launch, communication strategy, target audience, operational issues, communication experts, business leaders, scalable business, virtual company, communication challenges, systems and processes, entrepreneurial operating system (EOS), business growth strategy.
SPEAKERS
Jeff Standridge, Stuart Webb
Stuart Webb [00:00:30]:
Hi, and welcome back to It's Not Rocket Science, 5 questions over coffee. Really glad today that I'm joined by and I'm gonna get this wrong, Suzanne, so apologies. It's it's a tongue twister. Suzanne, Sarsfield Scurano. Did I get it right?
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:00:46]:
Correct. Thank you, Stewart.
Stuart Webb [00:00:48]:
First problem solved. Let's let's not do that one again because I should get it wrong next time. But Suzanne is the president and CEO of Forethought Marketing. I'm really excited to have Suzanne here today. She's already just warned me that she's bouncing off the walls with coffee already. I've had some I've had some coffee. So we are gonna have a great time. We're gonna talk about, marketing and how things like magic hours can help you.
Stuart Webb [00:01:13]:
So, Suzanne, welcome to the podcast. Really looking forward to our conversation, and thank you for spending some time with us.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:01:20]:
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to share and and learn from you as well, Stuart.
Stuart Webb [00:01:25]:
Oh, well, we we try our best. We try that. So, Susan, just let's start by sort of talking about the sort of customer that you you're trying to help. You know, what is the the problem that they've got and how are you sort of addressing that with them?
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:01:40]:
So at forethought, we're perfectly aligned for leaders in primarily highly regulated and highly complex industries Because these individuals, you often have a plethora of initiatives and projects, products to promote and services to put out there, and keeping all of them on task and ensuring that there are efficiencies can often be one of the challenges. Sometimes there are insufficient resources internally to handle everything that's going on that they're on this growth trajectory for. Maintaining all of the tasks in an organized fashion in order to hit milestones and move forward is a big one. And at the end of the day, it really comes down to seamlessly developing and executing on both internal and external communications.
Stuart Webb [00:02:41]:
Yeah. And it regulated industries are tough, aren't they? I've done some work with regulated industries and, you know, you can't just say anything you want. Marketing has to be a very controlled and very tightly thought through strategy. You just can't launch into just anything, and that often provides a lot of constraints, but also it adds in many more wheels of sort of, you know, admin before you can actually start doing the marketing that the CEO is often desperate to get out there.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:03:10]:
Exactly. We we really pride ourselves on playing well in the sandbox, not just with marketing teams, but with compliance, legal. You know, there's there are many nuances when you're working in health care and financial industries that education where you really wanna make sure that you're doing everything accurately and correctly according to the different regulations out there.
Stuart Webb [00:03:33]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So what have you found, Suzanne? Because, obviously, you know, being the expert and being the sort of person that sort of is helping with this. What have you found those leaders have been trying to do and have sort of found themselves unable to execute? And and and where do you sort of really differentiate what you do to help them?
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:03:52]:
Thank you. First of all, one of the mistakes I see is not prioritizing communications early on. Yeah.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:04:01]:
You know,
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:04:01]:
as we talked about with compliance, if they're, establishing a new entity within an organization or they're launching a new product, everybody's focused on a lot of the operational issues and thinks, oh, well, we're not ready to communicate just yet. The problem with that is we don't just throw something out there. Right? There's some quite a bit of planning. There's quite a bit of strategy. Having us in those communication early on really supports us in understanding the nuances of what this is gonna be operationally. It helps us understand how customer support or patient, you know, caregivers will be affected by this. The other thing that oftentimes I find leaders lose sight of is stretching our teams too thin. Right? This is new, and there probably are funds allocated for it, but we've got great resources in house, and we have people who understand what we're trying to accomplish, but they may not necessarily be communication experts.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:05:00]:
And they may have a lot on their plate already. So we're really stretching them thin. The third thing I find is focusing only on external. Oh, well, when this is up and running, you know, we'll look for the students or we'll let all the clients know. What about our internal teams? It's very important to maintain internal communication in order for our teams to galvanize behind these really imperative initiatives and new business, you know, revenue generators. So how do we include the internal team for communication is critical to the success. And last but certainly not least, probably most importantly, is the idea of not aligning and listening to the point of view of multiple departments. So when an organization is about to embark on a very important new initiative, they may seek the advice of a small group.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:05:56]:
It's critical to understand that everybody or various different departments leaders will have points of view that are relevant. And although differing, it's important that we all align on what is the end goal here, and that's where our magic sessions come in. And
Stuart Webb [00:06:14]:
I'm I'm gonna come back to the magic session in just a minute, but you sparked a whole load of thoughts. I just wanna sort of a very interesting you know, one of the things that I've seen in the past, and as I've done I've done work within regulated industries, you know, teams are often so focused, on business as usual if you like. They're focused on the thing, the initiatives that are already going that when you come along and say there's new initiative, they're almost afraid. They almost don't wanna take it because it's one of those well, as you say, it's it's new. It's something which we haven't done before or this one is gonna be different, and we've got a lot that we wanna avoid. So how do you help them to overcome that sort of, you know, the fear of the unknown, the fear of the new, and push them into that space where where they need to sort of grasp this and take it then once they've got it rolling back into the the the the the the the the new business as usual sort of flow.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:07:06]:
That is a great question. You really teed me up perfectly here, Stuart. I love it.
Stuart Webb [00:07:12]:
We try our best. We really do.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:07:16]:
So you're right. A lot of there could be pushback, There could be concerns. There could be just the regular. I've got too many other things to do here. So we like to do is listen. We believe at forethought that 50% of communication is listening. And if we don't take the time upfront on initiative to bring in the appropriate team members and have a session where we can explore and, discuss that which is of fear to them, how can we overcome it? And, I I share this one story. I remember when I first launched forethought about 15 years ago, I was at a health care system, and I had various people in the room.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:07:59]:
Amongst them was the CFO and the director of physician relations. Right? So I asked the question about this. We were about to launch a clinically integrated network. And when I asked the question, who is our target audience? Simultaneously, the CFO said the patients, and the director of physician relations said the the physicians. So I said, okay. Great. Let's talk about this. And, clearly, they were both right.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:08:26]:
It was a matter of having a conversation together as a team, identifying how we were gonna prioritize these audiences, what the key messages were for them. Right? Had we not had that session and I just came with one specific communication strategy for one of those target audiences, it would have been a failure. So it is important that we overcome these fears, that we share, that we listen, and that we respect everybody's point of view because everybody is bringing something to the table contingent on their roles and responsibilities in the organization. And that that really is key to to this is having a safe space where everybody feels comfortable sharing, chatting, and bringing it up.
Stuart Webb [00:09:08]:
I love it. I love it. And and I think that really does bring us into the next thing, which is I think you've got a really critical, valuable free offer that you'd like to sort of put out. And I think this is a really good one because for me, you've just given a great illustration, and I've been involved in something like it where I did something with with a with a a supplier of of health care products in this country. And exactly the same thing came up, which is where one person was saying we're talking to the health care providers and one person saying we're focused on the customers, the the end the end clients, the patients. And the and the problem is you need 2 different marketing messages. You need 2 different thing. And it's doing some something like what you're about to tell us about that actually sort of gets you to the point where you recognize that.
Stuart Webb [00:09:53]:
So tell us about your valuable free offer.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:09:57]:
Thank you so much, and thank you for this platform. I think it's important for leaders to share and for us to understand the nuances of each other's businesses so that we can move forward. I've heard some of your other guests' offers, and I love them. So I went out on a limb and I said, we're gonna do a free magic hour. At forethought, when we believe that there is an opportunity for someone to learn and really have a takeaway of what it is that we do, we dedicate 1 hour with only 2 leaders. Right? So often a magic session will involve multiple leaders. And magic is actually an acronym. It stands for marketing alignment, goal implementing collaboration.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:10:33]:
That's what it's all about.
Stuart Webb [00:10:34]:
I want you to put that in uppercase letters, shouldn't I? You'll correct that on the on the notes.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:10:39]:
So for your listeners today and leaders out there, if you send us a message at info info at forethoughtmarketing.com, and in the subject, put magic coffee. We would like to know the leader's name, the business URL, so we have some familiarity what industry we're talking about, and a phone number so we can reach out and schedule a magic hour for you. We have several to choose from, so we would have a preliminary conversation to understand what the needs are, whether it is, coming up with more actionable core values, or perhaps you're looking at identifying a sales process, or maybe it is, a little bit more. We would just identify which one fits best your needs and provide you with a magic hour. So if you type in magic coffee in the subject, send us an email with the leader name, business URL, and phone number. We will get that scheduled for you.
Stuart Webb [00:11:37]:
I will ensure that that is all in the notes so that if anybody hasn't managed to type all of that and write all that down, they will get access to that in the notes. So just to repeat, that is magic coffee to info at forethoughtmarketing.com, and you're just looking for the URL, the name of the, business leaders, and that's 2, I think you've just said. 22 leaders.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:11:57]:
Maximum of 2 leaders, and it would be for 1 hour.
Stuart Webb [00:12:00]:
Mhmm. And 1 hour, and, that's a pretty valuable offer for 2 leaders to get clarity in an hour about what they've tried to do with that. That's that's incredibly valuable. And and thank you, Suzanne, for doing that. So let's just understand a little bit more. Is there a particular book or a course? When you said that you set forethought up 15 years ago, was there something which led you to this? What was the what was the driving force that sort of took you to this?
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:12:26]:
That's a great question. So it's a two part answer, I guess. Back in the day, I worked at a
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:12:33]:
traditional is it okay? Do we have a little bit of time? Those who know me know I didn't talk for a
Stuart Webb [00:12:38]:
for a while. What have you got?
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:12:42]:
So, I started my career at a traditional advertising agency. That is to say, 28 years ago, right, prior to the digital, the .coms, all this excitement. It was very traditional, and I loved what I did. I love communication. I love meeting with clients. I felt that there was a better way of doing things. And I had this vision where we can sit in a room and have leaders discuss the target audience, who they see themselves as, what benefit they will provide their target audience, and what features do they have to truly collab corroborate those benefits. Right? And that was sort of the beginning of, I see this and I see it differently.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:13:27]:
Also, forethought launched as a 100% virtual company in 2009. So I saw the future with a little crystal ball. I said, you know, I feel there's a better way. I shouldn't have to be tethered to a desk and fight traffic and go all the way to this office when I can work from anywhere. I'm going to embrace technology and work from home, have team members who can work from anywhere. Because especially in the creative space, I believe that great ideas don't necessarily come from an office chair or a boardroom. They might might come from a beach chair or a family room. And so since 2009, we had that, and it it was it was just really exciting and different and provided a great space for team members to be truly happy with what they do.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:14:13]:
But when you asked me about what is most impactful, so when I launched back in 2009, we were in business for about 12 years, and things were going good. But then, of course, it was after the pandemic, and I said, gosh, my clients are in health care, education, and financial services. We didn't have to pivot. What am I doing right here? What's next? And how can I make the business even more, scalable? So we embarked on EOS. I'm hoping that many of your listeners know about the entrepreneurial operating system that Gino Wickman developed so many years ago, and that made a tremendous impact. Why? Because we were always so focused on our clients and doing such great work for them that we didn't have the systems and the processes in place to take us more scalable. And in less than 2 years, we doubled our revenue with EOS. So it was real it made a huge impact, and we we live and breathe EOS at forethought.
Stuart Webb [00:15:12]:
Wow. And I do wish more companies like you took on board that message of the fact that it's it's systems processes that actually allow you the time to turn your good work into great work and take you double because I'm working with a number of organizations now that really haven't got that message yet. We're try I'm trying to get to to that message. So I shall have to introduce them more to somebody who's been through the journey of getting processes. Susan, this has been really valuable, and and I and I don't I don't want to sort of miss a great opportunity to get a great question, in. But the trouble is I don't have the last great question. You have the last great question. So I'm gonna turn it over to you.
Stuart Webb [00:15:53]:
I'm gonna get you to do even more work. What's the question that I should have asked you, which I have now failed to do? And, obviously, once you've asked some question, you need to answer it for us.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:16:05]:
Well, I wanna thank you for that question because I think it is very, generous of you and wise, and I appreciate that. What I did in preparation for our show today, I saw that the mission of it's not rocket science is to bring a new idea for building business to growth hungry business leaders and owners who wanna double their profits in under a year.
Stuart Webb [00:16:26]:
Yeah.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:16:27]:
That is a mission. And I did some introspection for myself, and I was like, what did it really take? I think that's a good question to know from someone who's been able to do it. Maybe it wasn't in under a year, but it it's been substantially short in my opinion. And the big takeaway for me was grit. Right? I love that word. It's all about passion and perseverance. And I believe that business owners and leaders, we face so many challenges that it's important for us to have this unyielding courage and this firmness of mind and spirit to get us through those challenging times. For me, I have 5 things that I focus on regularly that I feel your listeners might benefit from.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:17:20]:
And the first is limit your negative thoughts and language. Okay? There are words that never come out of my mouth. You would never hear me say something like we can't afford that. Right? I would change and flip that to maybe that'll be in the future. We'll look at this at another time. I'd love to do it. Now is not right. Right? Just just change that psychology in your mind.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:17:41]:
Never use anything that's negative. Number 2, stretch your comfort zone. Right? Like our our personal trainers tell us this all the time and we're like, oh no, how much further can we go? But if we get out of our comfort zone, learn a new skill or or a new read a book that you might be something that you're not sure about. Speak with somebody who's taken a lesson that's outside of your industry. Maybe just to, to kind of stretch it. Number 3, take care of yourself. I cannot stress this enough. You know, people burn out so easily.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:18:15]:
Like what, what brings you joy? Is it yoga? Is it dancing? Is it gardening? Is it motorcycle riding? Whatever it might be, make sure you are putting yourself first. You cannot help others if you don't put that oxygen mask on you. So take care of yourself, whatever that looks like, nutrition, going to doctor's appointments, getting rest, going to bed early, shutting down the computer, whatever that might be. The 4th one is practice mindfulness.
Stuart Webb [00:18:42]:
Mhmm.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:18:42]:
I meditate every day. You know, being present. When you practice your mindfulness, it supports you for when those unexpected challenges arise. And I can't tell you how valuable it is to have that peace within yourself. And last but not least, as the leader, you are a your people are like a mirror with you. So cultivate hope. Be optimistic. No matter what the situation and we've all been there.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:19:14]:
Right? We've all had situations that were very challenging in the career, in the business. But as the leader, it is your most valuable tool with your team to be hopeful, optimistic, and positive to inspire them for the future. You should believe in your soul that you can do it, and you will be able to do it. And those are my my five tips for my grit that has gotten me through the last 15 years.
Stuart Webb [00:19:37]:
Wow. Fantastic. I and, Susan, I don't know how to finish after those 5 fabulous fabulous messages. In fact, I almost feel bad to start to say what I'm gonna say, but thank you for for bringing bringing such brilliance to that. Listen.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:19:57]:
I'm I'm I'm
Stuart Webb [00:19:58]:
I am just gonna just say we have such fantastic guests with such brilliance. I don't know that I can I can top it? If you want to hear more from people like Suzanne, you need to be on our newsletter distribution because then I send you an email, and I tell you who's coming up. And you can get on, and you can watch us live on LinkedIn, and you can comment on this and learn from this. And, to do that, go to this email, which is to go to this website, which is at link.thecompleteapproach.co.ukforward/newsletter. It's a simple form. Fill it out. You will get an email, and you will know about the brilliance that you can hear from people like Suzanne and participate and ask questions and get the sort of wisdom that Suzanne brought to us. Suzanne, I'm a blown away.
Stuart Webb [00:20:47]:
Thank you so much for those questions. Thank you for everything you've said in the last 5, 5, 10 minutes. It's been it's been so good to hear from you and to hear about what you're doing with forethought, and I really look forward to seeing how it's gonna grow.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:21:01]:
Thank you. And, Stuart, thank you for your show. I know it's a lot of work. You're so organized. You've got a great team. I appreciate how smooth it's been. It was really a joy, and thank you for providing this to the community, the business community. We need it.
Stuart Webb [00:21:14]:
Thank you so much, and we'll see you again soon.
Suzanne Sarsfield Scarano [00:21:17]:
Yes. Bye.
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