Sales and Marketing Excellence: Insights from the 5th Accelerator/Key Executive Learning Day

In the ever-evolving landscape of business, the ability to captivate a broader audience while solidifying a brand's unique identity has become a paramount challenge. To meet this challenge head-on, EO Melbourne put together the 5th Accelerator/Key Executive Learning Day, an exclusive learning event meticulously designed to unravel the mysteries of Sales and Marketing excellence. This event promised to equip participants with cutting-edge strategies to turbocharge their growth.

The event featured entrepreneurs who have not just talked the talk but also walked the walk in the realms of customer acquisition, branding mastery, innovative marketing, and sales wizardry. Attendees had the privilege of delving deep into the experiences and insights of distinguished experts, such as EO Members Marcus Willis, Andrew Mackinnon, and Ryan Spaccavento, as well as sales pro, Luigi Prestinenzi.

Marcus Willis, the visionary Director at Eight Clients, led the charge in developing and overseeing cutting-edge social media strategies. With unparalleled expertise in Facebook and Instagram, his work has illuminated brands across the global landscape. In particular, his mastery has shone brightly in the vibrant marketplace of Australia.

Ryan Spaccavento, the ingenious Founder behind Coffee on Cue, embarked on a remarkable mission in 2013 to redefine the coffee experience in the event space. Today, Coffee on Cue stands as a testament to Ryan's unrelenting commitment to excellence and innovation in hospitality and technology.

Andrew Mackinnon's journey into entrepreneurship began with a move from Melbourne to London, where he honed his skills as a street hustling salesman. Upon returning to Australia, Andrew founded Taboo, a full-scale creative agency known for its non-traditional tactics in creating participation between brands and their audiences. Over the years, Taboo has delivered campaigns for some of the country's biggest brands.

Luigi Prestinenzi, Co-founder of the Growth Forum, brought a unique perspective to the event. Unlike many sales coaches, Luigi is not just a guru but a practitioner in the trenches every day, building relationships, gaining customers, and creating understanding through a value-driven narrative. He has worked with highly respected brands worldwide, including Stripe, Vanilla Soft, F45 Training, Agorapulse, and HubSpot.

The event's agenda dissected various aspects of sales and marketing, providing attendees with invaluable insights:

• Amplifying Customer Base: Strategies to expand your customer base while honing branding and marketing techniques.

• Social Media Mastery: Tailored tactics for leveraging social media as a foundation for business expansion.

• Staying Ahead of the Curve: A close look at the latest tactics and platform updates to outpace competitors.

• Pitching for Success: Crafting and delivering pitches that secure deals in today's competitive landscape.

• Building Trust: Nurturing customer trust and forging long-term relationships.

• Streamlining Sales: Turning the sales process into a finely tuned machine.

• Harnessing Automation: The art of visualization and using sales automation as a powerful tool.

• Lead Conversion: Mastering the art of turning potential into profit.

This exclusive event aimed to spark innovation and reshape business strategies from the ground up, with a specific focus on tools pivotal to the Accelerator Journey. It provided a rare opportunity to learn from those who have achieved remarkable results in the fields of Sales and Marketing.

As such, the 5th Accelerator/Key Executive Learning Day, which was a first in the EO Melbourne chapter, was a success, offering a glimpse into the minds of experts who have not just embraced change but have also thrived in it. Attendees left with a renewed sense of purpose and a toolkit brimming with strategies to propel their businesses forward in the competitive world of sales and marketing. This event was a testament to the enduring power of knowledge and the value of learning from those who have blazed a trail to success.

Please visit the following pages if you’re interested and eligible to join the EO Membership or Accelerator Program. An EO Accelerator Strategy Day and Membership Session will take place on 14 November 2023 for those interested. EO Members can also enrol their 2ICs in the chapter’s Key Executive Program.

All things B Corp

Nowadays, more and more companies are becoming B Corporations, but what exactly is a B Corp?

EO Melbourne recently held a virtual masterclass about B Corp certification. Andrew Davies, CEO of B Lab Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, joined the masterclass as one of the resource speakers and spoke in detail about their organisation, B Lab, and about becoming a B Corp.

“Our vision, as an organisation, is for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economic system for all people on the planet,” Andrew Davies said.

“B Lab is the organisation behind the B Corp Certification or the B Corporations. We started in the US in 2007 and in this part of the world in 2013. We operate as a global network so each B Lab organisation is an independent entity and we look after Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. We’re best known for certifying B Corps or B Corporations,” he further explained.

EO Melbourne Members Rob Roy Rankin, Director at Rankin Business Lawyers, Andrew MacKinnon, Cofounder and CEO of SOON Future Studies, and Hayden Brass, Founder and Managing Director of Zea, whose businesses are already B Corps, shared their experience in going through the B Corp certification process as well as the multiple benefits they gained by becoming B Corp certified.

Andrew Davies also expounded on what entails becoming a B Corp. “They’re businesses that meet very high standards of social and environmental performance. They measure and manage their impact on the environment and community. They work as the suppliers and business partners and they adopt governance models that hold themselves to account for that impact. To be a B Corp, you have to be certified by B Lab. Effectively, it’s about having your performance across these standards verified by our team for what is a pretty rigorous process.”

B Corp is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. In order to achieve certification, a company must:

• Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and passing B Lab’s risk review. Multinational corporations must also meet baseline requirement standards.

• Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.

• Exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.  

Through this virtual event, participants were able to learn a lot of information about B Corp Certification and understand the process, as well as appreciate the benefits that this certification could bring to their businesses based on the testimonials of the panellists.

How about you, have you considered becoming a B Corp? Let us know your thoughts through the comments section below.