By Jeff Tetzlaff

I recently sat in on a meeting of Oak Hill Business Partners.  Of the many topics they discussed, the one that caught my attention concerned how to speak to their prospective client base. It was noted that many sales and motivational speakers focus on helping business teams identify the passion of the prospective client. Clearly, understanding why your client gets out of bed in the morning will help you understand the passion they hold for what they are doing.

The group came to a consensus on a direction they would take. In order to help communicate how the Oak Hill business model benefits the passion of their prospects, they discussed several specific mission statement renditions. The final mission statement will be the guide they use for communicating their capabilities as they align with the passions of their target market.  Sounds excellent!

After the meeting, I had time to reflect on what I observed. As an avid NHL fan, I could not help but think about why hockey players get out of bed. Obviously, if you ask any NHL’er about his mission, he will say, “To win the Cup”. All players on an NHL team recite the same mission. What is interesting is that the team is filled with players filling very different roles. One scores, one defends, one is there for physicality. Each player knows what he is supposed to do in order to win the cup. However, it is each player’s undying passion to hold up that cup that gives the “team” the ability to do what is uncomfortable in order to fulfill their passion.

As business teams we spend time learning what our team colleagues are good at. For some it’s accounting, for others it’s graphic design and for others it may be sales. We have a solid “skill set inventory” of team members and we know what we can deliver to our customers. The challenge question is this:         “What is your team’s Passion Inventory”?

Do you know why each of your team members chose to join together with you? What is the defining passion of the team as a whole? Is it to help people? Become rich?  Or is it to deliver dreams?

When you figure out the common defining passion of a team, the word “team” becomes real, and the effort needed to communicate your business capabilities to the passion of your clients will become much easier. What is your team’s Stanley Cup?”

Oak Hill Business Partners is a professional services firm serving small and mid-sized businesses.  Oak Hill provides Growth Management Services, Mergers & Acquisitions Support, and Turnaround Solutions.

Jeff Tetzlaff is a Senior Account Manager at Nalco Company and a friend of Oak Hill Business Partners.