Charlie, The Savior is Born

Wait, what?

I’m sure you’re thinking, “Jerry. It’s Christmas. It’s CHRIST, the Savior is Born.”

Yes. You’re right. And, Merry Christmas BTW.

But, Charlie was also born. I’d like to introduce you to him.

That’s CEO Charlie on the left. He’s a well-crafted figment of my imagination – like another jolly ole fella. No, I’m not losing my mind. (And, yes, I spent $50 on Fiverr having him custom drawn.)

I’m pulling the curtain back a little bit for you. Yes, I do the things I encourage you to do…like write a 2022 Plan.

CEO Charlie is the Avatar I use to speak to my audience. When I’m writing, I’m thinking about Charlie. When I’m giving feedback, I’m thinking about Charlie. When I’m being interviewed, I’m thinking about Charlie.

And, as I get ready to launch my talk show in January, “Best Places to Lead,” he’s who I obsess about.

I obsess over, “What does Charlie need to know to grow a business he’s damn proud of and gets him what the fulfillment he craves?”

The Power of an Avatar

In short, an avatar is a detailed description of your ideal customer. You may have only considered an avatar for marketing. It’s much bigger. You can use an avatar to drive your marketing, sales training, operational decisions and strategy in your business. I do.

Instead of serving a nebulous “customer,” you’re serving CEO Charlie – a living, breathing human everyone can rally around. You give your people a handle to grab onto when “serving the customer.” Suddenly, CEO Charlie makes decisions easier. “What would Charlie think about this?”

An avatar creates a massive advantage for you and your company. It’s an effective tool to galvanize who (and how) you are serving. It focuses you to make bigger bets on fewer things. The more focused you are on your ideal customer the easier it is to speak to him (or her) and attract him (or her) to your business.

When you try to serve everyone, you serve no one. (read that again)

Everything I know about Charlie

Here’s everything I know about CEO Charlie (yes, get this specific):

CEO Charlie is 43 years old, has been married for 11 years with two kids and a red golden retriever. He lives in a $450,000 suburban 3 bedroom house and drives a four year old Ford F-150. It’s nice, but he really wants the 5 bedroom, $750,000 bigger house on the other side of town and has been eyeing the new Rivian truck. That’s his dream. He wants to put down the deposit, but he’s gun shy his business will be able to afford it.

His wife Sara wants to stop working to look after ten year old Billy and eight year old Suzie. Time is moving so fast and he doesn’t feel like he’s been present for his kids. Half the time he doesn’t even make it home for dinner. He usually gets home for bedtime. He’s always worried how he’s balancing work and personal life. Am I doing enough?

He started his company seven years ago and came out of the gates quickly, but Charlie is stressed out because he hasn’t been able to grow his $5MM business of 20 people for the last few years. He was a high-flyer in Corporate America and has struggled with “not being able to figure it out.” The business has good years and so-so years, but creating a predictable growth plan has eluded him. He’s always looking to improve margins and cash flow because quite frankly the business doesn’t spin out much cash – or at least as much as CEO Charlie thinks it should. Last year, he had to put $200K into the business to keep it moving. Navigating COVID has been particularly hard. Unfortunately, he faces employee churn and just lost his General Manager. He isn’t quite sure how to ignite sales to the next level to make the money he wants – and isn’t very proud of the business he’s built because employees never stay for long. He feels like he’s “right there” in getting his business to the next level and creating real success.

CEO Charlie is a high learner and loves listening to Podcasts when he’s working out. It’s his one guilty pleasure he has left. He used to be a star athlete in high school, but he isn’t where he wants to be because he’s always on the run, sacrificing food choices for time and isn’t as consistent with his workouts as he’d like. His favorite Podcast is “How I Built This” and dreams of being a guest one day. If only he could have that breakthrough…

How Charlie Helps

Getting clear on CEO Charlie helps me drive decisions:

• CEO Charlie is why I deliver InPossible on Saturday morning. Every other day he’s busy and today he will have time to read it with his coffee or at his kids’ games.
• CEO Charlie is why I’m launching a Show about building compelling companies that outperform. Because leading is lonely. He wants more, but isn’t sure the path. And, we can get inspiration on our drive time.
• CEO Charlie is the reason I’ll have group coaching next year. He needs a mastermind group of peers who understand how frustrating and stressful business can be in an uncertain and rapidly changing world. It would offset the loneliness and would help him to get back to a place of fun where’s he’s proud of the business he owns.
• CEO Charlie is why I do Office Hours. Because sometimes he’s stuck and his employees don’t understand or can’t help. He needs another perspective. And, he loves seeing his Office Hours friends each week.
• CEO Charlie is the reason I’ve launched The Leadership Gap. He knows he needs to develop his leaders, but doesn’t have time to do it himself. He knows investing in his people is the greatest investment he can make…but sometimes forgets to actually do it. I can take that stress away and help improve his business by improving his people.

Get Clear on “Your” Charlie

Do you see how being crystal clear on who you serve can drive marketing, sales and operational strategy and decisions for your business?

From your seat, are there any other ways I could help CEO Charlie in 2022?