Cognitive Technology Puts Team Productivity First.
Workforce turnover can be extremely costly and disruptive when it comes to organizational development and the ability to execute. Despite the embedded costs and lost revenue results, management teams often rationalize such churn as business as usual. With the support of their boards, they often focus on the risks of failing to retain their top executives, salespeople, and technologists, while leaving other turnover ignored across the organization.
But what if executives could universally increase the probability of recruiting and developing the right person for the right role — and then obtaining higher performance and retention through innovative lifecycle metrics that integrates personalized training results.
Solving this perennial challenge requires finding and supporting the talent best suited to the team by emulating how the best athletic coaches develop high-performing teams. In most cases, this doesn’t necessarily mean finding “top talent.” Instead, assessments for ideal “fit” from the outset are critical to team composition and ability to learn and perform in high-stress situations.
Adopting a Systems Model for Productivity: Putting the Team First
The traditional point-to-point employment model first analyzes individual skills, competencies, and personality types. Expanding upon this approach can help reduce turnover, as there is little operational or financial leverage in building an organization person by person while other employees continue to come and go through a continuously revolving door.
Instead, a systems model can help with both assessing and developing the high-performing teams that make up organizations. This includes Executive teams, Sales teams, Product
Development teams, Production teams, R&D teams, Implementation teams, and Support teams.
A systems view enables objective assessments that cut through subjective, observational, and historical criteria to focus on team composition and specific roles within the team. From this vantage, neurodiversity matters and importantly, lower-level, and mid-level employees are critical team players that also impact execution and results, even if they’re commonly overlooked or ignored in project planning and corporate development.
With Reflective Performance, Inc., our cognitive assessment centered in Executive Function measurement helps optimize greater productivity with attention to the sum of all parts.
Creating System Change: Driving Performance from the Human Source
Human factors are widely understood as determinants of business success, yet they are rarely managed systematically through objective data. Advances in cognitive science have created a new method to measure performance across the employment lifecycle through Executive Function skills in terms of cognitive functioning and mental acuity. Reflective Performance, Inc.’s Reflect / EF software app measures the brain’s responses to provide a score around four fundamental measures: a composite Executive Function score and underlying measures of Working Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, and Impulse Control.
These scores represent how people think, act, and make decisions — and can be analyzed based on norms developed for diverse employee groups. As a result, they provide an enhanced measure of performance improvement at the root-cause level across the workforce, with even greater success than content knowledge or experience. They develop innovative insight into how employees perform in the moment-critical in team relationships, customer interactions, and unsupervised operations.
Executive Function Scores.
Systems Analysis.
- Team Composition, Roles, and Dynamics.
- Focused KPI Correlations (Operations and Employment Lifecycle.
- Employee Awareness and Self-Improvement.
- Team Improvement.
High ROI and Higher Profitability
Human-centered Systems Design and Augmented Intelligence
AI is powerful for assessing performance yet best applied in combination with a more forward AI: Augmented Intelligence.
When organizations are viewed as a human-centered system, advanced cognitive measurement creates two transformative performance levers:
Performance understanding is moved upstream to the mind-body connection. This Productivity Multiplier is developed by corporate talent and teams working in unison at the highest efficiency across the business out to customers
Achieving these competitive advantages starts with SaaS measurement through a 5-minute game for a greater understanding of human factors, then analyzed through a systems model.
Reflective Performance, Inc.’s Executive Function analytics further unlock solutions for workplaces to address turnover by supporting the right person in the right role while doing so in a way that’s mutually beneficial for job prospect, employee, and employer alike.
Corporate leaders can be empowered from upstream measurement of cognitive functioning to develop clearer root cause analysis across domains and team by team. They are then better equipped to develop their organization for peak performance and achieve operational excellence by viewing corporate structure and systems in new, human-centered ways.
John G. Carlson, © 2025, all rights reserved jc******@**********************nc.com
Clover
Clover is the new installment in guest writer David Griffith’s Muddy Boots blog series.
Clover is our third dog, first female and second Westie, although our first was a Cairn/Westie mix. She was born on April 21, 2019, and landed in Solebury in July of that year. She shares a birthday with my son and his daughter and our anniversary. She loves to walk, swim, and hang with her dog buddies and is a champ when she travels. Early on, she decided that the best place to sleep was under my wife’s desk, where she had a heat vent and dog bed, and at night, the end of our bed, which she discovered as a puppy. She never had an accident and had no trouble telling me when she needed to go out.
Westies were first bred in the Highlands of West Scotland by farmers who needed a white dog, small enough to go down vermin burrows and tough enough to handle them quickly. White so they wouldn’t be mistaken for a groundhog and not get shot, and with short, muscular tails, they could be pulled out if they needed any help. Please make no mistake: they were bred to be working dogs. Clover patrols our three acres and handles the deer, rabbits, squirrels, and the occasional woodchucks, aka groundhogs, who underestimate her speed and jaw strength. I have seen her handle them, which does not go long into the first round.
Her other job is to be, on occasion, my work buddy. Both when I was working at ECS and now with the Delaware Valley Family Business Center as a senior advisor. At ECS, I would unleash her, and she would make the rounds. Having a bad day, she could change a mood quickly with a wag of the tail and letting you give her a belly rub. If she stayed in someone’s office, I knew I needed to check in and see why Clover was concerned. She rarely had a misread. At DV, when we meet with a client, she breaks the ice better than anyone I know; she sleeps under the meeting table, bringing a sense of calm and friendliness into the meeting. I have seen her when someone needs comfort and has the sense to spend time with them. All I know is people feel better.
We can learn a lot about life from our dogs. We would do well to follow their lead. Check-in with people to see whether they have dog treats or not. There is more to business than business; it is about relationships, checking in, being present, and listening to their challenges. Therein lies the ability to coach and help bring solutions. To ease pain, you first must find it. I am convinced that Clover listens; sometimes, that is all people need.
That and someone to keep the rabbits out of the garden and sometimes other places.
Human-Centered Productivity for a Changed Business World
Executive Function: Decision-Making Centered in the Mind
Executive Function (EF) refers to the neurocognitive skills that regulate the attention needed for focus and goal-directed problem-solving, perspective-taking, and emotional regulation.
Measuring EF through RPI’s assessment software enables an upstream driver to transform human and organizational productivity. Based on 20+ years of scientific research to inform product development, RPI’s app is designed to be easy to use while connecting EF skills to workforce performance.
To date, applications have included workforce upskilling, team development, and performance assessment and improvement. RPI’s SaaS technology delivers a seamless assessment and improvement experience.
Everchanging Business Landscape Demands Executive Function Skills
The urgency to address EF measurement and skills development has been exacerbated by:
Measuring EF skills and supporting the growth of individual and team EF skills helps reduce employee risks, improves well-being and productivity, and generates substantial ROI.
Objective Measurement Leverages the Human Productivity Lifecycle
EF can be correlated to human performance factors to develop a more productive workforce. Reflected in these example measurements of EF is a wide dispersion of results along a declining normative curve for participants between 20 and 60 years old. Positive outliers above the curve demonstrate how cognitive skills can remain strong while others could benefit from maintaining or improving cognitive skills at any age.
Reflect/EF: Unlocking Productivity in 5 Minutes with a Measurement App
Reflect/EF, RPI’s game-like app, provides a quick, easy to use online experience. Introduced by a video to improve the participant’s foundational awareness of Executive Function (EF), the game then begins by presenting a series of challenges that progress in the level of difficulty. The game is deceptively simple yet reveals thinking power through a scientifically validated and proven measurement that enables improvement in self-management skills to benefit all areas of life.
Executive Function Measures Higher-Level Thinking
RPI’s objectively scores EF measurement directly from data obtained within the Reflect/EF app’s results. It is not observational, nor self-scored. Participants obtain scores for EF and three of the cognitive root skills that underlie EF. These scores anticipate human factors across any business.
It is not so much what participants know that matters in the app’s measurement. It is whether they can apply their knowledge in the moment, which is designed to model the intensity and pace of modern workplaces and life in general, including high-stress situations and other diverse environments.
RPI’s Assessment Delivers Improvement for Individuals and Teams
RPI’s EF measurement is applicable to all adult ages, and useful for life success or work performance. It has also been integrated into a seamless online improvement experience delivered by laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Participants receive a read-out of productivity aids based on assessed cognitive strengths and weaknesses, which can be enhanced through EF skills training.
Is the Right Person in the Right Role?
Cognitive Technology Puts Team Productivity First.
Workforce turnover can be extremely costly and disruptive when it comes to organizational development and the ability to execute. Despite the embedded costs and lost revenue results, management teams often rationalize such churn as business as usual. With the support of their boards, they often focus on the risks of failing to retain their top executives, salespeople, and technologists, while leaving other turnover ignored across the organization.
But what if executives could universally increase the probability of recruiting and developing the right person for the right role — and then obtaining higher performance and retention through innovative lifecycle metrics that integrates personalized training results.
Solving this perennial challenge requires finding and supporting the talent best suited to the team by emulating how the best athletic coaches develop high-performing teams. In most cases, this doesn’t necessarily mean finding “top talent.” Instead, assessments for ideal “fit” from the outset are critical to team composition and ability to learn and perform in high-stress situations.
Adopting a Systems Model for Productivity: Putting the Team First
The traditional point-to-point employment model first analyzes individual skills, competencies, and personality types. Expanding upon this approach can help reduce turnover, as there is little operational or financial leverage in building an organization person by person while other employees continue to come and go through a continuously revolving door.
Instead, a systems model can help with both assessing and developing the high-performing teams that make up organizations. This includes Executive teams, Sales teams, Product
Development teams, Production teams, R&D teams, Implementation teams, and Support teams.
A systems view enables objective assessments that cut through subjective, observational, and historical criteria to focus on team composition and specific roles within the team. From this vantage, neurodiversity matters and importantly, lower-level, and mid-level employees are critical team players that also impact execution and results, even if they’re commonly overlooked or ignored in project planning and corporate development.
With Reflective Performance, Inc., our cognitive assessment centered in Executive Function measurement helps optimize greater productivity with attention to the sum of all parts.
Creating System Change: Driving Performance from the Human Source
Human factors are widely understood as determinants of business success, yet they are rarely managed systematically through objective data. Advances in cognitive science have created a new method to measure performance across the employment lifecycle through Executive Function skills in terms of cognitive functioning and mental acuity. Reflective Performance, Inc.’s Reflect / EF software app measures the brain’s responses to provide a score around four fundamental measures: a composite Executive Function score and underlying measures of Working Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, and Impulse Control.
These scores represent how people think, act, and make decisions — and can be analyzed based on norms developed for diverse employee groups. As a result, they provide an enhanced measure of performance improvement at the root-cause level across the workforce, with even greater success than content knowledge or experience. They develop innovative insight into how employees perform in the moment-critical in team relationships, customer interactions, and unsupervised operations.
Executive Function Scores.
Systems Analysis.
High ROI and Higher Profitability
Human-centered Systems Design and Augmented Intelligence
AI is powerful for assessing performance yet best applied in combination with a more forward AI: Augmented Intelligence.
When organizations are viewed as a human-centered system, advanced cognitive measurement creates two transformative performance levers:
Performance understanding is moved upstream to the mind-body connection. This Productivity Multiplier is developed by corporate talent and teams working in unison at the highest efficiency across the business out to customers
Achieving these competitive advantages starts with SaaS measurement through a 5-minute game for a greater understanding of human factors, then analyzed through a systems model.
Reflective Performance, Inc.’s Executive Function analytics further unlock solutions for workplaces to address turnover by supporting the right person in the right role while doing so in a way that’s mutually beneficial for job prospect, employee, and employer alike.
Corporate leaders can be empowered from upstream measurement of cognitive functioning to develop clearer root cause analysis across domains and team by team. They are then better equipped to develop their organization for peak performance and achieve operational excellence by viewing corporate structure and systems in new, human-centered ways.
John G. Carlson, © 2025, all rights reserved jc******@**********************nc.com
Reflections on 70, a Muddy Boots Blog.
In October, I turned 70, retired from ECS, became an independent consultant and senior advisor to Delaware Valley Family Business Center, and decided to continue my board work with the for-profit and nonprofit world.
I also committed to my partner and spouse of 45 years that we would travel more, walk more, and I would go to the gym. The dog and I are working out that I am home for lunch. I’m not quite there with Jacqui yet, but we are figuring it out. I also plan to fish more as I have learned that fishing is not about the fish.
I am the youngest of three brothers and have seen what lies ahead through them. For the record, I am not a fan of “retirement.” I am a fan of staying active, staying involved in causes that interest me, and answering the call to service in ways that bring value.
I am looking forward to Jacqui and I doing more of this together. Retirement means we have the time to focus on what matters.
I am also learning that sharing our experiences and lessons with the younger folks entering the system is the best gift. To convey that your vote, your voice in the political process, and how you spend your time, treasure, and talent matters. That why we face many challenges; it is not an option to sit on the sidelines. Teddy Roosevelt was right. It is the man (or woman) in the Arena that counts. We need everyone in the Arena. Otherwise, the individuals on the far right and left will decide our future. Make no mistake: freedom around the world is at risk.
What matters is that we put Grandchildren over greed. That we look beyond our own backyard and see that poverty, freedom, and the environment are forces we ignore at not only our peril but that of future generations. Greed is a nasty word as it hits both at home and away. One would hope that the nation founded almost 250 years ago could look to our founding documents, live into its call to action, and give current credence.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” And “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Establish Justice, promote the general welfare, free speech and press, redress of grievances. Quite a punch list, but not if we don’t all get in the Arena and we hold ourselves and our leaders accountable. That would put Grandchildren over Greed. If we do not, go to Arlington or Gettysburg National Cemetery and see the cost.
So much for retirement.
How to Track the Sales Performance of Your Reps
The backbone of any equipment dealer is their sales reps. They are responsible for both taking leads and prospects over the finish line and converting them into customers, as well as nurturing current customer relationships and encouraging them to keep buying from you. Without an effective overall program and sales team, you won’t create new customers, and current ones will
end up leaving you for the competition. The Sales Rep works with his team which includes the marketing, equipment, parts, service and, and support team.
Measuring sales performance is especially important for ensuring that your reps consistently meet their goals and that any issues are fixed as soon as possible. That’s where our partner, Zintoro, comes in. They will complete a sales performance analysis, so you can see how well your individual team members are doing, as well as identifying the target markets, products and the needed support teams at each branch and departments
What is a sales performance analysis?
Zintoro’s analysis will give you an accurate picture of how well your reps are hitting their targets for key sales metrics:
You can also see where they are falling short in comparison to other reps and have a better idea of what the issue may be. For example, if their initial conversion rate is high but retention rate is low, then it might mean that they are not following up effectively or consistently. Their sales metrics reports show exactly who you need to follow up with and when. Individual reps can also see how they perform compared to their colleagues, which can help motivate them to improve and work with their support team and branch departments to improve results.
Why understanding performance matters for your business
Sales rep tracking is important, because it provides managers a quick view of who is not performing and the steps that can be taken to make it better. Recognizing the most critical sales metrics helps managers set benchmarks for the team and then quickly see whether individual salespeople are achieving them or not. Without tracking sales performance, you won’t have any idea if your team is accomplishing what is needed to meet plan, or if there is an issue that must be fixed to support the sales team.
The earlier you recognize and understand sales metrics, the more time you’ll have to make corrections, put team members on action plans if required, and solve problems before you start losing customers. Zintoro’s forecasts for the future 12 months are consistently >96% accurate.
Request your sales performance analysis today!
Once you know the sales metrics and how well your team is doing, Zintoro will identify what actions to take that will have the most impact on customer engagement, customer retention, and growth. The suggested actions tell you exactly what needs to be done to improve sales performance.
If you want to start sales rep tracking and improving performance, or you have a question about which sales metrics are the most important, contact Zintoro today.
The Discovery of Hawaii
The discovery of Hawaii by the ancient Polynesians marked the conclusion of a 2,000-mile voyage, and one of history’s greatest adventures.
by Julian Karas
On this fourth of July I thought it appropriate to bring a bit of Hawaii to all of you.
The discovery of Hawaii was no accident. The Polynesians needed vision, courage, and all their maritime skills to make it happen. Travelling across more than 2,000 miles of ocean in open boats, they found themselves in a tropical paradise like no other. They wasted no time building a thriving civilization of their own.
They Wondered What Was Over The Horizon
Because of overpopulation, many people were having a hard time making a go of it in their traditional islands in the Marquesas (French Polynesia). They wondered if a more prosperous land lay over the horizon. As Polynesians, they were accustomed to travelling long distances by boat. After a while, they got tired of wondering what lay across the sea, and decided there was only one way to find out.
How They Navigated
The Polynesians set sail northward in their double-hulled canoes. Sailing without instruments, they found their way by observing the position of the stars, ocean swells, bird behavior, and cloud patterns. This practice gave them the ability to find their way to land without seeing it off in the distance, a traditional Polynesian art passed down from generation to generation.
They Didn’t Come Empty-Handed
The mariners loaded up their canoes with the plants and animals they needed to create a proper ecosystem: taro, breadfruit, sweet potato, bananas, sugarcane, coconut, as well as pigs, chickens, dogs, and sometimes rats. All of this enabled them to quickly get down to business and replicate their original homeland in a new environment. When the pioneers finally came ashore on the black sands of a Hawaiian beach, they realized they had discovered a paradise beyond anything they’d ever dreamt of.
Initial Settlement And Land Use
The most recent carbon-dating places the arrival of the Polynesians in Hawaii at around 1000 to 1200 AD. Not surprisingly, the newcomers preferred to settle near coasts and fertile valleys, in communities built on agriculture and fishing. They cultivated terraced taro paddies and elaborate fishponds, making ingenious use of the land from mountain to sea. The new society struck a balance between sustainability and their own needs for survival.
Social And Political Structures
Hawaiian society evolved into a complex class hierarchy from chiefs through priests, artisans, commoners, all the way down to slaves. Temples to the various Hawaiian gods and a series of ongoing community rituals provided the structure for traditional Hawaiian spiritual beliefs.
A Culture That Grew Up In Paradise
Isolated from the outside world, Hawaii’s culture flourished. All kinds of stories, chants, and ceremonies galvanized the islanders with a shared identity. Skilled artisans carved canoes, built mighty temples, and crafted tools with frenetic energy. All this time native agriculture and fisheries provided the bounty to feed a hungry civilization. That civilization was sustainable and resilient. They knew all the native plants, seasons, and the environment inside out.
The Europeans Arrive To An Uneasy Welcome
Contact with the Europeans of Captain Cook’s voyage in 1778 brought inevitable change, but the Hawaiians held on tight to the memory of their own navigational heritage. In the 1970s, the Polynesian Voyaging Society built a traditional canoe to revive their system of star-based navigation. Its triumphant voyage to Tahiti in 1976 proved their method of overseas exploration was viable, and not a one-off accident. It was a renaissance transcending time, and gave Hawaiians a justifiable pride in their indigenous knowledge.
They Did It Their Way
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Hawaii. Polynesian settlement is a story of remarkable courage, maritime skill, ecological planning, cooperation, and smarts. The early voyagers traversed tremendous distances, recreated a complete ecosystem, and forged a fascinating civilization on the Pacific’s most isolated islands. It is a paradise that has endured to become America’s 50th state.
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Gratitude
This June, I experienced the gift and lesson of gratitude firsthand.
I had reason to check in with my doctor, and he ran a quick echocardiogram. He picked up something and suggested I see my cardiologist. I have long known I have a prolapsed mitral valve, and I get it checked regularly. We determined it was time for the valve to be repaired or replaced. After meeting with the surgeon, we scheduled a repair for late June and initiated all the preoperative testing.
This caused some changes in our travel plans, and my wife and travel friends all understood, and we moved on. Then, 6 days before surgery, I got T-boned in the Honda CR-V in the driver’s
door, and the car was totaled. I wind up in the emergency room with a broken collarbone and a very sore left side. You would think of the bruises, that I had had a few too many, and went to a terrible tattoo artist.
I am fortunate it was not worse for me or for the others in the car that hit me.
My point in this post is what I have experienced and what I want to share, suggesting that no one should take it for granted.
First, I extend my gratitude to the first responders. Second, for my spouse and family, who immediately put their arms around me. Third, for my church and friends who showed up on the news. Calls, emails, cards, meals, prayers, rides. I am very reminded of why we live where we do and the support that flows through this place. I am also grateful for the level of support and responsiveness of the Graham Company, Chubb, Highmark, Penn Medicine, and Faulkner Honda, who have made my care and car replacement a priority. My valve job is rescheduled for when I am healed, forecasted for August.
Community is everything; it has been a long time since I have been on the receiving end. A lesson to have plans and support in place when you need it and not take it for granted. My work at ECS, where many of the people we serve lack such a network, is very much on my mind.
I am grateful for my network, friends, and family, as well as the support I have received and the opportunities that will come with my next medical adventure. I am also reminded that, for many, such support does not exist, and for that, we all have more work to do.
Gratitude, have it and commit to creating it for others who may not have the same network that we do. Support ECS in Philadelphia, Fisherman’s Mark in Lambertville, or other organizations with similar focuses.
And please, we have enough meals in the freezer.
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Transforming the Equipment and Dealership Industries
A Journey of Innovation and Education
At the heart of the equipment and dealership industries, change is a constant, and adaptability is key. George Keen and I have exemplified this journey by transitioning into consulting roles, each from distinct backgrounds. George starting in 1986, one made the leap from the world of dealer software, with MiniTrak specializing in forklift dealer software, while I found inspiration in teaching and swimming, ultimately joining the Caterpillar industry as a consultant. Our stories are testaments to the diverse pathways leading to impactful consulting careers.
Visionaries like Clint Murchison and Raymond Jarrell were pushing boundaries in many different industries are pushing boundaries with the acquisition of EBS. This was a dealer management software business which started within the Caterpillar Dealer Data Processing business. The there are initiatives like Learning Without Scars, the accredited online educational platform championing independent learning through the Socratic method. Another visionary was Bob Curry’s who started in banking and moved through to consulting> Bob aligned with global efforts to enhance dealership performance, but challenges continue to remain, especially with leadership transitions and digital transformation.
Navigating Leadership and Digital Transformation
As the industry grapples with leadership transitions, the resistance to change among seasoned individuals and limited opportunities for emerging talents pose significant challenges. Despite the push for digital transformation, many companies find themselves digitizing old processes rather than innovating, raising concerns about sustainable leadership and effective knowledge transfer in dealerships.
Educational Innovation and AI Integration
On the educational front, a groundbreaking website utilizes AI-driven avatars to offer certifications and structured curricula, addressing the pressing need for truck driver certification, particularly among Spanish-speaking communities.
In a rapidly evolving landscape, we’re seeing minimal operational improvements, as many companies are only digitizing existing processes. Further we can clearly see the looming talent shortage in dealership leadership. This is raising some critical questions about the future of these industries. However, innovative solutions are not just on the horizon, they are everywhere around us.
At Learning Without Scars we’re thrilled to announce an educational website that leverages AI to offer certifications and structured curricula in partnership with colleges. It addresses key challenges, such as truck driver certification for Spanish-speaking individuals, with plans to establish what we call Centers of Excellence. Steve Johnson is our Director of Education. Steve was the AED Foundation executive responsible for the certification of technical schools for equipment dealers. His goal is to have twenty Centers of Excellence across the U.S and Caada by January 2026.
Under the visionary leadership of Steve Clegg, founder of Zintoro, tools are being developed and implemented that can evaluate market coverage and customer retention across the equipment world. The combination of skills and knowledge leads directly to customer retention in dealership operations. This is no longer an intuitive evaluation, but an objective evaluation based on data. This has led to initiatives like the “virtual garage.” This garage allows the connection of businesses with skilled professionals.
The shift towards online learning systems, revenue-sharing models, and accessibility features, for instance a dyslexic font is making education more inclusive than ever. We’re also excited to announce upcoming certification programs and our expansion into Europe and Asia Pacific, with a focus on multilingual translations.
Join us on this transformative journey. Together, let’s shape the future of the equipment and dealership industries, paving the way for innovation, sustainability, and global collaboration.
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Making a Difference
Making a Difference is a new installment in the Muddy Boots series by David Griffith.
“All that evil needs is for a few good men and women to remain silent, inactive, or look the other way.” In our tradition and those of most others, we are asked to respect the dignity of every human being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our founding documents cite that all men (people) are created equal and have the “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
So, how are we doing, folks?
In my work at ECS we defined the path out of poverty as three things.
Living well is about having access to opportunity and the ability to take that opportunity and thrive. Indeed, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Why is our public/private policy so contrary to the above? Why would we not want 30% more consumers in America?
Also, I note that unless you are a native American, we are all immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. Our diversity has been and is a core American attribute that has grown our country and allowed the nation to thrive. I note we need three million immigrants a year to balance our demand for labor.
Finally, the big picture here, folks, is that our planet is rapidly changing. Most of the scientific community tells us we are at the tipping point with climate change. Ask the folks who live in Kentucky these days about climate change.
Given the above, why is there silence or denial among many of our political leadership on these issues, and indeed among many good men and women?
Why is there a lack of support for those who do speak the truth and call for thoughtful and necessary change? Where is the long-term vision and leadership on a national and, I can argue, international level?
Could it be that we only “speak” our baptismal covenants and the equivalent in other traditions? Could it be that we only “read” the words of our founding documents?
My life’s work, be it at Modern, an employee-owned company, or ECS, a regional nonprofit challenging poverty, or as Chairman of the Academy of Natural Sciences, a leader in the study of our natural world, and in particular the issues of clean and safe water through the Patrick Center, has been and is about putting Grandchildren over greed.
I would be the first to say I/we could do more. I think we would all say that. My question is, are we part of the silence that lets evil thrive? I note we need to do more than speak, more than read the good works, or fail to look at our legacy to our children and grandchildren.
I do not view this as a red or blue issue. I view it as a citizen, a son, a father, a husband, a grandfather, a trustee, and a business owner, calling for long-term leadership across the board. Just look at the trends and the real facts. Time is not our friend.
Let us look at the data and make the words of our traditions and founders real. A hundred years from now, let them say we spoke up, we were accountable, and we made a real difference.
No more silence.
Why Distance Matters
Why Aren’t Customers Working with You? Check Your Geographic Market.
Equipment dealers will never be able to work with every single potential customer that their marketing targets or that their sales team pursues. But if you are having trouble converting prospects who otherwise seem like a perfect customer for your business, then the problem might not be anything that you can control. It could simply be how far away they are located from you because the distance from your location to the customer is important.
The distance for your geographic market is one of the key business metrics to consider, because it will tell you the maximum distance that customers are generally willing to travel to work with you. For the majority of equipment dealers, that distance is 60 miles. Farther than that, it takes too long for your field service trucks to respond when a machine goes down, so customers will try to find a dealer who is closer to them.
Why you should pay attention to your distance of geographic market
For equipment dealers and other brick and mortar businesses, understanding your geographic market is critical, and it is one of your most important business metrics. Beyond that range, customers are very unlikely to work with you, which means that targeting them for sales and marketing is a waste of time and resources. Dealers should only be targeting prospects within that 60-mile radius, so they are not spending money trying to convert impossible prospects.
Instead of spreading your efforts too thin, use geographic market insights to zero in on the people most likely to say yes. Focusing your time, budget, and energy on leads within your true service area will increase efficiency and improve sales and marketing results.
How to understand your distance for geographic market
Although the average geographic market for equipment dealers is about 60 miles, your specific distance could vary based on local conditions. To learn your dealership’s maximum customer range, you have to look at where your current customers are coming from. Once you map out that footprint, you’ll be able to spot patterns, identify your primary service zone, and determine whether distance is limiting your growth.
That’s where our partner company, Zintoro, comes in. They can conduct a market analysis that determines how large your potential market is and exactly what the distance is for your maximum reach.
You can’t change your physical location, but you can change how you use location data. Treat geographic distance as a critical input into your business strategy, just like revenue, margins, or service KPIs. Use it to build a smart, localized marketing approach that leads to better targeted campaigns, more efficient resource use, and stronger customer relationships.
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