“This Year, We Need to Get Better Faster So We Can Move to the Next Level”

FORMAT: Speech

CLIENT: Rob Ferguson, president, Local Company Group

INDUSTRY: Wholesale distribution

OPPORTUNITY: To address every local company president in the organization and use a personal turnaround story, the latest numbers and real peer examples to push local owners to “get better faster”

EVENT: Winsupply Strategic Planning Meetings, Nashville, Tennessee, March 2020

CHALLENGE: To confront local company presidents with the uncomfortable truth that “average” performance is no longer acceptable and motivate them to use Winsupply’s ownership model, tools and partnerships to get better faster so they can move their local companies to the next level.

SERVICES: Speech strategy/alignment to company strategy, planning, interviewing, research, message and framework development, speechwriting, line editing, executive speech coaching

APPROACH: Build the speech around a personal turnaround story that mirrors the presidents’ situations, and then use that story as a through-line to justify the speaker’s challenge, the data he shares and his calls to action.

Open with a vivid failure moment, name specific people who helped and add short success stories (e-commerce adopters, individuals, legacy founders) to show what “better faster” looks like every day.

Rely on contrast (record year vs. hidden problems), concrete numbers, audience-inclusive language (“you,” “we”), and rhythmic repetition of phrases like “always another level,” “get better faster,” and “how bad do you want it?” to drive momentum and urgency.

Structure the middle part of the speech around simple, memorable areas of focus (“equity partnerships,” “local autonomy,” “support services”; “asking hard questions, becoming great wholesalers, learning the math”) so presidents walk away knowing exactly what to do next.

SAMPLE: Read excerpts from the speech

“I felt the meeting went really great today. Just wanted to say I could not have done it without you!!!!!!!”

THE SPEAKER
Rob Ferguson, Winsupply