“We Need to Follow Two Parallel Paths at the Same Time”

Four men looking at a document on a table.

FORMAT: Speech

CLIENT: Rob Ferguson, president, Local Company Group, Winsupply

INDUSTRY: Wholesale distribution

OPPORTUNITY: To motivate and inspire local company presidents and their key employees at the annual National Training Meeting

CHALLENGE: To convince Winsupply leaders to resist complacency by doubling down on what they already do well, and — at the same time — making forward-looking investments (like e-commerce, process discipline and growth initiatives) so they can anticipate what customers want next and avoid becoming the next Blockbuster Video.

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 simple contrast story — Blockbuster vs. Netflix — and then keep coming back to that story as a mirror for Winsupply’s choices.

Use clear, concrete language, direct questions and repetition (“two parallel paths,” “essential,” “we can NEVER get too comfortable”) to hammer home the core message without jargon.

Throughout the remarks, layer in specific success stories and names from the field, rhetorical questions and call-and-response phrasing so the audience can see themselves in the message and feel personally called to act.

SAMPLE: Read excerpts from the speech, which won a 2021 Cicero Speechwriting Award (Honorable Mention)