Business Builder's Playbook

David Bush
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Weekly

Welcome to the Business Builders playbook, the show that breaks down the systems and strategies behind Predictable Revenue Growth to win in business. In each episode, we're diving into the proven strategies that separate the winners who scale from the losers who fail.

  1. 14h ago

    Chris Dawson and Walt Brown—The 7 Critical Needs of a Healthy Organization: How to Build More Trust, Accountability, & Engagement

    How many great employees does it take to cancel out one unhappy one? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Chris Dawson, head coach for Seven Critical Needs and a former high school English teacher and football coach, and Walt Brown, an EOS Implementer and the creator of the Seven Critical Needs framework. Walt's answer comes from Gallup's statistics: one for one. Walt and Chris explain that many of the "bad whos" in a company are the right people with a need nobody is meeting, and they show how to find that need, fix it, and measure the result. Walt shares how the framework grew out of his Gallup training and focus groups with millennials, and Chris walks through the seven needs: belong, believe, accountable, measured, heard, developed, and balanced. They cover the BITE index (buy-in, trust, and engagement), the twice-a-year survey behind it, and a distribution company whose score moved from 42 to 62 while its bottom line doubled. Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode: - How to measure buy-in, trust, and engagement with the BITE index, which subtracts the percentage of negative survey responses from the percentage of positive ones. - Why one disengaged employee offsets one engaged employee, and how to tell a wrong fit from the right person with an unmet need. - How to check which of the seven needs is missing when someone is frustrated, before you build a new tool. - How to describe the seven needs as promises your organization makes, your people accept, and your systems keep. - How to make people feel heard without turning every decision into a vote, and when an "I'm not heard" complaint is really a belief problem. - How to run the survey twice a year, pick one to three issues, choose a proven tool, assign accountability, and share the plan with everyone who took the survey. - Why scores stall when leaders act on feedback and never tell their team about it. - Why accountability scores usually drop on the first survey, and why you should keep the questions the same. - What a score moving from 42 to 62 did for a distribution business: double the bottom line, gross margin up from 29% to 32.2%, and $500,000 freed up in inventory. - Why a healthy team outperforms a team of smart people over time. Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.BusinessBuildersPlaybook.com/Chris-Dawson-Walt-Brown

    Chris Dawson and Walt Brown—The 7 Critical Needs of a Healthy Organization: How to Build More Trust, Accountability, & Engagement

  2. 15h ago

    Jacob McGill—The Growth Engine: 7 Strategies to Turn More Traffic, Leads, & Follow-Up Into Revenue

    What happens when a $60,000 job goes to the ninth company that picks up the phone? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Jacob McGill, founder and CEO of 8020 Ops, and BDR AI co-owner Jeff Bush for a live Q and A on the growth engine behind predictable revenue. Jacob shares what he sees inside client businesses, from an automotive client with 6,000 past customers and no second follow-up to a voice agent that responds to a lead in 32 seconds. Jeff brings 30 years of sales and lead generation experience, including a year spent raising his closing ratio from 7% to 8% on a $200,000 monthly lead budget. Together they cover where revenue leaks between marketing and sales and where AI belongs in the process. Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode: - How to find the revenue leaks at every step of the customer journey, from first lead to closed sale. - How to cut speed to lead with a voice agent that responds in 32 seconds and hands the conversation to a human. - How to track the numbers Jacob and Jeff watch, including cost per lead, cost of acquisition, and the line between a marketing-qualified and a sales-qualified lead. - How to put a voice web agent on your website, why it can train itself from your site in about 30 seconds, and the 37% increase in conversion Jacob reports. - How to build an ideal client profile from your current customers, and why Jeff calls most intent data smoke and mirrors. - How to give each ideal client profile its own campaign and speak to what that buyer has already researched. - Why system and process come before technology, and what IKEA's AI rollout shows about moving call center staff into design consultant roles. - How to automate follow-up so humans spend their time on the sales call, the way Jacob reaches a 96% show rate on ad campaigns. - How to sequence your build: CRM first, voice agent second, then AI assistants inside individual roles, with a security check before anyone vibe codes a tool. - How to run a 90-day plan around your list, your offer, and your timing, and test 20 offers in seven days. Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.BusinessBuildersPlaybook.com/Jacob-McGill

    Jacob McGill—The Growth Engine: 7 Strategies to Turn More Traffic, Leads, & Follow-Up Into Revenue

  3. 17h ago

    David Bush—Build Your Business Playbook: 5 Plays to Win More Clients & Scale

    Why do nine out of 10 businesses close within their first 10 years? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush takes the football playbook he grew up with and turns it into five plays for business owners. David explains that random business development leads to random results and that a pipeline that swings from month to month swings your emotions with it. His answer is a 12-month business playbook built from five connected plays: a game plan, lead generation, sales, leadership, and operations. He also shows how to start with the play that fixes your biggest constraint. Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode: - How to define your goal line with a one-year vision, the seven levels of why, three SMART priorities, and a scorecard, then check that your calendar matches your goals. - How to name your three biggest constraints and list what you will do about each one. - How to build an ideal client profile by giving AI your website address. - How to build a lead generation plan with warm outreach, free content, cold outreach, and paid ads, working from hottest to coldest. - How to avoid flavor-of-the-month marketing with a calendar and a budget. - How to turn leads into clients with the sales skills David lists, from prospecting and discovery to objections, follow-up, and closing. - How to grade yourself as a leader, put your name on the org chart, and set accountability and communication rhythms. - How to write standard operating procedures for your top 10 repetitive tasks and keep a running list of what to delegate. - How to build a Raving Fan Customer Service Checklist and add small wow moments for your clients. - How to turn the playbook into a 90-day plan with 30-day check-ins and a quarterly review. Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.BusinessBuildersPlaybook.com/David-Bush-Business-Playbook

    David Bush—Build Your Business Playbook: 5 Plays to Win More Clients & Scale

  4. 21h ago

    Jim Johnson—A Coach and a Miracle: How Great Coaches Bring Out The Best In People

    What do you do as a leader when your team is divided and you've promised a team manager one night in a uniform? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Coach Jim Johnson, author of A Coach and a Miracle, and a high school basketball coach with more than 428 career wins. Jim is the coach who handed Jason "J-Mac" McElwain a jersey on senior night in 2006, and he tells the story behind the viral game where a 5-foot-9 team manager with autism hit six three-pointers in the final four minutes. Then he breaks down the leadership lessons underneath it. David digs into what separates talented teams from championship teams and how to know when it's time to hold on to a dream or move on to the next one. Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode: • How to rally a divided team by admitting you don't have the answers and letting your people tell you what they need. • How to build a culture where "we over me" wins, and why a couple of Jim's most talented teams never won championships. • How to build accountability from the individual up, starting with a daily "I am responsible" habit and reaching your captains, your core values, and an accountability partner. • How to define a mission bigger than wins and losses or profit, and become your team's chief reminding officer. • How to handle a loss as a leader by keeping an even keel, asking every player what went well and what to fix, and returning to the fundamentals. • How to spot the strengths in people others pass over, like the team manager who was first at practice, last to leave, and later qualified for the Boston Marathon. • Why attitudes are contagious and how to make yours worth catching. • How to put Jim's six keys to success to work: passion, mission, goals, perseverance, carpe diem, and team player. • How to know when to hold on to a dream and when to move on, and why an idea journal and a personal growth plan keep you moving. Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.BusinessBuildersPlaybook.com/Jim-Johnson

    Jim Johnson—A Coach and a Miracle: How Great Coaches Bring Out The Best In People

  5. 1d ago

    Nanette Miner—The Succession Blueprint: Build a Leadership Bench Before You Need One

    If your top leader walked out tomorrow, who on your team is ready to step into the seat? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Nanette Miner, Ed.D., a succession planning expert with 35 years in learning and development and a doctorate in adult learning theory. Nanette works with companies of 100 to 700 employees, and she has watched too many of them wait until a job opens before they think about who should fill it. She explains why that is already too late and what to do years ahead of the vacancy. David brings the sports view: every great team has a bench of players who practice with the starters all season, so they are ready when the call comes. He also shares the four-question rule his own team uses before any conflict conversation. Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode: - Why the best time to start building your leadership bench was 8 to 10 years ago, and the second best time is today. - How to tell a replacement leader from a future leader, and why promoting whoever has the most tenure leaves you with no strategy at all. - How to work backward from your 5-year company goals to decide which leaders you will need and when to start preparing them. - How to run a flip chart exercise with your C-suite to name the 8 to 10 leadership behaviors that define your culture. - How to build career paths that show new hires a 20-year route to the CEO seat, and what happened when one client's recruiting table got mobbed. - How to use lateral moves through three departments so your future leaders understand how the whole company makes and spends money. - How to pull your HR numbers (employee ages, tenure, and turnover) to see whether your pipeline is already in crisis. - How to build leadership skills on a small budget with reading groups, a CEO Circle lunch, and paid volunteer hours with a professional association. - Why 80% of companies that want to sell never do, and why a buyer is really paying for your leadership team. - How to use David's four questions (what happened, what you wanted to happen, what's missing, and what's next) to separate the facts from the story before any conflict conversation. Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.BusinessBuildersPlaybook.com/Nanette-Miner

    Nanette Miner—The Succession Blueprint: Build a Leadership Bench Before You Need One

  6. 1d ago

    Christine McIver—From Best-Kept Secret to Trusted Authority and Scalable Business

    Why do so many experienced entrepreneurs stay invisible when they know their craft better than anyone else in their market? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Christine McIver, founder of ICN Signature Summits. Christine has produced thousands of episodes of live shows, podcasts, and summits, and she has spent her career helping experts see the value they carry. She explains why so many of them hold back and what to do about it. David adds his own playbook for finding the right people, following up without feeling like a pest, and building a 90-day plan that produces qualified conversations. Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode: How to list the education, courses, books, and money you've invested in your expertise so you can walk into every conversation with real confidence. How to ask yourself, "Is that still true for me?" to question the fears, doubts, and old beliefs that came from someone else's voice. Why copying what successful people do pulls you away from your own expertise, and how to find the core thread that connects everything you do. How to ask better questions and talk less about yourself so prospects feel heard before you ever pitch. Why asking for support, reviews, and sales gets results that waiting never will, and what Christine learned from running her 100-day Up Your Ask program. How to build your prospect list from the hottest relationships outward, starting with the contacts already in your phone. Why great content reaches only 1 to 3 percent of your followers, and how to combine warm outreach, free content, and cold outreach to reach the rest. How to build content around your audience's pains and problems first, since people move away from pain faster than they move toward pleasure. How to follow up with professional persistence, since most business-to-business sales take about 15 touches. How to set a 90-day plan that starts with a clear outcome, an honest starting point, and a calendar that matches your goal. Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.BusinessBuildersPlaybook.com/Christine-McIver

    Christine McIver—From Best-Kept Secret to Trusted Authority and Scalable Business

  7. 2d ago

    Jon LoDuca—Stop Reinventing the Wheel: Build a Better Business Playbook

    What happens to your business when the few people who know how everything works walk out the door? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Jon LoDuca, speaker, author, and founder of PlaybookBuilder. Jon was employee number 12 at a Midwest software company that sold for a quarter of a billion dollars in two years, and he has spent the last 20 years helping entrepreneurs and leaders turn what makes them great into something a whole team can run. He has sat through several hundred interviews with business owners to pull their best practices out of their heads and into playbooks. David and Jon get into why a playbook only works when a team uses it every day, where to aim your first one, and who in your company should own the work. Jon also shares a five-point report card for grading the playbooks you already have. Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode: • How to treat process as a daily practice your team runs and updates, so your playbook keeps pace with AI and a shifting market. • How to pick your first playbook: aim at lead generation, lead conversion, or fulfillment, and tie it to a number on your scorecard so the whole company feels the win. • How to get your top salesperson to teach how they close big accounts, using a junior team member with a phone camera, so their know-how becomes a company asset. • Why the person who owns your playbooks should be a junior team member with clear backing from leadership and why your founder or integrator is too busy for the job. • How to run the playbook cycle: spot a scorecard number that is off track, inspect the playbook, rebuild the training, re-engage the team, and track the results. • How to match the medium to the moment, from decision trees and QR codes on equipment to video for nuanced topics and screen recordings for software. • Why a marketer's mindset produces playbooks people actually use and why quality-assurance types tend to bury teams in volume. • Why your best people are glad to share what they know, and how collecting methods from several top performers builds a mosaic of best practices. • How to grade your playbooks on five markers: leadership video, the why behind the how, completeness, variety of media, and a named owner. • Why capturing your veterans' wisdom before they retire protects your exit value and frees you to step away from the day-to-day. Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.BusinessBuildersPlaybook.com/Jon-LoDuca

    Jon LoDuca—Stop Reinventing the Wheel: Build a Better Business Playbook

  8. 2d ago

    John Asher—Stop Losing Winnable Deals: 10 Strategies to Improve Sales Performance

    How many deals did your team lose last quarter that it should have won? In this episode of Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush welcomes John Asher of Asher Strategies, a sales leader who helped build an engineering company to $165 million in annual revenue and has spent decades on sales performance. John kicks off a monthly webinar series with the hiring process he has refined over 25 years, and he says he hasn't hired a bad salesperson in the last 20. John walks through how personality data and emotional intelligence decide who belongs in which sales seat. David weighs in with his own plan for a real company case study and asks whether a team benefits from variety. Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode: * How to screen sales candidates with three checks before an offer: a short IQ test, a personality assessment, and an honesty and integrity assessment. * How to check references with a phone call, interview for the right behaviors, and define your culture by asking your executives what it takes to get ahead. * Why about 1 million of the roughly 25 million salespeople in the U.S. bring in 80% of new logos, according to the Harvard research John cites. * Why natural talent can account for anywhere from a third to two-thirds of a sale, depending on how relationship-driven your buyers are. * Why your best salesperson often makes a poor sales manager, and how John learned that firsthand. * Why only about 21% of U.S. employees are fully engaged, and why John sees 40% as the point where a company improves exponentially. * How to match personality traits to a hunter sales role, including why drive and independence run high and the need to analyze runs low. * How one engineering services firm moved five salespeople into better-fit seats and went from stalled growth to rapid growth. * How to sell to buyers who research on their own, including why to offer two or three options and where AI tools fit. * How to listen so buyers ask about your product, why an inside coach comes first, and why John swaps "always be closing" for "always be curious." Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.BusinessBuildersPlaybook.com/John-Asher

    John Asher—Stop Losing Winnable Deals: 10 Strategies to Improve Sales Performance
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Welcome to the Business Builders playbook, the show that breaks down the systems and strategies behind Predictable Revenue Growth to win in business. In each episode, we're diving into the proven strategies that separate the winners who scale from the losers who fail.

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