Episode 8

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Published on:

17th Jul 2024

The Luxury of Exceptional Service: Gunnar Hood's Recipe for Client Satisfaction

In this episode, I sit down with Gunnar Hood, owner of WSI Summit, where he shares his entrepreneurial journey from a 25-year corporate career in financial services to building a successful digital marketing firm. He candidly discusses the challenges of transitioning to being a business owner, including grappling with imposter syndrome early on. Gunnar delves into the pivotal decision to adopt a recurring revenue model and prioritize delivering a "luxury experience" to clients through strategic assessments and a consultative approach. He also offers a fascinating perspective on the rise of AI and how businesses can harness tools like ChatGPT while maintaining the essential human element. Gunnar's wisdom spans valuable lessons on sales training, the importance of systems and processes, and always staying curious to understand your client's needs deeply.

Timestamps:

[00:46] Gunnar's background in financial services before transitioning to digital marketing

[01:57] Gunnar's journey of leaving the corporate world and starting a business

[05:39] Why Gunnar chose the WSI franchise opportunity

[08:16] How Sandler's sales training helped Gunnar transition to being a consultant

[11:15] The shift towards a recurring revenue model instead of upfront website builds

[14:20] Gunnar's approach to conducting strategic assessments for clients

[19:21] The importance of ensuring clients are the right fit

[23:45] Gunnar's thoughts on the rise of AI and its impact

[30:11] Benefits of writing effective prompts as "the greatest programming language"

[35:52] The concept of delivering a "luxury experience" to clients

[40:07] Gunnar attributes being curious and having systems as keys to success

Quotes:

● If somebody's looking for an insurance company, maybe the fact that their service team is JD Power certified will be another reason for them to work with us.

● If you are curious and you stay that way and not just go, oh, I know this, but you can always ask another question, it's gonna help you develop that relationship even stronger with people.

● It's funny to see it [AI] say, I'm so sorry. You know, let me go back and fix that.

● Luxury, once sampled, becomes a necessity; think about it.

● We realized that that wasn't a successful approach. It was a process for a lot of people. And we ended up pivoting at that point to say, let's go towards more of a recurring revenue model that smooths this out for them.

● In the last year, 95% of our new business came from referrals. And so to us, that was one of those reflection points that says, that's awesome. I mean, we're making a difference.

Resources:

WSI Summit website: https://www.wsi-summit.com/

Gunnar Hood on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunnarhood/

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About the Podcast

The Oklahoma Business Show
Conversations with business owners and leaders about their wins, struggles, and lessons learned along the way.
If you're anything like me, hearing other business owners and leaders talk about their experiences at a conference, a lunch, or just over a cup of coffee is always an encouraging and exciting conversation, and that's the simple goal of The Oklahoma Business Show. Listen to successful business owners as we discuss topics ranging from how and why they started their business, challenges they had to overcome that made them stronger, victories that made them hold their head a little higher, and lessons they've learned along the way.

About your host

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Chris Moroz

Who is Chris Moroz? 🧐

I started my career in IT long before launching my own business. Finding joy in learning about computers throughout my early teens and young adult years eventually led me to pursue work at Fortune 500 companies such as AOL and Dell, where I was awarded Top 5 sales awards at both companies.

Shortly after leaving Dell, I started Golden Years Computer Services, which served residential clients in their Oklahoma City homes. Within 6 months, as word began to spread of the high level of service being provided, we added small business support to our growing list of services.

Since the start of these companies in 2009, I'm flattered that I've received several nominations for OKC Biz Magazine’s Best of Business awards (and most recently nominated as best Cyber Security provider in OKC). As part of my belief that we can all improve other's lives, we've partnered with Feed The Children, and were recently able to donate a dozen computers to Bethany Public Schools to assist student transition to remote learning during the pandemic.

When I'm not busy saving the day for a small business owner, you can find me unplugging from all things tech: hiking and camping in Oklahoma’s breathtaking scenic parks, discovering new foods in locally-owned restaurants with his friends, and investing quality time with my wife, Kari, and two daughters, Gracie and Trinity.