“Did it work?” 

“I don’t know.”

“Did you measure it?”

“…” 

Dead air, silence–awkward silence. This is the dialogue between most people when talking about trying to grow their business. They invest in SOME brand, marketing, or lead generation effort, but then they don’t know, can’t predict, aren’t able to measure … what the outcome is. 

Effectiveness is very underrated…Until it’s everything. 

Until effectiveness is the difference between your brand being picked for the pitch award vs. your competitor succeeding past you. It’s the difference between your brand getting the grant, the partnership, the opportunity, the recruiting candidate, the funding, or not. And it all centers on your brand’s position and promise. More importantly, brands grow in scale and stability, through effective relationship building, which relies heavily on personal and company reputation.

We see certain brands THRIVING right now. Something most of them have in common is leadership obsessed with data, analytics, results, measurements.  And most of them have figured out what to measure, how, and why. That starts with them nailing down their brand promise, which is what their company dependably delivers day in and day out, based on value and not commodity. 

Meet Mike Anguiano, a long-time supporter of MBE magazine and its effort to inspire readers through impactful stories of diverse entrepreneurs. Anguiano shared his approach and views on building a promise that not only instills trust, but also builds business relationships based on analytics. Here’s his story; how he found his way to creating one of the most prestigious and grounded brands, BASED ON ANALYTICS and measuring performance — Supply Hive. 

“It can be done” is exactly how Anguiano felt after the sale of his first company. As a Hispanic entrepreneur, this first transaction meant that he was validated; in his vision, his successes, and in his failures he’d experienced up until this point. Anguiano knew his experiences as an entrepreneur were also of great value to others. Like, appreciating that several bad decisions also led to enough right decisions (which most entrepreneurs can give a knowing chuckle to). Historically, Hispanic entrepreneurs don’t get investments at the same rate as others, so the impact of this first transaction also meant an important door was opening for minority business leaders. 

Anguiano built the value of his first company based on a promise. He promised his clients a 99 percent data accuracy guarantee. “It was just to get attention and get people to take a chance on us.” 

He went on, “Merrill Lynch signed a contract with us. When we returned their data, it had one mistake after another. Totally embarrassing. So, I got on a plane with a company check for $13,000, the price of their contract. When I went to their HQ in New Jersey, I met with Bruce Perkins and his team. I slid the check across the table and said, ‘I promised a 99 percent accuracy guarantee or your money back. We didn’t deliver.’ It was so embarrassing to be sitting there, laziness on our part. They were stunned. Then they got embarrassed! And they said, ‘Absolutely not. We do not want our money back we just want to help you fix the problem.’”

Buyer’s Promise — one of the many things supplier diversity does very well and this meant a lot to Anguiano. 

As it turns out, Perkins told Anguiano’s story 100 times to others. Here are two more promises you need to be aware of when it comes to effective relationship building and how these played out for Anguiano. 

Word got out that if Mike Anguiano promises you something, he means it. (PERSONAL PROMISE!!!) Anguiano’s employees knew the promise he made, and it became as important to them as it was to him as it became a company-wide guarantee of 99 percent accuracy (SELLER’S COMPANY PROMISE!!!).

Anguiano made a big promise to be accurate, specifically to those who support supplier diversity. His company also pledged 99 percent accuracy in data. So, he set clear expectations, and others could assess his and the company’s performance. After selling his first business, he looked forward to what he would do next. His passion for helping suppliers grow, combined with his commitment to accurate data, gave him a great opportunity for his next adventure.

Anguiano strongly believed that diverse suppliers have the potential to outperform non-diverse suppliers overall. But he faced a problem — there were too many stories and not enough reliable data to support his beliefs. That’s right, the data collected from various methods and formats lacked the strength to convince those who didn’t believe in the idea.

To change that, he thought that demonstrating performance with accurate and real-time analytics would be the key to winning over the skeptics. He came up with the idea of creating a platform similar to “Yelp” but for suppliers. Thus, with the support of Abbott, a test pilot was born.

Today, SupplyHive provides accurate analytics that back up the idea that diverse suppliers perform exceptionally well. People trust it because it boasts 99 percent data accuracy. SupplyHive operates on a straightforward principle: they ask individuals who work with suppliers and rely on them for their tasks to answer a few simple questions about the suppliers’ performance. Using AI, they convert this feedback into a unique “Hive Score,” which gives clients insights into how a supplier is doing. The Hive Score is just one of the many products the team has created to fulfill their commitment to 99 percent accurate data.

“A lot of people make a lot of statements about a lot of things, it gets attention. In the end, business is won with information, analytics, and data. We are trying to help diverse suppliers win by documenting and highlighting how they are performing at a very high level. SupplyHive tells that story with data, information, and analytics.” 

In the end, Anguiano believes that every supplier who is serious about delivering on their position and promise will have a SupplyHive score, similar to Morningstar’s rating. SupplyHive’s claim to supplier diversity professionals, procurement, and suppliers is that if they use their data and technology, suppliers will improve, become more profitable, and supplier diversity programs will flourish.

With the rise of the determined Gen Z generation entering entrepreneurship and the workforce, the use of performance scoring will reach new heights. Anguiano envisions that the entire diverse supply chain will elevate from this too, benefiting practitioners, entrepreneurs, and the overall business environment.

The fun doesn’t stop here — Beyond the Logo is continuing the conversation on the Diversity Discourse podcast with MBE magazine on Spotify! Join us as we sit down with business leaders across the diverse supply space and talk about the power of promise keepers. 

Want to know what Anguiano thinks about position and promise, why he loves the upcoming generation so much, and what’s up with the Supply Hive supplier rating? Join us for the 4th installment of Beyond the Logo’s Diversity Discourse podcast. We’ll also talk about being a Hispanic entrepreneur. It’s going to be good. Some things you can expect to hear:

• Why he LOVES Dollar Shave Club
• Being years ahead of ChatGPT and trying to get others to see the value of AI
• What value Anguiano sees in Gen Z
• Almost perfect supplier ratings collected from the pros who work with them.
• Discover how to join “The Intelligent Community Experience,” a worldwide network of suppliers and the pros who depend on them. Data is anonymized and shared across the network.
• Learn how to check your suppliers’ performance, find the top-rated supplier in each category, and make the best hiring decisions, as well as using Analytics to tell the investor story needed to secure funding.

Looking to clarify your position, promise, and/or audience? Feel free to reach out to us at Clarity@JayneAgency.com and we’d be happy to help you get started securing scalable, repeatable, and dependable revenue. 

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Feel free to reach out to us at Clarity@JayneAgency.com and we’d be happy to help you start exploring how to get clarity for 2023.