Who is Kevin McCann?

Hi, I’m Kevin McCann, and I’d like to share a bit of my story with you. I grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire, to a middle-class family. As a kid, my parents taught me to work hard, to be respectful, and that I could achieve anything if I wanted it badly enough. I developed an early love for listening to music and creating “mixtapes,” so I went out and got a paper route at age 13 to save money for a Nakamichi Dragon tape deck. I rode my bike through all weather: snow, hail, sleet, and rain on my daily paper route (if you have never experienced a winter in New Hampshire – believe me when I say it was not fun riding a BMX bike in 2 feet of snow with 50 newspapers slung over your shoulder). Delivering newspapers taught me the value of perseverance and overcoming challenges to achieve a goal. It also helped me to develop my entrepreneurial mindset.

1988: High School Senior and 4th Place Bodybuilder in New England (steroid free I might add…)

Silicon Valley, Angry Bosses, and The Big Epiphany

A year later, I graduated from the University New Hampshire and was hired to be an Inside Sales Representative for Cabletron Systems, Inc. – a computer networking company (bigger than Cisco Systems in the day…). My job was to make anywhere between 50 to 100 outbound calls a day to new prospects with the goal of scheduling appointments for my Outside Sales Representative. I was pretty good at sales, and within a year, I was promoted to Outside Sales. In 1994, Cabletron relocated me from Dover, New Hampshire, to San Jose in Silicon Valley – California.

The second day after I moved out to Silicon Valley, I had my first sales meeting. There I was, the “new kid on the block,” and around the table sat eight or nine other sales reps and the VP of Sales – Tom M. That meeting was a MASSIVE eye-opener for me. The VP of Sales stared down every sales rep at the table and was merciless with them for not knowing the answers to basic questions like, “why are your prospects looking to buy networking gear?,” “What are the challenges they’re trying to overcome?,” “Do they have a budget?,” “What’s their time-frame?”

As I was watching this happen as the new guy, I took meticulous notes of what questions the VP of Sales was asking. Those questions I wrote down that day became my checklist, and my success formula when I went out into the field. I always made sure I knew the answers to those questions so that when I was back in front of the VP of Sales, I didn’t get chewed out.

Most of the sales reps saw the VP of Sales as an aggressive jerk in the sales meetings. I saw it a little differently. He was coming across this way because he had an excellent track record as the number one sales rep for many years at his previous company, and he knew how to grow a sales pipeline and how to close deals. So I viewed my time under him as an opportunity to learn from a winner – as harsh as he was.

Unfortunately, the VP of Sales wasn’t a good teacher, and most of the sales reps didn’t figure things out as I had.

My lesson from this… KNOW YOUR STUFF if you want to be successful.

$6 Million to $60 Million in 18-Months and Ironman Canada

The more I implemented the questioning and answer process that I started to perfect, the more successful I became. In 1997, I left Cabletron and went to Cisco Systems for about a year. In 1998, I got a once in a lifetime opportunity to become part-owner of a Cisco reseller that was in its early stages of development. Planetary Networks was a $6 million company when I signed on. Being a part-owner, I implemented the sales processes I had learned and practiced at Cabletron, hired 25 sales reps, and taught them my same methods. Within 18 months, Planetary Networks grew from $6 million to $60 million in revenue in a very competitive and commoditized market. 1999 was a hectic time for me because I had also decided to start training for the Ironman Canada triathlon that would take place on August 27, 2000. After a year of training and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I’m happy to report that I completed Ironman Canada (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run) in 14 hours, 52 minutes and 52 seconds.

The Exit That Didn’t Happen

The planned exit strategy for Planetary Networks was to sell the company to a larger service provider, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. When a suitor made us an all-stock offer to buy Planetary Networks, one of the co-founders didn’t want to sell, caused delays, and ultimately killed the deal. When that happened, I changed course and came back to the East Coast in 2000 to start my own company a week after completing Ironman Canada. 

Cortex, LLC grew from zero to $3.5Million in sales, but it was a very different time where the economy had crashed after the bubble burst between 1999 and 2001. Many companies were going out of business in 2000 and 2001. But we managed to launch Cortex, LLC, and even excel in the “downturn” because of our agile model. Even though we had less revenue than Planetary Networks, our margin rates were typically 50-85% (which was unheard of in the tech industry), so we were incredibly successful at bringing dollars to our bottom line.

My sales and marketing process had given me the freedom to build and construct my life the way I had always dreamed of doing. I could work from any location and didn’t have to go to an office every day. I no longer had to be in “corporate meetings” that I viewed as a waste of time. I could take on the customers that I wanted and work with the businesses that valued what we brought to the table.

Deciding to Consult

After running Cortex for five years, I was tired of selling networking routers, switches, and firewalls without making a more significant impact on the business to whom I was selling. I was tired of the commodity game and the pricing “race to the bottom” that followed.  What got me fired up was helping other people achieve the same success I had. I had helped my employees and friends generate wealth and grow their companies, which became much more rewarding to me than being the owner of a commodities business.

I decided to merge Cortex into another company. So at the end of 2006, I sold Cortex, LLC to another value-added reseller and began my consulting journey. I founded the Executive Strategy Group to consult with entrepreneurs and business owners to help teach them the lessons I had learned over the last two decades, so that they could reap the benefits of my knowledge in a very time-condensed model.

Executive Strategy Group’s 2008 Promotional Video

Discovering Patterns in Business No One Else Saw

Now that I have consulted with hundreds of different people, we have proven that my step-by-step processes successfully increase revenue and enable companies to scale. Our clients, ranging from start-ups to billions in revenue, are implementing our best practices and seeing an almost immediate positive impact. We have received testimonials about successful implementations from sales representatives managing a territory, regional directors managing multiple salespeople, and, of course, entrepreneurs and business owners running and growing their companies.

When I started consulting, I viewed every business as unique. The funny thing is, when you jump into a proverbial helicopter and ascend to 15,000 feet, businesses begin to look very similar if you know what to look for. Companies and the people that run them tend to act in very similar ways, regardless of the industry, niche, or market.

Entrepreneurs can apply the process that I’ve outlined to any business. It doesn’t matter if a company sells widgets, professional services, or networking gear. To be successful, entrepreneurs first need to identify specific things about their target customer base. Next, they need to implement a process to contact those people. Then, they must craft a meaningful message and clearly communicate how they can help their prospective customers. And finally, be crystal clear on how they are going to bridge the gap from the marketing process to the sales process, and systematically close sales for the business.

The beauty of the system I’ve created is that it covers all verticals, all products, and all industries, and it focuses on the process at the core that you as the business owner, sales rep, or manager needs to go through to achieve success.

Revenue Growth Mastery

Why do I want to teach people these same processes I usually charge $4,000 – $30,000 as a consultant to learn?

My answer to that question is that my personal goals have progressed well beyond just consulting with a handful of companies. I am at the stage of my career, where I am looking to have the most significant impact on as many people as I can. Becoming a father RADICALLY changed my perspective on this over the last decade or so. The best part of consulting for me is witnessing the positive impact my system and approach is having on my clients. I want to reach even further to spread that goodness. There is no greater joy for me than to see someone get the “Ah-Ha” moment after I have taught them something that they either didn’t know or didn’t previously see.  

When I was promoted to an Outside Sales Representative at Cabletron Systems, I had an Inside Sales Representative named Bret. He was a terrific kid and did all the right things. He ended up getting promoted to Outside Sales, where we worked side by side. I became his Team Leader. When Cabletron started to change in 1997, I left to become a part-owner of a Cisco reseller called Planetary Networks. I hired Bret. When I showed him the processes and systems that I was implementing, which were making me somewhere around $300,000 to $350,000 a year, he applied the same methods and ended up making $1Million roughly one year after I hired him. His income was more than mine – twice over!

Typically sales guys are competitive and carry the, “I’m gonna beat you, and I’m gonna do better than you” mentality. This kid was different because when I saw him become successful because of how I had coached him, there was no better feeling for me. I was genuinely happy as hell he was making more money than me. That was a big moment in my career. Now, after having experienced that with Bret… then ten clients… then 50 clients… now hundreds of clients, I get to experience that feeling frequently now, and there’s a lot of “juice” in that for me.

My BHAG (otherwise known as my Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is to bring Revenue Growth Mastery to the masses to help thousands and tens of thousands of people experience the same reality that I’ve helped create for my friends, family, and clients.

The Future

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”
– Lou Holtz

My goal each year for Revenue Growth Mastery is to help at least 1,000 business owners, managers, or entrepreneurs experience success by scaling their business’s revenue.

If you want to start scaling your revenue and join a growing community of talented executives who all want to scale their revenue, then click the “GET STARTED” button below.

P.S.

 It doesn’t matter how unique your revenue problems feel for your business. Scaling revenue is something every business can accomplish with the Revenue Growth Mastery roadmap. This isn’t rocket science. Revenue Growth Mastery is a simple revenue growth framework that I’ve taught all of my clients, from startups to billion-dollar enterprises. Please don’t wait and hope for your revenue to scale itself. Take immediate action to implement a proven system. To get started, CLICK THE “GET STARTED” BUTTON BELOW.