Bill Petrie is the founder and managing partner at brandivate. Bill created brandivate to help ignite and accelerate the growth of their clients through market innovation. With over 22 years working in executive leadership positions in the promotional products industry, Bill works with both suppliers and distributors who are seeking to grow.
A featured speaker at the PPAI Expo and Past President of the RAC Board, Bill has extensive practice coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, executing content strategies, and more. He’s a highly respected thinker in the business, and co-host of the popular industry podcast Promo Up Front where he and our friend Kirby Hasseman do a brilliant job sharing their unfiltered thoughts on the world of promotional products, sales, marketing, and branding, with a heavy dose of reality and humor.
Here’s the thing about Bill: He’s a critical thinker someone who operates, consistently, with an open mind. Something I love about Bill and that you don’t get at first glance, is beneath that tough exterior is someone who really cares about elevating this industry. If you notice on the PromoUp front podcast -for example- he’s bold enough to venture a strong opinion but also kind enough to give credit wherever credit is due no matter the source. He is one of those voices who shape our industry for the better.
Today, Bill and I talk about asking the hard question: Why. In our business, these days, we’re doing all we can to keep up which means we often function day-to-day as autopilot of chaos, but when it comes to vital priorities (like shaping a new business direction, restructuring our sales and marketing, etc.) it’s imperative we stop and ask the hard questions, which is what we talk with Bill about today, how to deftly and strategically determine your why before you decide what and how.