Southwestern Consulting’s Rusty Gunther takes a unique approach to sales & leadership: he leads with love. It’s this approach that has resulted in over a decade of unparalleled success. Read on to find out WHY he chose this method.
Having overseen the expansion of over USD$50m in assets over a 10+ year career in various organizations, Rusty Gunther is no flash-in-the-pan.
The Professional Sales & Leadership Mentor at Tennessee-based firm Southwestern Consulting has a knack for helping others identify their goals and providing them with the tools necessary to hit them. Still, in his first year, he has already scooped the Tournament of Champions Winner Campaign associated with Southwestern Consulting – another to add to the 20+ awards he’s amassed throughout his career.
Despite these accolades, Gunther chooses to lead with love – something he says is number one of a set of core beliefs he’s held from day one in his sales career. “I believe if you’re building any kind of business organization from a place of love, you can’t go wrong,” he says. “When we live in a place of abundance and gratitude, we position ourselves to love the person across from us and build something we can be proud of because we’re doing the right thing for another person.”
This isn’t Gunther’s first rodeo. He began his sales career at Aflac in 2012 as a Benefits Consultant, working his way up the ranks. This saw him round out his time as a Regional Sales Coordinator – training new agents and creating, implementing, and managing training systems.
Before that, he built a community as a franchisee for Burger King and ended up recruiting his close friends and his wife and father.
A wise move to surround himself with close allies, and one that – he admits, helped him not only achieve longevity in the business but helped him grow as well. “The things I learned from coaching were surrounding myself with people who were there to help me, like having a one-on-one coach with the sole agenda to help me hit my goals.”
Gunther transformed his organizations with the same philosophy, which resulted in clients breaking their barriers and subsequently hitting seemingly unimaginable goals.
WHY HE DECIDED TO LEAD WITH LOVE – Rusty Gunther argues that acting out of love may come off as altruistic. Yet, Gunther points out, “it just makes good business sense.”
Gunther highlights his duty to uphold honesty – not just to the client but also to himself and the business. “The way business works is that you’re paid for as long as people keep their policies,” he shares. “So relationships are very important.”
He talks us through the process: “If a client can’t afford something, it’s my job to help them figure out lower-level options. This is the Value of the relationship. Let’s say I was to act out of greed or desperation, for example; that relationship would be tarnished because of buyer’s remorse and a predilection to cancellation.”
“Those who grow out of greed may build more in the short term, but there’s no following nor long-lasting results.” – Rusty Gunther
Starting with the end in mind, Gunther takes a client’s vision and then ties it back to their priorities and habits. This means unearthing their goal and implementing a step-by-step process for them to accomplish in order to attain said goal. At times, this means moving past those distracting, limiting self-beliefs and transforming them into positive, progressive habits. “This creates momentum,” says Gunther. “Once we have that, we put the parameters in place to ensure they stay on track.”
For Rusty Gunther, his plethora of accolades isn’t his greatest success. This is a surprising statement, perhaps, but for the man who leads with love, his own objective is clear. “My greatest success is my clients,” he beams. “Seeing them hit growth year after year is what I’m most proud of.”
Rusty Gunther is a trailblazing Professional Sales and Leadership Coach who helps others achieve their vision while crushing their limitations. To follow his journey, link up with him over his socials. To work with him and unlock your own dream, visit his website.
For a limited time, Rusty Gunther is offering an exclusive, complimentary virtual consulting session. Contact rgunther@southwestconsulting.com for more information.
Published by: Martin De Juan
