Build Relationships That Drive Growth – Get Insights Twice Weekly
Build Relationships That Drive Growth – Get Insights Twice Weekly
Co-Founder, GIFT·OLOGY & Author of From Crisis to Clarity
Our speakers help leaders design practical systems for outreach, appreciation, and follow-up – so your most important relationships don’t depend on memory or last-minute gestures.
Choose from relationship operating systems, crisis-to-clarity leadership, and gratitude-driven word-of-mouth growth.
Sara Hardwick Grintz serves as GIFT·OLOGY’s President, where she helps organizations design growth strategies built on relationships, not just campaigns.
She works with leadership and revenue teams to architect simple, realistic systems for outreach, appreciation, and follow-up—so the most important relationships don’t depend on someone “just remembering.”
You already have operating systems for finance, operations, and marketing. But for most organizations, relationships are still managed through memory, good intentions, and last-minute gestures. In this session, Sara introduces the concept of a Relationship Operating System (ROS)—a way to design, align, and scale how you show up for the people who matter most.
Client appreciation events | Leadership retreats | Revenue team meetings
10-15K + The cost of gifts
This working session is for leadership, sales, and client/partner-facing teams who know their relationships matter, but don’t have a clear, shared plan for how to activate them. Ideal for groups ready to roll up their sleeves and walk out with an actual relationship plan, not just ideas.
Most organizations are surrounded by great relationships yet lack a simple, unified way to identify who truly moves the needle and how to consistently show up for them. In this hands-on intensive, Sara leads your team through the same process Gift·ology uses with clients to identify, equip, and energize top relationships.
Participants will map their top clients, partners, and allies; define what “equipped” really looks like for those people; and design simple rhythms of outreach, appreciation, and follow-up. By the end, your group won’t just understand relationship strategy—they’ll have a draft Relationship Playbook they can start using immediately.
• Clarify their most important relationships (and who’s been unintentionally ignored)
• Decide how to better equip advocates with story, tools, and context
• Design realistic touchpoints and follow-up rhythms that fit their bandwidth
Primary: Training / Workshop (90–180 minutes or half-day)
Relationship Strategy & Operating Systems | Referral-Centered Growth & Word-of-Mouth | Client & Partner Experience | Relationship-First Leadership & Culture
This keynote is for founders, revenue leaders, and go-to-market teams who rely on referrals but still behave like a “more leads, more marketing” organization. Perfect for events where you want to shift how your audience thinks about growth and the role relationships play in it.
Most companies say they value referrals, yet their strategy still leans on campaigns, funnels, and noise. In this keynote, Sara reframes growth around the relationships that already trust and believe in you—and shows why referral-centered businesses grow differently.
She unpacks the gap between what leaders say about relationships and what their calendars and budgets reveal. Then she introduces the core concepts behind Gift·ology and Beyond Giftology: designing experiences, gratitude, and clear paths for advocates to talk about you. Attendees leave with a fresh mental model for growth and practical starting points to move from referral hope to referral design.
• See why traditional lead-gen-heavy growth models are breaking down
• Understand the hidden cost of treating referrals as “happy accidents”
• Learn the foundational shifts required to build a truly referral-centered business
Primary: Keynote (45–60 minutes; works great with Q&A)
Fireside chat? Yes! The core ideas translate beautifully to a moderated fireside-style conversation with curated questions and audience Q&A.
Referral-Centered Growth & Word-of-Mouth | Relationship Strategy & Operating Systems | Client & Partner Experience
This message is for executive teams and senior leaders who want relationships clients, partners, allies, and teams to be as intentional and systematized as their finance and operations. Ideal for leadership retreats and strategy days.
You already have operating systems for finance, operations, and marketing. But for most organizations, relationships are still managed through memory, good intentions, and last-minute gestures. In this session, Sara introduces the concept of a Relationship Operating System (ROS) a way to design, align, and scale how you show up for the people who matter most.
She walks leaders through clarifying who truly drives growth, how different relationship groups should experience your brand (from partners and allies to clients and teams), and where gifting and key touchpoints fit into the bigger picture. The result is a practical, strategic lens for making relationship decisions that are consistent, scalable, and deeply human.
• Identify the key relationship categories that drive their business outcomes
• Understand how to align teams around a shared relationship strategy
• See where thoughtful gifting and experience design plug into a broader ROS
Primary: Keynote or executive session (45–75 minutes)
Fireside chat? Yes! Especially effective as a fireside chat with a founder/host asking targeted questions about how leaders can operationalize relationships.
Relationship Strategy & Operating Systems | Client & Partner Experience | Relationship-First Leadership & Culture
Rod Neuenschwander has guided leaders through some of their hardest seasons—helping them move from overwhelm and confusion to clear, confident action. As co-founder of GIFT·OLOGY and author of From Crisis to Clarity, he helps executives see what’s really happening inside their businesses so they can address the real problems, not just the loudest ones.
Rod speaks directly to founders, CEOs, and senior leaders who carry the weight of big decisions. His message focuses on spotting risk early, creating clarity in the middle of uncertainty, and making hard choices without losing yourself—or the relationships that matter most.
Founder groups | CEO roundtables | Executive offsites · Board retreats
10K +The cost of gifts
Founders, CEOs, executive leaders, and business owners who feel the weight of major decisions, suspect there are “invisible” risks in their business, or are responsible for guiding teams through uncertain or volatile seasons.
In “From Crisis to Clarity,” Rod Neuenschwander pulls back the curtain on what really happens inside companies on the edge cash-flow crunches, eroding culture, stalled growth and what separates the leaders who survive from the ones who scale. Drawing on real-world turnaround work and the framework behind his book From Crisis to Clarity, Rod walks leaders through a practical way to see their business as it actually is, not as they wish it were.
This session gives leaders language and tools to identify slow leaks before they become crises, make cleaner, faster decisions, and align their teams around what truly matters. It’s candid, hopeful, and highly actionable—built for leaders who are ready to face reality and move forward with confidence.
• Recognize the early warning signs of a business crisis (before it hits the P&L).
• Learn a simple lens for assessing the real health of their business across people, product, and pipeline.
• Get a practical framework for making high-stakes decisions with more clarity and less emotion.
• Identify which problems are truly existential versus which are just “loud.”
• Leave with a short, focused action plan to stabilize, prioritize, and move their organization toward healthier growth.
Ideal as a 45–60 minute keynote for leadership retreats, annual meetings, and executive events. Can also be delivered as a 90-minute workshop with interactive diagnostics, small-group discussion, and time for leaders to draft their own “crisis to clarity” action plan.
Leadership | Crisis Leadership | Decision-Making | Business Health | Strategy | Founder/CEO | Culture | Growth
John Israel, aka Mr. Thank You, is one of the most sought after speakers and trainers who teaches business professionals how to Become Irreplaceable both inside and outside their organization. In 2016 John Israel started a personal social experiment on gratitude and human connection that became a book, TEDx talk, and global movement called: The Mr. Thank You Project.
John Israel’s Mr. Thank You story has been featured on ABC News, Fox News, and Good Morning America and his clients include Harvard University, Square, Sales Force, and many others. John Israel is on a mission to help business professionals create Uncommon Loyalty with their clients, teams, and VIP’s so they can achieve their biggest goals and dreams.
Client appreciation events | Leadership retreats | Revenue team meetings
15k + The cost of gifts
Becoming Irreplaceable” shows how to stand out in a world where everything can be automated or copied. John Israel teaches how to move beyond transactions and build uncommon loyalty so clients and partners think of you first, refer you naturally, and stay connected long after the deal—driving more repeat business, stronger relationships, and consistent growth without adding more to your plate.
• Clarify what actually makes a professional truly irreplaceable in an AI- and automation-driven marketplace.
• Learn how to create ongoing relevance so they stay top of mind before, during, and long after a transaction or engagement.
• Map a simple relationship journey that turns one-time clients into raving fans and long-term advocates.
• Get a practical framework to activate referrals systematically—without feeling pushy, awkward, or “salesy.”
• Walk away with specific gratitude-based touchpoints and scripts they can start using immediately with their clients, VIPs, and team.
45–60 minute keynote for sales kickoffs, conferences, and leadership events; or a 90-minute interactive workshop with exercises and “becoming irreplaceable” relationship planning.
REALTORS® | Real Estate | Client Experience | Referrals | Relationships | Sales Psychology | Leadership | Culture
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