Dan Messerschmidt, JDS Industries
President, APA - Where Personalization Pros Connect
(January/February 2025) At my first APA board meeting as president, I set the tone for the year by showing Simon Sinek’s TEDxPuget Sound talk “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Action.”
Sinek presented that TED Talk in 2009, but the concept is always relevant because it’s based on how people think. On the TED website alone, the talk has been viewed more than 66 million times, becoming the third most-watched on TED.com—and many millions more have watched it on YouTube.
In the talk, Sinek explains, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe ... But if you don’t know why you do what you do, and people respond to why you do what you do, then how will you ever get people to vote for you, or buy something from you, or, more importantly, be loyal and want to be a part of what it is that you do?”
Some of his examples will take you back to 2009 (MP3 players and TiVo, anyone?), but his principles are timeless and powerful. Sinek applies them to marketing and selling products, hiring employees, and leading people—all in less than 18 minutes. (He expands on these concepts in his bestselling book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.)
Everyone involved in your business, from the owner to the newest employee, should watch this video.
Business owners need to find their whys. Profits aren’t your why, but they will be the result of making your why the focus of your business.
Employees need to know their company’s why, and ideally, you will hire people who believe in your why.
“If you hire people just because they can do a job,” Sinek says, “they’ll work for your money, but if they believe what you believe, they'll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.”
APA has its why: We exist to help businesses thrive. We believe personalization and recognition make the world a better place. I can list the many benefits of membership all day long, but what you need to know is that APA exists to make you successful. Each decision your APA leadership makes goes through that why filter: How does this help our member businesses thrive?
What’s your why? Why does your business exist? If you don’t know, you need to sit down and think this out. Find your why and share it with your employees. Market it to your clients and prospects. Win the long-term loyalty of people who believe in your why rather than engaging in daily battles to win a single sale to a price shopper who always switches vendors to find cheaper products.
One of APA’s past presidents has a great marketing example of selling your why instead of advertising your products. Sam Varn, CRM, owns Awards4U in Tallahassee, Florida. In 2011, he released some video ads for the business. Some business owners would think that, if they’re using video to sell awards, they need to show as many awards as possible or showcase their most impressive products. Awards4U created something more powerful, compelling, and timeless.
There are no speakers or faces and only one modestly sized award shown, but this ad still tugs at your heartstrings 13 years after it was released.
Make no mistake, the ad sells awards—but it does so by winning over viewers who believe in the same thing that Varn and Awards4U believe: Recognition has the power to inspire people to do great things.
You don’t need a video budget to find and share your why. If you’re struggling with this, talk to your fellow industry professionals at the International Personalization Expo Feb. 4–7 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Registration is open now (and free for APA members!). Thousands of us will be there to connect, learn, and shop. Don’t miss this opportunity to talk about your business and possibly find your why.