John Hanna

The companies I work best with already have something real: a product people buy, a team that knows what it's doing, customers who come back. What they're missing is the engine that gets them to the next stage, and often the reason is that sales and marketing are running on separate tracks.

I start with the customer. What they need, how they decide, what gets in the way, and why they'd pick you over the company down the street. From there, I sharpen the positioning, build sales tools people will actually use, and get both sides pointed at the same number.

I'm not especially interested in marketing for marketing's sake. I care about whether the work helps a business grow.

That perspective comes from spending most of my career on the hook for results.

At Cabeau, I was the first senior marketing hire at a consumer products company that was already selling well but had never really told its own story. I repositioned the brand, launched new products, and worked alongside sales teams and distributors around the world.

At IMA Financial Group, I led marketing for the employee benefits practice, where much of the job was translation: taking complicated products and turning them into something a producer could use to start a conversation. I built campaigns, sales tools, and enablement for a national network of more than 130 producers, and I spent as much time with salespeople as I did with marketers.

Before that, I spent two decades at Disney and ABC, where I learned how strong brands are built, extended, and brought to market across products, licensing, retail, and entertainment.

The part I keep coming back to sits between sales and marketing, in the space most companies leave empty because it doesn't belong cleanly to either team.

If that sounds familiar, I'd like to hear about it.