About

Fueling B2B success via deeper customer understanding.

Deeper, actionable understanding of customers is the job I am hired to do.

Meet Brent Schmidt: Founder and President

Hi! I’m Brent. I’m a husband, father to two highly creative young girls and a proud resident of Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario. As the founder of Strategic Fuel, I’ve discovered a special thrill and privilege in supporting marketing professionals and organizational leaders that are fanatical about continuously deepening their understanding of their clients/customers. They are also driven to apply what they learn to ensure success for their clients and their business.

I primarily support B2B organizations based in Southwestern Ontario at a stage of development and revenue that warrants external strategic and customer insight support. This can be a small business with 15-30 employees up to larger organizations with a few hundred employees serving customers across Canada and beyond.

While the size of my clients varies what is common at the start are two core problems:

· They are too focused on their own technology/product/internal agenda (even if they don’t believe they are).

· They keep adding more to the plate, when what is really needed is to do less, and to do it better.

My clients want to make the shift to be more customer-centric. They trust me to engage with their customers and their team. I earn that trust by listening deeply to my clients and their customers. Then I work collaboratively to set priorities for the overall business direction and strategy, marketing, branding, products and services, sales and the customer experience. That’s what I do every day. It’s very rewarding work.

Strategic Fuel’s roots are in sales, marketing and branding.
I founded Strategic Fuel in 2012 after 20+ years working on both sides of the table: as a market researcher and brand strategist within B2B and B2C brand communication agencies, and as a product manager and sales rep within corporate marketing and sales teams.

I know the tension between seeking security and wanting to make a more significant impact.
I find myself drawn to organizations that have stopped taking the risks they used to take, that made them the success that they have become. They know they need to keep growing, but the culture has shifted to higher risk aversion. I have structured my process in a way that helps leaders and their teams increase their risk tolerance in a safe way, through customer and team collaboration throughout the process. Opportunities are identified, tested and refined, without getting stuck in analysis paralysis. It’s a fine balancing act at times.

I strive to stay at the top of my game.
I consume books and webinars with a ferocious appetite. I find ways to insert myself into the latest schools of thought and cool projects utilizing design thinking, creative problem solving and other innovation models and methods.

I actively seek partnerships.
While I fly solo much of the time I do play well with communication agencies and consultants and take pride in the high integrity partnerships I have developed. I enjoy a special working relationship with Zac Lyons at Agile Innovation Advisors https://www.agilovation.com/.

If all, or some of this resonates with you, here are a few things you can do: