About Bart Ratliff
Helping Businesses Grow Through Relationships, Strategy, and Authentic Connection
Bart Ratliff is a speaker, trainer, and marketing consultant with over three decades of experience in sales, leadership, and brand growth.
For the past 19 years, he’s specialized in helping business owners, sales professionals, and organizations elevate their results through smarter communication, stronger relationships, and proven digital systems.
He’s not just about clicks or campaigns.
Bart helps people build trust, create value, and convert conversations into long-term clients.
Our Mission at Client Growth Strategies™
At Client Growth Strategies, we partner with businesses and sales teams ready to break through their current limitations. Whether you're facing industry disruption, fighting
commoditization, or ready to scale beyond your current plateau, we bring the strategies, training, and accountability to make it happen.
We specialize in helping companies:
Build sales systems that consistently deliver results
Develop marketing strategies that generate qualified leads
Train teams to become trusted advisors instead of pushy salespeople
Navigate market changes with confidence instead of fear
Create competitive advantages that can't be easily copied
Leverage AI to streamline your business and generate qualified leads daily
Our Vision at Client Growth Strategies™
A business world where technology amplifies trust, not replaces it.
Where marketing feels meaningful, and every client interaction is a chance to serve, not sell.
Through Client Growth Strategies™, we’re redefining growth by helping businesses build systems that work for them systems that attract the right clients, nurture genuine relationships, and convert conversations into consistent revenue.
Our Core Values
Authenticity First
Real conversations build real businesses.
Smart Connection
Technology should simplify relationships, not complicate them.
Growth with Purpose
We measure success by impact, not just income.
Service Over Sales
We earn loyalty by putting people first.
Always Evolving..
The market changes, and so should we .But the mission stays the same.
The Heart Behind Client Growth Strategies™
At the end of the day, I’m not just here to help you grow faster, I’m here to help you grow better.
Whether it’s refining your brand, optimising your client systems, or building automated processes that feel personal, everything I teach and create comes back to one idea:
Business isn’t about who you reach. It’s about who you keep.
And with the right tools, strategy, and mindset, you can create a business that doesn’t just survives, it thrives through connection.
From Industry Disruption to Sales Innovation
I didn't choose sales, sales chose me when the family oil business faced seismic industry shifts that changed everything. That moment of disruption became the catalyst for a career built on one principle: adapt or become irrelevant.
The Early Days: A Pioneer's Mindset
In early 1995, while running sales for a multi-line boat dealership in Northeast Oklahoma, I made a decision that would define my approach to business.
I invested $7,500—a significant sum at the time—to build one of the first websites for a boat dealership. Not because it was
guaranteed to work. Not because everyone else was doing it. But because I understood that staying ahead means investing in what's next, not what's now.
That single-page website represented more than early tech adoption. It represented a mindset that would shape decades of success—seeing opportunity where others see expense, embracing change while competitors cling to comfort.
The Power of Genuine Connection
But my innovation wasn't limited to technology. I understood something more fundamental: people don't refer to businesses they bought from—they refer to people who made them feel valued.
Every new customer got something unexpected, a photograph taken in front of their new boat. I created two copies: one for the dealership's Wall of Fame, and one mailed to the customer with a handwritten thank you note. No strings attached, no asking for referrals, just genuine thank you to show appreciation.
This simple act did what expensive marketing campaigns couldn't, it created ambassadors.
Referrals exploded. Sales doubled over the next two years. Strategy without humanity is just tactics. True growth comes from making customers feel like they matter.
From Marine Sales to Financial Services
In 2006, I discovered an online platform that changed everything: automated, personalized thank you cards. Better yet, I could include a Starbucks card or a box of brownies. It was my boat dealership photo strategy, but scalable.
During my final year in the mortgage business, something unexpected happened. The business owners and sales professionals receiving my cards and gifts didn't just appreciate them, they wanted to know my secret.
They were asking how I was generating so much business through relationships while others were struggling.
The pattern was clear: I didn't just survive market changes, I used them to evolve. And now, others wanted to learn how.
Building Client Growth Strategies
The transition was natural. I shifted from the mortgage business to doing what people were already asking me to do: teach them my relationship marketing strategies. Years of hands-on experience in multiple industries had created a proven playbook for building businesses through authentic connections and systematic follow-up.
But in 2012, the game changed again. Social media and LinkedIn were gaining serious traction. I saw what most didn't: content marketing wasn't just about posting, it was about attracting your ideal client and capturing their information. I integrated content marketing with my relationship marketing foundation, helping clients build platforms that turn strangers into leads and leads into loyal customers.
Today, as a speaker, trainer, and business strategist, I bring that same pioneering spirit to every client engagement. Client Growth Strategies was born from a simple observation: businesses don't fail because they lack good products or hardworking people. They fail because they stop
evolving, stop adapting, and stop investing in growth.
What Sets Us Apart
Real Experience, Real Results
My expertise isn't theoretical. It's battle-tested across oil and gas, marine sales, financial services, and now over a decade of guiding business owners and sales professionals.
I've doubled sales through customer appreciation, built thriving businesses in competitive markets, and pioneered content marketing strategies when social media was still finding its footing.
From the oil fields to the sales floor, from a $7,500 website gamble to teaching others how to attract ideal clients, I've navigated the changes that break most businesses—and learned how to help others do the same.
The Innovation Edge
The same instinct that drove me to build that $7,500 website in 1995 drives every strategy we develop today. We don't just help you catch up to your competition—we position you to lead your market.
Strategic Clarity
After decades of helping businesses grow, I know that success isn't about doing more—it's about doing what matters. We cut through the noise, eliminate the distractions, and focus on the strategies that actually drive revenue and build lasting competitive advantage.
The Bottom Line
Success in business requires more than hard work. It requires vision, strategy, and the
willingness to invest in growth even when the ROI isn't immediately obvious.