Offices, Restaurants, and The Pandemic

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.640 --> 00:00:10.940 customer experiences. Adaptability on I don't mean that on the side of the 2 00:00:10.950 --> 00:00:16.790 customer. I mean that on the side of the business, off the top of your head. 3 00:00:16.790 --> 00:00:21.330 If you were toe list businesses and business models significantly affected 4 00:00:21.340 --> 00:00:26.520 by a pandemic by social distancing, you would certainly think about commercial 5 00:00:26.520 --> 00:00:31.590 real estate and restaurants. And that is exactly where we are today on the C 6 00:00:31.590 --> 00:00:36.200 X Siris on B two b growth. My name is Ethan Butte, host of the Siri's. I also 7 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:40.880 host the customer experience podcast and serve as chief evangelist at Bom 8 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:46.710 Bom. My guest today is Alex Grace off Fouda. They have a very interesting 9 00:00:46.710 --> 00:00:50.700 business model, and he brings great perspective both to commercial real 10 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:56.420 estate and two restaurants, as well as two ways companies can better serve 11 00:00:56.420 --> 00:01:03.440 their employees. Here's Alex Grace, director of sales at Fouda. When I 12 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:08.260 think about businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, here are two that 13 00:01:08.260 --> 00:01:13.280 come to mind restaurants and commercial real estate. Today on the podcast, 14 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:16.740 we're operating at the intersection of both. Our guest brings to this 15 00:01:16.740 --> 00:01:21.030 conversation more than a dozen years of sales, management and sales leadership 16 00:01:21.030 --> 00:01:25.740 experience in restaurants, recruiting, transportation, and logistics and 17 00:01:25.740 --> 00:01:29.490 events and conferences. For the past few years, he served as director of 18 00:01:29.490 --> 00:01:33.410 sales at Fouda, which connects local restaurants with corporate headquarters 19 00:01:33.410 --> 00:01:37.450 and multi tenant buildings. Alex Grace, Welcome to the customer experience. 20 00:01:37.450 --> 00:01:41.620 Podcast. Hi. Thanks, man. That was there was a great interest. It's kind 21 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:46.060 of like Can we just stop there? Things gonna be? I'm really looking forward to 22 00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:50.740 this conversation. We had a nice time chatting before we hit record. And, you 23 00:01:50.740 --> 00:01:53.610 know, we can't have this conversation without talking about the pandemic. 24 00:01:53.610 --> 00:01:58.840 Obviously, it is a It is a highly is a very fluid situation. So to kind of 25 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:02.540 time stamp, This were almost exactly halfway through the year here at the 26 00:02:02.540 --> 00:02:07.120 next to last day of June. As we record, you're in Dallas. Just kind of set the 27 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:10.940 scene. What has this been like for you? I know a lot of your team is up in 28 00:02:10.940 --> 00:02:16.630 Chicago. How has this affected you or your team, your workflow or even your 29 00:02:16.630 --> 00:02:20.620 customers at at a high level? Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's funny when 30 00:02:20.620 --> 00:02:24.770 when you kind of red that intro, I realized that I've pretty much worked 31 00:02:24.770 --> 00:02:28.650 in all of the industries that are affected by Cove. It and, you know, 32 00:02:28.650 --> 00:02:32.660 it's it's been interesting. So we were already a very distributed company 33 00:02:32.660 --> 00:02:36.280 before Cove it, you know, we're 23 different markets headquartered in 34 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:40.990 Chicago. So, you know, we've always had a market centric business. So, you know, 35 00:02:40.990 --> 00:02:45.880 I think that to answer the question, that aspect of it hasn't really changed. 36 00:02:45.890 --> 00:02:49.580 You know, if anything, we've really leaned into it a little more. You know, 37 00:02:49.580 --> 00:02:54.440 our business obviously has changed, you know, not so much because of Cove it, 38 00:02:54.440 --> 00:02:58.150 but more the stay at home orders. You know, the quarantines. You know, the 39 00:02:58.150 --> 00:03:01.870 closing of businesses, you know, it's affected us just like everyone else, 40 00:03:01.940 --> 00:03:06.240 you know, And we've really, you know, looked at it as, you know, an 41 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:11.290 opportunity. Thio kind of double down on what it is that we dio, you know, a 42 00:03:11.290 --> 00:03:17.370 Zaev said in many calls with colleagues, you know, we stand right now saying 43 00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:21.540 that, you know, we're never been in a stronger position for coming out the 44 00:03:21.540 --> 00:03:27.040 end of this because we really are, you know, the safest option for you know, 45 00:03:27.050 --> 00:03:30.070 the reality is people are not going to stop going to the office and people are 46 00:03:30.070 --> 00:03:33.470 not going to stop eating. And we're right at the intersection of that. You 47 00:03:33.470 --> 00:03:38.200 know, we are going to be able Thio, provide other revenue streams, toe 48 00:03:38.200 --> 00:03:43.100 local businesses, which is now with everything going on and Mawr important 49 00:03:43.100 --> 00:03:47.730 than ever. And you know, the interesting thing is as we talk, you 50 00:03:47.730 --> 00:03:53.020 know, last Friday, the governor of Texas shut down all of the bars and has 51 00:03:53.020 --> 00:03:57.800 reduced role Black rolled back, I should say, the opening of restaurants 52 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:03.180 Thio, 50% occupancy, you know, due to the spike in in in Texas that we're 53 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:06.870 seeing. So you know, there are a lot of businesses that air that air struggling 54 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:10.870 local restaurants, mom and pops through no fault of their own. I mean, the 55 00:04:10.870 --> 00:04:13.720 restaurant industry and the restaurant business is a whole has always been 56 00:04:13.730 --> 00:04:17.670 very thin margins, you know, with the exception of the Gordon Ramsay's of the 57 00:04:17.670 --> 00:04:21.860 World, you know it's not a real grid, probably to get rich or unease e way to 58 00:04:21.860 --> 00:04:26.440 do it. And you know, so these air people that were already living you 59 00:04:26.440 --> 00:04:29.720 know, businesses that were already living month to month, and it's it's 60 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:34.450 sad to see. So I say that to frame it that, you know, whatever hit food has 61 00:04:34.450 --> 00:04:39.480 taken hails in Paris into the hit that our partners the restaurants have taken. 62 00:04:39.490 --> 00:04:45.770 So we, you know, our CEO Orazio said it best. I mean, we are dedicated and 63 00:04:45.770 --> 00:04:50.250 determined to survive this so that we can help our restaurant partners on the 64 00:04:50.250 --> 00:04:54.580 other side. So awesome. I feel like that's a really good preview of the 65 00:04:54.580 --> 00:04:58.950 conversation that will get into a lot more detail on and and to get into it, 66 00:04:58.950 --> 00:05:03.400 let's start where we always start here, which is your definition off customer 67 00:05:03.400 --> 00:05:06.040 experience. When I say customer experience, what does that mean to you, 68 00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:10.760 Alex? Yeah, you know, it's funny. And I thought, I've always had this, this 69 00:05:10.760 --> 00:05:15.690 definition in my head, and I think co vid really kind of set it in stone, 70 00:05:15.700 --> 00:05:19.720 which is that I believe customer experience experiences adaptability, 71 00:05:19.730 --> 00:05:24.360 and I don't mean that on, you know, the side of the customer. I mean that on 72 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:28.580 the side of the business, you know, your job is a business with customer 73 00:05:28.580 --> 00:05:32.900 experience. I mean, obviously, aside from the tenants, you know, they call 74 00:05:32.900 --> 00:05:36.760 it 10 Commandments. That are set in stone for customer experience is the 75 00:05:36.760 --> 00:05:41.510 ability to adapt, adapt to customer, adapt to the market and what's going on, 76 00:05:41.520 --> 00:05:46.010 Adapt to the environment and the, you know, the call it the new truths and 77 00:05:46.010 --> 00:05:50.380 that's never been more important than right now is you know, we have always 78 00:05:50.390 --> 00:05:54.300 especially Fouda. You know, we've been a customer service business. I mean, a 79 00:05:54.310 --> 00:05:57.940 customer experience business are the whole reason that we started the 80 00:05:57.940 --> 00:06:03.220 business Waas to make something like lunch. Ah, fun experience again and 81 00:06:03.230 --> 00:06:08.460 getting away from the Delhi's and and the, you know, the corporate cafeterias 82 00:06:08.460 --> 00:06:13.000 and and those, you know, bland club sandwiches and all, you know, salads 83 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:17.190 and stuff like that and bringing cool local restaurants into the buildings. 84 00:06:17.200 --> 00:06:23.220 And so, you know, adaptability is so important because you now we you know, 85 00:06:23.230 --> 00:06:27.060 there's I see two types of businesses reacting to covet. There's the ones 86 00:06:27.060 --> 00:06:31.020 that air deciding what their customers they're gonna want and making the pivot 87 00:06:31.020 --> 00:06:34.910 towards that. And then there are those that air just listening and saying Okay. 88 00:06:34.910 --> 00:06:38.480 Hey, guys, what do you want? You know what? What is important to you after 89 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:43.590 this, you know? Are you worried about masks. Are you worried about, you know, 90 00:06:43.590 --> 00:06:46.160 crowds? You worried about social distancing? Are you worried about? I 91 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:50.840 mean, there's a list a mile long, and so adaptability to me has always been, 92 00:06:50.850 --> 00:06:55.370 you know, the key tenant and the key definition of customer experience. I 93 00:06:55.370 --> 00:06:59.320 love it. And, you know, it's easy to point to the pandemic as something that 94 00:06:59.320 --> 00:07:03.400 has forced all kinds of businesses, whether they're directly affected or 95 00:07:03.400 --> 00:07:07.820 not, to be adaptable to the situation. But really is you alluded to in your 96 00:07:07.820 --> 00:07:12.150 response there sometimes market conditions. It could be a long, slow 97 00:07:12.150 --> 00:07:14.950 move that all of a sudden things have shifted a little bit, and you have to 98 00:07:14.950 --> 00:07:18.210 adapt really good. And you also previewed where I wanted to go next, 99 00:07:18.210 --> 00:07:21.650 which is for folks who aren't familiar. I love this model, and I love your 100 00:07:21.650 --> 00:07:25.460 mission. Tell people who aren't familiar with Fouda. Kind of Who are 101 00:07:25.460 --> 00:07:29.450 you? What are you about? Who is your ideal customer, and what problem do you 102 00:07:29.450 --> 00:07:32.620 solve for them? And maybe do you have to? Customers? Do you think about the 103 00:07:32.620 --> 00:07:36.420 worker who's who's getting lunch from the local restaurant as a customer, 104 00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:39.600 same as the restaurant. Is the restaurant really your your pure 105 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:40.160 customer? 106 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:45.800 Yeah, we have a lot of customers which, you know, makes my job fun. So at a 107 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:49.930 high level, Fouda is Ah, pop up restaurant program for, you know, 108 00:07:49.930 --> 00:07:55.900 office building lobbies for lunch. So you know what we are is a simple level. 109 00:07:55.900 --> 00:08:00.800 We connect restaurants in the area with opportunities Thio, you know, for new 110 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:05.540 streams of revenue, you know whether it be catering. We have have expanded into 111 00:08:05.550 --> 00:08:10.150 cafeterias and, you know, running large scale cafeterias. And but our key 112 00:08:10.150 --> 00:08:13.950 tenant is the pop up, which is you know, if you think about it in a large office 113 00:08:13.950 --> 00:08:17.680 building in, you know, name the city, you know, a different restaurant 114 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:22.340 everyday popping up for lunch in your in your lobby. Cool. Local restaurants 115 00:08:22.340 --> 00:08:26.610 have been vetted by food both for, you know, safety and compliance, but also 116 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:31.900 for, you know, fit in the program, you know, food quality. You know that I've 117 00:08:31.900 --> 00:08:35.470 gained £15 since I started with food because I have to test all the food, 118 00:08:35.470 --> 00:08:39.570 which is, you know, a terrible job. But somebody has to do it. And so our 119 00:08:39.570 --> 00:08:46.050 customer is really both the you know, the employees in the building, but also 120 00:08:46.050 --> 00:08:50.340 our restaurant partners. Also the property management companies and the 121 00:08:50.340 --> 00:08:54.080 property managers of the building. The companies in the building, three owners 122 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:59.120 of the building. You know, we provide a lot of things in our model, which is a 123 00:08:59.130 --> 00:09:03.540 you know, which is so cool because it's very rare that you get win win wins in 124 00:09:03.550 --> 00:09:07.720 business. But we're giving, you know, customers. You know, the employees of 125 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:10.580 the building, the tenants of the building. Ah, great lunch option that 126 00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:14.750 changes every day. So you never get, you know, menu fatigue. We're giving 127 00:09:14.760 --> 00:09:18.850 the restaurants and opportunity thio make money at a time. You know, 128 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:22.490 lunchtime when their restaurants are generally not as busy, they really 129 00:09:22.490 --> 00:09:26.940 focus on the dinner service and thio, you know, test menu items and and to 130 00:09:26.940 --> 00:09:30.990 test areas of the city that they're not in to increase their customer base 131 00:09:30.990 --> 00:09:35.560 around, you know, from more than just the walkable area that they're in. But 132 00:09:35.570 --> 00:09:38.790 also, you know, we get companies because this is a recruitment tool for 133 00:09:38.790 --> 00:09:41.930 them being able to say that you know, for inside another company or inside 134 00:09:41.930 --> 00:09:45.700 their building that they have this, you know, wonderful program that they can 135 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:49.280 sell to potential employees that they're trying to hire and then 136 00:09:49.280 --> 00:09:52.970 building owners and property managers. Because this is an amenity that they 137 00:09:52.970 --> 00:09:57.910 get to use to either a charge, more rent we differentiate themselves from, 138 00:09:57.920 --> 00:10:02.300 you know, the market into the other competitive leasable space that's out 139 00:10:02.300 --> 00:10:06.190 there and see you. Then it's also increasing the value of their building. 140 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:10.420 Yeah, I love again. Like I said, I love the model. I like this idea of new 141 00:10:10.420 --> 00:10:14.440 revenue streams in the exposure for the restaurants to just create some name 142 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:19.250 recognition. And, of course, it could be sold to a variety of constituencies 143 00:10:19.260 --> 00:10:23.460 before we kind of get into some of the details of of where the restaurant 144 00:10:23.460 --> 00:10:27.620 business is and where it's going. Just talk a little bit about your sales team. 145 00:10:27.620 --> 00:10:32.730 Is your sales team distributed? And how big is it and what? How is it 146 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:37.330 approximately structured And who directly are you getting to sign 147 00:10:37.330 --> 00:10:41.690 contracts as a sales team? Yeah, absolutely. So our sales team is 148 00:10:41.690 --> 00:10:46.190 distributed within the markets, you know. So we have, you know, both 149 00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:50.110 national sales teams, you know, on the restaurant side and on the client side, 150 00:10:50.110 --> 00:10:53.950 that air going out there and working on national partnerships with, you know, 151 00:10:53.950 --> 00:10:57.370 some of the larger companies that are a little bit more distributed on the 152 00:10:57.370 --> 00:11:00.770 restaurant side. You know, we've got a sales team that's out there, you know, 153 00:11:00.780 --> 00:11:05.020 doing the same. And then we also have, you know, sales teams locally and 154 00:11:05.020 --> 00:11:09.800 market that are distributed in. So far, we don't have an office and they're out 155 00:11:09.800 --> 00:11:13.880 and about on the field. But that's you know how we've generally run them. You 156 00:11:13.880 --> 00:11:17.980 know, it's a very small salesforce. I mean, markets will have anywhere from 157 00:11:17.990 --> 00:11:22.510 one salesperson toe five salespeople, but it depends on the market in the 158 00:11:22.510 --> 00:11:27.090 size of you know, they call it the TAM or total addressable market. But, you 159 00:11:27.090 --> 00:11:30.200 know, in terms of how who were getting designed, them could be anyone from an 160 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:34.890 HR person in a company. Teoh, the CEO of a company you know, a property 161 00:11:34.890 --> 00:11:39.690 manager for a building, you know, a leasing person for the building. You 162 00:11:39.690 --> 00:11:42.890 know, we have some that we go into where we, you know, deal directly with 163 00:11:42.890 --> 00:11:46.470 the owners of the building or the owner's representative the the asset 164 00:11:46.470 --> 00:11:50.770 manager. You know it really, just anybody that is able to make decisions 165 00:11:50.770 --> 00:11:55.430 about the building, whether it's multi tenant or or single tenant. And, yeah, 166 00:11:55.430 --> 00:11:59.790 I mean, that really and truly is kind of how complex Or I would say, spread 167 00:11:59.790 --> 00:12:04.580 out. The people who sign our contracts are cool. Is, um, this just out of 168 00:12:04.580 --> 00:12:09.560 personal curiosity, then who manages who, like, select recruits the 169 00:12:09.560 --> 00:12:14.110 restaurants and manages the restaurant relationship? Is that marketing? Is it 170 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:20.080 customer services? It like a product team like close that loop? Yeah, So 171 00:12:20.090 --> 00:12:25.010 everyone is the short answer. But, you know, and that's at the end of the day, 172 00:12:25.020 --> 00:12:29.120 we are all passionate about our restaurants and, you know, putting our 173 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.560 restaurants and opportunities just, you know, to succeed and making sure that 174 00:12:32.560 --> 00:12:35.890 they have the best possible experience with food. I mean, there's so many 175 00:12:35.890 --> 00:12:40.010 other what you, you know, call other streams or new streams of revenue for 176 00:12:40.020 --> 00:12:43.590 restaurants out there. And, you know, some are a lot more. Some are less 177 00:12:43.590 --> 00:12:47.700 focused on the restaurant experience than others, and so we've really taken 178 00:12:47.700 --> 00:12:51.210 the approach that you know. Everyone in the company is responsible for that 179 00:12:51.210 --> 00:12:55.140 relationship. But Thio answer directly. I mean, we have a restaurant sales team 180 00:12:55.140 --> 00:12:58.790 that reaches out Thio and Fields inbound requests from restaurants 181 00:12:58.790 --> 00:13:03.580 through, you know, recommendations. Or, you know, customer referrals will go 182 00:13:03.580 --> 00:13:08.050 out well, you know, initiate that that restaurant relationship and then it's 183 00:13:08.050 --> 00:13:12.830 handed off in market Thio. You know, either operations and market or myself, 184 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:17.590 you know, overseeing the markets. And then, you know, we kind of work on that 185 00:13:17.590 --> 00:13:21.070 relationship, get them going in our program, help them hold their hand 186 00:13:21.070 --> 00:13:24.690 along the way. I mean, there's a lot of on boarding that we go through and also, 187 00:13:24.700 --> 00:13:27.470 you know, making sure one of the simplest things it's like their first 188 00:13:27.470 --> 00:13:32.210 event were always there. And whether or not we feel like we need to be, it is 189 00:13:32.220 --> 00:13:37.050 so important for us to be there and and thio at the end of the day, they know 190 00:13:37.060 --> 00:13:40.830 we're aligned for the same goal, which is their success. We are nothing 191 00:13:40.830 --> 00:13:44.050 without our restaurants, and you know, we remind ourselves of that every day. 192 00:13:44.640 --> 00:13:50.450 It's awesome. Gosh, and what a cool and complex situation to manage For all the 193 00:13:50.450 --> 00:13:54.540 parties involved, it's really again. So for the last time, except maybe at the 194 00:13:54.540 --> 00:14:01.170 end. I really like the model. It's cool. I e. Had similar here. No, He said to 195 00:14:01.170 --> 00:14:04.970 me that it's a bad idea. I've always said it's such a cool. That's the two 196 00:14:04.970 --> 00:14:07.700 responses that I get is like, Oh, I wish I had something like that in my 197 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:11.380 building or, you know Oh, that's such a cool idea, which is, you know, such a 198 00:14:11.380 --> 00:14:14.950 great company to work for, You know, such a great thing to be a part of. 199 00:14:15.140 --> 00:14:20.730 Yeah, we're when? When the bomb bomb team is in office, probably 95% of us 200 00:14:20.730 --> 00:14:23.570 are in an office tower in downtown Colorado Springs. Of course, we haven't 201 00:14:23.570 --> 00:14:28.390 been there in months, and we typically cater our own lunches on Fridays, but 202 00:14:28.390 --> 00:14:31.060 would be so much more fun to have it available to people. You know, you just 203 00:14:31.060 --> 00:14:34.960 see, I won't name names of restaurants, but you see the same like two people 204 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:41.840 delivering overpriced sandwiches, you know, every day s dynamic eso let's 205 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:45.090 take a little bit of a look forward. And I would guess that you would answer 206 00:14:45.090 --> 00:14:48.770 this question differently today than you would have Maybe a month ago, but 207 00:14:48.940 --> 00:14:52.750 kind of where are we with restaurants in general? And where we going, like, 208 00:14:52.750 --> 00:14:57.730 three months? Six months, 12 months, Like what's ahead here From a revenue 209 00:14:57.730 --> 00:15:02.130 standpoint, I guess in an experience standpoint, the trust and confidence in 210 00:15:02.140 --> 00:15:08.060 showing up thio dying, Yeah, you know, it's s Oh, that's such a loaded 211 00:15:08.060 --> 00:15:13.470 question. But what I can tell you is that it is truly an interesting time 212 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:17.490 for restaurant owners. You know, the single unit or multi unit restaurant 213 00:15:17.490 --> 00:15:21.120 owners right now. And, you know, one of the things that I can say from kind of 214 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:25.960 watching it from the sidelines is that I'm so impressed by what our 215 00:15:25.970 --> 00:15:30.100 restaurants have been able to dio, you know, they were essentially given two 216 00:15:30.100 --> 00:15:35.550 days notice toe open in the state of Texas back in May. And we're able to 217 00:15:35.550 --> 00:15:40.920 scramble to get, you know, some great some truly great compliance and safety 218 00:15:40.930 --> 00:15:46.990 measures in place with very truly very little insight direction from local 219 00:15:46.990 --> 00:15:51.970 government other than open socially distance and, you know, 25% occupancy. 220 00:15:51.940 --> 00:15:57.030 And so, you know, one of our restaurant partners in market that I've seen do it 221 00:15:57.030 --> 00:16:01.300 really well is a company called Refined Hospitality concepts. So they dio, you 222 00:16:01.300 --> 00:16:03.680 know, one of the things I went the first weekend they opened one of the 223 00:16:03.680 --> 00:16:07.020 restaurants. I had my temperature taken. They take down your name and phone 224 00:16:07.020 --> 00:16:11.840 number. You know, all of the menus are Q R codes. So you're pulling them up on 225 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.450 your phone. You're not sharing menus. You have to wear a mask whenever you're 226 00:16:15.450 --> 00:16:20.550 not sitting at your table. There's no congregating at bars or standing around, 227 00:16:20.540 --> 00:16:23.720 you know, no groups larger than you know. At the time it was four. I think 228 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:27.780 now it's like 10. So you can't, you know, come in and have a huge party. 229 00:16:27.790 --> 00:16:32.230 And, you know, all of the waiters air taking it seriously were being tested 230 00:16:32.230 --> 00:16:37.180 regularly. So I think I've been very impressed with how the restaurant 231 00:16:37.180 --> 00:16:43.810 industry has kind of taking it upon itself. Thio self police. And it's such 232 00:16:43.810 --> 00:16:47.240 a small industry. No matter how big your city is, the restaurant industry 233 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:51.230 has always been very small. The staff is very transient. The you know, the 234 00:16:51.230 --> 00:16:55.460 owners will know themselves know each other, and so you know, it really has 235 00:16:55.460 --> 00:16:59.050 been a really good push and and those you know, I've been to some restaurants 236 00:16:59.050 --> 00:17:03.390 that weren't taking it as seriously as as others. And you know, what I noticed 237 00:17:03.390 --> 00:17:08.160 was one. People were more likely to just leave, and two other owners were 238 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:11.359 reaching out to those restaurants, saying, You know, Hey, guys, come on, 239 00:17:11.369 --> 00:17:15.359 you need to step it up. And here's why. Because if it goes bad at your 240 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:19.690 restaurant, it affects us, too. You know, we're all in this together, and, 241 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:23.369 you know, we need to make sure that not only are we providing a consistent 242 00:17:23.369 --> 00:17:28.650 product and experience, but that were, you know, helping each other out. So, 243 00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:33.640 you know, to answer the question in terms of what does that experience look 244 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:37.690 like? I think it's interesting because, you know, having grown up around 245 00:17:37.690 --> 00:17:41.910 restaurants and always, you know, been an avid consumer is what I would call 246 00:17:41.910 --> 00:17:47.020 it. It's all been about warmth and hospitality and feel. And the high 247 00:17:47.020 --> 00:17:51.190 fives, the hugs, the Hey man, How was your week? You know, the cheers. They 248 00:17:51.190 --> 00:17:55.470 know your name, you know, kind of mentality. And I think that that's a 249 00:17:55.470 --> 00:17:59.810 struggle for restaurants. Has been How do you do that while maintaining social 250 00:17:59.810 --> 00:18:03.610 distance and even with those you know, even with those people who are a little 251 00:18:03.610 --> 00:18:07.180 bit more comfortable with a hug or a high five understanding that like you 252 00:18:07.180 --> 00:18:11.870 know, that person may have it not know it. And then I get it from that hug 253 00:18:11.870 --> 00:18:15.900 transmitted to my staff, which affects my business, which affects their pitch. 254 00:18:15.900 --> 00:18:20.700 I So it's like, you know, having to like, almost say like, No, I'm sorry, 255 00:18:20.710 --> 00:18:25.250 but selfishly, no hugs but like elbow bumps. You know, I see a lot of those 256 00:18:25.250 --> 00:18:29.450 elbow bumps and, you know, the the air fives And there were, you know, so 257 00:18:29.450 --> 00:18:33.300 popular in the nineties. So there's a lot of ah, lot of uncertainty of the 258 00:18:33.300 --> 00:18:38.670 gecko. And the cool thing is, we're now in Texas 2.5 months into it, and so 259 00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:41.720 it's become a little bit more normal. I mean, I was telling you when we when we 260 00:18:41.730 --> 00:18:46.210 talked earlier, that I went to dinner toe brunch with my parents for Father's 261 00:18:46.210 --> 00:18:50.520 Day, and I think this is my my parents second time out of the house, and so, 262 00:18:50.530 --> 00:18:55.050 you know, it was not my second time, but we go to this restaurant and, you 263 00:18:55.050 --> 00:19:00.060 know, it was a little fault. And I know in Texas to 75% occupancy was, you know, 264 00:19:00.060 --> 00:19:05.470 was kind of the norm at the time, But it just felt full. And so I think one 265 00:19:05.470 --> 00:19:09.430 of the things that's going to change in the next 6 to 12 months is you know, 266 00:19:09.430 --> 00:19:13.550 the customer. You know, ie, the consumer is not gonna be okay with 267 00:19:13.550 --> 00:19:18.000 fully packed restaurants or fully packed bars or, you know, fully packed 268 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:21.180 nightclubs. You know, one of the things that you know, especially in a bar 269 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:24.550 nightclub industry. It has always been the norm is like, you get the highest 270 00:19:24.550 --> 00:19:28.030 occupancy that the fire marshal give you and you go 20% over that. I hope 271 00:19:28.030 --> 00:19:32.140 you don't get caught. And I think that those days are over. I think that some 272 00:19:32.140 --> 00:19:38.710 sort of reasonable kind of call it packing or reasonable occupancy numbers 273 00:19:38.710 --> 00:19:42.630 are going to be the norm moving forward. And I also think that you know, new 274 00:19:42.630 --> 00:19:48.530 streams of revenue. I think Ah, lot of restaurants today have to forget about 275 00:19:48.530 --> 00:19:53.780 yesterday like the what happened in 2019 and the first quarter. First half 276 00:19:53.780 --> 00:19:57.950 of the first quarter in 2020 is no longer gonna happen again. And so how 277 00:19:57.950 --> 00:20:03.540 do you adjust to this new model as new model? Where take out is a necessity 278 00:20:03.550 --> 00:20:08.260 and a decent part of your revenue stream, especially in Texas, where we 279 00:20:08.260 --> 00:20:12.560 could do take out alcohol and then embracing other streams of revenue. So 280 00:20:12.560 --> 00:20:16.680 whether it's having a full restaurant with a huge occupancy or a small 281 00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:20.390 restaurant with a huge take out business ghost kitchens, you know 282 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:25.620 Travis Planets New Venture is is a ghost kitchen business in San Francisco 283 00:20:25.620 --> 00:20:29.820 that I think is probably never been more well positioned. You know, ghost 284 00:20:29.820 --> 00:20:34.980 kitchen, ghost kitchen. So ghost kitchens are the we work of kitchens, 285 00:20:34.990 --> 00:20:39.830 so it is essentially a main kitchen that is permitted by a company. And 286 00:20:39.830 --> 00:20:44.360 then, ah, lot of different restaurants can come in and use that space. And 287 00:20:44.360 --> 00:20:49.780 then it's generally for the use of delivery platforms, so you'll go in tow, 288 00:20:49.790 --> 00:20:53.350 uber eats and see a lot of restaurant names that you've never seen before 289 00:20:53.350 --> 00:20:56.700 that don't actually have physical locations. Those are coming out of a 290 00:20:56.700 --> 00:21:00.770 ghost kitchen. And so you know, that model and other sorts of revenue 291 00:21:00.770 --> 00:21:08.260 streams you know, catering events, although not so much events now. And E 292 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:12.600 Josh, what do you think is the most irritating thing for B two B buyers 293 00:21:12.600 --> 00:21:16.090 right now, an Logan. I love talking to you about this. You know that the 294 00:21:16.090 --> 00:21:20.690 number one challenge right now is that many customer facing teams in the B two 295 00:21:20.690 --> 00:21:25.300 B space right now are forcing their potential buyers, too, by the way that 296 00:21:25.300 --> 00:21:29.050 they want to sell. Buyers don't wanna buy that way right now. They wanna, by 297 00:21:29.050 --> 00:21:33.710 the way they want to buy. We need to enable those buyers. We call this buyer 298 00:21:33.710 --> 00:21:37.500 enablement at sales reach. We need to enable those buyers to make better 299 00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:42.020 decisions quicker in a comfortable environment that's more personalized 300 00:21:42.020 --> 00:21:45.100 for them to move forward with that process. Dude, that's awesome. I 301 00:21:45.100 --> 00:21:48.570 couldn't agree more. Since I've been using sales reach in my own sales 302 00:21:48.570 --> 00:21:53.070 process, it's allowed me to really enable the buyer to move more quickly 303 00:21:53.070 --> 00:21:56.670 in really two ways. One, they don't have to download a bunch of attachments. 304 00:21:56.670 --> 00:22:00.880 Aiken, send them toe one page with the proposal. Case studies different 305 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:04.630 resource is because, let's face it, the proposal is just one part of the sales 306 00:22:04.630 --> 00:22:08.790 conversation and probably on Lee one sales enablement piece of content that 307 00:22:08.790 --> 00:22:12.820 you're sending so it makes it easier on them. And then the other thing is, you 308 00:22:12.820 --> 00:22:16.290 know, we're selling to our champions, and then we're making them have to re 309 00:22:16.290 --> 00:22:19.880 give our pitch to the entire buying committee. So one thing I do is put a 310 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:24.170 custom 2 to 3 minute video on the top of my sales reach page. This says, Hey, 311 00:22:24.170 --> 00:22:27.250 here's all the resource is tie it back to the conversation. Here's the 312 00:22:27.250 --> 00:22:30.680 proposal. Let me know if you have any questions, and it allows me to give a 313 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:34.020 little bit of kind of a mini pitch to the rest of the buying committee. 314 00:22:34.030 --> 00:22:37.920 Introduce myself, which helps me build trust and credibility and helps the 315 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:42.750 buyer not have to repeat the entire pitch from scratch. So if anybody is 316 00:22:42.750 --> 00:22:45.980 looking to do the same thing in their own sales process, I'd highly suggest 317 00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:49.230 they reach out to you and the team over its sales. Reach for anybody listening. 318 00:22:49.230 --> 00:22:55.390 Just go to sales reach dot io to talk to Josh and the team ah, variation of 319 00:22:55.390 --> 00:22:59.040 take out, which is the kind of prepare it home. Obviously, not all cuisines 320 00:22:59.040 --> 00:23:02.400 lend themselves to that, but I've been seeing that. I've been seeing people 321 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:07.460 essentially doing like the online coach consultant training model, where 322 00:23:07.460 --> 00:23:13.260 they're putting subscription based education and engagement in activity 323 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:18.190 online for people. It's been really inventive. ITT's so cool and it's one 324 00:23:18.190 --> 00:23:23.370 of my favorites is Ah, Alinea. So Alinea in Chicago, it's It's one of the 325 00:23:23.370 --> 00:23:28.360 top restaurants in the U. S. It Z two or three Michelin star. I forget. And 326 00:23:28.370 --> 00:23:32.860 you know, the last in the world I would have ever thought would you take out 327 00:23:33.040 --> 00:23:36.230 And they did, and they did these really cool. I bought one for my sister for 328 00:23:36.230 --> 00:23:39.330 her birthday. You know, it was like a steakhouse meal, and you could watch a 329 00:23:39.330 --> 00:23:44.670 video of grand AC. It's the head chef, you know, doing it in his house. And, 330 00:23:44.670 --> 00:23:48.480 you know, the funniest thing was that the first iterations of their take out 331 00:23:48.490 --> 00:23:52.500 we're all being fulfilled out of Grants House in Lincoln Park. They've since 332 00:23:52.500 --> 00:23:56.070 moved it to their restaurant. But I think that that personal touches, you 333 00:23:56.070 --> 00:24:01.190 know, again, if I could go and that's really not to tie back to food A but 334 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:04.550 one of the really cool things. I mean, there's a reason that we decided at our 335 00:24:04.550 --> 00:24:08.820 events at all of our pop ups that the restaurant staff those events. And it's 336 00:24:08.820 --> 00:24:12.510 for this exact reason. If I have Grant Hackett's walking out of his house and 337 00:24:12.510 --> 00:24:17.090 handing me to take out meal, I would pay 20% more for that Number one and 338 00:24:17.090 --> 00:24:20.730 number two. I'm more likely to reorder that until my friends like, hey, the 339 00:24:20.730 --> 00:24:24.670 head chef came down and actually handed it to me, and it was at his house. And 340 00:24:24.670 --> 00:24:28.160 then there was a video in it that told me how to do it of him doing it, you 341 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.480 know? And that's with food. Oh, that's one of the great experience things is. 342 00:24:31.490 --> 00:24:35.310 You know, you have the head chefs, that or the managers or owners of the 343 00:24:35.310 --> 00:24:38.550 restaurants that air manning these events and telling you about the food 344 00:24:38.550 --> 00:24:41.830 and the story of their restaurant. And so, you know, you go back up to your 345 00:24:41.830 --> 00:24:46.790 office, you come down wanting lunch. That's not, you know, from a deli, and 346 00:24:46.790 --> 00:24:49.850 you go back to your desk and you're like, I just have like a head chef. 347 00:24:49.940 --> 00:24:54.810 Book me a meal essentially and handed to me. And, you know, this is such a 348 00:24:54.810 --> 00:24:57.860 cool experience to tell 10 friends, and then they all come down in the next 349 00:24:57.860 --> 00:25:03.450 time. Yeah, it's not like you just got some caloric and nutritious sustenance. 350 00:25:03.460 --> 00:25:08.240 You had a ruffle improper experience. Calories don't count anyway, especially 351 00:25:08.250 --> 00:25:13.250 E by that it's not. It's not scientific or doctor recommended, but it's got my 352 00:25:13.250 --> 00:25:16.930 Stanford. Yeah, so you cover a lot of the key themes, and I think we all 353 00:25:16.940 --> 00:25:19.890 experience it differently. You know, there's this kind of trust and 354 00:25:19.890 --> 00:25:24.770 confidence level on the customer side. Do I feel comfortable here? And I think, 355 00:25:24.780 --> 00:25:27.800 by the way, for folks who are listening. One of the themes that we've been 356 00:25:27.800 --> 00:25:31.410 talking a lot about on this show is that customer experience is a lot about 357 00:25:31.420 --> 00:25:35.100 how people feel working with you. What does it feel like to work with your 358 00:25:35.100 --> 00:25:40.040 product or your service? And I think in a situation like this, where your 359 00:25:40.040 --> 00:25:44.830 health and safety is a legitimate issue. Besides, just like the ratings on the 360 00:25:44.830 --> 00:25:48.830 restaurant doors, it's a clean kitchen or not, which is a big deal, but it's 361 00:25:48.830 --> 00:25:53.070 even more heightened now. And so you can really generate a lot more love and 362 00:25:53.070 --> 00:25:56.800 appreciation for your team and your brand and your product in your service. 363 00:25:56.800 --> 00:25:59.780 Or you can do the opposite. And so we need to be sensitive to that in 364 00:25:59.780 --> 00:26:03.000 particular. And then, of course, the other thing that we just spent some 365 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:06.790 good time on is this. Adaptability theme, new revenue models, new 366 00:26:06.790 --> 00:26:10.520 experiences that we're creating, flip it a little bit and talk about what 367 00:26:10.520 --> 00:26:15.550 you're seeing out there from a from your other customer. The buildings, the 368 00:26:15.550 --> 00:26:20.280 building owners, the office managers, the HR people kind of What's what's the 369 00:26:20.280 --> 00:26:25.910 feeling out there from A. You know, you need both sides toe work for the core 370 00:26:25.910 --> 00:26:29.470 part of the business model. What's going on on that side of the business? 371 00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:34.190 Yeah, I will tell you, if you would ask me Well, if you'd asked me in February 372 00:26:34.200 --> 00:26:36.560 what I thought I mean, I would have thought any of this would have happened, 373 00:26:36.560 --> 00:26:41.720 but, you know, if you had asked me who would respond better, the billion 374 00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:45.310 dollar, you know, real estate companies, commercial real estate companies or 375 00:26:45.310 --> 00:26:48.710 restaurants I would not have answered restaurants, but I think that, you know, 376 00:26:48.710 --> 00:26:53.540 the restaurants have responded given that the circumstances pretty well. And 377 00:26:53.540 --> 00:26:57.910 I think that the commercial real estate side is still trying to figure it out, 378 00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:01.990 and they have a lot more at stake. Obviously, you know, you go to a 379 00:27:01.990 --> 00:27:05.400 restaurant, you know, once or if you're like me five times a week. But don't 380 00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:10.280 tell my financial planner, but you know, you you're in your building a lot more 381 00:27:10.280 --> 00:27:14.070 and for a lot longer time. So I think that they're taking this lower instead 382 00:27:14.070 --> 00:27:20.320 of your approach. You know, they are also at the at the, you know, kind of 383 00:27:20.330 --> 00:27:25.910 at the will of the employer to who are, you know, reacting in so many different 384 00:27:25.910 --> 00:27:28.090 ways. You've got companies like Google and Twitter is saying that they're 385 00:27:28.090 --> 00:27:31.900 gonna go work from home permanently. You've got a T and T, which is said 386 00:27:31.900 --> 00:27:37.370 that it's gonna, you know, bring 6% of its workforce back, and until there's a 387 00:27:37.380 --> 00:27:41.530 cure which are the polar ends of the spectrum, and then you have, you know, 388 00:27:41.530 --> 00:27:45.830 companies that I won't name. But, you know, the call centers that have been 389 00:27:45.830 --> 00:27:49.430 working either through the whole thing or have brought them back as quickly as 390 00:27:49.430 --> 00:27:55.020 possible and done so in a responsible manner. But I think a lot of what it is 391 00:27:55.020 --> 00:28:02.970 is that there's no in a in a vacuum of a clear and concise centralized plan 392 00:28:02.980 --> 00:28:07.460 trying to stay a political. Everyone is left to figure it out for themselves. 393 00:28:07.470 --> 00:28:14.270 And there's not a lot of people sharing. You know, it's it's everyone's standing 394 00:28:14.270 --> 00:28:18.470 on the edge of the pool and dipping their feet in and nobody's willing to 395 00:28:18.470 --> 00:28:22.550 jump in. And as soon as one person jumps in, especially one person that 396 00:28:22.550 --> 00:28:26.690 everyone else trusts, I think people will follow suit. So it's been 397 00:28:26.690 --> 00:28:32.050 interesting. It's been interesting toe watch purely both in my role and as a 398 00:28:32.060 --> 00:28:36.410 casual observer. I think that the commercial real estate companies are 399 00:28:36.420 --> 00:28:42.730 trying to do what you know, managing a lot of chiefs and trying to figure out 400 00:28:42.740 --> 00:28:46.990 okay, well, this company A wants me to do this thing, which is crazy. Far into 401 00:28:46.990 --> 00:28:51.530 the spectrum. Company B wants me to do something that's you know that's in the 402 00:28:51.530 --> 00:28:55.380 middle of companies. He doesn't really care and you know how Doe I manage all 403 00:28:55.380 --> 00:28:59.570 of those and you know, how do I also be a good partner to some of these 404 00:28:59.570 --> 00:29:03.640 companies? You know, when it comes Thio, you know, renovate, mint and, you know, 405 00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:09.250 making sure that you know that they're able to keep their buildings full. So 406 00:29:09.250 --> 00:29:12.800 that's that one side. And then I'll also say, on the restaurant side 407 00:29:12.810 --> 00:29:16.380 commercial real estate leasing. I think it's has shifted. There was. There's 408 00:29:16.390 --> 00:29:22.510 been a shift in the last two years with kind of the massive openings and 409 00:29:22.510 --> 00:29:28.170 closings of restaurants from a flat rent 2% rent. I think that that shift 410 00:29:28.170 --> 00:29:32.460 is going to continue at an accelerated rate. For sure, I think it makes more 411 00:29:32.460 --> 00:29:37.870 sense for restaurants to sign percentage rents versus, you know, 412 00:29:37.870 --> 00:29:42.590 depending on the percentage but a percentage rent versus a flat rent in 413 00:29:42.590 --> 00:29:47.030 most cases, because then you're truly partners. And so I think that that kind 414 00:29:47.030 --> 00:29:52.440 of trend is going to continue Thio kind of progress Any other high level trends 415 00:29:52.440 --> 00:29:54.880 that you're seeing, someone's really, really interesting and I love the way 416 00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:58.830 it does set up a true partnership. Some of our relationships with a couple of 417 00:29:58.830 --> 00:30:03.210 companies that were that we partner with for access to their communities. 418 00:30:03.220 --> 00:30:08.220 One of them is just It's flat and you get the feeling that they don't care as 419 00:30:08.220 --> 00:30:12.420 much about your success within their community in terms of getting them to 420 00:30:12.420 --> 00:30:16.130 subscribe and use. Bom bom. Where's the other one is A. It's a shared revenue 421 00:30:16.130 --> 00:30:20.240 piece, which, you know, ultimately we pay that company more, but it also 422 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:25.180 generates a lot more for us. And so I like the partnership model in general a 423 00:30:25.180 --> 00:30:28.450 lot more. It's interesting, obviously, is a someone who doesn't visit a 424 00:30:28.450 --> 00:30:31.390 restaurant five times a week and doesn't work in the business. I didn't 425 00:30:31.390 --> 00:30:34.480 know that detail, but I'm excited to hear that it's a trend. I want to get 426 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:37.480 your take on a couple other topics. But before we do, are there any other kind 427 00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:42.490 of high level trends that you're seeing, or maybe even something that you would 428 00:30:42.500 --> 00:30:47.940 predict as regards kind of where we've been the past 15 minutes? Yeah, you 429 00:30:47.940 --> 00:30:54.510 know, I think eso I made this awesome little kind of switch during this 430 00:30:54.510 --> 00:31:00.420 quarantine from predicting or trying to predict and mind you, I clearly don't 431 00:31:00.420 --> 00:31:05.800 bet on me because a lot of them were wrong. Some are right, but just not 432 00:31:05.810 --> 00:31:09.550 predicting because I don't know, You know, I think that that and that's the 433 00:31:09.550 --> 00:31:13.590 scary thing about what's going on is it's just so much uncertainty. And, you 434 00:31:13.590 --> 00:31:19.720 know, who knows? So I think that barring any any changes in the kind of 435 00:31:19.730 --> 00:31:23.850 direction or momentum that we have right now, you know, I think that there 436 00:31:23.850 --> 00:31:28.570 will be a little bit of a rollback. I mean, I don't see waiters wearing face 437 00:31:28.570 --> 00:31:34.180 masks, you know, two years from now, once there is a cure or vaccine, I 438 00:31:34.180 --> 00:31:38.430 think that, you know, a lot of that will change a little bit. I do think 439 00:31:38.430 --> 00:31:44.220 that they the you know, the occupancies and the willingness to go to a place 440 00:31:44.220 --> 00:31:47.830 that is packed. I mean, that is one thing I don't miss is, you know, being 441 00:31:47.830 --> 00:31:51.850 six deep in a bar and having thio, you know, screaming a bartender to get a 442 00:31:51.850 --> 00:31:55.740 drink or wait 20 or 30 minutes. I don't miss that. I don't think that's coming 443 00:31:55.740 --> 00:31:59.030 back. I don't I think you know, I think nightclubs there gonna be a tough 444 00:31:59.040 --> 00:32:03.410 business. You know, I think restaurants that serve, you know, one of the cool 445 00:32:03.410 --> 00:32:08.610 things. So I part of my background lived in Montreal and Montreal has 446 00:32:08.620 --> 00:32:13.370 doesn't do nightclubs. They dio what would call it dinner clubs. Essentially, 447 00:32:13.340 --> 00:32:17.500 which is all of the restaurants at 11 o'clock pulled the tables or most of 448 00:32:17.500 --> 00:32:24.720 the tables and turn into a nightclub or ah, dance club or a social club. And I 449 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:29.690 think that is that it was probably gonna be What ends up happening is your 450 00:32:29.690 --> 00:32:33.780 multi use spaces. So restaurants that that you know, have a late night kind 451 00:32:33.780 --> 00:32:39.110 of concept in within them. But yeah, I other than that I don't really I don't 452 00:32:39.110 --> 00:32:44.080 know. And anyone who says they dio is, you know, as a 50 50 chance of being 453 00:32:44.080 --> 00:32:47.760 right. Yeah, And just when you start to feel like you might know, all of a 454 00:32:47.760 --> 00:32:51.660 sudden the rug is pulled out or the wall is shifted or every all of a 455 00:32:51.660 --> 00:32:56.040 sudden everything looks different. So it's a good position. I wanted Thio for 456 00:32:56.040 --> 00:32:59.570 the sake of listeners and just out again and curiosity. You're a mentor 457 00:32:59.570 --> 00:33:03.720 and judge for techstars and mass challenge. That's a very, very strong 458 00:33:03.720 --> 00:33:08.590 pivot, by the way, this whole new top, Um, talk a little bit about that may be 459 00:33:08.590 --> 00:33:12.540 for the benefit of listeners. What are some things that you tend to see as a 460 00:33:12.540 --> 00:33:17.080 mentor or a judge that you wish like, Gosh, if I could just get more people 461 00:33:17.080 --> 00:33:20.370 to stop making this mistake or if I could get more people turned on to this 462 00:33:20.370 --> 00:33:23.570 idea, we'd have more successful businesses more quickly. 463 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:30.140 Yeah, you know, it's been such a great experience, and I feel I feel almost a 464 00:33:30.140 --> 00:33:35.400 ziff. I'm stealing from them because I truly have gotten more out of it than I 465 00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:39.110 think I'm putting in. And I put in a lot. But you know, one of the for 466 00:33:39.110 --> 00:33:44.120 example, Techstars did a cove in 19. This was probably two or three months 467 00:33:44.120 --> 00:33:49.920 ago, a cove in 19 focused startup competition where they I think it was 468 00:33:49.930 --> 00:33:55.740 50 or 100 startups that were business is built around covet and how Thio 469 00:33:55.750 --> 00:34:01.400 either fix the problem or and it was so cool. And, you know, for me, obviously 470 00:34:01.400 --> 00:34:05.570 with our business and everything and and everything going on, it was a lot 471 00:34:05.570 --> 00:34:10.920 of like medium thio, medium good toe, like you'd have one day. That's good 472 00:34:10.920 --> 00:34:15.260 One day. That's bad. You know, it was just Ah, lot of you know, it's It's 473 00:34:15.260 --> 00:34:18.610 like stand in front of a fire hose but not being able to turn it off. And so 474 00:34:18.610 --> 00:34:22.820 it was nice to see a positive turn, you know, people taking it and making a 475 00:34:22.820 --> 00:34:26.429 positive. And it really changed my outlook. You know, I've kind of changed 476 00:34:26.429 --> 00:34:30.130 from, you know, When are we gonna get back to what it was like in February? 477 00:34:30.139 --> 00:34:37.050 And how are we going? Thio. How are we going? Thio? Fix it now. So, like I'm 478 00:34:37.050 --> 00:34:41.590 on a roller coaster ride and unfortunately, it stops when it stops, 479 00:34:41.590 --> 00:34:45.889 and I'll try to predict where it's going to the best of my abilities. Plan 480 00:34:45.889 --> 00:34:49.100 a Plan B, Plan C. But I really don't know where it's going or when it's 481 00:34:49.100 --> 00:34:53.790 going to stop and I can't get out. So, you know, just buckle up and get your 482 00:34:53.790 --> 00:34:57.670 teeth and you'll make it so I think what I've seen in a lot of these 483 00:34:57.670 --> 00:35:02.230 startup competitions, there's a lot of great ideas. I think that there to 484 00:35:02.230 --> 00:35:05.300 borrow the sharp technology, there's there's a huge difference between an 485 00:35:05.300 --> 00:35:12.350 idea and a product and a company. And I think what I've seen a lot is, you know, 486 00:35:12.350 --> 00:35:18.040 two things. One being completely almost designing your business or your product 487 00:35:18.050 --> 00:35:23.720 in a bubble, you know, completely ignoring the world outside now, during 488 00:35:23.720 --> 00:35:28.600 Cove in I understand that there is some validity to it, but in a in a normal 489 00:35:28.600 --> 00:35:33.520 world, you can't ignore what's going on. And so you know, making sure that you 490 00:35:33.520 --> 00:35:38.010 don't design, you know, perfect scenario, perfect outcome, perfect 491 00:35:38.010 --> 00:35:43.220 response. And then the second thing I see is almost like an over designing of 492 00:35:43.220 --> 00:35:48.900 a product. You know, one of my favorite podcasts, other than this one is Reid 493 00:35:48.900 --> 00:35:52.690 Hoffman's masters of scale, and he's written a book. And, you know, 494 00:35:52.690 --> 00:35:57.740 obviously he has a background mile long, and I took one of his classes through 495 00:35:57.740 --> 00:36:02.340 Harvard Business School is well, and he talks about minimum viable products, 496 00:36:02.530 --> 00:36:06.080 and I cannot stress that enough. Build it, build something that you are 497 00:36:06.080 --> 00:36:11.550 ashamed off and then release it, and then you iterated instead of trying to 498 00:36:11.550 --> 00:36:14.580 figure out what you know. It's like we were talking about earlier. The 499 00:36:14.580 --> 00:36:17.200 companies that are trying to figure out what their customers want or the 500 00:36:17.200 --> 00:36:21.230 companies that are listening and asking with a minimum viable product, you can 501 00:36:21.230 --> 00:36:25.590 actually build it, released it, and your customers will tell you what's 502 00:36:25.590 --> 00:36:29.370 great about it and what's bad about it. And it's okay. You know, feedback is 503 00:36:29.370 --> 00:36:33.410 key, whereas if you're trying to assume everything and you sit on it for two 504 00:36:33.410 --> 00:36:39.010 years, you know, a the chances probably passed you by and be it's almost over 505 00:36:39.010 --> 00:36:42.950 designed. And then you start getting defensive when people give feedback 506 00:36:42.930 --> 00:36:47.880 like, Oh, no, you can't insult my baby. Looks like you know, you did something 507 00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:51.400 to your baby that you shouldn't have designed in it. And we're just telling 508 00:36:51.400 --> 00:36:56.680 you that, Yeah, it's really interesting. And the longer you go without creating 509 00:36:56.680 --> 00:37:01.360 a tight customer feedback loop, the more attached to it you get because it 510 00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:04.660 falls into this trap of perceived perfection, which, of course, is 511 00:37:04.660 --> 00:37:08.300 completely unattainable. But really interesting cautions that you offer 512 00:37:08.300 --> 00:37:11.800 there's really good. It reminds me of an episode we released a while back 513 00:37:11.810 --> 00:37:16.930 with Aaron Waikiki, who is a CEO. It gather up. We talked a lot about 514 00:37:16.930 --> 00:37:21.140 customer feedback loops and tightening them for faster reiteration, especially 515 00:37:21.140 --> 00:37:24.870 in times like this, where the situation is very fluid. But this early stage 516 00:37:24.870 --> 00:37:28.720 stuff that you're doing with Techstars and Mass Challenge obviously a 517 00:37:28.720 --> 00:37:32.910 supercritical, too, because there's that same existentially quality to it. 518 00:37:32.920 --> 00:37:37.410 If you're listening to this episode and you've enjoyed it so far, it means that 519 00:37:37.410 --> 00:37:41.690 you're OK listening to conversations about the effects of the pandemic. So 520 00:37:41.700 --> 00:37:44.890 I've got a couple other really constructive ones that we've released 521 00:37:44.890 --> 00:37:49.640 Episode 76 with Todd Hockenberry, who's a business adviser, coach and mentor 522 00:37:49.640 --> 00:37:53.680 with top line results and co author on inbound organization, a book that I 523 00:37:53.680 --> 00:37:57.120 highly recommend. And that one was called When customer experience becomes 524 00:37:57.120 --> 00:38:01.270 an existentially experience again. That's Episode 76 he has some really 525 00:38:01.270 --> 00:38:05.400 good stories like Alex does, about how people are adapting to the situation 526 00:38:05.400 --> 00:38:08.740 and staying in touch with their customers and changing the way that 527 00:38:08.740 --> 00:38:12.830 they're generating revenue and providing value. And then Episode 83 528 00:38:12.830 --> 00:38:16.480 was with Brian Gilman, who is VP of product and Solutions marketing 529 00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:21.230 advantage. That one was three pillars of post crisis customer communication 530 00:38:21.240 --> 00:38:25.500 we talked about pre during and post crisis. Obviously the pandemic 531 00:38:25.500 --> 00:38:29.350 continues, but we'll get you know their arm. Or even though there are all these 532 00:38:29.350 --> 00:38:32.880 unknowns around, we have a few more knowns today than we did. And so we 533 00:38:32.880 --> 00:38:36.410 talked about the stages of progression there, and, uh, and you brushed by some 534 00:38:36.410 --> 00:38:40.510 of it Alex, with talking about contact centers and things like that, like 535 00:38:40.510 --> 00:38:44.200 these large groups that air handling thes increases in call volumes. And how 536 00:38:44.200 --> 00:38:48.260 do we manage all of that? And so, Episode 76 83 or both episodes you 537 00:38:48.260 --> 00:38:52.400 might enjoy because you're with us at this point of this conversation, Alex 538 00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:55.320 Relationships are our number one core value here on the customer experience 539 00:38:55.320 --> 00:39:00.440 podcast and at Bom Bom. And so I like to give you the chance to do two things. 540 00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:04.470 One thank or mentioned someone who's had a positive impact on your life for 541 00:39:04.470 --> 00:39:09.210 your career and to give a shout out or not or mention, too. And you've already 542 00:39:09.210 --> 00:39:12.490 done this once or twice, which is awesome, but maybe another brand or 543 00:39:12.490 --> 00:39:15.320 product or service that you really respect for the way they deliver for 544 00:39:15.320 --> 00:39:21.210 you as a customer. Yeah, absolutely. And I, you know, I wholeheartedly agree 545 00:39:21.220 --> 00:39:24.760 with, you know, relationship relationship piece. I mean, I am a 546 00:39:24.760 --> 00:39:28.970 product of every, you know, good and bad manager and good and bad, you know, 547 00:39:28.970 --> 00:39:33.080 co worker I've ever had and, you know, have learned from all of them, you know? 548 00:39:33.080 --> 00:39:37.350 So it's it when you when you gave me the prompt last week, I I kind of had 549 00:39:37.350 --> 00:39:41.440 to think about it for a while. And, you know, the one that I kind of center on 550 00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:46.720 is a colleague from the last company I was at Jack Ferris. I mean, he was your 551 00:39:46.720 --> 00:39:52.730 prototypical, you know, sales leader. You know, he is so high energy, he 552 00:39:52.730 --> 00:39:57.700 would run marathons. He's would win grandmaster, which is, you know, 553 00:39:57.700 --> 00:40:03.980 basically over 50. You know, the best time and, you know, did triathlons. And 554 00:40:03.990 --> 00:40:10.300 his son is a sky diver and, uh, does trail running and, like South Africa 555 00:40:10.300 --> 00:40:14.840 and these crazy s o, you know, the family in and of itself, high energy 556 00:40:14.840 --> 00:40:20.730 and super competitive. And, you know, he kind of like in a in a way, you know, 557 00:40:20.730 --> 00:40:25.530 taught me to love sales again and toe love. You know, the building aspect of 558 00:40:25.530 --> 00:40:30.930 it, which has really kind of mirrored in my career. You know, I love building 559 00:40:30.930 --> 00:40:34.880 more than I love maintaining and, you know, he always he would he would come 560 00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:39.790 in in the morning, and it was like you had 18 express express us like I just I 561 00:40:39.790 --> 00:40:43.290 was like, Man, I haven't had my first stuff coffee, like, come back in 10 562 00:40:43.290 --> 00:40:48.660 minutes And, you know, just that kind of like high energy Joy of life is 563 00:40:48.660 --> 00:40:52.430 infectious, you know, And he's done a lot of things in my career is Well, you 564 00:40:52.430 --> 00:40:55.250 know, he, you know, help me get promoted to in a lot of different 565 00:40:55.250 --> 00:40:59.340 places and believed in me When When, you know, some didn't. But, you know, I 566 00:40:59.350 --> 00:41:02.920 just think the energy thing, it's like, you know, at the end of the day, a job 567 00:41:02.920 --> 00:41:05.700 could be fun. If you make it fun, you don't have the love what you're doing, 568 00:41:05.710 --> 00:41:09.980 but like, just loved being there and showing up every day and figure out a 569 00:41:09.980 --> 00:41:13.350 challenge for that day and conquer it. And, you know, a lot of little 570 00:41:13.350 --> 00:41:16.750 challenges equals a big one and, you know, so you take it one day at a time. 571 00:41:16.750 --> 00:41:22.120 One task at a time, and you know that has always been really impactful on my 572 00:41:22.120 --> 00:41:25.020 life in my career, both professionally and personally. And then in terms of 573 00:41:25.020 --> 00:41:29.410 companies, I think you don't have mentioned a few, you know, one of the 574 00:41:29.410 --> 00:41:32.700 ones that I've always kind of loved. And, you know, I try to stay out of the 575 00:41:32.700 --> 00:41:38.670 apple Amazon kind of Tesla's. You know, the usual suspects. This is one that 576 00:41:38.670 --> 00:41:42.710 Apple is probably buying soon. So but so knows, You know, one of things I 577 00:41:42.710 --> 00:41:45.450 love about. So no. So I have more speakers than any single male should 578 00:41:45.450 --> 00:41:49.780 have on. I keep buying the new ones and you know, so again, don't tell my 579 00:41:49.790 --> 00:41:53.840 financial planner. But one of things that I love about it is I get I will 580 00:41:53.840 --> 00:42:00.020 get surveys from them probably once a month, maybe one supporter. And most 581 00:42:00.020 --> 00:42:03.240 surveys that I get, you know and you were talking about in the last episode 582 00:42:03.300 --> 00:42:06.630 are long. And I'm like, I'm not going to invest the time. And, you know, this 583 00:42:06.630 --> 00:42:10.510 is the one of the ones that I do. And the reason is it asks for things that 584 00:42:10.520 --> 00:42:14.030 you know, products that you are features that you'd like to see at it. 585 00:42:14.040 --> 00:42:18.990 And without fail, I will end up seeing one of the ones that I that I have 586 00:42:18.990 --> 00:42:24.570 suggested either rolled out in the next version upgrade or within the next 6 to 587 00:42:24.570 --> 00:42:28.830 12 months. And so you know, even though the survey takes me 10 minutes and it 588 00:42:28.830 --> 00:42:34.370 is a lot of my time because I actually see their ability to make that change 589 00:42:34.380 --> 00:42:37.440 and their willingness to do so and listen, I'm more likely to do it. I 590 00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:39.740 think that, you know, that's kind of what we've been talking about, you know, 591 00:42:39.740 --> 00:42:43.740 not building the product you think they need, but hearing from them and 592 00:42:43.740 --> 00:42:47.250 building the product that they that they're asking for, You know, the in 593 00:42:47.250 --> 00:42:51.370 the last podcast you talked about, you know, the feedback grow and companies 594 00:42:51.370 --> 00:42:54.320 that are willing to listen. I could tell you that's what I mean by 595 00:42:54.320 --> 00:43:00.710 adaptability. What comes? I'm more likely Thio be a customer of a company 596 00:43:00.710 --> 00:43:07.120 that I know is adaptable and is willing. Thio adapt Teoh a my customer needs, 597 00:43:07.120 --> 00:43:11.870 but also my feedback and, you know, whatever you know, Cove in everything 598 00:43:11.870 --> 00:43:15.060 that's going on, you know, that's all about listening and adaptability, and I 599 00:43:15.060 --> 00:43:19.030 think that, you know that now is coming. You're seeing the companies that aren't, 600 00:43:19.100 --> 00:43:23.550 You know, I can tell you about airline experience, is trying to get refunds or, 601 00:43:23.560 --> 00:43:27.120 you know, cos customer services that have been absolutely terrible. And 602 00:43:27.120 --> 00:43:31.610 those air companies that, you know I'm probably won't use when the pandemics 603 00:43:31.610 --> 00:43:35.860 over, because it was so hard to get them toe listen or to be reasonable or 604 00:43:35.860 --> 00:43:39.210 toe. You know, some of them, in some cases, like it's like they didn't even 605 00:43:39.210 --> 00:43:43.900 know covet existed. Yeah, that's so that's the challenge. In the benefit of 606 00:43:43.900 --> 00:43:48.360 a strong focus on customer experiences, you have to be consistent every single 607 00:43:48.360 --> 00:43:53.130 day. And in times like these, you're going to make super fans. Or you're 608 00:43:53.130 --> 00:43:56.820 going to make enemies depending on how well you deliver on those days. And 609 00:43:56.820 --> 00:44:00.510 it's really up to your team members and keeping that training education 610 00:44:00.510 --> 00:44:05.020 alignment altogether so you can deliver every day when it matters, but 611 00:44:05.020 --> 00:44:07.710 especially when it matters most. The other really interesting thing you 612 00:44:07.710 --> 00:44:11.600 offered there is just this. It reminds me of a quote from William James, who's 613 00:44:11.610 --> 00:44:15.790 regarded as the father of American psychology, says the deepest principle 614 00:44:15.790 --> 00:44:20.510 of human nature is a craving to be appreciated. And so for you, Alex is a 615 00:44:20.510 --> 00:44:25.140 customer to say, You know, I just want to be heard. And it's nice when my 616 00:44:25.140 --> 00:44:29.150 ideas are implemented. That's so knows his way without picking up the phone 617 00:44:29.150 --> 00:44:33.020 and calling. You are sending you a video email or or sending you a hand 618 00:44:33.020 --> 00:44:39.050 written note or something to say. I see you. I hear you. I appreciate you. I 619 00:44:39.050 --> 00:44:42.920 understand you because I am taking Your idea is not that every idea that a 620 00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:46.890 customer sends can be implemented or should be implemented? There's a lot of 621 00:44:46.890 --> 00:44:51.080 editorial judgment there, but, you know, just as creating that feedback loop in 622 00:44:51.080 --> 00:44:55.610 for you to be able to see these things come toe life, even if it's one in 10, 623 00:44:55.690 --> 00:44:59.260 is just so validating. And that's how you build that emotional bond. And 624 00:44:59.260 --> 00:45:03.450 that's how you build a community. I agree. I couldn't agree more. Cool. 625 00:45:03.460 --> 00:45:06.490 Well, this has been awesome, Alex. I really enjoy it. I thank you so much 626 00:45:06.490 --> 00:45:10.380 for sharing all this time with us and and your perspective. I loved your 627 00:45:10.380 --> 00:45:16.340 thank you Thio to your past sales manager and just that positive outlook 628 00:45:16.350 --> 00:45:20.170 on, like, we have a choice every day to decide whether or not it's gonna be 629 00:45:20.170 --> 00:45:24.380 good. That really is a lot upto us that completely. But a lot of it is so, so 630 00:45:24.380 --> 00:45:27.460 much good stuff in this conversation. If someone wants to follow up with you, 631 00:45:27.460 --> 00:45:30.780 Alex, or learn more about Fudo like, where would you send people to follow 632 00:45:30.780 --> 00:45:34.690 up on this conversation? Yeah, absolutely. So you know, Fouda were 633 00:45:34.690 --> 00:45:40.200 active on social media. Atco, Fouda on Twitter. Echo food on Instagram. You 634 00:45:40.200 --> 00:45:46.330 know, you can find me on LinkedIn. It's Alex Brace on LinkedIn. I'm also active 635 00:45:46.340 --> 00:45:52.860 on Twitter and Instagram. It's at Mr Sartorialist. Uh, I've made that name a 636 00:45:52.860 --> 00:45:57.490 long time ago. Probably should change it. Um, but, you know, on you can 637 00:45:57.490 --> 00:46:01.340 obviously reach out to me via email as well. If you have questions, it's Alex 638 00:46:01.340 --> 00:46:05.430 dot grace of food dot com. Awesome for folks who are listening. We write up 639 00:46:05.430 --> 00:46:09.640 these episodes, we pull some choice video clips and we add links like all 640 00:46:09.640 --> 00:46:13.850 the ones Alex just mentioned. So if you're out running or walking or doing 641 00:46:13.850 --> 00:46:16.390 something else and you don't want to write that stuff down and you can't 642 00:46:16.390 --> 00:46:20.200 jump on it on your phone. You can always go to bomb, bomb dot com slash 643 00:46:20.200 --> 00:46:24.270 podcast and just kind of scroll through the list. Find the episodes. And, of 644 00:46:24.270 --> 00:46:27.480 course, you can subscribe there and a lot of other stuff. But I'll link up 645 00:46:27.480 --> 00:46:29.930 all these things that you mentioned. Alex. I really appreciate it. Thank you 646 00:46:29.930 --> 00:46:36.510 so much. Yeah, absolutely. Have a good one and stay safe. Cool you to Alex's 647 00:46:36.520 --> 00:46:41.440 insights there about his mentor ship and guidance of startups. It's 648 00:46:41.440 --> 00:46:45.820 something you hear all the time from people who go to the effort to be of 649 00:46:45.820 --> 00:46:51.850 service and value to others. I get a much from them as they get from me. I 650 00:46:51.850 --> 00:46:56.640 get so much from hosting this podcast, and if you're enjoying it, reach out 651 00:46:56.650 --> 00:47:01.120 and let me know. I would love to share that with my guests. My name is Ethan 652 00:47:01.120 --> 00:47:06.480 Butte. You can hit me up on LinkedIn. Last name spelled B u T. Or you can 653 00:47:06.490 --> 00:47:12.470 email me directly. Ethan E T H A n at bom bom dot com Who do you like? What 654 00:47:12.470 --> 00:47:16.980 have you learned? What do you want more of I welcome any feedback you have on 655 00:47:16.980 --> 00:47:21.420 the C X. Siri's here on B two b growth. And I appreciate you listening. 656 00:47:24.680 --> 00:47:28.320 One of the things we've learned about podcast audience growth is that word of 657 00:47:28.320 --> 00:47:32.760 mouth works. It works really, really well, actually. So if you love this 658 00:47:32.760 --> 00:47:36.920 show, it would be awesome if you texted a friend to tell them about it. And if 659 00:47:36.920 --> 00:47:41.340 you send me a text with a screenshot of the text you sent to your friend Meta I 660 00:47:41.340 --> 00:47:44.900 know. I'll send you a copy of my book Content based networking. How to 661 00:47:44.910 --> 00:47:48.330 instantly connect with anyone you want to know. My cell phone number is 662 00:47:48.330 --> 00:47:55.000 4074903328 Happy texting.