1
0,00:21,000 --> 0,03:44,000
Welcome back to Never Been Promoted. I am Thomas Helfrich, your host. We are here to help you get better at entrepreneurship by cutting the tie to all the crap on you back. That's right. Or we can say shit. We're gonna cuss a little today. I can feel a couple of potential f bombs being dropped. So if you're a child, listen up. This is how you cuss. Okay? Jump right in. It's great. You gotta learn at some point. Might as well be from here. I don't know. But we're gonna do something cool today. We're actually gonna talk about how you take a conversation and turn into a customer and specifically about a big problem that it faces a lot of small business owners in the world, which is when these big box companies come in, they lose a lot of market share and they don't know what to do about it. And a lot of times they just kinda repeat the same stuff and just slowly lose over time. And there's some solutions to that. There's some ways to think about it. And Dan Mirolli i today is gonna jump on. Not only is this guy the bust best mustache in the game. He really understands some sales, and he's quite funny too. And I believe he's here in Atlanta, Georgia, which makes him definitely smell good. I don't know. Guys, I'm just going here with it. We're gonna have it. Dan, let's bring Dan on. Enough enough just oh, wait. You know what? Let me do a little call to action before I bring him on. I don't ask for a lot in the world. If you're love the podcast, you know, jump on maybe the review board and do the old, you know, nice nice review. 5 star only, please. If you don't like a 5 star, just let me know why. You can hit me up on LinkedIn for that. But if you can, go go to never been promoted.com, you know, and, and and and there's a lot of places to find it or, you know, at the very least, go to YouTube and subscribe at never been promoted. That's my shameless plug. Let's bring on Dan now. Dan,
2
0,03:44,000 --> 0,03:56,000
how are you doing, man? I'm doing great, Thomas. It's it's fantastic to be here, and I will double up on that. If you guys don't subscribe, check out the last episode with Cindy. Lots of really good stuff in there. Yes.
3
0,03:56,000 --> 0,04:11,000
There was, there I'll tell you what. The fact that we're doing it live and he didn't know is what I love best about these shows. He's like, oh, I'll do it. It's fine. It's not that we edit it anyway. He's the only guy ever to ask, by the way, can we cuss in your show? I'm like, you better.
4
0,04:11,000 --> 0,04:15,000
Look. I I love I love Jesus, but I cuss a little.
5
0,04:15,000 --> 0,04:21,000
I have to guess that Jesus dropped it. Like, his version of an f bomb occasionally. I would imagine. I think he pissed off the Sadducees
6
0,04:21,000 --> 0,04:23,000
pretty pretty completely.
7
0,04:23,000 --> 0,04:54,000
There had to be a few curse words here and there. I mean, think about it because it was more about getting the order disrupted. Right? Just say, like, to show the the absolute ridiculous ridiculous of the hypo hypocrites of the time and all the things. And sometimes the way to really offend to get them kind of to look worse is is to whisper a cuss word in their ear. You know you know he had to do it. You know he had to do it. Yeah. Offend the mind, reveal the heart for sure. Right. That's right. I'm trying to think what cuss word you'd like, you pig eater or something like that.
8
0,04:54,000 --> 0,05:01,000
Well, I think he he called the most rule following people hypocrites and Pharisees. I'm sure that started some fights.
9
0,05:01,000 --> 0,05:23,000
Right. I love it. You're all gonna burn. You know? Dan, thank you so much for calling the show. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. You do have the best mustache in the game. I can never achieve such beauty. It would just I look like I should be arrested for various crimes. And if I put wire rim glasses on, I look like a bowler. There there is a stage in growing a stash. I mean, I I grow it myself,
10
0,05:23,000 --> 0,05:33,000
that you shouldn't walk near a school, but, you you quickly get past that for sure. Yeah. You giggly get quickly walk past the school. You just quickly
11
0,05:33,000 --> 0,06:16,000
which is that? Thank you. Clarify that. Oh, both. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. Don't walk by the school. Because a week later, you're fine. You can walk by the school. So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha. Just making sure that we're we're for tracking there. Do you wanna deal because you listen. You're like I said, you you have a lot of faith based. You have, you know, your own little entrepreneurial journey, little your own journey as well. And you work for a pretty cool company that kind of solves this problem. And today's focus really is gonna be about this problem of how do you get market share back. So even even and I think this is going to apply, I'm pretty darn sure, to almost any company in in the kind of the principles. And we'll we'll dive in a little bit more of how technology plays. But do you want to kind of do an intro for yourself and and, you know, and kind of, you know, what's making you you?
12
0,06:16,000 --> 0,07:20,000
Yeah. So real quick, back of the baseball card, I've spent 10 years helping local business owners try and compete. And there's a couple different ways to do that, but the the 3 big ones are, you know, be found, be chosen, be promoted. And so we do a couple of stuff, a couple things that the company that I'm at right now to help people do that and help small businesses do that. What we found though and the reason why we're so passionate about this is that the small business owner is sort of the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the American economy, and we've done a really good job of crushing them over the last couple years. And so the our our main thesis is that regardless of what market you serve, whether it's a local market, regional, national, international, the best do the basics better. And so if you can just execute on the basics perfectly every time, then you win. And, unfortunately, the the way that tech has sort of evolved is that only the big players have the capital to invest in the systems that make it easier for them to do the basics better, but that slowly changes. So that's what we're excited about.
13
0,07:20,000 --> 0,08:43,000
I could agree with you more of you know, and and I do this in kind of a a talk I give, which is, you know, to some database stuff. Right? So over it's like 48% of of Americans who admitted on survey are incredibly unhappy in where they work. And the more big box things, the more companies we formed that have this kind of core feel, the more people are kinda miserable throughout their lives, which really combined with the other data set that every economic indicator on the planet shows that the more facilities people drive you have, the better the economy does from an innovation standpoint, from a long term health and, you know, and then also, you know, decreasing the the the wage disparity between haves, have mores. Right? And the middle class, if you will. So, that aside, you're you're spot on that there's been so we go through these cycles of business, and then it squashes the little guy. And then there's a focus back on little guy because some people are like, hey. I can't make a living because x, y, and z. Technology specifically can enable that. And I think if we talk about this you know, we'll get to the technology piece, but can you the the maybe the problem hypothesis first of of what's actually going on if when there's that era where the the big giant corporation is and where, you know, the mom and pop shop is. What what area where's the friction point? What's going on right there? Yeah. So if we take a step back, let's let's look from a macroeconomic
14
0,08:43,000 --> 0,09:39,000
standpoint. So I I define an entrepreneur as somebody who turns risk into value. And so, historically, you had even prior to private enterprise, the institutions that were able to transpose quite a bit of risk into quite a bit of value were governments because they could put their own money, they could finance everything. Right? And then you had private enterprise come into play, and they took on the personal risk and then created value in the market. What we've seen over and over again in these cycles that you mentioned, Thomas, is that you have large companies who have have the capital, have the the line of credits with the big banks, are able to shoulder quite a bit of risk when it comes to making investments in technology to make their lives easier. And so the first to market advantage tends to be the bigger players who can write the 6 figure checks to invest in high level systems, SAP, Salesforce, that sort of thing. And the little guy gets left behind.
15
0,09:39,000 --> 0,09:53,000
Okay. So when that happens, though, trickle it down. Like so so what what's the effect? So what, I guess, is the you know? So okay. So so I'm a hardware store, you know, that's got x, y, and z. I got a niche, or or is it worse than that?
16
0,09:53,000 --> 0,11:11,000
Yeah. So as far as the trickle down, the most, like, tenable example that I can point to is what we call the Amazon effect. Right? Nobody would have expected to guarantee 2 day shipping, and now that's a baseline. We also there was a time on ecommerce when if we were buying something online, that in itself in and of itself was innovative. Now we don't have to pay for shipping because it's included. And so if we have to pay for shipping, it's another thing. So the big market players who can shoulder more risk than the smaller guys tend to set the standard for what the new baseline for basics is. And based off of that, the little guys have to keep up. What we've seen time and time again, and we're witnessing this now, and this is something our company does, is taking those tools that previously were reserved for the high end players and making them more accessible to the lower guys. So if you're a solopreneur or you run, like, a HVAC company, you got one truck or something like that, how can you get some systems in place to be able to compete? Because any business, doesn't matter big or small, operates off of what we call the 4 s framework. In order to win, you need the right systems, strategies, software, and staff to compete, and we try and make all 4 of those as accessible as possible to people.
17
0,11:11,000 --> 0,11:24,000
Alright. So let's dive into that a bit. So when you're talking about, your you know, who's ultimately responsible for what you're talking about, though? Is it the sales teams? Is it is it these is it the owner? Is
18
0,11:24,000 --> 0,12:21,000
I mean, because because you look at a business, like, that's like a new function almost. How how do you own that piece of it? Yeah. So a lot of times, this is where my background as a sales guy, I I tend to be a little bit biased. Right? Because sales guys were known as going rogue. Right? Would will create any different strategy or or method of outreach or something like that. Like, and there's I think everybody listening to this podcast can point to an example of a a salesperson, particularly a tech salesperson who said a feature that absolutely did not exist. And as soon as the product team heard about, they're like, why in the world did you sell that? But many, many times, even at the local level, it's the sales guys who have to be that entrepreneur and that innovator on the front end so that the market can be tested and validated. But the best businesses by far are the ones who the owner is actually the driver and instigator of change. You see that with Steve Jobs all the way down to, like, the local guys.
19
0,12:21,000 --> 0,12:39,000
Alright. So take me through it. Like, what do you do? Like, I mean, how does how does a you know, start with step 1. We're an owner and and leave out the tech right now. If if they were gonna do it, like, by themselves and they're like, this if you're gonna win market share, you have to do this. Now this model will be completely unscalable. But how do you do it? How do you take back market share from somebody who outgunned you, outmarkets
20
0,12:39,000 --> 0,14:07,000
you, has cheaper prices? I mean, has everything every possible advantage, including the rent they pay per square foot? Yeah. So if we're going off of purely what's the best that we can do on the basics regardless of scalability, then it's a couple of things. One, I need to make sure that I look like the most attractive out there. So how can I get more reviews and testimonials and social proof from my existing client base? Because anybody who's in business right now has clients. And a lot of times, we're just not following up and getting them to be the promoter for our own business, which is oftentimes way more successful or effective than any paid marketing or advertising. Second thing would be, you need to make sure that you're responding. We live in an instant gratification world. We're more accessible than we've ever been, thanks to all the devices and social profiles. I mean, how many platforms are we streaming on right now? A few. Yeah. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5 or 6. I'm not sure they're all working right, but I I think 6 was the intended goal. Yeah. So so many so many times, the first person to respond wins the client. I was talking with the guy the other day. He got injured. He had he needed to get some PT work done on his hand, and he had 20 approved providers from Aetna that he just called down the list. And he got to the end of the list before somebody actually picked up the phone. And if the first person had responded, they would have gotten his business. So it's that kind of stuff, making sure that you have either yourself, like, living on your phone or people in place who can immediately respond. So those are the 2 yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. So that what you're saying is basically
21
0,14:07,000 --> 0,15:02,000
give some actually human attention as fast as possible, and you have an advantage competitively in that moment because you can you can drive a conversation so someone could be heard. So, like, it so you think about that. Right? You, most fights in the world, like, not physical, but, like, arguments you have with your spouse or partner or or business person is because one person isn't understanding and waiting to talk, right, on the other side. And they're not listening. They're not driving a conversation. They're just whatever. And your your the tenant is go back to a basic thing that they can't do now, but they can do it. And they have tech, but it and they have people, but those people don't care, to be fair. You do as an owner. Right. How does that transcend then over to technology? Because I think that's the only possible way to scale this, and that's what you're talking about a bit. Yeah. And we can we can get in the the software side if you'd like. I think Well, unless it's premature. I don't know if premature,
22
0,15:02,000 --> 0,15:55,000
yeah, I don't know a premature launch. That's very embarrassing. No. No. No. Like, yeah, we can get into it. I mean, we we have tons of people on the platform right now. The the way we've solved this is to create digital employees. So far more effective than, you know, your your friend's wife's daughter who, you know, can be hired at minimum wage to dick around on TikTok all day. It'd be much better to have a digital employee that can handle 20 conversations at the same time even at 3 in the morning, and that's where AI is really this, you know, golden era renaissance for the local business to be able to have that personalized scale, or personalized attention at scale. And so that's what we do. If you don't wanna go that route, though, I think owners taking back ownership quite literally of the conversation with their customers is where a lot of guys can go from that 0 to 1.
23
0,15:55,000 --> 0,16:01,000
What's a give me give me a use case. What's a typical kinda what's a good business that this works for?
24
0,16:01,000 --> 0,17:06,000
So we have found a tremendous amount of success in the home services niche specifically, but we serve all local companies. But, for example, we're, we're bringing on a company right now out of Ohio. So they're a massive home service business. They've got a ton of different trucks. They've traditionally, a business like that, you had 3 options when it came to handling these conversations as quickly as possible and as personally as possible. Either you overstaff internally, which is very expensive. 2, you hire a call center, which inevitably degrades the experience for everybody. Right? Because they don't know as much as your internal staff and sort of, you know, language barriers and that sort of thing. 3 would be to build your own internal call center, which is incredibly expensive. So we're door number 4 in that any conversation that comes in immediately gets handled by the digital employee. And then once it gets to a point of qualification or teed up or whatever for your salespeople, then they can intervene and take over the conversation.
25
0,17:06,000 --> 0,17:33,000
Is it a take me through, like, an example of that because what I hear, like, you know, I'm hearing, like, chatbot, I'm hearing IVR or all the things I cuss at. Yeah. So I know when it comes into the person, they're like, this guy's pissed. So they're coming in ready to to deal with it. Like but to to talk tell me how that is like or dislike maybe, someone who might be prethinking, oh, this is just they're they've already presumed the answer.
26
0,17:33,000 --> 0,18:25,000
Walk me through that a bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So let's say it is a worst case scenario and my AC goes out at 2 o'clock in the morning. I wake up sweating. I am getting on Google, and I'm calling Eddie HVAC contractor with 4 stars or above. Again, back to, like, reaching out to your existing clients and making sure that you get reviews. And we've got free ways we can talk about, that we give people really easy ways to get those reviews online, and we don't charge anything for it. But as soon as those calls happen, they're likely going to voice mail because you're human and you're sleeping. With our system, they immediately get a missed call text back that says, hey. This is Joe's HVAC. So sorry we missed your call. How can we help? I then vent and rant over text message because I don't wanna, you know, wake whoever I'm sleeping next to, and they can handle the conversation. And then when I wake up, I've got a scheduled appointment.
27
0,18:25,000 --> 0,18:28,000
Are people aware that it's not a human?
28
0,18:28,000 --> 0,18:34,000
Oftentimes, no. It is crazy how fast this stuff has improved.
29
0,18:34,000 --> 0,18:55,000
So so when you have any alright. So think about I'm I'm interested in this, and and and if I'm a buyer, I'm putting it on my hat. And, specifically, I'm not very good at technology. I've had all these other experiences, so I have this presumption of all these things. How how are you gonna know me and my company? How how do you how do you guys do that? And how long and what's my lift as a owner?
30
0,18:55,000 --> 0,19:52,000
Yeah. That's a that's a really great great question. So, within the next 24 hours, we're gonna have a way for anybody to test this for free on the site. But when we yeah. So when we onboard a client, they input, you know, their business name, name, information, that sort of thing, and then their website. And so we've got, I think on our site, a little preview of all the digital employees that we have is available, right, for all the industries that we serve. We scrape and index the site. We build an FAQ, like a frequently asked questions based off of all the information on their site specific to them, and then we layer that on top of the digital employee's personality that we've already built specific to that industry. So they already have industry specific knowledge, whether it's HVAC, plumbing, a therapist, HIPAA compliance, all that is baked into the platform. And so it really takes only about an hour to get to, like, 80% good, which, by the way, is gonna be way better than Susan's daughter. That would be it's almost unbelievable.
31
0,19:52,000 --> 0,20:21,000
Yeah. It's wait. So so let let's say, I'll apply it to mine. So so, we we know we and it's a new line of service. So for Instantly Relevant, we've been traditionally a growth agency focused on LinkedIn. The new line of service is focused on verifying other agencies' ability to deliver and because that should help them get a competitive advantage, and we're doing it in a way that's super integrity based. Let's say I wanted to put your I'll call it a chat. Is chatbot the wrong term? Like, you like, your your team
32
0,20:21,000 --> 0,20:26,000
That that works. I mean, we we can deploy the digital employee as a chatbot on a website
33
0,20:26,000 --> 0,20:40,000
or SMS or Instagram direct message or Facebook. Let's say on that specific landing page, just so I can, you know, so I keep it narrow. Am I in the background ever to do a brain dump on what's important, what happens? And the thing can be like it can give the contextual data of,
34
0,20:40,000 --> 0,21:01,000
hey. This is awesome because that when something comes in, here's some frequently asked I could just talk to it. I could just dump like an SRT into it, like a translation file for those who don't know. And that's how you would train it. Yeah. You could do a SRT file. You could upload a PDF. The nice thing too is that in our platform, if you wanna train the bot, you'd already open up a chat window and you chat back and forth with it. Hey. When somebody says this, say that.
35
0,21:01,000 --> 0,21:24,000
Okay. And if it doesn't know what to do, it's got the default. Awesome. And listen. Let me get you connected to somebody, and and it if it doesn't know what to do or it just seems like it's repeating or something, you can okay. Yeah. Do you guys integrate with your own CRM, HubSpot, high level? Like, tell tell me what you do with the actual data to kind of trigger, next steps. Yeah. So we've we've built our own basically preconfigured
36
0,21:24,000 --> 0,21:58,000
instance on top of high level. So we add in a bunch of other tools that is gonna be way way better than just the run of the mill high level instance. So that's local market OS because every local market business needs an operating system. And then you put the digital employee in that to basically run it for you. Because that like, there's there's no shortage of tools out there. Like, I think everybody can raise their hand of, like, yeah. I bought this thing, and I never use it because it takes too long to set up. Like high level. I paid, like, $300 a month for 6 months. We never I never found time to get in it. But I look at it. I know how the power is.
37
0,21:58,000 --> 0,23:21,000
And just I'll I'll I'll take a small tangent here. Yeah. If you buy technology, anyone listening, watching, whatever else, get a simple use case and go all in on it for a week to go learn it and go implement it. Otherwise, don't buy the shit because you're just burning money. And unless you have some of your team that absolutely knows it, don't your team is as awesome as I love my team. They are not trained in it. They and they are full timely. So the point of it is that's my mistake. That's my burn. But I hear something like that where, like, all I actually really want you to do is dump it in a top of funnel, you know, automation. And in where where the niche shows, hey. Thanks for reaching out. We're gonna like, you know, like, just a typical drip and SMS. And if that did it that by itself, I'd be super interested because then I'm taking something very simple where people might be like, hey. Chat with us. Let me see what we can answer. If not, we'll get someone on the phone with you as soon as possible. And as soon as that picks up, I'm sure the thing in the background goes, hey, Ping. Do you wanna pick this con can you pick can I pick it up from, if I'm happy to be online from my computer, can I pick up the conversation right off of the, digital employee? Oh, yeah. Perfect. Yeah. So you can cover the convo. Okay. Then you're 24 hours covered or then you can assign someone in the background to to pick up a Nuance conversation and say, hey. So and so is available tomorrow at 1. Would you wanna chat with that person then? Yeah. Because that's usually enough for someone not to pick up the next phone for the next person. Right. Yeah. And this I was just gonna bring this back full circle. Like, the the big guys, you know, the Fortune 1,000,
38
0,23:21,000 --> 0,24:15,000
they have full implementation teams and then, like, sales enablement teams to train the staff on how to use it. Right? So, like, we we skipped all that. We're like, how can we make this as much out of the box as we possibly can? We have a full team. I think it's 45 at this point of, onboarders that every account who comes on board, they get an hour training with our onboarding team as we set the platform up for you. And then yeah. There we I mean, Thomas, from from the depths of my soul, like, we bleed small businesses. And I'm I'm so, like, honestly concerned and have such a sense of urgency to help these guys compete because otherwise, they're gonna continue to get squeezed out and then they're gonna be it's like people who are looking at AI as a fad are the same people who are thinking they didn't need a website 20 years ago. Like, it's it's that big of a deal.
39
0,24:15,000 --> 0,24:30,000
Well, let me ask you something. So and if you you know, I'm just it's a it's a direct question. Right? Awesome. What am I gonna spend to get this thing stood up, maintained, implemented? Like, how how much is something I'm sure there's different plans, but how much is it? Yeah.
40
0,24:30,000 --> 0,25:00,000
So for most, we've got a couple different plans. Our cheapest one, if you just, like, need a website that's done for you plus automated reputation management. Right? Getting reviews, $100 a month. We have a full, like yeah. Super cheap. We have a full, like, done for you service that's, you know, above a1000. But the sweet spot for most people is around $500 a month, and that includes website, reputation management, missed call, text back, all the automation engines, everything.
41
0,25:00,000 --> 0,26:30,000
That's really fair. So, and you have so the use case I'm giving an example of a lot of people. Like, you have a service line. They wanna try it out. And and I say that because we're, you know, a services company. Simple use case, you know, getting it set up or even say, hey. Listen. We're gonna buy high level. Can you help us at least get it integrated over ours? And here or you can say here I I assume there's templates and stuff at high level where you can just say, here's a here's a simple template for this actual flow. Yeah. That's a pretty simple thing for I mean, a $100 a month is like I mean, if try it for 6 months. Like, that's like Right. And we and we got 24 If you can't afford a $100, then then you're you're gonna like, let like, that's an absolute no brainer. Even a $1,000 a month, if you had volume on your site or you're driving ads to it might make sense as well. Yeah. So let me talk about that just a bit. So Yeah. Please. To help someone decide, do you do you provide any or recommend any technology that sits behind, let's say, a landing page to say, hey. You got enough volume. You you've looks like people die off here, so we definitely wanna make sure the chat button's there. Like, do you use some current data on their stuff or look at their current setup to say, hey. This would be a good place to do it, or here's some recommendations of things you might wanna look at to to learn to see if there's even it even makes sense to come in. Because because I know ours, we only get a few 100 visitors a month, but they're they're, you're I'm being checked out at that point. I'm like, they're not there to learn from SEO. They're like, oh, who who are these people? And so I I know where they touch. Talk about that a little bit. Like, what's needed behind the scenes to make this work? Yeah. So the
42
0,26:30,000 --> 0,27:24,000
the unsatisfying answer is that it's different for every person. But maybe maybe that is the satisfying answer because, like, we've got a lot of different types of businesses who listen to this call, and we work 1 on 1 with every one of them. Like, we have office hours every Friday for every single person on the platform that they can just hop in to an hour long call and have a free q and a with our team. We've got 247 support. That's human, by the way. It's not it's not AI. So, like, we we work hand in hand with people because, like, our our goal with this thing, we wanna get to 500 insider clients by the end of the year, and because we've got some promotional discounts right now to make that $500 a month plan even cheaper. And then, ultimately, I I want this to be something where people can look back and be like, I I scaled from 3 locations to 10 because I could 10 x my bandwidth with this tool.
43
0,27:24,000 --> 0,29:19,000
I love it. I think it's cool. I mean okay. So I've seen stuff like this before. Maybe maybe this is secret sauce time. Like, why you guys versus the 2,000 other companies out there claiming it? And I know this is an objection and, any of the listeners, I'm not being I'm not paid to to to promote him. I'm I'm here to interrogate the shit out of him. That's my goal. Yeah. And truly, I've never been promoted. Yeah. I've never been promoted, and this is why I've been asked to leave and been fired. I'm not fired. Laid off, downsized, whatever. Asked to leave. Yeah. That's the next book. Yeah. But but the truth is, like, right, like, I come from the AI industry in intelligent automation, and I've seen multiple people try this with less than 6 success results. I think the technology is finally there to do it if it's in a very and the reason I asked about mine is because it's a very narrow use case. When you get broad, it doesn't seem to work as much. So talk to me about when it fails and why you guys work and and when it's not gonna work for you guys. And what's what's that scenario? Because I think that helps define a better customer for you, but also for someone else to understand how to leverage this. Help me give you a good answer. What do you mean by broad? You have a company that does multiple services across multiple industries. You're you're a midsized company that has a lot of shit going on, and that means your training of this thing is all over the place. And so people could be asking about invoicing. They could be asking about customer service, about getting a job. They could be asking about your promotions. I was at one time the comms. You know what? I'd like to interview this founder. Would you guys like to partner with like, it's a bunch of shit that comes into it. And it if your thing's learning, it's learning some some nonsense. So so my my point is, when does it work and when is it when does it doesn't work? Or tell me the training to get you there so you don't get with a pilot you don't get a crappy bot. Right. Yeah. So I'll I'll answer the first question, and I'll answer that question. So the first question was, like, why us and what makes us special? Like,
44
0,29:19,000 --> 0,30:01,000
to be honest with you, there's a ton of people in this space. I don't know that we're necessarily the best. I do know that we fucking care more than anybody else. And, like, even if it's 2 in the morning and you're stuck, like, I will get on the phone with you. The as far as, like, how we handle those edge use cases of somebody selling everything in the kitchen sink and how do we make sure that it doesn't get stuck, the digital employees is plural for a reason. Like, we can build as many of these specific to as many use cases or as many products or as many QAs as possible so that the prompt engineering stays small, the responses stay short, and people get the help that they need.
45
0,30:01,000 --> 0,30:48,000
Okay. So, Carrie, I was hoping you're gonna say my mustache brings us through, but you didn't. You missed an opportunity there. So I mean, obviously. Yeah. I mean, that's like that should be the logo. I don't I don't know if you wanna talk to Connors on that. Like, this umbrella thing's cool and all, but I think a mustache sings more. Alright. Okay. So the next part of that. Right? You got digital employees. They all need to be trained. But I I think this comes back to, like, when it works and doesn't. Right? So I think when you're training any AI, the more relevant data you can give it, the better it does. Yep. Are you and and so I think that's part of it. So maybe talk about the how long that I I know you're in afternoon, but in reality, how long does it really take to get it where it's like, I am confident in this thing, and how often do I have to go back and kinda water that plant to make sure it's alright?
46
0,30:48,000 --> 0,31:51,000
Fantastic question. So the nice thing about a well, I'll I'll zoom out at a high level. This is where the that sort of democratization of tech that I was talking about earlier really comes into play because what we will see over the next 12 months is that the differentiator between somebody who wins with digital employees and somebody who doesn't is the data that they have. So if you're not collecting data right now, like, if you're running your company off of an Excel spreadsheet or something like that, like, huge red flag. You need to fix that yesterday. When we're training digital employees, right, they're already pretty damn good. And then when we onboard people, we do the scrape, we customize it to their business. That gets you to 80%. To get you to a more robust use case for the average small business owner in America. Right? You know, again, as defined by US Labor Statistics, which is like 500 employees or less, which is still amazing to me, though it's that big, takes anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks.
47
0,31:51,000 --> 0,32:05,000
Do you guys have a mechanism if it gets jacked up to roll back? Do you have, like, you know, some kind of a version control on it? Like, hey. It was better 2 weeks ago than it was now? Yeah. For sure. Oh, and then your other question was, like, what hap how often do I have to water the plant?
48
0,32:05,000 --> 0,32:38,000
Them tying into that as well. It's like, so how often do you water the plant or, trim the plant maybe? Yeah. So you can very easily go into the FAQ manager and delete any FAQs that are no longer relevant and remove that from its knowledge base. And as far as how often do you need to water it, it's learning all the time. So as it's having conversations with people, it's getting smarter and more robust and more specific to your particular business and the nuances that it has. But as far as when you need to, like, actually update the FAQ, when you add a new service line, because now you have the bandwidth too.
49
0,32:38,000 --> 0,32:46,000
So your FAQs, do they do they transfer to, like, a like, a a page of some sort?
50
0,32:46,000 --> 0,33:23,000
Sometime. I mean, we've we've got, like, FAQs normally in, like, the funnels and websites that we build, in our instance of GHL. But the the FAQs that I'm talking about are more of, like, you know, edge cases, like, for, I'm trying to think of a complicated example. Like, for a, some sort of, like, dermatology clinic would be a good I gotcha. Okay. So it's it's in a it's in conversation FAQ as opposed to a pay Exactly. Right. Like, how do you wanna handle cash only patients? Right? And there should be multiple FAQs for that. That makes sense. Okay. So that's part of your data training as well. Yeah. I gotcha.
51
0,33:23,000 --> 0,33:33,000
Oh, man. Old age is sent in. 48 just crushed me right in the face. Smacked me. I had a great question, and it is. There is no pain. Right.
52
0,33:33,000 --> 0,33:45,000
All good. I think look. We've we've been talking about our our paid stuff for a long time. I think, is now the time to drop some free stuff for folks or no? I mean, I thought all that was free.
53
0,33:45,000 --> 0,34:45,000
No. Wait. Listen. What what I'm trying to explain is, and and and this has not been a promotion so much for you guys. It's just that this is a problem when you're trying to gain back market share, and that's where you guys focus. But I don't even look at it. I this problem Yeah. It's I know I know why you guys do this because it helps you focus on a specific type of customer to go to market with. I get it. Any company that's trying to just win more often with less people, this applies to. And what I'm trying to go through on that is you can apply it anywhere, but the buyer beware that this has been tried. There's lots of things. And the answers you're you're answering are awesome. And and given a whole all that holds true, I'm not sure why you wouldn't wanna try it. And I'll and I'll lead you into now, you know, and risk free. Here we go. Right here. Let's get the risk objections out of the way here. And and, like, and how do you and and give that to me because the truth is you should be trying these things and making time and carving this out as a small business owner. Otherwise, you will get behind. You're gonna lose if you don't find a way to accelerate with customer service and speed and and get people out of the way. So
54
0,34:45,000 --> 0,36:04,000
what what can people do to free to try it? Because I think you said there's something dropping pretty soon here to do that. Yeah. So we're we're gonna be launching a way for you to actually test out a custom version specific to your business of our digital employees that'll be live within the next, like, 48 hours. But any of our plans have a 7 day free trial. But, really, what I wanna show is, like again, you asked about the difference between us and and anybody else out there in the space. Like, we really genuinely care and just wanna give people tools to win. So we we basically set up a system. The top let's take a step back. The top of the funnel for any business to get more influx of leads, contacts, opportunities, potential clients is how you stand out online. Right? So that's your SEO, your website, and your reviews. Your reviews are the biggest one because I don't buy anything on Amazon that doesn't have a review. So if you go to your review card.com, we have a way for you to fill in your information. We will actually send you a totally free we never charge for this, but it's a postcard that's linked to your Google page, and it has a little QR code on it. So if you're in the service business or you wanna just tape it to the counter at your checkout, anybody can scan that and get taken right to the Google page. I mean, the we've seen people double the reviews online in, like, 2 months, and they've been in business.
55
0,36:04,000 --> 0,36:15,000
Search results, people. You gotta have Google reviews up. Like, that is probably the number one indicator of what it throws up in front of you, especially on a local based business. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. But, yeah, 7 day free trial for all of our stuff and,
56
0,36:15,000 --> 0,36:16,000
yeah.
57
0,36:16,000 --> 0,36:36,000
I love it. What's, what what where does this let's talk to the future a little bit. Right? Not not so much, you know, what what you're doing as much as, like, as a company and the problem you're solving, where do you see it going? Like, where does this technology did you guys rinse and repeat and get it better? Or or does it is there some kind of, like,
58
0,36:36,000 --> 0,37:48,000
new metaverse weird 3 d hologram aliens and drones coming with this with like, where where does the entirety of conversations into customers go to the future? It's a it's a really great question. So our our guiding north star is that statement that I said at the beginning of the conversation, which is that the best do the basics better. I am not interested in AI, software, technology, any of that stuff because it's cool, because it's sexy, because it's new. I'm interested in it because it helps me do more with less. And so as long as what we see coming down the pipe helps the average business owner do more with less, we'll continue to explore it. So we're we're working on actual, like, digital voice right now for digital employees to be able to handle phone calls and, like, provide the call center at scale. We're working on a bunch of different stuff on the back end as far as, like, physical products. How do you make it so that you can delight your customers and give them a 7 star experience so that you win them from the big guys? Because the main way that people compete at the local level is to show that they're part of the local market and you're you're not buying somebody's second yacht. So that's that's our focus. That's our driving north star.
59
0,37:48,000 --> 0,38:20,000
I think as long as you're doing that, you're gonna keep solving that problem more and more. And then but also I I look at it as you enable entrepreneurs to have a better chance to not just survive, but thrive. And and I think the like, these technologies, they're a piece of the puzzle. They aren't the whole picture for sure. And you have to use them correctly in the right business. There are some businesses that probably don't work as well. But I would say, for the most part, if you have a web presence where people may have questions and you don't find an easy way to provide it, they're gonna go to the next vendor who can.
60
0,38:20,000 --> 0,39:11,000
Yeah. And I I we've been talking a lot about us. I wanna get back to the entrepreneur who's listening to this. Like, the what I'm trying to say is there are things right now that you could do in your business, that you would do, that you haven't done because you don't have the time, you don't have the bandwidth, and you know it would, like if if you sent a cupcake to your long time customers, it would make their month. Right? So that's the kind of stuff, like, you're never gonna be able like, I I know running a business is hard because you're constantly putting out fires and you don't have the bandwidth to actually access that Eisenhower matrix of, like, what's very valuable but low priority because that stuff never gets done, and you've got a 2 year honey do list for your business. Like, that's what we wanna get people back to.
61
0,39:11,000 --> 0,39:21,000
I would actually argue this is probably in the high priority but in high value, but almost unsolvable because you can't afford
62
0,39:21,000 --> 0,39:53,000
people. People are in a really tough place right now. They're kinda stuck. Right? Like, you need to be able to handle more conversations more quickly to get more business and more promoters. And by promoters, I mean, customers who are raving fans. But, like, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place because you're operating off of old assumptions and old tools. And because, like, let's be honest, it's technology. This stuff is scary. Yeah. Right? Like, it's new and, like, I don't I don't I don't wanna try something and get burned again. A 100%.
63
0,39:53,000 --> 0,40:10,000
Agreed. Dan, thanks so much, by the way. Let let's let's do the kind of the shameless plug. Do you want me to go to yaiRrands, which is yaibrands.com, and and or or do you wanna once you do the pitch, it's easier. You're you're the pro at this. Yeah. No. If, if you guys wanna check out what we're doing, yaibrands.com,
64
0,40:10,000 --> 0,40:23,000
y a I, or if you wanted that free Google review card so you guys can start getting more reviews from your existing clients online for free. We're never gonna charge for this. That's your review card.com.
65
0,40:23,000 --> 0,41:25,000
Oh, that's awesome. If I was a better host, I'd have availability to I don't put that up faster, on the screen, but I don't. By the way, you actually so if you guys don't know this, I I follow, Dan on the on on on the LinkedIn, on the Internets, on the lines, but Didi Marolli, m I r o l l I. Yes. Check out his you do a lot of, content around entrepreneurship, so you're a good you're a good source for bringing things in from, like, Alex from Ozi and other people, and and I'm a fan of a lot of the stuff you're doing. So, check them out. I'll follow them, get in touch with them. If if you got questions, guys, I would just start honestly, I would start with a conversation. So, you know, I I know you're supposed to use your tech to do it. I'm pretty sure though you would probably feel the conversation or 2 from customers. Absolutely. And you're in Atlanta, so let's just even be more narrow. I think a lot of people who watch and listen to this pod pod podcast are from Atlanta. Just go grab a coffee with him and and and and make sure he's a real human. That mustache is real. He oiled it down before he came on. And and if you give me a social media post of you touching it, bonus points.
66
0,41:25,000 --> 0,41:31,000
Alright. Deal. Yeah. And, please, I'm I'm right here in Midtown. Would love to grab coffee with anybody here in Atlanta.
67
0,41:31,000 --> 0,43:32,000
And, heck, I will I'll commit to 30 minute strategy session for your business totally free. Awesome. Appreciate it, Dan. Dan, thank you so much for coming on. I'm gonna put you in the periwinkle room where there are no snacks because it's digital, and I ate it all. Dan, thanks so much for coming on and, and Yay brands for, you know, just being a part of the show and explaining. I like to bring on some technologies that I think are just freaking cool, actually work. That's a big piece. So I've done, you know, I'm not bringing on him, just cold turkey. He this stuff actually works. Small background. My background is in AI and intelligent automation systems. Their stuff seems absolutely legit. It's something we're looking at in as well for our companies. You know, just to be clear, I'm there's, you know, this is a commercial relationship. This is just me being really interested in, I think Dan's a pretty cool dude too. And the and where he works and the tech just lines up to what we're trying to help you get better at entrepreneurship. And if this is one way you can do it, please do. If this was your first time listening or being through here, thanks so much for getting here. And if you've been here before, thanks for, you know, coming back. It's it's important that we get out there, unleash this entrepreneur, cut all the tile, that shit holding you back. So always ask yourself if something am I not doing something or am I not advancing? Is it because I'm afraid? Am I making an excuse even valid? Am I feeling a sense of entitlement like the world owes me something? Or or is it, you know, somebody in your life that is really trying to pull you back or down and just doesn't get you? These are things you might have to let go for a little while, so to speak, cut the tie. And when you do that, you truly unleash the entrepreneur within and know that you're not alone, know that there's lots of people who go through this. I just spent 6 days, 7 days filming for 12 hours a day on a reality TV entrepreneurial show called The Blocks, and I'm surrounded by a 100 of our entrepreneurs who have all the same problems and fears. And it was so awesome coming together. So I'm telling you, get out, go go meet people because there there's a lot more help out there than you want. But listen, get get out there. Go unleash your entrepreneur until we meet again. You know, like, thank you so much for
68
0,43:32,000 --> 0:43:34,000
listening.