Transcript
WEBVTT
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having empathy for the market that
you're going after on Billy being able
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Thio dive into and try to really
understand what their true needs are
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and what they're going after, I think
makes you more of an authentic marketer.
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A start of 2020 The majority of people
had not attended or created Ah virtual
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event or a hybrid event as we closed
the year out. Of course, there's been a
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dramatic shift, but that doesn't mean
that we're doing virtual events and
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hybrid events particularly well. My
name is Ethan Butte, host of the Sea X,
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Siri's here on B two b growth and your
guest here is Corey McCarthy. CMO at
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socio events. Not only does she bring
great tips for people who are producing
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events, participating in events or even
attending events in a hybrid or virtual
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fashion, but also useful stories about
how toe educate and help your customers.
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Here's my conversation with Corey
McCarthy. So many individuals, teams
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and organizations have to pivot at one
time or another. Sometimes it's by
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choice or opportunity, other times by
force or circumstance. For example, in
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reaction to a global health pandemic,
today's guest is rethinking the entire
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customer journey in the face of the
coronavirus pandemic, as her team helps
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companies shift from physical events to
virtual events and get as close to live
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as a virtual event can. She founded her
own strategic marketing firm, serving
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clients in software, hospitality,
financial services and other verticals.
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She's held several sales and marketing
leadership roles over the past decade.
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Today she serves as chief marketing
officer for SOCIO, a team dedicated to
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creating the best event technology for
their clients while providing them with
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world class support. Their clients
include brands like Google and
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Microsoft, Pinterest and Pepsico,
Harvard and Hand I just to name a Few
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Corey McCarthy. Welcome to the customer
experience podcast. Ethan, thank you so
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much for having me. It's a pleasure to
be here, thank you. And before we get
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going in earnest, and I think the
pandemic is gonna be a theme here
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because it's so critical, it's driven
pivots at socio and, of course, for all
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of your clients, as we have to go
virtual from physical. But just give me
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a quick drive by set the senior in San
Francisco. The rest of the team is in
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Indianapolis. What's the situation
regarding the pandemic for you. How is
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it affecting you, your team members,
Your customers Just give me a quick
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drive by on that? Yeah, absolutely. I
was hired as a remote sammo, so my life
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other than it's awkward going to the
grocery store hasn't changed much for
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the team that I'm leading remotely. I
don't get to get there in person. I
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only started in January, and so I had
to touch points with them before we
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went into the Pandemic. Luckily, it's,
Ah, tight knit group that is really
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bonded and solidified our working
relationship over the last couple of
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months. And so, having worked from home
for most my career, I was able to help
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pivot the team and help them kind of
get up and running a little bit more
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quickly than usual into that new
cadence of working from home from
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company and our customers perspective,
we were always set up to do virtual.
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However, most of our business was
coming from live events and so we have
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a couple of icy piece that we're
working with associations, major event
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organizers, enterprise and tech
companies, and it's been very
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interesting because you can take those
two segments and divided into 21 half
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whose revenue completely relies on
producing live events and the others
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that do events is part of the marketing
initiative. So when you drop into the
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associations and the event organizers,
they're really struggling right now,
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especially the associations, because
they've never had to think outside the
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box in quite this way. And so it's
really interesting is we're finding
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that it's not necessarily a pivot from
virtual events, from live events to
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virtual events. It's actually a pivot
from events to marketing, because any
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virtual event is marketing. And what a
lot of the association, uh, managers
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don't understand is that the
opportunity to reach far outside your
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existing account base or your existing
membership base is there. And there's a
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really great opportunity to grow and to
accelerate the association's mission.
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And they're not understanding that yet
because they've never had to think like
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marketers. They think like event
planners, which is, you know, very
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detail oriented, very process oriented.
And so we're asking them in this moment
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to use an entirely new skill set that
either they haven't used in a long time
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or were never asked to. So my team and
I have been doing a lot of education
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around that to make them feel more
comfortable with that pivot. Really
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good. I'm so excited for the rest of
the conversation now. I mean, you know,
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I've been asking that question a lot,
just thio, just to get to know people
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in situations and markets and customers
differently, from different seats in
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organizations and from different
industries and things. This one
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obviously lends itself to a lot of the
conversation. But that divide there
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between primary and, you know, support.
You know, what is the role of the event
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for these people? So, so interesting?
And you really teed up an interesting
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conversation around transitioning from
just being a service provider. We
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provide an app. We provide tools to you
to being a true partner. And how do we
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make sure that you stay successful so I
don't wanna get too far ahead, So we'll
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start where we always start here, which
is customer experience when I say that,
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Cory, what does customer experience
mean to you? Customer experience means
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from the very first time you see or
meet a brand, how you feel about it and
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how you continue to feel about it after
you interact with all of the multiple
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touch points that that brand has to
offer. And at the end of that journey,
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are you willing to recommend that brand
to your friends and to your family? And
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so I guess the idea of customer
experiences, you know, results in the
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end goal of Thean NPS score you
captured there What? I did an entire 10
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minute episode of this podcast. I do
some shorter episodes where I just kind
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of share some of my own thoughts and
experiences, typically based on what I
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learned from from smart and kind folks
like you who spent time with me on the
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podcast. And it's this. It starts with
the feeling, and then it becomes
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thoughts. And then it becomes stories
and the stories or what we tell in
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online reviews. That's what we've given
MPs feedback. It's what we provide in
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terms of word of mouth. I'm right there
with you on that whole definition.
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Thank you for that. So before we go
farther for folks who aren't familiar,
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we've already kind of previewed a
little bit. But for folks who aren't
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familiar. Tell me a little bit about
socio, like who is your ideal customer?
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You kind of defined two large groups.
And then what do you solve for them?
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Sure, socio is an event platform that
works with a number of different
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companies, anything from an enterprise
organization and all the way down
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through the associations. And we work
with anyone who is looking to pull
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together. An event used to be a lot of
live events, of course, but we're
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really taking a holistic look at how
events fit into the Greater Martek
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space. Historically, events have
represented about 20% of all marketing
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budgets, and it is the most difficult
to provide Arli stats to feed back into
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your CEO about to justify. However, the
brand awareness and everything else
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that goes along with it is
extraordinary, which is why marketers
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continue to do it. So article with our
event platform is to make sure thio
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capture enough attendee data and allow
Organizer's the tools that they need to
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communicate with their attendees and
give that really great attendee
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experience. So when you're talking
about customer experience and push that
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into an event, what does that look like?
what does it feel like? So it's been a
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lot of fun over the last couple of
weeks here because we have been doing
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pivots not only with our clients but
also with our technology as well, and
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going back into the idea that we're no
longer working with just events. This
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is marketing, you know, one of one that
we're working with here. Ah, lot of
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people spend so much time bringing
everybody together into an event. And
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once you get them into your app, what
you've already done is you've created a
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community on DSO. Now we get an
opportunity to interact with that
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community or the people in the
community, not just during the event
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but 365 days a year. And so, while we
can't meet with each other face to face
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and getting together for an extended
period of time, online doesn't make a
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lot of sense. Bringing together that
community holistically allows brands
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and marketers to engage very
continually over a longer stretch of
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time through that app or that platform
which has been really exciting for us
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to stretch our legs and get into so
good, really, really interesting this
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idea that the app isn't just for those
gets back in the day. Three days that I
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was physically on site, maybe today,
the day and a half that I spent, you
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know, on Zoomer and some other platform.
So, folks, we're continuing to use the
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app over a period of time is a place to
essentially host ah community, get
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together perpetually and probably
provide content and create some
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engaging pieces, polls and surveys and
things. Absolutely. And what's really
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great is it's a mix of our A B M
targets are prospects and our existing
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clients. And so it's really cool about
that is our existing clients really
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love the socio brand on getting them in
there and having conversations. They do
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such a great job making recommendations
and giving ideas to non sensitive
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clients that they accidentally self
platform for us, which makes it feel a
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lot better all the way around. And when
you're talking about customer
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experience, it's a lot more authentic
in that community environment. ASL,
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long as it's curated properly, have had
to fight to keep my sales guys out of
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it, just so that they don't kind of
taint that good feeling Yeah, that's
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awesome. There's there's so many
conversations toe have off this. I'm
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really excited to get at it, I guess.
Let's start with the pivot that you had
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to make and your team had to make a CMO
in a marketing team, obviously. Okay,
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Are at a minimum, our message has to
change. You already talked about making
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some changes to the Tech and continue
to probably lean into the virtual event.
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Even Mawr. I would assume that you are
probably doing supporting some virtual
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events already. But talk about. Start
with talking about the pivot that you
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and your team had to make in terms of,
you know, when I show up on your home
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page, for example, how does it
communicate to me today Or, you know,
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when I did this a couple days ago in
anticipation of our conversation, it
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was very obviously all about virtual
events. Talk about that process, like
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when did you realize it was all
happening? And, you know, what was that
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process like for you all to make that
pivot? Yeah, it happened first very
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early on. I've been in the event space
for quite a while and having produced
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enough events. I know that getting
attendees to come to your event is a
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really finicky thing. When I was flying
from San Francisco to Indianapolis in
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early February, the pandemic was
already here and everyone was already
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aware of it. So it was very interesting
being in the airport at that particular
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time because you could see already a
couple of people wearing face masks and
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people kind of looking at each other
strangely. So it was in that moment
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that I realized that oh, crap, thistles
gonna impact attendance. Because if I'm
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thinking about it and I'm a little
concerned about it, so are a lot of
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other people and potentially more so
than me. So when I got into
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Indianapolis, I called my team together.
I'd only been there a month, and I'm
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like, Hey, this could be a real problem
for our company if people stopped going
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to events, you know, that's revenue for
us gone. So we need to start writing,
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you know, we need to start, you know,
adjusting a lover, content and writing
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about hybrid events. And I was even
questioning the name hybrid events and,
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like, did I just make that up? You know,
or is that a thing and so sexually
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thing? But at first, that's what we
were talking about. And so we started
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pivoting and my team looked at me like
I was absolutely crazy, like, No, this
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is something that all event planners
are gonna have on the radar and start
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to worry about. So as soon as we got
content out there, that's when the CDC
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really started shutting down live
events, and my team started to look at
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me with a newfound sense of respect. So
we started. We started that pivot very
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early on, and we end up going back and
continually updating and changing a lot
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of the content that we got out there
with, because early on it was, Yeah,
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you know, throw some hand sanitizer
around everybody. It'll be fine. You
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know, just be careful and maybe do a
hybrid event, just in case, you know.
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So after everybody went into lock down
and actually little bit before that, we
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went through everything and we toned
down any sales pitch. We actually, we
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completely removed all of the sales
pitches. We went into complete
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education mode and went back and
revised anything that was written a day
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or a couple of weeks before to take out
any of the stuff that just sounded dumb,
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you know, given, you know, at that
point, the daily, you know,
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circumstances that were being unfolded
and unveiled Thio, all of us. So that
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had a major impact with how we move
forward and then obviously trickled
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down into our website were a little
hesitant to make too many changes on
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our website. Just because of S E O, we
would. We weren't sure at that time how
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far the pandemic was going to go, what
sort of impact it was going to make.
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And so rather than make a knee jerk
reaction, we did a lot of really great
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content on the blogged and took it a
little bit more slowly with the website.
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The other thing that we needed to do is
while all of this was happening, I was
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going through and figuring out Oh my
God, from a product marketing
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perspective, where do we fit? Why do
you absolutely need to have an event
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app? And so it was a really great
experience to go through because I was
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able to figure out that with all of the
technology that comes into a virtual
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event, you need one thing. Thio string
it all together. And the event AP
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actually did become the event, because
that's actually where all of the
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sponsorship opportunities lie and a
number of other things so going through
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that were able to make a lot of slight
tweaks and product to make the virtual
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version better. But now I've got a
product release that I needed to do.
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And how the hell do you do a product
release in the middle of a demo when
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you can't sell anything? So we had
already been leaning in pretty hard to
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the thought leadership, creative
marketing and really taking on that
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consultation approach to working with
our existing clients and prospects to
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try Thio, give them ideas about how
they could make that pivot themselves.
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So instead of doing a product lunch, I
hosted heck a thon, where we reached
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out to 16 different industry
evangelists and influencers who all had,
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you know, very great followings on
Twitter and invited them to a hack in
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four teams of four. So we got them all
together. It was an hour and a half
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event. They all talked about it. They
all came up with some really great ways
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to, you know, think about virtual
events. Eso were seriously a company.
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We're doing a lot of things right, But
somehow we got about 2500, actually.
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Don't know. I think that the end number
was more around 3000 registrations for
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the stupid hackathon and was a stupid
It was so much fun. People are still
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talking about it because we were able
Thio as an event company. Really? Make
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that leap, figure out engagement,
figure out networking and come up with
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something that was unique and truly
wonderful experience not just for our
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clients, but for the influencers and a
lot of other people in the industry as
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well. So we've been able to find great
ways to not only pivot but do it well
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on Did have a lot of fun and inspire a
lot of event planners who have been
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struggling along the way. Really good.
So many so many fun places to pick up
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their first one. Being your your trust
that you built with your team by being
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visionary things is gonna affect us.
Really? Yes, it is Here we go. So I'm
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clear. When you created the hackathon,
it was, uh let's get creative about how
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we can make this even more useful and
friendly to a virtual situation. Yeah,
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my CEO has endless ideas, and he's
constantly having to be. Hey, Corey,
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what about this? Hey, Corey, what about
that? And one of the ideas that he
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wanted me to do was true Hackathon. It
didn't feel right to get tech involved
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yet because nobody knows exactly where
to go. And I think that there was at
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that particular time, still a lot of
way finding happening, and people
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wanted to be a little bit more
cathartic and talk. So I had been part
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of a company with a headquarters in
Switzerland and a home based in the
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United States. That was just sales
marketing. And so our participation in
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Hackathons were just ideation sessions.
And so I took that ideation session
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idea and put that into the event space
because thes event planners are
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incredibly creative, very charismatic
and have a lot to say and so getting
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them together to discuss and define
different solutions to take and make
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that pivot from live events Virtual
events really hit the mark. And, you
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know, we got a lot of really great
takeaways, you know, from a platform
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perspective, different ideas and
different things that we can add into
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the platform. But more importantly, we
were able Thio get everybody talking
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and figuring out how to save their own
businesses because it really is an
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ecosystem that is dependent on one
another. Josh, what do you think is the
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most irritating thing for B two B
buyers right now, an Logan. I love
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talking to you about this. You know
that the number one challenge right now
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is that many customer facing teams in
the B two B space right now are forcing
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their potential buyers, too, by the way
that they want to sell. The buyers
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don't wanna buy that way right now.
They wanna, by the way they want to buy.
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We need to enable those buyers. We call
this buyer enablement at sales reach.
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We need to enable those buyers to make
better decisions quicker in a
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comfortable environment that's more
personalized for them to move forward
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with that process. Dude, that's awesome.
I couldn't agree more since I've been
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using sales reach in my own sales
process. It's allowed me to really
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enable the buyer to move more quickly
in really two ways. One, they don't
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have to download a bunch of attachments.
Aiken send them toe one page with the
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proposal. Case studies Different
resource is because, let's face it, the
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proposal is just one part of the sales
conversation and probably on Lee one
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sales enablement piece of content that
you're sending so it makes it easier on
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them. And then the other thing is, you
know, we're selling to our champions,
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and then we're making them have to re
give our pitch to the entire buying
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committee. So one thing I do is put a
custom 2 to 3 minute video on the top
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of my sales reach page. This says, Hey,
here's all the resource is tie it back
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to the conversation. Here's the
proposal. Let me know if you have any
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questions, and it allows me to give a
little bit of kind of a mini pitch to
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the rest of the buying committee,
introduce myself, which helps me build
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trust and credibility and helps the
buyer not have to repeat the entire
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pitch from scratch. So if anybody is
looking to do the same thing in their
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own sales process, I'd highly suggest
they reach out to you and the team over
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its sales. Reach for anybody listening.
Just go to sales reach dot io to talk
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to Josh and the team. Yeah, which kind
of tease up where I wanted to go next
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was any and you've already alluded to
it several times. It's the pivot that
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your customers have had to make, and
let's just separate them in the to
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customers. And I guess I'll add one
more kind of comment question before I
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let you go on just some basic tips on
assisting them through the pivot. I
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guarantee their people listening right
now that are either their companies
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doing their planning, an event or
they're not sure if they're going to do
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an event. And so you know how you've
aided some of these other companies
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make the transition, whether they're
all events all the time, or whether
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events are just part of what they do
for sales and marketing. Ah, hybrid
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event is just the comment question I
wanted to make. First hybrid event is
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maybe where we are doing a live event.
But we're also for for a much lower
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cost, probably doing a stream for
hundreds or thousands of people back at
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their offices that didn't want to make
the journey to Las Vegas or wherever is
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that true? And then also, then just go
on some of the some of the education
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that you're providing to help people
make the transition to a virtual event.
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Absolutely. Ondas forest hyper events.
I think that that is our future for the
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next couple of years. Maybe more
because typical event planners were
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there. KP I was the number of people
that were attending a live event, and
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so they didn't want to do a virtual
event and a live event because they
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would cannibalize their live event.
Keep you guys. Now, after having the
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experience of doing ah, virtual event
and understanding the greater impact
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and greater level of awareness and
participation that you can get from the
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greater community, I think that from a
business model, I think it elevates any
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event business model. It's inclusive
and it makes just more sense, I think,
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to carry into the future. And so I
think that in the future what we might
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see, especially this year. If any
events happen this year and into next
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year, you'll see smaller, more regional
events happen with a larger extended
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audience online. And so I think that
that's something that will carry
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through indefinitely, to be honest with
you, just because it's of its level of
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inclusivity and from an exposure
standpoint for sponsors and the brand
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that's putting it on, there's a lot of
value there, and so I don't see that
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stopping any time soon. Yeah, I don't
either. So let's start with companies
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that this was a kind of a sales and
marketing thing for folks who are
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hosting events, whether it's their one
big annual event or whether it's, you
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know, the quarterly events or maybe a
road show or something. What are a
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couple points of transition for those
folks who they could be successful
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continuing to use an event experience,
too Generate, community, generate
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opportunity, generate evangelists,
etcetera? Yeah, What's interesting is
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the thing that not a lot of event
planners we're talking about right now
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and for, you know, company like Bom bom.
It would be, you know, you feel
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marketing team hypothetically, that
would be pulling it together, it's
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still all about the strategy. So what
are your goals? What are you looking to
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achieve from hosting this event is a
greater engagement. Is it education?
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And after you have down those schools
that you want to accomplish, nailed
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down, then it gets into more of the
tactical execution, you know of it? And
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how are you going to make that work in
a virtual setting? And what tools do
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you need to pull that together? So I
would start with the strategy and KPs
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first and then reverse engineer down
from there? Because whatever technology
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is from streaming to an event AP their
containers. And so it relies on the
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creativity and the ingenuity of the
marketing team or the event planners to
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put all of the right pieces together
and then find the right technology to
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deliver it in a really consistent,
great way to the attendees in order to
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achieve the goals. Great and flip. Now,
to those folks who are probably even
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more challenging situation, they
probably weren't doing anything or
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weren't doing as much Hybrid is,
perhaps these other folks were what
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have you been, maybe guiding them
through. We actually started up an
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entire services department. So we was
gonna be a follow up question. So good.
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We've taken a very concentrated
approach, and so we've been on the
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phone with all of our clients. In fact,
the entire executive team for the first
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two weeks sat on 3 to 5 calls a day,
listening to what our clients for going
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through some of the pain points and the
decision points that they're having to
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make and so event and be held a weapon.
Or a few weeks ago. And 64% of all
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event planners had never done a virtual
or hybrid event before. And so that
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would be roughly 60% of our audience
that had never done this. And, you know,
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the is a tech company. Everyone is
young and capable. So what we've done
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is we've taken some of our service team
and transition them into what we call
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our Orange Glove service. And so we
literally do everything. We sit there
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with the clients during their strategy
sessions and translate that for them
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with how to accomplish it, whether it's
recommending and helping them get their
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streaming service set up, helping them
get their output together registration
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and all of the moving pieces. It's one
of those things that we have been
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inherently sitting there with them for,
so I love the name orange glove service
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that obviously can notes exactly what
you wanted to. But it's unique to
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SOCOG's, I assume oranges a primary
color. Talk about that pivot, you know
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taking resource is that were deployed
one way and assigning them in. Probably
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a very quick order to the most acute or
pressing me that some of your most
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valuable customers were facing
absolutely services was a revenue model
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that we were exploring before covet and
after covered, you know, as a SYRIZA
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company, we had a lot of different
financial decisions to make when it
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comes to burn cash flow. So it's a
company with a lot of heart. The last
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thing that we would want to do is do
any furloughs or let anybody often. So
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we've taken great care to make sure
that we are finding ways to generate
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enough revenue to keep everybody going,
including keeping the, you know, event
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industry alive and taking care of our
own people at the same time. So by
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infusing services as an offering. Not
only are we able to provide an even
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better customer experience, but you
know, on a little bit more of a
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holistic side were able to take care of
the loyal employees that we have to
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Well, which is awesome. Eso we pivoted.
I think about four people over into the
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service positions. Odd, it's honestly
still evolving. I think that we've been
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selling it for the last three or four
weeks, so it's been great because our
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average contract value has gone up
pretty significantly. We have an
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amazing CSM and service team anyway
that have won multiple awards and get
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rave reviews for a client. So it just
made a lot of sense and it was a little
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bit earlier than what we wanted to do
it. But I think that with the pandemic,
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we're all finding that it's the great
accelerator, anything that we wanted to
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do, anyways happening and happening
much faster than any of us had planned
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for Yes, so true. I'll bet you know,
let's just pretend the pandemic never
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happened. You probably would have spun
on this idea of services for some time
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and gathered more information and
kicked it around and let's back burner
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that conversation in this meeting
because we're running out of time and
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to your point like Boom, here it is. We
have to do something and you're
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probably that they're just a learning
cycle alone is dramatically accelerated
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by that as well. Really smart. Just
quick, quick, Take on this one. What do
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you think are some of the
characteristics of a great, fully
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virtual event? I've been on a number of,
you know, I've been on the plain old
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zoom call. Of course, I'm still on the
plain old fashioned webinar. I've been
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in a couple situations with different
tech that has, like, live chat in
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different rooms on the side. Like from
your experience, because you produced a
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virtual event back in, what, 2005? Yes,
I'm sure the tech was a lot different
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than an Internet connectivity was not
nearly as good as it is today. But you
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know this really, really well and
you're teaching it to people on your
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team is teaching it to people you're
helping people planet and coordinated.
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What are a few takeaways for folks like,
What are a few characteristics of a
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great virtual event? Absolutely
excitement, entertainment and
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engagement or networking of some sort,
I think are the most important points.
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It's almost kind of show business and
unfortunately, because not everybody is
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in a room together to kind of feel that
energy you rely on having really
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engaging speakers. And so I think that
this is a really good time. Thio hire a
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legitimate EMC that knows how to get
the crowd going. One of the groups that
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to the HACKATHON had a legitimate emcee
in that group, and he was in there with
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the music going and got the energy up
and, you know, did the moderation and
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was able thio generator. Replicate that
excitement that you would usually have
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in an in person events. And so bringing
that sort of energy is huge. What sort
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of platform do you have available for
engagement? Do you have chat open on
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Zoom? That was one of the big questions
that we had when we were first doing it,
393
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because it's kind of dicey. Sometimes
we do now have a virtual bouncer, and
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so if you start promoting, your stuff
will kick you out. I think that
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offering the opportunity Thio, get
those chats going has been something
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that not only with our event, but I'm
in quite a few CMO communities that
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I'll have the chats going and you get
such great information and ability to
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share. And I've met a number of new
people through those chats. So I think
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that that's a really great thing to Dio.
Of course, that's an extension of the
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app to keep it going, you know, before,
during and after, because that sense of
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community, I think, has always been
necessary in there. But I think it's
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more important right now than ever. And
so I think it's a really great time for
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people to lean into that community
concept because we're all home. We're
404
00:28:50.010 --> 00:28:53.850
all in a captive audience. We're all
looking for something. E think that
405
00:28:53.850 --> 00:28:58.110
when you take a look at content, you
really need to be careful of the length
406
00:28:58.110 --> 00:29:02.150
of your content and the number of
speakers that you have. I think the
407
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:07.760
statistic is a person can pay attention
to one speaker for eight minutes
408
00:29:08.140 --> 00:29:12.060
continuously and then they start to
lose their attention. And so if you mix
409
00:29:12.060 --> 00:29:16.240
up the speakers and mix up the content
that you're bringing in pretty
410
00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:21.490
constantly that will help keep people.
They're involved engaged because one of
411
00:29:21.490 --> 00:29:25.060
the big things that's happening right
now is zoom fatigue and then
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00:29:25.070 --> 00:29:28.330
distractions. How Maney tabs do you
have open on your computer right now?
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00:29:28.340 --> 00:29:33.730
And so is the webinar an afterthought,
or are you able to keep everybody's
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00:29:33.730 --> 00:29:37.390
attention then? And B did another
webinar a couple of weeks ago, and they
415
00:29:37.390 --> 00:29:40.700
did a really amazing job with the
production value. They had a sketch
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00:29:40.700 --> 00:29:45.360
artist whose sketching out each of the
speakers presentations and putting it
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00:29:45.360 --> 00:29:49.370
into cartoons and they would show it
after each of speakers was done. They
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00:29:49.370 --> 00:29:53.890
had a songwriter paying attention to
the whole thing, and about three
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00:29:53.890 --> 00:29:57.990
quarters of the way through presented a
song. You know, that was based off of
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00:29:57.990 --> 00:30:01.150
everything that he had learned. So
there are a lot of really neat things
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00:30:01.150 --> 00:30:04.800
that you do from an entertainment
perspective that you can weave through
422
00:30:04.810 --> 00:30:10.240
to really kind of keep that engagement
and experience a top notch. So many
423
00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:14.180
good tips there. If you're listening to
this and you have the 32nd or 62nd
424
00:30:14.180 --> 00:30:18.890
bounce back, I encourage you to do so.
Whether you're an attendee or someone
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00:30:18.890 --> 00:30:22.540
potentially producing something like
this. So many great tips there. And as
426
00:30:22.540 --> 00:30:25.220
you are offering that, I'm thinking
about some good riel events I've been
427
00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:30.050
at or not riel in person events.
They're all riel s. Um, virtual events
428
00:30:30.050 --> 00:30:33.610
that I've been at that have been, you
know, some good, some bad on thinking
429
00:30:33.610 --> 00:30:37.070
of my son. And I go to like, one or two,
eh? NBA basketball games every year.
430
00:30:37.070 --> 00:30:40.530
And that's exactly what they do. It
makes so much sense is like the second
431
00:30:40.530 --> 00:30:44.860
the primary action stops. There's
something else to keep the energy, keep
432
00:30:44.860 --> 00:30:49.280
the attention etcetera. And it reminds
me to oven Event that I participated in
433
00:30:49.280 --> 00:30:54.140
is a speaker where I had to deliver a 5
to 7 minute presentation. And then
434
00:30:54.140 --> 00:30:57.520
there were 10 minutes of Q and A and
they just turned us over, turned us
435
00:30:57.520 --> 00:31:01.190
over, turned us over, and then a couple
events that I've been at That just is a
436
00:31:01.190 --> 00:31:05.610
final, I guess tip, and then I have ah,
kind of a bigger separate question for
437
00:31:05.610 --> 00:31:09.250
you. Those breaks at the bottom of the
hour, you know, tops and bottoms of the
438
00:31:09.250 --> 00:31:13.210
hour so that people can go do what they
need to dio, rather than expecting them
439
00:31:13.210 --> 00:31:17.690
to just sit there for hours on end
until lunch or whatever kind of last
440
00:31:17.690 --> 00:31:21.800
question here before I get to a couple
questions. I always love to ask against
441
00:31:21.800 --> 00:31:25.450
smart and kind folks like you on the
show. I just wanted to ask this because
442
00:31:25.540 --> 00:31:29.310
you've led sales and marketing teams,
you've led global marketing efforts
443
00:31:29.310 --> 00:31:33.280
you've got exposure to and experience
in a wide variety of channels and
444
00:31:33.280 --> 00:31:37.320
disciplines. What are some like a
couple hard and valuable lessons you've
445
00:31:37.320 --> 00:31:40.820
learned along the way. Any trends
you're seeing? Just just give me a high
446
00:31:40.820 --> 00:31:43.990
level on, you know, while I have
someone like you and we have an
447
00:31:43.990 --> 00:31:47.710
audience of people in a variety of
disciplines. You know, if you were
448
00:31:47.710 --> 00:31:51.800
going to give some tips or advice based
on all the things you've learned in
449
00:31:51.800 --> 00:31:54.450
your experience, where a couple things
that stand out to you that you might
450
00:31:54.450 --> 00:31:59.780
offer someone, I think that taking a
look at yourself and having empathy for
451
00:31:59.790 --> 00:32:04.390
the market that you're going after and
really being able to dive into and try
452
00:32:04.390 --> 00:32:09.460
to really understand what their true
needs are and what they're going after,
453
00:32:09.460 --> 00:32:13.410
I think makes you more of an authentic
marketer. I think that the best
454
00:32:13.410 --> 00:32:18.370
experience that I draw from is having
run magazines and having to grow in
455
00:32:18.370 --> 00:32:22.970
audience keeping audience and keep them
wanting. Thio read your content, you
456
00:32:22.970 --> 00:32:28.220
know, week over week, and that takes a
certain level of expertise and
457
00:32:28.220 --> 00:32:31.140
intellect about whatever industry that
it is that you're serving in a certain
458
00:32:31.140 --> 00:32:34.810
level of passion for that industry to
really make it resonate and really make
459
00:32:34.810 --> 00:32:40.680
it authentic. Eso What I've been doing
with every marketing team that have run
460
00:32:41.040 --> 00:32:46.890
is we never sell, and anything that we
produce could be further distributed
461
00:32:46.900 --> 00:32:50.330
anywhere if the Wall Street Journal
called needed an article that could go
462
00:32:50.330 --> 00:32:55.560
to our block and pick up anything. And
so I think that that empathy, thought
463
00:32:55.560 --> 00:33:00.740
leadership and just getting down to
really good clean business. When you
464
00:33:00.740 --> 00:33:05.050
take a look at S c o, there's like what
I called the dark arts. You can get
465
00:33:05.050 --> 00:33:09.610
really tricky really fast, but nobody
wins in the end. And so if you focus on
466
00:33:09.610 --> 00:33:15.650
what your customers need, what they
really need and give them authentic
467
00:33:15.660 --> 00:33:20.660
content and tools to support them and
support their businesses. Everybody
468
00:33:20.660 --> 00:33:24.830
wins, and that's been one of the things
that I strive to do in any deal that I
469
00:33:24.830 --> 00:33:29.610
put together how to do. How does the
other person when how do I win? What
470
00:33:29.610 --> 00:33:32.990
does that mean to look like to
everybody's benefit? There's so much in
471
00:33:32.990 --> 00:33:35.940
there. I wanna have, like, another 20
minute conversation, but I won't out of
472
00:33:35.940 --> 00:33:39.070
respect for your time and out of
respect for our listeners. So much good
473
00:33:39.070 --> 00:33:42.470
stuff there. Thank you so much for that.
If you've enjoyed this conversation
474
00:33:42.470 --> 00:33:46.560
with Corey McCarthy, I've got a couple
other CMOs. I have several, but your
475
00:33:46.560 --> 00:33:50.640
two top of mind if you wanna check out
Episode six with Steve Personally, who
476
00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:54.070
is the CMO and one of my team members?
That bomb bomb that one was called
477
00:33:54.070 --> 00:33:58.060
connecting with customers by exploring
a shared belief. There's kind of a
478
00:33:58.060 --> 00:34:03.070
community element there, and it gets to
kind of this empathy and authenticity
479
00:34:03.070 --> 00:34:06.170
and really being passionate about it
and sharing that with and through your
480
00:34:06.170 --> 00:34:11.500
customers. That's Episode six with
Steve Personnel and then on Episode 14
481
00:34:11.510 --> 00:34:15.010
Samantha Stone CMO with the marketing
advisory network that was balancing
482
00:34:15.010 --> 00:34:19.409
automation AI and human relationships
where we get it. This tension and
483
00:34:19.409 --> 00:34:23.730
you're kind of there with the dark arts
piece in my in my mind, I'm not deeply
484
00:34:23.730 --> 00:34:27.280
studied on this. In my mind, all
Google's trying to do is serve the
485
00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:31.949
human searcher. And so the more you
write for a human, the better off
486
00:34:31.949 --> 00:34:35.440
you're gonna be in the long run to your
like. Nobody wins with these kind of
487
00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:41.020
tricks and shenanigans and whatnot. So,
Corey, how about you take a moment to
488
00:34:41.020 --> 00:34:44.750
think or mentioned someone who's had a
positive impact on your life or career
489
00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:48.330
and give a shout out or a nod to a
brand or a company that you really
490
00:34:48.330 --> 00:34:53.560
respect for the experience they deliver
for you as a customer? Absolutely. I
491
00:34:53.560 --> 00:34:57.270
think that a nod that I'd like to give
to somebody who's helped me
492
00:34:57.270 --> 00:35:03.060
professionally. My career is my coach,
Steve Axel. Hey, was a NASDAQ CMO. I
493
00:35:03.060 --> 00:35:08.510
really value the time that he spends
with me. He has really helped elevate
494
00:35:08.520 --> 00:35:13.030
me as a professional and then to I also
use him as a sounding board to gut
495
00:35:13.030 --> 00:35:16.480
check different things that I'm doing
professionally since he has such great
496
00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:21.460
CMO experience, so incredibly thankful
for the time that I get to spend with
497
00:35:21.460 --> 00:35:24.240
Steve. He and I have been working
together for a couple of years now, and
498
00:35:24.240 --> 00:35:28.120
it's something that I treasure as far
as a brand that I love. Right now it's
499
00:35:28.120 --> 00:35:33.430
called, Who gives a crap. They sell
toilet paper on a subscription, and
500
00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:38.260
their marketing is clever. It's
thoughtful. It's unique. Every time you
501
00:35:38.260 --> 00:35:42.110
turn around, there's this moment of
delight, whether it's you looking at
502
00:35:42.110 --> 00:35:46.190
the bottom of the box and it tells you
to take a vacation or when you get down
503
00:35:46.190 --> 00:35:50.220
to the last roll and it says Oh, crap,
it's time to order more So they're
504
00:35:50.220 --> 00:35:55.520
funny and it's just a delight. Their
CEO had a really nice email that he
505
00:35:55.520 --> 00:36:00.480
wrote during the pandemic because they
also ran into a shortage, and the level
506
00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:06.820
of humanity and humility that he showed
in this message was fantastic. And so
507
00:36:06.820 --> 00:36:10.580
as a marketer, I really appreciate
their messaging the way they've been
508
00:36:10.580 --> 00:36:13.960
able to position this and really, how
they've moved through the whole
509
00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:19.420
pandemic with grace really good and
another product that I guess two years
510
00:36:19.420 --> 00:36:22.480
ago, I never would have expected would
be available on subscription, but
511
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:27.730
everything is now. So if you've enjoyed
this conversation, I'm gonna link up
512
00:36:27.730 --> 00:36:31.620
Steve. I'll link up who gives a crap,
and I'll link up a couple other things
513
00:36:31.620 --> 00:36:35.140
that I'll ask you about now. And if
you're listening, can always learn more
514
00:36:35.140 --> 00:36:38.980
about the guest. You can see video
clips. We do short write ups, and again
515
00:36:38.980 --> 00:36:45.170
we link up related materials at bom bom
dot com slash podcast. Eso a couple
516
00:36:45.170 --> 00:36:48.680
other things I'll link up here for you.
Cory, how could someone connect with
517
00:36:48.680 --> 00:36:51.600
you or with socio? Where would you send
people if they want to follow up on
518
00:36:51.600 --> 00:36:55.360
some of the themes that we've talked
about today? Yeah, absolutely. Um,
519
00:36:55.360 --> 00:37:01.880
socio dot events is the website for us.
And then I'm slash Corey McCarthy c o r
520
00:37:01.890 --> 00:37:07.280
e y m c c a r t h y on Lincoln. More
than happy to talk to anybody, I think
521
00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:11.480
that now, more than anything right now,
it's ah, great time to get together and
522
00:37:11.480 --> 00:37:15.620
share ideas. I completely agree. I
appreciate you getting together with me
523
00:37:15.620 --> 00:37:19.840
to share ideas with me and with all of
our listeners here on the podcast again,
524
00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:23.980
you can connect with Cory. I'll link
all this stuff up at bom bom dot com
525
00:37:23.980 --> 00:37:27.480
slash podcast. I thank you so much for
your time and insights. Corey. You're
526
00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:32.340
awesome. Thank you so much for having
me. Hey, if you enjoyed this
527
00:37:32.340 --> 00:37:36.230
conversation with Corey McCarthy, you
might enjoy some of the other
528
00:37:36.230 --> 00:37:41.240
conversations that are available from
the customer experience podcast. Learn
529
00:37:41.240 --> 00:37:45.330
more by searching the customer
experience podcast in Apple podcast
530
00:37:45.330 --> 00:37:50.320
Spotify or wherever you prefer to
listen, or you can visit bom bom dot
531
00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:58.450
com slash podcast b o m b b o m b dot
com forward slash podcast. My name is
532
00:37:58.450 --> 00:38:03.140
Ethan Butte. I welcome your feedback on
these episodes by email. Ethan at bom
533
00:38:03.140 --> 00:38:08.830
bom dot com or on LinkedIn Hit Me up
Ethan Butte. Last name is spelled B E u
534
00:38:08.830 --> 00:38:12.350
T E. Thanks so much for listening to
the B two B growth show.
535
00:38:15.330 --> 00:38:18.720
For the longest time, I was asking
people to leave a review of B two B
536
00:38:18.730 --> 00:38:22.720
growth and Apple podcasts, but I
realized that was kind of stupid
537
00:38:22.730 --> 00:38:28.160
because leaving a review is way harder
than just leaving a simple rating, so
538
00:38:28.160 --> 00:38:31.960
I'm changing my tune a bit. Instead of
asking you to leave a review, I'm just
539
00:38:31.960 --> 00:38:36.010
gonna ask you to go to be to be growth
in apple podcasts, scroll down until
540
00:38:36.010 --> 00:38:39.920
you see the ratings and review section
and just tap the number of stars you
541
00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:45.030
wanna give us No review necessary Super
easy. And I promise it will help us out
542
00:38:45.040 --> 00:38:49.340
a ton. If you want a copy of my book
content based networking, just shoot me
543
00:38:49.340 --> 00:38:53.170
a text. After you leave the rating on,
I'll send one your way. Text me at
544
00:38:53.170 --> 00:38:57.460
4074903328