In today’s episode, I have Andrew Swansburg as my guest. We will be looking at emerging markets, customer-centric and the challenges a young entrepreneur faced when starting a business. 

Andrew is the founder and CEO of BrandBot, an all in one customer communication hub that is aimed at helping you reach customers the right way. 

Who do you serve, primarily? (03:37)

• Andrew says their main focus is boutique studios. 
• They see a lot of emerging trends right now, like HIIT, boxing, and rowing. 
• Yoga is still their top market and brings in a lot of business. 
• However, he adds that a lot of their growth is coming from newer trends.

Let’s try and define customer-centric? (05:32)

• Andrew believes how you got to where you are is an important factor.
• When talking about a studio’s product, to him that means the classes they’re offering. When they started, that product was most likely enough.
• However, with the fast opening of more studios and fitness modalities, they are starting to see that just the product is not enough anymore. 
• BrandBot is shifting into an era where businesses need to determine who they want their customers to be and focus solely on that.
• Brands are using specific personalities, something no one else is offering, to grow their businesses, rather than relying on their product alone. 

Do you step in once people know who their customer is, or do you help them figure that out? (08:00)

• Andrew says they are there from day one, and they can be used differently as a business grows and changes. 
• Initially, their business is used for the transactional aspects like following up on Facebook leads and communicating with customers via email. 
• They feel it’s a shame that businesses continue using them for the transactional parts only. Their more experienced customers use them to present their brand along the journey.
• BrandBot helps the customer position themselves as a business, helping their customers establish what their goals are and how to accomplish them.  
• Around 18 months they start seeing a transition as people start figuring how to communicate with clients, and how to reuse that tested and approved method. 

How have you seen growth within your company? (14:57)

• Andrew says they’ve seen a lot of change in the past three months. 
• For the first year and a half, they were focused mainly on creating an exciting product that would attract sales. 
• BrandBot has been doing a lot of digital marketing events, which is big for them at the moment. 
• A group of people in the same place always adds value, and it should be something business owners invest in.
• They have also started hiring outbound reps, adding to the sales function or a strict sales process. 

How is your role changing? What challenges have you faced? (21:41)

• Andrew says his first challenge was being a college drop out in his 20’s, and the pressure that came from having to make a success out of his idea. 
• He approached a corporate culture specialist, and this guy walked him through evaluating his thinking as an entrepreneur; determining when to act on your thinking, and when to just let thoughts simmer. 
• That foundation helped him transition from just focusing on the product, to managing a team and his customers. He realized he had to scale himself because he could not fulfil all the roles anymore. 
• The whole transition, and trusting other people to handle business was very difficult for him. 
• He believes that trusting his team, and knowing when to rely on his thoughts has been a growing process for him. 

Resources

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn

Visit BrandBot Website