Conquer Local Podcast

Information shared by an expert at Google provides some SMB Best Practices can use when going back to business.

Todd Rowe, Global Marketing Director at Google, is our guest this week on the Conquer Local Podcast. He uses the information collected from SMBs across the globe to understand the best practices they can take when re-opening after the wave of closures from the COVID-19 pandemic. With his knowledge, organizations will be able to help local businesses get back to business with ease. 

Todd Rowe has extensive experience in High Tech, in Sales, Marketing, and General Management with full P&L responsibility. Currently lead one of Google's fastest-growing business units. Extensive international experience building businesses in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Board of Director experience at privately held companies and Board of Advisors at Venture Capital firm. Todd specializes in building and running high-growth businesses. Background in Sales, Marketing, Product Management in Cloud, SAAS, and Search Engine Marketing Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Keep the conversations going in the Conquer Local Community and expand your knowledge in the Conquer Local Academy.

To build a cooperative in retail, it started with only 12 retailers, which quickly grew to 300 in one short year.

"Ten thousand mistakes can lead to the ten right decisions." Lindsay Gaskins, President, CAA Member and The Bike Cooperative, at CCA Global Members, is our guest this week. Lindsay started a brick-and-mortar business in 2008 during the financial crisis in the United States; in turn, she sold nothing in the first three months. Lindsay explains how she refined her business to have 45 stores open coast to coast. After her refined approach and did market research, they sold more in one day than in her first three months in business. These struggles and success brought Lindsay to help found cooperative in retail, she shares her dos and don'ts, and the advice to retail storefronts to stay healthy.

Lindsay is a Senior Executive with deep retail industry expertise stemming from her experiences as a management consultant to top global retailers, as a head buyer for a large national retailer, as Co-Founder and CEO of a multi-channel retailer with 40+ stores nationally, and now as a top leader responsible for driving innovation and growth for one of the largest retail cooperatives in the world. Lindsay is currently leading the development of innovative technology solutions, services, and tools designed to empower and fuel the future success of small businesses. She is a charismatic, purpose-driven leader who possesses an innate curiosity for consumers, passion for team-building, and an unwavering entrepreneurial spirit.

Join the conversation in the Conquer Local Community, and take a course in the Conquer Local Academy to keep the learning going.

How to help the SMBs get back to business by being the Trusted Local Expert. What does it look like to reopen and how to communicate it to the SMBs customer base? 

George Leith is back to bring you another edition of the Master Sales Training Series. We discuss two things, first, being the trusted local expert; that's you. Reviewing how you operate as an organization, is it making your appointments remotely? Is it reallocating your budget? How are you delivering value to your client? George explores what you should be talking to your customer base about, what really matters to them, and how can we - the trusted local experts - be there to help them succeed.

The second, are you open? Ensuring that once the SMB is open for business, they are able to communicate it to their clientele. The flip side to that, how are they communicating what they needed to scale back and possibly close their doors once again. How can we, as the trusted local expert's aid in the communicate it in these unprecedented times?

Join the conversation in the Conquer Local Community, as well as keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy. 

Consumers want to support their favorite local businesses. For this to happen, local businesses need to embrace e-commerce and go online.

Greg Sterling, VP of Market Insights at Uberall, joins the conversation to give us the data on local business pivoting to e-commerce. Many local businesses have been able to embrace the digital shift, most fall into three groups: Successful in shifting to online, meeting expectations to stay open, and those who are struggling and may disappear. The successful cohort are businesses who have diversification online, a robust online component, and tighter integration between online and offline. To all the agencies and salespeople, now more than ever need to be the trusted local expert, and help the local business go through a digital transformation. There is an importance of communicating with customers, and strengthen relationships. Steers away from the sales pitch, and focus on doing right by them.

Greg Sterling is a recognized expert on a range of digital marketing topics and a contributing editor for Search Engine Land. Previously, Sterling was VP of Strategy for LSA (now Localogy). Before that, he had various analyst and executive positions at Opus Research, The Kelsey Group, Allbusiness.com, and TechTV. Sterling is also a former attorney.

Join the conversation335: E-commerce, Now or Never, with Greg Sterling in the Conquer Local Community. 

Customers travel through a series of steps—whether they know it or not—before they purchase at a local business. This is known as the customer journey.

We welcome Ahsen Mohammad to the Conquer Local podcast this week to talk about the Customer Journey. Ahsen took the concept and built his marketing agency around it, Customer Maps, and only serves five customers. Instead of stretching out to bring more and more clients on, he prefers to go all-in with his clients and become a part of their team. For customers, the journey they undergo is not something they often think about, as they are just looking for an outlet to fulfill their buying needs. For local businesses, the customer journey is the difference between a sale and a consumer buying products/services from a local competitor.

Ahsen has extensive experience of working for multiple global brands. He started his career with European Fashion brands. Ambition to work for multinational made him moved to global sports giant brand Adidas. He took up the role of Project Lead Re-Launch Reebok as a fitness initiator and authenticator. With a healthy challenge ahead, he undertook this role to innovate and introduce fresh ideas in every aspect of business and co-develop a marketing, digital marketing & retail strategy to sharpen the position of Reebok & Adidas Sport Performance.

The way we hire has changed, what does onboarding a remote workforce look like in today's landscape?

Conquer Local heads to Denmark to bring you Tricia Score. Tricia is the Sales & Customer Engagement Team Leads at Microsoft; she shares what her experience has been as she has already onboarded three salespeople remotely. Tricia puts the emphasis on remembering human interaction, making the connection to establish trust, and keep the lines open for communication. Now is the time to connect with others and find a mentor, 50% of people have a mentor but 75% of people think it is crucially important.

With more than 15 years in sales leadership and strategy, Tricia Score has a proven record in global and market expansion initiatives with a focus on high-growth results. In her past roles, Tricia has been specializing in establishing and enabling teams for success and driving sales results through sales excellence in her sales teams. Tricia recently joined Microsoft in early 2020, and before her role at Microsoft, Tricia worked in multiple sales leadership roles focused on sales operations, strategy, and enablement roles across Africa, Europe, and the US. Tricia holds an MBA from Marymount University.

Join the Conquer Local Community to connect with other Conquerors, and to stay up to date with all that is Conquer Local.

Franchise Selling must ultimately be around building trust with your customer base before getting started.

We welcome Joe Mohay, CRO & Co-Founder of Integrated Digital Strategies (IDS), on the podcast this week, and he is here to talk Franchise Selling. Joe shares what he has learned in his career regarding building trust with customers, "Businesses that go above and beyond are the ones who will succeed." He breaks it down into three sections, treat customers like family, prove to them you are trustworthy from advocacy from other customers, and be a raving fan for your customers.

Since the company was founded in 2012, Joe and the rest of the IDS team have worked closely with franchise organizations as a trusted franchise digital marketing partner. Their integrated approach to digital marketing focuses on franchise brands, local franchisees, and franchise development teams. This led to a stellar reputation in the franchise community and a Top-Tier Ranking by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2018 and 2019. Using his 20 years of digital marketing experience, Joe manages the company's revenue growth, sales and marketing strategies, nurturing of professional relationships, and delivering a solid ROI for their 55+ franchise brands.

Developing a Buyer Persona, learning the dos and don'ts, and why it's essential to understand the mindset of small business owners.

Stu Richards, CEO of Bredin, is our guest this week on the Conquer Local Podcast. Stu is a frequent speaker on marketing to small and medium businesses in North America. Bredin works with some of the largest brands and companies that are trying to appeal to SMBs. Stu explains by doing topic research around the buyer persona, and it allows us to understand better where to invest the marketing dollars and how to spend it accurately. This would include hiring, purchase intent, and brand intention. Stu also sheds light on buyer actions, it is vital to have an eye-catching website, but it is critical to have the right things on it.

Developing a brand identity for your agency is one of the best ways to take your brand to the next level.

Master Sales Series this week brings you the importance of having a robust brand identity. Strong brands are all around us. In our modern, digitized world, people are seeing an alarming number of brands everywhere they turn. Remember that study done in 2007 about people being exposed to 5,000 advertisements a day? Well that number has increased with the surge in mobile smart devices, increased social media usage from all demographics, brand placements, and everything you might see in day-to-day life. Companies and people leverage their brands to connect with customers and clients. With a strong brand, it is easier for your audience to get to know you.

You have to admire startup founders. Creating. building, developing, and growing a SaaS Startup is not an easy feat. 

SaaS Startup founders put everything on the line to drive forward with their dream of solving a problem, building a unicorn, or even employing 500 people. Jordan McFarlen, Business Incubator Manager at Cultiavtor powered by Conexus, in our guest this week. He is currently working with key stakeholders, community members, and most importantly entrepreneurs to build out the strategy and design for a community hub, which inspires innovation and entrepreneurship. Jordan is the first to admit - because he sees it first hand - there are going to be struggles with developing SaaS solution. It starts with the educational piece and solving a problem. If there is no problem to be solved, the need to pivot is essential.