Executive Conversations

Today, I chat with Mark Simpson. He’s the founder of Boostly, which offers website design and content creation coaching for people in the short-term rental industry. He’s spoken at various events and conferences, such as the Short Stay Show, and has won the “Best Use of Social Media” award at the Shorties Awards. He also hosts The Boostly Podcast, which is now in its 9th season.

Over the 9 seasons of the Boostly Podcast, Mark has had to consistently come up with topic ideas that resonate with his listeners. Content needs to be relevant, engaging and include notable guests who can provide valuable insight into all aspects of the industry. Mark gives us tips for preparing for podcasts, including how he comes up with the content he’s going to discuss. We also dive deep into the process he uses to get notable guests onto his podcast and how it’s contributed to a 200% growth in traffic.

In this episode we talk about:

• The steps to prepare for your podcast
• How to get big-name guests to come on your podcast
• How to repurpose your podcast into other content

Timestamps 

0:01 - Intro to Mark Simpson

3:38 - About the Boostly Podcast

7:40 - The power of podcasts

11:19 - How to prepare for a podcast/come up with questions

17:30 - Building relationships in any industry

18:50 - How do you approach big name people to be on your podcast

24:00 - Engaging on social media to build connections

29:00 - Incentivizing your guests audience to connect with you

32:20 - Repurposing your podcast

37:30 - How to ensure your team repurposes the right part of your blog

43:00 - Getting more guests through your guests

44:45 - Letting go of control - the importance of outsourcing 

Connect with Mark Simpson on LinkedIn and make sure to check out Boostly on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also listen to the Boostly Podcast on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson on Audible

How to Find Great Virtual Team Members - Blog post by Tega Diegbe

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In this episode, I talk with Christophe Salmon, Co-founder of Revyoos - the only review aggregator in the vacation rental industry and winner of the VR Tech award. 

He started in the short-term rental industry as a property owner in 2006 and started his own property management company in 2016, managing 40 units in Costa Blanca. 

As the owner of a property management company Christophe was looking for ways to get the most out of his property reviews, and struggled to find a platform or solution that would give him control over his reviews. Thus, Revyoos was born. 

Like with any startup, there are always challenges getting it off ground. The biggest challenges that Christophe faced with Revyoos were:

• Finding the right team to work with/build the product
• Finding the time to market the product

After the product is rolling, you can shift focus into creating partnerships with companies, collecting feedback from users, and using that to develop new and improved features. 

In this episode we talk about:

• The challenges of getting a new platform off the ground
• Developing a product roadmap using user feedback
• The biggest lessons learned launching a startup

Timestamps:

0:01 - An introduction to Christophe Salmon

2:26 - How Revyoos was born

5:00 - Creating a software that addresses everyone's needs

7:39 - Challenges with getting a new platform off the ground

11:00 - Strategies and future plans to grow Revyoos

12:27- New features coming soon on Revyoos

14:02 - Developing your product road map

15:05 - Biggest lessons as a startup founder

18:30 - Don’t wait until your product is “ready”

Connect with Christophe Salmon on LinkedIn, and be sure to check out Revyoos.com!

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In today’s episode, I chat with Carla Chicharro, the marketing manager and head of the content team at Lodgify. She built their content strategy from the ground up and now they have content that outranks Airbnb! So, how did they create an effective strategy that not only drives traffic but conversions as well?

When you’re building a content strategy from scratch Carla suggests focusing on the quantity first. Create as much quality content as you can, using extensive keyword research and research through forums, articles and competitor blogs. Even to this day Lodgify still gets 60% of its monthly traffic from their old content. 

Lodgify splits their content between the three stages of the sales funnel: TOFU, MOFU and BOFU, though they now focus on quality over quantity. Carla talks us through all the steps of creating and implementing a content strategy that works! 

In this episode we talk about:

• Building a content strategy from scratch  
• Optimizing old content
• Adapting your content strategy as you grow
• The importance of lead nurturing 

Timestamps :

0:45 - Introduction to Carla

2:30 - The structure of the Lodgify content team 

4:06 - Planning out, and implementing content strategy 

6:15 - Quantity, then quality 

7:35 - Re-optimizing old content

10:45 - Defining leads 

11:33 - Content strategy experiments gone wrong

14:50 - Content strategies that work! 

18:35 - Lead nurturing tips 

21:20 - Importance of lead nurturing

22:44 - Using content software and applications 

Connect with Carla Chicharro on LinkedIn or email directly at [email protected]. 

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In this episode, I am speaking to Simon Lehmann, the CEO and Co-Founder of AJL Atelier, a consulting firm for the short-term rental industry. They consult tech companies and operators in hospitality and vacation rentals, help them build their strategy and recently partnered with Hotel.School to launch a series of hospitality courses. They are the go-to partner in the vacation rental industry.

For tech companies in the short-term rental industry having the correct strategy is paramount. This is especially true in the current global climate, as COVID continues to make its mark on the tourism industry. It’s essential for companies to understand how the market is structured and have a clear image of what they want to achieve. Simon challenges tech providers to think about what their future role is in the industry and how they will expand and grow. Survival is going to be difficult, and leaders need to step out of their daily wheel to look at their companies from an outside standpoint. How does the industry see your business, how do investors see your business, and what are they looking for? 

We talk about:

• Whether tech companies should specialize in one service, or do a bit of everything to target more customers
• What strategies are working well?
• How to leverage user forums to get insight into your clients' needs

Timestamps:

0:02 – Intro to Simon Lehmann

1:26 – Adapting strategy during COVID

5:30 – How AJL works with tech start-ups

6:50 – What tech startups need to think about when building their strategies

9:02 – Finding balance between specialization and doing a bit of everything

12:00 – Understanding your core and what you should outsource

14:57 – What are the current tech needs in the short-term rental industry?

17:54 – Why do PMSs keep changing their strategy?

20:00 – What strategies are working well?

23:15 – Leveraging user forums to find out customer needs

26:16 – How to incentivize customers to actually talk to you 

Connect with Simon on LinkedIn, via email, or check out his website ajlatelier.com 

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In this episode I interview Jasper Ribbers, the CEO of Get Paid for Your Pad, co-founder of Short-Term Rental Legends and co-founder of Short-Term Rental Profit Academy.

Success or struggle in the short-term rental industry right now is highly based on where your listings are in. Urban listings are struggling while traditional vacation destinations—especially secluded ones, are flourishing. Since everyone wants to leave the city, operators that have remote properties are seeing a huge influx of bookings and having a record year. 

As operators grow from a few units up to 50+ units, operators who work with Jasper and his partner Eric grow small business owners to the CEO of a large company. In order to scale, they have to take themselves out of the equation and leverage software that is available to them. They have to become more efficient, or there are other players who will take their market share. That’s where SaaS companies have an opportunity to help operators:

• Save time
• Optimize task management
• Improve their customer service

In this episode we talk about:

• what short-term rental operators are looking for in terms of tech,
• and what new tech companies can do to break into the inner circle. 

Timestamps:

0:01 – An intro to Jasper Ribbers

1:12 – The current situation for short-term rental operators

4:00 – Connecting the community of short-term rental operators

5:19 – Discussing new tech in the industry

7:37 – The biggest software needs of operators

10:35 – What the tech stack of larger operators looks like

12:51 – How can new tech get into the inner circle

15:00 – What kind of content is resonating with high-level operators?

17:25 – Current trends in the STR industry 

Find all of Jasper's short-term rental resources at Get Paid For Your Pad, STR Mastermind and the Short-Term Renal Profit Academy. Or connect with Jasper Ribbers directly on Instagram.

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Today I talk with Florian Montag, the CEO of HotelHero, a platform that helps hotels to buy new tech. He’s also one of the creators of the Smack podcast, where they interview other leaders in the hospitality industry. HotelHero came to life because of a need for hotels to find tech that works for them.

It’s still a very current problem. There’s been a very recent shift from on-premise tech to tech that is cloud-based. Where vendors needed to be local in-order to serve their customers' needs, they no longer need to be. They can now use 30+ apps, from guest experience to marketing, but they need help locating the most effective options.

Hoteliers will seek changes to their tech stack in order to stay competitive in the industry or address any operational issues they are facing. These could be staff-related, guest-related, or may help them to reduce their costs. If tech offers an opportunity for increased revenue, then hotels are looking to jump on board. Florian breaks down how tech companies can stand out and get in front of hoteliers who are seeking new tech.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why hotels struggle to find new tech
• What makes hotels want to change their tech stack
• How tech companies can stand out from hotels

Timestamps:

0:30 – An intro to Florian, HotelHero and Smack

4:35 – Choosing authorities to interview

6:00 – How COVID has impacted the podcast/content

11:00 – Why do hotels struggle to find new tech?

13:53 – What drives hotels to want to change their tech stack?

16:00 – What should tech companies do to stand out to hotels?

19:50 – The HotelHero index

24:00 – Are hotels buying more tech because of COVID?

27:05 – Effective tech strategies

30:30 – New tech tools that are taking off during COVID

Connect with Florian Montag on LinkedIn, or via the chat on HotelHero.tech. Also, tune into his podcast, Smack, for all things hospitality tech.

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Today I chat with marketing expert Laurie Kelly about creating content that your audience wants to consume and identifying where you may have gaps in your current marketing efforts. 

Today I chat with Laurie Kelly, a marketing expert with 17-years of experience in the marketing world. Laurie is the chair of the RevGenius marketing channel on Slack. We dive into demand generation, the new trends in marketing and why we shouldn’t get caught up in them. 

At its core, marketing has always remained the same. You need to identify what types of content your clients want to consume and feed it to them.  Additionally, Laurie says “you don’t want to necessarily feed somebody who is not going to be eating. We want to make sure we are feeding those who are actually hungry and coming to the club.” 

Everyone in an organization has a role to play in marketing, regardless if it’s in your job title or not. That shift in mindset is essential if you want to create a cohesive approach to marketing and identify where the gaps are. 

In this episode we discuss

• Identifying what content clients want to consume
• Demand generation vs. lead generation 
• How to see your marketing from your clients' point of view
• How to identify gaps in your marketing efforts 

Timestamps 

1:47 How do you market to marketers?

5:15 What do your clients want to eat? What content do they want to consume?

5:40 How to re-engage people who have dropped off 

8:55 The biggest trends in marketing right now 

10:45 Demand generation vs. lead generation

12:45 How to get into the mind of your client

13:50 How an accountant is also a marketer

18:50 Bad news travels faster than good news 

20:30 Word of mouth marketing – using your customers as marketers

22:14 Shift in mindset – everyone in a company contributes to marketing 

25:30 Identifying the gaps in your marketing efforts 

28:40 What to do when your description of your product doesn’t match your clients

Join the RevGenius slack community by applying here. 

You can connect with Laurie via her LinkedIn.

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In this episode, I talk with Belinda Aramide, a LinkedIn sales coach teaching service-based entrepreneurs and sales executives how to generate more sales by using their LinkedIn Networks. Before you can even start reaching out to potential buyers it’s important that you optimize your LinkedIn profile so that when people land on it, they get a good sense of what it is that you do and how you help people. Then, you can start creating content so that people can see the depth of your understanding and knowledge in that area because it helps build trust. 

Belinda lets us in on her system for crafting the perfect DM on LinkedIn. You’re not making a cold sales pitch. You need to build a connection first and do it in a genuine way, and Belinda tells us how to do that. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• How you should be spending your time on LinkedIn
• Getting the foundation of your LinkedIn right
• Steps you can take to generate more leads (in a genuine way)

Timestamps

1:26 – An introduction to Belinda Aramide

4:45 – When should you start using your LinkedIn for sales?

6:05 – Getting the foundation of your LinkedIn right

7:12 – Initiating the sales conversation

9:05 – How you should be spending your time on LinkedIn

13:42- Get to know the people you’re pitching to

18:30 – Have multiple plays for initiating a conversation 

20:50 – Identify their objections

22:00 – LinkedIn is no longer just a database

23:55 – Should the CEO and their teams be behaving the same on LinkedIn?

25:30 – Getting employees to buy-in to LinkedIn sales tactics

28:45 – LinkedIn current trends

31:10 – The secret is showing up 

33:30 – Where to start with your LinkedIn sales strategy 

You can connect with Belinda Aramide on LinkedIn, or check out her website BelindaAramide.com for more resources on generating sales with LinkedIn. 

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Today I chat with Matt Wolach, a sales coach for SaaS companies and SaaS leaders. He’s been in the SaaS industry for 15 years and helps companies to remove their roadblocks when it comes to closing deals and making sales. He has helped his clients double their close rates with his deal processes and we talk about how they make that happen. 

The perfect deal process can be broken down into 4 main parts: 

• Discover
• Educate
• Associate
• Lead

The entire process needs to be evaluated, from when a lead comes in all the way to close. Matt touches on some of the biggest struggles that he notices companies facing when it comes to their deal processes, and how to overcome those to create a process that actually works.

In this episode we talk about:

• What the perfect deal process looks like
• How to apply the D.E.A.L. principals
• Biggest challenges in sales  

Timestamps

0:47 – An introduction to Matt Wolach

2:25 – What is the perfect deal process

5:00 – How to educate your potential buyers

8:36 – Using video in the deal process

10:22 – Applying the D.E.A.L. principals

12:24 – When does a lead enter your sales process?

14:00 – When does marketing hand off leads to sales?

16:30 – Defining leads

17:40 – Biggest challenges in sales

20:20 – Lead the call

23:00 – How to open a call

You can connect with Matt Wolach on LinkedIn, or check out his website Xsellus.com

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On today’s episode we chat to Ajay Kumar, the CEO of TheHouseMonk, a company focused on solving problems in the real estate industry using technology. They help real estate businesses sell and manage their real estate profile, and serve over 100 clients in 12 different countries. He ran a property management company for many years prior to shifting into the software space so he understands the industry from both sides. He offers some interesting insights on how technology actually impacts the real estate industry from an insider perspective. 

As real estate is a touch & feel industry, it relies on offline interactions and relationship building. That said, there are many forms of technology that can help real estate businesses to operate more effectively. Ajay gives us his predictions on how technology will develop in going forward, and which types of software will be most useful. 

In this episode we talk about:

• The impact of technology on the real estate industry 
• How the industry has changed since the pandemic
• What the future of tech looks like in real estate

Timestamps

1:25 – An intro into Ajay Kumar

3:43 – How property management and real estate compares to other top industries

8:48 – The impact of tech on the real estate industry

10:10 – The importance of having an extremely valuable product

11:15 – Networking and word-of-mouth marketing in the industry

13:00 – Don’t compromise on your team (hire experts)

14:10 – Using LinkedIn to capture attention

16: 35 – How TheHouseMonk gets customers

17:50 – How things have changed since the pandemic?

19:44 – The perks and struggles of having a remote team

21:50 – Solving the culture problems of working remotely

23:15 – Predictions for technology in real estate

Connect with Ajay Kumar on LinkedIn, TheHouseMonk and his blog RealEstatexTechnology. 

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