The Rebekah Panepinto Project

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project features a conversation with Elliott Cordo, Head Of Data at Capsule. In his current role, Elliott also shares how they leverage data to digitize the pharmacy service. 

The pharmacy model has barely changed since its invention and Elliott and his team have been trying to solve it with digital means to give stakeholders a smooth and integrated experience. 

The benefits are intriguing, from helping with access which in turn increases adherence to improving customer journeys with digital means. He also shares how they empower their users, from doctors to insurance to pharmacists to patients, the final end-user. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Elliott's journey in data: From consultant to data and insights 
• Digitizing the disjointed pharmacy service
• Retail is offered but going digital is the strategy 
• Giving pharmacists an opportunity for more job fulfillment 
• Leverage AWS for insights to build community 

QUOTES

Elliott: "It feels quite saturated like it doesn't seem like there's as much undiscovered country of digitization cases that haven't been solved. So pharmacy is one of those and I think what intrigued me, you know, if you think about how pharmacies operate, they haven't changed in model since they were invented. It's still very laborious, manual processes by pharmacists. Kind of a traditional customer service model."

Elliott: "It's not cohesive. It's like a doctor, I'm handing this off to some pharmacy. And then you're going to go there and you're going to deal with problems. And they might have to go back. You might have to go back and talk to your pharmacist. You might have to do something special with your insurance company in order to get the drugs paid for."

Elliott: "People will go to pharmacies far more often than they go to doctors, almost in order of magnitude, so it creates a touchpoint which allows us to provide data, provide insights that can't be found elsewhere."

Elliot: "I think it gives us an opportunity to have access to AWS in ways that we wouldn't as a customer typically, any ability to work and interact with product, have some influence, provide feedback, kind of get to touch things and kind of play with things before most folks. Though I think it's useful for AWS, it's definitely useful for me." 

Find out more about Elliott in the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliott-cordo/

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project features a conversation with James Sherer, Sales and Business Development Manager at Keller Schroeder. He shares how their analytics data serves customers across different industries with the goal of streamlining and increasing their own customers' satisfaction.

James also talks about using data in his sales process. He uses a CRM to track his professional relationships but still gives particular importance to the value of actually calling people. 

He goes deeper on the various use cases for data analytics, like cutting response times during power emergencies, to save on company resources while also providing a better experience to end-users. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Analytics data increases response times during emergencies
• Streamlining business processes across verticals
• Sales and relationships: Use a CRM to track your networking
• New use cases: Trash management and weather prediction
• SalesOlogy and being an employee-owner of Keller Schroeder

QUOTES

James: "It's a situation where it's a series of disconnected steps in the business process and, by using some data to highlight where there are discrepancies in that business process, you can make it more streamline. So almost making it more like a project management process."

James: "I look at the sales process as almost a project process of 5 or 6 steps really to audit what I do as a salesperson and a marketer and, you know, kind of use lead generation, use technology, always kind of looking at my sales pipeline, my sales performance, and managing myself before anybody else has to manage me."

James: "I like to use a couple of different vendor-partners in the CRM space to track not only my personal connectors and my personal network, but also our own internal Keller Schroeder prospects and clients."

Find out more about James in the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameswshererjr/

Learn more and follow Rebekah by checking out the following links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahpanepinto/
• Website: https://rebekahpanepinto.com/

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project features a conversation with Shane Mulrooney, Co-Founder, and Head of Growth at New Era ADR. The legal space is steeped in tradition and, if there's one thing COVID made clear, it's that innovation in this space is not just useful but also necessary moving forward.

Shane shares how they remove some of the pain of dull lawyering tasks. He also shares the innovations they usher like the "neutral bench," a diverse panel of mediators who may have a deeper understanding of cases. Lastly, Shane shares how he stays fit and how speaking your mind is central to collaboration.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Remote dispute resolution and making legal tech mainstream
• Giving back lawyers' lives to them
• Moving the needle for a diverse "neutral bench"
• Mental toughness and the value of speaking up

QUOTES

Shane: "We're trying to give them a tool where they can actually spend time doing the fun lawyering which is arguing the substance of the case, drafting arguments, and really litigating instead of poring over boxes of documents and doing mind-numbing discovery."

Shane: "The pool is going to be what the pool is, however, we can always make sure that when we are pulling those 10 who have the right experience, we can always make sure that that 10 is much more diverse and much more reflective of the population writ large."

Shane: "I think it's the best way to run a business and to make decisions is to just make sure that everybody can be honest and free to speak their mind."

Find out more about Shane in the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-william-mulrooney/

Learn more and follow Rebekah by checking out the following links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahpanepinto/
• Website: https://rebekahpanepinto.com/

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project welcomes back Andy Laudato, Chief Operating Officer at The Vitamin Shoppe and author of Fostering Innovation: How to Build an Amazing IT Team. As the pandemic eases up, people are starting to revert back to their pre-pandemic ways.

This is most apparent in their spending habits. By adapting to this fact and utilizing new technologies to meet their customers where they are at, The Vitamin Shoppe has emerged from the pandemic stronger than ever.

Andy also shares what empathetic leaders can do to adapt to ever-changing needs and be at the forefront of innovation. He talks about the power of daily habits in molding executives into the leaders they want to be.    

HIGHLIGHTS

• Post-COVID changes: Customer buying shifts and new technologies
• Fostering Innovation: Keep the lights on (KTLO) is the foundation
• Establish credibility to be trusted to risk for innovation
• Empathetic leaders adapt to the needs of their team

QUOTES

Andy: "Complacency is the enemy of reliability. Because if you get complacent, then you might not change but the world around you will."

Andy: "The most important thing for any IT department is just keeping the lights on, KTLO. And I don't mean figuratively lights but it could be that but it's your paychecks are printing and your products are shipping and your warehouses are running."

Andy: "The nice thing about technology is it always gets better, it always gets cheaper. What doesn't are people, right? And so, what you don't want to do is have people spending their time doing things a computer can do better."

Andy: "I would say to anyone who really wants to be executive, figure it out, how do you get up early? You got to go to bed early. So that's the key."

Andy: "If you're being a diode as a leader, all your team hears is when things go well. And they don't take the crap. So I say, as leaders we get paid to take the blame."

Find out more about Andy in the links below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlaudato/
• Website: https://www.vitaminshoppe.com/
• Amazon book link: https://www.amazon.com/Fostering-Innovation-Build-Amazing-Team/dp/1119853109

Learn more and follow Rebekah by checking out the following links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahpanepinto/
• Website: https://rebekahpanepinto.com/

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project features a conversation with Brad Seaman, CEO of MonsterConnect. Phone prospecting can go right if a certain human element is present. Brad shares why people talk about personalization now and how it is driven by the desire for a human connection.

He shares a couple of anecdotes that highlight this, from why people who hate drive-thrus keep using them to feeling pressure from a car salesman. Brad also talks about his podcast Decision Point, its recent refocus into sales, and how it has been an irreplaceable relational builder.  

HIGHLIGHTS

• Cold calling and personalization: Always do your homework
• The drive-thru: Behavior is shaped by a craving for human interaction
• Buying a Bronco story: Don't pressure people into buying
• Decision Point: Refocusing from mental toughness to sales

QUOTES

Brad: "I don't think phone prospecting has to be intrusive if you do your homework."

Brad: "I think we got to be really careful when we ask people how they feel about certain things, like the sales cycle, like do you want to deal with a salesperson? Okay, I'm going to tell you no but Culver's, Chick-fil-A... I guarantee 90% of those people would say they hate the drive-thru but they're doing it anyway."

"So the question I think you have to ask is are they doing it because they've created a pattern that they can't break or are they doing it because they're craving human interaction? And it could be a combination of both."

Brad: "People don't like to feel pressured. And I think particularly as we're talking about phone prospecting, I've been thinking about this a lot, actually I think I'm going to get on the phone and try this as a tactic, which is hey Rebekah, here's why I'm calling you, and I'm just trying to have a conversation with you." 

Brad: "If you're thinking about doing a podcast, it probably is very helpful to find somebody, whether it's a Salescast or somebody else to produce your show... I think it's worth paying for, the creation and not getting stuck."

See Rebekah's episode on Decision Point here.

Find out more about Brad and MonsterConnect in the links below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-seaman-3ab4a049/
• Website: https://monsterconnect.com/

Learn more and follow Rebekah by checking out the following links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahpanepinto/

Website:  https://rebekahpanepinto.com/

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project features a conversation with Fred Argir, Chief Digital Officer, who has worked for an accomplished list of retail companies leading their technology projects. Being in retail for decades, Fred was in the thick of it when the industry started shifting to digital. He shares the mindset shift that comes with it and how retail is adapting today.

In the current market, the pace of innovation is being set by the consumer. Retailers are now tasked with responding by meeting the consumer where they are. This can mean a variety of things as audience behaviors vary considerably across industries, cultures, and countries, but at the end of the day, it is about remaining relevant to the consumer.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Leadership beliefs and pioneering digital marketing in 1992
• Feedback loops to learn about different retail audiences
• Transforming the old retail experience into something new
• Music and creativity in business lead to innovation

QUOTES

Fred: "We're on this faster pace of innovation and it's really driven by the consumer. Right now, it used to be we would create a good idea and hope the consumer would follow. Now the consumer's pulling us. It's no more a push, it's a pull."

Fred: "The price of education is sometimes painful. We have to learn. We're always learning, whether it's personal learning, whether it's team learning, whether it's company learning, or learning more about our consumer."

Fred: "If you're not begging for forgiveness 3 times a quarter, you're not meeting my expectations. Wouldn't that be wonderful to hear? Oh, you mean I get to fail and it's going to be okay? Please. Because it leads us to somewhere where we can be more relevant to our consumer."

Fred: "I live my life with integrity. I do my business with integrity. And, as long as you can anchor that, you're never wrong. As long as you're comfortable with yourself and what you do and successes that your team does, be proud of it."

Find out more about Fred in the links below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-argir-308912/
• Website: https://fredargir.com/

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project features a conversation with Nir Chervoni, Head of Data Security at Booking.com. The demands for a seamless user experience have teetered on the edge of data security, and one of Nir's main responsibilities is keeping all the parties involved safe in the digital space.

Nir shares how data security is shifting as more people work from home permanently. He also discusses the massive amounts of data that must be secured to coordinate third parties in the travel industry, a huge part of delivering excellent user experience and increasing brand reputation.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Balancing data security and user experiences
• Third-party security, brand reputation, and adapting cybersecurity to WFH
• Security startups: Success is a mix of leadership and timing
• Music as a passion and wine as a hobby

QUOTES

Nir: "Reputation is something subjective because it's how people perceive that brand, that entity, or that incident that happened to that entity regardless of the facts sometimes."

Nir: "I think there is some sort of, not a decrease, but better understanding of specific entrepreneurs about hey, if we have a great idea and maybe we can combine it with an existing idea, or maybe we can just wait a bit of a time and only then go with a go-to-market strategy."

Find out more about Nir in the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chervoni/

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project features a conversation with Pontus Noren, CEO, and Founder of savvi. Cloud-based services have become more sophisticated and Pontus found the space where his expertise benefits the most: transactions.

He recalls the chaotic pre-cloud days and how his focus today is on giving buyers and sellers a platform where they can collaborate. Pontus also shares his way of learning by observing and his guiding principle of always asking questions to help him become his own mentor.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Pioneering cloud-based services during its infancy
• Solving B2B transactions with savvi
• 10 Minutes to Talk Transactions: Helping buyers and sellers
• Be your own mentor: Learn by reading and getting your hands dirty

QUOTES

Pontus: "This is not an IT problem. Moving your emails and calendar entries and whatever from Exchange to Google, we'll take care of that. What we need to do here is work with the users and get the users up and running."

Pontus: "savvi is a platform where you exchange information, you view information, you track stuff, it's a secure environment where the buying team and the supplying team can interact and share. Now, the current version is for the supplying team, the sellers, to upload content then share it and convince the buyer."

Pontus: "You are your own best mentor because by not attaching yourself to one person, which I'm sure those people that have mentors don't do necessarily, but you put too much weight on that one relationship, I find. So in my case, for me, I find myself being my own mentor there. The most efficient way of developing myself basically."

Pontus: "You hear people say, oh, that's industry standard. We've always done it this way. Why are you questioning us? Just because you always did it that way doesn't mean it's right. It might not even have been right at the time. It just became the way you do things."

Find out more about Pontus in the links below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pontusnoren/
• Podcast: https://www.savvi.co/category/podcast

Learn more and follow Rebekah by checking out the following links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahpanepinto/
• Website: https://rebekahpanepinto.com/

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project features a conversation with Tod Fetherling, founder of multiple companies and current Managing Director at Huron. Tod shares how he got the entrepreneurial bug and the many innovations he is proud to have worked on since 1995.

But more than the tech side of things, it is the real impact of the human side of care that really drives Tod. He talks about having a curiosity for care and how he retains top talent with innovation culture and an internship that provides a sense of ownership. Tod also talks about the other projects he works on which function as his connection back to the community.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Catching the entrepreneurial bug: Stratasan and Perception Health
• Being intentional in improving patient experience
• Partnering with Huron and sharing a curiosity for care
• Retain talent with innovation culture and internships
• Time-shifting for focus and being involved in the community

QUOTES

Tod: "At that time, we didn't have a front door for entrepreneurs in Nashville. So the Chamber was finishing up a study about entrepreneurship as part of their partnership 2020 goals, and so they asked me to hey, take this study and go help us implement. And so out that came the Entrepreneur Center."

Tod: "The thing that I get most excited about is building sustainable businesses, the ones that stick around for years to come because that's how you know you're contributing, whether it's to a city like there's a tech council or health education like health teacher, those things that stick around really make a big impact."

Tod: "At the end of the day, it's about the employees and the customers and that human relationship that comes through with that. As long as people know we're trying to solve these problems together, things work out pretty well."

Tod: "I look for people who get shit done and have a lot of curiosity. That magic between those two things, that you're getting accomplishments, but at the same time always trying to look around the curve."

Find out more about Matt in the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fetherling/

Learn more and follow Rebekah by checking out the following links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahpanepinto/
• Website: https://rebekahpanepinto.com/

This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project features a conversation with New Orchard CEO Rusty Goodsell and Director of Innovation Samantha Burgess. They share how they partnered up to start New Orchard with a solid foundational base and how they navigate conflict for both personal and professional growth.

They also discuss how they help their clients by providing tailored business advice, something previously beyond the capabilities of SMEs. Samantha shares how intangible KPIs also point to the health of an organization and how their tools help get "strategy fatigue" unstuck from leaders. 

Rusty talks about intentionality in building New Orchard, his core principle of working with people you love and the money will come, and how to work together and forgive one another. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• How to navigate friction and resolve conflict
• Providing SMEs affordable and uniquely tailored business advice
• Serving business leaders, consultants, and high growth, high acquisition
• Clarify "strategy fatigue" to get leaders unstuck in making decisions
• Core principles: Work together, fight fair, and forgive one another

QUOTES

Samantha: "I think the pandemic really allowed us to get our foundation in place in a way that let us do that patiently where other nonprofits or sorry, other startups, are trying to kind of throw things together. (Yeah, let's make it clear, we are not a nonprofit) (Revenue!) Other startups are kind of trying to throw their foundation together so they can get out into the market quickly with this competitive idea that they have." 

Rusty: "You hear iron sharpens iron. Well, that doesn't come without friction. The whole science behind that, things have to be heated up and they have to hit against one another and there's conflict and there's friction there. And so, being able to navigate through that I think is one of the most foundational pieces of business is how to deal with conflict."

Samantha: "The reason why strategy fatigue is such a major component of a business leader's life is that most of the decisions that we are making do not necessarily have clear rights and wrongs. There's not black and white in business as much as we would like it to be."

Rusty: "The best way to learn is to teach. So find out the different things and then go and repeat it to other folks and then it becomes ingrained. So New Orchard is headed in that direction and we're excited about it."

Rusty: "Humans interacting and working together will have conflict. And so learning how to fight, fight fair, forgive one another, and reconcile is probably the most important thing to me in this business."

Find out more about Rusty and Samantha in the links below:

• LinkedIn (Rusty): https://www.linkedin.com/in/rustygoodsell/
• LinkedIn (Samantha): https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-burgess-b20805a3/
• LinkedIn (New Orchard): https://www.linkedin.com/company/new-orchard/

Learn more and follow Rebekah by checking out the following links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahpanepinto/
• Website: https://rebekahpanepinto.com/