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Marketing is simple and digital marketing is simpler.  All you have to do in order to be successful is run some A/B tests and you'll know exactly what needs to be done to scale.  Not so fast.

Conversion rate optimization is a hot new trend for companies focused on growing their web revenue, making customers stickier, and scaling quickly.  What may surprise you is CRO is more entailed than changing a button color, adding better sales copy, or changing photos - great conversion rate optimization is built on a solid foundation and culture.

We sit down with Guido Jansen to get into what really matters for great CRO.  Guido shares the four pillars of conversion rate optimization, where the journey to success really starts, and how to build a team passionate about finding the best outcomes.

About Guido Jansen
Guido is from Amsterdam, The Netherlands and is a cognitive psychologist and usability specialist focused on E-commerce. As a freelance consultant he helps companies to build international customer experience optimization teams and to build a culture around experimentation and validation in the whole company.

Since 2008 Guido’s work included many Magento projects, he is a Magento Master for 2019 and is part of the Board of Directors for the international Magento Association. Since 2019 he also hosts the popular weekly CRO.CAFE podcast in which he extracts the most valuable tips from optimization experts. Guido is often invited to speak at international events about persuasion, e-commerce, conversion optimization and experimentation cultures so we’re happy to have him at our event!

About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable growth.

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Taking a business from 1M to 10M is filled with common obstacles.  All of these obstacles can be avoided, but only if you have the formula.  Regardless of market dynamics if you're looking to break through and make this year your best, you'll never find more sound advice than what is being shared by Josh Long.

Josh is the author of Bottleneck Breakthrough - The 6 Levers of Business Growth, and in this episode, he's sharing his strategy for helping businesses experience wild success.  In this episode Kyle and Josh discuss:

• The growth levers
• How to apply the levers
• Where to turn when you're in a rut
• What are the signs you're missing an opportunity?
• Why business owners don't need to feel tethered to their business

About Josh Long
Josh Long is a consultant who focuses on helping B2B companies in the $1 million to $10 million range breakthrough their current revenue plateaus and unlock rapid growth. Through his experience as an entrepreneur, marketing director for a company owned by Chet Holmes and Tony Robbins, and consultant, he has developed the Bottleneck Breakthrough Method. It has proven to be the most reliable method for unlocking rapid growth for his clients while reducing the risk of wasted capital in the process.

About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable growth.

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The world is filled with stories that transform industries.  The story of how 20 refugees transformed the nail industry will keep help you see what curiosity can do for your career, your team, and for an industry.

TedX speaker Van DuMone shares her story and tips on how you can use curiosity and happiness to move into your life's work. 

About Van DuMone
Van is the founder of worksmart. A progressive team development and leadership training consultancy that utilizes creativity, play, and experiential learning to evolve mindset, skill sets, and behaviors in the workplace. Her work is built on the foundation that we are all creative, good ideas can come from any level of an organization, and by cultivating idea sharing in the workplace, everyone has a chance to have their voice heard. And when that happens - company culture, performance, and innovation can skyrocket! She recently shared her work in a TEDx Talk titled, ‘What if? The Life Changing Power of Curiosity’.

Van studied Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and earned her MBA from Pepperdine University. With over 15 years of corporate and start-up experience, Van actively works to rewrite the way we apply creativity in the workplace, inviting clients to think with their hands and use right brain creative tools to disrupt traditional training methods. Her clients include gamechangers such as Google, LinkedIn, and Pandora.

About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable growth.

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Send us Fan Mail

What do hot pockets and a hidden microphone have to do with creating a small business and survival during COVID?  When you know your why, the  motivation and dedication is easy.  

Techy Tony Jackson sits down with Kyle and they talk about how computer problems, social media, and home-based businesses can flourish with the right conversations.  You'll love listening as Tony shares how his life adventure has created an income stream for his computer repair business and his podcast.

Techy Tony shares his insight on :

• Finding your why
• How to focus your marketing
• What relationships really mean online
• When to launch a podcast and how to get the most out of it

About "Techy" Tony Jackson


About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable growth.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Being given a leadership position does not make you a leader, it makes you a manager.  In most organizations, the term leader is represented by "the boss."  What does it take to effectively lead when you aren't the boss?

Chris Lin, a human capital professional with a passion for activating leadership from every corner of a company, sits down with Kyle and they discuss what leadership really is and how everyone inside an organization has a voice.  

Chris shares his leadership principles on:

• How to be an effective leader
• When to lead up
• Where organizations can find leadership
• What to do when you need to lead in the face of bad management
• Why so many are missing out on the power of their leadership voice.

About Chris Lin
People are the most important resource within organizations, yet they aren't treated that way. Chris Lin is a People First Leader, focused on advocating for a positive and transformative employee experience. Chris is the host of the Leading People First podcast where he interviews international leaders to discuss how they prioritize people over profits, process, and clients.

Chris is also a husband, father of two, a marathon runner, and Disney fanatic, unleashing his inner child upon the world.

About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable growth.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Outreach culture is in a fever pitch and everyone on LinkedIn knows there is value in using it as a sales tool, but what happens when outreach is lazy?  Getting the most out of connections on LinkedIn isn't a spray and pray numbers game.  It's about following a process.

Michal Bohanes has a unique three-step process to help sales professionals connect and sell effectively on LinkedIn.  Some might call this a relationship growth hack, but Michal take the mystery out of outreach and puts personal back into personalization.

In this episode find out how to:

• Use LinkedIn to build a steady stream of sales
• Connect with a 60%+
• Personalize outreach at scale
• Build relationships that compound your community

About Michal Bohanes
Michal Bohanes helps solopreneurs and small and mid-sized B2B build an organic client acquisition system on LinkedIn. Michal works with clients on 4 continents, time zones be damned.  

In previous years, Michal has worked at Google and Booz Allen (now PwC) before ditching business class flights and free lunches for bicycle trips and Ramen lunches all the while building his business from his bedroom. 

 Since then, he has graduated into a beautiful home office, and the food has gotten better as well. 

Michal lives with his wife, baby son and hyperactive German Shepherd in a small town near Vienna, Austria. 

About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable growth.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

2020 was the year email was supposed to die, then COVID hit and every company reached back to 2005 and leaned into spray and pray.  Why do so many companies get email marketing wrong?  Find out in this episode with special guest Lauren Meyer.

Sends are up, opens are up, but there is little change in the click rates - what does this mean and why are your customers expecting something different than what you are delivering?  

In this episode of The Summit Podcast Lauren and Kyle discuss:

• There is a lot of life left in email
• How companies are failing their customers with their MarComm
• When an email isn't just an email
• Where you can get the biggest ROI for your buck
• What the future of email marketing really looks like

About Lauren Meyer
Dutifully serving the email industry, with strong focus on Email Strategy, Deliverability and Compliance. Data nerd at heart. Pizza lover (and maker) by trade. NYC transplant now living on the west coast. I mainly use analogies to explain complex topics surrounding email deliverability. Skilled in People Management, Business Development, Email Marketing, Public Speaking, Digital Strategy, Customer Support as well as Customer Success Management and SaaS Operations. Information technology professional with a BA focused in Communications & Advertising from Robert Morris University.

About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable growth.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Sales isn't easy.  If it was it wouldn't pay well, and everyone would do it.  When companies hire sales people, too often they focus on putting them into a process and making sure it's followed to the letter.  But what happens when a potential client doesn't respond well to the process?  Should you just move on?

If you ask Eddie Green, the number one problem with sales people today is they are focused on following a process and not on building a long term relationship with the human in the sales process.  Thus, sales is a person, not a process.

In this episode Eddie and Kyle discuss:

• How to setup your sales team for sucess
• What prospects want and how to give it to them
• Where sales people get it wrong in their process
• When it's ok not to sell
• Who is the best sales person for your organization
• What the best sales people know and others don't

About Eddie Green
Disaster restoration Ultra High Performer. Specializing in commercial sales and large loss. A proven track record for success in sales, with over 25 years in the game in everything from multi-billion corporations to small mom and pop startups, several product lines and fields, Eddie has eclipsed the term “sales professional” and is considered to be an elite ultra-high performer. He’s never ranked any less than #2 in any organization he’s worked for. It’s his passion and “student of the game” approach that sets him apart from most sales people.

A true servants heart mentality for his prospective clients, he bends over backwards to ensure their needs are not only met, but exceeded. Disaster Restoration is his true passion, his out of the box approaches to win relationships has been recognized on a national level, having mentored over 90 franchises, a keynote speaker at Convention, and a “go to” for Commercial account sales. A true leader in his field, Eddie is one of the most respected sales professionals in his field.

About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable grow.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Did your career path place you in marketing by accident?  Many marketers are converted from other career paths, and for those who find themselves in a situation where they aren't formally trained, there is a lot to learn.

In this chat with author Tom Spitale we sit down and discuss the ever-changing dynamics of marketing.  Tom shares his insights on:

• What makes an accidental marketer
• Where to turn if you're stuck
• How to use other marketers and campaigns to help guide your growth
• When to deploy different tactics
• Why the market is changing so quickly

About Tom Spitale
Tom Spitale is the co-author, along with Mary Abbazia, of The Accidental Marketer published by Wiley. He has spent the last 20 years helping b2b companies, whose product managers and marketers tend to have technical or non-marketing backgrounds ("Accidental Marketers"), quickly build the marketing plan skills that drive competitive advantage and differentiation.

Tom creates tools and frameworks that his clients use in workshop settings, helping them uncover the keys to differentiation of their products and services in as little as 2 days. His goal is to help elevate the role of marketers in the modern b2b organization from "sales support" to the “orchestrators of company strategic plans and competitive advantage.”

Prior to his consulting career, Tom held a variety of b2b and b2c marketing planning, strategic planning, pricing and actuarial positions for Wal-Mart, General Electric and Great American Insurance Company. He is a husband, father, entrepreneur, investor, musician, golfer, sports fan and cook. His hobbies expose him to successful practitioners in many different areas, which he finds extremely helpful in his work as a marketing planning and strategic planning advisor, consultant and coach.

About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable growth.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

No one has 2.3 kids, but most companies speak in generalities when building personas.  Anyone who's ever built a persona or an ideal client profile knows targeting is key.  Can you have too many personas?  How does market research really work?

In this episode Matt and Kyle sit down and discuss:

• How marketers are complicating personas
• Yes there's a ROI on market research
• How to write questions to get real answers
• What you need to know to make personas with revenue impact

About Matt Seltzer
Matt Seltzer is the owner of S2 Research, a Las Vegas-based market research consulting firm that works with small to medium-sized advertising, marketing, digital and public relations agencies that don’t have dedicated in-house market research or strategy team. Matt has overseen market research, marketing, and public relations projects at ad agencies and individual brands across a variety of industries, including travel and tourism, gaming, hospitality, consumer goods and services, for-profit education and commercial real estate. He’s also taught a combination of marketing, communications and market research courses at the Associate’s and Bachelor’s levels. He holds degrees and certifications in marketing, organizational psychology, data analysis and data visualization.

In 2019, Matt started S2 Research, "the market research partner for marketers," a market research consultancy devoted entirely toward helping marketing teams do better marketing through market research.


About Kyle Hamer
A sales and marketing veteran with a deep understanding of strategy, digital marketing execution, and using technology to enhance brand impact. A hands-on leader with a passion for solving business challenges with process, operations, and technology. When Kyle's not tinkering on businesses, you'll find him spending time with those he loves, learning about incredible people, and making connections.

About Hamer Marketing Group
Market growth for a new product or service is often limited by market distractions, unreliable data, or systems not built to scale.  Hamer Marketing Group helps companies build data-driven strategies focused on client acquisition and sales development supported by the technology and operations necessary to create profitable growth.

Support the show