Building real relationships with customers

What up guys, welcome to day 2 of our vlogging, I guess you could say. I'm really just giving you guys video updates because what we want to do is we want to engage with you guys every single day, put out a lot of content, and get your feedback. If you have any questions, we're being human, we're human, okay? So if you want to know anything, you can comment, you can share, you can text us, email us, call us, whatever, we're available, very available to to help you guys out. So what I wanna talk about today is a couple things that we're doing personally to engage with our customers, 'cause we believe that establishing relationships is going to be the key to winning in business, and I'm interested in hearing what you guys are doing to establish true relationships with your customers. See, I think there's a big difference between people who just talk to their customers on the phone, they only talk about business, they only talk about their product, and then they leave it at that, because then that is the extent of your relationship, okay? I have just a couple notes right here. So a couple things that we're doing to really engage with our customers. So one of the things that we're doing is we're going where they are. We're getting out of our comfort zone. We're not staying in our office and just talking to them from here. We're going where they are. We're getting on the ground floor and we're doing— sorry, I thought someone was behind me— and we're doing things that they actually do. So for instance, a lot of these guys and a lot of our customers are small businesses, okay, and they talk to each other and they ask each other advice and So what we're doing is we're going where they are. They're in forums, they're in these kind of trade groups, associations, things like that. We're joining them all, we're joining them all, we're joining them there, we're asking for their feedback, but also we're able to participate because a lot of times the businesses are actually similar in terms of, hey, we have to acquire leads, you have to acquire leads, you have to take your leads and turn your leads into paying customers, we have to take our leads and turn them into paying customers. The difference is just the service that is provided, the service or the product that is provided, right? If I'm, a dentist, right? I have to get someone to come in, maybe do a consultation, and then boom, then I'm going to convert them into a customer and I'm going to do their dental work and then they're going to keep coming to me time after time. So there's a lifetime value component. Same thing with us, right? We have to get someone to come in, do a consultation, show them why our software makes sense for them. They might evaluate us versus a couple of our competitors. And then once they come in, they're going to use us every single month after month. So there's a lifetime value component. So it's very similar, but we want to go where they are. We want to go where they're participating in the community, we wanna also participate and engage with them, offer our feedback. We think we have a lot of good things to say and experience, but we can also learn from them a bunch. So it's really cool actually engaging with them. And then the other thing too is like you sort of put yourself on their level, right? You're not looking at them like, oh, I'm a vendor or I'm a company, I'm trying to sell you something or vice versa. Hey, we're just exchanging ideas and we're starting to level with each other so that now we can start to talk as one-to-one. OK, and then I think once you kind of break down that awkward barrier where they think you're trying to sell them something or you think they're trying to sell you something— no, no, no, we don't want any of that. Once that's broken down, now you're just two humans talking to each other and it's a more authentic conversation. OK, other things that we're doing is, I mean, we're calling customers, we're texting customers, not just customers already, but prospects as well, leads if you will. And we're just talking to them and we're just being real. We're telling them about what we're doing. We're being pretty transparent about every single thing that we're doing. We're obviously sharing it here. We're sharing our story. On other publications online. We got guest blog posts that we've, you know, we're just sharing everything because we think transparency and authenticity and being relatable is what people want, right? People don't want you to come out like, I know what I'm doing, we're this big company and we're doing it right and we're about to revenue. We're not doing that, right? I mean, yeah, we want all that, but we're being real and we're saying, hey, we're trying to figure it out along the way. But what we really want to do is build a beautiful product that people love, that they can use and get a ton of value every single day out of. And that helps them grow their business, and that's exactly what we're doing. So the other thing, I mean, we're going out to lunch, we're going to dinners, and I actually am writing a blog post this week for another publication about one thing that you can do with your customers that, you know, if you do it right, you'll build lifelong relationships with that customer. And basically it's, you know, going out to dinner, having an entire night with a customer. I'm talking like go to a sports game, go to dinner, grab drinks, get late-night food, kind of have like a whole evening where you are able to, you know, almost like be vulnerable to these people where you can then, you know, talk to them one-on-one, talk about life, talk about just maybe things that you are going through, struggles and stuff like that. Break, again, break down that barrier and just be real with them and then that way in the future, I mean, once you guys, and one, people like to do business with people they like, but also once you kind of break that down and you're human, later in the future if things do go wrong, if there's a product bug or something else, you know, they're going to be way more likely to forgive you and say like, okay, okay, you told me it's gonna be 1 to 2 days to get this resolved, totally get it, you know, we're, you know, I get it, I get where you're coming from, I know that you're trying to do the right thing, versus if you're just this blind software product they found on the internet, like they don't give a shit, right? They're just gonna say no, no, no, no, I'm canceling, I'm going to your competitor, I don't care, there's no excuses, and it's sort of kind of savage like that. So that's why it's incredibly important, establish those relationships, Be human and be someone that they can actually relate to, and I think that is going to carry you really, really far. So interested in what you guys are doing right now. I know some of my old customers, you know, they would work with similar businesses that had the same customer type. So if I'm a painter, I'm going to work with an interior designer. If I provide plumbing, I'm going to work with general contractors for new construction, things like that where it's like you're going to kind of almost establish these BD type relationships because then they're gonna funnel jobs and work through to you, but you wanna establish that real relationship at the top so that then they are starting to push you a lot of jobs at the bottom. But interested in hearing what you guys are doing to go out of your way and establish these real relationships, really, really cultivate them, and I'm also interested in hearing what the payoff is as well. So have a great Tuesday, guys. Super pumped and looking forward to hearing from you.