Research shows that small business owners who utilize growth advisors are more likely to experience a 20% growth rate, which might not sound like a lot on paper, but a 20% growth rate is usually the tipping point where most businesses are able to turn their successes around into major profits. Growth advisors keep businesses focused, provide structure, and deliver guidance to small business owners in need of survival. And for small businesses that receive mentoring, they’ll survive for more than 5 years and have a 70% success rate. That’s double the survival rate of non-mentored small businesses! It’s important for any business to pay attention to numbers like these, especially if success is critical.
The first guest on today’s ‘Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg’ was Tiffani Bova, global customer growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce, a cloud computing company out of San Francisco.
TIFFANI BOVA
“Sharing things on social media will follow people around for the rest of their life.”
“At some point we have to have some sort of non-digital in our lives and just enjoy real life.”
“If my FitBit is connected to my scale in my bathroom to my fridge and locks it, then they’ve really created something.”
“How can we use tech to engage new thinking?”
“I call myself a ‘recovering sales rep.’”
“Everything I learned in business I learned at the carnival. My parents owned carnivals and from 15-21 I ran the games.”
“I knew I wanted to get into business I just didn’t know what side. Then I realized I was good at selling stuff.”
“Salesforce has grown exponentially in the past few years. It’s all about customer success.”
“As businesses try to compete and grow, you have to make sure that you have a fantastic customer experience with your brand.”
“I got into cloud computing in 1999 to 2003. We were doing chat to sell at the time, really early.”
“Over the last 16 years tech has advanced so much, customers are so comfortable leveraging tech day to day.”
“This is a time when tech and the customer have almost caught up.”
“I had changed jobs 8 times in 10 years. I realized every decision and job totally prepared me for my career as an analyst.”
“There’s been so much hype around digital marketing and money being spent.”
“There’s a disconnect with the sales rep and the way the customer wants to engage.”
“If you look at a Dropbox or a Gmail it gives you free storage and mail to get you to buy.”
“Everyone’s trying to use experience as a competitive difference.”
“The one thing sales reps can control is their behavior in front of a customer. Their brand is their reputation.”
“Building a brand is built on trust.”
“Prove you’re invested in your customer’s success.”
“I finally had the honest conversation with myself that I’m not an entrepreneur. I have a high respect for them.”
“We’re in the age of distraction. Everything is the shiny thing in the corner.”
“There are only a handful of ways to grow. Your customers are your true growth. Everything else is a distraction.”
Second guest, Jessica Lawrence Quinn, is the CEO of the NY Tech Alliance—a non-profit organization supporting New York’s growing technology community. With over 60,000 members, the mission of NY Tech Alliance is to represent, inspire, support, and help lead the New York technology community and ecosystem to create a better future for all.
“This was a stumble on job. I had been living and working in SoCal and sold all my stuff and moved to New York.”
“I was looking for events to go to and my friend told me about a New York Tech Meetup. They just became a non-profit and needed an Executive Director.”
“We think of our stage as the launching place for tech startups. It’s a great way to get in front of the press and investors.”
“We only do live demos. It helps the products come alive.”
“The NY tech meetup has been running for 11 years.”
“I really didn’t have much of a tech background and got to know so many members right away.”
“There are 1800 tech related tech meetups in NYC.”
“There are more NY women, especially in Brooklyn, founding tech companies compared to Silicon Valley.”
“There’s an immediate sense of New York pride. We live on top of each other, we intersect, we commute, we see each other physically more.”
“New York is the capital of so many industries. There’s tech and finance, tech and fashion, tech and business.”
“People are thinking about products for the greater good rather than a smaller subset of people who are already privileged.”
“Our Meetup is the largest Meetup in the world. It didn’t happen overnight. It took 11 years.”
“Don’t worry if things go wrong during a demo. We’ve had people live coding during their demo. They are legends now.”
“There’s a general sense at our Meetups that we’re all in it together.”
“It’s a great place to find a job. People have actually got jobs during the demos.”
“Less is more during the demos. Show off the product not talk for 5 minutes.”
“There were so many skills I learned working at the Girl Scouts that apply now. Especially getting more girls involved in STEM and the lack of inclusion for women and people of color.”
“I definitely see more women engaged in tech, women are raising their hands and coming forward. Barely any women were doing demos before. ”
“Almost 100 female run companies applied to demo.”
“Getting more STEM sciences into schools at really early ages helps get girls involved early.”
“There are some concerns in the tech community. We’re civically engaged with innovation and freedom of speech. How can tech create a humane society?”
“Start small. Even if it’s just you hosting a breakfast once a month.”
“I’d really like to see a tech community in NYC that is just as diverse as the people who live here.”
Join ‘Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg’ every Wednesday at 12pm ET/9am PT on SiriusXM Business Channel 111!
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