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GWBC Radio: Tammy Cohen with InfoMart

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Tammy Cohen (SHRM-CP, PHR), a background screening pioneer with three decades of experience, is a nationally honored entrepreneur, a successful businesswoman, and a recognized thought leader.

Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of InfoMart, one of the top 10 largest background check and identity screening companies in the industry, Cohen is known professionally as the Queen of Screen and was named among “Atlanta’s Top 20 Women-Owned Firms” and “Top 500 Women-Owned Businesses in the US.” Recently, she was recognized as a WBE Star, the Most Influential Woman in Background Screening, and “Maverick of the Year” by the Stevie Awards. She lends her expertise to renowned publications, including contributions to Forbes, Entrepreneur, HR Executive, and HR Technologist.

Driven by Tammy’s passion, InfoMart continues to be instrumental in the development of processes and technology that are now the industry standard, including ASAP ID, a mobile ID authentication application that utilizes biometric technology to simplify onboarding. Tammy’s drive has modernized hiring and given her clients a competitive edge when recruiting top talent.

Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn and follow InfoMart on Facebook and Twitter.

Transcript

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for GWBC Radio’s Open for Business. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:18] Lee Kantor here. Another episode of GWBC Open for Business. And this is going to be a good one. Today, we have with us Tammy Cohen with InfoMart. Welcome, Tammy.

Tammy Cohen: [00:00:29] Thank you. I’m glad to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:31] Well, before we get too far into things, tell us about InfoMart. How are you serving folks?

Tammy Cohen: [00:00:36] So, right now, we’re getting back to doing business, which is exciting. We were pretty slow there for a while, but background checks are back, and people are hiring again. Hopefully, we will be back to norm in the next year.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:50] So, you’re kind of a leading indicator, I guess, in some respects for hiring, huh?

Tammy Cohen: [00:00:55] Very much so. Any time a recession happens, we’re always one of the first ones to see it. And in this case, we were definitely. As soon as the hiring stopped, background checks stopped. But they’re starting up again, so that’s a good sign.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:09] So, now, tell us about the genesis of InfoMart. How did you get started in this line of work?

Tammy Cohen: [00:01:15] So, 30 years ago, I was an administrative assistant, and we had an employee that came in, and basically just showed up for a day, and left, and was basically getting unemployment from multiple states because you could do it at that time. And I found out a background check was about $150. So, about six months later, I decided I would start my own business because I could do a background check. And that’s sort of how we got going.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:43] So, you thought, “$10, surely, I’ll be able to do it for less than that”? Like there must be a better way?

Tammy Cohen: [00:01:50] Absolutely, yes. So, I’ve worked for banks, and I had worked for real estate company. So, I understood public records, and I understood credit reports, and I had already done verifications of education and employment over the phone. So, I sort of had all the components in different positions.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:09] Then, what kind of gave you the courage to say, “You know what? I’m going to do this on my own, and I’ll leave my kind of secure job for this kind of the world of the entrepreneur”?

Tammy Cohen: [00:02:20] Well, I was 25. So, let’s start there. And I was working for a real estate company, and we built a building, and the owners gave us a handguns. Southern swag at the time if you go back 25 years ago. And I didn’t get a gun, so I walked in crying and quit. So, I was like, “Well, if I’m going to start a business, I guess, this is the time.” And I think starting a business when you’re younger, it’s a lot easier because, in my mind, I was like, “Okay, I can always catch back up by the age of 30 if things don’t work out.”

Lee Kantor: [00:02:55] Right. I think there’s a song that says, “When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose.”

Tammy Cohen: [00:03:01] That is so true.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:03] So, then, when the pandemic hit seven months ago, did business just kind of go to a stop, and you had to kind of navigate that water?

Tammy Cohen: [00:03:15] Yes. When it first happened, like everybody else, I ran up Home Depot, got everything to do my plants and my tools to do crafts. I thought this is going to be a vacation. And about three weeks in, we had no business. It was like, “Wow, we’ve got to figure this out. And we’ve got to figure it out fast.” So, very interesting. It stopped within two weeks. I mean, it was an amazing plummet.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:41] So, what did you do? Like how did you gather your team and lead them through this kind of a tricky situation?

Tammy Cohen: [00:03:49] So, in our situation, we have a long tenured team. And because of that, we were sitting there pushing. As you can tell, I am working from home today with my IT girl in the background. So, with my team, we’ve had a lot of experience. I’ve put it out there, “We’ve got to figure out something.” And I was watching a webinar, and I decided that, “Hey, I’m the queen to screen. I can also be the queen of screen for COVID-19.” And put my team together.

Tammy Cohen: [00:04:19] And that’s what’s amazing when you work with a really tenured, experienced team. There was no politics like normal. And politics are when getting to innovation because everybody’s giving their opinion, and you’re making it better. But everybody just sort of said, “He’s the best. Give it to him. Let’s get this going.” So, we stood it up in two months, which is amazing. Amazing.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:43] And then, you built this app and platform that helps people get back to work. And even beyond work, go back to school. And to be able to crank that out so quickly, that’s really a testament to your team.

Tammy Cohen: [00:05:01] Beside having the tenured team, I think we have had a lot of experience in innovation. And when we go through those types of sprints, we know who is going to be focused over here on operations and make sure everything’s going great. And then, the other team, we know, is solely focused on whatever sprint we have at that moment. So, we’re really built and experienced in being able to do it. So, that was a great benefit to us.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:34] So, now, building, it’s one thing. How did you get kind of adoption?

Tammy Cohen: [00:05:39] It was amazing. I have never, in all of my 31 years of InfoMart, had a situation where we sent out an email campaign. And on the first email campaign, we got 40 email responses wanting to see our platform. And it’s just continued to roll like that. Daily, we’re getting people that want to see it. Right now, I already have 5600 people that are being screened every day on it, and we’re onboarding 15,000 employee company this next week.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:10] Wow! It’s amazing story.

Tammy Cohen: [00:06:14] It is. It’s great. And what’s really cool about this, why people are really attracted to it is that we’ve all seen the employee assessment, the daily symptom assessment that you can take all over the Internet. So, what ours does is, (1), we have an app that the employee can do that with a lot of other features in it for employers, but what we’ve done is built a platform for the employer.

Tammy Cohen: [00:06:38] So, the employer can see who is available to work that day, who can’t work that day. It lets you do contact tracing. It lets you identify hotspots. Employers can request their PPE, and it automatically goes to the person who does that fulfillment. And the janitorial is closely working with HR in the platform where they can close the part of the building, clean that part of the building, and then let everybody know it’s back open again. And all that has automated messages to the employees that work in that section. So, it’s pretty amazing stuff.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:13] And it’s one of those things where you’re not just identifying a problem, you’re giving them, also, the solution to the problem that’s being identified.

Tammy Cohen: [00:07:20] Yes. HR has taken on a huge load with this pandemic. It’s amazing. So, that was a little of our thought. All these years, we’ve worked with security and HR knowing that we need to automate as much as we can. So, the customization to set it up is pretty intricate but it’s purposeful, so that it really works for each individual company as detailed as you want it to be.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:50] And then, right now, so you started rolling out just kind of your own email list. And then, have you got, now, I guess, kind of more strategic distribution or getting it out there to the public? Like, did you build a campaign, a marketing campaign around it?

Tammy Cohen: [00:08:10] So, yes, we’ve been marketing it, and we have a campaign, and we’ve been using our database as well as building on others. But I would say we’re doing our normal marketing. And we’re pros and experts at background checks. I wouldn’t say we’re an expert at marketing, but I think we do a really good job.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:30] And then, like you said, now that it seems like the market has turned around a little bit, so the state of the market is more positive, and people are going about hiring, is that across the country or just in select states?

Tammy Cohen: [00:08:44] Well, based on our business – and we work with all industries – we’re seeing across every industry, but we are highly concentrated in staffing, which I think is even more of a testament that things are picking up because we have over 650 staffing companies that we do their background checks, and some of them are the largest in the world. So, it’s picking up all over.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:09] Now, is your business primarily in the United States or is it global?

Tammy Cohen: [00:09:14] Actually, we are global, and we actually are one of the few in the industry that have a global platform. So, we actually do the background checks, global background checks for some of our competitors.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:26] That’s probably not on their brochure.

Tammy Cohen: [00:09:29] I don’t know. We’re a pretty friendly industry because we’re actually sort of small.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:37] So, now, what’s the most rewarding part of your job nowadays?

Tammy Cohen: [00:09:42] So, right now, what is really up my alley that I am so excited about – and this is my term here – is pioneering the new world of work because it’s a new world. Everything from how we engage our employees to how we communicate, how we manage them, how we measure performance, just everything has changed, and we have the opportunity to build the perfect scenario. So, pioneering that new world of work is what I really have my eye and heart in.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:12] So, then, that goes beyond just the background screening?

Tammy Cohen: [00:10:16] Well, I’m talking about internally for my employees. Yes. I think everybody is going to have this opportunity to rebuild their workforce and focused on our number one asset, our employees, how are we going to work from home or work remote given those opportunities? InfoMart was 100% in the office. I really did not believe we could work remote. I never would let anybody work remote. I just didn’t think it would work. So, I have been the first one to say I was totally wrong. And our performance numbers are actually higher than when we were in the office.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:54] Now, what are the metrics you’re measuring for performance?

Tammy Cohen: [00:10:58] So, because we’re doing background checks, we’re sort of information in and out. So, we have different measurements as far as how many of, say, a criminal history you process. And then, there’s a matrix of how in-depth was the criminal record on it. Was there five charges? Where there 15 charges? So, our system is pretty, pretty sophisticated in how it performs and gives us the daily performance numbers on everybody.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:25] And that, you’re seeing more performance when people are working from home?

Tammy Cohen: [00:11:30] Yeah. So, somebody did say it’s an easy way to sort of get it and, say, somebody who’s calling on employers for employment verification, they’re actually doing more of those at home than they did when they were sitting at the office.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:46] Wow! So, now, this affecting your clients? Are they working from home more? Does that change anything in terms of the screening?

Tammy Cohen: [00:11:57] So, it hasn’t really changed anything because we are automated, and they were requesting things automated. And what we’ve done is we’ve sort of put some new services out that are built around screening for the remote workforce. So, we have an identity application that is touchless. So, you can send a link to your perspective candidate, and they can fill out all the forms, and all the information, and it comes to us, and we do our background check, and it’s back to the customer, and whoever wants to access it at the customer site through their user access.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:31] Now, do you help the customer, if they had to? Like, maybe they are going remote for the first time and having a work from home workforce, is there any kind of consulting you do to help them make that easier or you stay in your lane in terms of just handling the screening part?

Tammy Cohen: [00:12:49] It’s funny. We are experts and background checks. Through the years, people have asked, “Will you do private investigation and different things?” And I have found just to be focused on background checks. But what we have done is, say, for somebody that’s now hiring remotely, we have a whole new list of verification questions that we can interview that candidate asking, “Who’s going to have access? Have you work remotely? Are you comfortable in front of the camera?” All these different verification questions to make sure that this is the person you want to be working for that type of position.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:27] Now, let’s talk a little bit about you as a woman-owned CEO of a woman-owned firm, and you’ve won multiple awards regarding that. How important has GWBC and maybe WBENC been in terms of the growth of your company?

Tammy Cohen: [00:13:47] Wow! I can’t even come up with the words on how impactful WBENC and GWBC has been in building InfoMart, especially the past five years. It amazes me the women that don’t get certified, but it’s just like anything you get involved in, right? Like a Chamber of Commerce. If you don’t get involved, and go to meetings, and engage, and get to know people, you’re not going to get anything out of it. But as soon as you just start showing up, it is remarkable in how these corporations are supporting women-owned businesses. Amazing really. Is. And these organizations make it happen.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:29] Now, I’ve been working with GWBC for a while now, and I get to hear these stories from the women-owned business folks. And just the amount of collaboration and support that they get from the association is phenomenal. And are you finding that that was helpful during a pandemic? Like when there was at the beginning of this, there was so much information out there, to have a trusted place that’s kind of watching your back. That can make the difference between sticking around and not sticking around.

Tammy Cohen: [00:15:06] Oh!  WBENC came out with their COVID provider list and were sending out regular information on PPE and different things. And I had an entire team. So, InfoMart has 150 employees. So, I had a good team that was researching and keeping up with everything. And it was amazing how I could send a GWBC email or WBENC email with links, and they we get more information out of that than they would any place else. So, they did a great job in supporting us.

Tammy Cohen: [00:15:39] But not just in supporting us with information; a number of the organizations had virtual meetings where they would give you 15 minutes in front of a company that you got to talk. And the supplier diversity people right now are so committed to diverse businesses and getting us in their organizations. And so, those opportunities that they’ve given us has been … if anything, it gives you hope and keeps you motivated that, “Yes, I can do this, we’re going to survive.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:10] And then, a lot of cases, I mean, I’ve interviewed folks where they’ve gotten important pieces of business from these larger enterprise firms that they would never have been able to get in front of in any other way.

Tammy Cohen: [00:16:22] Absolutely, absolutely. And I think though, it’s important for people that are listening, it just doesn’t happen overnight. Again, you have to get involved. But as soon as you get involved, it happens and it really does happen. I mean, Fortune 500 companies that you would have a really hard time getting to somebody, they’re very open to listen and and even help you improve. I mean, if you’re not ready, they’ll say, “Hey, you need to figure this out before I take you on to my stakeholders.” So, they really work at not just getting your business but helping you be a better business person.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:01] Right. And they’re telling you what you need to do in order to get their business. Like, that’s hard. You usually don’t get that feedback from prospective clients.

Tammy Cohen: [00:17:11] No, no. I mean, they’ll tell you, “Hey, I want to hear a differentiator. I don’t want to hear you just give good customer service. I want to know why.” They train you on how to really sell your business and where you need to improve. And there’s really nobody else out there that gives you that other than … Like me, I learned from the school of hard knocks, but it’s a lot quicker to the top when you don’t have to do it that way.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:39] You got that right. It’s hard enough to do it without help, but when you have an association that’s willing to watch your back and help you, I recommend everybody to take advantage of it.

Tammy Cohen: [00:17:49] Yes. And women are really good about helping each other in a very honest and raw way. It’s amazing to people that I’ve had, that I’m friends with that are women business owners that might be very active in Michigan in the automotive industry and letting me know, “Hey, if you can get this, this, this together, then I can take you in.” It’s amazing how the women work together through WBENC.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:18] Yeah. We find that to be the case. It’s very collaborative. Everybody’s kind of rooting for everybody, and they’re willing to share kind of best practices, and they share what it takes in order to be successful. And just to get that inspiration is important, and to learn from other people’s mistakes can help you. But I also find, it’s like you said, in terms of an association, any association, whether it’d be GWBC or any of the chamber, any of the other ones, it isn’t something you just pay your dues and then business happens. You got to get involved. You got to volunteer. You got to take leadership positions. You got to kind of invest into the association if you want to really reap the rewards.

Tammy Cohen: [00:19:03] Exactly. And right now, I keep telling everybody, it’s like we aren’t face to face. So, make sure your camera’s on. Make sure you dial in early, so you’re on the front page. Chat, know what you’re going to say, put out your LinkedIn and chat, so you can meet new people and follow up with them in a LinkedIn message. So, it’s a whole new way of doing business, but there is ways to still connect.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:34] Right. Because that’s what people do business with people. So, act like a human. It’s-.

Tammy Cohen: [00:19:40] Yes!

Lee Kantor: [00:19:40] It’s really not that hard. Now, Tammy, so what’s next for you? It sounds like you’re going to be able to incorporate some of these things that you’re doing during the crisis into your future business when the pandemic wanes.

Tammy Cohen: [00:19:54] Yes. So, SymTem is morphing into a wellness type of platform that we feel that is going to be very, very important. And we’re starting to … well, there’s companies that are coming to us right now that want to integrate to add our product into theirs. So, I think that’s going to be an exciting future in 2021 for SymTem.

Tammy Cohen: [00:20:17] And then, as far as background checks, coming up with this whole new world of work background screening, we’ve been spending a lot of time in developing new services, new products and, of course, looking at how can we give you a better service, better information for less money, because everybody is watching their budgets right now, and we realize that. We want to help our customers in that way.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:41] So, now, who’s the ideal prospect for you? You mentioned you work with a lot of agencies. Are they the best prospect? Do you get most of your work through them or do you go directly to the companies?

Tammy Cohen: [00:20:53] We work directly with the companies. So, yes. So, we have a number of Fortune 500 companies. I think one of the exciting companies we work with is the NFL, and we do the NFL Combine, and that’s really exciting. That’s a little different than the norm. But we do work with major corporations across the United States. And we do everything from screening their candidates for employment, as well as we screen the employees of their vendors. So, we have a healthcare platform. So, we have some different things that we do. But we really have a good hold in the staffing industry. So, our system is sort of customized and very specific to help staffing. Because at the end of the day, staffing needs to get somebody in there quick. So, we have to get that person screened quickly for them.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:47] Now, do you have any advice for the business owner that may be is too small for you or can’t afford you at this point in their kind of life cycle? Is there any low-hanging fruit they can be doing to protect themselves and get the right person in?

Tammy Cohen: [00:22:02] So, I think to protect yourself is to understand what you can and cannot use in a background check. So, going on LinkedIn and Facebook and hiring somebody, you should not be doing that. And a lot of people don’t realize, a criminal history is going to cost you around $10. That is not that expensive. Verifications cost about that much. I mean, most of our employers spend about $30. It’s not a lot when you start looking at the quality of person or just lawsuits, what trouble you can get in for hiring the wrong person.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:42] So, it’s something that everybody should make a priority.

Tammy Cohen: [00:22:46] It really is. And it’s not about screening out people. It’s about screening to get the right person in that position because we’re very supportive of second chances and that the way we assist our customers in setting up their programs is that when we’re going through helping them set up what they’re going to hire and not hire, we really make sure that they’re looking at giving people a second chance because there’s a lot of success out there with people that have had a past criminal history.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:15] Good stuff. Well, congratulations on all the success and thank you so much for sharing your story. If somebody wants to learn more and have more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what’s the website?

Tammy Cohen: [00:23:27] It is infomart-usa.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:34] Well, thank you again for sharing your story today, Tammy.

Tammy Cohen: [00:23:37] Thank you. I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:39] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We will see you all next time on GWBC Open for Business.

About GWBC

The Greater Women’s Business Council (GWBC®) is at the forefront of redefining women business enterprises (WBEs). An increasing focus on supplier diversity means major corporations are viewing our WBEs as innovative, flexible and competitive solutions. The number of women-owned businesses is rising to reflect an increasingly diverse consumer base of women making a majority of buying decision for herself, her family and her business. 

GWBC^® has partnered with dozens of major companies who are committed to providing a sustainable foundation through our guiding principles to bring education, training and the standardization of national certification to women businesses in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.