Madison Blankenship with Sparkloft Media
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Madison Blankenship joined the Sparkloft Media team in Atlanta in 2015 as a content strategist, now overseeing account management and content strategy for a broad spectrum of clients including airports, hotels and convention & visitors bureaus.
Follow Sparkloft Media on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- How Sparkloft Media’s services as a social media agency evolved during COVID-19
- How COVID-19 has impacted their business
- Consumer changes in behavior during the pandemic
- Projects Sparkloft Media has worked on in the greater Atlanta area
- Sparkloft’s work with the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau
About Our Sponsor
OnPay’s
payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.
Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.
BRX Pro Tip: Who Else Sells To Your Clients?
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BRX Pro Tip: Who Else Sells to Your Clients?
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, one key strategy that we’ve employed with some success is being aware of putting some energy into identifying who else sells to your clients.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:16] Yeah, it’s a great practice to kind of create a 360-degree net around your prospects. So, identify who sells to them, what associations do they hang out in, what equipment or software do they buy? And when you kind of can identify all these little touch points, you can do that, and you can form relationships with all the players that surround them. Then, you can show up wherever your prospect is, and they’ll see you, and they’ll see your brand. And then, they’ll think you’re everywhere. And then, that’ll make them more inclined to use your services and to buy stuff from you.
Maryellen Stockton with Work Well Wherever
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Maryellen Stockton works with small businesses and start-ups to help them create human connections in remote teams.
Her 7+ years of experience in the field allows her to know the best practices for working well remotely and how it can be a platform for organizations to build a great company culture and become more productive.
Connect with Maryellen on LinkedIn and follow Work Well Wherever on Facebook.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- Best practices for working well remotely
- Hiring for remote teams
- Having great company culture in remote teams
- Leading remote teams
About Our Sponsor
OnPay’s payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.
Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.
BRX Pro Tip: Pro’s and Con’s of Targeting Early Adopters
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BRX Pro Tip: Pro’s and Con’s of Targeting Early Adopters
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you today. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about the pros and the cons of targeting early adopters.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:11] Yeah. A lot of startups and new businesses rely on early adopters. These are people who have take more risk earlier without kind of a fully fleshed-out idea, will take more of a flyer on things. I know you’re that way. I know I’m that way. The pros of of targeting that group that takes the risk on the new product or service is that they will take action fast. If they see it, they like it, bam, they can make a decision pretty quickly because they’re always looking out for that cool new thing. And so, that’s very attractive. So, you think, “Wow, this is easy. I just tell them this thing and bam,” but it’s just that out of all the consumers out there, not a lot of them are early adopters. It’s just a small percentage.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:53] One of the cons of of targeting early adopters is that that’s one of the cons, there’s not a lot out there, but another con is they’re always looking for the next new thing. So, your thing is going to lose favor pretty quickly if it’s not delivering results pretty fast. So, they’re going to move on. And at some point, you’re going to have to tailor your offer to more mature companies in order to scale.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:18] So, in order to do that, you’re going to have to make sure those early adopters that you’ve targeted and have got as clients are successful and can create that social proof you’re going to need to attract the people that aren’t early adopters but will kind of follow the lead of early adopters. So, target them, that’s fine. Just understand that they’re going to move on pretty quickly. And make sure that when you are serving them, that you capture some social proof, case studies, testimonials that you’ll be able to leverage to go after people that are not as kind of inclined to take risks.
Franchise Bible Coach Radio: Dustin Hansen with InXpress Americas
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As a young, ambitious entrepreneur, Dustin Hansen joined the InXpress franchise in 2006; the first InXpress franchise in the USA. Under Dustin’s leadership, the franchise reached more than $1 million in revenue during the first year.
Over the years, he has proudly received numerous industry awards including Franchisee of the Year, Fastest Growing Franchise, Highest Margin Franchise, Peak 100, and CEO of the Year (twice). Dustin has been the keynote speaker at several high profile events, including the 2018 International Franchise Association annual convention and the 2018 Franchise Council of Australia’s National Franchise Convention.
Dustin is also the author of the globally acclaimed book Build Your Empire: A Roadmap to Building a Successful Franchise Business. Dustin has been featured in my publications including The Wall Street Journal and Franchise World Magazine.
After launching the InXpress brand in the USA in 2006 as the first Franchisee, Dustin was appointed as InXpress USA Executive Vice President in 2009 and was promoted to CEO in 2012. In 2014 the company expanded its footprint into Canada and created the InXpress Americas regional office, where He serves as CEO.
“I am extremely proud of achieving aggressive top-line and bottom-line year-over-year growth for InXpress Americas”, states Dustin; and in 2013 his work and dedication to the InXpress franchise network was recognized by being asked to join the InXpress Global Board of Directors.
His role on the board requires him to help strategize and execute yearly objectives for the company and assist in overseeing global operational effectiveness.
His role as CEO of InXpress Americas is to support our franchise partners growth, promote the brand across USA and Canada, and attract new franchisees into the shipping and logistics industry to service our growing customer base.
It is the right time to be joining a global express freight logistics and international shipping business.
Connect with Dustin on LinkedIn.
About the Show
The Franchise Bible Coach Radio Podcast with Rick and Rob features no-nonsense franchise industry best practices and proprietary strategies that franchisors and 
franchise owners can implement to improve their profitability and operational efficiencies.
Our show guests are franchise superstars and everyday heroes that share their tips for growth and strategies to survive and thrive during the current challenges.
About Your Hosts
Rick Grossman has been involved in the franchise industry since 1994. He franchised his first company and grew it to 49 locations in 19 states during the mid to late 1990s. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and primary trainer focusing on franchise owner relations and creating tools and technologies to increase franchisee success.
Rick developed and launched his second franchise organization in 2003. He led this company as the CEO and CMO growing to over 150 locations in less than three years. He developed the high tech/high touch franchise recruiting and sales system.
Both companies achieved ranking on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 List. During this period Rick served as a business and marketing consultant to small business and multimillion dollar enterprises. He also consulted with franchise owners and prospective franchisees, franchisors, and companies seeking to franchise.
Rick had the honor of working with his mentor, Erwin Keup as a contributing Author for the 7th edition of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise Bible published by Entrepreneur Press.
Mr. Grossmann has been chosen as the new Author of Franchise Bible and his 8th Edition was released worldwide in January of 2017. He currently serves as an executive coach and strategist for multiple franchise clients.
Follow Franchise Bible Coach on Facebook.
Rob Gandley has served as SeoSamba’s Vice President and Strategic Partner since 2015.
With 25 years of experience in entrepreneurship, digital marketing, sales, and technology, he continues to focus on leading the expansion of SeoSamba’s product and service capabilities and US market penetration. SeoSamba specializes in centralized marketing technology built for multi-location business models and continues to win industry awards and grow consistently year over year.
Concurrent with his work at SeoSamba, Gandley is a strategic growth consultant and CEO of FranchiseNow, a digital marketing and sales consulting firm. Gandley consults digital businesses, entrepreneurs, coaches and multi-location businesses across diverse industries. Prior to SeoSamba, he built an Internet Marketing business and platform responsible for generating over 100,000 qualified franchise development leads used by more than 400 US-based franchise brands for rapid business expansion.
Gandley also held various senior sales and management positions with IT and Internet pioneers like PSINet, AT&T, and SunGard Data Systems from (1993-2005) where he set sales records for sales and revenue growth at each company. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal Business School in 92’ with a BS degree in Finance and emphasis on Marketing.
Connect with Rob on LinkedIn.
Learning Insights Radio: Kyle Stapleton with WarnerMedia
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Kyle Stapleton is Sr. Manager of Culture and Experience for WarnerMedia Studios, the creative production engine that supports WarnerMedia brands like TBS, TNT, HBO Max, Cartoon Network, [adult swim], NBA TV, truTV, CNN, Bleacher Report, and more.
There he fosters an environment that empowers top creative talent to shape culture through stories and experiences. This entails working across the employee life cycle, from talent attraction and onboarding through engagement, inclusion, and development. His team’s goal is to make WarnerMedia the world’s preeminent destination for multimedia creatives.
As part of his interest in designing more soulful, human work experiences, Kyle co-founded the Atlanta chapter of CULTURE LABx, a global community of EX professionals experimenting with the future of work. He also advises and champions organizations working at the intersection of Atlanta’s cultural impact and civil rights legacy, such as Atlanta Influences Everything, Generator, and Future Foundation.
Kyle also co-hosts TuneDig, a podcast about music discovery born from years of working with record stores. He earned his bachelor’s and MBA from Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business. He and his wife Caralee, a visualartist and curator, are proud lifelong ATLiens.
Connect with Kyle on LinkedIn.
Rome Floyd Chamber Small Business Spotlight – Jeanne Krueger and Thomas Kislat
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TMBS E104: April Schneider: Teach Children Financial Skills
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THE KEY FINANCIAL SKILLS PARENTS NEED TO TEACH THEIR YOUNG ADULT CHILDREN
April Schneider:
April Schneider is the head of Consumer and Small Business Products at Bank of America. Her team is responsible for delivering the products and services that help Bank of America’s 66 million consumer and 3.5 million small business clients meet their financial goals. Schneider’s team consists of approximately 800 employees across the country.
Schneider and team are focused on providing clients with a full range of convenient and innovative financial products and services. They are responsible for growing Bank of America’s $700 billion in consumer and small business deposits and $95 billion in outstanding credit card balances. This includes the development, pricing and management of consumer deposits, debit and credit cards, first mortgage, home equity, vehicle lending, GWIM banking, and small business banking solutions.
Schneider has worked in the consumer products space for more than 20 years. Since 2007, she has held a number of leadership positions at Bank of America including Products and Pricing executive, Mortgage and Home Equity Products executive, Pricing and Portfolio Management, Capital Markets, and Secondary Marketing.
Schneider holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hiram College in Ohio and a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of South Carolina. She serves as a Market Sponsor for Tucson, AZ, Executive Sponsor of the bank’s Parent Care Network and currently leads the advisory board for BAI Research.
www.bankofamerica.com/student-banking/
