Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Michael Agri, a seasoned technology advisor with North Atlantic Consultants. For more than a decade, Michael has been a trusted partner to organizations navigating the complex world of IT, telecom and cybersecurity. He helps businesses find the right solutions for VoIP voice over IP. For those of you who are not technology inclined, uh, for those phone systems, internet connectivity managed, IT support cloud services and security, all with unbiased advice and no cost to his clients. Michael is passionate about building community through networking and events like his annual tech at the park. And he’s here to share how smart tech choices can save time, money and stress. Michael, welcome to the show!

Michael Agri: What an awesome introduction. Thank you Trisha.

Trisha Stetzel: You’re welcome. You know, I like to do this because we don’t do it ourselves. So it’s nice to hear all of these amazing things. Right, right. So excited to have you on the show today. And, you know, technology even before we got started, number one, it’s a bear. You probably hear that all the time. Where do I go? How do I do this? Before we dive into all of the technical stuff, Michael, tell us a little bit more about you and how you serve your clients.

Michael Agri: Yeah. So technology is a big word, right? When you hear the word technology advisor, you’re like, well, what aspect of technology? And, um, what we do is a is a trusted advisor is we’re experts that help businesses choose, implement and manage the right technology to help improve their operations and reduce costs. And um, I’m partnered with, um, a couple what’s called SDS, which stands for Technology Solutions Distributors. And what these folks do is they give people like myself access to hundreds of providers. And these are some of the biggest technology providers in the world Microsoft, Google, Amazon, uh, RingCentral, um, Vonage. Um, you could go on and on. Um, and, um, what we do as advisors is we’re independent and we judge these providers and rank these providers and score them based on, um, I would say the biggest, the biggest indicator would be, uh, customer satisfaction. We typically will bring clients to providers that exceed expectations, and providers that are very good at delivering what they say they can. Because I think we’ve all been there, uh, either as a business owner or if you’ve been in business, if you make the wrong technology decision, it can set you back years, can set you back financially. It can wreak havoc on, uh, on your time and resources. So we specialize in helping our business clients get that decision right the first time.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. So, Michael, how did you get into this technology space in the first place? What drew you here?

Michael Agri: There’s an old saying that I love. It’s, um, never be afraid to steal a good idea, and, um, I, I worked my my old boss right out of college, um, had started doing this on his own, and he had been doing it for 5 or 6 years, and, uh, was incredibly successful. And I wanted everything he had. You know, I was a top salesman for a local telecom company up in New England. And, um, but what he had was what I wanted, which was his own business. Um, no boss, no quota. Uh, nobody breathing down your neck, right? And, um, I wanted that type of freedom, and, um, I just called him up one day and said, look, I, I want to do what you’re doing. And, uh, I would love to take you out to dinner at your favorite restaurant and just ask you a bunch of questions and and bring my notebook and see if I can kind of replicate what you’ve done. And he was happy to help. And, um, that’s really kind of where I got started. And that was 16 years ago.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. Amazing. Congratulations, number one, on making that decision. It can be very scary to move from a corporate paid position to being an entrepreneur. What do you find was the the biggest struggle for you over the last 16 years of working for yourself, which is what you were so passionate about.

Michael Agri: Well, in our industry, as technology advisors, it’s always that first 24 to 36 months. It’s a commission only job. You get paid by the providers only when you make a sale. And if you’re talking about, you know, a CRM system or a phone system or a network, um, these take months for the clients to review. And, you know, either do an RFP, um, compare, uh, in search and read, do the research. And then once they make a decision, it takes months for the IT to get implemented. And then you get paid after the first bill is paid. Well, now seven months has gone by. So, uh, it takes an incredibly long time to start getting to a point where you can pay your bills. And for me, that was took about three years. And, um, that’s always the biggest challenge in this industry is, is having that runway to, uh, to get to that point.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. So from, from a technology perspective, you gave us a summary of what a technology advisor is. What types of clients do you serve. Can you give us some examples there.

Michael Agri: Yeah. Um typically the two biggest for me is healthcare and banking. Um, there are two areas that are heavily regulated that require, um, specific they have specific needs. And um, and those are two areas that benefit enormously by having someone like myself. Um, so those are two areas. But really we can help any business, uh, regardless of size, regardless of geography. And, um, there’s a lot of people that do what I do. Uh, every year they estimate that there’s in between 5 to 10,000 new technology advisors just starting their practices.

Trisha Stetzel: All right. So we’re just going to have to take a deeper dive into this term. Technology advisor, you gave us an overview. I understand the clients that you want or do serve, but what exactly is it that you do? And by the way, I had no idea that there were thousands of technology advisors out there. So tell me more.

Michael Agri: Well, think of us like insurance agents. Okay. Um, some insurance agents are independent, and they can give you multiple quotes and they can say, well, travelers is a much better opportunity for you than Aflac, but Liberty Mutual, right. And here’s why. And, um, and that’s really what we do. Only we do that with technology. And our job is to help our clients find the best providers, the best technology and services for that fits their needs. And then the best price. And, um, we spend an incredible amount of time working with providers, uh, in subject matter experts to, to really kind of net out who are the best providers, what are the best technologies and, and how do we get the best price? Um, the providers themselves are what’s called cost neutral, which means if you were to call up Microsoft or you were to call up, uh, RingCentral on your own and do the research with a direct sales rep, that best price from that direct sales rep cannot be better than the best price for me. So there’s no advantage to or to going, uh, no disadvantage to going through us as opposed to direct. But the advantage of going through someone like a technology advisor is huge, because there’s no cost to you, but you’re getting an incredible amount of knowledge and you’re getting a lot of inside information as to what are the products and services that are out there that are really helping move the needle for, uh, for some of their competitors and, uh, a lot of other businesses out there.

Trisha Stetzel: So I want to throw this one at you, and I’m going to bring up AI, because all of us have been asked the same question, is AI going to take your job away? And I have my own answer about coaching. It’s not because you have to have a human help hold you accountable. Um, how do you see AI as a number one as a benefit for technology advisors? Um, and is there is there this thought in your space and your business that AI, some business owner can just use AI to figure out the information that you would be delivering as a technology advisor.

Michael Agri: Yeah. And, uh, you know, I think that’s a great question. And in my opinion, AI is is just a tool. Uh, and as humans, we’re tool makers. That’s what we do. And, um, and what AI does is it helps us become more efficient. It helps us become faster at answering questions and solving problems. And, um, businesses right now, one of their I mean, the conversations that I’m having is, you know, how can we use this technology to to get better at what we’re doing and, uh, to get better at helping our clients? And I’ll tell you what I mean. It’s it’s in its infancy, so we’re just getting started. But there are a lot of things right now that are happening that, that are giving, um, businesses, uh, an advantage and, um, trying to make sense of that. All is hard to do on your own. Uh, you could do some Google searching and you could definitely do some research, but, um, I have access to dozens of subject matter experts, including, um, some of the brightest minds in customer experience and, uh, AI in the industry, and can even bring them on the phone with these clients to share not just success stories, but but things that are really happen in real time that that might be able to help them.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that there’s no replacement. That’s the bottom line, right? At least not now. We’ve gotta have that human interaction. And gosh, you can tap into so many resources that you’ve built relationships with over the last 16 years, which is so important. Those relationships. Okay. We’re about halfway through our conversation. I know people are already interested in connecting with you, Michael, either to learn more about what you can help them with, or even just to learn more about what technology advisors do. What is the best way for them to connect with you?

Michael Agri: I’m very easy to find because I have a unique last name. My first name is Michael and my last name is spelled h g r I. There’s there’s only two of us alive in the United States. We’re both in Florida, amazingly. Um, but, um, you’ll easily find me, and I’m very active on LinkedIn, so make sure to, uh, if interested, make sure to connect.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Fantastic. Thank you. Michael. And that’s how I found you was on LinkedIn. That’s how we connected originally. So I love to dive into business networking. I believe that it’s very important. And so do you, which is why we’re here today. Because we were networking and trying to expand our network. So what are the benefits of business networking, particularly when you’re an entrepreneur and you’re looking to grow your business?

Michael Agri: Oh, um, it really didn’t hit me until later in life. You know, I, I didn’t really start networking until, um, about seven years ago. And, um, what it was, was, um, I, um, we had we had moved from Boston to, to Florida, uh, the Boston area, to be exact, to the suburbs. And, um, when we did, it was nice, kind of not really knowing anyone, you know, and, and, uh, but but after a while, it got old, you know, and, um, it was, it was a little lonely, you know, I didn’t have any friends. And, uh, my wife said to me one day she said, you know, you you got to go out there and do something, you know, and, uh, so, so I did I went and, uh, I joined the local chamber of commerce, and I joined a local networking group called BNI. And, um, I just went into it with really? No, um, No expectations, right? I wasn’t the I wasn’t there to try to, like, go find business, right? I was just there to make friends and, um, and help in really any way I could. And, um, and in doing so, um, it took time. But within a couple of years, my business was really taking off, and, uh, and it really hit me that, God, you know, you had missed out for years on this. Uh, you could have been doing this a long time ago. Um, but, um, you know, the way I was kind of trained as a salesperson was all cold calling. It was all prospecting. It was no relationship building. And, um, but relationship building absolutely is the foundation of success. And, um, it works. Not only does it work, it works shockingly well, in my opinion. Um.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m a big fan of referral marketing on purpose. I spent 15 years in BNI across two businesses, and I had the same feeling when I first joined. Uh, it was because I didn’t have any community, and I had a business and I was working from home, and there were no other human beings besides my husband and my son in the house. And it really was about building relationships. And what I found is the same thing that you did. You can build a business through referral marketing, and you don’t have to cold call or hot knock right go knocking on doors to meet people. And I love that. Uh, it’s it served me very well in my first business as well as this one, uh, in the coaching space. So I want to know a little bit more about tech at the park. Can we talk about that?

Michael Agri: Yes, yes we can. Okay, so so go ahead. What’s your question?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Tell me more about it. I want to know everything about tech at the park when it is if it’s still happening, uh, this year, if it happens every year. What does that look like? And who goes.

Michael Agri: Yeah. So this is our first year, and, um, I, um. All right. So I had never thought about throwing a client appreciation event ever until February when, um, my, my spectrum business, um, channel manager, we met for breakfast and he said, you know, you have over 100 clients with us today in, in the county. Um, how about we throw. You know, this is just an idea, but how about we throw a client appreciation event and we sponsor it, and, uh, and, you know, I’d never thought about that, but it may it reminded me of 6 or 7 years ago. Um, I did a similar event at, uh, Top Golf in Orlando, and nobody showed up. It was like 2 or 3 people showed up. It was incredibly embarrassing. Um, and I swore to myself, I’m like, I’m never doing anything like this ever again. Um, but what had changed when he asked me that question was I had six years of experience, um, in event planning with the local chamber. Uh, so, so at this point, I had a lot of experience. And, um, I also have a couple hundred clients in the county. So I thought to myself, well, I think I can get people there for sure. And, uh, so I reached out to the local, uh, minor league ball club.

Michael Agri: It’s the Cincinnati Reds organization. It’s called the Daytona Tortugas. And, uh, and we set up a private event. They have just one private area and right on the right field corner that fits about 200 people. And, uh, we got about 150 of our clients and sales partners to come out for a night at the ballpark. And, uh, we gave out some really, really cool prizes. We gave out an iPad and, uh, one of those Yeti roller coolers. It’s like a, like a $500 cooler, which I would never spend that on for myself, but it was fun. There were a lot of kids that came, and honestly, the funnest part was we had special gift bags just for the kids. And, uh, the Daytona Tortugas actually gave us game jerseys and hats for the kids, which was which was incredible. And, uh, I mean, I had a lot of fun, and I think everyone else had a lot of fun. But the one complaint that I heard, it gets so dang hot here in Florida, it was like 94 degrees that day. Uh, luckily it was in the evening, so it got cooler. But I think next year we’re going to do it either earlier or later in the season.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. That’s amazing. So you guys keep your ears and your eyeballs open for a tech at the park in 2026 under Michael’s LinkedIn. I’m sure it will be all over. Tell me the benefit of for you and even for your clients if doing something like that, having a client appreciation event.

Michael Agri: Ooh, to me, I just feel like the luckiest person in the world to be able to do what I’m doing. It’s so much fun, and I just. I don’t know how to say it any other way. I’m just super appreciative and thankful of every single one of my clients. Um, because I wouldn’t be here without them. And it was. It was really my way of just saying thank you, you know? And, um, without you all, uh, I would have to go out there and get a real job, and. And I don’t want to do that. So, um, it was just my way of saying thank you. And, um. And the most important thing for me was to shake everyone’s hand that was there and personally thanked them for either their partnership or their business.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s beautiful. And I love that you’re giving back to your clients. So for the listeners, if you guys haven’t thought about doing something like this, you can do it on a really small scale or a very large scale to start working on it and show your appreciation to your clients in some way. Michael, do you think that you created a space for your clients to network with each other with this event?

Michael Agri: I think that was like the funnest part was, um, introducing some of my my clients to other clients and, um, seeing them make friendships, right. Um, it was and also introducing some of my business partners because these are all technology people within technology, right? Like, uh, one of my partners, uh, specializes in payment systems, and another one specializes in websites. And it was great to connect all of them because they can help each other as well. Uh, so, yeah, it is a little bit of community building in a sense, for sure.

Trisha Stetzel: Aha. You’re a giver. That’s why BNI is for you. It suits me, right? Uh, because the motto there is givers gain. And that’s really what it’s all about. Let’s give to the community, uh, particularly when we’re asking the community to support us as business owners. All right, Michael, I have one final question for you. As we get to the back end of our conversation, will you share an example of how the right technology solution transformed one of your client’s businesses or even their business operation?

Michael Agri: Yeah. Um, very interesting story. I got a call. It was really late at night. I just put my my kids to bed. It was, uh, it was almost 9 p.m., and it was on my work line. And, you know, I thought that was strange. It it went to voicemail. It was a CEO of a really large call center here in Florida. And, uh, for seven weeks, their call acceptance rate went from 24% to 0%. So nobody was answering their calls. And after asking him a few questions, we realized that what had happened was his his outgoing caller ID for their phone numbers was being labeled as spam. And when that happens to you, nobody answers the phone. And his salespeople went from making tens of thousands of dollars a month to zero. And he was at a point of desperation where the salespeople were getting ready to walk out the door and they were going to lose the company. And he so he said, what in the world can we do? And I amazingly, I just knew exactly what he needed. And he needed a caller ID reputation provider to help him fix that. And the very next morning, I had him on the phone with that provider and with his leadership team, and we had a plan in motion, and we had a contract within 24 hours. And, uh, and within just a few days that that issue was resolved.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. That’s amazing. What a difference a day makes. And and a Michael a day in a Michael. That’s awesome. Michael, thank you so much. This has been a great conversation. You have so much information, um, stored somewhere. And I appreciate you bringing bringing it to my audience. And I know that they definitely want to connect with you and learn more or understand more. And even those of you referral marketers out there refer some connections to Michael. So, Michael, would you give your contact information one more time as we close today?

Michael Agri: Yeah, sure. You can reach me on LinkedIn. Uh, it’s Michael, last name, agri. Agri. My phone number is (386) 478-4993. And, um. Yeah. Trisha, thank you so much for having me. This is so much fun.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m so glad that you joined me today. You guys know that? I’ll put Michael’s contact information in the show notes. All you have to do is point and click. So long as you’re not driving and you’re sitting in front of your computer, if you’re driving, you can jot that information down later. Michael, thank you again. I really appreciate you being with me today.

Michael Agri: My pleasure.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you. That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that I had with Michael, please share it with fellow entrepreneurs, veterans or a Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours. Your business, your leadership, and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.