CX Solutions for Small Businesses
Hey, I'd like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you'd like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today's guest is Ron Welty, and he's the founder of Customer Optics. Ron, welcome to the show. Thanks, Dan. It's great to be here. All right, Ron. So we got, we got a lot to talk about today. So we're definitely going to get into CX solutions for small businesses. What that means a lot, a lot of business owners, entrepreneurs, executives that listen to this show. And we got, we got a lot of nuggets that we're going to, we're going to get out of here and just to get us started, we'll start this episode, the way that we start them all with what we call our mission matters. Minute. So Ron at Mission Matters, our aim and our goal is to amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and experts. That's what we do. Ron, what mission matters to you? Matters to us that we can help small businesses to improve their quality of their life, their employees experience at their business and their customer experience through the work that we provide. We send people into their locations and anonymously they pose as a customer. They complete a report on their experience and report back to us. And then we polish that up and QA it and turn it around to the client. And we have done that for more than 500 small businesses so far and counting. And it really helps to be the eyes and ears of a small business owner when they have multiple locations and how to know that either everything's going okay or not and how to improve if it's not. Yeah, it's great. Great. Great having you on the show. And I got to ask, where'd you come up with this idea? How, how'd you get into this business? Like where'd all that start? Yeah. So 25 years ago, I started my own company. Based on an experience I had at another company that did something similar and they just didn't walk the talk. And so I thought I could try to do it better. I got lucky, which you need in business. Somebody offered to back me financially that saw something in me. And I'm up on their offer and took that and ran with it. And then about three years ago, four years ago, saw a need in the small business community because everybody in the community for my parent company was going after very large organizations, which we do, but everyone was ignoring small businesses and that's the lifeblood of our country. So we saw a need based on our experience and we really wanted to try to help out. So I want, I want to stay in those early days a little, a little bit longer. I know it was a little bit ago, right? But I want to stay there a little bit longer because and we'll, we're definitely going to get into the transition and I'm, we're gonna, I want to see these parallels and how you saw the need for small businesses started dressing them because I love when that happens, by the way, not just in your business, but in many when you know, a lot of times the model for different businesses is to serve enterprise clients. Then over time through that teaching, sometimes some of the things they're able to do get to now be used with smaller businesses and scaled in a different way because it can finally be done over time. So I want to get into that. But those early days, What was that like, man? Like, you're just starting your business. Was this, was this one of your first businesses or were you always an entrepreneur? Like, how did that, how was that piece of it? Yeah, no, it was my first business. I had worked for an entrepreneur that sold her company to a much larger company. I became part of that organization and quickly realized that that wasn't for me. I wanted to work myself into a life and quit working myself to death. I wanted to prioritize family and personal time, especially and really kind of have it be my own. So you went from a 40 hour week to a 100 hour week in the beginning, or how did that work? Like, give us the real, Ron. Yeah, I probably went from about 60 hours to 80 hours. Okay, got it. All right. I always got to follow that up with that one because that's what we think when we go into it, right? Yeah, and we didn't have any kids at the time, but, you know, we're kind of planning for that. And so I was trying to establish things so that I could prioritize that and be with my family. And then as we grew a little bit and had some success, I added team members, got lucky that some people wanted to come work for us. And some of them are still here. 20 some years later. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Very fortunate to have some long time team members and clients. Structured it so that I could prioritize my personal time and my family. What do you attribute some of that longevity in terms of staff or otherwise, or that just that piece of success. And the reason I asked this question, by the way, Ron is because I'm of the thought process that some of the things that are out there about, you know, people have to job hop or be at all these different places or whatever. The system. Against right gig economy, all these other things, but I just say, I'll just say admission matters. I mean, we've have individuals that have been with us for us since basically the beginning. And I feel like we're trying to do our best to, you know, keep them and to keep them interested in to provide opportunities, obviously, but I'm just curious from your end because you've been in business much longer than myself. Like, like, what do you attribute some of that longevity and, you know, staff sticking around? Yeah. So with our team members, I would say it's kind of the golden rule thing, right? We really try to, you know established some values that we could let everybody follow. And hopefully they had shared the same values treat them like adults. Never wanted anybody to have to ask permission to go to personal things or their kids school plays and things like that. Just, you know, kind of let us know when you're going to be gone so we could plan around it. Put a lot of trust in them, gave them a lot of responsibility and accountability, which people tend to like if they have the responsibility. Okay. And just really try to, you know, make it one big team that way. With clients, we we have a set of core values. That we established formally about six years ago And the very first one is serve the client above all else and it really says everything clients are number one in our In our minds all the time and everybody that comes on board with us and everybody that's been here for a while really follows that So and thank you for sharing that because that that's helpful. And I want to go a little bit further Further down in the timeline in this story. So now, obviously you've been in business a long time. You've been working with these larger clients, these larger companies. Sometimes for a company, especially one that's been around for decades to do something new, to try something new, like what you were doing is already working. So for you to now think about like branching off into the small business market, like what, was that an easy choice or like, like talk to me a little bit about that. It was an obvious choice. Based on the data that we had from our marketing spend, we were turning away 65 to 70 percent of all of our incoming leads because they were too small for us to want to work with. So we, when we saw that, it really kind of woke us up and started us thinking about how could we come up with a solution for that. And so after a little bit of thinking and some time, we came up with what we now call customer optics, which is a self serve platform for small business owners to use. Yeah. And so I mean, some, some people would have made that would have kind of looked at that decision, looked at those numbers and they might have said, well, you know, we're turning them away, but maybe we have to change the marketing. Maybe we have to do that. You saw opportunity there, you saw opportunity there. Like what, what, what happens next in like kind of looking at that opportunity? Cause you could have went either way with that decision. What happens next in terms of like implementation? Like, what did that look like? So I called my senior team together and kind of laid out my crazy idea and my vision for them. And they're a great sounding board. They're a good set of guide rails for me sometimes, because I get a little out there from time to time. We all need them. We all need those guide rails, man. I know. And I, you know, you kind of do a crazy check, right? Am I crazy to make this? And everybody kind of looked around the room and thought, you know, that can be pretty good. Wow. Then you just kind of lay out a plan and you think about everything you need to think about and everything you might need to do. And then you just kind of start plowing ahead. So, so like in any business that's, you know, whether it's a new business or you're starting a new division or new profit center, you're obviously aiming to serve a need. So you mentioned like, you know, 60 percent or whatever the number was of leads coming in that you're turning away. Like what were some of the challenges that these businesses were facing and why they were reaching out to you? What were some of those challenges that you felt you could address? Yeah. So it comes from small business owners that sell directly to consumers and, you know, in any kind of market, whether it's food or, or coffee or retail or automotive dealerships, things like that. Once they get more than one location, they can't be everywhere at once. And the small business owner is going to be a little paranoid and think, well, what's going on over at this place versus the place that I'm at today. And it becomes a little stressful for them and they're always wondering. So. What we can do is be their eyes and ears in those other locations when they're not there. They may have had a run of bad social media reviews with all the different review sites that are out there and the ranking sites and things like that. And sometimes there's some detail in there and sometimes there isn't. Our services can be used to pinpoint exactly what's going on if they get something like that. It can also pinpoint things that help them reward their employees and managers when they're doing something really well, which we find all the time, in addition to the stuff that they need to work on. Yeah. What, what before we go further, cause I do want to get in the weeds on this, like what kind of industries or niches you mentioned selling coffee, selling this, selling that. Is there any specific industries you work with more than one versus the other, or is it agnostic or give us the flavor for that? Yeah, sure. We work probably in 30 different industries at any given time, but the big ones are restaurants, retail, apartment management, self storage and automotive and automotive can be car dealers or they can be service places. So now, now going further into the new solution that you created for the, for, for business owners, that's a self serve platform. Now I'm guessing that this thing is going to be pretty easy to use. Like it's not going to take a huge amount of setup or time or anything like that. Like, like talk to me about like the user experience of what went, what goes into that. Yeah, we try to make it as easy as possible again, because small business owners are super busy. That's the thing. I'm a small business owner, Ron. I'm like, the first thing you're telling me is if I got this ramp on time of, I don't know how X amount of months, or I got to do this and that you already lost me, man. So talk to me about the, about the small business owners. Yeah. I mean, the vision that I had was somebody driving in their car, multitasking on their phone, and we didn't want them to get it into an accident. So we tried to make it super easy to sign up and learn and then sign up with it. You can literally set it up within about 10 minutes at the very most. Wow. You pick a form, a questionnaire based on your industry and type of business within in this industry. For example, in the restaurant industry, we probably have 12 or 15 different kinds of questionnaires from fine dining to quick serve. Do you tell us where your locations are, which is plugged into a Google maps very easily. How often you want us to be there and how often you want us to evaluate you, whether it's online or over the phone or through your website. Pay with a credit card and you're done. So literally within five, five, 10 minutes, you have something up and run. Wow, that's amazing. And so think, and now thinking about the type of data and the insight that, that the business owner can get from going through this process. There's no, for somebody that's maybe never, Work with a company like yours because maybe they didn't have the choice, the chance to because maybe they were one of that 60 percent or so of leads that were, you know, reaching out to either your company or another's and they only work with enterprise, right? Or other things like, so like, what kind of things can people expect for those that maybe haven't gone down this path? Like, what does that data give them the power to do? Like talking a little bit more about like kind of the end product. It helps them to understand whether their policies and processes are being followed at the store level so that their customers are being taken care of like they want them to. Yeah, they all have training programs. They all have policy manuals and things like that. Once it gets into actual delivery in the field, they sometimes fall apart. People don't follow them. People forget them. If you don't train them enough, things like that. So we can help them identify if those are being followed. We bring back a lot of detailed comments from our people that go out and do the work or do it online about what that experience was like and specific to the questions that are listed. What, what was that experience like? How quick were they served? Were they friendly? How were they friendly? You know, things along those lines, we can tell them if people are being honest in their business, if there's cash involved, things like that, we can tell them if they're always smiling, if they, you know, how their personality is compared to other places. A lot of things like that. So you've been doing this a long time. I'm sure you got some stories, man. Give me a story. Like you don't have to give a name of a business, but what have you seen like as the end result of this? Like, I hear what you're saying high level, but what does that mean? Like, give me a story, man. Yeah. So we have a client true grid hospitality. They have several restaurants down in central and Southeast Florida. And they were having some challenges with some social media reviews and survey complaints, and they came to us seeking some help to really pinpoint that info. And we were able to go into their locations and really help them understand exactly what was going on and point out specifically where they could improve. And then they took that and ran with it so that to the point where when they opened a new location they used our information to hit the ground running just a lot smoother than they normally would have and What is always a chaotic situation when you open a new restaurant? Yeah, and that and so that means to me especially when for a new restaurant when I think about How long it takes and I you have the data i'm sure more than me But how long it takes for somebody actually to sell? Stop into a new restaurant. So you, a lot of times, especially if you're just establishing yourself in that area, that market or that neighborhood, like you got one shot, they got to have a bad experience though. That bad experience, you only get to be new once, right? So you're really establishing that base. As soon as you plant your flag and then everything else from there, you just got to figure it out. So the, for those first ones, like for them to hit the ground running, like who knows what that means long term, right. If they can start like stronger, Stronger. And you're really hoping to lock those customers in right away because there's no shortage of competition in the restaurant industry and most industries. But like you said you get one shot to make the first impression If it's really bad, they may not come back if it's just average they might but you definitely want to Put your best foot forward as quickly as you can and we can definitely help with that Yeah, you mentioned autos is another one another one of the niches that you're pretty heavy in like what what might that look like? Yeah, so it could be either sales or service and with sales it can start these days. Everybody starts online You're looking at different car sales websites, including the dealership and and other you know more generic large car sales websites, you're finding what you might be interested in and what you like. And then you may contact the dealer through a website that would result then and maybe a phone call. And so we're evaluating that whole process. And then you would go onsite and meet with them and go through it. Very typical customer buying experience for auto sales, including going to the finance office. Being sold extra products and how they react to that how they try to sell them Whether they're trying to sell them at all things like that. Yeah, and speaking of going on site. This is nationwide Yes, or what areas geographies? Yeah, we have about a million two people in north america that have opted into our panel And so we can get everywhere geographically in north america, and we currently shop in I think 43 states And we shopped in all 50 so far So we talked about it on one end from the kind of the business side of it and obviously the business owner side What about the shopper side? Like what does that look like? Yeah, that's a great question So shoppers are independent contractors they opt into everyone's panel and they tend to go where They're taken care of and also where the pay is highest because most of them are doing it as supplemental income There's quite a few that do it both for the income and because they're passionate about service and we love those All right, they're they're great to work with like it's like on yelp and some other ones like obviously this is a different model But I mean like some people that love doing that like those are those are gold Like I love when I find somebody that's like that I can follow the reviews and trust it. It's awesome. Go ahead Yeah, they build up a lot of credibility with us. We take very good care of them Our trade association has a, what they call a shopper's choice award, where the shopper community votes on a company. And we've won it 10 years in a row. Now we're the only company that's won it 10 years in a row since its inception. So we're very proud of that. We have a complete scheduling team that works with our field staff all day, every day. And we want them to be taken care of just like we take care of our clients. Man, what's that like managing a million shine? Obviously they're independent contractors, but I'm just trying to fathom this million person like this, but I guess it's all geographies. It's all it's probably based on different preferences and things that they like to write. So you're not, you're not sending maybe the guy to the beauty salon shop to get like on the nail, obviously. Right. I'm just throwing that out there. Yeah. Yeah. We definitely match them up demographically and geographically. They tend to live very close to where they'll do the evaluations. Oh, wow. I'm sorry. I said, Oh, wow. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. We do a lot of virtual evaluations now so they could be anywhere. But for the most part, when we're doing an onsite, they're going to live very close to that. And then we're just trying to match them up demographically so that things like education, income, age, if that's appropriate, gender, things like that, we've matched them up to what the client profile is, or sometimes clients really request something very specific in that regard. That's great. Well, Ron I just have to say, this is great. I, like I said, in the beginning of this interview, I love when a company's been, you know, working with enterprise or really large clients over time, which again, have usually the budget that can fund to a business like yours, being able to be built over time and being able to, you know, Create that infrastructure it takes. Right. But then for you to make the decision to take some of that learning that you've used, helping these other companies that were big, get bigger to, for small business owners, like that's, that's where I'm in it. I'm like, man, that's awesome. I love it. I love that you and your team went down that path. Because I know a lot of businesses are going to benefit from that knowledge. And then correct me if I'm wrong here. Like the fact that even working with a company like yours, that's been in business doing this for so long, there's gotta be other data and insights that just come from the, from your processes. And just from being, you've seen so many, you've already served so many businesses and then these different niches. Am I off on that? Like there's gotta be some overlap in the learning. Yeah, there definitely is. We bring a lot of data and information to our clients across industries because everybody wants to know what their competition is doing. Yeah. Sometimes they also want to just be way better. So we work in everything from deep discount to luxury retail, and we can bring those best practices to all of our clients without naming names and giving away confidential information. So we can help them. Raise the bar and essentially wherever they want and show them lots of data for comparison sake and also Where they should strive to get to whether it's net promoter scores or straight up scores on our reports Ron, this has been excellent. I appreciate you coming on the show. Last question. What's next? I mean, what's next for you? What's next for the company? Yeah, for me, I really enjoy what I do. I love my team. They take really good care of our clients and they make my job easy. So for us, it's going to be on the customer optics side. We're going to be adding online review management. So small businesses will be able to have us not only evaluate their locations, Very specifically, but we'll be able to handle all of their online reviews, whether it's in Google, Yelp, Facebook, or wherever handle that for them and also bring them more positive ratings into those so that they have a higher rating and hopefully generate more business. Amazing. How do people follow up? How do they learn more website, social otherwise? Yeah. So customer optics which ends with an X dot com. Is our website we're on social media on Facebook and Instagram. So we'd love to talk to anybody. Amazing. And for everybody listening, just so you know, we'll put the links to that and the websites and in the show notes so that you can just click on the links and head right on over and speaking to the audience, if this is your first time with mission matters, and you haven't hit that subscribe or follow button yet, we'd We welcome you hit that button because this is a daily show each and every day. We're bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button and Ron appreciate you coming on, man. Appreciate all you do. Thank you. Thank you. It's great to be with you.
