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Brand Growth Strategy: Turning Retail Feedback into Scalable Expansion with Larry Reines · The Growth Class with Phil Masiello

• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, everybody, and welcome back to the growth class, where we talk a lot about operational reality of building a brand, the parts that aren't always pretty, but are absolutely essential for growth.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: So my guest today has spent over 30 years navigating exactly that in one of the most competitive spaces out there, the fashion industry, shoes, fashion, whatever you want to call it.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's held leadership positions at some of the massive names you'll you'll recognize, like Sam Edelman and and uh Yossi Samra.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: But today he's the CEO and president of Flofers.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's a guy who understands how to take a product line, restructure a business for profitability, and build the kind of stakeholder relationships that actually last.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, Larry, thanks for taking the time to come on.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I appreciate it.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And why don't you give us a little bit of your background so hopefully I didn't butcher it too bad.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: No, thank you so much, Phil.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pleasure to be here and to and to share.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm 38 years in the footwear industry.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I started in Nina Footwear and we spent 14 years.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I started basically working at the very lowest level of the company uh in the warehouse, working shoes, customer service, and then I ended up touching all different parts of the company, and it set such a great foundation because when you when you learn what it takes to get things going in a business and you learn at 360, you become more knowledgeable.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you you're able to help people when they're uh when you're in a leadership position, because now you understand what they had to go through in order to get the job done.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I've d I started with Nina.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: I went over to Sam Edelman.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um I've had some small uh businesses, Martinez Valero, always in the women's fashion fashion industry.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: And uh most recently an album with with Flofers, um it was uh I took on this stint because it was uh it's what I call it, it was I I swore off the footwear industry, but when I saw this product, I said, I don't know if this is really shoes.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I and maybe yeah, it's shoes, but it's not really shoes.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I was able to actually take two two skill sets.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: One is uh how to how to groom people, how to build teams, how to how to uh work product, and and um and then footwear.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: It is it is something you put on your shoes, so I was able to use my footwear knowledge and and all the sourcing that I've done um throughout my life.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I I had a really good foundation uh to take this company to the next level.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: And here we are today.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Yeah.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Tell what i what is flofers?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because uh I don't know if everybody's familiar with them.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I know that they go on your feet and their shoes, but you you always characterize it as not necessarily fashion but more functional.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell So So the the the the the actual founder of the company, Hayes um was a boater and he loved taking vacations and he would go on his father's boat with his with his crocs.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: And um the the the crocs were wonderful and they served a purpose.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And what he noticed when his friends were over and his father was there on the boat and they'd get back in, he'd kick everyone off, they were on the boat.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh wasn't a wasn't really where they wasn't a good time for them to they were slipping, they were sliding.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Crocs is a great product, but it doesn't necessarily work in the water environment.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: So what happened here was they they were kicked off the boat to go into the the clubhouse, and they all had to put on their loafers, and someone sort of said, Hey Hayes, what do you think?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Can you take a loafer and take a croc and mix it up?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um here we are today.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're with a we're with a a great product.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it it it works.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: We the our point of difference is that we put a rubber bottom on uh on our shoe here, and it actually functions really well in in that water environment.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it uh we've we've taken it to a different level since, but that that's what the DNA was.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So who you're who who's your target market?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Are you targeting boaters?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Are you targeting beach people?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Are you just targeting everyday pool people?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell Well, so that's the that was where the DNA started.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And as uh you know, w when you start with a company, you have an idea and everything sort of takes on a life of its own.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: And what happened was the loafer really took on uh in in the children's market.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we did an amazing job with the with the men's, we did a good job with the women's, and then the kids' business became something because what we noticed with the kids was that they're able to take this, they're able to run with it, they're able to play with it, they're able to put it on very easily.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't fall off, so it has an amazing function.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then it makes them feel very important.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: They look good in it.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: They they they there was a time when I first started here, and you're listening to your consumers and you're listening to your retailers about what the product you're selling into them was.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: And what what they said was, you know, the these kids are putting shoes on for the first time, and they they feel this sense of independence and they feel this power, and they like it and it's comfortable, and then they don't take it off.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: And the and then the benefit is, of course, you you could run with it because it's got a rubber bottom.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: You could get it dirty.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's EVA, so you can clean it off.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: So the parents love it because it's very easy to clean, it's very easy to maintain, and it always looks like a new pair of shoes.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we sort of got moved into that that area as well as taking mommy and me and dad, a dad and lad.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: So the our businesses expanded with the with the children's as a base, um, which grew the most, and and now we're we're servicing you know uh men's women and kids.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: But the kids is really what took us to the next level.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, that's interesting.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so are you selling through you're selling through retailers?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: You or are you selling some direct?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're online with uh Amazon, Zappos, Nordstrom, DSW, uh Beals, uh Belks.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a we have a good selection of of uh good selection of retailers that we work with.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: The the powerhouse and the foundation is 450 retailers.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: What you get there is you get immediate feedback from consumers.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: You get immediate feedback, you deliver the shoe, and the next day you find out if it's good or bad.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh just because they're they're entrepreneurs.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone has their own small little store and they're like, this blue is really great.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: This pink is wonderful.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it helps us react really good to the in in the larger sense, right?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because we're doing it with more than just uh smaller retailers.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: But we we uh the same thing follows through for all retail channels.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, smaller retailers, they definitely give you feedback a lot faster.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I remember when um we uh uh we were in the shaving business and we had one of the big shaving companies, uh razor companies make our make our razor.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And they gave us this razor, and the uh the attachment part with the where the head hits the handle, uh we had problems with it.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they said, you know, we've been using that attachment for for years.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: We never heard anything back.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And and it was because these guys were selling into Walmart and Target and, you know, all these major retailers, non-independent.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: So they never got any feedback.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we said, well, you know, you got a problem.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so when they started having their salespeople who were responsible for some of these accounts going in and asking, they started finding out that, yeah, customers were returning the product to the retailer uh because they had a problem with this clip mechanism.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, smaller retailers, yeah, I see what you're saying.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: You could have a a conversation with.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: When when you get into the big retailers like guys with a thousand stores, it's much more difficult to get that instant feedback.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell Yeah.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: You don't get instant feedback, but you get much more granular feedback, right?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: So well, on a larger scale, you're we are able to do a great job reacting with our bigger clients because you you do see you see the trends.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: And they're and they're longer lasting trends, right?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Yeah.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you obviously you're gonna you're you're looking to continually grow.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: You've got uh I'm I'm sure you've got some sort of a mandate to grow to get to a certain amount.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think is is your biggest bottleneck right now to growth?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: We're um we're we're playing with different products, we're playing with different licenses.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so we're using licensing uh and in some respect for growth as well as uh new product lines.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we are trying, we've we brought in a rain boot last year because most of the flofers, they're great.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: I explained to their water they're they're water friendly, they're summer friendly, they're not winter friendly.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we're trying to fill the void of having a consistent product to to deliver throughout the year.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and the fourth quarter is is is not not our favorite time here.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's the low point of the season.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're basically uh, you know, first nine months of the year, we do great.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: So when you say you're you're you're working with licensing, you're talking about, you know, licensing from like like the Disney characters and things like that?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: We we had a we've had a Crayola um collaboration.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: We've had a Hardy collaboration, the country's the singer uh loves the product, where's the product?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um we've we've done something with Brawl Stars where we actually created their characters and we put them on on the foot.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we're um we're we're working to get the secret sauce going.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's uh that's that's a cool uh a cool thing.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: The only experience I've ever had with licensing was I have a friend who has a um he's got a uh um augmented reality uh virtual reality company, and they were approached by Walmart to do Walmart was bringing in branded like plates and stuff for little kids, and they had done this thing where you could scan an image and it would come to life.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: It would dance and do all kinds of things if you had the app, and it was really cool.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, I helped them with that whole thing because they had to figure out like the whole licensing piece with Walmart about how to handle this because they were essentially taking the character and changing the character inside the app, which broke the licensing agreement with what Walmart had.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: So they had to figure that out.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty complex, but ultimately it worked really well.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: They did a whole thing with uh Under Armour when Under Armour uh launched the sneaker for um I can't remember which basketball player, but they uh you could scan the sneaker and then he uh Jay it was j um what it was Jason uh what's his name?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: He would pop out and he would, you know, talk and do all kinds of stuff.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty neat.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know so you know, licensing is is it's not easy, but I can see what you're doing.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's definitely helps with sales.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: So Well it gives us a great exposure.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: It you know, it it it does give us new clients, um and and it it sort of is a way to crow from the mountaintop saying, look what we're doing here.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh with with a with a good branded partner that puts their trust in us to deliver a product that they're proud of, right?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we're answering to a higher source.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell No, it's great.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're you're 100% right, especially if if the kids are expanding the market for you, because the kids are all gonna gravitate towards those sort of uh you know branded products, those those partner branded products.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's uh that's a pretty interesting way of going about it.
• 12:24
  unknown: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: But not only that's yeah, go ahead.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: But it but it also is the mothers, right?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: So the mothers are really buying the shoes for the kids as well.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: And when they see uh a trusted brand, that that gives them a comfort level and and it it and it helps.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Gets that product.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Yeah.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you joined the company, but you actually took over the company wasn't doing well, and that was the reason you came in, was it not?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So Yeah, go ahead.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: No, it was uh three years ago they that I was brought in by the investor group to to take the company and and to make to make they everyone felt that when they look at the product, they said, that's amazing.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that we learned again by listening was that when you put the product on, you really feel what it what what it was about.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it it was like we we we were we had critical mass, but we we won't the company wasn't going and growing as much as it should have, because e EVA at that point was was during COVID.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's when Crocs had their big uh big growth sport from I think 22 on.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Everything came about comfort, EVA became accepted as as footwear.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um Birkenstock also made their sandal in the same way.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: So EVA became commonplace and the the company wasn't growing like it should, and that's what the uh that's what my phone rang at, basically.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell And and so what do you think if you could identify one thing, one major change that you solved in taking that over uh that you think had the biggest impact to get the growth that you were looking for, what would you say it was?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: The biggest thing was just to listen to the retailer and to see where the product was going and where it worked and where it didn't work.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because there was a lot of different product when I came in.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was a lot of inventory, and we had it we had to just find out where is it that we take and where, you know, where's the low-hanging fruit, if you will, that we're able to grab a hold of and then lean into.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it turned out that the kids' business um was the answer for us.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell That's smart.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: So so you think that your focus on the kids' business sort of propelled it?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Just as I think about it, do you think that that if the kids get into it that the parents wind up getting into it?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Yeah.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: It becomes a a mom and me, a dad and lad.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's sort of fun when um when you're looking over the orders that come in from either uh dropship partners or just from our e-commerce to see families ordering and to see what they're ordering and to see how they're ordering.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: And to just again, it's uh we we totally believe culturally in the organization that you have to listen.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Spend a lot of time listening because that's what makes you smart.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we watch.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: You have to listen to the data, you have to watch the data.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: And when we see the the blue shoes and three colors coming, one adult and two kid sizes, we know it's a dad and lad type of purchase.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: So how you how do you analyze the data?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Is it you have you have some AI tools or you're just doing it manually or uh we do both.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: We have we are we we are using AI to augment what we look at, but there's there's nothing like being in the in the you know in the trenches and really looking at the data uh on and on.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I I do look at orders, I uh obviously not every single one of them, but you know, you o you have you have to learn something.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: You have to learn.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: You have to touch grass, if you will.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: You have to always get to your root and you have to get to real life.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And as great as AI is, sometimes you miss the learning process of looking at data.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: When you look at data, some it tells a story, it tells you something.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um so when someone else does it for you, you don't always get to see something.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what that something is right now, but there's something out there that we learn from it.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, always.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I agree with that.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think um some people are taking AI a little bit too far and they're getting lazy with it.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they get lazy in the fact that they're they're trying to build their ads and their videos with it.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you could destroy your brand pretty quickly by having fake, inauthentic ads.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I also think people get lazy with data.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: I love AI and I love, you know, we first started using it for that very reason, for data analysis.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, you're right, you have to really know what you're trying to dig for.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you just say, hey, take this data, extrapolate it, and tell me what it says, you know, you're being lazy and you're not going to get to the root of what you're really looking for.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think it's great for like the consolidation of data and you know, giving it to you in a in a way that you can sort of scan it and try and figure out what you're looking for.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I learned I learned a big lesson from uh Pink Floyd, which which is when you listen to their music, right?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Their music what what makes it super special is the spaces in between the notes, right?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so the when you look at data, there's the same thing.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's so what you see, but then there are things that you don't see.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're getting it done by AR, there's you're gonna miss it.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: For for us, one of the things that's always interesting is uh where where do we sell most and where's our our core customer base?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: And when we look at that, we notice what's not there.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's what's there.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we know what's there, and that's good, but if you only look at what's there, you're not seeing what you're missing.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we always look at what the bottom half is to as well, because you're not gonna always see that.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why you have to touch grass.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Yeah, no, I agree.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Pink Floyd fan, are you?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: I have uh I uh I I love Pink Floyd and Dark Side of the Moon is uh still it's one of my favorite albums, and I have like 15 variations of it, you know.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I I tell my kids it's the greatest, it's the second greatest album ever made, ever, ever produced, you know.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: They say, well, that's what's the best?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: I say, well, either Revolver or Sgt.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Pepper by the Beatles, because if you didn't have those albums with that structure and that methodology, you wouldn't have gotten Dark Side of the Moon.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then after that, you know, and they go, Oh, Dark Side of the Moon.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I said, that go and look up the stats.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: That that that album was on the charts for 852 weeks.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: I said, so it it spanned three decades.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy, right?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's crazy, but you know, I love it.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love that album.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: I can listen to that album over and over oh, every day.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I could listen to it.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um Yeah, so I mean I I think it's interesting.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think turnarounds, uh well, not necessarily turnarounds, but maybe static, stagnant businesses when somebody new comes in, especially somebody with your background, um, and can bring it to a higher level.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think I always find that to be interesting because I think sometimes the problem with a business, especially a startup, is you know, the the founder can only take it so far and then he stagnates or he misses it, or he doesn't, you know, he's he gets stuck in a silo in his head, um his or her head, and they can't sort of look beyond.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and sometimes it takes a guy like you to come in and look beyond.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Would you say that that was sort of the case here?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Yeah, I really it's it was it's all about perspective and what you see.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: When when when I came in, I I saw things differently than than the than before.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um I speak to the founder every month, we have a nice conversation, I update them, we uh I get uh I bounce ideas off of them.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it it's a it's a wonderful relationship.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I always stick to the DNA, you know, you got to keep the DNA going.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I my my the way I see things and the way I look at it uh is definitely different than the previous uh group.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it it's turned out to be uh a good growth shot, uh good time of growth.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Do you think you look at it more as a um marketer or as a shoe person?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Or how d what do you think you you do differently?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: What do you how do you think you look at things differently?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I do both.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I I first is I built a big team.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: I brought in people who I could trust to do the different what I can't do.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm I'm not growing right.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I need someone who to do what I can't do.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: So my my partner in crime, David, uh, is right there with me.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: We work well together because it's like peanut butter and jelly.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're not trying to fight each other, there's no competition, and we're just trying to take this business and grow it.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we look at it by listening.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we don't we're not conventional, we're not trying to to to build something new, we're trying to listen to what it is and then to say this is our brand, and then we scream and we say, This is how this is who we are, this is why we are the way we are.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: And the more that we speak what our brand is, a family-focused brand, based on adventure, based on, you know, ease and independence and comfort and versatility, those words all of a sudden resonate with so many different retailers.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: And when you don't talk about this is my shoe, but this is my this is what happens when people put on our product, that's where we're that's why we're growing.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we're getting to the next step.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're not trying to sell someone a shoe, but we're trying to sell someone the experience of what they can get, what they can get with their family.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: We were speaking to a potential investor the other day, and he said, you know, uh I just want to tell you before we talk business is that my son put on we we were going out, it was a su it was a Monday meeting, so on Sunday Sunday, he said, We're going out, guys.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Go grab your shoes and I'll meet you outside.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: And both of his kids picked up the flofers, put it on, and ran outside.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it was at that moment where he said, My God, it's easy.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: And they love it and they're wearing it.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: And there's something about that experience that he had watching his kids, who were, I think they were four and six, put on their own shoes and run outside made his day.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it was enough for him to, you know, be interested in our company because he says that type of experience is what families want.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's what moms want.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's what dads want.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's it's definitely better, especially from a marketing perspective, when you're telling the story about your product and you're telling a story about the experience your product gives.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because people don't buy, they they don't they don't buy the features.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: They they buy the experience, they buy the benefit of how does it make them feel?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: They don't really care about what you say, they care about themselves.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of brands miss that.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: They they start pounding features and price and and it doesn't work.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to start talking about the feeling, the emotion.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that that's where we're that that's it.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that is marketing, right?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: That is it's marketing through listening.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's not from a book.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell No, it's marketing through listening, marketing through storytelling.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so um we've got we've got about a minute left uh just to wrap up.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh any last parting words you would want to give to anybody founding a business, starting a business, trying to rebuild a business?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I know.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean my my I guess a lot of I've used the word listening a lot because that's that's what has gotten us to the next level here.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it's not who we think we are, it's it's what we are and who is Flofer and what is Flofers.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: And w when we heard enough, then we were able to take that and grow on that.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we've put that into the product, we put that into the people, and it's it's it's the way we speak in our culture here.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's about helping people, it's about watching people, it's about listening, learning.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the UGC that we see come through.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's just the greatest thing when you see kids smiling and happy and putting on their own shoes and running around and they're dirty but they're clean.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's it's it's it's energetic.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Most people that are running brands today that we interface with are so feature focused and so focused on their product that they miss that they're looking for exactly what you said.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: They're listening and they're looking for what's not there.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: You're 100% right.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's the storytelling, it's talking about how the what the brand is and how the brand makes the customer feel.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: No, and and interestingly enough, it is talking about the product because the product's the star.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: You're 100% right.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate you taking the time to come on.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and again, anybody wants to look at your product, they could just go to flofers.com, right?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, flowfers.com.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and it's probably in a retailer near near them where they'll find it online, right?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it, Larry.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh unfortunately we have we run out of time, but thank you for coming on.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for the time today.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was great.