Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Kate Winkler on Improving the Customer Experience with Ruby

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Kate Winkler on Improving the Customer Experience with Ruby · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  Data is your best friend because it's unemotional.
• 0:03
  It's very, very, very factual.
• 0:06
  And so it's not waving a finger at you.
• 0:08
  It's just saying Hey.
• 0:09
  You you have a problem digging a little bit.
• 0:11
  Or more importantly, you've got a problem coming.
• 0:15
  You can prevent that if you react now.
• 0:19
  Hi.
• 0:19
  This is Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady host of the small bizchett podcast.
• 0:23
  I want to serve you this pandemic has been so hard on America's small businesses and on just
• 0:29
  America in general.
• 0:31
  If you're ready to start your dream business, boy, do I have a great offer for you?
• 0:35
  I am giving away 1000 copies of my best selling book, become your own boss in 12 months.
• 0:41
  Over a hundred thousand people have this book has been printed in multiple languages around
• 0:46
  the world, and I wanted to find a way to serve America's small businesses in this pandemic.
• 0:51
  And so I am giving away a 1000 copies of my book.
• 0:55
  All you have to do to get your copy is head over to beginmybiz.com/ free offer to, you
• 1:02
  know, sign up for your copy.
• 1:03
  All you have to do is pay shipping, and we will mail one out to you.
• 1:07
  I am so excited about this.
• 1:09
  I wanna serve you, grab your copy today.
• 1:12
  I left off.
• 1:14
  Ending small business failure.
• 1:16
  Welcome to the small biz chat podcast with a number one small business expert, Melinda
• 1:22
  Emerson.
• 1:23
  Bolinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you information you
• 1:27
  need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
• 1:31
  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
• 1:34
  Melinda Emerson.
• 1:37
  Hi, everybody.
• 1:38
  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small bus lady.
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  America's number one small business expert And I am so excited to welcome you to another
• 1:45
  edition of smallbiz chat.
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  The goal of the smallbiz chat podcast is to give our small business audience an opportunity
• 1:53
  to hear stage advice from multiple angles so that you can take your small business to the
• 1:58
  next level.
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  And I am so excited because my guest is the CEO of Ruby.
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  I've got Kate Winkler here.
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  And she is going to talk to us about Ruby.
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  You know, she became the CEO almost 2 years ago after a 25 year career in the technology
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  sector.
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  She's worked with small and large businesses through various stages of growth, and she was a
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  small business leader herself.
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  She fell in love with Ruby's purpose driven mission to serve small business and to help
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  them survive and thrive through real human connections.
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  Ruby works with over 13,000 businesses across the US to connect with their customer's
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  clients, and they do that by phone and online.
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  So they provide virtual, reception services and chat specialists to create meaningful human
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  connections and build loyalty and trust.
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  And they do it 7 days a week, 3 65.
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  So, you know, they are never not there for their customers.
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  So I'm so excited to have you here with me today, Kate.
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  And I also wanna mention that, you know, Forbes Magazine highlighted Ruby is one of the best
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  small companies to work for in the US, and that's no small thing to get because that means
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  your employees said you were great.
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  So I'm so excited to have you here with me, Kate, I, as I said, I know about your company
• 3:26
  and have referred people to your company.
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  So it's so nice to actually get a chance to talk to you.
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  So welcome to the Small Bishop podcast.
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  Thank you so much for having me today, Melinda.
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  I am I am a huge proponent of all of the guidance and the advice that you give small
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  businesses because I think our purpose is very similar this is about making sure we have a
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  healthy, sustainable, small business community.
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  That's right.
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  And it's worth saying that, you know, small business owners create 70 to 80 percent of the
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  net jobs in America.
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  So if you don't think you need to be supporting a small business, I don't know who you think
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  you need to be supporting, but think about it.
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  You support a small business that means you're supporting your local community.
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  So, Kate, tell me tell me your origin story.
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  Right?
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  I mean, you you came from somewhere.
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  So tell me how you got on this road and and became CEO of Ruby.
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  You know, it's it's it's a funny story because I have the opportunity to meet Jill Nelson, the
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  founder Ruby, who anyone who's ever met Jill, she is this amazing entrepreneur that just has
• 4:35
  such a driven purpose and passion about small businesses.
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  And I met her while I was actually working interestingly enough in Investment Banking.
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  So I had had a career building and running small technology companies, and I took a little
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  bit of a break and said, you know what?
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  Maybe I should shift to helping more small businesses grow by getting into the financing
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  side of the business, helping them get properly funded.
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  So I did that for about 10 years, And, and interestingly enough, Ruby was one of those
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  companies that I had the opportunity to meet to say, we really wanna we wanna find a way to
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  meet and help more small businesses, can you help us?
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  And I remember my first conversation with Jill, and she was explaining what they do.
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  And I said, Oh, you're an answering service.
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  This.
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  And I thought she was gonna jump through the phone and shit.
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  And I'm like, you know, like, what did I say wrong?
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  She's like, oh, you don't get it.
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  And I said, clearly not, but I wanna get it.
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  Help me.
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  And, she said get on a plane and come to Portland.
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  So I did.
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  And I flew and went into a ruby service center, and what I saw was nothing like I have ever
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  seen in my life.
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  And what it really was is Ruby's are small business advocates.
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  They take time.
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  They are purposeful.
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  They are passionate about what they do.
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  They understand the value of they create time in the day of a small business owner.
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  They're helping screen calls.
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  They're taking on someone's brand in reputation, and they take this job very, very,
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  very seriously.
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  And all throughout the halls in a Ruby, you can stop anyone and say my job here is to help
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  small businesses thrive.
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  And I think we all know in the last 18 months has been a little bit more on the survive so we
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  can get back to thrive, but it was such an amazing business.
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  So I had the pleasure of working with Jill many, many years ago.
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  This was probably about 2017 to about maybe there are new ways to grow the business and
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  offer services, new channels, like partners to get to finding more small businesses and
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  avenues like chat.
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  And so, worked with her for about 6 months, then went back to my merry way and, and was
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  working with a bunch of other businesses.
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  And she called me and told me she was retiring.
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  And, and I said, oh my gosh.
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  Let me think of all the people that could help you.
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  She said, what about you.
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  And they just said, oh my gosh.
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  I haven't done this in so long.
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  Are you sure you really want me?
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  Yeah.
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  But we had a fun discussion, and and I'll give her give heard the same advice I would give
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  anyone, say, I am intrigued.
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  I am honored, and but you should run thorough process.
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  And if I'm the person that comes out the other side, this was meant to be, but don't pick me
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  because I'm the easy choice either.
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  And, And I was the one that made it through the other side, and I've been improving out for 2
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  years.
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  Well, I think miss Jill probably knew what she was talking about.
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  She, you know, she wasn't just gonna turn her baby over to anybody.
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  So, obviously, she had an enormous amount of respect and trust for you because It's hard for
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  a small business founder to take their hand off the wheel.
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  I mean, really.
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  Like, it is very, very difficult.
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  So it says a whole lot about you and her that she was willing and able to do that.
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  But that does bring me to my next question for you.
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  So, like, How hard was it to take over the reins from the founder?
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  You know, usually, it's a family member or something like that.
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  So how hard was it to step into Jill's shoes?
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  It was, it was hard, but what I have to say again.
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  Ruby's at their DNA are empathetic in kind.
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  So I went in my first day.
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  Jill was with me.
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  She said, let me tell you why it picked Kate and everyone is gonna be fine because you know
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  what's happening and like, I don't know about you.
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  But it took a little bit of time to say, by the way, I actually came here because I wasn't
• 8:41
  looking for another job.
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  I wasn't saying, yay.
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  I wanna be again.
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  It really was.
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  This was a business that has purpose that really has a true benefit onto community And
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  I'm at that point in my career that I wanna do things that have passionate purpose for them
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  and not just do things for the sake of doing them.
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  And I said, so Let me tell you what I see in Ruby and what drew me to this business.
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  And there was this deflation in the room going, oh, you get it.
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  Like, okay.
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  This is gonna be alright.
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  You get it.
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  And but it was interesting because the transition from a founder run business to if
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  700 employees now, it's they're they're very different styles because founders and
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  entrepreneurs, I'm sure, is you very well know Melinda.
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  They their entire their persona and their financial well-being is tied up in their
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  businesses.
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  And so a lot of decisions to go through one person where everyone who works for me knows,
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  like, that's your job.
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  I don't wanna make that decision.
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  What do you need?
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  Do you need help with that decision?
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  I'll help you, but that's your decision.
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  Let's let's have everyone make decisions.
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  So it was definitely a different shift in style.
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  I like it.
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  I like it.
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  But, so how has how has Ruby evolved?
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  Like, even in the last 2 years, What kinds of things have you put in place to, like, you
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  know, kick it up a notch, if you will?
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  So, Ruby, we have put a bunch of investment into making sure our business can scale because
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  our goal, growth is important, but not just financial growth, it's the ability to truly
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  service and service well as many small business customers that need help.
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  So some of that is doing a better job at gaining awareness of who we are and what
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  virtual reception services and virtual chat services do.
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  So We have a responsibility to generate content and awareness going, do you know these things
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  exist?
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  We can help you.
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  And but making sure our technology will scale as well.
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  And one of the things that I think is really far under the covers for our business like Ruby
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  is how much technology we have because We've got 13,000 customers, and every single customer
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  is different, and they have a different brand, and they have a different persona.
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  And Some of them wanna grow, grow, grow.
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  And some of them are saying, you know, this is a lifestyle business.
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  I just wanna keep it steady.
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  And so we have to understand what are the goals of 1000 different businesses, and how do we
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  support their unique individual goals, their brand, their persona, their office hours, And
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  it's extraordinarily complicated, and we do that with technology.
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  And so we've made a major investment in technology in the last 24 months, to make sure
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  we can do that rapidly and easily at scale so that every customer is its own unique customer.
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  So and we can be flexible and we can provide, way better proactive support to our customers.
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  So rather than waiting for them to call us and say, Hey.
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  I have a problem.
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  We're looking at the data going, hey.
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  I think you have a problem.
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  Yes.
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  Because we can be that leading indicator to them going, Something happened in your phone
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  call volume or your website traffic, did you do something on the marketing side?
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  We see it, and, and let us help you identify that maybe there should be some analysis going
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  on.
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  And so we wanna be the extra set of eyes and ears for our customers to help them make better
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  decisions and to even help them tie ROI on things like marketing spend.
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  Hey, you just ran that new program Let's give it a dedicated phone number and see how it
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  goes.
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  Let's see how that new radio ad works for you or see how that new marketing campaign works
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  for you.
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  I love it.
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  I love it.
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  So you guys are really data data wonks.
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  You guys are up in there.
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  Look at looking at data analytics day at night,
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  We we absolutely are, and and that is one thing.
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  If I if I, I tell this to small businesses a lot is Data is your best friend because it's
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  unemotional.
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  It's very, very, very factual.
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  And so it's not waving a finger at you.
• 13:04
  It's just saying, Hey.
• 13:05
  You you have a problem digging a little bit.
• 13:07
  Or more importantly, you've got a problem coming.
• 13:11
  You can prevent that if you react now.
• 13:14
  And So those are the things that we really are taking on as a business to be that, that
• 13:20
  business partner.
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  So not just the person that's capturing and helping triage all of your inbound demand, but
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  also helping you make better decisions and giving you those flags of, hey, white flags.
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  Something might be happening here.
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  Yeah.
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  So one of the things that I love about you guys is your slogan is we sweat the small stuff.
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  Right?
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  And, like, my whole life, my mom has been like, those what's the smallest stuff and
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  everything's small.
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  You know, my mom's been telling me this for my whole life.
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  And but you guys say, no.
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  No.
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  Let us sweat the small stuff for you.
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  And I really, really like that.
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  Tell me how how you guys kinda came about using that.
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  You know, it's, every year Ruby has a a slogan and sweat the small stuff was 1 year in our
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  customer shoes was another.
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  This year is comes back to sweat, the small stuff, it's about the little things.
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  Those little things really, really, really matter.
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  That moment of kindness and empathy will change someone's day.
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  It really matters.
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  And so those are all the things as we try to connect our receptionist to our customers and
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  to their callers.
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  And because, again, this is about brand and reputation, because if you really think about
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  what our small business customers are doing, they're outsourcing their reputation and their
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  brand to Ruby because we are the first communication and interaction you're going to
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  have with that brand.
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  And that's a big deal.
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  Like, we treat that really, really, really seriously.
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  I like it.
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  I like it.
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  So as I'm thinking about that, I'm like, okay.
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  That's something to really think about.
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  Like, trust when you're especially when you are a service business, you're people can't touch
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  and feel what you sell.
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  Your reputation is is is what you're selling so that building that trust relationship from the
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  first phone call is just so key.
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  And so I that kinda dovetails into my next question about, well, how can leveraging a
• 15:19
  service like Ruby help a small business just strengthen their overall customer experience.
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  Yeah.
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  It it's really 2 simple concepts, and one of those is trust.
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  But I'll start with the first and its opportunities.
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  So as we think about a small business, very often a small business is too busy to answer
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  their phone.
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  It's a plumber that's under a house right now.
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  It's a roofer that's on a house.
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  It's an attorney that's in court.
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  And so the those number of interaction that they're getting, they're missing a very large
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  number of them.
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  But, unfortunately, what's happening is all of those interactions that are coming in 20% of
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  them are new customers.
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  And so those opportunities, those 20% of new customers, they're gonna make a decision in 1
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  hour.
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  So if that opportunity comes and goes within 1 hour, you've lost it.
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  And so our job is to capture every single opportunity.
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  Not the customer, our client might not want every opportunity, but we're gonna capture
• 16:20
  every single one.
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  But if we don't establish trust after cashing that then we've already lost, and that op that
• 16:28
  lead and that opportunity went down the drain as well.
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  And so our next goal is establish trust.
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  And This matters a lot because if we think about where small businesses get their leads
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  and Ruby is no different, it really is about referral.
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  And it's about and its user generated content and feedback about how was my experience with
• 16:51
  this particular company.
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  And if you were to think how many times you get 1 negative review, it takes 12 positive reviews
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  to wipe out the impact.
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  Of one negative review.
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  So trust really, really, really matters.
• 17:07
  And if we think time, If we think about all of the different aspects of, again, where do leads
• 17:13
  come from, if I were to put Ruby's hat on, 40% of all of our leads come from customer or
• 17:20
  partner referrals, people who know us that know our brand, that know our repute reputation,
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  40%.
• 17:28
  And by the way, that's like that's the least expensive type of lead that any business can
• 17:33
  get.
• 17:33
  So We also value creating that brand and reputation because we're also lowering the cost
• 17:39
  for our customers to do business to capture more leads.
• 17:43
  And so as we think about us for, for Ruby, our goal is to capture every opportunity for our
• 17:50
  customers while establishing trust at the same time of giving more time back to our small
• 17:56
  business customers to focus on their passion and their purpose.
• 18:01
  So it's it's a fairly big job and goal for what we wanna do, but for us to do that, our, our
• 18:09
  Ruby and every single one of our receptionists and chat specialists, they have to be connected
• 18:14
  to our customer.
• 18:15
  They have to believe in their passion and their purpose and understand their contribution to
• 18:20
  community.
• 18:21
  And that's, I think, is what really is our secret sauce.
• 18:24
  So let me ask you specifically about the service.
• 18:28
  So what is the biggest difference between your live phone sort of service and your live chat
• 18:35
  service.
• 18:36
  Like, is it just live chat?
• 18:37
  Like, are you are you guys a follow-up to, like, a chatbot service?
• 18:41
  Like, How does your how does your sort of, like, I guess I'm asking how does your online
• 18:45
  service work?
• 18:46
  Because I kinda know how your phone service works.
• 18:49
  Right?
• 18:49
  But I don't understand completely how your online service works.
• 18:53
  So, interestingly enough, for chat, we have 3 different offerings, and they actually work
• 18:58
  seamlessly together because If you were to look at the chat environment, most small businesses
• 19:04
  have not begun to use chat, and it's just an awareness problem definitely not a value
• 19:09
  proposition issue, it's awareness.
• 19:11
  And so if we think about 36% of small businesses don't even have a website still.
• 19:17
  And so that's one problem of going, oof, we can't count.
• 19:21
  You don't have website, but the other 66% that do have a website very often don't even know
• 19:28
  what their traffic is.
• 19:29
  They don't remember who they host their domain with.
• 19:31
  They have no idea how to get chat working on their website, and it's intimidating.
• 19:37
  And so there, so our job is to come in and say, you know what?
• 19:40
  We can do that for you.
• 19:42
  So there's a bunch of different ways.
• 19:43
  If you buy any of our reception services, we will give you a chat bot for free.
• 19:48
  So that is actually technology, but this is just Let us give you something for free just to
• 19:53
  measure what is your traffic on your website and how many people are coming for just office
• 19:59
  hours and FAQs, which About 20% of all online questions can be answered with a chatbot
• 20:05
  intelligently set up, and we have wizards to help in things like office hours directions
• 20:10
  etcetera.
• 20:11
  However, what we'll say is if you don't, you know, if we can't answer your question today,
• 20:16
  click to call this number and Ruby's going to answer.
• 20:19
  So we're going to make sure you don't lose that opportunity, and we'll do that for you for
• 20:24
  free.
• 20:25
  So let's just test it out and measure comes back to data.
• 20:28
  Let's get some data about what you have going on on your website.
• 20:31
  Where are people going?
• 20:32
  What are they doing?
• 20:32
  Where are they interacting?
• 20:34
  Now if the if we now realize going, you know, you've got quite a bit of traffic.
• 20:39
  Do you have enough time?
• 20:40
  You can use our self-service chat function.
• 20:43
  And what it will do is We then upgrade and say, just walk around with a mobile phone in your
• 20:47
  pocket, and it's gonna ping when somebody's on your website looking to interact.
• 20:50
  And you can interact directly just from a mobile app location looks just like doing a
• 20:55
  text message and saying, so we can help you interact, engage with clients, and we're going
• 21:00
  to empower you to do that.
• 21:02
  With a mobile phone or if you're in front of your desk, there's a desktop app as well.
• 21:06
  And then if if you're going but I'm one of those small businesses, I don't have enough
• 21:10
  time to do that, then we actually have live chat answering just like our reception
• 21:15
  services.
• 21:16
  And so if you're an existing Ruby customer, We already have your company information and your
• 21:21
  instructions, and we'll access all of that automatically.
• 21:25
  So it's one cohesive service.
• 21:27
  And it's one cohesive view of your brand.
• 21:30
  So we have all of those different flavors because where we're finding is answering live
• 21:36
  chat, but not knowing what your website volume is.
• 21:39
  A lot of customers aren't ready to get there yet, but it's a Tell me what I have.
• 21:44
  I don't really know, but be my backup via the phone if in fact somebody's not there.
• 21:50
  I love it.
• 21:50
  I love it.
• 21:51
  Well, listen.
• 21:51
  Thank you so much for explaining all this to me, but don't go away.
• 21:55
  When we come right back, I'm gonna talk more with Kate Winkler.
• 21:59
  About how Ruby might be able to help your small business, and we will be right back.
• 22:06
  Hi.
• 22:06
  I'm Melinda Emerson, small biz lady, and I'm known as America's number one small business
• 22:10
  expert.
• 22:12
  I know a thing or 2 about how to run a successful business, I've been running my own
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  for over 20 years.
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  And I'm often asked, how do I actually become my own boss?
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  It starts with knowing what you want and why.
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  Then you need to figure out how you're fun your dream business.
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  Next, you must research your idea and make sure you understand everything that's involved.
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  Next, you must determine your target customer, then complete your business plan.
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  And finally, it's time to start your business as a side hustle first, if you can.
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  I wrote my best selling book become your own boss in 12 months to give you a road map to
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  business success.
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• 23:20
  Welcome back everybody to the small biz check podcast.
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  I'm talking with Ruby CEO, Kate Winkler, and she's telling us about how Ruby helps small
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  business owners.
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  So, okay, Kate.
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  So you've explained to us about your online live chat versus your live answering support
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  services.
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  So tell me, why is it so important to create sales systems even when you're just starting
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  out in business?
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  So most small business owners and consumers are looking for a personal experience.
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  And so, and if we think about what their needs are.
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  And we think about our own sales interactions.
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  Number 1, there's a question of did someone answer because we're now in an on demand
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  economy.
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  And so when someone wants something, they have a need.
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  This wonderful time where we used to all do a bunch of research, that doesn't really happen
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  anymore.
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  We wait until I have a need.
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  Something's broken.
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  I'm ready to buy.
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  And the first person that answers, I'm gonna go to Google Google Map click, click to call, and
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  if they don't answer, I'm already on to the second name, then I'm already on to the third
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  name.
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  For a small business, the best advice that we can give them is Be present number 1.
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  Make sure you have every opportunity to service your consumers and to answer and create those
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  opportunities, whether they be on the phone, online, ultimately in in Ruby's roadmap, via
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  text message in social media, we wanna be able to actually handle and communicate across any
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  channel.
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  And that's important for small businesses, because demographics are changing in how people
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  interact are changing.
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  So one is be available to capture all those opportunities because I think you will be
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  surprised how many you are missing.
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  But again, number 2 is, is handle them with care because business predominantly comes from
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  referral, and particularly for small businesses that are getting started, your most efficient
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  channel for acquisition is referral, and it's your reputation.
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  100%.
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  100%.
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  90% of all of your business is gonna come from referrals, especially in the first 2 years of
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  business without question.
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  So how does that kinda dovetail into, like, your them versus your customer service system,
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  because, like, those are, like, 2 different things.
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  Right?
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  They are.
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  They are 2 different things.
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  And so Our receptionist, the what what they do is they have technology behind them that
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  dynamically builds call flows for our customers because we have 13,000 customers that have
• 25:52
  different products, different services, different hours, different goals.
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  And so we work with our customers to dynamically build out not only their call flow
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  to say, what is the call flow for an existing customer?
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  This is a service path for a potential new customer, how I screen and generate a lead and
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  send urgent notifications, or do a real time call connect to my client, or take that
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  customer through a potential detailed intake process?
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  Or what happens if it's a solicitation?
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  And how can I prevent that from taking time from my small business owner?
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  So we have dynamic call flows that build in our technology that we work with our customers to
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  design.
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  And here's the trick is when you design it for the first time, you'll learn a little bit, and
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  then you design in tune and design in tune.
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  And in a given year, our customers change their call flow and their lead intake forms 10 to 12
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  times.
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  It's not static.
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  And so because we've learned, and then they then they realize, okay, I've got this humming
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  now.
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  Now I'm gonna think about advanced features.
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  Can you give me another new DID, a telephone number, because I'm gonna run a campaign, and I
• 27:01
  wanna put that dedicated phone number on this campaign, because I wanna measure This is the
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  first time I'm spending real money on, again, you know, a particular sales strategy, and I
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  wanna measure it, and we can do that.
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  And so we have an entire customer support and success team that is constantly monitoring our
• 27:22
  client's data and their interactions to say, hey, client, whatever you just did, it's
• 27:27
  working because we just saw a major spike in your call volume.
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  And so there's something good here, and if that's a sales campaign.
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  Hopefully, it's not a service issue, but if it is a service issue, that outreach is even as
• 27:40
  important to say Is there a service problem?
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  Do we need to update our call flows to help diagnose and provide feedback to, again, as to
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  maintain trust with your clients right now.
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  So again, we can dynamically change all of those call instructions And it's important that
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  customers think of that flow as dynamic.
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  Now one of the things that I believe in is when people refer starting out in business that they
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  start as a side hustler first.
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  I do not believe in people quitting jobs to start businesses until they kinda are really
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  sure who their customer is and that they have something people are willing to pay for.
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  But if you are running a business and it's a side hustle for you and you might be a full
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  time job or working flex hours and you don't really have a team, how should you approach
• 28:28
  customer service?
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  And is that something that Ruby can help with someone who's, like, kinda juggle a full time
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  job and a and a fledgling business?
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  Absolutely.
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  And, again, it comes back to every call that we have.
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  We're gonna triage for for that side hustle.
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  And, again, we have a lot of customers that fall in that category or the serial
• 28:47
  entrepreneurs where they have businesses, and they're running all three at the same time.
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  And so being able to get that information organized that says, and where we have SLAs to
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  say, okay, this is a potential new client.
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  Potential new clients get live connections.
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  And so always try to catch me on a live connection because my ability for my side
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  hustle to turn into a full time gig is dependent upon me winning that new business.
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  So those are real time live transfers.
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  Make sure you connect me.
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  The other thing that we do with our clients is that let's take, for instance, we can't find
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  that person We actually have, again, these dynamic call flows that say, but we're
• 29:26
  accepting new business.
• 29:27
  I tell you what, I see in the call instructions here because we give we tell our clients Just
• 29:32
  put in in your mobile app that you're out of the office until 2 pm.
• 29:35
  Melinda will be back at 2 pm, and she'll be returning calls at that point.
• 29:39
  We're taking on new customers.
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  Would you mind if we call you back then?
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  Is there a good time that I can say we're gonna we can, we can reach you after 2 pm?
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  Because now you're not going that 1 hour a time that you're gonna make another decision, now
• 29:51
  you're not gonna go anywhere because you know Melinda's gonna call you back after 2 pm.
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  And the other thing is, Melinda, you can call us at 2 pm and say, I don't have time to call
• 30:01
  this person back.
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  But here's what I want you to tell.
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  Ruby, I want you to make an outbound call for me.
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  And so Ruby does inbound and outbound calling.
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  And this is what I need you to do.
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  Go collect in for go collect the following information, set up a schedule, and schedule an
• 30:16
  appointment for me, And so we really want our customers to think of us more as a personal
• 30:21
  assistant that can help them do the inbound, the triaging, the outbound, the scheduling
• 30:27
  elements of everything that they're doing.
• 30:30
  And based on different types of business propositions, so on the customer service side,
• 30:35
  if it's existing customers, and we know going, gosh, I'm not gonna be able to get to that
• 30:40
  until this weekend.
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  We can change our call flow to say, because of everything going on with COVID and hiring,
• 30:46
  we're a little bit short staffed right now.
• 30:47
  I just wanna be transparent because trust matters.
• 30:51
  And so We will get back to you.
• 30:53
  It might take us until Saturday, but pro trust me.
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  We're on your case.
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  We're we're here for you.
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  And we will get through this.
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  We're just working through some of the stress issues and in just business right now.
• 31:05
  And if I hear that, I'm gonna say, I get it.
• 31:08
  Thank you for letting me know.
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  Saturdays, no problem.
• 31:10
  But now I know and I'm willing to be patient, and I'm willing to again, maintain a
• 31:16
  relationship of trust.
• 31:18
  So all of these happen with the same receptionist, the same interaction flow, But we
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  have teams to help our customers really interview them and diagnose how does your
• 31:29
  business work?
• 31:31
  And how do we think about what happens with the potential new client, what happens with the
• 31:36
  returning customer, what happens when you have a service issue, when you're out of office, and
• 31:40
  So we have all of those tools that we make available for clients.
• 31:44
  I love it.
• 31:45
  I actually had no idea that you guys make outbound calls too, so that's, like, really
• 31:49
  cool.
• 31:49
  How do you know when it's time to outsource part of this stuff?
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  Like, how do you know?
• 31:54
  I mean, because the biggest challenge that small business owners always have is figuring
• 31:59
  out how they're gonna pay for it.
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  Right?
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  Like, oh my gosh.
• 32:01
  When is this bill gonna be?
• 32:03
  So how do you know when it's time to to outsource part of your sales process?
• 32:10
  That's a great question.
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  And and the answer is really is there is no bad time to do it.
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  And what I mean by that is if you don't have enough time in your day, as a small business
• 32:22
  owner, to really truly handle those sales inquiries and handle them again, not only to be
• 32:27
  able to capture all of them, but to establish trust you are you've already checked the box
• 32:32
  of, oh, maybe I should do this.
• 32:34
  So then the question becomes demand.
• 32:37
  Do you actually do you have enough marketing going on where there is demand coming in and
• 32:42
  you're missing opportunities because those two things together will create an immediate ROI
• 32:48
  for a service like Ruby.
• 32:50
  Now, if you don't have enough time in your day, but you're not spending any money on marketing
• 32:53
  and you're getting 6 phone calls a day, Ruby can 100% get those 6 phone calls for you and
• 32:59
  establish trust, but your problem is probably more of a marketing problem.
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  Than it is a growth in scale and in accepting the lead.
• 33:09
  So I would say really the 2 qualifiers are You don't have enough time, but you also are seeing
• 33:14
  some real lead flow and whether that's referrals or SEM programs or social media
• 33:20
  programs that you're running, those are the two things where I would say you should have a
• 33:25
  conversation with a Ruby or another provider like Ruby.
• 33:29
  And then it becomes, okay, well, what are your business dynamics?
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  And because there are lots of providers out there that are inexpensive that'll just take
• 33:38
  that will 100% live answer, but they'll just take messages.
• 33:42
  Ruby is is we're not the cheapest service.
• 33:44
  But our goal is that assistant.
• 33:55
  And so we are actually a little bit more expensive, but I would I would tell our
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  customers if you were to ask a Ruby customer I think they can tell you within 1 the 1st month
• 34:06
  they see an ROI from Ruby, and we hear this all the time from our customers going, I didn't
• 34:11
  think I'd be able to be able to afford Ruby, and then I realized how many calls I was
• 34:16
  missing and how many opportunities.
• 34:18
  And now I see it, and it paid for itself in month 1.
• 34:21
  That was such valuable information.
• 34:25
  I wanna hear from you now, Kate, what is your favorite business podcast?
• 34:30
  Proud Save America because my husband obsessively listens to it, and it's so good.
• 34:36
  So it's always on in my house, and it it's one of my favorites.
• 34:41
  You know, actually, one of my favorite pockets is actually the hidden brain on NPR.
• 34:46
  I really, really like that pie podcasts.
• 34:49
  And there's there's so many good ones out here.
• 34:51
  I really like that podcast.
• 34:53
  So what is your favorite business app?
• 34:57
  This is the first thing that came to the top of my head, and you won't think it's a business
• 35:01
  app, but I'll explain why I think it is candy crush because I have we are constantly evolving
• 35:09
  in problem solving, and it reminds me to slow down and stop and observe what the problem is
• 35:16
  and to think three steps ahead.
• 35:18
  And I'm not kidding since I've started playing that, it is maybe more patient as a problem
• 35:24
  solver, and it really says, no, no, no, no, don't just start solving stock for a second and
• 35:28
  observe
• 35:31
  Okay.
• 35:31
  Listen.
• 35:31
  I'll take it any way you wanna give it to me.
• 35:33
  Alright?
• 35:34
  I don't know.
• 35:35
  I've never played Candy Crush.
• 35:36
  I I avoid all video games like like the plague.
• 35:39
  But, anyway, so what is your favorite old school marketing tip?
• 35:46
  For me, it's all about the customer testimonial because it really does come back to referral
• 35:53
  and who better to sell your product or your service and the people who use it.
• 35:58
  I love that.
• 35:59
  I love that asking the getting into the habit of asking for is something that I'm always
• 36:06
  talking about to small business owners because it's like, no.
• 36:09
  Ask them for a referral.
• 36:11
  And 4 to 7 days after you just delivered something to them is the best time to ask them
• 36:16
  for referral.
• 36:17
  So I 100% believe in that.
• 36:20
  Kate, what is your favorite business book?
• 36:23
  Mine is probably culture code, because it really simplifies just this magnifying power of
• 36:32
  culture, but in into 3 fairly simple guides and tools, which is create a safe environment,
• 36:41
  allow people to just share vulnerability, and establish purpose.
• 36:46
  And if you have those 3 things, you eliminate the barriers of what creates highly productive
• 36:52
  teams.
• 36:52
  And, it's just such a fascinating read because they even talk about all different kinds of
• 36:58
  teams from professional NBA teams to a pool of criminals.
• 37:03
  So it's a fascinating breed in kindergartners versus lawyers.
• 37:07
  So it's it's fabulous.
• 37:09
  Interesting.
• 37:10
  Interesting.
• 37:10
  Well, my favorite business book is Disrupt You by Jay Samet.
• 37:15
  And I love this book because He says, it's great that you wanna disrupt the world.
• 37:21
  How about you start by disrupting yourself?
• 37:23
  And I love that.
• 37:25
  I love any time you can think about how you can be your best version of you.
• 37:30
  And his book is really, really brilliant for that.
• 37:34
  And so with that, that's it, guys.
• 37:36
  So thank you so much for being my guest on this edition of the small bitch chat podcast.
• 37:41
  And thank you all for joining me for this episode of the Small Bishop podcast.
• 37:46
  I've got a brand new book coming out.
• 37:47
  It's called Becomiroboss in 12 months.
• 37:50
  The revised and expanded edition.
• 37:53
  If you are interested in being one of my beta readers and getting your hands on that book and
• 37:57
  some other cool stuff early before everyone else, Head over to succeed as your own
• 38:03
  boss.com/join the book team.
• 38:06
  If you do that, I'm gonna make sure that you have an opportunity to get in on what we're
• 38:11
  gonna call the book launch team.
• 38:14
  And so don't miss out for that.
• 38:16
  So thank you so much everyone for joining us on today's episode.
• 38:20
  If you want more information about how to start and grow your successful small business, head
• 38:25
  over to smallbizladyuniversity.com and sign up for my course how to sell and market online to
• 38:31
  get your business going in the right direction.
• 38:34
  Thank you all.
• 38:35
  The mission of small business chat is to end small business failure.
• 38:38
  I'm Melinda Emerson, small business lady, your hope, and I'll leave you with this.
• 38:42
  You never lose in business.
• 38:44
  Either you win or you learn.
• 38:46
  Good night, everybody.
• 38:50
  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 38:55
  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 39:01
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.