One On One Interviews

The topic of this conversation is one that is common to any business looking to implement a tool to optimize their operations. What to avoid when deploying said technology, which in this case is Customer relationship management (CRM).

CRM software is an excellent tool for elevating your small business to new heights. But what's it all about? Recently, Small Biz in: 15 on Location traveled to Austin, Texas for Zoho Day 2022 to speak to the experts there and learn more about how customer relationship management (CRM) software can help small businesses reach the next level. Dilip Nagarjaran, product manager of Zoho CRM, discusses what CRM does and why your business needs it. Then, Vibhav Vankayala, head of product marketing for Zoho CRM, speaks with us about how CRM helps your business manage customers while you scale. So, if you are a small business owner who wants to save time and money while your list of customers grows, you won’t want to miss this special edition of SBT in:15.

Are you looking for a way to grow your business? Heat maps are a great way to track how people are interacting with your website or physical store. Recently, Small Biz in :15 On Location, traveled to Austin, Texas, for ZohoDay 2022. In this episode, Shawn Hessinger, the Chief Editor of Small Biz Trends talks with Zoho Corporation Product Manager Naresh Kumar to find out more about how heat maps and other software marketing tools can be used to grow your business.

Recently, Small Biz in :15 On Location talked with several industry leaders about what to look for in CRM software. Expert guests who weighed in on the topic and gave their insights include: • Felena Hansen, founder of Hera Hub Co-working Space and Accelerator for Women, • Corey Reid, Senior Director of Marketing for Counter Culture Coffee & Specialty Roaster, and • Akshay Bama of Global Supply Acquisition, and Akhil Pippala, Associate Project Manager, for India-based car sharing service ZoomCar. If you are a small to medium business and want to learn more about CRM systems and how to choose the right one for your type of industry, be sure to catch this episode.

Are you an entrepreneur, or even a solopreneur, wanting to effectively manage your business's social presence without a lot of hassle and expense? If so, you'll want to catch this latest Small Biz in: 15 On Location, where we travel to Austin, Texas for Zoho Day 2022 to talk to Praval Singh. In this episode, Praval, the Zoho Vice President of Marketing and Customer Experience, sits down with Shawn Hessinger, the Chief Editor of Small Biz Trends, to discuss the ins and outs of managing your small business's social presence through Zoho Social. Highlights of the interview include: • What Zoho Social is and how it can help your small business. • How automation allows small business owners to spread their social presence. • How social listening platforms can flip negative customer feedback into “aha moments.” • Other features in Zoho Social that improve social media impact. • How to get started with the right tools.

Small businesses are always looking for ways to save money and become more efficient. One way they can do this is through all-in-one software solutions. Recently, Small Biz in 15: On Location, traveled to Austin, Texas for Zoho Day 2022 and interviewed Zoho Senior Evangelist Taylor Backman about the benefits all-in-one software solutions bring to small businesses, including cost and time savings. During the interview, you'll find out helpful information, such as: • How using one software solution as opposed to several different solutions can be a huge advantage. • Some examples of systems that you might have in an all-in-one solution that you would want to integrate. • How all-in-one solutions can be less costly than going everywhere and paying different prices for different software. • The savings you can reap beyond just the price tag on the all-in-one software. • The cost savings that an all-in-one software platform can bring when it eliminates redundancy in business processes. It's important t

Inflation is a huge problem right now. The cost of goods and services is going up, making it harder and harder for businesses to get by. Why is inflation so high right now? Anything from the Ukraine War to a strong demand laying waste to supply is behind the surge. What’s a small business owner to do? In this special episode of SmallBiz in :15 On Location, we interview business expert, Chandrashekar LSP, Senior Evangelist of the Zoho Corporation, to discuss how you can battle inflation with your business.

As a small business owner in the technical sector, have you ever heard of no-code and low-code apps? Or maybe you already well-versed in them and want to dig deeper into finding out how they can help your business? Maybe you want to know about getting started with implementation of the right one for your needs? What then? This week in a special episode of Small Biz: in 15 On Location, Small Biz Trends travels to Austin, Texas for Zoho Day 2022 and talks to Zoho Product Manager Tejas Gadhia to get the answer to those questions and more. Highlights of the interview include Tejas discussing the difference between low-code and no-code solutions and how to use low-code automation to improve your workflow. Other insightful business questions that Tejas Gadhia sheds light on during the episode include: -When we say no code and low code, what are we really saying? -How easy is it to build an app with a low code or no code solution? -Is there a benefit to low-code or no-code if you're going to have to hire a

I’ve known angel investor, advisor and entrepreneur Larry Augustin since his days as CEO of SugarCRM, and have had him as part of this series a couple times (2011 and 2016). SugarCRM grew from $10M in annual revenue and a $15M loss to $100M in revenue and $7.5M in EBITDA. Accel-KKR acquired SugarCRM in August 2018. And after nearly a decade as Sugar’s CEO, Larry spent a couple of years at Amazon Web Services (AWS) as vice president responsible for their applications services businesses – including their contact center offerings. Currently Larry is focusing on angel investing and advising a number tech startups. And with his varied experiences and background, my CRM Playaz co-host Paul Greenberg and I were excited to catch up with Larry for a long overdue LinkedIn Live conversation.

Stoyan Kenderov discusses how a small business can survive a recession in this latest episode of Small Biz in :15 by the team from Small Business Trends.

A recent report on the future of marketing commissioned by customer engagement platform provider Pegasystems found that more than half (51%) of marketing leaders felt that investment in MarTech could increase revenues by 10% to 40% over the next five years. On the other hand, 59%. also admit that they haven’t been allocated enough budget to deliver truly effective. digital transformation. The study was full of interesting datapoints and insights about what marketers think will be important to them being able to do their jobs going forward, and I was able to ask a few questions of my own during a recent LinkedIn Live conversation with Tara DeZao, Director of Product Marketing, AdTech and MarTech at Pega. Tara goes over some of the main findings of the survey, and also provides her take on what the implications are as MADTech (marketing and advertising technology) itself transforms customer expectations and demands for how companies communicate with them going forward – whether that by via text, email, in

Sadly, there was a time when small business owners might have shied away from hiring neurodiverse employees, concerned they couldn't complete tasks or fit in with the team. But those days are over, says Anita Murphy, CEO of One Bridge Center, a company specializing in training these individuals for the workforce of the 21st century. In this latest episode of SmallBiz in: 15, Anita Murphy sits down with Shawn Hessinger, the Executive Editor for Small Business Trends to discuss the major misconceptions that employers have about neurodiverse employees and the many reasons why it’s a good idea to hire them. Other key points Anita Murphy discusses in the video center around successful neurodiverse worker case studies and how small businesses can go about placing these individuals within their organization.

Right before last week’s Prime Day (which accounted for roughly $12B in sales over two days), Amazon announced a new training initiative aimed at helping people with the right mix of experience and skill start their own delivery business. The Road to Ownership (RTO) program is an extension of Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program they started in 2018, that has allowed Amazon to grow and work with a network of local small businesses to get more Amazon packages delivered within their own ecosystem. To learn more about the program, During a recent LinkedIn Live conversation I had the opportunity to speak with Karena Scoggin, Senior Program Manager for the Amazon RTO Program. Also joining us in the conversation is Marvin Edgar, a recent graduate of the initial RTO cohort, to share his experience with the program and how it led him to pull up stakes from Florida to start his new delivery business in New Mexico.

Between Boomers seeking to cash in and fears of inflation and recession, more small businesses are expected to go up for sale. But how do you get the money to buy one of them? One excellent option, says Chris Hurn, Founder/CEO of Fountainhead Commercial Capital, is a loan backed by the US Small Business Administration (SBA). In this latest episode of SmallBiz in: 15 Chris Hurn sits down with Shawn Hessinger, the Executive Editor for Small Business Trends to discuss this topic in depth. Other key points Chris Hurn discusses in the video are the steps small business owners can take if they’ve found a business they want to acquire and want to finance through the SBA. This includes the requirements and documents you’ll need to put together to qualify. You can catch up to Chris Hurn at https://www.fountainheadcc.com/ if you need more information after watching this episode.

If you are wondering what is a chamber of commerce and if it can help your business, this latest episode of SmallBiz in: 15 is one you won’t want to miss. Here, former Chamber Executive and Co-founder of Save Your Town Deb Brown sits down with Shawn Hessinger, the Executive Editor for Small Business Trends to discuss this topic in depth. Highlights of the interview What is a Chamber of Commerce? include: • Benefits your local chamber can bring your small business • When you should join more than one chamber • If you should consider starting your own chamber of commerce Deb Brown also explains why asking how a chamber can help your business may not be the right question to ask and what is a better question to ask instead. You can catch up with Deb Brown at https://saveyour.town/ if you need more information after watching this episode.

Are you thinking about opening a small business in a small town but aren’t sure there are enough customers to support it? If so, you’ll want to check out this latest episode where Patrick Palmer, Business Owner of the Computer Guy, discusses how to have a successful small business in a town of 5,000 people or less. In this video episode, Patrick gives you tips on how to plant your flag in the ground and become the local expert in your niche. Plus, he discusses how to use your successful small town business as a launching pad for new subdivisions and examples of surprising up-and-coming creative niches that really deliver. You can catch up to Patrick Palmer at https://thecomputerguy.bz/ if you need more information after watching this episode.

If there’s one thing for sure, the only constant is change. That’s never more true than in the business world where changes like tech and shifts in customer’s tastes threaten your small business’s very survival. Why then, does it take many of us small business so long to make the changes needed? Here to demystify why that is and let you know how to actually make the changes you already know you need to make is Barry Moltz, Business Expert and Author of Change Masters. Just call Barry Moltz the Small Business Expert at www.barrymoltz.com if you need more information after watching this episode.

As of next year, Google Analytics as we know it will be disappearing forever. In its place will be Google Analytics 4, or GA4, for short. Meanwhile, don’t panic, says Anil Batra, Managing Partner of Optizent, and Shawn Hessinger, the Executive Editor for Small Biz Trends. In this episode, they sit down together to discuss what GA4 is, the main differences between it and previous versions (including expanded event tracking that enriches your data for better analysis) and other important takeaways. For more from Anil Batra and Optizent, visit https://www.optizent.com/

While COVID restrictions may be lifting, the virtual events that became popular during the pandemic aren’t going anywhere, says Monique Johnson, Founder of LIVE Video Lab and The M.O.V.E Experience. In this video interview with Shawn Hessinger of Small Biz Trends, she discusses how small business owners can use this trend to their advantage. By watching, you can find out more about how virtual events have evolved, their benefits and how small businesses can use them as a business strategy to level the playing field against larger players. For more from Monique Johnson, visit LIVE Video Lab at: https://livevideolab.com/home/

Join Kristin Ostrander of Mommy Income and Shawn Hessinger of Small Biz Trends to get the lowdown on how FBA works, how sellers can get started, how much it costs on average to start up and more. Kristin also goes into the different business models people are using (e.g., retail arbitrage, your own private brand and wholesale)