78:  Stop Being the Best Kept Secret: Flipping the Script- with Curt Anderson from B2Btail

Curt Anderson: [: 00:00:00

And so that was a joke. And his favorite wife.

: His favorite. Another one. [: 00:01:00

Curt Anderson: I, um, I didn't say that I'm live, did I? So, all right. Rene, love you out there. They're having a great vacation. His internet was a little shaky, so you guys are stuck with me. So let's go around the horn. I, man, I'm like Erin, I, I, lemme get my heart pills.

Where are they? I gotta, okay. All right, we've got Kris Harrington, the co-founder, CEO of Gen Alpha Technologies. Kris, you're repeat offender. Thank you for being here today. Appreciate you lots of love. We were just on stage together. We were.

Kris Harrington: It was amazing actually. Thank you for having us here because you know, this is a special moment for all of us.

Yes. We've been here, we've been on your show. Uh, we think that this is gonna be exciting for all the people who tune in every week to to learn from you and Damon, and we're gonna miss Damon while he's here, but it's an absolute pleasure to be here with you and my co-host, uh, at A BROADcast for Manufacturers.

or inviting us to your show. [: 00:02:00

Curt Anderson: Oh my goodness gracious. Are you kidding me? This is such a privilege. Now, Kris, I do have to say it is much better being on stage with you in person. Yes, but this is the next best thing, man. Did we? We did. We did. I, I'm, you know, I know you're a woman of humility.

and I have nothing prepared.: 2008

And then, hey, how about this wonderful human being right below me. Look at her. She just blows pod. She's also repeat offender. We've got Erin Courtenay in the house. Pod nerd, Erin. Love it. How are you?

ris is like, it's, it's hard [: 00:03:00

We're gonna go real gentle on you.

Curt Anderson: Be we're I'm,

Erin Courtenay: I wasn't being,

Kris Harrington: no,

Erin Courtenay: just trying put him at ease before.

Kris Harrington: Yeah.

Curt Anderson: I'm not buying because I know Lori too well. You know, so comments here and then I'm gonna turn, we've got the bro, the, the wonderful women of Wisconsin who, uh, have the BROADcast for Manufacturer's amazing, incredible podcast.

These guys are just fierce advocates for manufacturing. I'm gonna grab a couple comments then. Kris, I'm turning the show over to you, my friend Harry's in the house today. Happy Friday. This episode today might be better than Sunday season ending White Lotus

Erin Courtenay: Harry.[: 00:04:00

Man. Don, tell me because this spoiler, I don't, I don't wanna know.

Curt Anderson: All right. No spoiler. Lori. Say we got Diane Byer, my dear friend. She's been under the weather. Diane, sending you lot of love, my friend. So, okay guys, we're flipping the script. Kris Harrington, my dear friend. Take it away. What do we have?

Kris Harrington: Oh, well we have you.

And what more, uh, better way to start talking about you than to read your bio, because, you know, not many of your listeners probably have heard your bio because you're always, you know, talking about everybody else. So I'm gonna start right there. Curt Anderson is the founder of B2B Tail dedicated to helping manufacturers.

chieve their goals and reach [: 00:05:00

Curt Anderson: That's why, that's why I can't retire.

Kris Harrington: He creates free resources to guide manufacturers on their e-commerce journey, including checklists, keyword strategies, and website optimization techniques. Curt's mission is to ethically drive the highest profits possible for manufacturers and entrepreneurs through effective digital marketing.

He is a girl dad. He is a friend to this show and we love him dearly, and we're just so pleased to be here and for this crossover event. Thank you, Curt.

Curt Anderson: Gee, my, oh my good. I mean, where'd my kleenex at? Hang on. I need to bring Kleenex. So thank you, Kris. That meant a lot. I appreciate it.

r cloud ERP solutions. Learn [: 00:06:00

Kris Harrington: Absolutely. Well, we wanna start with a lightning round, so this is intended to be fast and furious. And whenever comes top to mind. Yes. Watch that heart. We know you're a young guy. You're a young man. You know, you, you can't lose any hair with these questions. That's right.

Curt Anderson: That's not gonna happen. Right.

Lose my eyebrows.

Kris Harrington: So what was your first car?

Curt Anderson: What was my first car? Oh my goodness. I had a, uh, geez. What I had, I had a Dodge Charger. A 19 what, what year was it? I had a, a Dodge Charger.

Kris Harrington: Oh,

Curt Anderson: yeah. But it was, it was, it wasn't a cool one. It was like the dorky one. It was like, oh, the, like a four cylinder, you know, like, you know.

So yeah, I was not a cool guy. It was Dodge Charger. For the life of me. I can't remember the year right now.

Erin Courtenay: So what color was it? Do you remember?

Curt Anderson:: 1984

So lemme yeah,

Erin Courtenay: yeah, yeah, yeah. Ah, awesome. My first

Curt Anderson: car.

Erin Courtenay: Alright, next up. Controversial topic. So everybody just take a deep breath. Pineapple on pizza, yay or nay.

Curt Anderson: Okay. Is everybody, I, you know what? I don't wanna lose any friends out there. I don't wanna lose any friends. Okay? Yes.

Erin Courtenay: That's the right answer, Curt. Well done.

Lori Highby: Alright. Okay. Um, what was your most unusual job before marketing?

Curt Anderson: My most unusual job before marketing, you know, so I, um, that's a great question. So in college, I'll go to college. I was a, I was a busboy if anybody's from Ohio, if any, I went to school in Ohio, in the state of Ohio, and there's a Max and Irma's chain.

r like three months. Wasn't, [: 00:08:00

Yes. It's a great way to get into the the road.

Erin Courtenay: Yes. And being a buser, you're like the low Oh, I like, you're like the total.

Curt Anderson: Yeah. You're like a buser

Kris Harrington: here.

Curt Anderson: Yeah. Yeah. Good question. Yeah.

Kris Harrington: All right, next question. If you could master. Any non-business skill, what would it be? Instantly. Master

Curt Anderson: any, instantly.

Master any, you know, what if I could master, uh, good business or, or not business. Right. You said not business? Yeah.

Kris Harrington: Non-business. Non-business.

Curt Anderson: Just, you know what, um, that's a great question. I'm gonna go to, um, I'm married, I'm married 27 years. Next month I, I could be a little, if I could be a better husband.

How about that? So I could be a better husband.

much more could we love you [: 00:09:00

Curt Anderson: I'm working, I'm a work in, she says I'm a work in progress, so we're we're trying to figure it out, you know, so

Lori Highby: we're all work in progress. That's right. Nobody's perfect.

Erin Courtenay: That's right. That's right. Wow. So Curt.

Curt Anderson: Erin,

Erin Courtenay: get a little bit of business here. What's your go-to productivity hack, either for business pleasure, whatever. What gets things done for you?

Curt Anderson: What gets You know what? I'm a music guy, so that's a great question. I either, oh dear, I'm either yelling at Alexa to play something or I got a little, little YouTube going on, you know, so I'm a music guy.

How's that?

Erin Courtenay: Do you have a, do you have like a walk-on song that's just like

Curt Anderson: a walk, walk on song? That's a great question. You know, so, you know, usually I say Baby Shark. That's usually my answer to, you know.

Erin Courtenay: That's great. Just kidding. Oh my god, that'll never get outta my head. Thank you.

Curt Anderson: Yeah, you're very welcome there.

That was just for you. Appreciate that. Yeah. Little baby shark.

question that, you know, you [: 00:10:00

Mr. Curt Anderson.

Curt Anderson: Hey, where'd that question come from? So, uh, great question. So I, you know what, I, as Damon and I started, you know, Damon and I started almost five years ago. And Kris, we were hanging out with our dear friend Jeff Long. Jeff was our first guest and somewhere along the line we came up with this question.

And I just, I love this question. I love the answers. Mm-hmm. I feel it sets the tone for our conversation, so thank you for asking. I'll go, I'll go here. So, uh, you know, I was a, I. A sports junkie, so I'm way too, I'm much older than anybody here. So there was a guy named Larry Zaka who was a running back for the Miami Dolphins in the seventies.

, [: 00:11:00

I'm like six. I'm like just borderline six foot right now. So I'm six foot. My dad does six five, full head of hair. He has like year round tan. Oh. You know, like real hit the mustache. He's got a, you know, good looking dude. But man, when I was a kid, I worshiped the ground. He walked on and when, uh, he would work all day.

And when he would come home at night, man, I'd be just sitting there waiting for him to play catch. We'd be in a side yard and I would just be throwing as hard as I could. You know, nine years old, you know, you realize you think you're throwing hard, right?

Kris Harrington: Yeah.

Curt Anderson: Every time he'd be like, man, I gotta get a new glove.

t dad's glove, and I just, I [: 00:12:00

Erin Courtenay: I'll go to

Curt Anderson: dear old dad.

How's that?

Erin Courtenay: That's wonderful. What is your dad's name? Curt

Curt Anderson: Dwayne. Dwayne. Oh, I'm Curtis. I'm Curtis, Dwayne Anderson. How's that?

Lori Highby: Oh, I love that. Something I wanna share, um, just based on that story is that you emulate your dad in the, like building the confidence. Every time I've had a conversation with you, you do a good job of reinforcing the good that, that I'm doing, and I know you've done that for Kris and Erin and everyone else you've talked to.

So I love that story you shared with your dad. 'cause I can see you. Um, your dad in you based on what you shared.

Curt Anderson: Well thank you Lori. I appreciate that. Hey, let's grab a couple comments right here. We got my dear friend Diane. She says, oh my goodness, love how you ladies are flipping the so much fun and we've got Adam here today.

tting, thank you for joining [: 00:13:00

Kris connect with Erin on LinkedIn and you'll thank me later. These guys are just amazing, wonderful human beings. So, all right, where are we at on questions? Who's next?

Lori Highby: Oh, you know what? We're gonna move to some really fun, deeper questions. As much as we'd love to do these, like really fun, crazy lightning wrong questions.

We're gonna, we're gonna talk business here now a little bit.

Curt Anderson: Alright, let's do it.

Lori Highby: Um, you know, I love. You say this all the time, and it's so true, and I believe it a hundred percent. And many, many, many manufacturers struggle with being the best kept secret in their industry. And I know you've, you've talked to so many of them and you've, you've been in the industry and sharing and educating on so many different levels.

What's the one simple digital strategy that you've seen that's really created that major? Breakthrough or mega results for clients who've previously been basically non-existent online?

you asked that question. My [: 00:14:00

It come and, and maybe I'm being a little bit broad, but I think, Hey, broad, do you see what I did there, Kris? Broad?

You see what I did? Okay. So it's really, I think consistency, you know, and uh, and I'll say the second thing is I. I encourage folks, you feel compelled to do all the things. I even feel compelled to do all the things, man. Try to do like one or two things exceptionally and then build and grow from there. So I think consistency and like find your, find your jam.

You know, find like the, like I think was it Seth Godin says like, I'm only doing my blog and no reason I don't do anything social. 'cause then that would distract from my blog. And so, uh, I think those are the two things. Narrow. I love that. And consistently, yeah,

ghby: the consistency. Um, I [: 00:15:00

You know, you can't sit there and do a hundred sit ups in one day and expect to have rock solid abs for a whole year. You have to be consistently working on your health and going to the gym to have that physique that you're going for. And it's the same thing when it comes to marketing your business and getting your messaging out there.

So, perfect answer, Curt. Thank you, Lori. Yeah. Appreciate

Kris Harrington: it. Yeah, and I, I, I would build on that too because one of the things I, I think in the beginning, and, you know, the, we were at Gen Alpha, a best kept secret. We didn't know how to, uh, early on attract new customers, right? So we had to do something different.

nce, hear from our audience, [: 00:16:00

So it is through the consistent execution. Mm-hmm. And measuring what you're doing over time. I'm gonna do this many posts, we're gonna do this blog, we're gonna have this many podcasts or webinars we wanna be a part of. And when you just keep doing it. That's when you start to build, uh, you know, the momentum and the base and everything else.

And I, Curt, I know that you have done that with the show, with Damon, um, and you, you know, with the best kept secret, you just kept, um, inching in different areas, but kept the message the same and you tried different things, which. Within what you've tried, where would you say you've had the most success?

curious where you've had the [: 00:17:00

Curt Anderson: I'd say I, um, I just, I love this, what we're doing right here. I, I just, anybody that, you know, and it's not for everybody, right? Like, you gotta be like little, you know, like for you guys doing the BROADcast, you know, like we, you know, Erin, we gotta be a little goofy, a little crazy.

Put ourselves out there a little bit, be a little vulnerable. Especially on a live show, because like, there's no editing here, right? Yeah. Like there's an oops, like we can't, um, I just, I'm, I'm so bullish on what we're doing right here, what you guys are doing with your podcasts.

Kris Harrington: Mm-hmm.

Curt Anderson: Because, like Damon and I never wanna be the smart guys in the room with, and it's really not challenging for us to, to accomplish that, right?

Mm-hmm. So we just love bringing on smart folks like you and like, how can you know, we feel a little bit better, smarter. I'll tell you one thing, like it's almost like I almost feel guilty when we do this live show. We get off and I'm like, that was like a free counseling session. That was like a free consulting session that was like, like I like if you guys saw the notes that I take when we're interviewing people and they're like, oh, this is awesome.

you for, I'm like, no, thank [: 00:18:00

Kris Harrington: Yeah.

Curt Anderson: When I say riches, I'm just like, the reward, not necessarily financially, but the reward of doing this is mm-hmm. Is just priceless. Mm-hmm. Love that. Mm-hmm.

Kris Harrington: Yeah. And you've brought in like different meps, you've brought in authors, you've brought in. Uh, tell us about some of the different people that you've brought in and where, where can people go if they wanna go see some of the past episodes?

long form, we put it on our [: 00:19:00

We just did this. We had like, um. We took a bunch of topics around website design for manufacturers, right? Or like SEO for manufacturers. We had tons of episodes. We took a lot of those transcriptions and now like we've created guides based on like those platforms. So like love that.

Kris Harrington: Yeah.

Curt Anderson: Repurposing the heck out of this.

Like you do something once and you just, um, so back to, uh, you know what, probably, um. We interviewed the Kerry Smith, the founder of Big Ass Fans. That was a thrill. Yeah.

Erin Courtenay: Oh

Kris Harrington: yeah. I was there for that.

Curt Anderson: Yep. Uh, he sold his company, you know, like took over a bankrupt business and he tells a story. He walked into the company, it was like in a garage and he built into a half a billion dollar company.

you know, all the way to our [: 00:20:00

It's just been, it just, I, I, I could go on and on, as you can tell.

Kris Harrington: Love that. All right. Uh, so both you and Damon talk a lot about. Out teaching the competition. So you know, rather than relying on traditional advertising, you wanna out teach the competition. So can you share an example of how this approach has helped one of your manufacturing clients?

Establish themselves as the go-to, uh, expert.

Curt Anderson: Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, we shamelessly use that line. Anybody that will listen. Right. How do you, I'll teach a competition. So, um, all right. So I have a client, I have a client that does like these little goofy, uh, ground straps. Okay. Little ground straps.

teach blog posts after blog [: 00:21:00

And so they were just reluctantly going over over that. And then Kris, they, they came up with a configurator. And so that was a total game changer. And just all their information, all their social, everything went towards that, uh, that out teach the, uh, competition, uh, mindset and just, you know, they've done a, a phenomenal job.

So that would be, that would be one of one example I would give.

Erin Courtenay: Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's a great example. And I, I think out teaching the competition is also very generous. Thing to do. You know, you're really giving people what they need to know in order to make good decisions. Mm-hmm. Um, which is very different than a more traditional like selling or marketing approach.

out teaching the competition [: 00:22:00

Curt Anderson: not.

We're not. Okay.

Erin Courtenay: Woo.

Curt Anderson: I do, I do have to flip a script. I do have to flip the script back on you guys real quick. And so if you get, allow me for a minute. So like, Lori, if you guys go to Keystone, click. She does a phenomenal job of guides, resources, helping dedicated, helping manufacturers. Lori, every time I'm, you and I are on stage together, whether it's Purdue or university or whatever, uh, you're here, I just really admire, you know how your team is just so dedicated to educating.

You teach at, uh, local universities, all, you know, all the things. Kris, same thing. You go to gen, you know, and I've. I've had the privilege of Kris kind of watching you guys elevate and grow your, I'll teach the competition strategy. You know, you and Kevin just, you know, webinars, podcasting guides, your, I'm on your email, you know all the things.

t teach and the, everybody's [: 00:23:00

Erin Courtenay: Totally. And you know, the thing that popped into my head when you guys were talking about consistency is, I, I can't think the three of you are so consistent. Like, really? It's like it's great to see.

Lori Highby: You have to be, you have to be honest.

Erin Courtenay: Yeah. But not everybody is, and, and the other problem can be getting redundant and y'all are not redundant. Like you have a message.

Lori Highby: Yeah,

Erin Courtenay: but it's, it doesn't get stale because you, you know, you. Take the time with it. And again, it goes back to that exercising analogy.

If you just do the same thing over and over, you start to lose momentum. So you also have to kind of, you know, keep it fresh. So,

Lori Highby: well, I, I've got a couple comments on that. The consistency part. I've actually been called out if I didn't drop an episode on time or like, because people start to know that this is always happening and they have a set expectation.

tency. Uber, Uber, Uber, um, [: 00:24:00

Right. And there's nothing wrong with repeating the same message because

Erin Courtenay: that's,

Lori Highby: that's fair. Yeah. Especially like leveraging social media. Only like five to 10% of your audience is gonna see that one post. Right. Right. The next time you post the same thing, it could be a completely different, 10% of your audience is gonna see that.

Erin Courtenay: That's fair. That's fair.

Lori Highby: Yeah.

Erin Courtenay: Yeah. Uh, somehow you manage to make it a fresh, every time, you know, you get like, I think yeah, it's a fine line to walk. Right? I mean, that's one of the greater challenges, like keeping it interesting for you to produce that content. Sure. Being consistent, you know? Um, so well also

Lori Highby: what Curt was talking too about repurposing things though.

alogy, and I think I used it [: 00:25:00

Uh, and he gives me the step by step instructions on how to do it because he is the expert at it. I am still, I have gone to his restaurant and have paid for the steak. Right. So at the end of the day, I'm still the expert and, and what I'm doing, you're the expert in what you're doing, right? There's nothing wrong with sharing the recipe on how to do the thing.

Yeah. What you're doing is you're proving your expertise that you know how to do it, and creating that level of trust so that that person, that company, that organization knows and confidently knows that you're gonna help them solve whatever problem that is. Yeah.

Curt Anderson: Lori, if, if, if I owed you a dollar for every time that I reference you and I use that, I just used that last week.

ne. I'm like, my friend Lori [: 00:26:00

Erin Courtenay: Yeah, that's a good one. Well, except for that, it makes you hungry.

Yeah.

Curt Anderson: And it is lunchtime. It

Erin Courtenay: is lunchtime right now.

Curt Anderson: Shoulda brought, we shoulda have brought lunch together. We could have next time. Next time.

Erin Courtenay: Cocktail. I'm gonna go get a steak cocktail. Um, Curt, even in this day and age, all of us are not surprised by this fact, but. It happens. There are still some manufacturers are just beginning this journey.

They're just beginning to think about their digital presence. What's the first step you recommend they take that can make the biggest difference in their visibility and lead generation or step?

Curt Anderson: K-Y-S-K-Y-S. Any ideas, any guesses? It's I, so, Erin, I know, I know you're, it's, you're thinking of kiss, right?

KYS It's,

Erin Courtenay: I was thinking of different ky, but

Curt Anderson: Okay.[: 00:27:00

Kris Harrington: There she goes.

Curt Anderson: So there,

Kris Harrington: grab the hard pills,

Erin Courtenay: Curt.

Curt Anderson: Yeah, I'll be right back. I got it. Alright.

Erin Courtenay: I dunno what's so funny. So,

Curt Anderson: KYI know your soulmate. Know your soulmate. Know your buyer.

Erin Courtenay: Oh, I love it. Yeah.

Curt Anderson: And the reason being is mm-hmm. Is our manufacturers are the best. Right. We all agree on that. And so the ch they like, they know how to make their, like this thing, their widget, like.

Nobody else. Right. The challenge is, especially for our contract, custom manufacturers are like, well, we could c and C for anybody, or we could make circuit boards for, you know, but then when you talk to 'em within like five minutes, they're like, oh, well, we're really snug in aerospace, or we're in DOD, you know, like whatever space they're in.

% of my first meetings. [: 00:28:00

Erin Courtenay: I love that you're calling.

I think if you can do it every time you do it three times you get a prize. They

Curt Anderson: were, they're very broad tasks for manufacturers, by the way. So, but they, uh, we narrow your focus. Know your, that, you know, I know kind of like, you know, it's marketing speak like, Hey, you need a. The ideal buyer persona, man. I'm telling you, I think it's critical knowing that buyer.

Yeah. You know your soulmate inside and out. Hundred percent, right? That's the, that's the ticket.

Erin Courtenay: Yeah.

Kris Harrington: Yes.

Erin Courtenay: Excellent.

Kris Harrington: Excellent advice. I agree. What kind of exercise, because I, I think this is a really good one, and I'm sure Curt and Lori, between the two of you, if you, what exercises do you take people through to get them to.

, we all kind of hear it and [: 00:29:00

Mm-hmm. And I know a lot of people, because they do. Think broadly about a lot of things. They miss this mark. Mm-hmm. So, uh, talk about some strategies for that. I think

Lori Highby: Yep, go ahead. I, I mean, we do this for all of our clients. I'm happy to answer this and Curt, you can elaborate in any way you want. Um. It I, to the point of being broad, you know, you said like, oh, we service aerospace.

Well, that, that in, in itself is still broad. Mm-hmm. When we're talking about who is that ideal customer, I actually, we ask our clients, who is your first, your favorite client and your most profitable client? Like, I think those are two, you know, you, you enjoy working with them. That's important. But, um.

ike, what is the name? We'll [: 00:30:00

Like, is it his boss? Is it his peers? Is it his coworkers? Is it his family? You know, what is his long-term goals? Um, what is it that if. Something could change magically in the, in, in your industry that would make Jeff's life so much easier. What is that? So it's really getting into the root in inside the head mm-hmm.

Of one person that is that ideal per that ideal customer, as opposed to, you know. The masses of the industry, and even to the extent of, you know, where did they get their information from? What podcasts they listened to, what social man, um, social media channels do they hang on? What newsletters are they subscribed to?

What print publications do they get? I mean, it's, it's wide and deep, but about one, one core individual and their role basically. Yeah.

Curt Anderson: Man, drop the [: 00:31:00

So I had the privilege, we did a cohort together. Do you remember that? With must. And so I had a front row seat of watching Lori in action. I'm telling you E everybody out there plea. Connect with all three. Lori, you do a phenomenal job. Uh, and Damon, I still talk about like your little hub and spoke, uh, tool that you have for messaging.

Yeah, so this is what a little tool that we came. So we have like a proprietary, um, and we call it the digital game plan that we do with all of our clients. And so the nice thing is. What we do. So, Erin, you're talking about like competitors, like Lori is like the retainer, like she's gonna do all the things like she'll be your, your marketing.

p with this when I was in my [: 00:32:00

And I call it rounding the bases. And we do it with every single one of our clients. And man, I, whether they have a good time or not, I'm not sure, but I have a blast. But we call it rounding the bases. And what we do is it's, it's a, a spreadsheet. And what we do is we, we have the singles, doubles, triples home runs.

And so I'm like, all right, who are your singles? And we're like, what? Like, what's, what are you talking? I'm like, well, you know, like the customer that buys like once a year, once a quarter, you know, like maybe have 50 singles if they go away. Not devastating. They come and go, but man, we love our singles.

Right. Then the doubles, well, they buy twice as much of the singles, but boy, those doubles are great. We, you know, we spend more time with 'em, the triple, you know, like, man, you're rounding your headfirst. And the, they're like, we love our triples. And then who's the home run who's like the game changing client that you know is gonna change the trajectory of the business?

riple well, that's totally a [: 00:33:00

Hey, I just closed a triple, so like it's a That's awesome. I love

Kris Harrington: that. Yeah,

Curt Anderson: it's a simplistic language. So now. They're fired up, but they can understand, like bucketing their clients on a very simple baseball, being a baseball junkie, I gotta do that, you know? So anyway, so Kris, that's my, that's my answer.

So I love how Lori's saying, like, understand that one buyer, but I even suggest like Buck, you know, put 'em in buckets, you know, and who are we, who are we going after? So then when we create those buyer personas, here's, here's a single, this is what the single looks like. Yeah. This is where they work. This is what they listen to.

Here's the double, here's the triple, here's the home run.

Kris Harrington: I love that. Yeah. And then what you, you build goals around the different ones. Do you market to the, uh, I would imagine you're marketing to the triples differently than you're marketing to the singles and you're, and you have the specific goals around how much resource time you're putting towards those certain ones, and.

categorize them in your CRM [: 00:34:00

Curt Anderson: Great. So a lot, you know, again, like we work with clients, like you said, like that raw manufacturer, so we work with, they're pretty raw. And I'd say the, the pond that we swim in, probably a majority of them don't have a CRM.

Okay,

Kris Harrington: so

Curt Anderson: this is almost like, you know, again, it's a little spreadsheet, but like, this is almost like a baby step for them to like start thinking about the CRM.

Kris Harrington: Mm-hmm. So if

Curt Anderson: they're sound direct to consumer, like the singles and doubles are gonna be like, uh, direct to consumer, the triples and do, and home runs are like the B2B space.

Mm-hmm. You know, like, you know, major retailers, major, you know, a boutique or this type type of thing. Right. Yeah. So in the direct to consumer space, that's what that's gonna look like. In the B2B space, it's gonna be like, you know, the person needs a little bit, but then like Boeing or Lockheed Martin, like the big guy, you know, the big folks, those are gonna be the home runs, right?

Yeah.

o talk about. And since it's [: 00:35:00

Curt Anderson: Go Brewers, right? Gold. Everybody. Brewer's fan on stage here for sure.

Erin Courtenay: Oh, hello? Yep. Alright. Yep. Awesome. Hey,

Curt Anderson: we got two comments out here like, Hey Harry.

Thank you. I'd like to say Curt, your sole responsibility is your sole responsibility. Great comment. We got Jackie here from Ireland. Jackie, happy Friday.

Kris Harrington: You Jackie, man.

Curt Anderson: She's at what? Like she's dinnertime. So we're at lunchtime. She's at dinnertime. Jackie, thank you for joining us again. I've got Erin Courtenay here.

I've got Kris Harrington, Lori Highby. Damon is away. So, all right. What's, what's next? This is,

Kris Harrington: and we for, for our listeners who are gonna be hearing this, we've got Curt Anderson here.

Alright. So I think this is where we move into our, uh, next part of our podcast, which is we all complete the sentence. I just learned that. So Lori.

Lori Highby: Ooh.

Kris Harrington: What you just learned.

AI related, which I know you [: 00:36:00

I. And it wasn't reading the file well, but it responded saying, if you upload a screenshot, I can still analyze the data. And I was like, what? No way. So I took a screenshot and I uploaded that. Um, there's a term for that. I just learned it too. And I, it's, it's, uh, escaping me at the moment. Um, uh, computer vision.

Oh yeah.

Curt Anderson: Computer vision.

Lori Highby: Computer vision. That's great. Yeah. Yeah.

Kris Harrington: So you took a screenshot, you popped it in, and it analyzed, analyze, and it analyzed

Lori Highby: the, the data from the screenshot, which just blew my mind. I love it. So that, that was chat, GPT. Um, Erin, what did you just learn? Um,

I've been reading, I've read [: 00:37:00

Um. Oliver Sachs, are you familiar with him? He is the, he is a neurologist and he, um, is the one that was behind, you know, the movie Awakening where the patients would like catch the ball. I think Robert De Niro was in it, and Robin Williams, an old film dating myself. I remember that. Yep. But it's a true story.

And, um, he's just an amazing human. And one of the things that he has discovered, and you may have heard this some, uh, somewhere else, but was that, um, no matter how much cognitive deterioration a person might have, whether it's from old age or um, you know, brain damage, what have you. Music will still permeate into their, their ability to comprehend.

ust, it's a, it's a lifetime [: 00:38:00

Kris Harrington: Cool. It

Erin Courtenay: is

Kris Harrington: cool. Yeah. That is neat.

Erin Courtenay: Yeah.

Kris Harrington: Kris, I just learned there are gonna be 44 WNBA games this year, this year. Up from 40 and they just keep growing because women's basketball is taking off.

And I'm getting pretty excited because the WNBA season is about to start. Yeah. Um, you know, we're finishing up the college and, you know, all of those, uh, games now and then it will start to convert and we'll get ready. So I'm very happy to see now what we don't know. Is if compensation is growing for these athletes in the same way that the number of games, we know that they're reviewing it, that there's a lot of, there's a lot more money coming into women's basketball and women's sports in general.

Lori Highby: Yeah.

to the athletes and those of [: 00:39:00

So, mm-hmm. Uh, women's sports is having that moment, and I, I just love that. So thought I would share that. Love that.

Erin Courtenay: Awesome. Awesome. We're seeing a big, um, increase in like semi-pro here in Madison. I don't know if you guys are having that, um, in Milwaukee as well, but. We now have semi-pro softball. We have a volleyball team coming online.

Oh wow. I think, I think there's one more. Yeah. And um, it is generating a lot of interest from the community, so we should catch

Kris Harrington: a game together.

Erin Courtenay: That would be really, it'd

s the semi-pro. Let's do it. [: 00:40:00

Curt Anderson: I think we need women's hockey Pro. We need pro women's hockey, don't we?

Lori Highby: Oh, there's a, there third National Women's Hockey League now.

Yeah. I wanna see a game that is on my bucket list. That's Badger. The

Erin Courtenay: women Badger's are number one. Yeah. Are

Curt Anderson: they number one?

Erin Courtenay: Mm-hmm. In hockey? Mm-hmm. In hockey. Yep. So,

Curt Anderson: all right, Kris, who are you rooting for in, uh, in, who are you rooting for in the Women's Final Four?

Kris Harrington: I, I'm going for Yukon. Um, I know they've won it many times, but I do like Paige Becker's and I want her to see be really successful.

She came back from injury and, you know, that's a difficult career when you're that young. I think the maturity that, you know, some of these athletes demonstrate and she's just one of them that I've, I've. Clung to, and you know, usually I will pick an underdog. I don't think Yukon's an underdog, but I just really want her to have her title, uh, before she moves on.

So that, that's who I'm rooting for.

: Yep. That's, uh, very well [: 00:41:00

Rooting for, uh, rooting for Paige and the whole, the whole team. The whole team. Lot, lot of excitement there.

Kris Harrington: So, yeah. All right, Curt, what did you just learn?

Curt Anderson: Where, oh, what did I just learn? I just, you know, I learned, I, you know, I didn't think it was possible. I learned how more amazing the three of you are prior to the show going live.

But, um, you know, hey, Harry's got a, let's grab a comment from Harry when you're in a sales slump, but for a basement. And other sell. Small count. Get your momentum back. I like it. Hey guys, follow Harry man, this guy Best. Uh, best lines. Absolute love. Let's see. Uh, what do we got here? Greetings from Ethiopia.

Unreasonable Hospitality. I [: 00:42:00

And it's just a fascinating story. It's a great read, Kris. As a matter of fact, when we were together in Austin, uh, somebody on Joe's team, uh, Ana, she recommended it to me and I read it and it was just a captivating, just the sheer, relentless. Unapolo Unapologetic drive to elevate this company of just unreasonable hospitality.

And it wasn't just about the food, it was about the, the experie, the experience that they wanted to give their, their customers. And it was just really inspiring. It was a great Lori. That sounds

Erin Courtenay: like a book for you. Yeah, I just wrote it

ntleman that we all know, he [: 00:43:00

Excellent. I, excellent. Oh, that's, throw that one out.

Lori Highby: My reading list is way too long right now. Yeah, I know. Yeah. But the ones that come from close friends, you know. Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Kris Harrington: Well, Curt, you're just amazing. It's always special to, to be in your presence. Um, you know, I wish we had the hugs in person like we had when we were at IMS, uh, a month ago, but, uh, this has been great.

Having you on our show and us taking over your show. That's right. So for for our listeners who maybe don't know all that's Curt yet, tell 'em about all the places where they can, uh, connect with you and not just you, you and Damon. Um, if there's anything, uh, specific you wanna share with our audience. On how they can connect.

o, uh, Damon Pistulka is our [: 00:44:00

Just go to our website, we'll connect with you there. So that's right. Anyway, so, and how about, you know what, and since you're on our show, Erin, best place to find you

Kris Harrington: LinkedIn.

Curt Anderson: Hundred

Kris Harrington: percent, yes. Uh, LinkedIn and gen alpha.com. Please reach out.

Curt Anderson: Lori Keystone, click, where would we find you? Yeah. Um,

Lori Highby: LinkedIn is, I, I post daily on LinkedIn and Keystone click.com.

Awesome. Awesome.

z. Hey, geez, Harry. Curt's, [: 00:45:00

All right. Thank you, Harry. Thank you for everybody. Thank you Tamir, Harry, Diane, and Jackie. I'm gonna thank all the comments. Atmar. Thank you guys for stopping by today. Thank for everybody that didn't drop a comment, but hey, you know, how about we get a big round of applause for our three. Wonderful, amazing, beautiful, lovely host here.

So thank you, Lori. Thank you, Kris. Thank you, Erin. Let's see if we can do it. Erin.

I can't do it, so. Alright. I just, I want, we'll close out with this. So, um, hey, uh, somebody says that's great. Uh, Diane says, thank you all. You made me smile and laugh. Diane. Thank you. Hope you're feeling better. I know she was down a little bit. Have a great weekend. And so let's close out with this. So I always loved, first off, thank you all dearly.

ll sorts of things together, [: 00:46:00

Being on stage together. Just absolutely awesome. And I just tell you what an inspiration you guys are to me. And I thank you. Appreciate you from the bottom of my heart. And what I wanna do is we close out. Just go out and be someone's inspiration just like these three wonderful ladies. And you too will make the world a better place.

So thank you guys. Hang out with me for one second. We'll see you guys next week.

Kris Harrington: Bye. Bye. [: 00:47:00