Listen to “#568 Predict the Future with these Megatrends from Rohit Bhargava” on Spreaker.
On this episode of The Small Business Radio Show…
SEGMENT 1, starting at 0:00: What if you could predict the future? For the past ten years, Rohit Bhargava has published an annual trend report that has been read or shared by more than a million readers. He’s here to share a few of the megatrends from his all new tenth (and final!) edition, which looks back at more than a hundred past predictions to spotlight the biggest megatrends that will change how we buy, sell or believe anything. If you prefer to read the transcript of Rohit’s interview, click here.
SEGMENT 2, starting at 20:20: Most small business owners start running the financial and operations side of the business on Quickbooks. This is not a bad place to start, but as the business grows, they make up for what Quickbooks doesn’t do by adding one-off applications for other functions. Then, as they try to keep track of their money and inventory across multiple platforms, it ends up being a mess because they don’t have reports that accurately tell them what is going on in their company. Here to help is Siva Iswaran who heads the Finance and Operations Suite at Zoho.
SEGMENT 3, starting at 36:20: First impressions are so important in small business these days since customers are making decisions in seconds – that impression could be the difference between the start of a loyal customer or nothing at all. Here to help with how to form the best first impressions that produce lasting loyalty is Molly Moore who is the CMO of Ruby Receptionists.
Sponsored by Nextiva, LinkedIn, efile4Biz, vCita and Blue Summit Supplies
More on each segment below.
Segment 1: Rohit Bhargava is the founder of the Non-Obvious Company and an entertaining, original and “non-boring” keynote speaker on innovation and trust. He previously spent 15 years in leadership roles at two renowned ad agencies: Leo Burnett and Ogilvy. Rohit is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of six books and has been invited to deliver keynote presentations in 32 countries around the world. Rohit is a popular Adjunct Professor of storytelling at Georgetown University. He is the author of the new book “NON-OBVIOUS MEGATRENDS”.
2:00 – You have published a new trend report every year for the past nine years, but you say NON-OBVIOUS MEGATRENDS will be the last edition of the book. Why are you stopping?
3:15 – Megatrend #2: UNGENDERING – Traditional gender divisions are replaced with a more fluid understanding of gender identity, forcing a reevaluation of how we see one another. Why is this important in business?
6:00 – Megatrend #3: INSTANT KNOWLEDGE – As we consume bite-sized knowledge on demand, we benefit from learning more quickly but risk forgetting the value of mastery and wisdom. How does this affect us in business?
8:45 – Megatrend #4: REVIVALISM – Overwhelmed by technology and complexity, people seek out simpler experiences that offer nostalgia and remind them of a more trustworthy time. What is the implication for small business?
11:30 – Megatrend #9: PROTECTIVE TECH – As we rely on predictive tech to keep us and our world safe and convenient, we contend with the privacy trade-offs required to make it work. Where is this going in the future?
13:30 – What is your biggest make on a trend?
14:30 – What was one of your biggest misses?
15:45 – What is the objective in coming out with the trends books?
Read the transcript of Rohit’s interview here
Segment 2: Siva Iswaran heads the Finance and Operations Suite at Zoho. He is passionate about building software that solves business problems.
21:00 – Why does having inventory add complexity to managing a small business?
23:30 – How do you keep your inventory accurate in your system and then what the customer sees online?
25:30 – How can I prevent my inventory from consuming all the cash flow in my business?
28:30 – Many small business owners keep adding a new application to do a specific task- what is the problem with that?
31:30 – How does Zoho solve these problems?
Segment 3: Molly Moore is the CMO of Ruby Receptionists.
37:00 – What is the origin story of Ruby Receptionists?
39:00 – What problem does Ruby Receptionists solve for small businesses?
40:00 – What are people looking for when they contact a company? How does a company make a strong connection with someone who is contacting them via the phone or online?
43:30 – How does online chat functionality work for small business? What would be involved in getting it up and running?
45:15 – What is the cost of missed connections?
48:30 – Why is it important for you to come to the Global B2SMB Conference?
49:30 – Why do so many small business owners say customer service is important but not run their business like it is?
Sponsored by Nextiva, LinkedIn, efile4Biz, vCita and Blue Summit Supplies
