Listen to “#725 How to Create Superfans for Your Small Business” on Spreaker.
On this episode of The Small Business Radio Show…
SEGMENT 1 with Brittany Hodak, starting at 0:00: Are you a superfan for any product brands you buy? Superfans are critical for spreading the word on how fantastic your brand is… so how do you create superfans and support them?
SEGMENT 2 with Carissa Skorczewski and Curt Groebner, starting at 17:45: Family businesses face special challenges. Siblings and third-generation business owners Carissa and Curt share how they’ve joined forces to run and grow their family business.
SEGMENT 3 with Ron Brock, starting at 35:15: What was it like to start a business on the internet way back in 1995 when it was the new thing? Rob Brock an early internet entrepreneur is here to share his advice for growing a viable business in today’s digital world.
Sponsored by Truly Financial.
More on each segment below.
Segment 1: Brittany Hodak co-founded, scaled, and successfully exited The Superfan Company, a fan engagement company whose roster included Walmart, Disney, Amazon, Katy Perry, Johnson & Johnson, Dolly Parton, and many more. She originated the role of Chief Experience Officer at Experience.com and, when she appeared on the hit TV show Shark Tank, she received six-figure offers from four of the five sharks. Her first book, Creating Superfans, will be in bookstores this month.
- What is a ‘superfan’? How do you create superfans?
- How her background in entertainment lead her to a career in customer experience
- With so much discussion around ‘the great resignation’ and ‘quiet quitting’, what’s your take on what’s going on, and what should leaders know?
- How does a company’s brand contribute to its customer experience AND employee experience?
- How do you ensure that your employees are aligned with your brand story?
Segment 2: Carissa Skorczewski and Curt Groebner are third-generation siblings that run GROEBNER, which serves clients in the natural gas industry, particularly utilities and contractors. They have joined forces to successfully run and progress the family business.
- Tell us about your family business.
- How did it pass on to your generation?
- How did you choose roles?
- How do tough decisions get made?
- What issues do you face?
- Keeping it in the family: the value of continuity – for customers and employees, alike
- Bringing respective backgrounds and experiences to the table
Segment 3: Ron Brock’s career included a role as a Senior Product Manager at Frito Lay where he was responsible for the highly successful launch of Nacho Cheese flavored Doritos brand tortilla chips. Following the conclusion of the introductory marketing campaign, he relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, later transitioning into commercial real estate sales. Seeing the potential of the internet, he discovered an ability to revolutionize commercial real estate. He created the first up-to-the-minute, searchable, accessible database of multifamily properties, then included and patented an independent system of classifying real estate property improvements and location. Ron is the author of The Thicket’s Prodigy: The Extraordinary Life of an Improbable Genius, his memoir, and Gamebreaker: Guide to World Class Selling.
- Why not to spend too much time on fact-gathering before getting started.
- The merits of starting to build your business first and figuring out how exactly to make money from your idea later.
- The pitfalls of trying to predict problems and their solutions.
- How failure can force you to come up with the most creative and viable solutions.
- How to fail again and again and again but still believe in your vision.
