4/20/10: Getting past the gatekeeper with RareAgent’s Marge Bieler
This week we were joined in-studio by Marge Bieler, CEO of RareAgent, an Atlanta metro-based firm that helps businesses with both phone-based and online sales and marketing initiatives.
A good portion of our discussion was devoted to the the common reasons that calling campaigns fail, namely having a poor-quality list and an inability to get past the “gatekeepers” — the executive assistants who generally stand in between you and your executive or C-level prospect. But Marge gave us a lot of good advice in how to overcome that obstacle, including befriending your gatekeeper and having a clear value proposition that will help you more easily convince that individual that they should allow you access to their employer.
This show is a MUST listen for anyone currently engaged in — or considering — a phone-based sales program. Thanks to Marge for joining us and for being such a terrific guest!
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4/13/10: Online Marketing with author Brandon Eley and Jake Rothschild of Jake’s Ice Cream and Irwin Street Market
Wow! What a great show we had today! And, for our live listeners…extra goodness because Erik forgot to press record the first time around. Doh! :) But, hey, we got to spend extra time with Brandon and Jake so it was no big deal.
Our first guest was Brandon Eley. Brandon is an Interactive Director at Kelsey Advertising & Design, entrepreneur, author, and professional speaker. Brandon has 10 years of experience in online marketing and e-commerce from both the perspective of an e-commerce retailer and that of a consultant. Brandon is the co-author of Online Marketing Inside Out, and speaks about online marketing at conferences and organizations all over the world. He also co-authors the SitePoint Tribune email newsletter that reaches over 200,000 web professionals weekly. Brandon is also the owner of 2BigFeet.com, an online retailer of large men’s shoes, as well as several other websites and blogs. Our question is: When does this guy sleep? In all seriousness, Brandon had a LOT of great information to share with our listeners. His book is a must read for anyone in business. It’s full of practical advice that a small business owner can use right away. For instance, he pointed out that email marketing is one of the best tools for communicating to your customers because it is inexpensive and has a fairly high conversion rate. His free advice was to make sure that you are collecting contact information and asking customers if you can put them on your mailing list because while social media may be great, email is still a great way to reach out to your clients.
Next up we had Jake Rothschild join us. Jake is a food entrepreneur extraordinaire. Jake founded the Award-Winning Jake’s 
Ice Cream in 1997 and since then has brought the good people of Atlanta (and beyond) flavors like Chocolate Slap Yo’ Mama, Nutter Nanner Elvis and Red Velvet Cakescream. In 2006, Jake established The Irwin Street Market as a place where food entrepreneurs could come and grow their own businesses. Recently the Georgia Department of Agriculture granted what is now known as the Irwin Street Community Kitchens, official shared kitchen status. They are one of three such enterprises in the state. Jake loves helping his fellow foodies navigate the many hurdles that come with food entrepreneurship and sees the effort as one of the ways he is determined to pay it forward. Jake resides in Historic College Park where in his “spare time” he grows peaches, figs, grapes and mint. His free advice was “pursue your passion” and “don’t be afraid to fail.” We love Jake’s positive energy and what he is doing to help other small business owners realize their dreams. Irwin Street Market is also launching a new outdoor market that starts this weekend. Definitely check it out if you are in the area.
A big thank you to both our guests for joining us and for their extra time! We had a blast! Have a great week everyone!
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4/6/10: Our big “comeback” show with Brian Patrick Cork, Justin Daniels and Kim Kilgoar
Yes, GFR is back from our SXSW induced spring hiatus and we didn’t do a bad job knocking the rust off. We kicked off with a roundtable discussion with two old friends of the show, entrepreneur extraordinaire Brian Patrick Cork and business attorney Justin Daniels. Both Brian and Justin had some fantastic insight on the mistakes that entrepreneurs tend to make. Two themes seemed to come up again and again and both bear further repetition here: first, build a team of trusted advisors and, second, do not wait until it’s too late to call your lawyer.
We also had recruiter Kim Kilgoar of Paradigm Recruiting Associates in studio who talked about how she managed to build a successful, profitable recruiting practice (founded in 2009) as unemployment was on the rise.
It was a great show, thank you to all our guests and we’ll see you next Tuesday!
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