One of the most important rules in business is to know your numbers. Numbers are part of nearly every business school case study as they help tell the story: Where is money coming from? Where is it going? Those are the basics. Today’s story is about how one entrepreneur, searching for clues to steer a stalled business, was able to read the numbers to uncover their best customers. What resulted not only saved the business, but changed an industry.
Jeffrey Harris was already a successful business owner many times over. Always with an eye on the next opportunity, Jeff and a technical co-founder setup a new business to help small businesses in South Florida with their loyalty & marketing. After some early promise, sales plateaued, and they met some headwinds for their industry. Not one to waste time on just doing “ok”, they were faced with a decision to close.
They looked at their numbers to help understand their customers better. They noticed their two most profitable customers were actually not their target market, but were from Cannabis! Leaning in to learn more, they realized their Loyalty and Marketing technology is perfectly suited to Cannabis consumers. A quick pivot to Cannabis brought explosive growth, not only turning around the business but changing the industry. They are now the go-to name for Cannabis Loyalty & Marketing engagement!
Please enjoy the Founder’s Journey of Jeffrey Harris, Co-Founder & CEO of springbig!
Professional Summary:
Jeffrey Harris is Co-Founder & CEO of springbig, a customer loyalty platform for the cannabis industry. springbig uses SMS, loyalty marketing, and other tools to encourage repeat business for cannabis retailers. Prior to spingbig, Harris founded a loyalty marketing company (Inte Q) which focused on developing and managing data-driven programs for large retail and financial services firms.
springbig, Company Summary:
springbig is the leading loyalty, communications and marketing platform in the cannabis industry, helping over 1,300 dispensaries generate more revenue and build relationships with over 20M consumers all in one easy-to-use platform. CEO, Jeffrey Harris founded InteQ over 20 years ago, a company that took loyalty marketing from simple punch card programs in coffee shops to technologically advanced marketing tools at the forefront of some of the country's biggest companies. Companies like Adidas, Reebok, and Citi Bank. After years of experience in big-box retail, our founders saw tremendous opportunity in the underserved cannabis industry and decided to bring advanced loyalty programs, an essential marketing tool in such a competitive industry, to cannabis dispensaries and brands.
Show Notes:
“If there are people that are willing to help you, take the help. Take the time to listen to someone who knows better than you.”
“Most people are nice, well intentioned to help you. Just ask and take the help and see where it goes”.
Mattio Communications: https://www.mattio.com/
Rosie Mattio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosiemattio/
Altitude Investments: https://www.altitudein.com/
Altitude Partner & Springbig Board: https://www.altitudein.com/jon-trauben
Springbig Brands: https://www.springbig.com/cannabis-brand-advertising-platform
TVC Capital: https://tvccapital.com/
Jeffrey Harris, Co-Founder & CEO, springbig
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-harris-4416484/
https://www.springbig.com
https://www.facebook.com/springbigrewards
https://www.instagram.com/springbigrewards
https://twitter.com/springbig
https://www.linkedin.com/company/springbig-inc-
Brian Weber, Producer & Host, Lit Up Cannabis: A Founder's Journey
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/briancweber
www.litupfounders.com
www.facebook.com/LitUpFounders/
www.instagram.com/LitUpFounders/
www.twitter.com/LitUpFounders
www.linkedin.com/company/litupmedia/
Listen to the episode here or on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, iHeartRadio or RSS to your favorite podcast app.