July 13, 2022 • 38 mins
Helllllllooooooo text messaging! If you're one of the thousands of businesses who use Podio for your CRM and you send text messages to your contacts - you need to watch/listen to this episode!
We're joined by Ellen Sluder, Head of Marketing at smrtPhone who dives into two really interesting conversations. First up is the simple fact that text message rules are changing across all US carriers, and if you use text messaging as part of your Podio system....you need to know what that means and how you can very easily keep compliant!
Second, we talk to Ellen about her journey with Podio itself and how she has grown to love the platform and see its power!
Either way this is a powerhouse episode (and a welcome return from the summer break).
Show Links:
Sign up for a free trial of smrtPhone at: http://bit.ly/gamechangers-smrtPhone
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Please don’t forget to leave us a review and subscribe to the Podcast and if you’d like to be a guest on an upcoming show please register your interest at https://bit.ly/supercharged-guest
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Narrator (00:00):
Welcome to the supercharged with Jordan Samuel
Fleming, your weekly podcastdedicated to what your business
can achieve when it's powered byPodio. Join us each week as we
learn from the top Podiopartners in the world as we
investigate system integrationsand add ons and hear from real
business owners who haveimplemented Podio into their
(00:21):
business. Now join Jordan SamuelFleming, CEO of smartphone for
this week's episode.
Jordan Fleming (00:28):
Hey, everybody, and welcome to this week's
episode of supercharged, I'myour host, Jordan, Samuel
Fleming here to talk all aboutthe power of workflow and
automation, when your businessis powered by Podio. All right,
it is summer. I gotta admit,I've taken a month or so off,
been doing some things with thefamily. But podcasting is coming
back. And that means a bunch ofgreat new guests. And this week,
(00:53):
is kind of a fun one and kind ofa different one. And because I
am welcoming Elen Sluder, who isthe head of marketing for my
company smrtPhone. And thereason I'm doing this very
special episode of superchargedis because I know a lot of my
listeners to this podcast, and alot of people who use Podio, use
(01:13):
text messaging communication,hopefully with smrtPhone. But
either way, if you use textmessaging, and you are using a
system like smrtphone or anyother to do it, this episode is
an important one for you tolisten to. Because there are
huge changes happening in thewhole ecosystem of text
(01:33):
messaging in the United States.
And the first half of thispodcast, Ellen, I talk a little
about that. It's calledA2P10DLC, application to
programme 10 digit long code,the second half of this episode,
and I talked Podio, she's beenintroduced to Podio because she
joined smrtphone and I got herinto the ecosystem. And we
talked a bit about the thingsshe's grown to love and some of
(01:54):
the things that maybe made it alittle difficult to get off the
ground for and it's kind of fun,and I always love talking to
people who I've introduced toPodio. And to see that journey
of awakening of how amazingpolio can be. So hope you like
this episode, it's back to kindof normal service, we're going
to be doing some newmasterclasses. We're going to be
new podcasts. Do make sure youcheck out our YouTube channel,
(02:16):
subscribe, go to your podcastplatform, give it a like, give
it a share. You know, thoseratings really do help spread
the gospel of Podio. Now on tothe podcast, let's go
Susan's a terrible way second.
So for the benefit of everyonewho kind of we actually
(02:41):
recording in this room? I'm sosorry, really record here
anymore? That it's sort of like,I don't like it as much anymore.
But for the better good ofanyone who is doesn't know you?
Why don't you take 30 seconds tointroduce yourself to the
podcast? Yes.
Ellen Sluder (02:59):
Okay. Hi, I'm Ellen Sluder. I am the Head of
Marketing for smrtphone. And Ihave been, that was my
introduction to Podio wasjoining the smrtphone team in
early 2021. So somewhat still anewbie to Podio. But I am
certainly starting to love it. Ilove it. Oh my God, not only do
I love it, but I have. I thinkI've told you that my sister is
(03:23):
writing a book about an artistlike she's an art history
person. And she's writing a bookabout an artist and she wanted
my help to catalogue thisperson's works. And I was like,
You need a Podio databasebecause she needed to match up
and I built her I put them in adatabase. So hazing amazing. But
yes, I love Podio. And we use itfor all of our content, calendar
(03:45):
documentation, managementdocumentation library, keeping
up with the roadmap and makingsure that we have all of the
right feature announcementsgoing out. And like I said, blog
posts, all that kind of stuff.
So absolutely love Podio. But Ithink I'm a little
Jordan Fleming (04:01):
begin with. I didn't I actually we're gonna
split this podcast into twobecause I got you now in the hot
seat on this. I forgotten when Iwhen I asked you to do this.
Specifically, I want to talk toyou today. Because I know that
so many of our certainlysmrtphone customers from Podio
smrtphone customers, but just ingeneral, a lot of people use
(04:21):
Podio in the real estateindustry or in solar industries
or in some sales industry wherethey're doing a lot of
communication, whether they'reusing smrtphone which of course,
they should be quick links bytry it out if you haven't
already. Or they're usingsomething else to be fair.
Either way, there's a hugechange happening in the US in
(04:42):
terms of text messaging. It'sbeen happening for over a year
now, but it's coming to the youknow, sharp end of the stick.
And I felt like it was time thatcertainly given that we've got
an audience here from thispodcast for Podio. I thought it
was time for us to just like Iwant to raise the warning flag
again, I've been raising it, youand I've been raising it from a
(05:04):
smartphone perspective for ever.
But like, let's do it from abowtie Oh, fuck it, let's do it
from Podio perspective as wellas up 10 DLC. Today, we're going
to talk a bit about this, firstof all, dive into what it is why
it's important. If you do usetext messaging, you're listening
to this podcast, and you usetext messaging with Podio. You
gotta listen to this, and you'vegot to act on it. So can you
(05:26):
succinctly kind of sum up whatHTTP 10 DLC is?
Ellen Sluder (05:32):
Okay, well, let's just start with what the acronym
stands for. It stands forApplication to person 10 digit
long code. So the application toperson part literally means you
are using some kind of softwaretechnology to send the text
message rather than your ownpersonal phone. And the 10 DLC
stands for 10 digit long code,which is a US local phone
(05:55):
number. So it's not a toll freenumber. It's not a shortcode. It
is, and there's a lot ofbenefits to texting with local
phone numbers, which is why mostpeople do it, especially in the
real estate industry, wherelocation being local matters.
Your area code matters if youget a text message from
somebody. I mean, I live in NewYork, but I have an Oregon,
(06:18):
technically an Oregon area codebecause that's where I lived
when I got my phone number 20years. Everyone around here is
like, Oh, 503 What's that? Ifeel like I'm like I grew up
here.
Jordan Fleming (06:31):
It used to cost a lot more money to call. Like
when I was a kid, I rememberlike local call versus long
distance.
Ellen Sluder (06:38):
And there was like a short, medium distance. And
you used to be able to just
Jordan Fleming (06:41):
I don't know if you can still do it. But I
remember you used to be Iremember my New Canaan, because
I grew up I went to high school.
I funny enough, I went to highschool with Alan on this
podcast. But I lived inConnecticut. And I remember our
number was 9668195. God, pleasedon't call back because I don't
know what the fuck is that now,but the I may believe that shit
out actually. In fact, I gottaleave that one out. But anyway,
(07:01):
I do. Remember, I could callsome people with just the seven
digits. And other people I hadto like if I want to call New
York, I had to go 914 Blah,blah, blah. And I think
Ellen Sluder (07:16):
I can talk to you about the North American
Numbering Plan. I know way toomuch about that. And it used to
be that the first the firstthree parts, which is your
region, it used to be actuallyletters. So like, nearby here is
a town called Armand. So it wasa R three. And that's how you
did so I know a lot aboutnumbering and stuff, but and
then they had to expand to theyhad to expand to area codes. And
(07:38):
then we have exhausted areacodes. So now most there's a lot
of overlays in different areas,like Manhattan has something
like seven different area codesor the whole Manhattan but all
of the New York City boroughshas seven or eight different
area codes, they keep addingthem. But anyway, the idea is,
is if you are reaching out tosomeone who doesn't know you,
especially via text, they'remore likely to pay attention if
(08:00):
they let you seem familiar,right. And if you have one way
you can seem familiar is byhaving the same area code. So
that's my 10 digit long codemakes a big difference with
short codes, you share it withsomebody, they have to remember
two things, both the six digitcode and whatever your keyword
is short codes
Jordan Fleming (08:18):
is like text, hello, 26449 to hear that on
radio all the time, as opposedto just like, hey, my number is
203 Blah, blah, blah, and I'mtexting you on your number for
my number and, and it looks likejust a normal number. That's a
default.
Ellen Sluder (08:35):
And we're short codes. It's like it's difficult
to text. But it's not really twoway communication. It's
difficult to text back. And thenwhen you have a toll free
texting while that's totallypossible, you seem a little
corporate, right? You seem big,you seem like you you're kind of
floating out in the ether amorphus. You don't really
connect with that person in thesame way. It looks like you
Jordan Fleming (08:56):
know, my back.
Ellen Sluder (08:58):
And then there's other types of texting the
businesses use Ott, is calledover the top. It's like WhatsApp
or Facebook, it's where you bothhave to have the same app to use
it. So 10 digit long code, youdon't both have it? Yes, it's
application to person. But youdon't both have to have the same
app to be able to use it. Soit's text messaging. Yeah, it's
(09:19):
just such a valuable tool forfor businesses to use. But the
receiving carriers here in theUS are have become very
sensitive to the fact that yourpersonal mobile text message
inbox, whether you use iPhoneand you have iMessage, just your
regular text messaging inbox,it's become a target for
(09:42):
scammers and spammers, and so aspart of them trying to protect
their consumers. And it's beenit's been encouraged heavily by
the FCC for them to do this sothat they don't, you know,
regulation takes time. So thisis kind of a stopgap regulation
is probably coming, but it'sgoing to take some time. So the
carriers themselves thereceiving carriers, primarily
(10:02):
driven by T Mobile, who now alsoown sprint, AT and T. And then
Verizon is a little bit quieter,but they're in the background.
So that means there's only oneother carrier, which is US
Cellular and like who uses. Imean, I don't want to be mean to
Jordan Fleming (10:17):
them, but their hashtag, don't fucking sue me
because Elon just flagged you.
Ellen Sluder (10:21):
Allegedly, it's not as popular. And then you
hear about all these othercarriers like cricket or mint or
whatever. But those are mDNS,I'm sorry, too many acronyms.
But those are, those are folkswho actually operate on the
networks of the larger people.
They just work out a bullmarket, and then they and then
they pass the discount, right.
(10:42):
So it really is in the UnitedStates. All Text messaging, it's
going through the network ofVerizon AT and T, T Mobile or US
Cellular. So those first three,the biggest ones have decided
that they're going to putprotections in place. So they
can sense through technology,this is my very technical way of
(11:03):
saying they can use technology,we can use it, but they can tell
if the text message has comefrom another mobile phone. Or if
it's come like like, if it's 18,t to 18 T or 18, T to T Mobile,
they can tell if it comes fromany kind of application, any
kind of soft phone, GoogleVoice, smartphone RingCentral,
(11:26):
any of those Voice over IPactually
Jordan Fleming (11:29):
doesn't matter, actually,
Ellen Sluder (11:30):
oh, that they can tell that it's an application,
they can sense that it's an orthey have ways to analyse that
that the A has come into play,it's not P to P, it's not person
to person, it's application toperson, and they are throttling
it, they are throttling thatdown now, and they are requiring
folks that use that method oftexting to register and identify
(11:51):
themselves so that they can cutdown on spammers and scammers.
So now we need to get all of uswho are application providers
need to get people who wereusing the system to register.
And it shouldn't be so scary,because it's like, I'm a
legitimate business, and I'mcommunicating with my customers.
(12:13):
That's really all it is. Butbecause it's an extra effort,
extra step. People
Jordan Fleming (12:18):
who aren't doing it, that's the problem, what why
we're doing this podcast, if I'mgonna be blunt, everybody
listening here, if you arelistening to this, and you use
text messaging and use it withPodio, then, you know, this is
happening HCPs here, it'shappening, it affects everybody.
And there are very small, easysteps you have to take to make
sure you can continue textingand get the results you want.
(12:40):
Right. And that's all there isto it. And if you keep ignoring
it, which is what most of ourcustomers are doing, and we do
not most, which not so not fair,not most, which many people are
doing, a lot of our customersare doing the process. And
that's great. But this isn't oneof those things you can just
ignore, and assume everything'sgonna be fine, because sooner or
later, and the carriers have letus know that they think it'll be
(13:02):
this year, they're essentiallygoing to say, Hey, you're trying
to send a text messages from asystem. But you're not
registered for a GB 10 DLC, andtherefore I'm not sending it.
Well, I'm not accepting it. I'mdenying that. So if you do, you
know, if you're listening tothis, and text messaging is part
of your communication bit withPodio. Regardless of what system
(13:24):
you're using, if you're usingbatch, your smartphone or
anything else, RingCentral,listen to this, go to the
provider you're using,hopefully, it's smartphone. And
but if not your provider, and gothrough their simple process to
register your company, all youdo is you give the basics of who
you are your EIN number, yourwebsite, the registered person,
(13:47):
you fill in a form that willtake you 30 seconds, and you
submit it. And that's all youreally have to do to then start
the process. And when it comestime, once they've verified you,
and you get you set up yourtexting profile. Again, the form
you have to fill in, takes youliterally to a minute to fill it
like less than it's fivequestions or more like that's
(14:08):
it. So this isn't a process.
That's scary. It's not aprocess. That is difficult, but
it's a process you have to do.
And and there's really bigbenefits Elon, why, like for me,
we've talked a lot about what doyou think the benefits of this
are? Aside from the fact thatyou have to fucking do it?
Right. So
Ellen Sluder (14:25):
I don't, let's get to the downside, like the what
will happen if you don't do itsecond, but what happens if you
do register? So the very firstthing is they they're actually
promising faster text messagedelivery, larger throughput,
throughput and stuff. You know,for folks that mostly that use
Podio. I'm not imagining they'redoing a tonne of stuff that's
(14:46):
like two factor authenticationwhere you're sending a code, but
when it's that kind of stuff,for a lot of providers that
really matter. Someone's tryingto log in, they have to get the
code in their text message. Youwant that code to show up
immediately, not 10 minutes Toget our so there, it's faster,
higher volumes that fasterspeeds, but also the per message
(15:07):
cost of registered messages isgoing to be lower. Right. So the
fees are going up for everybodythese receiving carriers, any
text that is sent, whether it'sregistered or unregistered,
that's coming from theapplication is going to have now
a surcharge on top of it. Butthat surcharge is about half if
(15:28):
you're registered, and it'slarger if you're unregistered.
So those are the the benefits.
And, you know, you, you there isa benefit that's a little more
philosophical. It's the ideathat you're buying into a system
that is working hard to weed outscammers that, yeah, it's
weeding it out, you'reparticipating in pushing those
bad folks out of the way so thatyour text messages actually will
(15:51):
eventually get more attention.
Now, there is this interim timewhere sort of everybody's kind
of muddled together. But if youget on the right side of history
here, you're going to be comingout ahead.
Jordan Fleming (16:04):
Hey, are you using Podio to manage your real
estate investment business Wait,click the link to find out why
1000s of real estate investmentprofessionals are using Podio
plus smartphone to make morecalls, send more text and close
more deals, click the link.
Ellen Sluder (16:19):
Now what happens if you don't register. So if you
don't register, you're going tohave those higher per message
fees. And they are going toprobably before they shut it
off, I'm guessing this is myguess that they're going to have
a period of time where they'regoing to start labelling those
texts as scam likely, just likethey do for some of the spam
phone calls. So they're probablygoing to label them a scam, like
(16:42):
Li which is hurt to your brand.
But also an they owe the FCC,everybody is already scanned,
randomly scanning text messagesfor violations of TCPA. And the
communication guidelines thatexist and opt in they're already
scanning for that. What's abetter way to for them to
identify who to look at firstand being like, well, this is a
(17:05):
bunch of unregistered, theymight still look at the
registered folks, but they'regoing to look at unregistered
first, it's going to beincreased scrutiny more likely
to be caught if you don't haveactual opt in there. And then.
And then of course, like whatJordan said, it's going to be
actually completely filteredout, they will not deliver it.
And they have said they're notgoing to tell you if it wasn't
(17:28):
delivered. So you'll be like Itexted you, what are you talking
about, and then you're gonnalook like an idiot because it
didn't actually go through.
Jordan Fleming (17:35):
It's just one of those. It's like, it's like I
was about to say it's likegetting your vaccine. And then I
realised that there's a wholelot of people who may be
listening to this and saying,fuck you, I don't want to get my
vaccine, right. But but this isone of those things that it's
you know, like filing your tax,your vegetable taxes, I don't
particularly like paying thegovernment my tax money, but
it's just one of those costs ofdoing business. And, you know,
(17:58):
if text messaging is a big partof your communication breakdown,
then you know how important itis to be able to communicate
effectively that that eitherway, you know, this is a an
opportunity for you to prove whoyou are and to make sure you're
on the good player side and makesure you're going through and
operating the right way. Butalso just it's it's your way of
making sure that you're gonnacontinue to be able to do
(18:19):
texting, because, you know, aslong as you're abiding by those
rules, like TCPA, steel, DNC,opt in all those types of
things, you most of us, most ofthe businesses I speak to from
smartphone, they want to begood, like nobody, none of none
of people I talked to, asidefrom maybe one or two, who we've
clicked off our system, quitehonestly, nobody that we talked
(18:44):
to wants to try and be a scammeror a spammer, you know that they
want to do business and theywant to communicate. And so
they're just you know, so theytry and play by the rules as
they can. This is one of thosethings that's really easy to do.
The sooner you do it, thebetter. And I just, you know,
it's really important that we dothat. And it's important that
you do that. So I'm gonna put alink in the podcast, to our Help
(19:09):
documentation that's insidesmartphone, where you can read
all about it read how simple itfucking is. It's not like if
you've got some sort of weirdtrauma from your SATs, this
isn't it. It's really easy todo. And, and just regardless of
what system you're using, ifyou're using text messaging,
just fucking click the link,read it and do it. Alright. And
Ellen Sluder (19:31):
can I make a marketing analogy for this?
Right, so So years ago, andmarketing, it used to be the
thing where you would buy alist, and then you would just
email the crap out of them,right? And you were like, Well,
I only spent like two grand onthis list. It has 10,000
contacts. So only two peopleresponded but to people that I
only you know, like my cost ofsales is still where I want it
(19:53):
to be or whatever it is. And youknow, now there's all these
systems that have the junkfolder or the junk box. And you
can see how that, like, there'snon deliverability of those
kinds of, and you'll be kickedoff, like if you use MailChimp
or whatever and you don't havean opt in if enough edits enough
people complain about you, youare kicked
Jordan Fleming (20:13):
off their mail chimp will shut that shit down
great do not used to be the WildWest email marketing, that's a
great analogy. When emailmarketing came out, it was the
Wild West and anybody can doanything. And then everything
all the gates came in not tostop legitimate things, but to
stop bullshit. And essentially,business text messaging has been
the wild west for the for awhile now, mainly because and I
(20:37):
learned this from bandwidths,which is another major player in
the US. You know, business, thewhen when text message came out,
they never really thoughtbusinesses would like they
didn't really think of businesstexting, they didn't think about
it, and then suddenly became areally big part of a sales kind
of cycle. And now they'rethey're just like MailChimp,
(20:58):
great example violin, just likewhen emailing email newsletters
and you know, that kind of cameout, we suddenly were like, ah,
and we created those barriers tobad bullshit, this is what's
happening now. So if you're agood person, you're a good
company, you try and do goodthings, and you want to
communicate by text, fuckingclick the link, read the
documentation and spend the fourminutes to sign up.
Ellen Sluder (21:20):
Right and and it really is about the idea that
the best marketing andcommunications plan is a diverse
portfolio portfolio, don't putall your eggs in one basket,
don't put all your eggs intocold texting, you know, you
don't put all your eggs intocold emailing, you have to have,
you have to reach out with a anappropriate marketing message
that, you know, builds demandbuild interest, and then you use
(21:42):
these communication tools tonurture and to bring somebody
from an initial interest intoconversion. And that's really
the best way to be using textmessaging. You know, I don't
know if you if anybody listeningdoes have a property that's been
like that, that somehow realestate investors have gotten on
some of the list, and you getthose text messages over and
(22:04):
over and over again, now mymother in law, get that because
she has paid off the mortgagefor her house, right. And that
that makes her a target for realestate investors, she gets text
messages all the time. And theyall look exactly the same. And
there is no differentiation,they're completely cold. And she
just blocks, blocks, blocks,blocks, blocks, you know,
whereas if somebody hadapproached her in a different
way, she actually was kind ofinterested in selling here,
(22:26):
don't reach out to me because Ican't get get to her. But she
actually is she actually isinterested in something now. And
if but she's not going to do itfrom some get to her. She's
older, it's weird, she doesn't.
But if somebody sent her a flyerin the mail that appealed to her
looks friendly, whatever, shewould reach out that way. So you
have to have a full marketingportfolio that fits your target
(22:47):
fits your business, and drawsinterest. So. So that's why it's
good. This should not beanything that any legitimate
player is afraid of. But shouldwe talk about the plans, there
are options once you do theinitial registration,
Jordan Fleming (23:02):
I don't I don't want to get too deep into this.
Because the honest truth is youcan read the doc like guys, the
most important thing is go clickthe link, read the documentation
and fucking do it. It's reallynot that complex,
Ellen Sluder (23:14):
I just want to say to light things, you have two
options, one is completely free.
And then one costs a little bit.
And it's a little bit of ahigher level, more sophisticated
plan. So you have these twooptions. So not only is it
simple to sign up, but it alsois free if you choose the
standard. I mean, it's the basicoption. So starter,
Jordan Fleming (23:34):
the starter package, yeah, there, it's
really not very complex. We'regonna have the link to the
documentation. What I want toget across in this podcast right
now before we're going toquickly switch over to our Podio
discussion for five minutes.
Because I'm curious about that.
But you know, look, the I'mgonna say one last time, if
using texting, and you're usinga system like smartphone,
(23:56):
RingCentral, batch, whatevercall collarette. Whatever it is,
if you're using a system and youwant to be able to text message,
click the link in the discussionin the podcast, read up on it
and go to whatever provideryou're using. If it's
smartphone, login if you're theaccount owner and go you've got
a trust centre that you canfollow the directions on the
help centre. It'll take you fiveminutes to register. Do it right
(24:17):
now. Do it as soon as you getoff this podcast. Because after
that do the like and review andbullshit you're supposed to do
on podcasts and fuckers do. ButI want you to do. But no, just
stop right now, in fact, but Iwas pause it and do it because I
just want everyone I don't wantyou to lose the opportunity to
tax for something so stupid forsomething so, so stupid. Now,
(24:39):
you just may have heard of dingin your ear, which I don't know
if you heard that which whichsadly, is Elon knows with this
coming now I'm gonna let Elongive a little insight into how
she came into Podio and what shefelt. And when she doing that
you're gonna see me disappearand do 10 Push ups, which sounds
really weird and a weird thingto do on a podcast but But I
(25:00):
kind of have to do them. So LMtaken away for
Ellen Sluder (25:04):
well, maybe I'll give them the back end. So what
Jordans doing is part of adevelopment philosophy that
we've put in place atsmartphone, it's the Pomodoro
Technique, if you want to googleit, it's the idea of 25 minutes
of very focused work. And thenyou take a break. And when you
take a break, you do somethingphysical to like, loosen you up
and, and expand your mind sothat you can be more efficient,
(25:26):
efficient and effective. So theteam, a lot of people are
choosing to do push ups, somepeople are choosing to do
squats, whatever it is. So thatis where the thing is. So I
didn't say anything about Podiois explaining your pushup. But
um, okay, so Podio what, youknow, when I first started, I've
worked in a lot of differentCRMs. Before, I've worked in
HubSpot, I've worked inSalesforce, I've, you know, I
(25:52):
used to work for a businessprocess management tool that was
more customised for thehealthcare space. So I really
understand workflow managementand how that goes. And, you
know, Podio was a little bitlike, I was a little bit.
Jordan Fleming (26:07):
I mean, I wasn't sold when you first looked at
it, but
Ellen Sluder (26:14):
it was it was both overwhelming and underwhelming
at the exact same time. And, andit took a while. And I think the
best thing that happened in mytraining was that Jordan didn't,
like actually teach you allthis, that sounds bad, but I'll
explain it, he didn't teach meanything, he guided me to do all
the things myself. So that isreally where I really started to
(26:35):
understand the power of Podio.
And what you can do was by goingin there and playing around with
it, and doing it myself, and,and getting the muscle memory
and being like, Oh, wait, Iremember, go there. Now. I'm
like, I'm using keyboardshortcuts, um, you know,
creating apps modifyingtemplates. You know, it's I'm
like, I'm full in, unfolded oneverything except for email, but
(26:56):
I'm fully on everything else.
Being managed 100%. Like I said,before, we do all of our content
calendar, we do all of ourdocumentation, library
documentation updates, we keeptrack of our roadmap in it. And
so for me, as the head ofmarketing, I need to know when
new releases are coming, andwhat the end of the descriptions
(27:18):
and what the timeline are, andthe fact that everything's all
interconnected. Everybody canhave their own space to play
with, but then the spaces talkto each other, the workspaces,
it's amazing, it's the best
Jordan Fleming (27:29):
way your your, you know, I watch over the 11
years, or something that I'veI've done. I've been building in
Podio I have seen hundreds ofpeople learn Podio, right, I've
trained probably hundreds ofpeople, I've shown hundreds of
people, but I've also just seenso many people and and everybody
(27:50):
goes through a sort ofsceptical, you know, because you
were the little scepticism ofthe system, like, is this really
gonna have this things I need itto be and, and I know I still
haven't convinced you on theemail front, and that's fine.
Well, maybe I'm and you know,what, I've kind of lost the,
I've lost the desire to justfucking, like slam people into
(28:13):
it. But But I, you everyonestarts out with a bit of
scepticism, everyone who's dealtwith other systems, who view
Salesforce or Hobbs water, orwhatever it is, everyone comes
up but with a bit with, youknow, a sceptical brain. And
it's only over a period of timethat you see them transform,
usually into being it's sort ofthe light goes on. And then the
(28:38):
light turns into an acceleratorwhere they're just like, oh, i
Holy shit. Now I want to dothey're like, an AI that kind of
curved from an O. And yeah, thatkind of like, is, is when you
went through as well. And Ithink and you've now kind of,
you're going through that withsome new people in your team,
(29:00):
bringing them into Podio.
Ellen Sluder (29:02):
And that's been my that's been my, I think that's
probably when the turning pointcame when Georgiana came on
board. And we started having atechnical writer, so I wasn't
reading all the documentationmyself and being able to have a
centralised place where we couldwork on it. Also, were on the
timezone difference. So forthere to be able to be this real
seamless handoff. And then we'veadded now another, a Content
(29:25):
Manager to the team to like, forteam management. Like, that's
really where it like, really mymind, and I really the
collaboration is it's absolutelyamazing. You know, and it's just
like, we work in a distributedteam, you know, like, even even
our team that are all sort ofnear each other. A lot of people
(29:46):
still work from home, and it'salmost like this. It's almost
like our office that we all gointo together. You know, like,
I'm always like posting giftsand emojis and you know, we have
like a lot of chatter that goeson in there. On the different
parts of the roadmap, again, aredifferent places, and it does it
become it becomes our virtualoffice in a way.
Jordan Fleming (30:08):
Absolutely, absolutely. And I think, you
know, it's, it's always fun, youknow, it's always fun for me to
see someone's journey into, youknow, Podio. And into that kind
of accelerated phase where it'slike, oh, I can actually do
something with this way, youknow, now, as you say, you're,
you're, you're building apps, oryou're modifying apps, and
(30:28):
you're, you're deciding how youwant to track this one thing in
Podio, etc. And I think that'sreally great. We're also
obviously, you're going to bestarting to bring more
information into Podio fromother parts of our systems. So
that we have that one. That onehub of data because we still,
even though Podio is there, westill use other systems, we have
(30:51):
to for you know, we use, youknow, a system called intercom
for our, our support channel forpeople, we use other, you know,
systems that all have datapoints. And if you've got that
kind of distribution of dataacross so many systems, it's
hard to see the whole board andPodio can really be that whole
(31:12):
board.
Ellen Sluder (31:13):
So So we're currently working with web
consultants to help us with ourwebsite, making it more of a
because even though it's kind ofgot an E commerce feel to it,
but it's really set up like abrochure website. So we're
trying to make it a little bitmore fluid and has and he was
when we were doing an unwitting,attendee kept saying, what's the
(31:33):
source of truth? What's thekeeper of truth? What do you and
I was like, we go out and I waslike, oh, yeah, like everything
goes into Podio. That is our oneplace that we go into, that
keeps all of our data clean, itkeeps us, you know, on the same
page, or on the same item?
Jordan Fleming (31:54):
Absolutely, absolutely. This system of Podio
is a brilliant system of recordfor that, if you are using
multiple systems, and you canget via the API, you can get
some data in, you end up beingable to have this hub of all
your data in one place, whichyou can then turn and spin on a
dime. And that is, you know,it's so important is just is is
(32:17):
wickedly important. Do you haveanything that you know, do you
have any kind of things on thehorizon? Or things that you're
quite excited about trying to dowith Podio? Are you still
opening to do email? Or are youjust gonna just mix it for life?
It's okay, you can be honest.
Yeah,
Ellen Sluder (32:31):
I mean, the one the one thing that I so we use
the Gmail workspace for, I useit for email. The one thing that
holds me back is that I do somuch in for the content
development. So much of it, weuse the Google Docs and stuff to
share it. And I'm, I'm not surethat Podio is the best place for
that kind of like commenting,editing and that kind of stuff.
(32:51):
So that might keep me in there.
I think one of the things I'mreally excited about is we've
been I've been talking morewith, with Alex in the past
couple of months aboutdeveloping more dashboards, more
marketing dashboards tounderstand lead generation, and
then into trial, and thenchild's conversion and
conversion to upsell and thenretention and churn and really
(33:13):
having that mapped out so we canunderstand how much do we have
to put into the top of thefunnel to get the results you
want the back end? And whatactivities happen at each and
right now we are we're there'ssome opacity to specifically our
lead portion because we havemultiple different teams
touching people. So themarketing team that's then our
client success team touchesthem, and that data is currently
(33:36):
not syncing up. So we're workingon figuring out how do we get
all those metrics and KPIssynched up? So we have a really
clear understanding of how manytouches does it take to get a
lead to a trial? And then whatdoes it take to get a trial to a
conversion, and we can reallyunderstand that process. So I
think dashboards is the areathat I'm much more super excited
about reporting, in general,where I'm excited to get deeper
(33:58):
into.
Jordan Fleming (34:00):
Well, I know that one of the things that I'm
looking forward to doing, whichis a relatively quick hit, and
shout out to Podio partner,slash smartphone partner
synchrony my old team from gamechanges, which is now an amazing
company called synchrony.
They're going to do theintegration for me. But a little
a little thing, that's just anexample of how a little thing
can make transparency andability to to understand that
(34:23):
much easier. We're going to ofcourse, hook up our Calendly so
that every calendar event getsplunked into our CRM and gets
associated with the if they youknow, with it with a lead or
with a customer. And with withan agent that's having the
meeting and you know, notes cango in there recordings in the
meeting can go in there. Alittle bit of integration like
(34:44):
that a simple API integration,like like a Calendly can
suddenly mean that you've got ohwow, every single meeting that
the customers have scheduledwith our CSA team, is now bam.
clumped into a CRM, boom, we'vegot we, you know, as opposed to
us having to find out, we've gotit all there we can, we can make
(35:05):
sure it links up to ourcustomer, we can see that and
that's such a simple, smallthing. But it gives you a map to
help
Ellen Sluder (35:13):
us and what's I mean, what's the point of the
data, right? The point of thedata is to make decisions, it's
going to help us understandstaffing needs for that CSA
position. You know, if we'reseeing that every person that
every lead that tuck thatactually does this Calendly demo
with our CSA? Well, let's saythey have like an 80% chance of
becoming a client, well, I'mgonna want to push that more,
(35:34):
which means we're going to needto staff up, you know, I'm gonna
start pushing, you know, chats,I'm gonna start doing pop ups on
the website, get a demo, get alive demo, it shows that that
ends up, you know, convertingbetter. And so we need that
information. So having again,that that one source of truth
that allows us to analyse howthe business works, and the cost
of doing business, it's gonnareally help us just continue to
(35:58):
grow at an at a very sustainableand profitable
Jordan Fleming (36:02):
faith.
Absolutely. Well, listen, Alan,thanks so much for coming on
today. And you know, two things.
Number one, of course, I alwayslike to listen to, you know,
people's journey through polio,yours is a specific one where
you know, you're coming in at asenior position, and you're
having to learn having used lotsof other systems, you're having
to learn it. So hearing a bitabout that journey, and how you
(36:23):
spirits and how you've kind ofturned from sceptic to kind of
evangelist, yeah, you're aconvert. That's fantastic. And,
of course, the you know, the,the ATP content that we did the
begin beginning, a thank you forcoming on and explaining it and
be reminded, every listeningthat if you are using text
messaging, and using a system,please remember to go right now
(36:47):
and read up and do it. It's sosimple, but you got to do it,
because sooner or later, you'renot going to text. So it's like,
it's the easiest thing in theworld. It's quick and easy. It
won't take any time, it's notgoing to cost you any money
unless you're going to dospecific situations in it. And,
you know, ultimately, you know,go do it. It's like paying your
(37:07):
taxes, suck it up, do it and geton with it. So that's, that's
the that's my
Ellen Sluder (37:12):
message for today free, is that it could be free.
It doesn't have to cost youmoney. Well,
Jordan Fleming (37:17):
no, it's either way, it's gonna cost you money.
It's like, let's be clear, it'sgonna cost you money, because
there are charges that are goingup. But the charges go way up,
if you don't register. So likethis is this is just one of
those things is like, come on,like, just go do it. You've
listened. Now you've heard whatit's all about. You've heard
wide matters. Go do it. It'll bevery quick. You can do and then
(37:38):
you can forget about it. In asense. Yeah. set it and forget
it. Absolutely. Well, thank youvery much, Alan. I will I will
see you as of today. I will seeyou next week in Europe. Yes.
Awesome. Can't wait. All right.
Thank you guys for listening andhave a great week.
Narrator (37:53):
Okay. You've been listening to another awesome
episode of supercharged withJordan Samuel Fleming. Don't
forget to hit the subscribebutton on our YouTube channel to
be notified of new podcastepisodes Podio masterclasses and
in depth Podio extension reviewsif you've enjoyed this podcast,
please give us a review on yourpodcast player to help support
(38:16):
the show.
Welcome to the supercharged with Jordan Samuel
Fleming, your weekly podcastdedicated to what your business
can achieve when it's powered byPodio. Join us each week as we
learn from the top Podiopartners in the world as we
investigate system integrationsand add ons and hear from real
business owners who haveimplemented Podio into their
(00:21):
business. Now join Jordan SamuelFleming, CEO of smartphone for
this week's episode.
Jordan Fleming (00:28):
Hey, everybody, and welcome to this week's
episode of supercharged, I'myour host, Jordan, Samuel
Fleming here to talk all aboutthe power of workflow and
automation, when your businessis powered by Podio. All right,
it is summer. I gotta admit,I've taken a month or so off,
been doing some things with thefamily. But podcasting is coming
back. And that means a bunch ofgreat new guests. And this week,
(00:53):
is kind of a fun one and kind ofa different one. And because I
am welcoming Elen Sluder, who isthe head of marketing for my
company smrtPhone. And thereason I'm doing this very
special episode of superchargedis because I know a lot of my
listeners to this podcast, and alot of people who use Podio, use
(01:13):
text messaging communication,hopefully with smrtPhone. But
either way, if you use textmessaging, and you are using a
system like smrtphone or anyother to do it, this episode is
an important one for you tolisten to. Because there are
huge changes happening in thewhole ecosystem of text
(01:33):
messaging in the United States.
And the first half of thispodcast, Ellen, I talk a little
about that. It's calledA2P10DLC, application to
programme 10 digit long code,the second half of this episode,
and I talked Podio, she's beenintroduced to Podio because she
joined smrtphone and I got herinto the ecosystem. And we
talked a bit about the thingsshe's grown to love and some of
(01:54):
the things that maybe made it alittle difficult to get off the
ground for and it's kind of fun,and I always love talking to
people who I've introduced toPodio. And to see that journey
of awakening of how amazingpolio can be. So hope you like
this episode, it's back to kindof normal service, we're going
to be doing some newmasterclasses. We're going to be
new podcasts. Do make sure youcheck out our YouTube channel,
(02:16):
subscribe, go to your podcastplatform, give it a like, give
it a share. You know, thoseratings really do help spread
the gospel of Podio. Now on tothe podcast, let's go
Susan's a terrible way second.
So for the benefit of everyonewho kind of we actually
(02:41):
recording in this room? I'm sosorry, really record here
anymore? That it's sort of like,I don't like it as much anymore.
But for the better good ofanyone who is doesn't know you?
Why don't you take 30 seconds tointroduce yourself to the
podcast? Yes.
Ellen Sluder (02:59):
Okay. Hi, I'm Ellen Sluder. I am the Head of
Marketing for smrtphone. And Ihave been, that was my
introduction to Podio wasjoining the smrtphone team in
early 2021. So somewhat still anewbie to Podio. But I am
certainly starting to love it. Ilove it. Oh my God, not only do
I love it, but I have. I thinkI've told you that my sister is
(03:23):
writing a book about an artistlike she's an art history
person. And she's writing a bookabout an artist and she wanted
my help to catalogue thisperson's works. And I was like,
You need a Podio databasebecause she needed to match up
and I built her I put them in adatabase. So hazing amazing. But
yes, I love Podio. And we use itfor all of our content, calendar
(03:45):
documentation, managementdocumentation library, keeping
up with the roadmap and makingsure that we have all of the
right feature announcementsgoing out. And like I said, blog
posts, all that kind of stuff.
So absolutely love Podio. But Ithink I'm a little
Jordan Fleming (04:01):
begin with. I didn't I actually we're gonna
split this podcast into twobecause I got you now in the hot
seat on this. I forgotten when Iwhen I asked you to do this.
Specifically, I want to talk toyou today. Because I know that
so many of our certainlysmrtphone customers from Podio
smrtphone customers, but just ingeneral, a lot of people use
(04:21):
Podio in the real estateindustry or in solar industries
or in some sales industry wherethey're doing a lot of
communication, whether they'reusing smrtphone which of course,
they should be quick links bytry it out if you haven't
already. Or they're usingsomething else to be fair.
Either way, there's a hugechange happening in the US in
(04:42):
terms of text messaging. It'sbeen happening for over a year
now, but it's coming to the youknow, sharp end of the stick.
And I felt like it was time thatcertainly given that we've got
an audience here from thispodcast for Podio. I thought it
was time for us to just like Iwant to raise the warning flag
again, I've been raising it, youand I've been raising it from a
(05:04):
smartphone perspective for ever.
But like, let's do it from abowtie Oh, fuck it, let's do it
from Podio perspective as wellas up 10 DLC. Today, we're going
to talk a bit about this, firstof all, dive into what it is why
it's important. If you do usetext messaging, you're listening
to this podcast, and you usetext messaging with Podio. You
gotta listen to this, and you'vegot to act on it. So can you
(05:26):
succinctly kind of sum up whatHTTP 10 DLC is?
Ellen Sluder (05:32):
Okay, well, let's just start with what the acronym
stands for. It stands forApplication to person 10 digit
long code. So the application toperson part literally means you
are using some kind of softwaretechnology to send the text
message rather than your ownpersonal phone. And the 10 DLC
stands for 10 digit long code,which is a US local phone
(05:55):
number. So it's not a toll freenumber. It's not a shortcode. It
is, and there's a lot ofbenefits to texting with local
phone numbers, which is why mostpeople do it, especially in the
real estate industry, wherelocation being local matters.
Your area code matters if youget a text message from
somebody. I mean, I live in NewYork, but I have an Oregon,
(06:18):
technically an Oregon area codebecause that's where I lived
when I got my phone number 20years. Everyone around here is
like, Oh, 503 What's that? Ifeel like I'm like I grew up
here.
Jordan Fleming (06:31):
It used to cost a lot more money to call. Like
when I was a kid, I rememberlike local call versus long
distance.
Ellen Sluder (06:38):
And there was like a short, medium distance. And
you used to be able to just
Jordan Fleming (06:41):
I don't know if you can still do it. But I
remember you used to be Iremember my New Canaan, because
I grew up I went to high school.
I funny enough, I went to highschool with Alan on this
podcast. But I lived inConnecticut. And I remember our
number was 9668195. God, pleasedon't call back because I don't
know what the fuck is that now,but the I may believe that shit
out actually. In fact, I gottaleave that one out. But anyway,
(07:01):
I do. Remember, I could callsome people with just the seven
digits. And other people I hadto like if I want to call New
York, I had to go 914 Blah,blah, blah. And I think
Ellen Sluder (07:16):
I can talk to you about the North American
Numbering Plan. I know way toomuch about that. And it used to
be that the first the firstthree parts, which is your
region, it used to be actuallyletters. So like, nearby here is
a town called Armand. So it wasa R three. And that's how you
did so I know a lot aboutnumbering and stuff, but and
then they had to expand to theyhad to expand to area codes. And
(07:38):
then we have exhausted areacodes. So now most there's a lot
of overlays in different areas,like Manhattan has something
like seven different area codesor the whole Manhattan but all
of the New York City boroughshas seven or eight different
area codes, they keep addingthem. But anyway, the idea is,
is if you are reaching out tosomeone who doesn't know you,
especially via text, they'remore likely to pay attention if
(08:00):
they let you seem familiar,right. And if you have one way
you can seem familiar is byhaving the same area code. So
that's my 10 digit long codemakes a big difference with
short codes, you share it withsomebody, they have to remember
two things, both the six digitcode and whatever your keyword
is short codes
Jordan Fleming (08:18):
is like text, hello, 26449 to hear that on
radio all the time, as opposedto just like, hey, my number is
203 Blah, blah, blah, and I'mtexting you on your number for
my number and, and it looks likejust a normal number. That's a
default.
Ellen Sluder (08:35):
And we're short codes. It's like it's difficult
to text. But it's not really twoway communication. It's
difficult to text back. And thenwhen you have a toll free
texting while that's totallypossible, you seem a little
corporate, right? You seem big,you seem like you you're kind of
floating out in the ether amorphus. You don't really
connect with that person in thesame way. It looks like you
Jordan Fleming (08:56):
know, my back.
Ellen Sluder (08:58):
And then there's other types of texting the
businesses use Ott, is calledover the top. It's like WhatsApp
or Facebook, it's where you bothhave to have the same app to use
it. So 10 digit long code, youdon't both have it? Yes, it's
application to person. But youdon't both have to have the same
app to be able to use it. Soit's text messaging. Yeah, it's
(09:19):
just such a valuable tool forfor businesses to use. But the
receiving carriers here in theUS are have become very
sensitive to the fact that yourpersonal mobile text message
inbox, whether you use iPhoneand you have iMessage, just your
regular text messaging inbox,it's become a target for
(09:42):
scammers and spammers, and so aspart of them trying to protect
their consumers. And it's beenit's been encouraged heavily by
the FCC for them to do this sothat they don't, you know,
regulation takes time. So thisis kind of a stopgap regulation
is probably coming, but it'sgoing to take some time. So the
carriers themselves thereceiving carriers, primarily
(10:02):
driven by T Mobile, who now alsoown sprint, AT and T. And then
Verizon is a little bit quieter,but they're in the background.
So that means there's only oneother carrier, which is US
Cellular and like who uses. Imean, I don't want to be mean to
Jordan Fleming (10:17):
them, but their hashtag, don't fucking sue me
because Elon just flagged you.
Ellen Sluder (10:21):
Allegedly, it's not as popular. And then you
hear about all these othercarriers like cricket or mint or
whatever. But those are mDNS,I'm sorry, too many acronyms.
But those are, those are folkswho actually operate on the
networks of the larger people.
They just work out a bullmarket, and then they and then
they pass the discount, right.
(10:42):
So it really is in the UnitedStates. All Text messaging, it's
going through the network ofVerizon AT and T, T Mobile or US
Cellular. So those first three,the biggest ones have decided
that they're going to putprotections in place. So they
can sense through technology,this is my very technical way of
(11:03):
saying they can use technology,we can use it, but they can tell
if the text message has comefrom another mobile phone. Or if
it's come like like, if it's 18,t to 18 T or 18, T to T Mobile,
they can tell if it comes fromany kind of application, any
kind of soft phone, GoogleVoice, smartphone RingCentral,
(11:26):
any of those Voice over IPactually
Jordan Fleming (11:29):
doesn't matter, actually,
Ellen Sluder (11:30):
oh, that they can tell that it's an application,
they can sense that it's an orthey have ways to analyse that
that the A has come into play,it's not P to P, it's not person
to person, it's application toperson, and they are throttling
it, they are throttling thatdown now, and they are requiring
folks that use that method oftexting to register and identify
(11:51):
themselves so that they can cutdown on spammers and scammers.
So now we need to get all of uswho are application providers
need to get people who wereusing the system to register.
And it shouldn't be so scary,because it's like, I'm a
legitimate business, and I'mcommunicating with my customers.
(12:13):
That's really all it is. Butbecause it's an extra effort,
extra step. People
Jordan Fleming (12:18):
who aren't doing it, that's the problem, what why
we're doing this podcast, if I'mgonna be blunt, everybody
listening here, if you arelistening to this, and you use
text messaging and use it withPodio, then, you know, this is
happening HCPs here, it'shappening, it affects everybody.
And there are very small, easysteps you have to take to make
sure you can continue textingand get the results you want.
(12:40):
Right. And that's all there isto it. And if you keep ignoring
it, which is what most of ourcustomers are doing, and we do
not most, which not so not fair,not most, which many people are
doing, a lot of our customersare doing the process. And
that's great. But this isn't oneof those things you can just
ignore, and assume everything'sgonna be fine, because sooner or
later, and the carriers have letus know that they think it'll be
(13:02):
this year, they're essentiallygoing to say, Hey, you're trying
to send a text messages from asystem. But you're not
registered for a GB 10 DLC, andtherefore I'm not sending it.
Well, I'm not accepting it. I'mdenying that. So if you do, you
know, if you're listening tothis, and text messaging is part
of your communication bit withPodio. Regardless of what system
(13:24):
you're using, if you're usingbatch, your smartphone or
anything else, RingCentral,listen to this, go to the
provider you're using,hopefully, it's smartphone. And
but if not your provider, and gothrough their simple process to
register your company, all youdo is you give the basics of who
you are your EIN number, yourwebsite, the registered person,
(13:47):
you fill in a form that willtake you 30 seconds, and you
submit it. And that's all youreally have to do to then start
the process. And when it comestime, once they've verified you,
and you get you set up yourtexting profile. Again, the form
you have to fill in, takes youliterally to a minute to fill it
like less than it's fivequestions or more like that's
(14:08):
it. So this isn't a process.
That's scary. It's not aprocess. That is difficult, but
it's a process you have to do.
And and there's really bigbenefits Elon, why, like for me,
we've talked a lot about what doyou think the benefits of this
are? Aside from the fact thatyou have to fucking do it?
Right. So
Ellen Sluder (14:25):
I don't, let's get to the downside, like the what
will happen if you don't do itsecond, but what happens if you
do register? So the very firstthing is they they're actually
promising faster text messagedelivery, larger throughput,
throughput and stuff. You know,for folks that mostly that use
Podio. I'm not imagining they'redoing a tonne of stuff that's
(14:46):
like two factor authenticationwhere you're sending a code, but
when it's that kind of stuff,for a lot of providers that
really matter. Someone's tryingto log in, they have to get the
code in their text message. Youwant that code to show up
immediately, not 10 minutes Toget our so there, it's faster,
higher volumes that fasterspeeds, but also the per message
(15:07):
cost of registered messages isgoing to be lower. Right. So the
fees are going up for everybodythese receiving carriers, any
text that is sent, whether it'sregistered or unregistered,
that's coming from theapplication is going to have now
a surcharge on top of it. Butthat surcharge is about half if
(15:28):
you're registered, and it'slarger if you're unregistered.
So those are the the benefits.
And, you know, you, you there isa benefit that's a little more
philosophical. It's the ideathat you're buying into a system
that is working hard to weed outscammers that, yeah, it's
weeding it out, you'reparticipating in pushing those
bad folks out of the way so thatyour text messages actually will
(15:51):
eventually get more attention.
Now, there is this interim timewhere sort of everybody's kind
of muddled together. But if youget on the right side of history
here, you're going to be comingout ahead.
Jordan Fleming (16:04):
Hey, are you using Podio to manage your real
estate investment business Wait,click the link to find out why
1000s of real estate investmentprofessionals are using Podio
plus smartphone to make morecalls, send more text and close
more deals, click the link.
Ellen Sluder (16:19):
Now what happens if you don't register. So if you
don't register, you're going tohave those higher per message
fees. And they are going toprobably before they shut it
off, I'm guessing this is myguess that they're going to have
a period of time where they'regoing to start labelling those
texts as scam likely, just likethey do for some of the spam
phone calls. So they're probablygoing to label them a scam, like
(16:42):
Li which is hurt to your brand.
But also an they owe the FCC,everybody is already scanned,
randomly scanning text messagesfor violations of TCPA. And the
communication guidelines thatexist and opt in they're already
scanning for that. What's abetter way to for them to
identify who to look at firstand being like, well, this is a
(17:05):
bunch of unregistered, theymight still look at the
registered folks, but they'regoing to look at unregistered
first, it's going to beincreased scrutiny more likely
to be caught if you don't haveactual opt in there. And then.
And then of course, like whatJordan said, it's going to be
actually completely filteredout, they will not deliver it.
And they have said they're notgoing to tell you if it wasn't
(17:28):
delivered. So you'll be like Itexted you, what are you talking
about, and then you're gonnalook like an idiot because it
didn't actually go through.
Jordan Fleming (17:35):
It's just one of those. It's like, it's like I
was about to say it's likegetting your vaccine. And then I
realised that there's a wholelot of people who may be
listening to this and saying,fuck you, I don't want to get my
vaccine, right. But but this isone of those things that it's
you know, like filing your tax,your vegetable taxes, I don't
particularly like paying thegovernment my tax money, but
it's just one of those costs ofdoing business. And, you know,
(17:58):
if text messaging is a big partof your communication breakdown,
then you know how important itis to be able to communicate
effectively that that eitherway, you know, this is a an
opportunity for you to prove whoyou are and to make sure you're
on the good player side and makesure you're going through and
operating the right way. Butalso just it's it's your way of
making sure that you're gonnacontinue to be able to do
(18:19):
texting, because, you know, aslong as you're abiding by those
rules, like TCPA, steel, DNC,opt in all those types of
things, you most of us, most ofthe businesses I speak to from
smartphone, they want to begood, like nobody, none of none
of people I talked to, asidefrom maybe one or two, who we've
clicked off our system, quitehonestly, nobody that we talked
(18:44):
to wants to try and be a scammeror a spammer, you know that they
want to do business and theywant to communicate. And so
they're just you know, so theytry and play by the rules as
they can. This is one of thosethings that's really easy to do.
The sooner you do it, thebetter. And I just, you know,
it's really important that we dothat. And it's important that
you do that. So I'm gonna put alink in the podcast, to our Help
(19:09):
documentation that's insidesmartphone, where you can read
all about it read how simple itfucking is. It's not like if
you've got some sort of weirdtrauma from your SATs, this
isn't it. It's really easy todo. And, and just regardless of
what system you're using, ifyou're using text messaging,
just fucking click the link,read it and do it. Alright. And
Ellen Sluder (19:31):
can I make a marketing analogy for this?
Right, so So years ago, andmarketing, it used to be the
thing where you would buy alist, and then you would just
email the crap out of them,right? And you were like, Well,
I only spent like two grand onthis list. It has 10,000
contacts. So only two peopleresponded but to people that I
only you know, like my cost ofsales is still where I want it
(19:53):
to be or whatever it is. And youknow, now there's all these
systems that have the junkfolder or the junk box. And you
can see how that, like, there'snon deliverability of those
kinds of, and you'll be kickedoff, like if you use MailChimp
or whatever and you don't havean opt in if enough edits enough
people complain about you, youare kicked
Jordan Fleming (20:13):
off their mail chimp will shut that shit down
great do not used to be the WildWest email marketing, that's a
great analogy. When emailmarketing came out, it was the
Wild West and anybody can doanything. And then everything
all the gates came in not tostop legitimate things, but to
stop bullshit. And essentially,business text messaging has been
the wild west for the for awhile now, mainly because and I
(20:37):
learned this from bandwidths,which is another major player in
the US. You know, business, thewhen when text message came out,
they never really thoughtbusinesses would like they
didn't really think of businesstexting, they didn't think about
it, and then suddenly became areally big part of a sales kind
of cycle. And now they'rethey're just like MailChimp,
(20:58):
great example violin, just likewhen emailing email newsletters
and you know, that kind of cameout, we suddenly were like, ah,
and we created those barriers tobad bullshit, this is what's
happening now. So if you're agood person, you're a good
company, you try and do goodthings, and you want to
communicate by text, fuckingclick the link, read the
documentation and spend the fourminutes to sign up.
Ellen Sluder (21:20):
Right and and it really is about the idea that
the best marketing andcommunications plan is a diverse
portfolio portfolio, don't putall your eggs in one basket,
don't put all your eggs intocold texting, you know, you
don't put all your eggs intocold emailing, you have to have,
you have to reach out with a anappropriate marketing message
that, you know, builds demandbuild interest, and then you use
(21:42):
these communication tools tonurture and to bring somebody
from an initial interest intoconversion. And that's really
the best way to be using textmessaging. You know, I don't
know if you if anybody listeningdoes have a property that's been
like that, that somehow realestate investors have gotten on
some of the list, and you getthose text messages over and
(22:04):
over and over again, now mymother in law, get that because
she has paid off the mortgagefor her house, right. And that
that makes her a target for realestate investors, she gets text
messages all the time. And theyall look exactly the same. And
there is no differentiation,they're completely cold. And she
just blocks, blocks, blocks,blocks, blocks, you know,
whereas if somebody hadapproached her in a different
way, she actually was kind ofinterested in selling here,
(22:26):
don't reach out to me because Ican't get get to her. But she
actually is she actually isinterested in something now. And
if but she's not going to do itfrom some get to her. She's
older, it's weird, she doesn't.
But if somebody sent her a flyerin the mail that appealed to her
looks friendly, whatever, shewould reach out that way. So you
have to have a full marketingportfolio that fits your target
(22:47):
fits your business, and drawsinterest. So. So that's why it's
good. This should not beanything that any legitimate
player is afraid of. But shouldwe talk about the plans, there
are options once you do theinitial registration,
Jordan Fleming (23:02):
I don't I don't want to get too deep into this.
Because the honest truth is youcan read the doc like guys, the
most important thing is go clickthe link, read the documentation
and fucking do it. It's reallynot that complex,
Ellen Sluder (23:14):
I just want to say to light things, you have two
options, one is completely free.
And then one costs a little bit.
And it's a little bit of ahigher level, more sophisticated
plan. So you have these twooptions. So not only is it
simple to sign up, but it alsois free if you choose the
standard. I mean, it's the basicoption. So starter,
Jordan Fleming (23:34):
the starter package, yeah, there, it's
really not very complex. We'regonna have the link to the
documentation. What I want toget across in this podcast right
now before we're going toquickly switch over to our Podio
discussion for five minutes.
Because I'm curious about that.
But you know, look, the I'mgonna say one last time, if
using texting, and you're usinga system like smartphone,
(23:56):
RingCentral, batch, whatevercall collarette. Whatever it is,
if you're using a system and youwant to be able to text message,
click the link in the discussionin the podcast, read up on it
and go to whatever provideryou're using. If it's
smartphone, login if you're theaccount owner and go you've got
a trust centre that you canfollow the directions on the
help centre. It'll take you fiveminutes to register. Do it right
(24:17):
now. Do it as soon as you getoff this podcast. Because after
that do the like and review andbullshit you're supposed to do
on podcasts and fuckers do. ButI want you to do. But no, just
stop right now, in fact, but Iwas pause it and do it because I
just want everyone I don't wantyou to lose the opportunity to
tax for something so stupid forsomething so, so stupid. Now,
(24:39):
you just may have heard of dingin your ear, which I don't know
if you heard that which whichsadly, is Elon knows with this
coming now I'm gonna let Elongive a little insight into how
she came into Podio and what shefelt. And when she doing that
you're gonna see me disappearand do 10 Push ups, which sounds
really weird and a weird thingto do on a podcast but But I
(25:00):
kind of have to do them. So LMtaken away for
Ellen Sluder (25:04):
well, maybe I'll give them the back end. So what
Jordans doing is part of adevelopment philosophy that
we've put in place atsmartphone, it's the Pomodoro
Technique, if you want to googleit, it's the idea of 25 minutes
of very focused work. And thenyou take a break. And when you
take a break, you do somethingphysical to like, loosen you up
and, and expand your mind sothat you can be more efficient,
(25:26):
efficient and effective. So theteam, a lot of people are
choosing to do push ups, somepeople are choosing to do
squats, whatever it is. So thatis where the thing is. So I
didn't say anything about Podiois explaining your pushup. But
um, okay, so Podio what, youknow, when I first started, I've
worked in a lot of differentCRMs. Before, I've worked in
HubSpot, I've worked inSalesforce, I've, you know, I
(25:52):
used to work for a businessprocess management tool that was
more customised for thehealthcare space. So I really
understand workflow managementand how that goes. And, you
know, Podio was a little bitlike, I was a little bit.
Jordan Fleming (26:07):
I mean, I wasn't sold when you first looked at
it, but
Ellen Sluder (26:14):
it was it was both overwhelming and underwhelming
at the exact same time. And, andit took a while. And I think the
best thing that happened in mytraining was that Jordan didn't,
like actually teach you allthis, that sounds bad, but I'll
explain it, he didn't teach meanything, he guided me to do all
the things myself. So that isreally where I really started to
(26:35):
understand the power of Podio.
And what you can do was by goingin there and playing around with
it, and doing it myself, and,and getting the muscle memory
and being like, Oh, wait, Iremember, go there. Now. I'm
like, I'm using keyboardshortcuts, um, you know,
creating apps modifyingtemplates. You know, it's I'm
like, I'm full in, unfolded oneverything except for email, but
(26:56):
I'm fully on everything else.
Being managed 100%. Like I said,before, we do all of our content
calendar, we do all of ourdocumentation, library
documentation updates, we keeptrack of our roadmap in it. And
so for me, as the head ofmarketing, I need to know when
new releases are coming, andwhat the end of the descriptions
(27:18):
and what the timeline are, andthe fact that everything's all
interconnected. Everybody canhave their own space to play
with, but then the spaces talkto each other, the workspaces,
it's amazing, it's the best
Jordan Fleming (27:29):
way your your, you know, I watch over the 11
years, or something that I'veI've done. I've been building in
Podio I have seen hundreds ofpeople learn Podio, right, I've
trained probably hundreds ofpeople, I've shown hundreds of
people, but I've also just seenso many people and and everybody
(27:50):
goes through a sort ofsceptical, you know, because you
were the little scepticism ofthe system, like, is this really
gonna have this things I need itto be and, and I know I still
haven't convinced you on theemail front, and that's fine.
Well, maybe I'm and you know,what, I've kind of lost the,
I've lost the desire to justfucking, like slam people into
(28:13):
it. But But I, you everyonestarts out with a bit of
scepticism, everyone who's dealtwith other systems, who view
Salesforce or Hobbs water, orwhatever it is, everyone comes
up but with a bit with, youknow, a sceptical brain. And
it's only over a period of timethat you see them transform,
usually into being it's sort ofthe light goes on. And then the
(28:38):
light turns into an acceleratorwhere they're just like, oh, i
Holy shit. Now I want to dothey're like, an AI that kind of
curved from an O. And yeah, thatkind of like, is, is when you
went through as well. And Ithink and you've now kind of,
you're going through that withsome new people in your team,
(29:00):
bringing them into Podio.
Ellen Sluder (29:02):
And that's been my that's been my, I think that's
probably when the turning pointcame when Georgiana came on
board. And we started having atechnical writer, so I wasn't
reading all the documentationmyself and being able to have a
centralised place where we couldwork on it. Also, were on the
timezone difference. So forthere to be able to be this real
seamless handoff. And then we'veadded now another, a Content
(29:25):
Manager to the team to like, forteam management. Like, that's
really where it like, really mymind, and I really the
collaboration is it's absolutelyamazing. You know, and it's just
like, we work in a distributedteam, you know, like, even even
our team that are all sort ofnear each other. A lot of people
(29:46):
still work from home, and it'salmost like this. It's almost
like our office that we all gointo together. You know, like,
I'm always like posting giftsand emojis and you know, we have
like a lot of chatter that goeson in there. On the different
parts of the roadmap, again, aredifferent places, and it does it
become it becomes our virtualoffice in a way.
Jordan Fleming (30:08):
Absolutely, absolutely. And I think, you
know, it's, it's always fun, youknow, it's always fun for me to
see someone's journey into, youknow, Podio. And into that kind
of accelerated phase where it'slike, oh, I can actually do
something with this way, youknow, now, as you say, you're,
you're, you're building apps, oryou're modifying apps, and
(30:28):
you're, you're deciding how youwant to track this one thing in
Podio, etc. And I think that'sreally great. We're also
obviously, you're going to bestarting to bring more
information into Podio fromother parts of our systems. So
that we have that one. That onehub of data because we still,
even though Podio is there, westill use other systems, we have
(30:51):
to for you know, we use, youknow, a system called intercom
for our, our support channel forpeople, we use other, you know,
systems that all have datapoints. And if you've got that
kind of distribution of dataacross so many systems, it's
hard to see the whole board andPodio can really be that whole
(31:12):
board.
Ellen Sluder (31:13):
So So we're currently working with web
consultants to help us with ourwebsite, making it more of a
because even though it's kind ofgot an E commerce feel to it,
but it's really set up like abrochure website. So we're
trying to make it a little bitmore fluid and has and he was
when we were doing an unwitting,attendee kept saying, what's the
(31:33):
source of truth? What's thekeeper of truth? What do you and
I was like, we go out and I waslike, oh, yeah, like everything
goes into Podio. That is our oneplace that we go into, that
keeps all of our data clean, itkeeps us, you know, on the same
page, or on the same item?
Jordan Fleming (31:54):
Absolutely, absolutely. This system of Podio
is a brilliant system of recordfor that, if you are using
multiple systems, and you canget via the API, you can get
some data in, you end up beingable to have this hub of all
your data in one place, whichyou can then turn and spin on a
dime. And that is, you know,it's so important is just is is
(32:17):
wickedly important. Do you haveanything that you know, do you
have any kind of things on thehorizon? Or things that you're
quite excited about trying to dowith Podio? Are you still
opening to do email? Or are youjust gonna just mix it for life?
It's okay, you can be honest.
Yeah,
Ellen Sluder (32:31):
I mean, the one the one thing that I so we use
the Gmail workspace for, I useit for email. The one thing that
holds me back is that I do somuch in for the content
development. So much of it, weuse the Google Docs and stuff to
share it. And I'm, I'm not surethat Podio is the best place for
that kind of like commenting,editing and that kind of stuff.
(32:51):
So that might keep me in there.
I think one of the things I'mreally excited about is we've
been I've been talking morewith, with Alex in the past
couple of months aboutdeveloping more dashboards, more
marketing dashboards tounderstand lead generation, and
then into trial, and thenchild's conversion and
conversion to upsell and thenretention and churn and really
(33:13):
having that mapped out so we canunderstand how much do we have
to put into the top of thefunnel to get the results you
want the back end? And whatactivities happen at each and
right now we are we're there'ssome opacity to specifically our
lead portion because we havemultiple different teams
touching people. So themarketing team that's then our
client success team touchesthem, and that data is currently
(33:36):
not syncing up. So we're workingon figuring out how do we get
all those metrics and KPIssynched up? So we have a really
clear understanding of how manytouches does it take to get a
lead to a trial? And then whatdoes it take to get a trial to a
conversion, and we can reallyunderstand that process. So I
think dashboards is the areathat I'm much more super excited
about reporting, in general,where I'm excited to get deeper
(33:58):
into.
Jordan Fleming (34:00):
Well, I know that one of the things that I'm
looking forward to doing, whichis a relatively quick hit, and
shout out to Podio partner,slash smartphone partner
synchrony my old team from gamechanges, which is now an amazing
company called synchrony.
They're going to do theintegration for me. But a little
a little thing, that's just anexample of how a little thing
can make transparency andability to to understand that
(34:23):
much easier. We're going to ofcourse, hook up our Calendly so
that every calendar event getsplunked into our CRM and gets
associated with the if they youknow, with it with a lead or
with a customer. And with withan agent that's having the
meeting and you know, notes cango in there recordings in the
meeting can go in there. Alittle bit of integration like
(34:44):
that a simple API integration,like like a Calendly can
suddenly mean that you've got ohwow, every single meeting that
the customers have scheduledwith our CSA team, is now bam.
clumped into a CRM, boom, we'vegot we, you know, as opposed to
us having to find out, we've gotit all there we can, we can make
(35:05):
sure it links up to ourcustomer, we can see that and
that's such a simple, smallthing. But it gives you a map to
help
Ellen Sluder (35:13):
us and what's I mean, what's the point of the
data, right? The point of thedata is to make decisions, it's
going to help us understandstaffing needs for that CSA
position. You know, if we'reseeing that every person that
every lead that tuck thatactually does this Calendly demo
with our CSA? Well, let's saythey have like an 80% chance of
becoming a client, well, I'mgonna want to push that more,
(35:34):
which means we're going to needto staff up, you know, I'm gonna
start pushing, you know, chats,I'm gonna start doing pop ups on
the website, get a demo, get alive demo, it shows that that
ends up, you know, convertingbetter. And so we need that
information. So having again,that that one source of truth
that allows us to analyse howthe business works, and the cost
of doing business, it's gonnareally help us just continue to
(35:58):
grow at an at a very sustainableand profitable
Jordan Fleming (36:02):
faith.
Absolutely. Well, listen, Alan,thanks so much for coming on
today. And you know, two things.
Number one, of course, I alwayslike to listen to, you know,
people's journey through polio,yours is a specific one where
you know, you're coming in at asenior position, and you're
having to learn having used lotsof other systems, you're having
to learn it. So hearing a bitabout that journey, and how you
(36:23):
spirits and how you've kind ofturned from sceptic to kind of
evangelist, yeah, you're aconvert. That's fantastic. And,
of course, the you know, the,the ATP content that we did the
begin beginning, a thank you forcoming on and explaining it and
be reminded, every listeningthat if you are using text
messaging, and using a system,please remember to go right now
(36:47):
and read up and do it. It's sosimple, but you got to do it,
because sooner or later, you'renot going to text. So it's like,
it's the easiest thing in theworld. It's quick and easy. It
won't take any time, it's notgoing to cost you any money
unless you're going to dospecific situations in it. And,
you know, ultimately, you know,go do it. It's like paying your
(37:07):
taxes, suck it up, do it and geton with it. So that's, that's
the that's my
Ellen Sluder (37:12):
message for today free, is that it could be free.
It doesn't have to cost youmoney. Well,
Jordan Fleming (37:17):
no, it's either way, it's gonna cost you money.
It's like, let's be clear, it'sgonna cost you money, because
there are charges that are goingup. But the charges go way up,
if you don't register. So likethis is this is just one of
those things is like, come on,like, just go do it. You've
listened. Now you've heard whatit's all about. You've heard
wide matters. Go do it. It'll bevery quick. You can do and then
(37:38):
you can forget about it. In asense. Yeah. set it and forget
it. Absolutely. Well, thank youvery much, Alan. I will I will
see you as of today. I will seeyou next week in Europe. Yes.
Awesome. Can't wait. All right.
Thank you guys for listening andhave a great week.
Narrator (37:53):
Okay. You've been listening to another awesome
episode of supercharged withJordan Samuel Fleming. Don't
forget to hit the subscribebutton on our YouTube channel to
be notified of new podcastepisodes Podio masterclasses and
in depth Podio extension reviewsif you've enjoyed this podcast,
please give us a review on yourpodcast player to help support
(38:16):
the show.
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