July 23, 2025 • 21 mins
What happens when you take a leap from conferences with 2,000 people to 22,700 attendees at a national event? The BecomeMore team discovered both the power of preparation and the humbling reality that what you think is mastery may only be the beginning.
This honest leadership conversation takes us behind the scenes of the SHRM 2025 National Conference, where Tammy and Scott's team faced their biggest challenge yet. Through meticulous planning, clear role assignments, and deliberate preparation, the team created a system that allowed everyone to focus on what they did best. "All of that weight that I would normally carry on my shoulders, I was not involved at all, not because I didn't have work to do, but because then I could concentrate on the work I needed to do," Tammy shares, revealing how proper delegation transformed the experience.
Perhaps the most powerful realization came when the team discovered they weren't as advanced as they thought. "I thought we had conferences down... I thought we were like, yes, we own conferences on a scale of one to 10. We are a 10," admits Tammy. "And then you go to this national conference and you go... we're still not done." This humbling discovery wasn't deflating but energizing – showing the vast potential for growth that still remained. The conversation also explores breakthrough successes (like finally seeing ROI on social media after years of struggle) and candid discussions about what they'd do differently next time.
Whether you're scaling your business, leading a team, or simply trying to improve at your craft, this episode offers valuable perspective on how to prepare for growth, trust your team, and embrace the reality that mastery is always a moving target. Join us as we unpack these leadership lessons that apply far beyond conference halls.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Karman (00:00):
Good morning Scott and Tammy.
Good morning Karman.
Scott (00:05):
Hey Karman.
Karman (00:07):
I don't always get a salute with a coffee cup every
morning.
Thank you, scott, you'rewelcome.
Tammy (00:12):
Become more coffee cup.
In fact, is what Scott wassaluting with Woo-hoo.
Scott (00:17):
Yeah, do you normally get this salute?
Tammy (00:21):
Scott Bergmeier.
You guys, if there was a visualvisual, I would literally be
smacking.
There is a visual it's beingrecorded he's being naughty.
Karman (00:30):
to be honest, that's usually my role, okay, okay, um,
one of the one of my, my friendmary beth, and I um have an,
and I have a 30-year runningjoke that originated with me
just giving the salute at arandom time.
(00:53):
Yeah, yes.
Speaking of Become More CoffeeCups, it's been a big month for
the Become More brand.
Big month for more brand.
You guys and your team just dida big, a big project attended a
national show conventionconference in a big way, did a
(01:16):
lot of things on a scale thatyou've never done before.
I know there were a lot oflearnings for the team and that
you guys would not.
You know, in a big, significantway.
What did you guys learn asleaders of that process?
Tammy (01:55):
You know, Karman, I love this question because, you know,
it doesn't matter how longyou've been at work, it doesn't
matter how old you are.
It doesn't matter how longyou've been at work, it doesn't
matter how old you are, itdoesn't matter how long you've
led.
There's always an opportunityto become more, to learn, to
level up, and this, for us, wasthe biggest conference.
(02:20):
It was the SHRM 2025 NationalConference, I believe.
If my number is right, theytold us that there would be
25,000 to 30,000 people inattendance.
I believe what they told us onthe first day is that there was
22,700 in person.
(02:41):
The rest were virtual.
And you know, we were in, uh,not only were scott and I
speaking, um, which was anamazing honor, we also had a big
booth and we brought staff thatwe normally don't bring to a
conference and had to preparestaff to figure out how to work
in a conference and how to dothe logistics and all that kind
of stuff.
So this was um by leaps andbounds.
(03:04):
I mean, probably our biggestconference prior to this had a
couple thousand.
So to go from a couple thousandto 22,000 to speaking in a room
that had 2,000, 2,500 seats,compared to speaking in a room.
That has a leap for us.
And, honestly, the thing thatwas so gratifying and the thing
that was so amazing to me weprepped.
(03:38):
So this wasn't like hey, shootfrom the hip we had.
As soon as we found out we weregoing, we started the process of
prepping for that.
So we started putting regularmeetings on the calendar to talk
about it.
We created a Miro board thatkind of had our plans right and
we actually worked that plan.
(03:59):
So we built a plan, we workedthat plan, we assigned roles and
responsibilities.
Once we actually got to SanDiego, all of those roles and
responsibilities, that stuff weprepped for the team was ready
and what it did is it allowedScott and I to just concentrate
(04:19):
on what Scott and I needed toconcentrate on, because the team
concentrated on what theyneeded to concentrate on.
And all of that weight that Iwould normally carry on my
shoulders, the things that I hadto worry about, the things that
I had to double check, thethings, all of that stuff where
I would be overly involved.
I was not involved at all, notbecause I didn't have work to do
(04:42):
, but because then I couldconcentrate on the work I needed
to do to be on that stage to bein the booth and to be able to
have the conversations that weneeded to have in the booth, and
so, honestly, it was the let'sget together, let's talk about
what success looks like, let'scontinue to work that plan and
(05:03):
ensure that people understandroles and responsibilities and
trust that they're prepped andready to do that, because in the
end, it made the actual days inSan Diego really easy and
really, really successful, eventhough it was huge and
overwhelming and hard which wasamazing to trust your team that
(05:24):
much.
Unbelievable the work they didprior.
That allowed it to be easywhile we were there.
That was my biggest learninglesson, scott.
How about you?
Scott (05:34):
When I think of, for me, the learning lesson of, it's
funny because it's not newinformation, nope.
It reinforced the fact thatwhen you have great talent,
there are places where you justlet them go and let them shine.
(05:55):
And there were times when, whenI think about it, there were
times when we did that and itworked, and there were times
when we did that and we didn'tdo the prep we should have or
the confirmation that we shouldhave.
And some of that was just whatI think.
What Tammy talked about in ourpodcast last week was have they
(06:21):
done it before?
Ooh, not really.
Do they have a track record ofsuccess?
Oh, no, they don't, they'rebrand new with us.
Well, there were a few placeswhere we didn't do and we and we
should have right we made some,I think, some assumptions that
were not quite correct, and so Ithink to me it was just
reinforcing that.
There were places where I knowI was at times micromanaging and
(06:46):
I even prefaced some of myemails like hey, I'm a shoot,
I'm a little blind here, so thiswill probably sound
micromanaging and Tammy'slaughing because she knew, but
it also reinforced that we wereletting them go, but I was not
being informed.
And so, with lack ofinformation, what else am I to
know?
My assumption would be it's notbeing done, which was fair and
(07:08):
unfair.
So to me, it was justreinforcing that you know what
the leadership ladder does workand like hey, maybe we should
use it more often.
Tammy (07:19):
Well, I will say one of the cool things about this, even
though all of this was a stepup, right, the prep Okay.
So if I just think about thefact that we have been doing
conferences for two yearssteadily now, and after every
single conference we asked thatquestion what worked, what
(07:40):
didn't work, what are we goingto do differently?
And we have been implementing,you know, all of those changes
along the way and I think thatthat incremental growth, that
thing that says hey, let's notgo from zero to 120, you know,
just by putting our gas, ourfoot on the gas pedal, let's
(08:00):
actually just meander for alittle while and learn and then
go a little faster and learn andmeander for a little while and
learn and then go a littlefaster and learn.
And let me go a little fasterand learn.
That time period that we havespent learning how to do
conferences, I think, allowed usto take that leap into 20,000
instead of 2,000, right.
(08:20):
The other piece that I find sointeresting, Karman, in this
question, is I thought we hadconferences down.
I thought we were like, yes, weown conferences on a scale of
one to 10.
We are a 10.
And then you go to this nationalconference and you go we did
this really good.
(08:41):
I mean, I'm very, very proud ofwhat we accomplished there and
how we did it and what I believeis going to come out of it.
But we're still not done,because I just learned when I'm
at a national conference thatthere's even more things that we
could do differently and grow,and so that's the other thing.
That's kind of fun and excitingin this spot is we were a 10,
(09:04):
because that's all we knew, andthen we got exposed to something
and now you're like all right,we're good and we're not done
yet, right, we're good.
And that 10 now became a five.
So how do we get that next fivepoints in this new world that
we just opened the door to?
(09:25):
And that was personallyexciting.
Okay, it's also professionallyexciting from the standpoint of
now we can actually do even more.
We can level up in a way that Ihad not even recognized, and
you know how cool that is tothink I thought we were the best
.
I found out that we wereaverage and there's a ways to go
(09:47):
to continue to grow in thatspot.
That's really exciting too.
That was really fun.
Scott (09:51):
For me.
What was interesting, as yousay that, tammy, is we weren't
you know.
Okay, yeah, I would say weweren't our best.
If I like, this is okay.
So hold on.
Hold on to your ego.
Hat for a second.
Tammy (10:08):
I was going to boo him.
Like you've ever watched, likeyou know, america's got talent
and Mel B is in there and thewhole crowd bruiser.
I'm like boo, what are youtalking about, scott?
We killed it.
What are?
Scott (10:21):
you talking about Scott.
We killed it.
Well, we did kill it and welearned, which will make us
better.
So we were not at our best.
We were at our best based onwhat we knew in that moment
Correct, and we were better than90% of the vendors there.
Tammy (10:38):
Well, of the ones we could see.
Because let's just be veryhonest with you, with everyone,
you know we didn't walk thewhole show.
Scott (10:45):
I walked a fair amount and again it's not a to me, it's
not a comparison against vendorto vendor, Right, but I still
say we were still, you know itreinvigorated my belief that
conferences are the way to go.
Tammy (11:01):
Yeah.
Scott (11:02):
Which I have been skeptical for a year.
Tammy (11:06):
More than a year I've been kicking your butt on this
particular one and you and Ihave not agreed.
But you've been kind and you'veallowed me to show you and to
me what is exciting is we'vechanged.
Scott (11:20):
I think the other part of our learning here is we changed
our chart of accounts, where weare going to be able to see
dollars and cents, what did wespend on conferences and what
was the outcome?
Correct, because we had apretty good I would say better
than an estimation.
(11:40):
We had a pretty good accountlast year.
I don't know that we had itformal enough to really catch
some of the.
There were some of the thingsthat I think went uncaptured in
our expenses and probably in therevenue too.
Tammy (11:55):
Right right.
You know, but I think that'sthe other thing for me.
Scott (11:59):
Yeah, we're getting better and better.
In that, I think the other partis we really the other thing.
For me, that leveled up is likeour social media.
Tammy (12:10):
Go Marcella.
Scott (12:12):
I mean, you know when, when.
Again, this is a place whereit's like, okay, what could you
do with it?
Like bring back some ideas,bring back a plan and nailed it.
Tammy (12:21):
So think about this too.
Folks probably don't know this.
We have struggled with socialmedia.
Let's just tell the truth,right?
This has not been a place thatwe've shined.
We have had three organizationsthat quote unquote helped us
that this is what they do for aliving, and none of those had a
(12:42):
return on investment.
We hired someone and thatperson did not work out for us
and she left us relativelyquickly.
That did not work out.
This is the first time in threeyears Scott, maybe four years
that I feel like our socialmedia has had a return on
(13:03):
investment.
Bumps right and we're seeingmore and more return on that.
And honestly, I think it'sMarcella right.
She came in and she has an openmind and she's trying stuff.
She's also really good at whatshe does.
I'm really proud that she's amember of our team in that
(13:25):
particular space.
And to add on to that, from mystandpoint, one of the things
that we did really well is weleaned into the strengths of our
team.
Marcella is just one member ofthe team that actually did a
phenomenal job.
There are other members of theteam that we leaned into their
strengths and they were alsoexceptionally skilled and
(13:49):
brought those gifts to the tableand as a leader.
I think that's one of thethings you have to do when you
assign roles andresponsibilities.
Scott (13:56):
So what, tammy?
What would you do different?
Tammy (13:59):
With leadership, Scott, or with the conference?
What?
Scott (14:02):
would you do different With leadership, scott, or with
the conference?
Tammy (14:10):
No leadership of the conference or the team preparing
for that or really anyconference.
I think for me, if we aretalking about from a leadership
standpoint, what could we havedone differently?
We should have started workingwith the staff that were new to
conferences and new to BecomeMore.
We should have started withprobably about three or four
(14:31):
weeks out and practicing theirelevator speech, practicing the
handoff from you know.
Hey, I just introduced myselfto this person, to.
This is a person who actually Ineed to get to Scott and Tammy
in order for them to have moreand better, deeper conversations
with customers, and we shortcutthat and we actually needed
(14:55):
that to be much more purposeful,intentional and like talk about
the outcomes there, and I think, from my standpoint, that was
the one spot that we missed inplanning.
That was critical to oursuccess, and I think that we
would have done need to do thatdifferently in the future.
What's yours, scott?
(15:16):
Yeah.
Scott (15:18):
Mine is there were planning and follow-up meetings
that I couldn't make and sohaving a way just to get that
information so I understand,have a clear picture of what's
going on.
Tammy (15:33):
Yeah, that for me, honestly, between the two of us,
I was very confident because Iwas at all those meetings and
had all those conversations andyou are right, we did not
communicate it to you and I keptsaying it's, it's taken care of
and you wanted data, you wantedinformation, instead of my just
giving you the reassurance, andI think that's fair.
Scott (15:55):
So and I could have trusted more, but to me that was
what I wasn't ready to do that.
Tammy (16:01):
Are you ready now?
Scott (16:04):
I'm a lot more comfortable, and there were
things that happened that wouldtell me I'm not 100% comfortable
, that we can just let it go.
Tammy (16:13):
Interesting.
So the piece about this that Ifind interesting Scott is you
and I are peers.
Scott (16:19):
Yep.
Tammy (16:19):
Right, and I don't think you're saying, tammy, I don't
trust you.
I think you were saying, tammy,I don't trust that you have
asked them or that you havefollowed up on that, and they
may have dropped the ball, and Ifind that very interesting.
Scott (16:38):
Yeah, now, it's little things and so it's also probably
not worth worrying about.
Tammy (16:44):
To me, there were two things One that got fixed at the
last minute, okay, and thenthere was one that we just
dropped the ball on, but it wasso tiny, okay, now I'm still not
happy, okay, and it should havebeen caught with.
That said, of all the thingsthat we could have forgotten, of
(17:07):
all the things that we couldhave planned, it was minor, yeah
.
Scott (17:14):
Overall, have we answered your question.
Karman (17:16):
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, as leaders use theleadership ladder, make sure
your team really understandswhat the outcomes in the
assignment and what their roleis, and great communication that
factors in all those thingsplus helps the leader feel like,
(17:39):
yeah, they really got this,yeah, and they know where to
step in.
Tammy (17:44):
I love that.
Karman, that's a great summary.
And Scott, I'm going to ask youthis okay, scale of one to 10,
with the expectations that wehad going in, not the ones that
we now, because we're going toraise the bar for conferences
from here on out.
But a scale of one to 10, 10being weak, hit it out of the
park.
Five is you know?
We were just average.
One, we sucked.
(18:05):
What would you give us?
Scott (18:08):
I would give us an eight.
Tammy (18:09):
Okay.
Scott (18:11):
Eight or a nine.
Tammy (18:12):
Yeah, and I would tell you I would give us a 9.5.
Scott (18:15):
Yeah.
Tammy (18:16):
Wasn't perfect, but it was darn good.
For me, it depends on what weinclude or don't include, but it
was darn good.
Scott (18:20):
For me, it depends on what we include or don't include
.
Tammy (18:23):
Well, at this point it's not fair to include what is the
outcome of sales.
Scott (18:32):
No, no, no, I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about, if I look atthe conference prep until the
end of the conference and we gothome, I agree 9.5.
If I look at the entirety ofthe conference process, which is
not even the results, gettingthe data into our systems, I
haven't seen us be able to dothat well yet, so my number
(18:56):
would be lower then.
Tammy (18:58):
Yeah, it's interesting in terms of, again, what are the
expectations?
And of course, I'm not lookingat that at all.
I'm looking at getting to theconference, getting set up for
the conference.
How do we interact withpotential customers?
Are speaking right and do wehave the relationships and
Scott's about the data.
Karman (19:19):
Who are you guys?
Tammy (19:22):
carvin.
That is a really good point andisn't that interesting in terms
of how?
Scott (19:27):
yeah, look at this stuff yeah, yeah, I, I think, and it
is just, it was exceptionallybeneficial to bring the team
together and and that isimportant, without having the
other things, it is a flashbackto our previous podcast.
(19:49):
It's wasted excellence.
Tammy (19:51):
Well, and I think our listeners should like like, hold
on for just a bit, and weshould probably revisit this.
Yeah, and do?
I think we're?
Scott (20:00):
going to have, and I'm not even talking about the
outcomes, it's the.
It's what we're sloggingthrough right now.
Yeah, you know lots and lots ofnames, and how do we manage all
of that data?
Tammy (20:11):
Yep, and I think it makes sense, in all honesty, to come
back and say how did we do inthat, right, because there's
going to be a little bit of timebefore we understand that.
The other one, though, is hey,financially it was great to be
there, but did we actually closebusiness?
I think it's also worth comingback and answering that question
(20:34):
in a future podcast.
Scott (20:36):
For sure.
Good morning Scott and Tammy.
Good morning Karman.
Scott (00:05):
Hey Karman.
Karman (00:07):
I don't always get a salute with a coffee cup every
morning.
Thank you, scott, you'rewelcome.
Tammy (00:12):
Become more coffee cup.
In fact, is what Scott wassaluting with Woo-hoo.
Scott (00:17):
Yeah, do you normally get this salute?
Tammy (00:21):
Scott Bergmeier.
You guys, if there was a visualvisual, I would literally be
smacking.
There is a visual it's beingrecorded he's being naughty.
Karman (00:30):
to be honest, that's usually my role, okay, okay, um,
one of the one of my, my friendmary beth, and I um have an,
and I have a 30-year runningjoke that originated with me
just giving the salute at arandom time.
(00:53):
Yeah, yes.
Speaking of Become More CoffeeCups, it's been a big month for
the Become More brand.
Big month for more brand.
You guys and your team just dida big, a big project attended a
national show conventionconference in a big way, did a
(01:16):
lot of things on a scale thatyou've never done before.
I know there were a lot oflearnings for the team and that
you guys would not.
You know, in a big, significantway.
What did you guys learn asleaders of that process?
Tammy (01:55):
You know, Karman, I love this question because, you know,
it doesn't matter how longyou've been at work, it doesn't
matter how old you are.
It doesn't matter how longyou've been at work, it doesn't
matter how old you are, itdoesn't matter how long you've
led.
There's always an opportunityto become more, to learn, to
level up, and this, for us, wasthe biggest conference.
(02:20):
It was the SHRM 2025 NationalConference, I believe.
If my number is right, theytold us that there would be
25,000 to 30,000 people inattendance.
I believe what they told us onthe first day is that there was
22,700 in person.
(02:41):
The rest were virtual.
And you know, we were in, uh,not only were scott and I
speaking, um, which was anamazing honor, we also had a big
booth and we brought staff thatwe normally don't bring to a
conference and had to preparestaff to figure out how to work
in a conference and how to dothe logistics and all that kind
of stuff.
So this was um by leaps andbounds.
(03:04):
I mean, probably our biggestconference prior to this had a
couple thousand.
So to go from a couple thousandto 22,000 to speaking in a room
that had 2,000, 2,500 seats,compared to speaking in a room.
That has a leap for us.
And, honestly, the thing thatwas so gratifying and the thing
that was so amazing to me weprepped.
(03:38):
So this wasn't like hey, shootfrom the hip we had.
As soon as we found out we weregoing, we started the process of
prepping for that.
So we started putting regularmeetings on the calendar to talk
about it.
We created a Miro board thatkind of had our plans right and
we actually worked that plan.
(03:59):
So we built a plan, we workedthat plan, we assigned roles and
responsibilities.
Once we actually got to SanDiego, all of those roles and
responsibilities, that stuff weprepped for the team was ready
and what it did is it allowedScott and I to just concentrate
(04:19):
on what Scott and I needed toconcentrate on, because the team
concentrated on what theyneeded to concentrate on.
And all of that weight that Iwould normally carry on my
shoulders, the things that I hadto worry about, the things that
I had to double check, thethings, all of that stuff where
I would be overly involved.
I was not involved at all, notbecause I didn't have work to do
(04:42):
, but because then I couldconcentrate on the work I needed
to do to be on that stage to bein the booth and to be able to
have the conversations that weneeded to have in the booth, and
so, honestly, it was the let'sget together, let's talk about
what success looks like, let'scontinue to work that plan and
(05:03):
ensure that people understandroles and responsibilities and
trust that they're prepped andready to do that, because in the
end, it made the actual days inSan Diego really easy and
really, really successful, eventhough it was huge and
overwhelming and hard which wasamazing to trust your team that
(05:24):
much.
Unbelievable the work they didprior.
That allowed it to be easywhile we were there.
That was my biggest learninglesson, scott.
How about you?
Scott (05:34):
When I think of, for me, the learning lesson of, it's
funny because it's not newinformation, nope.
It reinforced the fact thatwhen you have great talent,
there are places where you justlet them go and let them shine.
(05:55):
And there were times when, whenI think about it, there were
times when we did that and itworked, and there were times
when we did that and we didn'tdo the prep we should have or
the confirmation that we shouldhave.
And some of that was just whatI think.
What Tammy talked about in ourpodcast last week was have they
(06:21):
done it before?
Ooh, not really.
Do they have a track record ofsuccess?
Oh, no, they don't, they'rebrand new with us.
Well, there were a few placeswhere we didn't do and we and we
should have right we made some,I think, some assumptions that
were not quite correct, and so Ithink to me it was just
reinforcing that.
There were places where I knowI was at times micromanaging and
(06:46):
I even prefaced some of myemails like hey, I'm a shoot,
I'm a little blind here, so thiswill probably sound
micromanaging and Tammy'slaughing because she knew, but
it also reinforced that we wereletting them go, but I was not
being informed.
And so, with lack ofinformation, what else am I to
know?
My assumption would be it's notbeing done, which was fair and
(07:08):
unfair.
So to me, it was justreinforcing that you know what
the leadership ladder does workand like hey, maybe we should
use it more often.
Tammy (07:19):
Well, I will say one of the cool things about this, even
though all of this was a stepup, right, the prep Okay.
So if I just think about thefact that we have been doing
conferences for two yearssteadily now, and after every
single conference we asked thatquestion what worked, what
(07:40):
didn't work, what are we goingto do differently?
And we have been implementing,you know, all of those changes
along the way and I think thatthat incremental growth, that
thing that says hey, let's notgo from zero to 120, you know,
just by putting our gas, ourfoot on the gas pedal, let's
(08:00):
actually just meander for alittle while and learn and then
go a little faster and learn andmeander for a little while and
learn and then go a littlefaster and learn.
And let me go a little fasterand learn.
That time period that we havespent learning how to do
conferences, I think, allowed usto take that leap into 20,000
instead of 2,000, right.
(08:20):
The other piece that I find sointeresting, Karman, in this
question, is I thought we hadconferences down.
I thought we were like, yes, weown conferences on a scale of
one to 10.
We are a 10.
And then you go to this nationalconference and you go we did
this really good.
(08:41):
I mean, I'm very, very proud ofwhat we accomplished there and
how we did it and what I believeis going to come out of it.
But we're still not done,because I just learned when I'm
at a national conference thatthere's even more things that we
could do differently and grow,and so that's the other thing.
That's kind of fun and excitingin this spot is we were a 10,
(09:04):
because that's all we knew, andthen we got exposed to something
and now you're like all right,we're good and we're not done
yet, right, we're good.
And that 10 now became a five.
So how do we get that next fivepoints in this new world that
we just opened the door to?
(09:25):
And that was personallyexciting.
Okay, it's also professionallyexciting from the standpoint of
now we can actually do even more.
We can level up in a way that Ihad not even recognized, and
you know how cool that is tothink I thought we were the best
.
I found out that we wereaverage and there's a ways to go
(09:47):
to continue to grow in thatspot.
That's really exciting too.
That was really fun.
Scott (09:51):
For me.
What was interesting, as yousay that, tammy, is we weren't
you know.
Okay, yeah, I would say weweren't our best.
If I like, this is okay.
So hold on.
Hold on to your ego.
Hat for a second.
Tammy (10:08):
I was going to boo him.
Like you've ever watched, likeyou know, america's got talent
and Mel B is in there and thewhole crowd bruiser.
I'm like boo, what are youtalking about, scott?
We killed it.
What are?
Scott (10:21):
you talking about Scott.
We killed it.
Well, we did kill it and welearned, which will make us
better.
So we were not at our best.
We were at our best based onwhat we knew in that moment
Correct, and we were better than90% of the vendors there.
Tammy (10:38):
Well, of the ones we could see.
Because let's just be veryhonest with you, with everyone,
you know we didn't walk thewhole show.
Scott (10:45):
I walked a fair amount and again it's not a to me, it's
not a comparison against vendorto vendor, Right, but I still
say we were still, you know itreinvigorated my belief that
conferences are the way to go.
Tammy (11:01):
Yeah.
Scott (11:02):
Which I have been skeptical for a year.
Tammy (11:06):
More than a year I've been kicking your butt on this
particular one and you and Ihave not agreed.
But you've been kind and you'veallowed me to show you and to
me what is exciting is we'vechanged.
Scott (11:20):
I think the other part of our learning here is we changed
our chart of accounts, where weare going to be able to see
dollars and cents, what did wespend on conferences and what
was the outcome?
Correct, because we had apretty good I would say better
than an estimation.
(11:40):
We had a pretty good accountlast year.
I don't know that we had itformal enough to really catch
some of the.
There were some of the thingsthat I think went uncaptured in
our expenses and probably in therevenue too.
Tammy (11:55):
Right right.
You know, but I think that'sthe other thing for me.
Scott (11:59):
Yeah, we're getting better and better.
In that, I think the other partis we really the other thing.
For me, that leveled up is likeour social media.
Tammy (12:10):
Go Marcella.
Scott (12:12):
I mean, you know when, when.
Again, this is a place whereit's like, okay, what could you
do with it?
Like bring back some ideas,bring back a plan and nailed it.
Tammy (12:21):
So think about this too.
Folks probably don't know this.
We have struggled with socialmedia.
Let's just tell the truth,right?
This has not been a place thatwe've shined.
We have had three organizationsthat quote unquote helped us
that this is what they do for aliving, and none of those had a
(12:42):
return on investment.
We hired someone and thatperson did not work out for us
and she left us relativelyquickly.
That did not work out.
This is the first time in threeyears Scott, maybe four years
that I feel like our socialmedia has had a return on
(13:03):
investment.
Bumps right and we're seeingmore and more return on that.
And honestly, I think it'sMarcella right.
She came in and she has an openmind and she's trying stuff.
She's also really good at whatshe does.
I'm really proud that she's amember of our team in that
(13:25):
particular space.
And to add on to that, from mystandpoint, one of the things
that we did really well is weleaned into the strengths of our
team.
Marcella is just one member ofthe team that actually did a
phenomenal job.
There are other members of theteam that we leaned into their
strengths and they were alsoexceptionally skilled and
(13:49):
brought those gifts to the tableand as a leader.
I think that's one of thethings you have to do when you
assign roles andresponsibilities.
Scott (13:56):
So what, tammy?
What would you do different?
Tammy (13:59):
With leadership, Scott, or with the conference?
What?
Scott (14:02):
would you do different With leadership, scott, or with
the conference?
Tammy (14:10):
No leadership of the conference or the team preparing
for that or really anyconference.
I think for me, if we aretalking about from a leadership
standpoint, what could we havedone differently?
We should have started workingwith the staff that were new to
conferences and new to BecomeMore.
We should have started withprobably about three or four
(14:31):
weeks out and practicing theirelevator speech, practicing the
handoff from you know.
Hey, I just introduced myselfto this person, to.
This is a person who actually Ineed to get to Scott and Tammy
in order for them to have moreand better, deeper conversations
with customers, and we shortcutthat and we actually needed
(14:55):
that to be much more purposeful,intentional and like talk about
the outcomes there, and I think, from my standpoint, that was
the one spot that we missed inplanning.
That was critical to oursuccess, and I think that we
would have done need to do thatdifferently in the future.
What's yours, scott?
(15:16):
Yeah.
Scott (15:18):
Mine is there were planning and follow-up meetings
that I couldn't make and sohaving a way just to get that
information so I understand,have a clear picture of what's
going on.
Tammy (15:33):
Yeah, that for me, honestly, between the two of us,
I was very confident because Iwas at all those meetings and
had all those conversations andyou are right, we did not
communicate it to you and I keptsaying it's, it's taken care of
and you wanted data, you wantedinformation, instead of my just
giving you the reassurance, andI think that's fair.
Scott (15:55):
So and I could have trusted more, but to me that was
what I wasn't ready to do that.
Tammy (16:01):
Are you ready now?
Scott (16:04):
I'm a lot more comfortable, and there were
things that happened that wouldtell me I'm not 100% comfortable
, that we can just let it go.
Tammy (16:13):
Interesting.
So the piece about this that Ifind interesting Scott is you
and I are peers.
Scott (16:19):
Yep.
Tammy (16:19):
Right, and I don't think you're saying, tammy, I don't
trust you.
I think you were saying, tammy,I don't trust that you have
asked them or that you havefollowed up on that, and they
may have dropped the ball, and Ifind that very interesting.
Scott (16:38):
Yeah, now, it's little things and so it's also probably
not worth worrying about.
Tammy (16:44):
To me, there were two things One that got fixed at the
last minute, okay, and thenthere was one that we just
dropped the ball on, but it wasso tiny, okay, now I'm still not
happy, okay, and it should havebeen caught with.
That said, of all the thingsthat we could have forgotten, of
(17:07):
all the things that we couldhave planned, it was minor, yeah
.
Scott (17:14):
Overall, have we answered your question.
Karman (17:16):
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, as leaders use theleadership ladder, make sure
your team really understandswhat the outcomes in the
assignment and what their roleis, and great communication that
factors in all those thingsplus helps the leader feel like,
(17:39):
yeah, they really got this,yeah, and they know where to
step in.
Tammy (17:44):
I love that.
Karman, that's a great summary.
And Scott, I'm going to ask youthis okay, scale of one to 10,
with the expectations that wehad going in, not the ones that
we now, because we're going toraise the bar for conferences
from here on out.
But a scale of one to 10, 10being weak, hit it out of the
park.
Five is you know?
We were just average.
One, we sucked.
(18:05):
What would you give us?
Scott (18:08):
I would give us an eight.
Tammy (18:09):
Okay.
Scott (18:11):
Eight or a nine.
Tammy (18:12):
Yeah, and I would tell you I would give us a 9.5.
Scott (18:15):
Yeah.
Tammy (18:16):
Wasn't perfect, but it was darn good.
For me, it depends on what weinclude or don't include, but it
was darn good.
Scott (18:20):
For me, it depends on what we include or don't include
.
Tammy (18:23):
Well, at this point it's not fair to include what is the
outcome of sales.
Scott (18:32):
No, no, no, I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about, if I look atthe conference prep until the
end of the conference and we gothome, I agree 9.5.
If I look at the entirety ofthe conference process, which is
not even the results, gettingthe data into our systems, I
haven't seen us be able to dothat well yet, so my number
(18:56):
would be lower then.
Tammy (18:58):
Yeah, it's interesting in terms of, again, what are the
expectations?
And of course, I'm not lookingat that at all.
I'm looking at getting to theconference, getting set up for
the conference.
How do we interact withpotential customers?
Are speaking right and do wehave the relationships and
Scott's about the data.
Karman (19:19):
Who are you guys?
Tammy (19:22):
carvin.
That is a really good point andisn't that interesting in terms
of how?
Scott (19:27):
yeah, look at this stuff yeah, yeah, I, I think, and it
is just, it was exceptionallybeneficial to bring the team
together and and that isimportant, without having the
other things, it is a flashbackto our previous podcast.
(19:49):
It's wasted excellence.
Tammy (19:51):
Well, and I think our listeners should like like, hold
on for just a bit, and weshould probably revisit this.
Yeah, and do?
I think we're?
Scott (20:00):
going to have, and I'm not even talking about the
outcomes, it's the.
It's what we're sloggingthrough right now.
Yeah, you know lots and lots ofnames, and how do we manage all
of that data?
Tammy (20:11):
Yep, and I think it makes sense, in all honesty, to come
back and say how did we do inthat, right, because there's
going to be a little bit of timebefore we understand that.
The other one, though, is hey,financially it was great to be
there, but did we actually closebusiness?
I think it's also worth comingback and answering that question
(20:34):
in a future podcast.
Scott (20:36):
For sure.
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