Integrating AI in Customer Service: Insights from Nathan Strum, CEO of Abby Connect
In this episode of The Wireless Way, host Chris Whitaker welcomes Nathan Strum, CEO and co-founder of Abby Connect. Together, they discuss the integration of AI into customer service, focusing on how Nathan's company is blending AI technology with human touch to improve customer experiences. Nathan shares the journey of turning a family-owned virtual receptionist business into a thriving company, the challenges faced in implementing AI, and the importance of maintaining empathy and personal service. Chris and Nathan also explore the broader implications of AI for small and medium businesses, emphasizing the potential benefits and addressing common concerns. This episode offers invaluable insights for anyone curious about AI's role in customer service and the evolution of business technology.
00:00 Welcome to The Wireless Way
00:18 Introducing Nathan Strum and Abby Connect
01:23 The Evolution of Abby Connect
03:05 Nathan's Personal Journey and Hobbies
08:14 The Importance of Customer Experience
10:43 Embracing AI in Business
16:57 Challenges and Successes with AI Integration
18:43 Nuances of Training AI Receptionists
19:38 Handling Accents and Complex Conversations
22:12 AI Enhancing Front Desk Efficiency
23:25 AI in Sales: Enhancing Productivity
27:48 Product-Led Growth and Customer Onboarding
29:18 Advice for Small and Medium Business Owners
33:12 The Future of AI in the Workplace
35:42 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Check out my website https://thewirelessway.net/ use the contact button to send request and feedback.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (00:00):
Hey, welcome to another episode of
The Wireless Way.
I'm your host, Chris Whitaker.
And Ben, I'm, I'm glad you'rehere today.
I'm glad you're, you're checkingout another episode here.
You keep coming back and it'sbeen a big, it's been a big, uh,
month for the wireless way.
A lot of great guests, a lot ofthe great content of all types
of technology.
And today, you know, I'm reallyexcited to introduce Nathan
(00:22):
Strum.
Uh, he's my guest today.
And, uh, we're gonna talk about.
A topic I haven't really talked,touched on other than AI and how
AI is used in his, his, hisproduct, his offering, and his
company.
So we're gonna get into that.
But first, a little bit aboutNathan, uh, CEO co-founder of
Abby Connect.
Innovative family builtanswering service that's been
(00:45):
setting the gold standard andsmall business customer care for
the past 20 years.
I know a lot of you sell intothat SMB space, so pay attention
here.
Uh, Nathan launched Abbyoriginally tele assistant in
2005 alongside, uh, his parents,uh, building it from a modest
virtual receptionist serviceinto a thriving family owned
company, headquartered in LasVegas, Nevada.
(01:07):
And over the decades, Nathan hasremained fiercely focused on one
mission, delivering exceptionalcaller experience through warm
personal service.
And yes, AI is gonna play inthat, and we're gonna talk about
that.
Uh, and, and it's not all ai.
Obviously we'll get into that.
So, uh, now, uh, Abby Connect isentering this next chapter, as I
mentioned, integration.
(01:28):
Uh, after 18 months ofdevelopment and two months of
real world beta, uh, Nathan andhis team have launched the AI
receptionist, a hybrid modelthat blends the empathy of human
receptionist with the efficiencyand scalability of ai.
Uh, we're gonna start seeingmore and more of that it seems,
um, uh, for Nathan, uh, whospent a career craft and
(01:48):
beautifully human customerexperience, uh, this is more
than a tech pivot.
It's a thoughtful evolutionenhancing service, not replacing
it.
And after two decades of, uh,operating behind the scenes,
he's stepping at the spotlightto share insights on leading in
the AI era.
What works, what doesn't.
And above all, how to keep thehuman touch at the heart of
(02:09):
innovation.
So if you've ever been curiousabout how AI can augment and not
erase real connection, or you'rejust simply passionate about
what customer experiences looklike today, this conversation is
for you.
So pay attention and take notes.
Check the show notes.
As of as always, I'll have somegood links there, and I am
grateful to welcome my guest,Nathan Strum.
(02:32):
How are you doing today, sir?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (02:34):
Hi, Chris.
Thank you for such a greatintroduction.
I'm doing great.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (02:38):
Man.
That's fantastic.
Well, it's uh, easy to do agreat introduction when the
story's good, you know?
So, uh, I as a tech enthusiastmyself, uh, and we're at that
time in technology where it'sjust really exciting to be here
because just when you thinkyou've got it all figured out.
It's evolving, it's beingenhanced by more technology, and
(02:58):
that's what I'm really, uh,excited to have this
conversation with you.
But before we get into that, asalways, you know, first question
for my guests.
Hey, what's not the bio?
Uh, tell us a little bit moreabout you and, and how did you
get here?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (03:11):
Sure.
So the bio is a very polishedversion.
The story is a
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (03:14):
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2 (03:15):
messier.
Uh.
Maybe a little bit more fun.
Um, I would say a lot of bloods,uh, sweat and tears, uh, but
also a lot of family fights.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (03:26):
Hmm.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (03:26):
Uh, so
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (03:26):
Yeah.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (03:27):
worked with their family knows that,
uh, there's, there's somebutting of heads going on and,
and, uh, it can get a littlecontentious at times, which,
which brings out thepersonality, uh, and really, uh.
Has made us humble as a familyto, to run this business.
Um, but you know, there's been alot of pivots along, along the
(03:47):
way.
There's been a lot of lessonslearned.
Um, you know, we started out as,uh, renting office space found a
business in the phone service,uh, support industry.
And, uh, like you said, we've,we've pivoted today to add AI to
our offerings.
chris_1_07-01-2025_0 (04:05):
Fantastic.
Have you always been a techie?
I mean, is this kind of, I mean,being it was a family business,
you just kind of grew up in it.
Have, you've always had this,this, uh, interest in
technology?
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_ (04:16):
I've always had a, a interest in
technology.
Um, I've really gotten my handstoo deep into it as the business
has evolved.
Uh, I know you're a, a telecomguy.
We started out with a old Mytel3,300, phone system, and, uh.
You know, I, I, I used to spendnights getting in there and
(04:37):
figuring out what I could dowith that phone system, and it
was, it was a learning lesson.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (04:42):
So when, when you're not building
great technology for Abby, uh,your business, mean, do you have
any, any hobbies you'repassionate about or, or are you
all work kind of guy?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (04:52):
Well, it used to be all work.
Uh, but recently in the pastfive years, I started, uh,
racing cars.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:00):
Ooh.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (05:01):
Uh, so we go and, um, now I'm gonna,
I'm a student and I'll probablybe a student for the rest of my
life.
Uh, I've only done one officialrace, but uh, we go and we race
Porsches mostly.
Uh, and we've started racing outin Europe as well.
Had some great tracks out there.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:19):
Wow, man, that's, that's pretty,
that's pretty amazing.
So, uh, how many cars do youhave?
You, you just have, have you wonrace car or do you have Uh, more
than one?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (05:28):
Well, we, the, the experience, the
place that we go to
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:32):
Oh yeah.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (05:33):
the vehicle.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:33):
Oh, good.
Okay.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_06 (05:35):
so yeah, we've, we've been using
their vehicles.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:38):
You know, yeah.
I got a, I, I, uh, I didn't tellyou this in our pre show, but
whenever I hear a story likethat, you know, and it, and it,
it triggers a, a memory in mymind.
I love to share it, but so I, Itoo am a race car driver.
Um.
Albeit, I've only done it onetime, and I'll definitely say
I'm a novice, but I have driven,so I had an opportunity with,
(05:58):
uh, ConnectUS, one of our, our,my supplier partner friends.
Yeah.
So, uh, yeah, they're, adistributor for Verizon Wireless
and many amongst some otherthings.
But, uh, so we were at DallasMotor Speedway about a month ago
and, uh, connect us is, youknow, they have a race car in
the NASCAR circuit as well.
They also have a stretch limo.
It can hold 20 people, but it'sa nascar I.
(06:20):
Frame, I mean, it, it is, it'sliterally a NASCAR race car cut
in half and extended.
So that's really cool.
And, uh, had the opportunity toactually get behind the wheel
and do 10 laps in a NASCAR racecar with the Dr with a coach
next to me, that, that was, uh,obviously the only way that was
gonna happen.
But I was sudden the whole time,I'm like, oh wait, are you
really gonna let me get behindthis car?
(06:41):
I mean, have you seen my drivingrecord?
Uh, but it was exhilarating.
Uh, super fun.
Um.
At the Dallas Motor Speedway,the, um, uh, the organization
there.
Yeah.
They, they, they do corporateevents and all, but you know,
it's, they're real race carsand, uh, I got 150 miles an hour
and, uh, it was really fun.
(07:01):
So, uh, what, what got you intoracing outta curiosity?
Was it just something it, youthought looked good, fun?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (07:08):
Uh, well actually, uh, by
happenstance, a good friend ofmine, uh, bought a Mercedes and
uh, a MG and they gave him, uh,this a MG experience package
where they fly him.
Out to a race track in, uh,Laguna Seca in California.
uh, he invited me to come alongand I'll tell you, getting
(07:30):
behind that a MG and justsitting on the track.
It was, I knew, I knew I washooked from the beginning.
It was just amazing.
So I.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (07:39):
Were you ever consider yourself a
risk taker prior to that moment?
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (07:44):
Not really.
And you know, I've never been asports guy or you know, like I
said, I really have never hadhobbies, uh, until I started
racing.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (07:57):
God, I Well that, that, I love asking
that question'cause I neverwould've known that.
I, I never would've thoughtthat.
That's really cool.
So, you know, thinking back overthe last 20 years, you know, uh,
family owned business, youmentioned there was some
challenges there.
It makes perfect sense.
I mean, even families that don'twork together sometimes can have
challenges.
Um, so, you know, how, how didgrowing up in that entrepreneur
environment, you know, shapeyour approach to the customer
(08:20):
experience and how you lead thecompany today?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (08:24):
Well, you know, I, I think, um, I.
You know, working with yourfamily humbles you.
Uh, and, and it also gives you adifferent experience.
Uh, but, you know, we, we wereforced to focus on the customer,
uh, as a small business owner.
So one of the first companiesthat I worked for, uh, with my
family was a bagel shop, andthey sold coffee and bagels, uh,
(08:48):
in the St.
Louis area.
And it was right around the timewhen Einstein's was really
blowing up and to compete withthem, we had to work on our
relationships, you know, so whensomebody came in for that
coffee, we knew'em by firstname.
We knew what they wanted.
We knew how much cream theywanted in their coffee, um, what
their bagel, uh, um, favoriteswere.
(09:12):
we were kind of forced into itfrom the very beginning.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (09:17):
Is it hard to find employees that can
embrace that, that philosophy aswell?
I mean, even back then and now.
Uh, how's that going in termsof, I mean, I, I talked to a lot
of business leaders and I justhear there's recurring theme
about this challenge of havinggood talent and, you know, uh,
ambitious employees.
Does that, does that ring truewith you as well?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (09:38):
Well, it, it's changed over the years.
Um, you know, in the beginningit wasn't as difficult because
you have that close connectionwith your employees.
Um, and so.
You know, for me, when I becamethe CEO of Abby Connect, um, I
always treated my employees likebusiness owners.
And that was just because of theway that I was brought up.
(09:59):
Um, and treating them like thatand making them feel like they
are part of the business, whichthey are, um,
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (10:06):
yeah.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (10:07):
you know, made a different
relationship between my, me andmy employees.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (10:12):
Gosh.
Um.
No, that's, that's good to hear.
I mean, uh, treating youremployees like business owners,
you're right.
I mean, I, I've always, uh,that, that's, I was brought the
same way.
You know, I don't wanna considermyself a, an employee.
I wanna be, you know, a part ofthe, the leadership team.
And you don't need a title to bea leader.
You can have leader attributesand leader traits, uh, without
(10:33):
the title.
And, uh, sometimes those are thebest ones that are not doing it
because of the title.
They're just doing it'cause it'sthe right thing to do.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (10:39):
Yeah.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (10:39):
Um, so pivoting just a little bit,
um.
I'm really curious to know, Imean, you know, Abby started out
as, and you still have LiveHuman receptionist, know, I love
the, the sample you have on yourwebsite.
It sounds like such a, such afriendly process like that,
that's the kind of person youwanna have answer in your phone
for you.
Um, what convinced you, youknow, it was time to go into the
(11:02):
world of AI and, and have thatAI receptionist, um, and how did
you share ensure that newtechnology wasn't compromised?
That personal touch that you'reknown for?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (11:11):
Yeah.
And, and that was very importantto us because we are known for
the personal touch.
Um, a lot of especially myfriends, thought I was crazy
when I said I was gonna try toget into the technology
business, but.
It, it came out of a need.
Um, and so this business haspivoted several times, uh, based
off of customer needs, andthat's how we've been able to
(11:33):
stay in business for 20 years.
you know, in the beginning whenwe were known as tele assistant,
we were competing on cost, uh,and we were cutting cost as much
as possible.
Um.
What we found was, is if wecharged a little bit more and
hired more receptionists perphone call and it we're able to
spend more time on the call, wegave the caller a much better
(11:56):
experience and we gave the, theclient of the caller more
opportunity to win thatbusiness.
Um, and so that point we pivotedA few years later, there was
another pivot point where weretrying to do everything over the
phones.
We were doing a lot ofscheduling.
We were doing order taking.
We would answer a lot of salescalls.
(12:19):
We would do the normal transfercalls to ask answer FAQs and
whatnot.
But some of these schedulingplatforms, uh, you know, we had
to use a VPN to log into the, tothe dentist's office and remote
into his computer.
And, you know, the whole shebangof how that can go wrong.
And, you can't get into thecomputer, the password's not
working or whatnot.
(12:39):
And then the caller's on theline, um.
Uh, so we ended up discontinuingall of those services and
focusing on what we were goodat, which was providing that
human touch.
Um, and that was another greatpivot point.
We've since added schedulingback into our array of services
with a lot of the newtechnology, it it's a lot easier
(12:59):
to, to schedule a call, um, toschedule a meeting for our
client.
Uh, but the pivot point thatreally led us into this idea of
AI was, you know, colors arestill looking to be connected
with, they're still looking forthat human empathy.
I.
But they also want to call inand get their task done.
(13:22):
People are sick of calling andspeaking to an offshore, uh,
answering service or whatnot andnot getting anywhere.
you know, the, the fluff of justhaving somebody there on the
call to talk to you isn'tworking anymore, and AI is going
to be able to do a lot more likethe scheduling, uh, like the
order taking, um, looking upthings in CRM.
(13:46):
Uh, do a lot more, uh, for theclient and save them a lot of
money.
so that's kind of why we pivotedto this.
But as you kind of alluded to,we will never, um, get rid of
the human touch.
We will never get rid of humansanswering the calls.
There's always gonna be abalance, uh, between human and
ai.
(14:06):
And that's what we're seeingwith our clients now.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (14:09):
Is there particular verticals
you're seeing most common?
I mean, is there, like certainbusinesses you, you mentioned,
you know, the dentist offices.
Is there like some, if you hadto put your top three, you know,
customer verticals in threedifferent buckets, do they fit
in nice three buckets easily, oris it kinda like all over the
map?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_ (14:26):
They do.
So we've been heavily involvedin the legal space, uh, for
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (14:31):
Okay.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_06 (14:31):
of our company.
Uh, and then also dental.
Medical has been a, a bigindustry that.
It is a wide range ofindustries, just small business.
Um, number of employees, uh, hasbeen kind of the.
The if you will.
Uh, we're seeing that the AIspace is about the same, uh,
(14:53):
client base, um, but we areseeing more companies that we
wouldn't have been able to dobusiness with before come into
the fold of, of our targetmarket.
Uh, we're working with some mid,uh, mid-size companies.
We are talking to someenterprise companies as well.
Um, so with the scalability ofai.
(15:14):
But having that human as abackup to take the call if
something goes wrong has beenvery attractive to enterprise
businesses.
Uh, but we've been reallysurprised too.
Uh, we thought we would, uh, seesome of our, our clients and
industries really shy away fromthis, this, uh, hybrid model.
Uh, an example is I have anattorney, specializes in elder
(15:38):
law and, uh, you know, a lot ofher callers of course, uh, you
know, are elderly and, uh, needa little bit of handholding over
the phone.
Um, like to have that personaltouch.
Well, she came to us and shesaid, Hey, listen, you know, I
know I've been client for a longtime, but I'm looking to cut my
costs, you know, how can youhelp me?
(15:59):
And so we presented her withthis option of AI to answer some
of the calls at night, at least,she was very resistant, of
course.
Uh.
We said, Hey, listen, we'll giveit to you for free.
Let's, let's, let's try it out.
Let's see how this goes.
And so we answered calls.
Uh, she, she, she had us, uh,for the AI answering calls at
(16:21):
night.
Fast forward, she's one of ourbiggest advocates.
She loves it.
She loves it.
Her clients love it.
her callers, they, they havelittle problems with the
technology.
Um, they like that they canactually reach somebody.
Somebody, right, and that theycan get their call handled, um,
(16:41):
without waiting on, on hold orwithout ringing, you know, three
or four rings.
The call is, uh, instantlyanswered.
Their questions are instantlyanswered.
They have a great dialogue.
They're happy
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (16:53):
God.
That's, that's fantastic.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_06 (16:55):
I.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (16:55):
Um, yeah.
So, yeah, that, that's thispivot point we're talking about
and going from the human touchand, and, uh, using technology
now, uh, as much as you canshare, I'd love to know, you
know, what's been of the biggestchallenges in training and AI to
replicate that warmth andadaptability of a human
receptionist.
And, and, and what have youlearned, uh, during this whole
(17:17):
beta testing phases?
Uh, have you had to make a lotof changes or, uh, uh, you know.
Different configurations for thesoftware.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (17:25):
We, we, yeah, we have, you know, uh,
when chat PT came out, I wasenamored, like most of the
country with, with this newtechnology.
Um, and, uh.
We thought, Hey, you know what?
Let's throw up a prototype.
Let's create a bunch ofcreative, uh, um, uh, ways to
connect into some of these openAI and, and Google APIs and
(17:49):
whatnot, and let's see if we cancome up with something that, uh,
mimics what we do.
Uh, using basic promptengineering, right?
And just connecting straightinto the APIs.
And what we found was wecouldn't be farther from the
truth.
It, it, it just could not bedone.
So we did have to develop ourown software, um, and we did
(18:11):
have to train our own models.
Uh.
What, when I, when we startedbuilding the software, I went to
the software team and I said,Hey, listen, we're gonna spend
some money.
We're gonna spend some timedeveloping this.
But if we can't go to marketwith something that does exactly
what our receptionists do nowand has that human touch.
(18:34):
Then we're gonna scrap it andwe're gonna continue doing what
we do because we do it well andwe're well liked in the
industry, and we've got a greatbusiness.
You know, we don't, we don't,we're, we're not struggling to
pivot right now.
Um, so during the, the betatesting and during the building.
(18:55):
It was the little nuances you'vebeen training receptionists for
over 20 years, that really makethe difference.
Uh, you know, for example, howlong to pause during a
conversation, when to pause, howto detect when a sentence is
been completed, or an idea fromthe caller has been completed,
(19:18):
and then respond.
how to rephrase.
your responses as an AIgenerated response when the
caller doesn't understand.
mimicking these natural kind ofconversation flows was a
challenge, and it did take a lotof time.
Uh, it took a lot of betatesting, it took a lot of
patience.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (19:39):
So did you, I imagine you have
analytics and you track like,you know, what, how many
successful calls, you know, theAI can do because I'm, and I'm
sitting here thinking, what ifyou know someone has a sick, you
know, thick southern accent or athick Boston accent?
I mean, I, I deal with accents alot.
I, I'm nationwide and.
And, uh, I'm from Georgia, sopeople tell me I have an accent.
I'm like, I don't hear it, butmaybe I do.
(20:00):
Um, so there's that.
I'm thinking, you know, if, if,if it's a complex conversation,
is there ever like a, a trigger,an alert where the AI goes, you
know, hold on a second, lemmesee if I can get you someone
else.
And maybe, and then it'sforwarded to a live person.
Is, is that ever an option ordoes that ever happened?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_06 (20:15):
It is.
It is.
And I, and I think that's whatmakes us stand apart from some
of the, you know, uh, technologystartups, is that at any point,
if there's some sort of issue orwe detect some sort of friction
from the caller, uh, it doestransfer over to our live human
receptionist.
And by the way, we don't chargefor that call either.
So our humans will answer andthey'll take care of the call.
(20:38):
Um, but I think it's funny whatyou said, because it leads into
some of the lessons we learned.
That's, I, I did think theaccents was gonna be a big, uh,
challenge it actually was not achallenge.
It has not been.
Uh, my wife is from Lithuania,she's Russian, uh, and she's got
a very thick accent.
I only ans I only understandabout 50% of what she says, our
(21:02):
AI understands a hundredpercent.
Uh, every time she calls in,it's a perfect, uh, conversation
between her and the ai.
So I'm thinking about, uh,creating my own AI to translate
what she says.
chris_1_07-01-2025_09213 (21:14):
That's great.
That's funny.
Uh, yeah, I, I've recently got apair of the Ray Band meta
glasses and, and it, you know,uh, apparently I haven't tested
it yet, but it could do sometranslation and, uh, I mean,
that'd be really cool if itcould, even if you're speaking
English or someone that has areal thick accent of if any
sort.
Sometimes that can be, that canmake it uncomfortable.
Or if it's a complexconversation, it's not just like
(21:34):
you're getting directions orsomething.
Um,
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (21:36):
Oh,
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (21:36):
I, I love how AI is making life
easier in a lot of ways.
In fact, you know, I've beenhaving conversations with folks
that are saying, well, it'sgonna make us dumb and lazy.
I'm like, no.
I think I'm like in hypercreation mode, hyper as someone
that's.
Um, you know, I dare to evencall myself a content creator,
but I kind of am, and I got aYouTube channel.
(21:57):
I got this podcast.
I love creating sales guidesand, and taking complex
solutions and making it easy forconsultants to, you know, uh, go
sell'em frankly.
And, um, yeah, so I think AI isreally adding so much value.
And on that note, you know, I'mthinking about companies that
have a front desk receptionist.
(22:18):
We've all been there again, youknow, being in sales, uh, going
door to door in, in my previousyears, you walk in and you got
the front desk receptionist andshe holds up her hand.
She goes, one minute.
Uh, yes.
Uh, you know, the x, Y, Zcompany, can you hold please?
You know, I mean, so she'strying to greet people.
She's trying to answer calls.
She's probably the officemanager too.
This service isn't necessarilyreplacing that person.
(22:39):
I, I, to me, it's just makingtheir job more efficient and
effective.
Is that, is that what you'reseeing?
nathan-strum_1_07-0 (22:45):
Absolutely.
You know, and.
I mean, even 20 years ago whenwe started, uh, we ran up
against that of, Hey, I don'twanna replace my front desk
receptionist.
And our message was, well, for afew hundred dollars a month, how
about you make that front deskreceptionist even more
personable with the people thatcome in because she's able to
spend time with them or he'sable to spend time with them.
(23:06):
Um.
now our message is the same withai.
know, uh, the, the humans thatwe employ to answer the calls
will still have a job.
They'll still be very valuable.
But some of the other thingsthat they can't do on a
scalable, cost effective basis,the AI can handle.
You know, you mentionedsomething, um, that's actually
(23:28):
turned into one of my.
Uh, passions.
Uh, it's talking about, youknow, how AI is, is not gonna
replace all of the jobs.
It's gonna replace some jobs,but it's gonna, create other
jobs.
And also, this notion out therethat it's gonna hurt creativity
and make, uh, employees evenless, uh, uh, excited about
(23:49):
their job.
I think it can't be furthestfrom the
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (23:52):
I agree.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (23:53):
you do it right.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (23:54):
Yep.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062 (23:54):
I have an example.
Uh, we have a sales guy.
He is one of the most connectortype of people you'll ever meet,
where as soon as you speak tohim, you feel like you're, um,
valued.
You feel like he's on yourlevel, you feel great about the
conversation.
He can really connect withanybody, Um,
chris_1_07-01-2025_09213 (24:16):
That's awesome.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (24:18):
If, if, if I had, if we had a
hundred times to, to ask him tofill out the CRM information and
take the notes properly, itwould still be a hundred times
more that we'd need to ask himto do it.
But with ai, he doesn't have todo this anymore, and now he's so
much more happy to spend thoseti that time on the phone call,
(24:40):
working with clients over thephone and not doing the tasks
that he hates doing.
And so this is somebody that is.
10 times more happy with theirjob using ai.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (24:50):
That is a great story and I love it
'cause I haven't been a salesmanager leader over, or, or my
decades here.
Yeah, I, I agree with you.
It's, it never failed.
The best sales guy hatedpaperwork and processes.
I mean, buddy Barnett, rest inpeace.
Uh, one of my greatest salesguys ever, he would sometimes
come in and I'm like, Hey buddy,man, I took out the reports.
(25:13):
You've gone three days and nosales.
Oh, Chris, I'm sorry.
Here's five contracts I hadsigned.
I forgot to turn'em in.
I'm like, you know, you can'tget paid to return these in,
buddy.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (25:21):
right.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (25:23):
but that was buddy man.
Buddy was, and, and everywherehe went, in fact, uh, I would go
out in the field with him fromtime to time and,
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (25:28):
sure.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (25:29):
uh, we'd walk in to business and
he'll throw his hand up.
Hey John, how's it going buddy?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (25:33):
Yeah.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (25:34):
you know, we had this engagement and
we would leave.
I'm like, so how long have youknown John?
He goes, oh, I just met him.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (25:39):
Okay,
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (25:39):
I'm like.
I, I swore you knew this guyforever.
Back to your point, some peoplejust have that gift and it's
funny'cause if you have thatgift then you don't have the
gift of operationsadministrative details.
So interesting to hear you tellthat story.
'cause I was just having thisconversation a few days ago with
someone and, and that's, that'skind of par for course it seems,
(26:00):
but so how cool is it that nowyou are using AI to make that
kind of salesperson moreproductive, more efficient?
Uh.
Tell me a little bit more how,how's that working?
Is it just, uh, his phone callsare being transcribed and put
into the CRM or
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (26:14):
Pretty
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (26:14):
how's that working?
nathan-strum_1_07- (26:15):
transcribed, they're put in the CRM.
Uh, we actually run all of hiscalls through an engine that
gives him advice.
the call and it comes up with alist of action items that he
needs to do after the call.
And then, um, so the nextiteration we're working on is
that'll actually schedule hisfollow up calls and follow up
emails on his behalf.
Uh, it's pretty cool stuff.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (26:37):
Well, you know, and I'm sure sales
managers, you know, that'sanother job that's often, um.
Underappreciated anorganization.
'cause you're middle, you know,they're middle managers.
They're trying to, trying to dothe reports for, for you.
And those are senior leaders,but they're also trying to
manage the employees and keepall the funnels clean and, and
you know, that's a job that'sreally hard to do well, I mean,
(26:59):
uh.
I meet sales managers.
They're either really goodadministrative people'cause
they're task driven.
And you got sales managers like,like Buddy and your salespeople,
they're really salespeople, butyet they can't keep up with the
administrative part.
So that's, that's a realinteresting take on how AI's not
only helping with, uh, uh, Abbyand your core offerings, but uh,
other areas of the business.
(27:22):
Fantastic.
How many people are sellingthis?
Is you, do you sell this throughdirect sales or is there a
portion of your business or justcoming because of your web
presence and your digitalmarketing?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (27:32):
Yeah, so we've, um, a lot of our leads
come in from digital marketing,uh, like most small
chris_1_07-01-2025_0921 (27:38):
Mm-hmm.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (27:38):
um, you know, we've, we've, we've
done the whole trade show route.
Uh, you know, we've, we'velooked at other opportunities,
but a lot of'em are coming in.
One of the changes that we'remaking right now is we're, we're
pivoting to a more of a productled organization.
And, you know, it's, it's a hottopic.
Uh, we've always been productled because we've always focused
(28:00):
on what we do and let that kindof speak for itself.
Um, but we're reallyingratiating that in every point
of the customer journey now.
Um, and so when a client firstcomes to our website.
They have two opportunities.
They can call and they can speakto a salesperson, but they can
also sign up for free and trythe service.
(28:21):
you know, free speaks toeverybody and, um, the proof is
always in the pudding.
And so that's why we encouragepeople to go to our website,
abby.com and sign up for a freetwo week trial, uh, on their
services and just see forthemselves.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (28:35):
Well, that's fantastic.
Is it, a set of parameters ofthat two weeks?
It's just the basic.
You know, phone?
Is there any, I guess there's nointegrations or anything like
that,'cause that, that wouldn'tmake sense, but is it, like a
portal that you could log intoand kind of manage your
receptionist per se, like whatit can and can't do and, and
maybe have access to yourcalendar and stuff like that?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah.
We
chris_1_07-01-2025_092 (28:54):
awesome.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_ (28:55):
very hands-on with the onboarding and
we still are.
Um, but we, we have a, aself-serve onboarding now.
So as soon as you, as soon asyou sign up, you're logged in
and you're presented with a verynice interface that walks you
through step-by-step, um, howto, uh, configure the, the
account, whether it's AI orhuman or hybrid.
(29:16):
Uh, so they can do that on theirown.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (29:18):
you know, as we wrap up here, uh,
just a few more questions, but,um, you know, what advice do you
have for small, medium businessowners that, ha they haven't
called you yet, they haven'tclicked yet.
I mean, what advice do you havefor them?
And, uh, you know.
Are there common objections yougot your, your sales teams are
hearing that it can easilyovercome by telling the story or
(29:38):
showing them the demo, you know?
Any other advice you have forcustomers that just have been
reluctant and haven't made thejump yet?
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (29:45):
Yeah.
So, know, the, one of the piecesof advice that we'd like to give
is start small with ai, uh, withany technology, uh, as well.
But with AI especially, findthat one niche, uh, in your
business that it can helpimplement it, measure it, watch
it be effective.
(30:05):
I.
Then you can use that use caseto evangelize, using AI in more
parts of your business.
Um, so that's, that's typicallywhat I tell people is to just
start small.
Uh, the other thing is, youknow, when you use the, the
popular, uh, Geminis and chatGPTs and the CLOs and all these,
(30:29):
the, the.
They're so open, you know, youcan conversate with them, you
can take the conversationanywhere.
Um, but some of the companieslike Abby that are building, uh,
very, uh, targeted services, uh,it's a much different
experience.
So, you know, like I said, whenwe first prototyped, we
(30:50):
connected straight into the APIsand these things could go
anywhere.
I mean, you could ask it who hadwants to, uh, uh, vote for the
president and would have thatconversation with you.
so we had to develop softwarethat honed in the conversation
to be specific to what areceptionist would do.
Um, and that, and that's whatwe're seeing, all the small
(31:11):
businesses that are coming outwith great AI products.
Um, I would just.
advise people to try it and seewhere in the business where it
can help you.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (31:21):
Um, I.
That's, I got so many questionspopped in my head as that last
comment.
Um, so with each customer, um,is the AI being trained?
I mean, is it, so, you know,from week one to week seven, is
AI gonna evolve and get betterat handling those unique calls
about, you know, maybe there itis a company that sells, uh,
(31:43):
custom screens for, or shadesfor houses, for example.
Will it get better at askingdiscovery questions and does it
evolve as it learns or is itkind of out of the box?
Doing what it needs to do.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_ (31:55):
Good question.
Yeah, it does evolve.
Uh, you know, the, the wordtraining is, is thrown out a
lot, um, and misleading and, andai.
Uh, but there, there's a processthat we're working on where the
AI identifies questions, um,that you might not have answered
as a business owner, uh, in theportal.
(32:16):
And it'll send you an alert andask you the answer to that
question or suggest an answer.
And so that we want you to stillhave control.
We don't want this AI model togo off on its own and, you know.
Somehow tell somebody somethingthat you didn't want to tell
them and promise them somethingthat you didn't want to promise
them.
Um, so there's a level ofcontrol with a level of
(32:39):
self-learning andself-optimizing.
chris_1_07-01-2025_0 (32:42):
Fantastic.
Well, I think we've covered alot.
I am very interested and seesgreat value in what we've talked
about and, and the offering.
I mean, everybody's so busynowadays and, and we we're,
we're flooded with information.
There's so much information outthere.
I.
There's a quote I love, youknow, d drowning in, um, d
drowning in information, butstart for knowledge, you know,
so it's kind of cool how, youknow your service can help.
(33:04):
You know, I kind of bridge thatgap in a lot of ways.
Is, uh, Nate, is there any lastwords or anything we haven't
covered that you wanted to sharewith us in our last few minutes?
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (33:13):
Yeah, I mean the, the, the, the, the
message that I really wantpeople to understand is that if
you figure out how to use ai,it's, it's not gonna replace
jobs.
The people that use AI are gonnareplace the people that don't
use ai.
and I'm, I'm really passionateabout that message.
We have a employee.
(33:34):
Just a quick, um.
A story for you.
We're
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (33:37):
Sure.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (33:38):
across the board because we offer, uh,
free learning, uh, modules and,and training classes for even
our entry level employees tolearn ai.
And, uh, she started as areceptionist and, uh, she has
five boys, can believe
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (33:53):
Wow,
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (33:53):
Single mother.
Her family lives in
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (33:55):
God bless.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (33:56):
state.
Uh, she has little, little helphere.
Um, and she started as areceptionist and, uh, she's
since worked her way up to asupport technician and now she's
completed our AI learningmodules and her salary is going
to be increasing just based offof her learning and her
knowledge.
(34:17):
Um, and the opportunities thathave opened up to her are
incredible.
So we see a big opportunity toraise the bar for our current
employees.
And that's the message here isdon't worry about it.
Replacing employees, worry aboutbringing your employees with you
on this journey, and you canimprove their lives and you can
improve, you know, their earningpotential.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (34:39):
Gosh.
Yeah, that's I agree a hundredpercent.
And, and I'm seeing the samething and, and uh, I guess it's
just, you know, humans, we havea hard time with change
sometimes even good change canbe hard,
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (34:49):
Yeah.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (34:49):
but, you know, once we can
demonstrate the ROI, we candemonstrate the advantage.
And the benefits me.
'cause, you know, even as a techenthusiast myself, sometimes I
have a hard time convincingbusiness leaders to go from a
clipboard to a tablet that'sconnected to a sim card and, you
know, just capturing all thedata and put it in the cloud.
And now I, I, I have a lot ofsalespeople on my team that, uh,
(35:10):
used Plaud, uh.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-20 (35:12):
Mm-hmm.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (35:13):
plug for plug.
But yeah, they just set it onthe table and it listens to the
whole conversation.
And, and like you said, ititemizes action items.
It summarizes differentcategories, it makes
recommendations.
And um, I see that as just moreefficient and more effective.
I mean, how many meetings we goto that a lot of great stuff's
talked about, but, but no one'staking notes and the meeting's
over two days later.
(35:35):
The me, the medium eyes wouldnever have happened'cause no one
took notes and no one capturedaction items.
So, um, that is fascinating.
Now I'm really, uh, grateful foryour time today, Nathan.
Definitely check the show notes.
I appreciate the time.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (35:48):
Yeah, I appreciate it too and it's
been a great conversation.
Thank you, Chris.
chris_1_07-01-2025_09213 (35:51):
You're so welcome.
And there you go folks.
Another episode.
Of the wireless way.
And, and if you haven't heard meexplain it before, the wireless
way, you know it's a doubleentendre.
I started out as a wirelesstechnology show five years ago
and had this epiphany thatwireless is no strings attached
and no judgment.
And the, the ways, the path, thejourney, and the venture.
I think we hit on all thosetoday.
(36:12):
Uh, definitely check out theshow notes.
Check out abby.com to learn moreabout how you can, optimize
your, your business, yourcustomer.
Experience and and I lookforward to seeing you next time
on the wireless way.
Hey, welcome to another episode of
The Wireless Way.
I'm your host, Chris Whitaker.
And Ben, I'm, I'm glad you'rehere today.
I'm glad you're, you're checkingout another episode here.
You keep coming back and it'sbeen a big, it's been a big, uh,
month for the wireless way.
A lot of great guests, a lot ofthe great content of all types
of technology.
And today, you know, I'm reallyexcited to introduce Nathan
(00:22):
Strum.
Uh, he's my guest today.
And, uh, we're gonna talk about.
A topic I haven't really talked,touched on other than AI and how
AI is used in his, his, hisproduct, his offering, and his
company.
So we're gonna get into that.
But first, a little bit aboutNathan, uh, CEO co-founder of
Abby Connect.
Innovative family builtanswering service that's been
(00:45):
setting the gold standard andsmall business customer care for
the past 20 years.
I know a lot of you sell intothat SMB space, so pay attention
here.
Uh, Nathan launched Abbyoriginally tele assistant in
2005 alongside, uh, his parents,uh, building it from a modest
virtual receptionist serviceinto a thriving family owned
company, headquartered in LasVegas, Nevada.
(01:07):
And over the decades, Nathan hasremained fiercely focused on one
mission, delivering exceptionalcaller experience through warm
personal service.
And yes, AI is gonna play inthat, and we're gonna talk about
that.
Uh, and, and it's not all ai.
Obviously we'll get into that.
So, uh, now, uh, Abby Connect isentering this next chapter, as I
mentioned, integration.
(01:28):
Uh, after 18 months ofdevelopment and two months of
real world beta, uh, Nathan andhis team have launched the AI
receptionist, a hybrid modelthat blends the empathy of human
receptionist with the efficiencyand scalability of ai.
Uh, we're gonna start seeingmore and more of that it seems,
um, uh, for Nathan, uh, whospent a career craft and
(01:48):
beautifully human customerexperience, uh, this is more
than a tech pivot.
It's a thoughtful evolutionenhancing service, not replacing
it.
And after two decades of, uh,operating behind the scenes,
he's stepping at the spotlightto share insights on leading in
the AI era.
What works, what doesn't.
And above all, how to keep thehuman touch at the heart of
(02:09):
innovation.
So if you've ever been curiousabout how AI can augment and not
erase real connection, or you'rejust simply passionate about
what customer experiences looklike today, this conversation is
for you.
So pay attention and take notes.
Check the show notes.
As of as always, I'll have somegood links there, and I am
grateful to welcome my guest,Nathan Strum.
(02:32):
How are you doing today, sir?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (02:34):
Hi, Chris.
Thank you for such a greatintroduction.
I'm doing great.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (02:38):
Man.
That's fantastic.
Well, it's uh, easy to do agreat introduction when the
story's good, you know?
So, uh, I as a tech enthusiastmyself, uh, and we're at that
time in technology where it'sjust really exciting to be here
because just when you thinkyou've got it all figured out.
It's evolving, it's beingenhanced by more technology, and
(02:58):
that's what I'm really, uh,excited to have this
conversation with you.
But before we get into that, asalways, you know, first question
for my guests.
Hey, what's not the bio?
Uh, tell us a little bit moreabout you and, and how did you
get here?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (03:11):
Sure.
So the bio is a very polishedversion.
The story is a
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (03:14):
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2 (03:15):
messier.
Uh.
Maybe a little bit more fun.
Um, I would say a lot of bloods,uh, sweat and tears, uh, but
also a lot of family fights.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (03:26):
Hmm.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (03:26):
Uh, so
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (03:26):
Yeah.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (03:27):
worked with their family knows that,
uh, there's, there's somebutting of heads going on and,
and, uh, it can get a littlecontentious at times, which,
which brings out thepersonality, uh, and really, uh.
Has made us humble as a familyto, to run this business.
Um, but you know, there's been alot of pivots along, along the
(03:47):
way.
There's been a lot of lessonslearned.
Um, you know, we started out as,uh, renting office space found a
business in the phone service,uh, support industry.
And, uh, like you said, we've,we've pivoted today to add AI to
our offerings.
chris_1_07-01-2025_0 (04:05):
Fantastic.
Have you always been a techie?
I mean, is this kind of, I mean,being it was a family business,
you just kind of grew up in it.
Have, you've always had this,this, uh, interest in
technology?
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_ (04:16):
I've always had a, a interest in
technology.
Um, I've really gotten my handstoo deep into it as the business
has evolved.
Uh, I know you're a, a telecomguy.
We started out with a old Mytel3,300, phone system, and, uh.
You know, I, I, I used to spendnights getting in there and
(04:37):
figuring out what I could dowith that phone system, and it
was, it was a learning lesson.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (04:42):
So when, when you're not building
great technology for Abby, uh,your business, mean, do you have
any, any hobbies you'repassionate about or, or are you
all work kind of guy?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (04:52):
Well, it used to be all work.
Uh, but recently in the pastfive years, I started, uh,
racing cars.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:00):
Ooh.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (05:01):
Uh, so we go and, um, now I'm gonna,
I'm a student and I'll probablybe a student for the rest of my
life.
Uh, I've only done one officialrace, but uh, we go and we race
Porsches mostly.
Uh, and we've started racing outin Europe as well.
Had some great tracks out there.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:19):
Wow, man, that's, that's pretty,
that's pretty amazing.
So, uh, how many cars do youhave?
You, you just have, have you wonrace car or do you have Uh, more
than one?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (05:28):
Well, we, the, the experience, the
place that we go to
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:32):
Oh yeah.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (05:33):
the vehicle.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:33):
Oh, good.
Okay.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_06 (05:35):
so yeah, we've, we've been using
their vehicles.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (05:38):
You know, yeah.
I got a, I, I, uh, I didn't tellyou this in our pre show, but
whenever I hear a story likethat, you know, and it, and it,
it triggers a, a memory in mymind.
I love to share it, but so I, Itoo am a race car driver.
Um.
Albeit, I've only done it onetime, and I'll definitely say
I'm a novice, but I have driven,so I had an opportunity with,
(05:58):
uh, ConnectUS, one of our, our,my supplier partner friends.
Yeah.
So, uh, yeah, they're, adistributor for Verizon Wireless
and many amongst some otherthings.
But, uh, so we were at DallasMotor Speedway about a month ago
and, uh, connect us is, youknow, they have a race car in
the NASCAR circuit as well.
They also have a stretch limo.
It can hold 20 people, but it'sa nascar I.
(06:20):
Frame, I mean, it, it is, it'sliterally a NASCAR race car cut
in half and extended.
So that's really cool.
And, uh, had the opportunity toactually get behind the wheel
and do 10 laps in a NASCAR racecar with the Dr with a coach
next to me, that, that was, uh,obviously the only way that was
gonna happen.
But I was sudden the whole time,I'm like, oh wait, are you
really gonna let me get behindthis car?
(06:41):
I mean, have you seen my drivingrecord?
Uh, but it was exhilarating.
Uh, super fun.
Um.
At the Dallas Motor Speedway,the, um, uh, the organization
there.
Yeah.
They, they, they do corporateevents and all, but you know,
it's, they're real race carsand, uh, I got 150 miles an hour
and, uh, it was really fun.
(07:01):
So, uh, what, what got you intoracing outta curiosity?
Was it just something it, youthought looked good, fun?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (07:08):
Uh, well actually, uh, by
happenstance, a good friend ofmine, uh, bought a Mercedes and
uh, a MG and they gave him, uh,this a MG experience package
where they fly him.
Out to a race track in, uh,Laguna Seca in California.
uh, he invited me to come alongand I'll tell you, getting
(07:30):
behind that a MG and justsitting on the track.
It was, I knew, I knew I washooked from the beginning.
It was just amazing.
So I.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (07:39):
Were you ever consider yourself a
risk taker prior to that moment?
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (07:44):
Not really.
And you know, I've never been asports guy or you know, like I
said, I really have never hadhobbies, uh, until I started
racing.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (07:57):
God, I Well that, that, I love asking
that question'cause I neverwould've known that.
I, I never would've thoughtthat.
That's really cool.
So, you know, thinking back overthe last 20 years, you know, uh,
family owned business, youmentioned there was some
challenges there.
It makes perfect sense.
I mean, even families that don'twork together sometimes can have
challenges.
Um, so, you know, how, how didgrowing up in that entrepreneur
environment, you know, shapeyour approach to the customer
(08:20):
experience and how you lead thecompany today?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (08:24):
Well, you know, I, I think, um, I.
You know, working with yourfamily humbles you.
Uh, and, and it also gives you adifferent experience.
Uh, but, you know, we, we wereforced to focus on the customer,
uh, as a small business owner.
So one of the first companiesthat I worked for, uh, with my
family was a bagel shop, andthey sold coffee and bagels, uh,
(08:48):
in the St.
Louis area.
And it was right around the timewhen Einstein's was really
blowing up and to compete withthem, we had to work on our
relationships, you know, so whensomebody came in for that
coffee, we knew'em by firstname.
We knew what they wanted.
We knew how much cream theywanted in their coffee, um, what
their bagel, uh, um, favoriteswere.
(09:12):
we were kind of forced into itfrom the very beginning.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (09:17):
Is it hard to find employees that can
embrace that, that philosophy aswell?
I mean, even back then and now.
Uh, how's that going in termsof, I mean, I, I talked to a lot
of business leaders and I justhear there's recurring theme
about this challenge of havinggood talent and, you know, uh,
ambitious employees.
Does that, does that ring truewith you as well?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (09:38):
Well, it, it's changed over the years.
Um, you know, in the beginningit wasn't as difficult because
you have that close connectionwith your employees.
Um, and so.
You know, for me, when I becamethe CEO of Abby Connect, um, I
always treated my employees likebusiness owners.
And that was just because of theway that I was brought up.
(09:59):
Um, and treating them like thatand making them feel like they
are part of the business, whichthey are, um,
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (10:06):
yeah.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (10:07):
you know, made a different
relationship between my, me andmy employees.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (10:12):
Gosh.
Um.
No, that's, that's good to hear.
I mean, uh, treating youremployees like business owners,
you're right.
I mean, I, I've always, uh,that, that's, I was brought the
same way.
You know, I don't wanna considermyself a, an employee.
I wanna be, you know, a part ofthe, the leadership team.
And you don't need a title to bea leader.
You can have leader attributesand leader traits, uh, without
(10:33):
the title.
And, uh, sometimes those are thebest ones that are not doing it
because of the title.
They're just doing it'cause it'sthe right thing to do.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (10:39):
Yeah.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (10:39):
Um, so pivoting just a little bit,
um.
I'm really curious to know, Imean, you know, Abby started out
as, and you still have LiveHuman receptionist, know, I love
the, the sample you have on yourwebsite.
It sounds like such a, such afriendly process like that,
that's the kind of person youwanna have answer in your phone
for you.
Um, what convinced you, youknow, it was time to go into the
(11:02):
world of AI and, and have thatAI receptionist, um, and how did
you share ensure that newtechnology wasn't compromised?
That personal touch that you'reknown for?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (11:11):
Yeah.
And, and that was very importantto us because we are known for
the personal touch.
Um, a lot of especially myfriends, thought I was crazy
when I said I was gonna try toget into the technology
business, but.
It, it came out of a need.
Um, and so this business haspivoted several times, uh, based
off of customer needs, andthat's how we've been able to
(11:33):
stay in business for 20 years.
you know, in the beginning whenwe were known as tele assistant,
we were competing on cost, uh,and we were cutting cost as much
as possible.
Um.
What we found was, is if wecharged a little bit more and
hired more receptionists perphone call and it we're able to
spend more time on the call, wegave the caller a much better
(11:56):
experience and we gave the, theclient of the caller more
opportunity to win thatbusiness.
Um, and so that point we pivotedA few years later, there was
another pivot point where weretrying to do everything over the
phones.
We were doing a lot ofscheduling.
We were doing order taking.
We would answer a lot of salescalls.
(12:19):
We would do the normal transfercalls to ask answer FAQs and
whatnot.
But some of these schedulingplatforms, uh, you know, we had
to use a VPN to log into the, tothe dentist's office and remote
into his computer.
And, you know, the whole shebangof how that can go wrong.
And, you can't get into thecomputer, the password's not
working or whatnot.
(12:39):
And then the caller's on theline, um.
Uh, so we ended up discontinuingall of those services and
focusing on what we were goodat, which was providing that
human touch.
Um, and that was another greatpivot point.
We've since added schedulingback into our array of services
with a lot of the newtechnology, it it's a lot easier
(12:59):
to, to schedule a call, um, toschedule a meeting for our
client.
Uh, but the pivot point thatreally led us into this idea of
AI was, you know, colors arestill looking to be connected
with, they're still looking forthat human empathy.
I.
But they also want to call inand get their task done.
(13:22):
People are sick of calling andspeaking to an offshore, uh,
answering service or whatnot andnot getting anywhere.
you know, the, the fluff of justhaving somebody there on the
call to talk to you isn'tworking anymore, and AI is going
to be able to do a lot more likethe scheduling, uh, like the
order taking, um, looking upthings in CRM.
(13:46):
Uh, do a lot more, uh, for theclient and save them a lot of
money.
so that's kind of why we pivotedto this.
But as you kind of alluded to,we will never, um, get rid of
the human touch.
We will never get rid of humansanswering the calls.
There's always gonna be abalance, uh, between human and
ai.
(14:06):
And that's what we're seeingwith our clients now.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (14:09):
Is there particular verticals
you're seeing most common?
I mean, is there, like certainbusinesses you, you mentioned,
you know, the dentist offices.
Is there like some, if you hadto put your top three, you know,
customer verticals in threedifferent buckets, do they fit
in nice three buckets easily, oris it kinda like all over the
map?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_ (14:26):
They do.
So we've been heavily involvedin the legal space, uh, for
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (14:31):
Okay.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_06 (14:31):
of our company.
Uh, and then also dental.
Medical has been a, a bigindustry that.
It is a wide range ofindustries, just small business.
Um, number of employees, uh, hasbeen kind of the.
The if you will.
Uh, we're seeing that the AIspace is about the same, uh,
(14:53):
client base, um, but we areseeing more companies that we
wouldn't have been able to dobusiness with before come into
the fold of, of our targetmarket.
Uh, we're working with some mid,uh, mid-size companies.
We are talking to someenterprise companies as well.
Um, so with the scalability ofai.
(15:14):
But having that human as abackup to take the call if
something goes wrong has beenvery attractive to enterprise
businesses.
Uh, but we've been reallysurprised too.
Uh, we thought we would, uh, seesome of our, our clients and
industries really shy away fromthis, this, uh, hybrid model.
Uh, an example is I have anattorney, specializes in elder
(15:38):
law and, uh, you know, a lot ofher callers of course, uh, you
know, are elderly and, uh, needa little bit of handholding over
the phone.
Um, like to have that personaltouch.
Well, she came to us and shesaid, Hey, listen, you know, I
know I've been client for a longtime, but I'm looking to cut my
costs, you know, how can youhelp me?
(15:59):
And so we presented her withthis option of AI to answer some
of the calls at night, at least,she was very resistant, of
course.
Uh.
We said, Hey, listen, we'll giveit to you for free.
Let's, let's, let's try it out.
Let's see how this goes.
And so we answered calls.
Uh, she, she, she had us, uh,for the AI answering calls at
(16:21):
night.
Fast forward, she's one of ourbiggest advocates.
She loves it.
She loves it.
Her clients love it.
her callers, they, they havelittle problems with the
technology.
Um, they like that they canactually reach somebody.
Somebody, right, and that theycan get their call handled, um,
(16:41):
without waiting on, on hold orwithout ringing, you know, three
or four rings.
The call is, uh, instantlyanswered.
Their questions are instantlyanswered.
They have a great dialogue.
They're happy
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (16:53):
God.
That's, that's fantastic.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_06 (16:55):
I.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (16:55):
Um, yeah.
So, yeah, that, that's thispivot point we're talking about
and going from the human touchand, and, uh, using technology
now, uh, as much as you canshare, I'd love to know, you
know, what's been of the biggestchallenges in training and AI to
replicate that warmth andadaptability of a human
receptionist.
And, and, and what have youlearned, uh, during this whole
(17:17):
beta testing phases?
Uh, have you had to make a lotof changes or, uh, uh, you know.
Different configurations for thesoftware.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (17:25):
We, we, yeah, we have, you know, uh,
when chat PT came out, I wasenamored, like most of the
country with, with this newtechnology.
Um, and, uh.
We thought, Hey, you know what?
Let's throw up a prototype.
Let's create a bunch ofcreative, uh, um, uh, ways to
connect into some of these openAI and, and Google APIs and
(17:49):
whatnot, and let's see if we cancome up with something that, uh,
mimics what we do.
Uh, using basic promptengineering, right?
And just connecting straightinto the APIs.
And what we found was wecouldn't be farther from the
truth.
It, it, it just could not bedone.
So we did have to develop ourown software, um, and we did
(18:11):
have to train our own models.
Uh.
What, when I, when we startedbuilding the software, I went to
the software team and I said,Hey, listen, we're gonna spend
some money.
We're gonna spend some timedeveloping this.
But if we can't go to marketwith something that does exactly
what our receptionists do nowand has that human touch.
(18:34):
Then we're gonna scrap it andwe're gonna continue doing what
we do because we do it well andwe're well liked in the
industry, and we've got a greatbusiness.
You know, we don't, we don't,we're, we're not struggling to
pivot right now.
Um, so during the, the betatesting and during the building.
(18:55):
It was the little nuances you'vebeen training receptionists for
over 20 years, that really makethe difference.
Uh, you know, for example, howlong to pause during a
conversation, when to pause, howto detect when a sentence is
been completed, or an idea fromthe caller has been completed,
(19:18):
and then respond.
how to rephrase.
your responses as an AIgenerated response when the
caller doesn't understand.
mimicking these natural kind ofconversation flows was a
challenge, and it did take a lotof time.
Uh, it took a lot of betatesting, it took a lot of
patience.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (19:39):
So did you, I imagine you have
analytics and you track like,you know, what, how many
successful calls, you know, theAI can do because I'm, and I'm
sitting here thinking, what ifyou know someone has a sick, you
know, thick southern accent or athick Boston accent?
I mean, I, I deal with accents alot.
I, I'm nationwide and.
And, uh, I'm from Georgia, sopeople tell me I have an accent.
I'm like, I don't hear it, butmaybe I do.
(20:00):
Um, so there's that.
I'm thinking, you know, if, if,if it's a complex conversation,
is there ever like a, a trigger,an alert where the AI goes, you
know, hold on a second, lemmesee if I can get you someone
else.
And maybe, and then it'sforwarded to a live person.
Is, is that ever an option ordoes that ever happened?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_06 (20:15):
It is.
It is.
And I, and I think that's whatmakes us stand apart from some
of the, you know, uh, technologystartups, is that at any point,
if there's some sort of issue orwe detect some sort of friction
from the caller, uh, it doestransfer over to our live human
receptionist.
And by the way, we don't chargefor that call either.
So our humans will answer andthey'll take care of the call.
(20:38):
Um, but I think it's funny whatyou said, because it leads into
some of the lessons we learned.
That's, I, I did think theaccents was gonna be a big, uh,
challenge it actually was not achallenge.
It has not been.
Uh, my wife is from Lithuania,she's Russian, uh, and she's got
a very thick accent.
I only ans I only understandabout 50% of what she says, our
(21:02):
AI understands a hundredpercent.
Uh, every time she calls in,it's a perfect, uh, conversation
between her and the ai.
So I'm thinking about, uh,creating my own AI to translate
what she says.
chris_1_07-01-2025_09213 (21:14):
That's great.
That's funny.
Uh, yeah, I, I've recently got apair of the Ray Band meta
glasses and, and it, you know,uh, apparently I haven't tested
it yet, but it could do sometranslation and, uh, I mean,
that'd be really cool if itcould, even if you're speaking
English or someone that has areal thick accent of if any
sort.
Sometimes that can be, that canmake it uncomfortable.
Or if it's a complexconversation, it's not just like
(21:34):
you're getting directions orsomething.
Um,
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (21:36):
Oh,
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (21:36):
I, I love how AI is making life
easier in a lot of ways.
In fact, you know, I've beenhaving conversations with folks
that are saying, well, it'sgonna make us dumb and lazy.
I'm like, no.
I think I'm like in hypercreation mode, hyper as someone
that's.
Um, you know, I dare to evencall myself a content creator,
but I kind of am, and I got aYouTube channel.
(21:57):
I got this podcast.
I love creating sales guidesand, and taking complex
solutions and making it easy forconsultants to, you know, uh, go
sell'em frankly.
And, um, yeah, so I think AI isreally adding so much value.
And on that note, you know, I'mthinking about companies that
have a front desk receptionist.
(22:18):
We've all been there again, youknow, being in sales, uh, going
door to door in, in my previousyears, you walk in and you got
the front desk receptionist andshe holds up her hand.
She goes, one minute.
Uh, yes.
Uh, you know, the x, Y, Zcompany, can you hold please?
You know, I mean, so she'strying to greet people.
She's trying to answer calls.
She's probably the officemanager too.
This service isn't necessarilyreplacing that person.
(22:39):
I, I, to me, it's just makingtheir job more efficient and
effective.
Is that, is that what you'reseeing?
nathan-strum_1_07-0 (22:45):
Absolutely.
You know, and.
I mean, even 20 years ago whenwe started, uh, we ran up
against that of, Hey, I don'twanna replace my front desk
receptionist.
And our message was, well, for afew hundred dollars a month, how
about you make that front deskreceptionist even more
personable with the people thatcome in because she's able to
spend time with them or he'sable to spend time with them.
(23:06):
Um.
now our message is the same withai.
know, uh, the, the humans thatwe employ to answer the calls
will still have a job.
They'll still be very valuable.
But some of the other thingsthat they can't do on a
scalable, cost effective basis,the AI can handle.
You know, you mentionedsomething, um, that's actually
(23:28):
turned into one of my.
Uh, passions.
Uh, it's talking about, youknow, how AI is, is not gonna
replace all of the jobs.
It's gonna replace some jobs,but it's gonna, create other
jobs.
And also, this notion out therethat it's gonna hurt creativity
and make, uh, employees evenless, uh, uh, excited about
(23:49):
their job.
I think it can't be furthestfrom the
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (23:52):
I agree.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (23:53):
you do it right.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (23:54):
Yep.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062 (23:54):
I have an example.
Uh, we have a sales guy.
He is one of the most connectortype of people you'll ever meet,
where as soon as you speak tohim, you feel like you're, um,
valued.
You feel like he's on yourlevel, you feel great about the
conversation.
He can really connect withanybody, Um,
chris_1_07-01-2025_09213 (24:16):
That's awesome.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (24:18):
If, if, if I had, if we had a
hundred times to, to ask him tofill out the CRM information and
take the notes properly, itwould still be a hundred times
more that we'd need to ask himto do it.
But with ai, he doesn't have todo this anymore, and now he's so
much more happy to spend thoseti that time on the phone call,
(24:40):
working with clients over thephone and not doing the tasks
that he hates doing.
And so this is somebody that is.
10 times more happy with theirjob using ai.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (24:50):
That is a great story and I love it
'cause I haven't been a salesmanager leader over, or, or my
decades here.
Yeah, I, I agree with you.
It's, it never failed.
The best sales guy hatedpaperwork and processes.
I mean, buddy Barnett, rest inpeace.
Uh, one of my greatest salesguys ever, he would sometimes
come in and I'm like, Hey buddy,man, I took out the reports.
(25:13):
You've gone three days and nosales.
Oh, Chris, I'm sorry.
Here's five contracts I hadsigned.
I forgot to turn'em in.
I'm like, you know, you can'tget paid to return these in,
buddy.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (25:21):
right.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (25:23):
but that was buddy man.
Buddy was, and, and everywherehe went, in fact, uh, I would go
out in the field with him fromtime to time and,
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (25:28):
sure.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (25:29):
uh, we'd walk in to business and
he'll throw his hand up.
Hey John, how's it going buddy?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (25:33):
Yeah.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (25:34):
you know, we had this engagement and
we would leave.
I'm like, so how long have youknown John?
He goes, oh, I just met him.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (25:39):
Okay,
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (25:39):
I'm like.
I, I swore you knew this guyforever.
Back to your point, some peoplejust have that gift and it's
funny'cause if you have thatgift then you don't have the
gift of operationsadministrative details.
So interesting to hear you tellthat story.
'cause I was just having thisconversation a few days ago with
someone and, and that's, that'skind of par for course it seems,
(26:00):
but so how cool is it that nowyou are using AI to make that
kind of salesperson moreproductive, more efficient?
Uh.
Tell me a little bit more how,how's that working?
Is it just, uh, his phone callsare being transcribed and put
into the CRM or
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (26:14):
Pretty
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (26:14):
how's that working?
nathan-strum_1_07- (26:15):
transcribed, they're put in the CRM.
Uh, we actually run all of hiscalls through an engine that
gives him advice.
the call and it comes up with alist of action items that he
needs to do after the call.
And then, um, so the nextiteration we're working on is
that'll actually schedule hisfollow up calls and follow up
emails on his behalf.
Uh, it's pretty cool stuff.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (26:37):
Well, you know, and I'm sure sales
managers, you know, that'sanother job that's often, um.
Underappreciated anorganization.
'cause you're middle, you know,they're middle managers.
They're trying to, trying to dothe reports for, for you.
And those are senior leaders,but they're also trying to
manage the employees and keepall the funnels clean and, and
you know, that's a job that'sreally hard to do well, I mean,
(26:59):
uh.
I meet sales managers.
They're either really goodadministrative people'cause
they're task driven.
And you got sales managers like,like Buddy and your salespeople,
they're really salespeople, butyet they can't keep up with the
administrative part.
So that's, that's a realinteresting take on how AI's not
only helping with, uh, uh, Abbyand your core offerings, but uh,
other areas of the business.
(27:22):
Fantastic.
How many people are sellingthis?
Is you, do you sell this throughdirect sales or is there a
portion of your business or justcoming because of your web
presence and your digitalmarketing?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (27:32):
Yeah, so we've, um, a lot of our leads
come in from digital marketing,uh, like most small
chris_1_07-01-2025_0921 (27:38):
Mm-hmm.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_0 (27:38):
um, you know, we've, we've, we've
done the whole trade show route.
Uh, you know, we've, we'velooked at other opportunities,
but a lot of'em are coming in.
One of the changes that we'remaking right now is we're, we're
pivoting to a more of a productled organization.
And, you know, it's, it's a hottopic.
Uh, we've always been productled because we've always focused
(28:00):
on what we do and let that kindof speak for itself.
Um, but we're reallyingratiating that in every point
of the customer journey now.
Um, and so when a client firstcomes to our website.
They have two opportunities.
They can call and they can speakto a salesperson, but they can
also sign up for free and trythe service.
(28:21):
you know, free speaks toeverybody and, um, the proof is
always in the pudding.
And so that's why we encouragepeople to go to our website,
abby.com and sign up for a freetwo week trial, uh, on their
services and just see forthemselves.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (28:35):
Well, that's fantastic.
Is it, a set of parameters ofthat two weeks?
It's just the basic.
You know, phone?
Is there any, I guess there's nointegrations or anything like
that,'cause that, that wouldn'tmake sense, but is it, like a
portal that you could log intoand kind of manage your
receptionist per se, like whatit can and can't do and, and
maybe have access to yourcalendar and stuff like that?
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah.
We
chris_1_07-01-2025_092 (28:54):
awesome.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_ (28:55):
very hands-on with the onboarding and
we still are.
Um, but we, we have a, aself-serve onboarding now.
So as soon as you, as soon asyou sign up, you're logged in
and you're presented with a verynice interface that walks you
through step-by-step, um, howto, uh, configure the, the
account, whether it's AI orhuman or hybrid.
(29:16):
Uh, so they can do that on theirown.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (29:18):
you know, as we wrap up here, uh,
just a few more questions, but,um, you know, what advice do you
have for small, medium businessowners that, ha they haven't
called you yet, they haven'tclicked yet.
I mean, what advice do you havefor them?
And, uh, you know.
Are there common objections yougot your, your sales teams are
hearing that it can easilyovercome by telling the story or
(29:38):
showing them the demo, you know?
Any other advice you have forcustomers that just have been
reluctant and haven't made thejump yet?
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (29:45):
Yeah.
So, know, the, one of the piecesof advice that we'd like to give
is start small with ai, uh, withany technology, uh, as well.
But with AI especially, findthat one niche, uh, in your
business that it can helpimplement it, measure it, watch
it be effective.
(30:05):
I.
Then you can use that use caseto evangelize, using AI in more
parts of your business.
Um, so that's, that's typicallywhat I tell people is to just
start small.
Uh, the other thing is, youknow, when you use the, the
popular, uh, Geminis and chatGPTs and the CLOs and all these,
(30:29):
the, the.
They're so open, you know, youcan conversate with them, you
can take the conversationanywhere.
Um, but some of the companieslike Abby that are building, uh,
very, uh, targeted services, uh,it's a much different
experience.
So, you know, like I said, whenwe first prototyped, we
(30:50):
connected straight into the APIsand these things could go
anywhere.
I mean, you could ask it who hadwants to, uh, uh, vote for the
president and would have thatconversation with you.
so we had to develop softwarethat honed in the conversation
to be specific to what areceptionist would do.
Um, and that, and that's whatwe're seeing, all the small
(31:11):
businesses that are coming outwith great AI products.
Um, I would just.
advise people to try it and seewhere in the business where it
can help you.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (31:21):
Um, I.
That's, I got so many questionspopped in my head as that last
comment.
Um, so with each customer, um,is the AI being trained?
I mean, is it, so, you know,from week one to week seven, is
AI gonna evolve and get betterat handling those unique calls
about, you know, maybe there itis a company that sells, uh,
(31:43):
custom screens for, or shadesfor houses, for example.
Will it get better at askingdiscovery questions and does it
evolve as it learns or is itkind of out of the box?
Doing what it needs to do.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_ (31:55):
Good question.
Yeah, it does evolve.
Uh, you know, the, the wordtraining is, is thrown out a
lot, um, and misleading and, andai.
Uh, but there, there's a processthat we're working on where the
AI identifies questions, um,that you might not have answered
as a business owner, uh, in theportal.
(32:16):
And it'll send you an alert andask you the answer to that
question or suggest an answer.
And so that we want you to stillhave control.
We don't want this AI model togo off on its own and, you know.
Somehow tell somebody somethingthat you didn't want to tell
them and promise them somethingthat you didn't want to promise
them.
Um, so there's a level ofcontrol with a level of
(32:39):
self-learning andself-optimizing.
chris_1_07-01-2025_0 (32:42):
Fantastic.
Well, I think we've covered alot.
I am very interested and seesgreat value in what we've talked
about and, and the offering.
I mean, everybody's so busynowadays and, and we we're,
we're flooded with information.
There's so much information outthere.
I.
There's a quote I love, youknow, d drowning in, um, d
drowning in information, butstart for knowledge, you know,
so it's kind of cool how, youknow your service can help.
(33:04):
You know, I kind of bridge thatgap in a lot of ways.
Is, uh, Nate, is there any lastwords or anything we haven't
covered that you wanted to sharewith us in our last few minutes?
I.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (33:13):
Yeah, I mean the, the, the, the, the
message that I really wantpeople to understand is that if
you figure out how to use ai,it's, it's not gonna replace
jobs.
The people that use AI are gonnareplace the people that don't
use ai.
and I'm, I'm really passionateabout that message.
We have a employee.
(33:34):
Just a quick, um.
A story for you.
We're
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (33:37):
Sure.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (33:38):
across the board because we offer, uh,
free learning, uh, modules and,and training classes for even
our entry level employees tolearn ai.
And, uh, she started as areceptionist and, uh, she has
five boys, can believe
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (33:53):
Wow,
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (33:53):
Single mother.
Her family lives in
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (33:55):
God bless.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-202 (33:56):
state.
Uh, she has little, little helphere.
Um, and she started as areceptionist and, uh, she's
since worked her way up to asupport technician and now she's
completed our AI learningmodules and her salary is going
to be increasing just based offof her learning and her
knowledge.
(34:17):
Um, and the opportunities thathave opened up to her are
incredible.
So we see a big opportunity toraise the bar for our current
employees.
And that's the message here isdon't worry about it.
Replacing employees, worry aboutbringing your employees with you
on this journey, and you canimprove their lives and you can
improve, you know, their earningpotential.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (34:39):
Gosh.
Yeah, that's I agree a hundredpercent.
And, and I'm seeing the samething and, and uh, I guess it's
just, you know, humans, we havea hard time with change
sometimes even good change canbe hard,
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (34:49):
Yeah.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (34:49):
but, you know, once we can
demonstrate the ROI, we candemonstrate the advantage.
And the benefits me.
'cause, you know, even as a techenthusiast myself, sometimes I
have a hard time convincingbusiness leaders to go from a
clipboard to a tablet that'sconnected to a sim card and, you
know, just capturing all thedata and put it in the cloud.
And now I, I, I have a lot ofsalespeople on my team that, uh,
(35:10):
used Plaud, uh.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-20 (35:12):
Mm-hmm.
chris_1_07-01-2025_092137 (35:13):
plug for plug.
But yeah, they just set it onthe table and it listens to the
whole conversation.
And, and like you said, ititemizes action items.
It summarizes differentcategories, it makes
recommendations.
And um, I see that as just moreefficient and more effective.
I mean, how many meetings we goto that a lot of great stuff's
talked about, but, but no one'staking notes and the meeting's
over two days later.
(35:35):
The me, the medium eyes wouldnever have happened'cause no one
took notes and no one capturedaction items.
So, um, that is fascinating.
Now I'm really, uh, grateful foryour time today, Nathan.
Definitely check the show notes.
I appreciate the time.
nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025 (35:48):
Yeah, I appreciate it too and it's
been a great conversation.
Thank you, Chris.
chris_1_07-01-2025_09213 (35:51):
You're so welcome.
And there you go folks.
Another episode.
Of the wireless way.
And, and if you haven't heard meexplain it before, the wireless
way, you know it's a doubleentendre.
I started out as a wirelesstechnology show five years ago
and had this epiphany thatwireless is no strings attached
and no judgment.
And the, the ways, the path, thejourney, and the venture.
I think we hit on all thosetoday.
(36:12):
Uh, definitely check out theshow notes.
Check out abby.com to learn moreabout how you can, optimize
your, your business, yourcustomer.
Experience and and I lookforward to seeing you next time
on the wireless way.
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