Don’t Blame Your CRM
Feeling frustrated and ready to toss your CRM software? Don’t, says Gene Marks. The problem isn’t the software. It’s you.
Good Morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
Ozempic, Wegovy, and other weight-loss drugs are creating opportunities.
Zach Lawless is trying to resuscitate a family business that’s been dormant for 45 years.
Two very similar retailers in San Francisco are having very different experiences.
It’s not entirely clear that sprucing up the office will bring back employees: “Y'all will do anything but pay people more.”
OPPORTUNITIES
A slew of businesses see opportunity in those new weight-loss drugs: “From startups to industry stalwarts, food companies are pitching their products as natural alternatives to the drugs or developing companion products for patients. Ozempic and similar drugs have surged in popularity in the U.S., sparking concern among some investors that broader adoption could threaten food companies’ sales in years to come. Big food makers are paying attention as demand for the drugs soars, prompting questions about whether and how they will reshape American diets. Many food executives say they aren’t sweating the drugs’ precipitous rise, and that any sizable drop in calorie consumption is years away, plenty of time for companies to adapt their portfolios as they have in response to past consumer trends.”
“Bernstein research found that many people currently or recently on weight-loss drugs are eating more protein—and foods such as fruit, eggs, yogurt, soup, and cottage cheese—while cutting back significantly on junk food and foods with added sugars.”
“Last year, Colorado-based Noodles & Co. introduced a pasta made with Bay State’s HealthSense. The restaurant chain bills the LEANguini pasta as having fewer carbs and more protein than traditional wheat pasta noodles, while maintaining the same taste and texture.”
“One startup, called Supergut, is working to translate fervor over the drugs into sales of its shakes, mixes, and bars made from a proprietary prebiotic fiber blend, which the company calls ‘nature’s Ozempic.’”
“[CEO Marc] Washington said Supergut is also attracting people transitioning off the drugs who are eager to maintain their benefits. ‘Sick of the prick?’ a Supergut Instagram post asks, referencing the injections the drugs require.” READ MORE
HUMAN RESOURCES
Smaller businesses are facing less competition for employees from big businesses: “America’s tiniest employers have the highest share of job openings on record—more than one in five available positions—a sign the labor market might be tilting toward the little guy. Solid demand for workers from small establishments, such as mom-and-pop businesses and many franchise locations, stands in contrast to a cooling labor market more broadly. It could give smaller businesses a chance to catch up on hiring with less competition from larger companies on pay and benefits.”
“Establishments with one to nine employees accounted for 21 percent of all job openings in September, the highest share on records dating back to 2000, according to an analysis of Labor Department data from Julia Pollak, chief economist at the jobs website ZipRecruiter.”
“The proliferation of remote employment and other changes to the way Americans work in recent years are allowing more small businesses to form and, in some cases, to source workers from locations across the country, said ZipRecruiter’s Pollak.”
“The trend in job openings ‘reflects an increase in demand for workers at these very small companies that can now have superpowers thanks to the technological changes that happened during the pandemic,’ she said.” READ MORE
THE 21 HATS PODCAST: DASHBOARD
Everything You Didn’t Want to Know About CRM: This week, Gene Marks talks through the latest developments in customer relationship management software, which is both his area of expertise and a real pain point for many business owners. Among other things, Gene tells us about the impact artificial intelligence is already having on CRM, including what A.I. makes better as well as what it makes worse. Plus: How do you get salespeople to use your system properly? And what should you do if you’re completely frustrated and ready to dump your system?
You can subscribe to the 21 Hats Podcast wherever you get podcasts.
STARTUPS
Zach Lawless is trying to restart a long-dormant family business in Kansas City: “The latest iteration of Hyer Boots may be a startup, but its roots date to the 1800s. Lawless’ great-great-grandfather C.H. Hyer is credited with inventing the cowboy boot in 1875, when a cowboy stopped by his shoe shop and asked for a boot tailored to a cowboy’s needs. Through the years, politicians and celebrities have sported Hyer Boots, including Marilyn Monroe, President Calvin Coolidge, and Will Rogers. Its downfall came in the early 1970s, when the third generation lost the then-Olathe company, and the brand went on a 45-year hiatus.”
“To get to this point, Lawless tracked down the Hyer Boots trademark owner to Berkshire Hathaway. He called the company every Wednesday for 18 months. ‘People stopped returning my phone calls,’ he said. ‘I was persistent enough that they decided to drop the trademark and allow me to pick it up.’”
“From there, he temporarily moved to Mexico to learn the boot-making craft. His first attempt flopped. ‘I came back, and even my grandma called me out,’ he said. ‘They were just pretty boots. She’s like, These aren’t real cowboy boots.’”
“Hyer Boots debuted its first new line of boots in mid-July at a High School Rodeo event, where it sold 300 boots in five days. Lawless planned to be there on the first day of sales, but his flight was delayed. A person working the booth texted him a photo of Hyer’s first paying customer.”
“‘I showed my fiancé, and we both teared up. We were both really emotional about it. … It was kind of a culminating moment,’ he said. ‘All your hard work is coming through. You’re thinking about telling your grandma that you just sold the first pair of boots and telling your mom that we’re back up and running.’” READ MORE
RETAIL
Why two upscale San Francisco stores are having very different experiences: “The similarities, though, begin with the showrooms—with wares displayed in tightly packed, multistory rooms that practically explode with gilding and glaze, crystal and rare woods. These two businesses also cater to celebrity clientele. Claudio Mariani has had everyone from Clint Eastwood to Oprah Winfrey walk through his showroom, and Michael Fine Art owner Aldo Koren keeps a thick photo album of all his many famous customers. Both stores have a thing for over-the-top chandeliers, worthy of Elsa-scale ice palaces: Michael Fine has a Venetian crystal light fixture on sale for $19,500—the last one he sold went to a wedding venue—while C. Mariani currently has a chandelier previously owned by Carla Bruni, the wife of a former French president.”
“Business at the SoMa shop keeps getting better, and the upstairs workshop—an atelier that feels airlifted from Europe—maintains a staff of 35 specialists who conduct museum-quality restorations. The boss’s pride in the staff is evident in his introductions: restorer Erick Martinez is ‘Picasso,’ gilder Carlos Medina is ‘Goldfinger’ and carpenter Rene Rivas is ‘Geppetto.’ ‘The pandemic helped us,’ Mariani said. ‘People stopped going to Europe and started buying locally.’”
“But while business has been booming at C. Mariani, it’s a struggle at Michael Fine Art, despite having expanded to storefronts across the street and owning the main building in which the shop are located. While Koren said there have always been ups and downs in the business, the store has simply not recovered from the pandemic’s toll.
“For a business like Koren’s, where 95 percent of the clientele is tourists, how San Francisco is perceived can have a dramatic impact on the bottom line. ‘People around the country won’t come to San Francisco because of the homeless and crime,’ Koren said. ‘They are scared to come here, and we pay the price.’” READ MORE
Can free rent jump-start a San Francisco retail revival? “Matthew Kosoy wakes up at 4 a.m. every morning to load a truck full of pastries at his Pacifica bakery and bring them to a new café he’s running in Downtown San Francisco. The owner of Rosalind Bakery, which employs nearly 30 people in Pacifica, is staffing the new location himself, as part of a program meant to enliven vacant retail spaces Downtown with the help of free rent. Even though he only serves about 50 customers a day at his ground-floor location in 4 Embarcadero Center, a fraction of what he’d likely need to pay full freight, Kosoy says the program has been a boon for business owners like himself.”
“About halfway into the three-month program, called Vacant to Vibrant, Kosoy and other stakeholders say it has been a success at breathing life into Downtown facades while giving entrepreneurs a platform to get their businesses in front of new customers. Part of the concept for the program, which started with 17 pop-up retailers centered mainly on the Embarcadero Center and surrounding streets, is to inject arts, culture, and a small-business feel into areas in sore need.”
“A few storefronts down from Rosalind is Whack Donuts, a vegan doughnut store that owner Vandor Hill started out of his kitchen during the pandemic prior to being selected for the program. Hill, who splits the small space with a coffee pop-up, York Street Cafe, says he sells some 250 donuts a day, and sometimes more.”
“Even with promising signs, many of the program’s participants admit they have a long way to go before their spaces are ready to stand on their own financially. Put another way, going from subsidized to solvent is a more complicated proposition than the transition from empty to open.” READ MORE
OFFICE SPACE
Last week, the Morning Report highlighted a New York Times story about how some companies are trying to lure employees back to the office by making those offices more Instagram-worthy—but as Business Insider pointed out, not everyone was impressed: “So, how did some Instagram users react to the Times story? Uh, not so enthusiastically in a lot of cases. Here's a smattering of comments to the @NYTimes post about the article:”
“‘This is just a pizza for the new generation. Pay a liveable wage and treat people with respect and provide equity and people will want to work for you. Imagine that…’”
“‘What's Instagrammable are all of the things people can do when they're not spending 8 hours each week commuting for no reason.’”
“‘Y'all will do anything but pay people more.’” READ MORE
BUSINESS MODELS
A new bar in North Carolina offers college-level courses with a chaser: “At a bar in a college town, it’s not unusual for the person pouring your drinks to also have a Ph.D. As academia overflows with aspiring professors, many turn to lower paying jobs as adjunct instructors, and they often work side gigs to get by. For some, it’s bartending. A new bar in Durham, North Carolina is trying to bring those two worlds — of bars and college — together.”
“Early on a Wednesday evening, customers trickle through the backdoor of a speakeasy. They grab a Oaxacan old fashioned or gin and tonic at the bar, then travel with their highball glasses to the informal classroom next door. There are vintage lockers on the wall, next to a poster of the periodic table. Bar owner Lindsey Andrews is there teaching a class on art and labor.”
“At Night School Bar, there are no grades and no credit. Classes are pay-as-you-can. The listed cost is $320 per class, but students can pay as little as $10. Luke VanderHart is a manager in tech who’s enrolled in the art and labor class. He paid full price, but said he likes that it’s an affordable way for anyone to learn about Marxism and art in a social setting.”
“‘It’s basically a Venn diagram of a bar and a class, and you get kind of the best of each,’ VanderHart said. ‘At the end of the day, it’s an interesting, intellectual way to spend an evening.’” READ MORE
THE ECONOMY
Take it for what it’s worth, but economists are speculating that 2024 could be economic nirvana: “The signs of a well-balanced economy are everywhere. The most obvious example is the slowdown in inflation. The core consumer price index, the widely cited measure of inflation that strips out volatile categories such as food and energy costs, has risen since June at an annualized rate of 2.8 percent, roughly half the pace heading into the year. And there are clear signs of continued disinflation on the horizon: Wholesale auction prices for vehicles imply used-car prices could start to come down, private measures of rent prices suggest that housing inflation will continue to cool off, and an improvement in supply chains suggests prices for core goods outside cars, including washing machines and clothes, will ease.”
“Productivity growth strengthened notably in the third quarter, hitting its highest non-recession level since 2003, and appears to be growing in line with its pre-pandemic trend. The growth in the number of hours people are working has slowed, but output has been steady, meaning people are accomplishing more in less time.”
“Over the past three months, average hourly earnings for all employees have jumped 3.2 percent — a strong number for American workers that's broadly consistent with the Fed's long-term inflation objectives. It's also highly likely that the last employment report understated the growth in nonfarm payrolls since tens of thousands of workers were on strike.” READ MORE
THE 21 HATS PODCAST
Are Salespeople Built or Born? It used to be that best practices in sales were pretty standard across the board. But since the pandemic and with the advent of artificial intelligence, says Lance Tyson, founder of the Tyson Group sales consultancy, it’s like the Wild West out there. Suddenly, everyone’s playing by different rules, and the best sales approach can vary, depending on the seller, the target, the industry, the region of the country. The keys, Tyson says in this week’s bonus episode, are to pay attention and stay flexible.
Along the way, he addresses a host of hot-button topics: How important is it to see a prospect face-to-face? Is cold-calling dead? Will A.I. replace sales trainers? What’s the right balance between base and commission? How do you handle the salesperson who can’t or won’t be a team player?
You can subscribe to the 21 Hats Podcast wherever you get podcasts.
Thanks for reading, everyone. — Loren