377 Candice DeRiso

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Candice DeRiso is a dedicated professional with a passion for solving problems and driving enthusiastic communication strategies. With a background in customer relationship management and operational improvements, she has a strong expertise in leveraging Zoho applications to enhance operational efficiencies for clients companies.

Her hands on approach ensures that clients not only attain to tailor CRM strategies, but also gain the knowledge to maintain and manage these systems for sustained growth.

And before we start the episode, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the Deep Wealth Mastery Program. Here's Sanjay, a graduate of Deep Wealth Mastery, and he says, the investment I made in the Deep Wealth Mastery Program, it's a rounding error compared to the value created today and the future value I'll receive.

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Deep Wealth Nation, welcome to another episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. And guess what? Guess who we have in the house of Deep Wealth? A fellow thought leader, an entrepreneur. And let me ask you this, Deep Wealth Nation, have you lost out on getting a prospect into a client? Have you missed some opportunities?

Do you feel like you're the proverbial chicken with your head cut off, you and the team [00:03:00] running all over the place? Maybe you even have some kind of fancy CRM in the background, but it really isn't doing what it should do. Worry and Fear No More. Coming out of this episode, you're going to have some actionable strategies because we have the experts of experts.

So Candice, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. An absolute pleasure to have you with us. And Candice, there is always a story behind the story. So what's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Candice DeRiso: Thank you for having me, first of all. Well, I actually started my career, funny enough, in music. I am a classically trained singer. At one point, I was singing in an average, I think, was seven or eight languages, and I worked in performing arts marketing, and I loved it, and it was my life, and it was the New Yorker life, and one day, I just snapped.

I'd been pushed too far for too long, and I flipped my world on its head. I moved to Texas, I started working in SMS, so text message marketing, and then shortly thereafter I was able to quit that job and become an entrepreneur and start my own [00:04:00] business and lo and behold, here I am today.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. So singing. Now, when you say seven, eight languages, did you understand those languages as well, or you would memorize the words? 

Candice DeRiso: I would say it's a combination of the two. When you are a classically trained singer, you have to learn something called IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet, and so I knew that IPA and I could look at basically any language and translate what it should sound like and over the years of singing in those languages.

I was very comfortable with German, obviously Spanish and Italian, those were probably the three big ones that were the easiest for me, to the point where one time when I went to visit Germany, Someone in the subway asked me a question in German, it was almost like my subconscious brain knew, and I just answered in German. and it was correct. The guy continued the conversation with me. I realized he was flirting with me, in fact, because I was like 20 something, and I was laughing and talking to him, and I walk away with my friends, and they all look at me and say, What just happened? When did you learn German? I said, I I don't know. [00:05:00] It just happened.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That is something and we're way off topic here, but it is on topic. From the singing and what you're doing in the different languages, did any of that translate when you became an entrepreneur and going into your own business and now you're in business and we'll talk about that in a moment. Did any of that translate or was it just more, Hey, I did this different life this is a new chapter. Off I go.

Candice DeRiso: Actually, if you talk to true dedicated musicians, they will tell you that music is a highly mathematical language. When I was young and in college, I was obsessed with Fibonacci and the Fibonacci theory, and I was very interested in how that overlaps with music and with nature, and I think that's just inherent in some of us. that curiosity that guides you into music and guides you into the arts completely applies to owning a business. You have to come into it with curiosity and, If you can't have that curious mind, you can't really succeed, I think.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, so true there, and you talk about Fibonacci, I mean, that could be, Candace, really [00:06:00] a whole episode on its own, and Deep Wealth Nation, if you're wondering what the heck is Fibonacci, and these numbers, just look it up. Go to your favorite search engine, or AI bot, ask what it is, and there's some amazing things going on with that. So you now find yourself in business and Candice, this is really a blind spot, an inflection point for so many entrepreneurs. It doesn't matter whether you're a startup or you've been in business for decades. They are in shambles. It's a mess in terms of what they're doing. And they spent a lot of money on technology and training. So why don't you tell us first, why did you get into where you are right now? I mean, you could have picked literally anything with your brilliant background in singing. You could have gone anywhere, but you chose this area.

So what's going on with that? What led you to that?

Candice DeRiso: I actually like to think of it as fate or kismet, whatever you want to call it, because I didn't get into what I would call data driven marketing, or insight driven marketing. I didn't do it on purpose, it just called to me. My [00:07:00] first job out of college was at a modern art museum in Westchester, New York, and while working there, I took on two part time jobs and turned it Half my day was in the finance suite, the other half was at the front desk, customer service, marketing, and what I learned by sitting at the front desk of a museum was that There was such a wide variety of people who came into the museum with different size groups, for different reasons, different days and different times.

And being the curious person I was, I actually recoded their check in software a little bit. It wasn't really recoded, but I added fields. So, I was always supposed to ask, how did you hear about us? And what organically happened was, no one else had been really collecting that data. They just put, been putting in the default.

I was the first person to really, truly ask, how did you hear about us? What brought you here today? And after, I think, three or four months working there, I pulled a report from that software and said, oh, wow, you guys. The radio ads you've been running on this radio station [00:08:00] are showing a spike in our traffic on Sundays.

I don't remember the specifics. I'm pretty sure it's something similar to that. It was one specific radio station and that blew me away. Understanding how the data of what we had done was impacting what we should do next. And I mean, I was young. I was, what, 22 at that time, 21, I don't, whatever age I was.

I think it all started there, frankly. And then I was just interested in getting a job. I worked on Broadway, I worked at King's, I worked at Carnegie Hall, and in all these roles, it was really more content marketing driven. And I think that's actually why I snapped, so to speak, in New York. I wasn't being said what I wanted.

So when I came to Texas, it was like I was seeking out more data and I didn't even realize it. It was totally subconscious. And so I started seeking my own CRM to help me manage my small business. And naturally, I started realizing, oh, when I collect all this information about people, it helps me qualify them faster as a lead.

It [00:09:00] helped me convert. Just so you know, my conversion rate still to this very day is on the low end is 94%. Do you know why? Because my pre qualifiers are so strenuous. I don't let people get out of my leads module of my CRM. If they're junk, they're going to stay there. Or if they're just not interested yet, they're I'm going to leave them there and let them simmer. So I think I got into this because deep down I love the impact that data can make on our decision making and how we better serve people.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. And for the Deep Wealth Nation, what I want you to appreciate, yeah, we're throwing around the term CRM and databases, but really that's a means to an end because Candice, you can correct me if I'm on base or off base. It's not as though you and the team, you're some technical geeks and all you're doing is coding and database fields and everything else, because what was fascinating with what you're doing, you're helping businesses find their voice, refine their brand strategy, refine their messaging so they can stand out from the crowd. And from that [00:10:00] perspective, in fact, if I go to the 90 Day Deep Wealth Mastery Program, step one and two, that's the big picture. Step one, step two is X Factors. It's all about finding, okay, what's a problem in the marketplace that my company can solve?

And then what are the areas that my company is world class and unique in? And we take the information, the data points, if you will, from those two steps into step three, future buyer. How do I create a narrative? So in other words, what's my voice? Who am I, in your case, singing to, or who am I speaking to, and how am I going to get their attention?

How am I going to get them into my ecosystem, into my universe, where I can go from suspect to prospect to having them now as a client? What's that secret sauce that you're helping to find the voice, get the brand out there, the messaging to really increase those conversion rates and ultimately success?

Candice DeRiso: It has to be a combination of the quantitative and the qualitative to your point. So if you really have no idea what value your brand brings, And you've, let's [00:11:00] say, been in business five, six years, the thing you've forgotten to do is ask. Asking questions is so important. That's why I love that you have a podcast and that you're asking people great questions.

It forces us to think about, so if you take the time to ask great questions of your past customers, your happy customers, you can get a combination of quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative being like, maybe a net promoter score. How happy are you with us, one to 10, and it's your quantitative.

Why is your qualitative? What you will find naturally is there will be reoccurring themes in that feedback. And one of the things I learned about my own brand when I started doing that in the early I had one person say I was lovingly honest. I used that marketing for a long time. But now it seems a little too feminine.

I'll get into that some other time. what I realized was a lot of marketing consultants they're not honest with you as a client and that ended up being my USP, rigorous honesty to help them get there. So, the secret, I would say, that we can really capture is having [00:12:00] a strategy first.

Taking that USP, creating a strategy, then get into all the technology. Technology is only to serve the strategy, and that gets lost in translation so often. I get a lot of leads who come to me and say, oh, this automation isn't working, oh, this lead generation pipeline is not working. And 99 percent of the time, it's a human error.

It's something we did where we didn't think about the end customer, their end user experience. Or the way we're communicating with them, and that was actually the breakdown.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So interesting what's going on there. Maybe we can make this personal for you and for Deep Wealth Nation. So with the Beckman Collaborative, which is what you created, there were times, I'm sure, when you're just getting going, you're getting your shingle out the door, hey world, here we are, like so many other business owners.

Okay, where do we start? What did we do? And you definitely eat what you bake, as the saying goes, and what we could do though, what would be interesting, if you go back to some of the early days, [00:13:00] some of the challenges that you're having, okay, how are we going to make payroll, or how are we going to get some more customers here today?

Today you don't have that issue, you're thriving, you're growing. But for the listeners in Deep Wealth Nation, maybe that was the heyday, and now they find themselves, okay, things aren't going so great, or they're starting a new product or service, or they're just in a little bit of a slump. So what did you do specifically for yourself that you've baked into your system that our listener can walk away with today?

Okay, Candice talked about these things, I'm going to try one, two, and three coming out of this episode to see if that makes a difference. 

Candice DeRiso: I'm such a believer in highly customized and personalized communication, no matter what situation you're in. Whether it be a live networking event or conference or a social media, it could be, you know, the great distance, right, that we all experienced during COVID, or it could be the upfront one on one personal.

In my early days, the only way I was able to build my business was So, what I learned was by developing partnerships and real relationships, I didn't [00:14:00] just say yes to some guy who was a great graphic designer. I got to know said graphic designer. I knew where I had strengths and weaknesses. I am not a graphic designer.

My husband will tell you I have terrible taste in visual design, but I know when I see talent and I know when I make a great connection. So it's a twofold, right? Make real connections and communicate in a personalized way with those connections. That was huge for me. And what's funny is that was very natural for me.

That was just being human. And I think we're in this day and age where people are so obsessed with technology. I mean, myself included, I love technology, but we've created a distance with people. If you think about your own neighborhood, I grew up in a neighborhood where I could be anywhere in the neighborhood.

All my mom had to do was pick up the phone and she would find me at somebody's house. And that's not the world we live in anymore. Everyone's scared. We don't open our doors to strangers. We barely know our neighbors. the more common story you hear. And so, when you're in a business, when [00:15:00] you want to build a community, you have to know the people in your community, know who their kids are, maybe know their background, that they're a singer.

The things that you may or may not have in common with them to develop more personalized communication, personalized connections. And this more so applies to B2B than B2C businesses. But I think there's even possibilities in B2C where you could do this, where you can learn through someone's buying behavior, learn through the way they engage with your website to create more customized, more personalized connections.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay, so interesting. So what I'm hearing you say is, number one, Hey, I'm not a graphic artist. Let me find someone who is, who's much better than I can, and you begin to build your community of people that you're going to rely on, who perhaps helping yourself, later helping your clients and customers and getting all that out there.

And so that now allows you to focus. To what you're doing, but let me ask you this as we go down this journey of what you had done and now what you're doing for your clients, it's one of my favorite questions [00:16:00] and it goes back to Pareto's Law, the 80 20 principle. So Candice, when you're working with someone who maybe had better days behind them, they're trying to get those better days now ahead of them.

Are you finding that it's the same 20 percent of the issues that are coming up again and again that are holding them back? And if it's yes, what would be some of those common patterns or issues that we're just missing the boat on as entrepreneurs and what does that mean and how are you helping with that?

Candice DeRiso: I guess my initial instinct is yes, it is the same 20 percent or so that I see at least.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Huh.

Candice DeRiso: And I find that those buckets are brand and not just visual brand. But what I would call written brand, so your brand keywords, so to speak. you come up with a brand language. How do I speak about my brand?

That definitely comes up a lot. That dependence on technology instead of thinking about the user experience.

And then the third one is leadership slash delegation. So, what happens with a leader trickles down to your old team. [00:17:00] So, if the leader does not know how to properly delegate, the team does not know how to properly delegate. And that always has a negative impact, I've known, I've seen, and it's the same with, if the leader does not understand the brand, the team does not understand the brand. If the leader is obsessed with technology, the team is obsessed with technology. So, I guess it really comes, it is the number one, leadership.

Great leadership changes the world.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay. So really, you started with brand, but now we're ending up at leadership. So am I hearing you right in saying, hey, if the leadership is on the brand, it's going One way or another, it will figure itself out or are you saying is both the brand and the leadership both have to be firing in synchronicity and doing all the right things?

Where are we with that?

Candice DeRiso: Well, the leadership needs to know what their brand is first, and they need to live that brand. met a technology company in the Austin area many years ago, the software development company, custom software development. When you walked into that office building, it never felt like that. Yeah, there are a bunch of geeky guys with their [00:18:00] computers, typing code really fast.

But that was not what leadership has had presented in the community of their team. And it made a world of difference. That company did so well, they made millions upon millions of dollars, they sold. And it was because the leaders of the organization really understood their core values, which were representation of their brand.

And they lived it in everything that they did. And one of my realizations is that impacts everything else. So, yeah,

Jeffrey Feldberg: So, let me ask you this, when it comes to a brand, and let's face it, times change, as the saying goes, the only thing constant in life and business is change itself, and who we were to the marketplace yesterday, It may not be what's needed today, and so the brand needs to change with the times.

So what's part of that secret sauce, Candice, that you did for yourself that you're now doing for your clients to help them either establish a brand or re establish a brand? And to be very clear about this, it's not about brand recognition, it's about, hey, I have [00:19:00] a brand, I have a voice, and that's translating into dollars, into profits, into new customers, maybe even a market disruption.

What's part of that secret sauce that you're doing?

Candice DeRiso: Great question. I think the thing I've seen, especially when you've gone from small startup to maybe grew and then now you're stagnant. It's actually the shift in your brand is from the originator to the team. When Candice Beckman started Beckman Collaborative, she had a brand. But as the company grew, as I grew as a person as we, gained team members, our brand shifted and it wasn't about me anymore.

It was no longer about the solopreneur, it was about what we were delivering, about what we could do, and that completely shifted when I became Candice DiRiso and, you know, all the things that happened in life. So I think if you're open to change, sometimes it's just about self awareness and reflecting and seeing, oh, we can't just stay in the same brand voice, brand style anymore, because that isn't actually, we've outgrown [00:20:00] that brand.

We just didn't take time to recognize that's what had happened.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Interesting. Okay. And so as we recognize that, how do we, again, going down this rabbit hole now, because it is so important, it's really our identity, our culture, who we are, who we're not. So how could a listener coming out of this episode saying, okay, I heard what Candice was saying. Let me check in with the team, let me check in with myself, personally, what can I ask or look around or see, do we even have a brand?

Does it stand for what we feel it should or are we way off the mark and don't even have a brand or we're way out there in meaningless ways?

Candice DeRiso: Well, I'll also put it out there. I am not a branding expert. I just have my own opinions and have seen things. One of the things I actually have done with a few clients and myself is I call it the post it activity. So we go to the full team or maybe the team we think are, have been with the company longest, give everybody their own post it pad and their own pen.

And we ask a question like, what is one word that comes to your mind when you think of our brand? Or this particular product? [00:21:00] Or our customer? And no one's allowed to look at each other's pads, no influencing each other. And we put our Post its up on the wall in the groups, one word to describe our brand, one word to describe our biggest product or service, one to describe our customers.

And what I found at least is that you will see reoccurring themes in either words that are exactly the same or very similar. And It's such a simple activity, and it makes a big difference when you just listen to what, to your point, listen to what your team has to say. I've also done this same exercise instead of with Post its, but with a simple survey with customers.

What's one word that comes to your mind?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Interesting. Okay. So we're asking you around. We're comparing notes. We're not talking about it first. We're perhaps just writing it down and then seeing where we're at. And so now you step onto the scene. So why don't you walk us through the bigger picture here? You're checking out what the brand is.

You're looking at some of the narratives, some of the messaging. How are you putting this together? Or maybe another way to even ask this, where as [00:22:00] entrepreneurs, Candice, are we missing the boat? And let me set this up for you because I'm sure you've seen this countless times. A company spends a lot of money on some kind of a CRM.

They get all the training, they implement it, and you know what, it's just sitting there. It's not necessarily being used, or it's too complicated, or it's too time consuming. Only some people know how to use it, maybe not everyone. The sales team certainly isn't using it because they don't have time, or it's too complicated, clunky, whatever the case may be.

How do you come in and begin to get things in the right way if the outcome is higher profits, faster growth, market disruption? 

Candice DeRiso: This is my favorite question.

Jeffrey Feldberg: ha ha ha Ha.

Candice DeRiso: This is the number one reason people come to us, actually. So, we often will get prospects who say, this partner helped us set up our CRM, and they trained us, but nobody really uses it. So, it's several layers. First layer, leadership again. If the leader of the team does not use the technology, no one [00:23:00] else is going to.

You have to set an example and model behavior. It sounds silly, but as the leader of a company, you have to, in some ways, think of your team as your children. You are modeling behavior for them. If you model bad behavior, they are going to have the same behavior. That's one thing. The second I see is The user experience, funny enough, just about every CRM allows you to have different user permissions. So, if I'm in, let's say, Zoho CRM, which is what I use, I can set it up that my sales guys see the leads module, contacts, accounts they can see everything. But maybe I want my marketing team in there only to look at the leads. I can hide things from them. Not because I don't trust them, but because it's overwhelming.

If I have too many things to look at, I'm overwhelmed and I don't know what to do. So, using permissions to simplify the user experience is a huge step. Simple wins. And then the last one I would say is identifying the tedious and automating it as best you [00:24:00] can. If there is any task that you are saying or doing the exact same thing triggered in the exact same way, that's an automation, that's literally the description of something you should automate.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay. Interesting. So really as an outsider going in, no judgment, we're saying, okay, where are we? And then again, off base, off base, it sounds like what you're doing is you're now putting together a strategy or a roadmap. Okay. Here's where we are. Here's where we're not. Let's fill in those gaps. And right off the bat, Candice, it sounds okay, we're going to automate where we can.

We're going to make this incredibly simple, not to confuse simple with simplicity. We're going to make it simple so that it saves us time, that anyone can use this. And so how long does that whole process take in terms of from when you first come on and Candice, by the way, I know you'll say, Jeffrey, well, it really depends.

What am I walking into? What's the company like? I get it. But back of the envelope, generally speaking, this process, how long do you think it takes from start to finish to really get them to where you want them to be?

Candice DeRiso: I would say on the low end if their team [00:25:00] really isn't that, if it's not that bad and it's just simple cleanup, you could do that in a month if it's a big project. You're maybe gut renovating it, so to speak, a house flip, so if you want to, well, that could take three to six months. It just depends on how dedicated people are to showing up.

And how bad the data is, I'll just say it. We usually recommend starting with a data, a marketing audit or a CRM audit, and that's looking for duplicate data, looking for inconsistent information. You have to clean that up first. And then often following that is coming up with a, usually I like CRM strategy.

It tends to bleed into other technologies. But your CRM strategy starts with, well, what is your sales process? Have you ever documented it? Did you diagram it? No one does, by the way. So few people have it documented or diagrammed in any way. It ends up being the biggest piece of homework I have to give to clients because I don't know their sales process.

I can guide them through the experience, but [00:26:00] they know what it is. And it often is, well, when a call comes in, we answer it and we sell or we try to upsell. It's not strategic. It hasn't been thought through. So I'm forcing them to think it through and that after we've done that most basic, then we can start saying, oh, look, you can automate this.

You can simplify that. You can, and that's where you can kind of start poking holes to clean it up and make it better before you even implement. You're coming up with that strategy so you know what you're going to do.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So interesting. So really you're helping them redefine or define depending where a company is the brand, you're going through the messaging, you're going through really perhaps the KPIs, some of the back end processes of where it all should be, the narratives, we're really putting this all together. And correct me again, on base or off base, this wouldn't just be for prospects per se, but also for existing customers of feedback and collecting information.

It's really the whole stakeholder system, if I can use that, in terms of what you're putting [00:27:00] everything into so we can track it all in one place. Is that correct?

Candice DeRiso: That is absolutely correct. It's no longer thought of as just a funnel. Some people still like the funnel, but it's a funnel with a little circle at the end because now you want people to go back into the top of the funnel even after they become a customer. You want to re qualify them and resell them and cross sell, up sell, etc.

Microsoft

Jeffrey Feldberg: Interesting. Okay. And so, Going through that process, you've done this time and time again, year over year, what's the most difficult part for a company in terms of, one, acknowledging, okay, we're not perhaps as good as we thought we were, and here's what we need to do to give us a fighting chance to get to where we need to get to?

Candice DeRiso: I think user adoption of a technology. And sometimes the biggest barrier, strangely you'd think, people have this obsession with technology, but sales teams in particular, they don't want to be micromanaged. And I respect that. I don't like being micromanaged either. I'm not a good micromanager. do it. The way to get user adoption is to [00:28:00] make it simpler for them, is to, add the easy button, so to speak and it does take leadership to convince them. So I know I keep saying leadership, but it really, if leadership adopts the technology, if leadership understands what's going on, then it's easy to get the rest of the team on board to all the things, not just the technology, but the brand, because what if they're using the technology, but they're just Writing emails that sound like an alien wrote it, and it makes no sense, and it's completely not cohesive.

That's a problem, too, and I've seen that, unfortunately, where you've got the rogue sales guy who's sending terrible emails and messing up your deliverability rate of your email essay.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah. So interesting. And so as we get into the weeds a little bit here back end processes, and we're going to do this, we're going to automate that, simplify that. Artificial intelligence. This conversation would not be complete if we didn't touch upon that. So from where you are today, and I fully recognize that tomorrow or the day after is probably obsolete at the rate AI is going.[00:29:00]

How is AI when it comes to brand and messaging and back end CRMs, where are we today and where do you see it going?

Candice DeRiso: AI is an incredibly powerful tool that must be yielded thoughtfully and carefully. It is not a threat, and I think there are a lot of sales and marketing people who feel it is a threat. For example, in my tools, I have document that includes an AI feature, and my team, I've dedicated copywriters, for example, and they can, they write beautiful copies, but they also recognize that their time is valuable, and so what they have finally learned, because it took us a little while, is that they don't need to draft copy from scratch.

This is just one example, there's a lot of examples, but this is one example. They can instead use AI to draft, and they can switch their mind to be editor mode, because AI is not the best copywriter. AI is a great drafter, and if you want it to be on brand, within your brand voice, even if you train the [00:30:00] AI, There's still some wonky things that happen some strange wording I've seen, and having a human set of eyes on it makes a world of difference.

So that's the copywriting side, instead of, and the other side, more the CRM data side, data enrichment is fantastic. So, when I say data enrichment, I mean that You have, let's say, people or companies in your database, but you're missing information, and you want to qualify them. And it takes time for someone to research and spend all this time looking up, who is Candace DeRiso?

What does she do? Where does she live? Da. Instead, there is now built in functionality into a lot of CRMs that allows you to use a data enrichment tool that will search for someone based on their email address, Their name and company, so on and so forth, and fills in your gaps. And that is a huge time saver.

Jeffrey Feldberg: AI can automate some of the things we probably shouldn't be doing anyways in the first place, And we can redeploy our people or look to expand into [00:31:00] different areas that we're not from the time that we're saving.

So you're looking to have AI really come in and do that. And I know when any new technology comes into play, Candice, there's always these really large exaggerations of what it can and can't do. And I'm wondering if this is an exaggeration. I've heard people with rumbling saying, you know what, with AI, forget these expensive CRM systems.

I'm just going to have AI build one for me. It's going to be homegrown. It's going to be smarter than all the rest. And off I go with that. Truth or fiction on that one.

Candice DeRiso: So, I've tested some of this.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay.

Candice DeRiso: For example, in Zoho, the platform I use, their low code language, well, it's already a low code language. So you don't really need AI to do that, because a human can do it so fast. But I can ask it, write this code for me. And it can, but the problem is, it doesn't test it. You still need a person to test it and make sure it works.

 It just doesn't make sense to have AI create a custom CRM for you, because you're literally, Paying for the AI, because you have to do it in a paid AI builder. It's not going to come out of a free one. So forget the chat GPT [00:32:00] free stuff. It can be one of the paid ones. If you ask it to build you a CRM, I mean, your prompt better be really good.

Candice DeRiso: If you don't know how to write a good prompt for AI, then you're gonna get what you put in.

And at the end of the day, that's true for any technology. You get out what you put in. Garbage in, garbage out. Quality in, quality out.

You have to ask yourself, is that worth the time when there's so many CRMs out there?

There's so many great technology platforms, there's even niche ones for every industry that I've seen.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Sure. And from the front end, we talked about brand. We talked about narrative. We talked about the simplicity of being able to use a system to the back end. And I know you are the top of the top when it comes to Zoho systems. Generally speaking, though, for a listener in Deep Wealth Nation, they're now saying, okay, I do have a CRM.

How can they tell if the CRM that they have is the one that's for them, or it's had better days and it's time to look around, or maybe someone's even saying, I don't really have a CRM, [00:33:00] I know we should, we're using Excel spreadsheets or Google Sheets, and we want to get into a CRM. What would be some of the top criteria that we should be looking at?

And Candice, I fully hear you. You probably would want to say, Jeffrey, well, that really depends again on the company where they're at and what they're doing. But generally speaking, what should we consider?

Candice DeRiso: Well, I guess it's funny, if you are shopping around for a CRM, whether you're in a spreadsheet or you're just not happy with your current CRM, you really have to start with creating your CRM strategy. If I'm honest, make your sales process, identify the things, the features that you need, and If you need automation based on a field, and your current CRM doesn't offer that, well then go shop around for one.

If you need email integration with Outlook, and your CRM doesn't offer that, then, so you're going to come up with criteria. That's sales process, and I really should say marketing. Marketing and sales process together. Once you've created that, you're going to basically come up with your features list.

What are the things I need? My technology, might not even be CRM, might be [00:34:00] an ERP. What do I need my technology platform to do for me? Or what do I want it to do for me? Because then you're going to come up with that feature list. Now, some things are obvious, right? If you're in healthcare, it has to be HIPAA compliant.

If you're in Europe, it has to be GDPR compliant. There are going to be security and safety things that are default that you want to look at, and those are important. For example, I am always suspicious of the Google suite for that because I know that Google scans documents looking to deliver ads based on what they see, so I don't find that secure.

Now, they're not sharing that information outward, they keep it internally, but I still feel like that's fishy. I don't like that.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So interesting. So start with the obvious, hey, what do we need? Where are we? Where are we not? And then work from there. And again, just like we go to the accountants, hey, prepare my taxes. We're not saying as entrepreneurs, okay, I'm going to do my own taxes. I know numbers, spreadsheets. Having a CRM or selecting a CRM, again, Jeffrey, on base or off base, and I know Deep Wealth Nation, you could say, well, [00:35:00] Jeffrey, she's drunk the Kool Aid, of course, she's going to say what she's about to say, but bringing in someone like yourself to either implement a CRM or look to really optimize it for the uninitiated, what are you bringing to the table that a company left to its own devices simply can't do or won't do as well?

Candice DeRiso: I think if you pick a partner, just about every CRM nowadays has a partner program. If you pick a partner, you're picking someone who's just been doing it longer than you, so, I actually am a huge advocate of having an internal, in house admin, if you will. Someone within your own company who owns running the technology.

It doesn't have to be the CEO. It doesn't even have to be the CTO, just someone who says, I'm really good at technology, I'm going to own this. you bring in a partner, that can bring in another layer of that expertise, because we've seen so many different use cases, we've seen so many different fails, we've made enough fails for you.

Let us take our experience and avoid these fails. It can save you a lot of time, so I think it comes down to experience.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So [00:36:00] really, it sounds like I've been there, done that, we've been down this journey so many times, we'll be the North Star. We will lead the way for you to help you get over some of those road bumps along the way and just get there faster. And ultimately, yes, there's some fees that may be involved, but it's going to be quicker, which is going to save time, money, and opportunity cost.

Candice DeRiso: Yes, and if it's the right partner and you're smart enough to have an in house admin, they're going to empower that admin.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so when it comes to training, and I know different CRM systems, some are going to be more complex than others and longer or shorter, depending on where you go with your process, with your system, Candice, in terms of that training, what can I expect?

Candice DeRiso: So, for our CRM training, it's actually a very specific structure. It's, obviously, it's slightly adjusted to each client, but it's a combination of, we have pre made videos that you can watch on your own time. And then we have one on one or one on few training sessions that highlight what you saw in the video and then give you more based on what is in your CRM.

So, for example, if you have a [00:37:00] CRM like a Salesforce or a Zoho or Sugar, they all use a leads module that then converts to contacts accounts. So, if in your leads module, you have a certain lead status and in your CRM, when a status is set to contacted, perhaps that triggers an automation. So, I need to make sure that in the training, I explain to you what's going to happen.

When you change that field, it's going to trigger this set of things. It's going to send an email. It's going to make this task. It's going to update this field. You can't just set things up and have people not know what's going to happen.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, so true. And Candice, for the most part, we have been very technology agnostic, very deliberately in our conversation so far. And I want to ask you this question, and not so much from the back end in terms of the features and the different kinds of codes and this and that can be done, but really more from the front end.

Again, going back to your specialty, let's find your brand. Let's find your voice, let's create that narrative, ultimately let's increase your sales and profits. So you did choose Zoho over some of the other [00:38:00] CRMs that are there. So from that front end of that growth, that brand, that voice, all those other things, why was Zoho for you over really, you could choose just about anything else out there to help other companies implement and train and get out there.

Why was Zoho for you?

Candice DeRiso: I've actually been on many different CRMs over the years. I've been on Salesforce. I've been on Sugar. I've been on HubSpot, Insightly Pipedrive. I've used many CRMs. I got to a point where I realized Insightly was actually the previous one before I got into Zoho. I liked Insightly because it had certain automations in it.

It was very simple. It was very out of the box automation. And I started wanting to feel customizable. was very limited, which is great when you're brand new and you're small, because you don't want too many options. Too many options are overwhelming, and I was deep down seeking another CRM, but I didn't know which way to look, and a client, funny enough, said, hey, Candace, you're pretty tech savvy.

Could you look at my CRM and tell me if I'm doing this right?

[00:39:00] And I said, sure, and I looked at it, he was a banker, commercial loan expert, great guy. I looked at his CRM, I thought, oh, wow, look how easy, it was the ease of use. So my frustration with Salesforce and Sugar was, it was annoying to try to customize fields.

You needed a developer to do it. Now that's, I think that's improved a lot over the years. It's a lot easier to do than it used to be. But, seven years ago, eight years ago, you needed a developer to code custom fields. And when I went into this guy's Zoho CRM, I thought, all I do is click this button, and I just, I made a field. It seemed like magic. And then when he and I started talking about how it, the integrations, I was sold. Between the ease of customization and the ease of integration. I wanted an all in one type package, and what they gave me was the ability to have a CRM as my home database that was connected with my social media scheduler, connected with my email platform, connected even with my documents.

That was my original [00:40:00] need.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Interesting. So really what I'm hearing you say is from an entrepreneur's standpoint, for you, for your business, hey, I like this because it's easy, easier than the others. It's gotten even easier over time with that. And then you said, okay, this can help me. Let me have this help my clients and my community and to get that out there.

And so that's why you're there. And Deep Wealth Nation, listen up to what was said. It's really about ease of use. What's the best CRM system is the one that you and the team are going to use. Based on what we've been talking about, Candice, we want to find a CRM. And for you, it was Zoho that helps us find that brand, that narrative, that voice that we can bake into the system to help us with the growth and the sales where everyone's going to be using it.

It's easy to understand. It's easy to maintain. We're not going to have to get a PhD to operate this thing and to have it in the hands of very few, really the entire company's using it for all of our KPIs. And we can track and do all those wonderful things. Let me ask you this before we go into the wrap up mode.

Two questions, actually. So, first off, coming out of this episode, before someone in the Deep Wealth Nation, they go into the [00:41:00] next meeting or phone call or whatever event or activity that they have, if they could do one thing as it pertains to a CRM, their brand, their voice, getting more customers. We talked about a lot of things, but if you had to pick one that they could do, a little hanging fruit, they could do it right away.

And begin to reap the benefits, anything that comes to mind for you.

Candice DeRiso: It's so funny, if it's a physical event, I would say, and this could sound silly maybe, A mobile app that is a business card scanner. It's the stupidest, simplest thing. I meet so many people who go to wonderful conferences, and they collect stacks of business cards, and then they say, oh no, how am I going to do this?

There are so many business card scanning apps that will just put it right into your CRM. All the CRMs seem to have this these days. So it's not just a Zoho thing. I'm sure Salesforce, HubSpot, and all these other ones have it. I feel like that's a really, that takes no effort to do.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, it's so smart because you're right, I'm just thinking myself, I come away with all these business cards, I'm, maybe good intentions, but I'm not going to [00:42:00] take the time out and type it all in and out of sight, out of mind. 

And let me ask you this before we go into wrap up mode. Is there a question I didn't ask or a topic we didn't cover, or even a message that you'd like to get out to the Deep Wealth Nation?

Candice DeRiso: Be good to each other. Entrepreneurship is a rough road sometimes. And if you try to go it alone, It's going to be rougher. It can be very lonely being an entrepreneur. If you are a solo business owner, especially, if you don't have partners, or if you've a really, even if you have a really small team, it can be very lonely.

So, make friends with other business owners.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, that is a terrific, just be kind. We're all entrepreneurs. We're all solving different problems, but we're all more or less big picture wise, doing the same thing. That is some terrific

Candice DeRiso: Don't need to compete. At the end of the day, there's enough fish.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Exactly. That's a great message. Actually, it's a perfect segue for us to go into wrap up mode, Candice. And here on the Deep Wealth Podcast, it's our tradition where every guest, it's my honor, it's my privilege to ask the same question. It's a really fun question. [00:43:00] I'm going to set this up for you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that fabulous, magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time.

So imagine now it's tomorrow morning. You look outside your window, and Candice, here's the fun part, the DeLorean car is there, it is curbside, the door is open, you hop in, you're now going to go to any point in your life. Candice as, a young child, teenager, whatever point in time it would be.

What would you tell your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom or, hey, Candice, do this, but don't do that. What would that sound like?

Candice DeRiso: First of all, I would go back to freshman year of college, and I would tell freshman year, Candace, you're not in competition with anyone. It's funny, but it took me a lot of years to learn that. yeah, I would tell her you're not in competition with anyone but yourself. So don't worry about what anyone else is doing.

Don't worry about what another singer's voice sounds like. Don't worry about what someone else's business plan looks like. If you think yours is good, run with it. Don't hesitate.

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:44:00] Wow. I love what I'm hearing of, you're not in competition. It's almost as though what you're saying, love yourself for who you are and what you bring. And I know today that sounds a little bit out there, but really love yourself, appreciate yourself.

You're so unique with what you have, that you're right, you're not in competition with anyone. Show up as you, be you.

Candice DeRiso: Well said.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That is some terrific advice and could be a whole other episode, Candice, getting me on my soapbox here now with social media and what it's doing to our mental health and our psyche, but I couldn't agree with you more.

And before we wrap up, Candice, let me ask you this. Someone in the Deep Wealth Nation, they have a question for you. They want to learn more. They want to, hey, I remember what our brand was. I want it to be great once again, or they just want to hear some insights from you.

Where's the best place online for someone to find you?

Candice DeRiso: You can go to the website, so Beckman, spelled B E C K M A N, collaborative. com, or you can email me directly, candace at beckmancollaborative. com. Always happy to hear from everybody.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Deep Wealth Nation, did you hear that? Candice gave out her email address. Take her up [00:45:00] that. Email Candice. Get that call going. You will come out more wise and knowledgeable than coming in. You'll learn so much from her. What a terrific gift, Candice. Put that out there. Thank you so much. And it's official.

Congratulations. This is a wrap. And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, Candice, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much.

Candice DeRiso: Thank you. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. 

What did you think? 

So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. 

Did you find this episode helpful? 

Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? 

And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

Are you ready for it? 

The dramatic pause. I'll just wait a moment. Drumroll, please. Subscribe. Please subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast on your favorite podcast channel. When you subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast, you're saving yourself time. Every episode automatically comes to [00:46:00] you, and I want you to know that we meticulously craft Every one of our episodes to have impactful strategies, stories, expert insights that are designed to help you grow your profits, increase the value of your business, and yes, even optimize your post exit life and your life right now, whatever you want that to look like.

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So all that said. Thank you so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. 

Thank you so much. 

God bless.