In this episode, we speak to Brian Marek who runs Northtowns Remodeling, a small construction company out of Buffalo, NY. Being in business for over 38 years, Brian embodies the person that anyone who is undergoing a home remodel would wish for. He’s responsible, keeps his word, and genuinely cares about each and every customer.It was so clear how much cared and how hard he was working for his customers. We also saw how there was only so much one business owner could do in a day.Brian was spending hours working on custom proposals, sending them to customers, and sometimes forgetting to follow-up because there was too much on his plate. Money was being left on the table. Brian was also trying to be everywhere — calls, home visits, emails — constantly being pulled in a myriad of different directions. The business that he built was reliant on Brian to be wearing many different hats to stay on-top of the business. Incredibly rewarding, but difficult to sustain.Working with Efficient App, he implemented solutions to help relieve him of the duties of being everywhere at once. In this episode, Brian shares the journey of modernizing his business and speaks to the benefits of implementing tech in his business —  like the time he was on holidays and was able to close a deal remotely because he was able to access all his systems right from his laptop, or the ease he was able to transition his team to working remotely when COVID hit. Tune in to hear more! ★ Visit Our Site: https://efficient.app★ Apply for a Free 30-Minute Efficiency Audit With Us: https://efficient.app/audit

The automation and software integration space is still relatively new. The world is changing, and maybe you, like many others, are crossing the chasm realizing that the future of business is dependent on streamlined automated processes.In the future, we predict that just like how companies have a Legal Team or an Operations Manager, companies will also have Automation Experts to string together all the different of software/apps used, so that day-to-day tasks are as weightless as possible.Our company is the beginning of that — our customers look at us as their automation team. I mean heck, maybe even one day you'll look to us as your automation team! (Now wouldn't that be exciting 😁)The idea of outsourcing specific integrations or hiring someone like us to help you set up your software stack may seem a bit strange, and maybe you're not so sure about the idea. It sounds great and all, but also a bit scary, no? So in this podcast we strived to share the answers to our most frequently asked questions!Full Article (More Details): https://efficient.app/post/faqWhen Should You Automate? 4 Signs It's Time To Start. https://efficient.app/post/when-to-automateApply for a complimentary 30-Minute Efficiency Audit: https://efficient.app/audit

Why are companies switching away from Salesforce? Are there better CRM's on the market for a greater bang for your buck? Listen to hear our thoughts on why Salesforce isn't the best choice for many businesses and what to choose instead.Full blog post: https://efficient.app/post/salesforce-alternativesRequest pricing: https://efficient.app/pricing

Today I'm here with Chirag Gupta who runs a coworking space calls NoD Coworking. He developed the space to be an area that people could come together to network and pool their resources, stemming from a passion for helping others. Having always liked the idea of starting an accelerator/incubator, I had some questions around the business model and how difficult it is to get a space started and self-sustaining.In this episode, we discuss:How important documenting your process is when getting started with a new ventureWhat the day-to-day looks like running a coworking spaceHow you can leverage a coworking space to help propel your startup forwardAnd much more!Links from the show: LinkedIn - (Chirag - Guest) NoD Coworking - (Company - Guest)

On this episode of Analysis Paralysis, I was invited to The Marketing Automation Discussion podcast for a CRM mastermind with host Alex Glenn, and CRM experts Scott Gellatly and Mark Colgan.In this episode, we discuss:What to look out for when considering ‘Free’ versions of a CRMCRM Strategy - when and how to consider CRM in your stackThe necessary considerations around CRM-triggered automationHow to set up your CRM for successPricing for the two main CRMs we will highlightAnd the business models of each of these CRMs so you know which will be best for your business long-termIf you aren’t able to take notes - we have you covered - the full episode can be found in text format via the link below:https://automated.af/automated-sales-and-marketing-processes/the-holy-st-smb-crm-deep-dive-mastermind/Links from the show: Copper (CRM Software) LinkedIn (Alex Glenn - Host) LinkedIn (Scott Gellatly - Expert) LinkedIn (Mark Colgan - Expert) LinkedIn (Alex Bass - Expert)

In today’s episode of Analysis Paralysis, I'm talking with Nathan Lee, not related to the prior episode guest, Jon Lee. Nathan is an up and coming podcaster that loves automation and is working on a new podcast series built around Zapier and automation.We discuss why Zapier is such a great tool for those looking to get into automation for their business. If you are unfamiliar with Zapier or looking to get more involved with automation, this is a great episode for you!

In today’s episode of Analysis Paralysis, I’ll be talking with Jon Lee, the Founder and CEO of Copper. Since it first launched back in 2013, Copper has been one of the fastest-growing customer relationship management systems on the market with over $87m in venture backing. They’re also now the  #1 recommended CRM for G Suite.Serial entrepreneur by trade, Jon started Copper (formerly ProsperWorks) to give every company tools they will actually use to help them prosper. Jon started in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, moved to run a large operations team at Yahoo, and later founded Bazaar Advertising Solutions and DNA Games, acquired by Epic Media Group and Zynga, respectively. Jon holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from UC Berkeley and currently resides in Hillsborough, CA with his wife, two daughters and son. He's a big fan of aquariums and is known for his epic all hands speeches.Over the course of the episode, Jon will take us through his journey of entrepreneurialism and past business ventures, offer tips on how to overcome the inevitable obstacles that arise while building a business, and how to manifest destiny to achieve your goals in life.This is an episode that I had been looking forward to recording for many months, and I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed conducting it!Links from the show: LinkedIn (Jon - Guest) Twitter (Jon - Guest) Copper (Company - Guest)

Today I'm here with Dan Fellars from Openside and we're talking about all things Airtable. Airtable is user-friendly database software, think of Google Sheets and Excel, but with a bit more structured in that it can actually be used at a mass scale for business processes.In this episode, we talk about how you can leverage automation and the ever-evolving cloud software tools available to build custom solutions, all without the traditional development overhead.Links from the show: LinkedIn (Dan - Guest) Openside (Company - Guest) Airtable (Database)

Wanting to run or work for a startup is a common goal nowadays. New companies are launched all the time, led by founders who hope to move quickly and grow fast. But as we all know, not all are successful. Why is this? Why do some succeed and others fail?Brittany Perez, who leads the account management team at Copper, is familiar with these questions. She left a comfortable position at a well-known company (Intuit) to work at Copper, and since joining the team, they’ve grown from 28 employees to hundreds, and have raised just under $100M in venture backing.In this episode, Brittany discusses: why she decided to leave Intuit for the risky startup space and take a chance on Copper; the difficulties female sales representatives must face in a heavily male-dominated space; and what made her fall in love with Copper after using Salesforce for most of her career.Links from the show: LinkedIn (Brittany - Guest) Copper (CRM)

Brand. A term that means so many different things to so many different people. Most simply think that a company's brand is their logo and color scheme. For Coby Pachmayr, it is so much more. With a background in systems engineering and automation, Coby started Idea Spring, a branding and marketing agency with the unique focus on solving business problems through ongoing customer experience improvements.On this episode, Coby explains how your brand is shaped and defined by the product, service, and customer experience that you are delivering. All of which are areas that directly affect your brand through perception. How though, can you leverage something like automation to improve your brand?Links from the show: LinkedIn (Guest - Coby) Copper (CRM) Help Scout (Help Desk - $50 Credit) Asana (Project Management) Zapty (Project Management) Coda (Project Management + Documentation) PandaDoc (Document Sending) Blissfully (SaaS Management Platform)

On this episode of Analysis Paralysis, I am talking to Jaime Nacach. He runs a successful marketing company and fell in love with automation after using it inside of his existing company. Naturally, that has led to him building a side company solely built around automation and Jaime has been going through the process of transitioning into an automation-focused business solutions company.This episode hits very close to home with me as I recently went through somewhat of a similar transition in my own business. Advice was given around how to value and charge for this service offering, especially when your natural instinct is just to help and not charge your true value as the service is rooted in pure passion. Passion is incredibly helpful to have in any business you run, but it often results in not charging your worth as you often just want to help people and share your expertise with others. We talk about how to transition your mindset to that of value-based pricing all while still continuing to help businesses.Jaime's company has been partnered with Agile CRM, a lower-priced CRM focused as an all-in-one solution with a free tier to get new users in the door. A fairly common software as a service business model that makes a lot of sense for acquiring new market share in a crowded space such as CRM. We discuss if they should continue using Agile and take on the often "cost-conscious" client-base that free software tends to attract, or if they should consider moving to a more expensive and refined solution like Copper (formerly ProsperWorks) who have the VC backing and client-base that understands the value of CRM and automation. Both paths come with their own positives and negatives.Links from the show: LinkedIn (Jaime - Guest) Bloominari (Guest - Company) Virtual Latinos (Guest - Company) Teamwork.com (Project Management)

On this episode of Analysis Paralysis, I am talking to David Zisner. He was an electrical engineer that worked at Intel for 15 years doing assembly line automations. He is now consulting and doing automation for small to medium size businesses.We talk about how it's important to focus and specialize on specific software solutions, in his case, the CRM Pipedrive, versus being a jack of all traits. We even finish off the call discussing chat bots, AI, and some of the crazy things Google is doing to push the industry forward and some of the backlash that has come from Google Duplex announced at Google I/O 2018.

There are podcasts for just about every topic you can think of, but very few, if any, around the emerging area of business automation. Our guest, Kelsey Bratcher, saw this void as an opportunity and started the Get Automated podcast. On this episode, I speak with Kelsey about many different things surrounding software, automation, and efficiency. We discuss how we got started in automation; the differences between ProsperWorks CRM and InfusionSoft; the best tools available for automating your business; and how you, as a small business owner, can start automating your business right now. Make sure you have a notepad around because there are a lot of actionable tips in this episode!Kelsey Bratcher on LinkedInLinks from show: Get Automated (Podcast) ProsperWorks (CRM) Help Scout (Help Desk - $50 Free Credit) PandaDoc (Proposal Software) Asana (Project Management)

I was invited to an entrepreneurship class by an old professor of mine at Canisius College to talk to the students about my entrepreneurial journey and answer questions about business and starting your career after college. Should you start a business based on passion? How do you get started at all? Should you even start a business right out of college?If you aren't interested in hearing about my background (as the first episode was dedicated to that), feel free to jump ahead to the 11:30 mark.I also recorded this speaking engagement so if you visit the Analysis Paralysis youtube channel, you can watch the video as well:Watch speaking engagement on YouTube

There are countless Customer Relationship Management systems currently on the market. From the big players like Salesforce, to the more emerging players like ProsperWorks. It seems that every day, a new one enters the space. It is clear that CRM is an important part of a business and that they aren't going away anytime soon.On this episode, I talk with Sai about what the future of CRM looks like, what his experience has been like being a Salesforce developer, and if he would ever consider moving from the giant that is Salesforce over to something like Copper CRM (Formerly ProsperWorks).

On this episode of Analysis Paralysis, I am talking to one of my mentors, Ajaz. He is a great salesman and consultant that has given me a lot of guidance over the years. I figured that not everyone has a mentor so I wanted to record this call with him to share with others to hopefully get something from this. Discussing sales and difficulties I was recently going through with clients and overall, how to sell value over an "hourly rate" type model.

This guy Tim reached out to me recently, he had listened to the first podcast and he was telling me about his story and it really resonated. We set up a time to talk and we just had a discussion about where he's at right now, where he wants to be going, what he is struggling with. A lot of that is about being able to sell yourself. You have a passion, a hobby, something that you are good at ー how do you convince people that it is worth buying?

It's impossible to start a business early on in your career and not pivot along the way. Over the past 8 years in business, I have grown a lot, evolved, and developed new skills that I could have never envisioned when opening up the company my freshman year of college. On this episode, I take you through my history of pivots from the web development world, to online marketing, IT support, and now business process consulting & automation. The longer you are in business, the more you learn, and the more opportunities you realize are available. How do you take advantage of the right opportunities and properly pivot your business?

Trailer for Analysis Paralysis, a new podcast around business process consulting, CRM, automation, and efficiency, by Alex Bass.