0:02
Shanie Zimerman
All right. Hi, everyone. It is me again, Shani, manager of strategic partners over here at Oktopost. I want to thank you all so much for joining me in our 11th and final episode of our from the Expert series for 2020. We will be continuing this in 2021, but we're wrapping up the year, this crazy year. So last episode of 2020. And joining me today are Colin Day, our managing director in Emea over here at. And we have a very special guest. We have Shannon Cstee with us. Shannon is the senior vice president of corporate marketing and communications over at osg. Hey, guys, thanks so much for having me.
0:46
Colin Day
Thanks for having us, Shani.
0:49
Shanie Zimerman
Today's conversation, just like I said, we're just going to be wrapping up this crazy year that we've all been through, hearing a little bit on the marketing side, on the sales side, just the pains and gains of the past year, and more importantly, what we can look forward to in 2021, starting on a fresh new slate. So I do just want to remind everyone, you are on mute if you have any questions at all. There's a Q and A box, There's a chat box. Feel free to drop your questions in there. And we will definitely have time at the end of the webinar to address them. So without further ado. And I do see some more people rolling in, but this is recorded, so we'll go ahead and send everything afterwards. So let's go ahead and get started. And Colin, let's jumpstart with you. What was this is, I think, gonna just set the tone for Again, we'll take it from the start of this wacky year all the way down to the end. What was the biggest impact Covid had on your 2020 plans?
1:47
Colin Day
Well, I guess if we think of when Covid really started to take bite, right, like here in the UK anyway, it was around the week of the 16th and that date, give or take. No, no, no, I can be very specific. It was the 16th of March. And I'll tell you why it was. That was my first day at Oktopost, right? So my first day as the managing director of Oktopost business for EMEA and apac. And my very first job was to close the London office down and send everyone home. So I remember that day very well. Shanique, there are people that work for me in the London office that I've never met in person. Right. So, you know, what's. What's Covid done? It's really reshaped the business a little bit. Right. Or certainly reshaped business culture before COVID it was very much, you know, we were like most other organizations, Right. Work from office mentalities like in the office city desk, do your jobs like go home, come back. So, like, rinse and repeat. You know, when some form of normality comes back, will we still require offices full time? Will we still want people in the office full time? I don't know. It's like, you know, we as an organization now are a lot more relaxed. Relaxed about like, you know, what, what people want to do from their, you know, from their working perspective on whether they want to come back to the office full time, part time or what. So that's certainly one big change for us. Another change is, I guess, us sitting here today. Right. Like from a sales and marketing perspective, the assets that we use in order to capture the attention of the target addressable market that we're going after and have some of those conversations or the assets that we use to engage people have somewhat shifted over the last six to nine months as well. Right. Like you said, this is webinar number 11 for you.
4:01
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah.
4:02
Colin Day
If you went back, ask me how
4:03
Shanie Zimerman
many I did before.
4:04
Colin Day
Right. If you went back pre March. Right. How many, how many did you do in the prior nine months?
4:10
Shanie Zimerman
None in the four years I was at Oktopost 1.
4:15
Colin Day
All right. So, you know, you've had to hone a whole new set of skills.
4:21
Shanie Zimerman
Definitely.
4:23
Colin Day
And then, you know, if you look at some of the other things that we do, we do a regular, a regular podcast. Right. It's like a radically transparent. I think it's season three. We've done several different themes over the last nine months. It's now hosted by our colleague Jen Gutman. That's something very new to us as well. Right. Something that we started in March. So there's just three little things. Right. One is, hey, I had to shut the office. And Valerie, Slacker, if you're listening, Slacker, I will meet you one one day in person. But you know, Slackem, there's just three things for you, Shani. Hopefully that helps set the scene.
5:04
Shanie Zimerman
Absolutely. I think those were really impactful things and I think we can all relate to them on many different levels. Shannon, what about you? What did I know that you guys had some big plans in terms of rebranding and things like that. But, you know, did. Did Covid influence that or have any kind of impact on. On that, amongst other things?
5:24
Shannon Seastead
Oh, yeah. I mean, I think, you know, Covid just kind of came in this day to day world. We're all Just moving along so nicely. And like Colin said, it was like one day and everything changed. That day was St. Patrick's Day. So I remember it really well. But yeah, we had so much going on. I think from our perspective, from OSU's perspective, what it did, besides taking look at how we were working and everything was. It just kind of gave us this really clear laser focus of what we needed to focus on. A lot of the noise because there was just so that we were so disrupted from our day to day lives that it was kind of like what's important and what's critical. And we knew right away, you know, the things that we needed to focus on were our employees. We have operations facilities across the globe. That's, you know, because we print transactional documents. So when we had essential employees in place, the whole change in work and making sure that our employees were safe and taken care of and that we were really following all the protocols to take care of them, that was probably one of the biggest shifts in our company and a huge learning experience for everybody. And we continue to learn through it. And I think that's something that we'll continue to bring into 2021 and beyond all of those protocols and procedures and concern on safety and the other end of it. Yeah, absolutely. Really from a customer perspective, we really need to focus on them. Like everything turned to our employees or our customers. Definitely employees happy and safe and are we meeting our customers needs. So we had marketing goals and things that we had a rebrand we were going to do, but we put that on hold for a couple of months and we shifted our focus to sure that we were able to meet those demands. And it gave us a time to kind of sit one on one with our customers and talk with them and really understand what their concerns were. And it really pushed forth our digital strategy. It just accelerated everything. I just feel like 2020 was all about acceleration and just kind of catching up with where we should have been. And it pushed forward in so many different ways for us.
7:40
Shanie Zimerman
It was the digital transformation just forced upon us.
7:43
Shannon Seastead
Absolutely. Like, you know, it was always like a nice to have and we had plans and we were working along, you know, a structured timeline. And 2020 came in and said, no, no, no, we're doing this now and everybody's on board whether you want to be or not.
7:58
Shanie Zimerman
Definitely.
7:59
Colin Day
Shannon, that digital transformation that you went through, how long did you think that that would normally have had would. Would have taken you? Right. So what were you planning for? Because I know you were planning for some of it anyway.
8:09
Shannon Seastead
Right, yeah, absolutely. Like, we, you know, we're. We're a digitally focused company and part of our new brand, when we were getting to roll it out, was. Was literally customer engagement through digital transformation. So we were riding that wave. But I, you know, we probably shortened our timeline by a good 18 months.
8:29
Shanie Zimerman
Wow.
8:30
Shannon Seastead
There was just this really concentrated effort. We relooked at everything. We were. We looked at our products, we relooked at our operations operations, at our product innovation. And how do we accelerate what we're doing today, what's really important, what were nice to haves before and really fell along the product roadmap, and what do we need to look at rescale to really meet the demands of today? Because it happens so quickly. So, yeah, it's a great question, but I definitely think it was probably accelerated by a good eight.
9:03
Shanie Zimerman
Wow, that's incredible. And I think, like you said, it was about putting employees and customers first, which it's always been about that. But I think there was such an emphasis on, you know, we're literally all in this boat. Everyone worldwide is in one big boat together. And I think there was a lot of camaraderie and I think there was a lot of understanding and a lot of. I don't wanna say leniency, but I think there was just a lot of mutual understanding and people wanting to help one another a little bit more, get settled in, get back on track, get moving in the right direction. And I think just a solid camaraderie amongst really everyone. I think it's one of these things that it was such a unique experience for the whole world to have together and to go through together, that we could all relate. Right. We all get on the phone and the first thing, it's not just a how are you? Because that's what you're supposed to ask. It's a genuine, how are you doing? You know, how can I help? What can I do for you?
10:05
Colin Day
I think it starts off by can you hear me?
10:09
Shanie Zimerman
After we can hear one another.
10:11
Colin Day
Right. I mean, that's gotta be the phrase. That's gotta be the phrase. Right. Of 2020 is can you hear me?
10:17
Shanie Zimerman
That was good. Colin. That was super quick on that one. I like this.
10:21
Colin Day
Followed closely by can you see me? Right.
10:25
Shanie Zimerman
That was good. I like that.
10:26
Shannon Seastead
I'm having technical difficulties today. Sorry.
10:30
Shanie Zimerman
My home Internet, it's really swamp
10:34
Shannon Seastead
the
10:34
Colin Day
other thing as well. Right. Shani is, you know, what's been the biggest impact? It's probably been my wardrobe as well. So, like, personally, I very much like A suit and a tie as, you know, like. But I don't think I've actually put the. The bottom half of my suit on for. For the last nine months. Right. It's like, you know, I've got a nice shirt on today. No tie. I've dropped the tie. I've gone like business casual if you told me to. Yeah. But, you know, I quite often wear my suit jacket with my jeans or whatever.
11:07
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah, I think we all do.
11:09
Shannon Seastead
You're dressing for comfort, first of all. You're not leaving your desk. That's kind of the other thing, I think, because, you know, work is, you know, so accelerated that we operate our desks a little more, and you want to be more comfortable. And I think you're right.
11:23
Shanie Zimerman
I was at the office the other day, and I was like, it's weird to work nine hours in shoes. Oh, shoes. Oh, my God. Remember shoes?
11:35
Shannon Seastead
As I sit here with my slippers on.
11:36
Shanie Zimerman
No, I was like, my feet, they just feel so heavy. What do I do?
11:43
Shannon Seastead
I've thought about pants and skirts and dresses, but I haven't even thought of shoes.
11:47
Shanie Zimerman
I'm telling you, it's gonna be weird. I would start practicing now, just like, once a week, put on a pair of shoes and sit with them for a couple of hours.
11:56
Colin Day
Hopefully that's not the biggest takeaway that people take from this webinar. Otherwise, I think they might be highly disappoint. Disappointed.
12:02
Shannon Seastead
Yeah.
12:02
Shanie Zimerman
Or will they be like, thank you so much for the tip about practicing wearing shoes again.
12:07
Shannon Seastead
I need to start wearing shoes every day at home now, Colin.
12:10
Shanie Zimerman
I don't know. We'll see.
12:11
Colin Day
Okay. Okay. I'm not answering questions about shoes. I'm sorry.
12:18
Shanie Zimerman
Along with shoes, what were some of the changes that you implemented in order to be able to adopt, adapt. Sorry. Looks the same. Colin, what about you?
12:31
Colin Day
Yeah, no problem. So some of the. From a sales perspective right here at Oktopost. Yeah. So, you know, team went home, like, March 16th. We invest a lot of time and energy as marketers and as sales professionals. Right. Building up the database of the target addressable market. Right. The companies that we're going after, the individuals within those companies. And March 16, we were used to calling people on the phone. Right. It's like we were used to calling them in their office, and all of a sudden, everyone's gone rushing home. Companies haven't implemented at that point in time. Some still haven't a redirect of office numbers to laptops or to home numbers or mobiles, et cetera. So the way that the sales team were having to connect with their clients and prospects was starting to differ as well. Shani. Right. So in the early days, telephone was a no go and email slack, you just became a noise in someone's inbox. So the team really redirected a lot of their efforts to social channels and found people on LinkedIn or on Twitter and started a direct conversation with them that way. We've sold a number of deals this year just by chatting to the clients directly over LinkedIn because they just can't see our emails in their inbox and don't want to give us their personal telephone numbers for obvious reasons.
14:21
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah. So what might have been more of a brand awareness strategy? We actually implemented a proper social selling strategy and really just being able to communicate in the best way possible. Causing too much background noise without being too invasive.
14:41
Colin Day
Yeah. I think 2020 really saw social come into its own rights from a social selling strategy perspective. More and more organizations taking employee advocacy solutions in order to help support those drives and those initiat. I mean, I know Shannon, I know you guys did exactly that during 2020 as well, right?
15:07
Shannon Seastead
We did, yeah, absolutely. I mean we became customers of Oktopost. I think overall crisis just breathes resourcefulness and what everybody had to do is kind of take a deep dive and really understand what are we going to focus on. And from our perspective, we focused on technologies and new ways to connect and we had to implement those things like really quickly. So yeah, we looked at our social outreach, knew that how we were going to reach people and we brought on you guys and that's been extremely helpful in helping us really connect to the right people at the right time. Amped up really like our LinkedIn groups and really worked hard to communicate through channel and giving everybody the opportunity to communicate at their pace, but also putting content out in a place where we could really meet when there's no opportunity for us to. To go to trade shows and stuff like that. Along from a marketing side, the same thing. Here we are at webinars and we've definitely kicked up our webinar outreach and it's been a new experience for us too. As I was saying, we've been behind the camera a lot on the webinars, but we've just had to be really resourceful and figure out how do we connect in this new age. And I think we've been really successful and it's been fun. We've done some great stuff and I think we've established and maintained the same connectedness we've had with our customers, but just in a different way.
16:37
Colin Day
Yeah. Different medium, different channel. Right?
16:39
Shannon Seastead
Yeah.
16:41
Shanie Zimerman
I found one of the. I am in the partner space usually. Right. Webinars is a nice little side gig I picked up along the way. But I remember when we would sign new partners and when a new contact had a partner would join, we would send swag. Right? We would send some little octis. We would send some, you know, just a little thanks and, you know, welcome to the Oktopost family. I know our sales team did that as well. And I found that that was also just a really weird thing suddenly. And I was like, should I do I ask for their home address to send? This is it. Am I crossing a line? Where is that line now? What is it? How personal can I get?
17:24
Shannon Seastead
Yeah, I mean, our cats and dogs are here and babies on our laps, like blurred, like, how do we talk? And yeah, it has been fascinating, but
17:34
Shanie Zimerman
we survived and we thrived. I think a lot of companies that were able to ride that digital wave and be able to kind of roll with the punches of 2020, they figured it out and we're still standing today and successful today. And I think that that was a big thing to prove also is that, you know, the work can get done in a digital world. We can do things remotely as well. And when the job needs to get done, the job's going to get done. You know, I never thought that I'd be able. Oh, sorry, Colin.
18:05
Colin Day
Yeah, I mean, one of the other things that we've also done, right, Shani, is, you know, if you, if you look at our sales organization across the course of 2020, right. We've, we've, we've gone up by 400%. Right. So we've, we've totally doubled down, tripled down, quadrupled down on, on sales staff. Right. And you know, we, sure at the beginning, maybe we took the, the wind out of the sales for the first month to, to see how things were going to pan out. But once we, we saw the healthy order book there, it's like, you know, we, we literally went hell for leather and, and hired sellers across the United States as well as in my team here in the uk. So we've totally grown the business from a sales perspective with that. That brings supplementary requirements because you get more customers, you need more customer success managers. So we're adding additional headcount there as we speak. So it's like huge, huge growth across the Oktopost organization at the moment.
19:14
Shannon Seastead
Interesting though, right? Where the growth is in business today is the technology companies. We've experienced the same thing. We're growing and doing really well. But it's the technology that's driving that success.
19:26
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah.
19:26
Colin Day
And with that, we're actually not sitting on our laurels from a technical perspective either. The platform itself is forever changing. Liad, our head of product management, and the development team continuously invest in the ongoing platform. Some great things that have come out this year, just recently, today, we've released some new calendar functionality. We've got Oktopost social listening now as a platform, the AI Auto message generator. Some great things going on in the Oktopost platform over the last nine to 12 months.
20:15
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah. We wouldn't be able to move forward with too much more, with the product staying the same for too long either.
20:21
Colin Day
So it's evolve or die, right?
20:24
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah, for sure.
20:25
Colin Day
That really is the mantra.
20:28
Shanie Zimerman
For sure. I want to add on top of that, because I think now the relationships that we've built with our customers, again, just being. It's always been customers first. Right. That's always been the mantra and the idea. But I think this year it's just accelerated a little bit and it's taken a bit further. And I think because of the relationships that we've built with our customers this past year, the feedback that we've gotten from them has really transformed our product. I mean, just speaking on this new release yesterday from the calendar, it was 90% customer feedback that was pushed into this one release. And I think that that's also incredible. I think it speaks wonders to the humanity and being able to. To just be more kind and understanding and open and conversational. And, you know, I think that these are great outcomes that come out of that.
21:23
Shannon Seastead
Yeah. Right. We found the same thing. I think we have just more of an intimate relationship with our customer. Yeah. Again, that concept of we're all in this together, we're here to help each other.
21:32
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah.
21:33
Shannon Seastead
Goes beyond business. It goes just to making everyone successful. You want to see everybody succeed.
21:39
Shanie Zimerman
Exactly, Exactly. That's exactly it.
21:42
Shannon Seastead
So it really. It is one of the positive things that's come out of 2020 for sure.
21:48
Shanie Zimerman
Onto the other positive things. What. What are your biggest success stories? I love a good segue. I really do. So that was spot on. What would you say is your biggest Success story of 2020?
22:04
Shannon Seastead
From my perspective, who's that going to?
22:06
Colin Day
Suni?
22:07
Shanie Zimerman
That's going to Shannon.
22:08
Shannon Seastead
Yeah. From my perspective was definitely the launch of the rebrand.
22:12
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah.
22:13
Shannon Seastead
We were in the middle of launching a rebrand. It was supposed to go live right about March 6, a little bit after that. And like I said, we had to put on the brakes and hold back, kind of recollect ourselves and say, you know, what do we do? We have this massive rebrand going out. From a company standpoint, OSG has been undergoing this major transformation. We were so excited to put this brand out, but had to take a step back and, like I say, focus a little bit on employees and our customers.
22:42
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah.
22:43
Shannon Seastead
And then my team had to kind of figure out, how do we do a rebrand without a war room? How do we, you know, how do we gather all of our collateral and everything we've been working on?
22:52
Shanie Zimerman
And.
22:53
Shannon Seastead
And I have to say, it took us a couple, you know, couple days to figure out how to work together, and we picked kind of right up where we left off, figured out our technology and. And. And launched right on time of our new timeline, and it was. It was really successful. We launched it in conjunction with a new webinar series, and that was kind of part of the whole digital transformation that was aligned with COVID and it was a satisfying thing to launch in the middle of a pandemic.
23:26
Shanie Zimerman
A nice thing to cross off the list. Yeah.
23:29
Shannon Seastead
Seeing the marketing team pull together and everybody else in the company get behind the brand and being supportive of the efforts and launching a new direction for a company in the middle of everything going on was just. It was fun and it was exciting, and it gave us a positive momentum to build upon.
23:48
Shanie Zimerman
Good. No, that is. I think it's an amazing feat. I think being able to accomplish anything big this year is an amazing feat.
24:01
Shannon Seastead
We're just talking about putting shoes on, right?
24:03
Shanie Zimerman
It's just from shoes to rebrand.
24:09
Colin Day
Hey, we talk about it all here, right, Shani? That's what you're saying.
24:11
Shanie Zimerman
Exactly. That's what I'm saying. We'll cover A to Z everything. Colin, what about you? Do you have any success? I know you have success stories.
24:20
Colin Day
Success stories. We got loads of success stories. I mean, I think my biggest success story is surviving, like, nine months at Oktopost. Right. Or is it the other way around? But, yeah, I mean, for me, 2020 was an interesting year. Right. As I said, I took this new role at Oktopost in March just as this thing hit. It was a little bit like my coming home story in so much as I'd actually been an Oktopost customer twice in the last six years. Anyone that knows me knows that story.
24:56
Shanie Zimerman
Anyone that's been on these webinars before knows this.
24:59
Colin Day
In actual fact, Shannon probably knows it better than most because. Because one of her Bosses was actually my former boss. So, you know, Kempow's got a lot come full circle. Ken Power's got a lot to answer for. Right. But yeah, so, so yeah, I mean, you know, that's, that's a big personal success for me. Right. Like Shani is, is to. To come and help lead the organization through some of the changes that we've gone through across 2020. And it's been a true privilege and honor to do that. Right. From our customers, the likes of Shannon and the good folks over at osg, to many, many others. And some I can say the names of and some I can't. So I won't say anything, any, just in case I upset someone by.
25:53
Shanie Zimerman
We don't know, we just gray.
25:55
Colin Day
You got it. You got it. Right? So yeah, I mean there's some of our. My personal successes. Right. Like as an organization, you know, we've gone through phenomenal growth this year and we're expecting to do similar, if not larger growth as we go into 2021 and beyond. Right. So, you know, it really is the time for social and you know, what you've seen with the modifications and enhancements to the platform. You know, I'm sure Slacker Liad and the team have got some magic up their sleeves for 2021.
26:37
Shanie Zimerman
I have no doubt they usually do.
26:39
Colin Day
They normally do that tricky little lot.
26:44
Shanie Zimerman
Well, I want to share my success story of 2020 also. So working always in the partner space and in the customer facing space, I think for myself being able to take on different challenges like webinars, for instance, it's been quite the experience. And I don't know anywhere else that I would really have the opportunity to grow and be able to experience these type of things. So again, I think, I think 2020 made everyone a little more resilient and a little bit more resourceful. And you know, I didn't know I had it in me until I had to step it up and prove it and just do it. And maybe the beginning was a little rocky and maybe even now's a little rocky. Who knows? But it's a great time and I think it's a great learning experience. And I think I know I'm not the only one in this position that, you know, has had to take on responsibilities outside of my day to day role. And I think that that experience alone, you know, it sets the tone and it sets the path for the Future for 2021, for Oktopost and then beyond. So I think, you know, there's definitely a lot of success stories to come out of 2020 if you dig around and if you look for them a little deeper. And I think again, just kind of this sense of just being resourceful and making yourself available and, you know, wanting to help. I wanted to help, so I stepped it up and I. And I helped.
28:13
Colin Day
And I think also, though, looking. Looking where you wouldn't even expect it, Right. It's like, you know, there are some deals that awesome countries that we're now involved in, you know, at the start of 2020. Yeah. If you'd have asked the executive team. Yeah, we're going to have opportunities, you know, come out. In Indonesia, for example, everyone would have looked at you as if you were crazy. Right. But guess what? Shanice has a new partner over in Indonesia.
28:40
Shanie Zimerman
So, you know, the new managing director in Amea. You see, it's all been.
28:47
Colin Day
Strange things happen, right? Strange things happen. But, you know, we've. We've, you know, the countries that we've grown into, you know, maybe a different set. You know, we've expanded maybe quicker than we thought we were going to expand in some territories this year because these,
29:04
Shanie Zimerman
you know, their requirements have also changed. Again, we're all literally experiencing the same things. If they're not, you know, if they're not keeping up to speed and their competitors are, they're gonna fall behind. And they, you know, if social wasn't a top priority or whatever it might have been, Wasn't a top priority, it's now suddenly a top priority. And yeah, again, I think just looking. It's been a, on one hand, a crappy year, pardon my French. But I think if you dig deep, everyone will be able to find their successes and their positive outtakes on what was 2020? And to wrap this up, what can we look forward to in 2021? And I wanted to add to this, but I didn't. Are there any. We don't know?
29:58
Colin Day
Are you going off script? Are you going off script? Come back.
29:59
Shanie Zimerman
I am. I'm improv now. It's the end. It's the last one. Why not? But, you know, obviously we don't know what 2021 holds. We don't know when things are going back to what they previously were. But are there certain things, certain tools, certain. I don't know, whatever it might be that were implemented in 2020 that you know for sure are going to carry on into 2021 that have proven successful and you kind of can't live without right now. That was a run on sentence.
30:35
Shannon Seastead
We implemented that in 2020 and we cannot live without it now, which is true. It really has become an integral part of how we're doing business and communicating and getting information out to our customers. It's great because our sales team gets what's relevant to them and their customers. It honestly has transformed the way that we reach out to people. So it's. I did not mean to put that plug in there.
31:02
Shanie Zimerman
No, I want to know.
31:05
Shannon Seastead
It's true.
31:07
Shanie Zimerman
Before 2020, I'm sure you guys were on social. I'm sure you had some sort of a social presence, but was it as predominant and was it as important as it was to you guys in 2020?
31:18
Shannon Seastead
Absolutely not. Like I say, which is one of the reasons we really did focus on bringing new technologies, new things to our social outreach. It was something we always believed in and took a part of. But as we had this dramatic shift, you know, with everybody being online and so forth, it. It was increasingly important to figure out how to take advantage of our social presence and really build it and find ways to use it for just, you know, putting content out, but to really use our social presence as more of a way to connect, establish, you know, a back and forth relationship with our customers and contacts. And that was really one of the biggest changes I think that we hit. It was obviously something that was always nice to have and something we wanted to do. But using social as a way to have dialogue was really a big shift for us and that it's only going to go forward and build upon in 2021 and beyond. I think we kind of set the stage for that and there's no going back from it. And just like we're a little concerned about putting shoes back on. I think that there's things that we're going to want to keep in that happen in 2020 and build upon.
32:34
Shanie Zimerman
Colin, the shoes resonated and I hate to say
32:40
Colin Day
I'm not a shoes kind of guy.
32:41
Shanie Zimerman
Sorry, girl. Everyone's just going to be barefoot in the offices once we go back or they're going to have office slippers. They're going to.
32:50
Shannon Seastead
That. That is the next big business. Office slippers swag.
32:53
Shanie Zimerman
Everyone's swag is going to be office slippers next year
32:58
Colin Day
to be seen on a trade show floor somewhere, right?
33:01
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah. If you guys see my next business venture, that'll want to hear that's mine. Trademark. Colin, what about you? What do you think we can look forward to in 2021?
33:14
Colin Day
Hopefully not shoes, but no, I mean, just to pick up on what Shannon said. Right. I think, you know, we talked about 2020 really becoming the year of social selling. I think that 2021, it's no longer called social selling, it's just called selling because it's an integral part of the modern day sales engine. Right. So I don't think that you can sell in certain industries, certainly in the B2B space, unless you have social as part of that sales mix. And I think that is something that really picked up a pace in and is. Is here to, to. To stay for, for the good going forward. And don't throw the Jen Gutman question in there of, you know, is social evil slack? Which is one of the questions that she threw at me the other day.
34:08
Shannon Seastead
She did.
34:10
Colin Day
Shocking.
34:10
Shanie Zimerman
Is it?
34:11
Shannon Seastead
I was a zinger.
34:13
Shanie Zimerman
Well, now you had to answer it.
34:15
Colin Day
How would you have answered? How, how would you have answered that one, Shannon?
34:18
Shannon Seastead
You know, I guess I would have said that it depends upon what context it's used and if yes, take good care of that.
34:25
Colin Day
That was very similar to the response I gave. We all have a responsibility and a duty, right? So as good corporate citizens, as long as we use it responsibly. Right. So there goes our GDPR and data privacy requirements. Took us totally off the bat.
34:50
Shanie Zimerman
Just like with any channel, any channel, if it's used responsibly, if it's used the right way, it can be evil. No, I'm kidding. So that was great. I really loved that conversation. I think it just brought everything that everyone was thinking and doing and wondering about together. And I think think what the two of you had shared was just, again, I think it just resonated with the audience and with anybody that's going to be listening to this. It's what everyone thought. And I think a little reassurance also goes a long way. And I think just being able to again, kind of seek out the positives out of what wasn't such a positive year, if you're just looking at it on the surface. So I have a couple, just a couple of questions that came in. The first one is this is going to be pretty specific for Shannon. Did you find more challenges in rebranding during COVID than you might have previously?
35:55
Shannon Seastead
Oh, yeah, absolutely. First of all, we were focused on our messaging, right? So we had this big brand rollout and it was all about os and you know how great we were as this new company and we were all into that. But all of a sudden you're in the middle of this pandemic and you really need to temper your message. Right? Like we rolled this out in July and people are going through difficult challenges and work is challenging and people are getting paid off across the globe. And so, yeah, it added, besides just the fact that we weren't all together and, you know, kind of like you said, in a war room and able to kind of seamlessly do what we needed to do, there was also a level of awareness that we needed to maintain as we rolled the rebrand out and wanted to showcase that our business at OSG was in the right spot, that we were going in the right place. We've undergone a major transformation in the last few years and it was the right time for us to put our message out. But we need to be very careful about that messaging considering the time that we were in. So, yeah, definitely a challenge.
37:03
Shanie Zimerman
I can imagine. And then just the one more question. Maybe I think we answered this, but maybe we can just elaborate on it a little bit more. It was sent a bit earlier on. How were you able to compensate for those lack, for the lack of in person meetings and conferences and trade shows? I know that social did take precedence for both of us. We spoke about that in terms of advocacy and just being present there. Were there any other components that you guys, the two of you, can attribute to the success of not being in person anymore?
37:39
Colin Day
Yeah. Look, do you know what, Shani? Everyone loves in person. Right? It's so much easier to connect with the individual, Right? Yes. The likes of Zoom and other technology platforms similar to that help that in a virtual world, but there's still nothing like, you know, being able to.
38:02
Shanie Zimerman
Nothing like a handshake.
38:03
Colin Day
Well, I don't know if we can. Maybe we can elbow bump or fist bump or whatever we're allowed to do these days. But, you know, that's. That's one thing that I can't wait to come back. Right. Is the actual, you know, person to person interaction. It's why I've still been going into the office even though I'm the only one going in.
38:20
Shanie Zimerman
Right.
38:20
Colin Day
It's like just on the hope of the off chance that I might bump into someone along the way.
38:29
Shannon Seastead
I'm a stickler for video conferencing. I am. And I know a lot of people have video conferencing fatigue and get worn out. And I know, like, with the marketing team, I give a lot leeway. There's definitely times where people are like, I don't want to be on Zoom. And I respect that we all this, you know, time. We've had updates and down days. But I do think the one saving grace is that we have the technology in place. Where we can see each other and interact. And especially, as you know, I've had interviews, you know, where I'm interviewing new people, join my team. You can't do that on a phone, you know.
39:01
Shanie Zimerman
Right.
39:03
Shannon Seastead
You know, make sure that you, you can see people. And I think for me that that's kind of been the best replacement is taking the time to say, hey, can we not just have a phone call? Can, can we take some time to get on zoom? I know, you know, I don't care if you've done your hair or whatever, but it's just nice to, it's nice to see each other and interact and it does bring that element of connection to a conversation that you might not have over the phone. But it is challenging. And I'm ready for some face to face too, definitely.
39:35
Shanie Zimerman
You know, I've always sat in Israel, but I've always worked with, you know, my partners and my customers have always been abroad. So for me it didn't feel in the beginning especially I didn't feel such a difference. I'm also in Israel and my whole family is in New Jersey. So for the past 10 years it's been Skype and FaceTime and WhatsApp video. So I didn't quite feel such an impact in the lack of face to face until I went to the office for the first time. We had our restrictions loosened up and things were going well in Israel. So we had some criteria where we can have alternate days in the office. And suddenly I'm there and I didn't get any work done. I was just babbling on and on and on. And suddenly it's not just my dogs that I'm TO and my husband who is, you know, playing his X Files and people are communicating back to me and I. And that's when I realized, like, oh, this is lacking the office space. The water cooler talks. I never had water cooler talks. And suddenly, you know, I wanted to stand by a water cooler and chat with everyone all day. But yeah, luckily, luckily the technology was there and really ready to go. I think technology's time to Shine was 2020. And yeah, it did allow for some sort. You know, I feel like we're sitting in a room together, the three of us. It's not, it's sunny by you, it's nighttime by me, it's dusk or snowing by me. Exactly. And I'm sitting here in 70 degree weather in a sweater. It's normal, it's fine. But it feels like we're together. And I think, yeah, thank God for Technology.
41:26
Colin Day
It was interesting to see what there was a run on, though. Right, Shani, in so much as. Don't know about you guys, but in the uk, you couldn't get a webcam for love nor money for about three or four months, right?
41:36
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah, yeah.
41:38
Colin Day
Office furniture. It's like, you know, if you wanted a decent office chair, again, you couldn't get one for love nor money. Now it's all Xbox and PlayStation that you can't get for love nor money. But go back three or six months and it was office.
41:56
Shanie Zimerman
Yeah. It started with toilet paper and then it was office supplies. And now it's. Everyone's settled in. So it's just the gaming now it's video games. We're like, okay, we're here for a while, we might as well hunker down.
42:12
Shannon Seastead
Good.
42:13
Shanie Zimerman
So before we wrap up, anything else on your end, anything that we didn't cover that you might want to share? I know we covered a lot, so no pressure, but I don't want to cut you off.
42:26
Shannon Seastead
I just think we need to be prepared for more of the unexpected. I think definitely anything. That's what it taught us. And I think that in many ways we've prepared ourselves for that. So I'm looking forward to closing out 2020.
42:39
Shanie Zimerman
Absolutely.
42:39
Colin Day
Yeah. I think we now have the playbook for the unexpected. Right. And the playbook is there is no playbook.
42:45
Shannon Seastead
Right, Right.
42:46
Colin Day
But guess what? Yeah. Not everything's gonna drop off the face of the earth. Right.
42:51
Shanie Zimerman
That's also true. And the show must go on.
42:55
Colin Day
You've got it.
42:56
Shanie Zimerman
All right, thank you so much, Shannon and Colin. This was, for me, a really great way to wrap up 2020. I want to thank just again, the audience for being on this ride with us again. 11 episodes, hearing me talk and Colin and, you know, it's been wonderful. It's been a really great ride. I wish everybody a really happy and more importantly, healthy holiday season and new year. And I look forward to reconvening in 2021. Again, this series is going to continue, so would love to hear also from the audience if there's anything on your minds that you want us to cover. Emails are here. Please reach out. And thank you again, Shannon and Colin, this was wonderful.
43:39
Colin Day
Thanks for having us.
43:41
Shanie Zimerman
Of course.
43:41
Colin Day
Thanks, Shannon.
43:43
Shanie Zimerman
Thank you. Have a good rest of your snow day. Remember when snow days were a thing, too?
43:48
Shannon Seastead
Yeah.
43:49
Shanie Zimerman
When you would have to work from home because you couldn't go to the office. And now here I am. Here you are. All right, well, thank you both so much.
43:59
Shannon Seastead
Have a Good night, guys.
44:00
Colin Day
Thank you.
44:00
Shanie Zimerman
Bye.
44:01
Colin Day
Bye.
44:01
Shanie Zimerman
Bye.
