MarTech Interview with Rory Cutaia, Founder, Chairman, President & CEO at Verb Technology Company, Inc

Rory Cutaia, Founder, President & CEO at Verb Technology Company, Inc shares a few business growth tips while taking us through VERB’s latest innovations in this chat:

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Hi Rory! Welcome to this chat…tell us more about Verb Technology and its growth journey over the last few years and especially new (latest) innovations!

Verb Technology is a rapidly emerging leader in business-focused interactive video sales and marketing tools. Our cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions include livestream ecommerce, customer relationship management (CRM), and content management applications. Our interactive video technology is integrated into Salesforce, and we are already in public beta testing phase for integration with Microsoft Outlook, which has a total addressable market of over one billion Outlook users. Our customers report greater than 600% increases in sales conversion rates using our proprietary, patented, and patent-pending technology platform. Last year, we completed the accretive acquisition of SoloFire, which provided us with immediate entry into the lucrative healthcare and life sciences sales market.  With offices in California and Utah, VERB’s next-generation software applications are accessible on mobile and desktop devices and available by subscription to individual and enterprise users of sales-based organizations in more than 60 countries and in 48 languages.

Social Selling News, a widely respected industry publication, recently ranked VERB #1 in The Rank List among companies that provide sales apps for the direct sales companies, confirming our dominant position in the direct selling industry.

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We’d love to hear more about Verb Technology’s recent partnership with Marketing 360?

Verb Technology and Marketing 360 have partnered to offer a suite of complementary services that help small businesses grow more rapidly through an effective end-to-end sales and marketing program, from lead generation to sales conversion.

Marketing 360 helps over 20,000 small- and medium-sized businesses scale through a powerful platform that includes a customer relationship management tool, a website builder, payments integration, email marketing, among other features. The Marketing 360 feature set is complemented by our verbTEAMS platform which adds the ability to manage, share, and track interactive content, such as demo videos, personalized videos, or business proposals, all while offering customer and prospect interaction analytics for easy overall assessment of audience engagement and content effectiveness. 

As many small business owners lack the resources and skills necessary for marketing and building an online presence, this partnership will place a suite of highly effective and proven tools in the hands of small business owners and entrepreneurs that will enable them to focus their time, energy and resources on customer engagement/interaction and high-probability sales prospects who have demonstrated an interest in the products or services.

How are you seeing the demand for interactive content grow today? What are some top thoughts you have for the ways in which sales and marketing teams will want more interactivity in their multichannel content in future?

The pandemic has significantly accelerated remote work practices as social distancing restrictions have limited everyone’s ability to physically interact with one another. We’ve had to adopt new technologies that keep us connected in order to remain productive. 

While all business processes have been impacted by social distancing restrictions, the sales process was impacted most. This is especially true of small businesses such as retailers that often rely on in-person connections to promote and sell their products. Consider all of the business owners who have tried to stay afloat despite extreme declines in revenue. Employees have lost their jobs and some businesses have even permanently shut their doors as a result of reduced customer traffic during the pandemic. This is exactly where interactive video can provide the support retailers need.

Interactive video selling provides retailers (no matter their size) with the tools needed to engage customers and prospects by incorporating the human connection which is the critical component missing during social distancing restrictions. Allowing customers to interact and engage with their favorite stores and sales persons is the recipe for continued revenue generation and even growth during this difficult time.

Sales and marketing teams that embrace interactivity in their multichannel content will have the market advantage. They will have the tools needed to engage customers and provide real time feedback. Sales teams and customers will more easily establish and foster valuable relationships by holding real time conversations via live video with the added benefit of in-video purchase capabilities that eliminate friction from the sales process. 

Additionally, sales and marketing teams would benefit from tools that enable them to centralize all of their content and sales materials in one place so each team member has access to every asset they may need to properly and consistently communicate with their potential customers. Moreover, those creating the content are better able to know which content is being viewed and resonating most with customers.

In your opinion, what are some best practices that small businesses need to be following today to drive more revenue?

There are several, but allow me to focus on two here. First, business owners and entrepreneurs often find themselves wearing multiple hats in order to conserve capital and move the business forward. While this is often necessary in the earliest stages of a start-up, knowing when to bring in others to do tasks and assume roles that can be done far more effectively is the difference between success and failure. 

Entrepreneurs need to surround themselves with people that are far more proficient in their respective roles than the entrepreneur is in those roles. Most entrepreneurs fail to appreciate that the costs of not adding this talent is many times much greater than the costs to bring them in. 

Second, embrace technology. I’m not suggesting going out and signing up for every new app on the market. I’m saying don’t be afraid to explore the latest technology solutions that can help drive a business forward much more rapidly. Focus on anticipated return on investment when deciding on adopting new technology as you may find that the somewhat more costly alternative may actually produce a much higher ROI. 

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A few tips to share when it comes to optimizing content effectiveness in sales and marketing?

Relevancy is everything. It is so important to understand and tailor your content to your target audience. You should not generalize or make assumptions about them as it can turn out to be a waste of time. You probably won’t get the feedback you are hoping for. 

Study and analyze the content you are putting out into the world. Find out what is working and what is not – there are tools available to help you with this. Take the time to learn about your customers and what they like about your business. Additionally, figuring out an issue that your customers are facing will give your business the opportunity to provide current and future customers with content that is truly valuable, appealing and will resonate with them. If you don’t review your content performance, you will never know what your audience really wants.

Tailored content will help maintain a steady customer connection between your customers and your business because they will see that you are really listening to their wants and needs. Tailoring content can lead to improved lead conversions and eventually, revenue.

A few predictions that you have for the future of martech as a whole? Can you talk about some top martech providers you have been following in the recent years from the global market and why you find them innovative?

With regard to predictions, my personal belief is that we are witnessing the very beginning of a major shift, potentially a monumental change in the sales process due to changes in consumer buying habits, social media, new technology, especially new video technology, the ubiquity of WiFi, the coming 5-G networks, and AI, coupled with the accelerant of the pandemic. As a result, today’s leaders in retail and ecommerce may very possibly be replaced or marginalized, not unlike what we saw happen to the dominant players of the past, such as Sears, among many others. Those who embrace the latest ecommerce technologies, particularly livestream ecommerce, such as our own verbLIVE technology, will be the new dominant players of the near future.

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