Back at PrimeTime in San Antonio, Sr. Marketing Manager for Nationwide Marketing Group (NMG), Lauren Hylarides, sat down with Melisa Monroe of Podium to talk about all the ways Podium helps retailers solve major pain points, including time, staffing, marketing, and lead generation.

They also dive more into the NMG + Podium partnership and customizable digital solutions for NMG Members, including a package designed to sync with NMG OneShop. Click here for more information.

If you are an Independent retailer looking to grow and win, this episode is for you.

Read the full transcript below.

Lauren Hylarides (LH): Hi, Melisa, how’s your PrimeTime going?

Melisa Monroe (MM): Oh, it’s been such a great show so far. I really have enjoyed it. Yes, all the amazing booths, amazing people, amazing retailers. I got lunch with some people I’ve never met. You know, one in Pennsylvania, one in Oregon. It’s been lovely.

LH: That’s one of my favorite things about prime time is meeting all the different Members and Vendors from across the country. So we’re so excited to have you and excited to have Podium at the show. And I wanted to be able to talk with you a little bit while we have our audience here about the beginning of the NMG and Podium partnership.

MM: Oh, that’s such a good story. I’m glad you asked. We’ve had a pretty great partnership with NMG for about five years now. And I am nothing but impressed, honestly. I’m always impressed with NMG and their desire to help their Members. And I feel like that has been really shown with the new OneShop integration.

You know, about probably two or three years ago, NMG started, you know, looking at the landscape of this of businesses in general and retailers and what the struggles… and saw how well Members who were adopting their digital products, how well those stores were operating. And then while they’re looking at that data, they saw that those retailers had Podium and how Podium was helping across the board, making those digital products and helping with the new digital age.

As the partnerships continued, it’s been amazing to watch how NMG has just really cared about that innovation and driving so much value to their customers. It’s been so great for us to have a partner in NMG for that reason. And I love this new partnership with the OneShop because I know how you guys, you’re looking at the landscape of AI. You’re looking at the landscape of what’s going on in the industry. And because of that, and you saw the success of Podium, we’ve partnered together and it’s just been lovely. It’s just been such a great partnership.

LH: Yeah, I’ve had a really great time working with you. I feel like we’ve developed a really good like working relationship. But also it’s just been fun for you and I to have some shared learnings, which I feel like is really reflective to what you were talking about. It’s just been a lot of shared learnings and innovation between OneShop and Podium that has offered really great and refreshed solutions to our Members.

And you touched on a little bit about the struggles. I would love to hear you talk through what, what are the common pain points that you see Podium and especially now this OneShop Podium partnership solving for retailers?

MM: Yeah, you know, retailers are dealing with a lot. They deal with a lot already. I think running a business can be very overwhelming. And the pain points that I’ve, you know, I talked to retailers on a daily basis. And here’s like the common things I hear.

My staff — I’m having a hard time hiring and keeping individuals.

My time — I feel like I’m wearing five hats at all times and I’m dropping things through the cracks.

I feel like I will be with a customer in my showroom and then my phones will be ringing off the hook and I can’t, I can’t be in two places at once.

So my time, my time is valuable and it’s, it’s stressful.

LH: Yeah.

MM: My marketing, I feel like I am, I don’t know what the marketing landscape looks like and I’m doing things like ads in the newspaper or billboards. And I feel like I don’t, I know they’re working, but I don’t know how they’re working and what other, what other types of channels are there for me to look at.

And so I feel like those pain points have been huge for retailers. And what’s, what’s been great is, you know, our product team is so impressive that they’re always, they’re always interviewing retailers. They’re always talking to people, they’re trying to build a, so well, let me back up.

So Podium is actually broken down into what we call verticals. And what that means is that we actually have a specific team who specializes in that industry. So we have like the auto industry or the HVAC industry and we have a BAM retail industry.

And so what’s so impressive with that and why that is so great is while we are building our product while we are trying to, you know, innovate and, and we’re trying to innovate and we’re trying to build products that people will actually use. We actually have a whole team that our whole job is to be like in the minds of the retailer and to build specifically for them. And so what’s nice is we’ve asked pain points to the customer and then we’ve come in and added things into our software that will help with that… Can’t keep your sales staff or you’re with a customer and your phone’s ringing off the hook. What do you do? Or what other marketing campaigns is there for you to, uh, to use as a retailer?

LH: Yeah. So Podium has developed all of these solutions, kind of custom fitted them to meet the needs, to meet the asks of these pain points of retailers.

And you touched on this a little bit, so I would love for you to dive deeper or tell us a little bit more about the different packages, kind of what’s included because Podium has several different levels to meet retailers where they are, meet their needs, um, so that they aren’t shoved into a box that’s smaller, you know, or using a service that’s too much for them to handle.

Can you tell us about the different package levels and help our Members understand how to select the best level for them? And talk to me a little bit about the new and exciting OneShop package and how that’s been included into the OneShop solution.

MM: Okay. Yeah.

LH: That’s a big question.

MM: Let us dive into that. Okay. Yeah. Well, before I jump into each individual package, um, let me jump into like the different kinds of products that we have. Because a lot of times people will say, “Oh, Podium, you do reviews” and the answer is yes, we do reviews. We also do a lot more.

So a couple of things that we offer that retailers, um, honestly ask, actually asked me at lunch today, is we do have a reviews platform. So we do have ways that, you know, we will respond to reviews. We will help capture reviews and we’ve made it innovative and very easy for people to text out a review, then get it back. And that will help grow your SEO. If you’re a retailer, like your search engine optimization, if I type a sofa in San Antonio, you will now show up because of those keywords showing up to your, uh, on your search engine. So that’s one of the first things we do.

The second thing we do is we have a text marketing, uh, platform as well. So that means that, you know, you can text back and forth with your customers, whatever way that they’ve texted you with. So that means like if someone messaged you on Facebook, Twitter, and it’s X now, that’s right. So if someone messages you on Facebook or Instagram or on Google, it’s actually all going into one platform. And from that platform, you’re able to then respond back.

We also have an, and this is actually newer. We also have what’s called bulk messaging. So you can do one-time upgrades with your bulk messaging where you send out mass text messages to any customer who’s ever bought from you or who’s ever even subscribed to you. Right?

So anyone who’s come into the store and your sales team said, “Hey, opt in. We do flash sales, opt in and, and you know, get our messaging.” And so we actually have this bulk messaging where you can send out any sort of coupon or promotional, anything, and then get your, get your customers to come back.

LH: Wow. That is really cool.

MM: And then I have two more.

LH: Oh my gosh. There’s even, there’s even more.

MM: Yes, there’s more. And more.

LH: [Jokingly] All for $19.99.

MM: And so what’s nice with that, we also have a phones product. So the phones product is honestly one of my favorites because it really helps you connect with your customers. It really solves that problem of I’m with a customer on a showroom and my phone’s ringing and everyone else is busy. And what do I do?

If you miss that call, our phones product actually will then text back, text the person back and say, sorry, we missed your call. We’ll be right with you and, and it’ll start capturing those leads back. So it really helps that problem. Um, the phones product is awesome. I’ve actually seen a lot of sales teams train their sales team with the phones, the phone system.

So you have transcripts of every phone call, so you can actually go through and listen to your team and how they’re doing on the phones, uh, as well as legally like having those transcripts.

It really helps because then if someone says, “Oh, you said you would deliver on Friday” and you go back to the call and say, “Oh, actually the delivery is supposed to be Saturday.” And the customer just misheard, uh, you can now like have evidence of proof to that.

It’s, everything’s mobile friendly, so it goes to your phone. If you miss the call, um, in the store, you can have it automatically transferred to your personal cell phone. Um, so again, you’re never missing that lead. Uh, I love the phones products.

We also have, and this one’s like the super exciting thing. We do also use AI, so we are very integrated with the AI platform, our AI platform. We use it in a lot of different ways. Um, we’ll use AI to respond to text messaging. We’ll use AI to respond to reviews. We’ll use AI to, um, to help like craft some of those bulk text messages for you, but it doesn’t just stop there.

We have 5,000 AI agents. So an AI agent, meaning someone who can converse with the customer, uh, talk with the customer, very conversational. So you have an AI agent who can actually act as a sub-employee. It’s been, it’s been pretty revolutionary for anyone who takes part of it. It’s been really, really fun to hear as someone who works for Podium, because I can then hear the stories of like, this is my like second, this is my fourth employee. It’s a small store. There’s my fourth employee. And I feel like that is huge.

LH: That’s incredible. Like adding some extra head count there without, you know, all the things that come with that. That’s amazing.

MM: And then you have the ability to train, uh, train your AI. So we call it Jerry, but you can name it whatever you want. If you’re more of a Larry person, then you can do that. And so that’s, that’s, what’s really great is you can then train the AI to answer how you want, uh, not fall, not fall flat.

You know, if, if a person texts in and asks, “How’s the wear of microfiber couches?” And that question can come out into your mailbox, like four different ways, right? Like someone can ask that question four different ways. And the great thing is our AI agent is actually there to, can answer those questions in all the different ways. And won’t just be like, “Oh, talk to an employee.” Like we really believe that we want to help you get your time back. And it’s just really, really necessary.

So, so when it comes to the different packages, let’s actually kind of dive into the OneShop package. The OneShop package has, that’s what we called the essentials package. So that has three users. It has a hundred text messages. So three users, a hundred text messages, um, has an email-based reputation management. So that’s the Google reviews, um, and then your CS and your customer support is actually all handled by the CAMs at NMG.

And then you have some, so 10 DLC functionality that’s, that’s making sure all of your texting is like legal and all of that. And then you have some, uh, web chat features and then you have 50 bulk messages you can send. So that’s what the OneShop capability is.

We also have a pro package and that pro package can actually, that’s where you have unlimited users, unlimited messages, three phones users, 2,000 bulk messages, AI instant answer. So someone who’s going to answer any of the instant answers of like what comes in. We have a ton of point-of-sale integrations, um, payments — oh, I didn’t even talk about payments — and a one-to-one customer success manager.

So, uh, if you come into Podium, you have a dedicated customer success manager. We actually have one here. She is like big in, in our fan space. So, uh, her name’s Dale. She’s wonderful. But yeah, you’ll have like, you’ll have your own Dale, you’ll have someone who you can talk to. So that is what it is.

So with the OneShop package, you’re actually getting a hundred text messages. You have a three-user limit. You have the reputation management, but that’s through your email. And then you have the support is actually handled by NMG and through your guys’s CAMs.

So if you’re on the pro package though, that unlocks to unlimited users. You have 2000 bulk messages, which is huge. You have unlimited messages going back and forth with your customers. And then you have a free phones limit as well. So pro package can upgrade.

And then from there, if you are a multi-location, we have more packages that can be custom fit for you. Um, and then obviously like your locations can all talk to each other, uh, all of that, that stuff.

So there’s even another package. If you know, if you’re a smaller shop, you want to go even more. We have, uh, another package that supported those multi-locations, as well as we have, you know, upgrades from there. Like if you want to do a one-time bulk message send, um, we have pricing for that.

So you know, we have St. Patrick’s Day today, but, uh, we have Memorial Day coming up. We see a lot of people who want to take advantage of that text message and making sure that they send a message out to their customers to say, “Oh, come here for the Memorial Day.” And you can do that. You can do a one-time upgrade. So there’s, there’s ways to really customize, um, those plans so that it meets the needs of your store.

LH: That’s great. And again, everything for our members that we’ve found through both OneShop, but then everything that NMG does is really every business is so unique. And I love not only the customization of how each package is cut to fit different size businesses and different complexities of businesses, but the AI tool is so cool because our retailers really do in their community have their own personality and culture. And so it’s great to see that we’re taking really high tech tools that can give them access to a hometown feel, or, you know, creating, uh, an extra set of hands, an extra worker that fits right in with the team and tone that they’re used to using. That’s great.

How do you tell, or how do you help, Members evaluate, help retailers evaluate the right package for them? What’s a good starting point for figuring out where they even start?

MM: Yeah. I would say to see if you, you know, what package you would date, you would have to meet with one of our account executives. From there, they can look through, like, kind of understand what your pain points are with your store and then what your needs are with that store. And then we can go from there.

Like, does it make sense to stay on like OneShop? Do we want to go to the pro package? Do we want to do something else Do we want to do a pro package and add a couple of bulk message upgrades on like big holidays?

There’s lots of different, different ways that you can do it. And so I think the best way would be, contact us and we can get you set up with your territory AE and that’s your account executive. And go from there.

LH: Love it. Flexibility and partnership, which are two big pillars that we at NMG believe in. So that’s great. I’m so glad that we have this partnership and I’m really excited to see how not just the, you know, essentials package with OneShop helps bring all of these new technologies to Members and retailers that might not have had them before, but just opens up a whole new world with all these extra levels and packages that can just help them grow and grow and grow.

MM: Absolutely. Because our hope is like our mission at Podium is all about making retailers win. We want to help you win. And we’re here to help your business. We’re B2B, right? Like we are here to help you win. And we, we, in order to do that, and in order for that to work, like you have to have that ability to scale. You have to have the ability to grow. And we’re just here to help you do that.

You know, with Podium, we care. We want retailers to win. That’s why we’re industry verticalized. That’s why we have teams that are dedicated to knowing the furniture, appliance, mattress world. And those pain points and what retailers are struggling. That is why we did that is because we really care. And we want those retail businesses to win. So we’re here. We’re here to help capture leads. We’re here to help get found, get chosen. We’re here to help you grow your leads. And then we’re here to help you bring all that customer back.

LH: I love it. Get found, grow, you know, just it’s, it’s what we’re here to do. And that’s what PrimeTime is all about. And we are here making connections, which is the whole point of PrimeTime. And so we’re so happy to have you. Thank you for taking time to come and answer some questions.

And we will be sure to tell retailers Members who are interested in learning more about lead generation, reputation management, chat features, how do we start leveraging AI more to fill in some teen gaps or help them grow? The Podium booth is a really great place to start. Or even after PrimeTime, reach out to your OneShop, your CAM, your Podium rep. We’re all here to help you on your digital journey.

So thank you so much.

If you have more questions, or you want to learn more about the Podium solution or the OneShop Podium essentials package, check out the link in this description.

All right. Thanks, Melissa.

MM: Thank you.