Welcome to Retail Checks and Balances, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the bustling world of commerce and culinary delights to help you grow your business and win. Join us as we explore the fascinating stories, trends, and challenges that shape the retail and hospitality industry, from cozy corner cafes to sprawling shopping malls and everything in between. And now, here's your host, Kevin Spencer.

Hello again. We're back again with Retail Checks and Balances. Special guest today is Robert Gerov, president of RGM, which is Robert Gerov Media, a lead generation specialist. Welcome to the show, Robert. Thank you very much for having me. And let's kick things off by, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey to where you are today.

Kevin Spencer

Sure. So I started out very humble roots. I learned this when I was just a kid. I put myself through college actually doing this. And finished my degree and I realized this was a huge waste of time and I need to continue doing what I'm great at. Because a degree in behavioral science would never gotten me anywhere.

Robert Gerov

That's funny. That was a waste of time and your business now is where you go, right?

Absolutely. Because college, I look at it, it cost me a ton of money and without what I'm doing today, I wouldn't have even be able to afford it. I would have had to take a student loan and pay it off over the course of my life. So this just seemed like the right thing for me to do. I was good at it. people seem to like me, they trusted me, they gave me, you know, their business in their hands. And with that trust, you know, I grew this into, you know, a 25 service provider business, you know, we offer 24 seven support, because we have service centers throughout the world that are able to, you know, help our customers out whenever they need it.

So Let's step back. The inspiration came from, you know, loving this from a youth, as you say, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So it was just something I was really was great at. I built my first e-commerce store when I was still in high school. And, uh, I built that up and, and, uh, I sold that business for 30 grand before college. My mother made me go to college. So you're going to be a doctor.

That's funny. I'm guessing you'd have to apologize to your mom later when she listens to this, right?

I will. I will definitely not think about it. Thank you.

Thank you. So what are you doing today in terms of projects that you're really excited about when it comes to lead generation? Let us know what exactly is the engine behind lead generation.

So lead generation is kind of the culmination of several different digital marketing processes into one. Web development, SEO, pay-per-click, social media, you name it. So we put all of these mediums into work to build up essentially a sales pipeline or a never ending stream of leads to call. Usually it's a business that needs to keep their sales people busy so that they're constantly making money, constantly making more revenue, making their shareholders happy, or On the other hand, it'll be businesses that would end up already using some sort of lead generation, and they need to find whatever gaps they may be missing that may be causing them to overspend in any area regarding that process. It's a much more holistic approach, you could call it, compared to just maybe doing some SEO or doing some pay-per-click. everything put together where you have one party that is kind of responsible and nobody that that party can actually go back into and say, hey, well, they didn't do their job right. That's why it's not working. We take full responsibility and we make sure that everything is functioning the way it should be and progressing the way it should be on a very uptrend.

Oh, amazing. I mean, when you said search engine optimization, I mean, that's how, you know, people get in front when somebody does a Google search, right?

Exactly. Yeah. But there are so many ways to do that now, even on Google, you know, you have the local service ads, you have the Google map, you have the standard Google ads, and then you have the SEO. So there's so many ways to get out there, you know, and now you have to figure out where my customer is actually looking. So that's already an analysis of user intent.

So let's say you, when you onboard a particular customer, what are you driving them to? What are you positioning them from A to Z? Tell me a little bit about that and the listeners can learn from you based on that.

Oh, well, it really depends because every business is different. First off, based on their own category, whether they're an attorney and then specialization. So that attorney may be, for example, a traffic attorney, a personal injury attorney, a disability advocate. So whatever it may be, they all have a different place that they need to be within the Google search. And in some cases, I may not even advise them to be on the Google search. I may advise other avenues. For example, like geofencing, where we're doing billboards, native advertising, in-email marketing, et cetera. So kind of like different positioning that works for different types of demographics, different types of categories, different types of specializations within those categories.

Cool. And so what are some of the misconceptions people have about, you know, your, your field?

Um, misconceptions. Um, sometimes they, I feel like people feel business owners think that they can get started on a particular path. And that may be enough for them to get started. That makes sense. Where they may think, yeah, I need to do this right now because I heard, you know, somebody say this on some, you know, some TV show on Fox News or on CNN. You know, this is where all the business owners in my field are making money. But it may not be the case because, yeah, you might find somebody, a digital marketer that may be able to accomplish that goal, but you may be missing several different areas. So you may be missing the tracking, for example, you may be missing that. Oh, well, the website needs to be proper or the well, this needs to be this this way. Content needs to be written that way, whatever it may be. But there are certain gaps. that are overlooked. Even, say for example, somebody very influential will say this is the plugin that you need for your website. Neil Patel does this a lot, for example. all the time, he'll say, download this plugin and you're going to rank higher on SEO, you know, and God, you know, God knows once you download that plugin, all your questions are answered. People are going to be flooding the gates to your business, you know, so there are a lot of, a lot of good ideas, but they have to flow within a certain goal and a certain, um, uh, kind of process that you have to build to be able to make that work.

Oh, nice. So I have a two part question for you now. Sure. What are some of the challenges you've faced in your career and you know, how you overcome, overcame them? And you know, what's the most important lesson you've learned along, along the way?

Yeah, that is a tough one. A particular situation does come to mind actually because so I work with a lot of attorneys and attorneys are kind of notorious for having disputes within their organizations. So I've learned that it's not always the greatest thing to have to rely on people when it comes to partners. And I was very lucky to learn this from a few clients early on, where I saw how they were actually interacting with each other internally, where I realized if I were to take on a partner or even a group of partners, like many of my circle was kind of wanting to get in the business with me, I was thinking to myself, what happens when we disagree? So attorneys, they're a little bit more protected, I think, than most people because they know the law and they know how to navigate it. So no matter what, even though attorney, attorney, it always ends up kind of, you know, we understand what we need to do here. But when it comes to everybody else, I feel like there are certain things that we will never understand because we're not attorneys. So if there is a dispute, one person may try to get over on the other thinking that whatever may happen. So I decided for myself early on that if I wanted something done, I needed to do it myself, number one, and if I couldn't do it myself, better to hire somebody that can do it and will do it the way I want them to do it. Fantastic. So that's something I learned early on that it served me pretty well over the years.

I think that's it. That's amazing. It's amazing stuff. I mean, um, so what do you think in terms of, you know, your future when it comes to trends and, you know, where your industry is heading, heading in the next, let's say five to 10 years, just to throw that number out.

Well, since the first AI, for example, let's say, ChatGPT, OpenAI. Since their first beta model was unveiled, there's already been a lot of volatility in our field. And I feel like the more tools that are coming out, the more opportunity there's going to be, number one, for automation. and number two, for building internal systems that can work perpetually by a certain rule set and without, let's say, delays of any kind. What do I mean by that? There's a lot of AI. For example, we've begun using AIs for sales. Whenever our customers come to us a big problem for them is finding reliable sales people. So what we do is we set up an AI that can answer phone calls. Send phone calls and have conversations with people that seem natural so when that conversation closes it ends in a call to action as well. Do you feel comfortable? Can we send you a text to make your purchase? Can we send you a text to sign the agreement? So it leads people directly through a sale and it kind of just makes things a lot smoother. So I feel like more technologies that are kind of like coming out today that are growing and even in their infancy, they're making this much of a disruption, I feel like the LLM model and things like ChatGPT are going to end up growing and becoming a much bigger part of lead generation and every business as a whole. I do see many, many, many jobs replaced by it within the next five years. Elon Musk actually said something that was very interesting, is that eventually it's going to get to a point where AI has taken on so many of the day-to-day jobs, even sanitation, customer service, and blah, blah, blah. It may get to a point where we're going to have to, as a government, give a universal income so that people can survive without having to work because they won't have any work to do at that point. He's saying that this is something that can eventually happen. I agree with that.

I think that it's scary shit to be honest with you. You know, you hear people every day in conferences talking about AI, like it's the next great thing. I mean, there's some greatness to it, but there's a people component that's going to suffer no matter what. And, you know, people got to align themselves with that, which, you know, brings me to something you said just now. So when you talk about customer service AI, When I am on the phone, I wouldn't realize that I'm talking to an AI agent, or I'm going to think it's an actual person that I'm talking to. Tell me a little bit.

Oh, well, yeah, definitely. So an AI would answer the phone. and have a conversation with you. Hey, thanks for calling so and so office. How can I help you? I got this and this problems, you know, I fell down, I slipped, I had a slip and fall, or I got hurt in the car accident. Can you help me? Yes, I can help you. Or it may even be, you know, an inquiry on a home. Hey, I'd love to see this house. Can you tell me a little bit more about it? Yeah, the basement is like this and it's fully finished and brand new kitchen and blah, blah, blah. We have a pool and all kinds of great stuff. And it can walk you through every one of your questions. There's you create a script with rules that it must follow. And then a knowledge base, which kind of acts like a FAQ. These are the most common questions. Then it has access to the web as far as anything else that it may need, generally about maybe even the neighborhood, for example, when speaking about real estate. It will have a conversation with you. It will feel very conversational. And in most cases, you will not realize that this is an AI.

Wow. That's amazing stuff. Um, cause you know, when it comes to sales, you know, this, I guess it has to listen to certain, um, words to grab the response that they need to respond.

And I guess it's certain questions. And it can recognize emotion just by the way you speak. It'll actually say, hey, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. But go ahead and finish your question, I'm sorry I interrupted you. And in the most smooth manner, it will actually be able to transition into the next part of the conversation, the way you would expect an experienced salesperson.

Okay, so I have another two part question. So, As business leaders, we want to leave some sort of legacy, right? How do you measure your success in your work, projects, or whatever you're doing, or what do you see is that legacy that you're going to leave behind when it comes to your particular field? Or, you know, whatever you think that legacy is.

I think the legacy that I would like to leave is something actually a friend of mine recently experienced. So a friend of mine, his father started their business, let's say 50 years ago, whatever it was. And he passed on about a year and a half ago. And yeah, he's a great man. A giant of a man, as he's described in many cases. But I think what was beautiful is that his two sons took over his business following his death. And during his life, they were growing it together, the three of them. And they all had their specialties, their own departments. When he passed on, I think a year later, after they were done with their mourning, they were actually called to an event where they were honored with a lifetime achievement award for his father. So I think because I relate to that, I have two sons, I would like to one day leave a legacy for my sons to be able to see that I left a positive impact through my work on many people's lives and something that they can be proud to take on into the future once I'm gone. I think that is something to strive towards.

Inspiring stuff. So let's talk about you. I mean, what are your hobbies, interests, you know, What's the other side of work? You know, you talk about having a balance between personal and work. So tell us about that other side, the personal side of you. You talked about two sons just now. So are you looking to have a daughter?

I am. I would love to. I think that, I mean, pretty simple life, I think, outside of what I do here. I spend as much time with my boys as I possibly can. Go to the museum, take them to the Monster Jam shows, take them to a Mets game, take them to a Yankees game, the Rangers game. They love sports. My oldest son, he's absolutely in love with soccer. Um, I actually, I'm actually working right now. I just got the contract for a Montclair university and, uh, St. John's university representing the soccer team, generating more leads for them to get more players on for like the soccer camps and et cetera. Um, other than that, I spend as much time with my wife as possible. We love going, going to see shows together. We're both foodies and, um, Other than that, I love to ride my motorcycle. I'm a big, a big, uh, motorcycle. I'm a Harley fan. 100% all the way only Harley's.

You got the jackets and the gloves and. Yeah. Yeah. It's a much different look than this. You got a gang, you got a gang to a road gang or. I am alone.

I'll ride alone. Okay. Okay. It's a much more freeing feeling to be there out on the road and be able to just be there with the road.

Okay. Any sports golf?

Um, I do like golf. Um, I like pickleball recently. I've been enjoying that big time. Yeah, squash, tennis. I love tennis. I was a varsity tennis in college. The only thing I enjoyed more than building websites. So that's about it.

Oh, that's nice. I mean, that's good to know. I mean, we always, want to make sure that we, we, we have a balance in terms of personal and work balance, because that's how we keep the stress away because we can get stressed out at work. And then we have things that we enjoy that takes that out of us. And, you know, I think a lot of people should take that message of being, have that balanced work life going. Um, I would like to understand before we close, um, what inspires you from your business in terms of creating that innovation that, that, that, you know, separates you from your competition? Um, I think, I know it's a tough question.

You know, it's, it's a bit loaded, but not, not like crazy, but no, it's not. I'll explain. I'll explain what I mean. So many times I get this customers will actually, they'll tell me, uh, how grateful they are. For example, Rob, you took my business to a whole new place. You don't understand. I think that fuels me a little bit. Because that little bit of impact, like, I changed this man's life. And things that you would never guess, because who tells you these things when they're happening to them? So, you know, he may be going through a divorce, bankruptcy, this or that. And I'll go through like a regular sales demo with them. And I'll say, you know, these are the things that we do, this is how it works, blah, blah, blah. I've had it where people would actually open up to me on the calls very often, but very few times does anybody ever say that, hey, listen, this is what's going on, and I need some help, and blah, blah, blah. But usually, six months, a year down the line, they'll say, Rob, we just did our first million dollars in sales in the last six months. We've never done that. And these are the things that I'm now able to do because of that. And that little bit of motivation is huge to me. So that is, I think that's a big reason.

And that's something you see a lot. When you have that personal touch and you have that caring approach for your customers, it really positions you very well against your competition. Because some people would just say, this is the guy to call because he does this. It's not about, sometimes it's not even about price. It's because you do things that separates you and you innovate in terms of what you position your business to be a caring one. And I think that's very, very important in today's dynamic market. Robert, this has been great. I thank you very much for joining me on my show today. Is there anything else you want to add in terms of what you want to say and anything in terms of where you want people to reach you in terms of your business?

I think that we'll do that, but I think what's important because of the title that we chose for this, for this podcast, I think it's important to leave people with an important bit of information. Lead generation is not so complicated. But one thing that people tend to overcomplicate is tracking. Tracking should always remain simple. Find a simple, dynamic number insertion tool, like CallRail, for example, that can keep track of where your leads are coming from, keywords, sources, campaigns, et cetera, all in one place, so that whatever you're doing, you already know where your money is best spent. I think that is the ideal takeaway from this. I'm happy to help anybody to get started on that road or take over and make sure that they are receiving the results that they want to get where they want to go. My phone number at the office 212-847-0147. My name is Robert. Happy to help anytime. And your website? robertgarib.com.

Perfect. Thank you so much. You know, this has been amazing. And you know, if there are any time you want to jump on a podcast again and do anything specific, you know, retail checks and balances is, is there for you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show, wherever you consume podcasts. So we'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review until next time, friends.