In episode 40 of Everything is Up, Tammera Hollerich interviews Randi Deckard, a senior vice president at Bessler. They dive into the world of AI and its potential to be the ultimate equalizer for small companies. Randi discusses how AI can help small businesses stay competitive, automate mundane tasks, and save valuable time. They also delve into the significance of striving for excellence and continuous improvement in order to achieve success.
Tune in for a fun and insightful conversation about success and taking things to the next level.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:02:00] Going Fully Remote.
[00:05:22] Funding Challenges for Rural Hospitals.
[00:14:39] Customer Experience and Collaboration.
[00:19:05] Importance of Online Reviews.
[00:22:52] Innovation and Adapting to Change.
[00:29:11] AI as an Equalizer.
[00:32:28] AI as an Ally.
In this episode, Tammera Hollerich and Randi Deckard argue that if you represent a brand or business, it is crucial to consider how people perceive you and your business because it does matter. The perception of reality becomes your reality, making it essential to always be aware of how you are perceived and consistently work towards enhancing that perception.
Furthermore, Tammera and Randi highlight the importance of innovation and avoiding stagnation as a company. They explain that change is inevitable and approach it with a scientific mindset of trial and error. Failure is not viewed negatively but rather as a step closer to the next breakthrough or desired outcome. This mindset is also applicable to the go-to-market strategy, where the focus lies on improving the customer experience, product, and the company's perspective.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Tammera Hollerich
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammeraHollerich
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammerahollerich/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thollerich/
Randi Deckard
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/randisue.deckard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randisuedeckard/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lavajavachoc/
WEBSITES
Everything Is Up: https://everything-is-up.simplecast.com/
Tammera Hollerich: https://tammerahollerich.com/
Intro/Outro00:01 - 00:17
Welcome to everything is up a podcast about the real life stories of people who have created extraordinary levels of success These are conversations with people who are constantly striving to take things to the next level And now here's your host
Tammera Hollerich00:22 - 00:33
Welcome to Everything Is Up with Tamara. Joining me today is Randi Sue Deckard. Randi, is it Randi Sue do you prefer or do you prefer Randi?
Randi Deckard00:33 - 00:38
I prefer Randi. The whole South, you just couldn't help yourself and you had to say that last name.
Tammera Hollerich00:39 - 01:04
okay so you guys all know we're in i'm in texas but here's what's really funny um Randi is also in texas my receptionist in my office is mary alice you know and it's of course the two names and yeah so it we are that's the south thing we just have to have both names although i will tell you growing up if my mother ever said tamera lee i knew i was going the other direction
Randi Deckard01:04 - 01:10
Yeah, when it was the full name, including last, you knew that you were in trouble.
Tammera Hollerich01:10 - 01:41
You are in big trouble. So I was telling Randi before we jumped on camera today, I was like, hey, we could probably sit and talk forever. So today is going to be a lot of fun. Randi, you are senior vice president with Bessler. You are you are stationed stationed. I sound like a military brat at this point. You are, you're officing out of Coppell, Texas, correct? Yes. Where is Bessler located?
Randi Deckard01:41 - 01:59
Yeah, so the company's headquarters is in Princeton, New Jersey. And interestingly enough, over COVID, which we were also talking about before the break, we actually let go of the office. So while I've been fully remote, the company is now fully remote.
Tammera Hollerich02:00 - 03:11
You know, so I have had the privilege of working with a success coach, Darren Hardy. And in all of this pre-COVID, you know, he would tell us leaders, listen, like his entire staff's been remote for years upon years. So one of his comments was, well, everybody's finally catching up to the 21st century, you know, going fully remote. All that I heard On that note, that in San Francisco, their occupancy rate downtown in office space was something like 35%. It was super high due to companies just going remote and giving up that big overhead, which I'm sure you can absolutely relate to since you are, the company Bessler actually does Hospital financing for you guys don't actually finance for them, but you actually help them to streamline their revenue. Did I get that right?
Randi Deckard03:11 - 03:39
Yeah, so we actually help them recover revenue that would be otherwise lost. And then also protect reimbursement. So like, just like you or I file taxes to the government, they have to file taxes, but it's called a cost report, but it's the same thing. So you want to get a check, you don't want to have to write a check. So it's all about, you know, preventing revenue leakage and protecting reimbursement so they can serve patients and their communities at large.
Tammera Hollerich03:40 - 04:15
Yeah, so what is your feeling on a lot of these big hospital chains? Just inquiring minds want to know, because so many of the small hospitals are now being swallowed up by some of these big hospital conglomerates. How is that, not in a negative way, because the way I was going to ask the question, it probably would sound negative, but how is that either positively serving the community or negatively maybe impacting the community?
Randi Deckard04:15 - 06:04
Sure, so I think there's a lot of variables, but when there is a health system acquiring a standalone, especially in a rural area, it can be held propped up because there's more financial backing, so more resources, so they can better serve that community, whether it's different programs they can offer because they have them at the large facilities, but they can create something mobile in that rural community or smaller setting. That's one way that can be very positive. And then I think one way that it can be negative is there are instances where It will be, you know, purchased and then over the long term, they decide that they need, they close it down and that can really hurt communities, right? There are some initiatives. by CMS for rural hospitals specifically. And so they have like additional funding to help them. But I think one of the things if you're not in the healthcare industry that people don't realize is that hospitals have very lean margins. And when I say lean, I'm like just a couple percent. So in order for them to operate and serve their patients and the communities at large, it does require very tight finances so they can serve year after year. And I think sometimes that's where the pro comes in, having a larger hospital with a little bit more resources. Because even with state and government funding, it can be a challenge based on the patient population.
Tammera Hollerich06:04 - 08:02
Yeah, you know, I think about some of our rural communities here in, you know, thinking about West Texas, where there's, you know, that upper northwest segment of Texas, where there's just a ton of really small rural communities, where the hospital systems are, you know, some of these bigger hospital systems are going in and I've, you know, just had some of the, you know, the community just complaining And I had, you know, in my mind, I'm like, there has to be a positive here for the community. And that does make sense. You know, if if the margins are that tight on, you know, these hospitals, having these bigger hospitals with slightly bigger margins, if, you know, if they manage their finances correctly. So you said CMS. So I know a lot of probably our listeners don't even know what CMS is. So CMS is the Center for Medicare Services. They kind of, they are the federal level that manages the healthcare in our country. Them and Health and Human Services kind of, I think co- collectively co-op together on that one. But anytime like a hospital or a physician, I think Medicare is also run through CMS. That is that whole bigger picture of kind of that, I call them big brother, but that's just my term of endearment for CMS is, my term of endearment for them is that is kind of that financial or that federal level kind of body, kind of like we have the IRS, the medical world has CMS. So,
Randi Deckard08:03 - 09:19
And then there's like, there's also like the Medicaid, right? So, you know, yeah. And I think one of the things, like I said, if you're not in the healthcare industry, not realizing, but, you know, Medicare, Medicaid, they're like, they're state, and then there are government programs. And both of those together, whether it's, you know, low income, or just because of age, where you are, like I said, like a Medicare, both of those programs can work hand in hand. And the government is trying to be, there's a term, it's budget neutral, I think we hear this when it's election time, right? For hospitals and how they help hospitals, whether it's low income pool, and trying to serve areas where there are financial challenges and socioeconomic things to consider, overall, they're trying still to be budget neutral. And so those dollars get spread across a nation. And so you can just imagine there are a lot of rural or smaller areas to be served. So those dollars are really stretched very thin.
Tammera Hollerich09:20 - 10:48
Well, when you go from West Coast to East Coast, or vice versa, East Coast to West Coast, from DC all the way to California, and you think about how massive, you know, we've got what, 300 million on the ground just here, and from coast to coast, and they're just, there just isn't enough money. I mean, there just isn't. And I don't know that there is ever going to be enough, especially as our population ages too, because we, you know, the funding that is needed to kind of help on that end too. Well, you know, Medicaid, with Medicaid, I mean, serving our youngest of youngest, right? And our pregnant females. Yeah, there's just, when you think about how massive it is, and how few dollars actually go. I can see it. I can. I think that that's where you guys are so helpful with Bessler is actually stepping in and helping them to, you know, go recover some of the money that they wouldn't necessarily have. I think that that makes it, that's important. This is important work that you guys do. So tell us a little bit about Bessler as you know, as a whole, what took you to Bessler? Because I know you were with another company prior to. So how did you end up at Bessler?
Randi Deckard10:48 - 14:38
So interesting story. Yeah, I've been in healthcare my whole career. I'm actually a trained scientist. So I did research and I was in life sciences on the commercial side. So I was at a private, you know, startup in North Texas. And I knew that we were going to be bought out by a big box lab. So similar to our conversation earlier about hospitals gobbling up, well, the big box labs, the quest and lab cores, you know, are always building, buying, you know, small regional labs. And I didn't want to work for a big box lab, no offense Quest. If anyone's listening. Or LabCorp. Or LabCorp, yeah. I didn't wanna work for a big box lab. I really thrived and enjoyed the startup environment. And in my role, I'd worked myself up to director of commercial operations, which meant that I got to interface with all of our clients. And at the time that was large hospital systems like Baylor, Scott & White, and the DFW Metroplex. physician groups like Health Texas Physician Network. And then I also near and dear to my heart, Texas Oncology, which serves oncology patients in the state of Texas. So, you know, those are just a few examples of some of the people that we worked with. And so I knew I wanted to stay in health care. but I knew I wanted to still be client-facing and I didn't necessarily have to stay in lab because of my role. And LinkedIn, believe it or not, the power of LinkedIn. So I had reached out to the hiring manager because I had a director of client relations role. And I was like, you know, one of the requirements was understanding MPS. And I had just read the book by Fred Reichfield on, on MPS. And it's, you know, the, you know, the one question that we all should ask. And that's about, you know, would you recommend this company to someone? And the theory behind it and how some companies have had big turnarounds. And because we were being bought out, I had taken that to leadership at Medfusion. They're like, yeah, we'll start some of this or we'll think about it, but Quest is coming in. And because of my conversation with her, I was like, but have you thought about XYZ and have you thought about this? She's like, well, I think you should really talk to the COO. And so I chatted with him twice. And then he's like, I'm going to be in Dallas. I want to bring someone else and we'll have an interview. So we had an interview and I knew there was internal candidates that were also interested in the role. I ended up getting the role and then, you know, the rest is history. As far as, you know, since my time at Bessler, I went from Director of Client Relations to VP of Sales and now SVP and have been over sales, marketing, customer success. So it was always my dream or goal to always interact with the customer. I'm customer obsessed. And for me, it's not just the paying customer. I look at everyone as my customer, like the ecosystem, it's my colleagues, so the internal and external. And I think that's what makes me really good at my job is number one, I truly understand and I've walked with the customers that are paying and bring that back and cross-functionally collaborate with my internal customers so we can always deliver the best service and experience.
Tammera Hollerich14:39 - 15:16
You know, that is a key. So I know a lot of companies are, you know, they talk about customer service. But you nailed it just now with a different word when you said the customer experience. being that it's not just, it's not one moment in time, it's the entire length, it's the entire length of time that that customer, whether they are still a prospect or whether they're no longer a customer, like that there is an experience in all of those areas, would you say?
Randi Deckard15:17 - 17:12
Absolutely. And for one of the things that I got interested once I kind of dove into that book and MPS, I kind of went down a rabbit hole. There's actually a professional association, CXPA. So it's Customer Experience Professional Association. And, you know, I joined And I got connected to a whole slew of amazing, amazing people. And, you know, that's really where I was like, learned about the ecosystem and that end to end, you know, and in CX, they have a term they call call it moments of truth. They call it MOT, M-O-T, but it's moments of truth. And it's like, what really matters to a customer at that particular point of time? So that's why they're called moments of truth. And so now with the internet, there are stats that before someone, whether it's B2C or B2B, so whether it's a consumer or business, you have either looked on the internet, searched, talked to someone. You've already formed a lot of decisions about that company, whether it's, you know, like I said, a consumer or businesses before you actually enter the buying cycle. And I think that's one of the things that sometimes people forget And that's why the customer experience is so crucial. From the very get-go, even at the awareness stage, what is the company's point of view? And how do they want the customer to experience the brand? And that means we have to think about how others might talk about the brand because of their experience. Or if they search, what would they find? So yeah, it is a whole ecosystem. So I love the fact that you brought that up. And let me kind of go down that rabbit hole.
Tammera Hollerich17:12 - 18:55
you because i'm obsessed with it as well you know when when i hire a staff member the very first thing i have them do is read raving fans i don't care if they read it i don't care if they watch it on the internet i don't care if you find and download it on audibles but you have to experience you know raving fans by sheldon boils and i'm like It is because it is so important that, you know, this awareness, you know, we have a lot of entrepreneur listeners. We've got a lot of CEOs, COOs that listen to the podcast. And I, with your experience, I wanted you on the podcast so bad because I wanted to have this conversation because I think it is critical in this day and age that to be good is not good enough. No, it's not good enough. You have to be extraordinary. Excellent. You, you know, if you're going to survive, you have to take it up a notch. And the awareness of what do people think of you? And I know, you know, my mother would say, bless her rest her soul. My mother would say you really shouldn't care what other people think about you. But if you don't, And if you're not thinking about how they think about the business and if you're the face of that brand or you are, you do have to think about all of these things because it does matter. It does the perception. Your perception of reality is your reality.
Randi Deckard18:56 - 20:15
Absolutely. And the thing is, you know, over time it has become so much easier to get information, right? So, like, I don't care if you're looking for a job and you're, like, considering a company, you can go to Glassdoor, look at reviews, you can, I mean, you can learn a whole whole lot about that company. Well, it's no different if you want to buy something, what do you do? You can go look at reviews, right? If you're a consumer and you want to look at a product, whether, you know, whatever the case it may be, it's no different. And even for business, same thing. Like if you're a software company, there's G2 that does reviews. There are so many different places you can go and then you can just, hey, have you used this product before? How'd you like it? Did it serve you? We do this all the time. But I think now it's so easy to get information. And the negative side to that is when something happens and you don't handle it well, there are companies that have been decimated in public because of how they've handled, you know, situations and, you know, it's affected their stocks. Right.
Tammera Hollerich20:15 - 20:19
So the one that comes to mind is Budweiser. Yes.
Randi Deckard20:19 - 21:05
Well, I was. Yeah. Yeah. I was trying to be diplomatic. But like, yeah, there are there. That is not that is the most recent one. We think about the huge impact and the ripple that it has because Budweiser doesn't just produce beer. That's an industry. There's, you know, people that are, you know, there, there are people that are delivering that beer. There are, you know, there's all these different areas, like the labels, like, you know, the colors that go on the labels, the cans, like, I just could go on and on and on. Like, it was a huge ripple effect. And you think about such an iconic brand in America, and and like a misstep in public like that it can be devastating.
Tammera Hollerich21:05 - 22:52
Well I think it has been devastating to them and you're perfectly okay because one of the things about this podcast is I intend to keep it real so we will just keep it real and that's why I kind of said that you know the one that comes to mind because it is it's kind of unfolding Now, like it's happening and it is the perfect truth to what we are talking about because we are watching this iconic brand stumble. Right. Literally, they're selling, you know, they are, you know, maybe they are in uncharted territory for them, which, you know, they are. And, you know, that's not to say it can't happen to any one of us. Right. And if you are not cognizantly aware that it could happen to you, you need to be wake up, right? Wake up right now because any one of us can misstep and not know how to handle it. Feel like we're doing our best to handle it and yet fumble that ball right on the one yard line. And I feel like that's kind of what happened. you know, I pray that they literally figure it out because it is an iconic brand. I mean, I grew up with the Budweiser, you know, Clydesdales and the wagon in the Macy's Day Parade with the Dalmatians sitting at the top with, I mean, like, like when you say iconic, you know, you're not kidding. We've grown up with this brand and in it very quickly. it unraveled for them. So, you know, I just pray that, you know, they are able to come out of it. It's, it's interesting though, because it can happen to any one of us.
Randi Deckard22:52 - 24:26
Yeah. And it's, it's also about innovation too. So there's, there's that side, the misstep, there's also innovation. If you think about companies, you know, like a Kodak, right? You know, that was, you know, huge, you know, film, right? And if you don't innovate, like how many people actually own, like a Kodak or Nikon camera now, right? Like, what do people do now? They use their phone. Or, or like when, you know, the movie, we used to rent a movie from Blockbuster, I just blanked on the name. Blockbuster. Yeah. Yeah, and now, you know, and I remember them having red boxes and oh that was so convenient because the red boxes were, you know, by the grocery, by the grocery store so you check out to grab a movie versus going to Blockbuster and then Netflix streaming came on and boom. You know, so it's, it's, you know, that awareness, but it's also innovating to like you, once again, I, I talk about ecosystem, there's ecosystem and business all the time. And go to market is a number of things. It's, you know, understanding, you know, the, you know, the, the customer experience and the point of view, the organization, but then it's also as being proactive and looking ahead. And how do we continually innovate? Because if you don't innovate, you're going to end up being like a blockbuster. I think I think there's one novel blockbuster left in the U.S. And you think about that, those used to be on, literally, you couldn't go a few blocks without seeing a blockbuster.
Tammera Hollerich24:26 - 25:33
A blockbuster, yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, then what it kind of reminds me of is what literally has happened to the entire world in the last three years when COVID hit and everybody had to pivot I mean, and we're not talking about it didn't affect just the United States, it affected worldwide. Companies were, you know, pivoting, but families were pivoting. Kids were being homeschooled and parents were like, I have never homeschooled my child ever, right? So we are, I think, as humans, We adapt very well. I think that we are able to adapt to things very well. So I do think that that is helpful that we have that as part of our nature. I do think sometimes that it is also very difficult because we don't like change.
Randi Deckard25:33 - 27:03
Yeah, and it's so interesting because certain, I would say the majority of people like what they like, right? And so change is, you know, even though, you know, there's changes inevitable, but they kind of get dragged along. And this is where, you know, I like to comment on my background, you know, as a scientist, clinical scientist, I was trained for two things, one to fail and iterate, right? That's what experimenting is, you fail and iterate. And like, change is part of the process. Like, we have what's called PI, process improvement. And so you're always looking for, you know, ways to do an experiment better in that iterative. And so, you know, failing does not mean anything to me. It's just, oh, I'm getting that closer to the next best thing, right? Which is like the end result. And for go-to-market, how I translate that is, I'm always looking at how can I improve the customer experience, and that's through improving the product and that awareness, what they see, what they hear, what is our point of view. Then that iteration, always like what is the next thing, and being aware of that and having that long-term. Because like I said, if you don't innovate, that's also an issue as well.
Tammera Hollerich27:04 - 28:50
oh yeah because you as a company you would get stagnant and with all I mean I saw a graph I'm maybe on LinkedIn where they were talking about um like like growth of a company and they were talking about linear growth and exponential growth and talking about the last 20 years of what linear growth and then the exponential growth looks like and I thought it was extremely interesting because from basically like the 1950s to about 2000, linear growth was a year of growth. Think of it as like taking one step, like one step, okay? From 2000 to 2023, it has been exponential growth. So one step is equal to 10 years of growth. And if you got stagnant in linear growth, you got left behind, you didn't survive, you're not surviving, let alone forget thriving, you just flat didn't survive as a company and then COVID hit. Right. And we as you know, as a world because I know it wasn't just in this country, restaurants, there were restaurants that didn't come back. Right. So it's, I am utterly amazed at this whole, you know, customer experience with exponential growth in a company, because how do small entrepreneurs keep up?
Randi Deckard28:50 - 29:04
Right. And it's funny, because I was going to bring up AI, right, because that's kind of our next, our next ledge, right. And so you know, actually I think AI is the equalizer for small companies.
Tammera Hollerich29:04 - 29:05
I think it will be too.
Randi Deckard29:05 - 32:21
That's a good point. So we kind of segued, but it's the right segue. You know, when I look at some of the things that can be done, and I'm just going to run through a few things. If you're, whether you're a solopreneur or a small organization, There's AI tools out there right now. Let's say you want to build a website. Back in the day, you had to code and then came along WordPress and WordPress had, I'll just say, you can get out of the box and you could customize things. You didn't need to know code. Well, now AI can ask you things, you can give it verbal prompts, like type prompts, and it will create a website for you. It is mind-blowing. And if you are an e-commerce site and you need to have a credit card, same thing. You can set up a shopping cart easy. You can literally, within minutes, set something up. Virtual assistant. We only have so much time and one of the greatest things, I don't care if you're a leader, solopreneur, small business, your time is super important. Virtual assistants can can take things off your plate and then there's also a from that optimization standpoint of what can't what is a mundane task that is repeated frequently right? So there's 2 ways to look at that calendars. AI. You and I right now are doing this podcast. If this was actually a sales call, AI could be listening and it could document in your CRM, which is just where you store that conversation. And then it can also start on the follow-up email and give you prompts of when you should follow up. There is so much that is changing so rapidly, but I think it's the ultimate equalizer because if you're a solopreneur or small business, you don't need to have a huge budget. A lot of these tools are not that much money. They aren't that expensive. Yeah, they're not that expensive. And they can super, super, super help you. And then there's chat GPT, you need to write a business plan, you need to write a sales something, it will get you 80% there, once again, huge time saver. So AI, I think AI is going to be the ultimate ultimate equalizer. And even for, like you were saying, like how can a small company be competitive? AI can help you with your competitor, like, hey, you know, this competitor said this in the news, does this look like they're gonna start a new product? You know, like there's a lot, once again, a lot of different ways that chat GPT, et cetera, can be used. And I really see it as a equalizer in a lot of different ways. I know a lot of people are worried about their job. I just view it as I have to be more skilled, so up-skill or re-skilled for my job, because there are some things that I do that are mundane, but that just means from that human, I get to add more context in what I deliver to the organization for value and to our clients.
Tammera Hollerich32:21 - 34:21
Well, that and it cuts, it makes you also, I think, if you're using AI as an ally, right, in your job, knowing the pieces of you that it could replace, if you're using it to your advantage, you won't have to be replaced. It'll just make you better all the way. Absolutely, absolutely. It's funny that we're talking about this because last night, you know, my dad, my mom passed several years ago. So Sunday nights are dinner with dad at my house. So dad was at the house and We're sitting around the kitchen table and we were talking, of course, you know, the holidays are upon us. And so we're all just kind of like, okay, do we do an Amazon wish list? We go to Elster, like, everybody, the whole family is everybody's trying to figure out what we're gonna do. So, of course, here's my dad and his 80 and he's like, um. What are you guys talking about? Like, so we were kind of giving him a hard time. And I was like, Dad, you just need to go back and watch the Jetsons, like on TV, because I said, it'll catch you up to speed. And he goes, you know, just I was like, yeah, we had they had zoom calls, they had, you know, flying cars, because he had just said that he thought that he had seen something in the news where there was a car flying right above the treetops. And I was like, just go back and watch the Jetsons. I go, you'll he because he said my housekeeper and I said, Don't you have a Roomba? And he goes, Yeah. And I go, Like I said, go watch The Justice. And of course, everybody was laughing at the table because there is so much truth to that, right? It's like... It wasn't predicted, it just flat new what we were coming up into. And we're there, we are there, we're there. And I think it's, I know a lot of people are worried about jobs, but I don't think that they really need to worry. I do think that they need to maybe step it up a little bit, but I think they can use this to their advantage if they are, if they would just pivot their minds a little bit.
Randi Deckard34:21 - 35:43
Yeah. And like I said, just to the few use cases I shared, like I said, it doesn't require a huge investment. And, you know, there's a newsletter, superhuman And it's a daily thing and it just comes and it talks about all the different AI things that are dropping on a regular basis. And like I said, some of these things are free or nominal. And then even some of the ones that there is a subscription, it's not that much. Like, I love Dolly, like creating AI images. And there are people who are literally you know, have embraced it and are creating AI art, right? And they say, I'm an artist. Well, you are, because it's, yeah, because it does, it does take effort to get it so you can get it appropriate. I had a post the other day, and I had purposely left the error in the image as a scroll stopper. And people were commenting on it, because there was like a third arm on this person. And I was like, hey, it worked. I mean, I saw it, but I wanted people to stop. And they did, and they commented. And I'm like, see, you know, like there are different ways to get people to scroll stop.
Tammera Hollerich35:43 - 36:53
Yeah, some naked guy on LinkedIn to get you to stop, right? You know, it's so, so, so interesting. Okay, so I'm going to pivot us just for a little bit here, just real quick. So we can kind of wrap up a little bit here. But so Randi, everybody on the podcast knows that I am a huge animal lover, have six dogs. And, you know, now guys, I only have 37 chickens, one of them just disappeared, one of them got sick, and then there is this Newfoundland that this Newfoundland beautiful sweet dog that is grown up with my baby chickens. One of them got over the fence and he ate it. So there were white feathers everywhere but I'm like I still love the dog even though he ate my chicken. I still love this dog but you have got so I say all of this because Randi also has dogs um but quite to the opposite of Tamara's three and a half pound Japanese chin Randi calls mine snack size. Randi, you have Rottweilers?
Randi Deckard36:53 - 37:23
Yes. So it's not officially recognized by the AKC, but they're called Rottico. So it's a Rottweiler and Kena or Cancorso, which is a mastiff, but I have a brother and sister. So yeah, they're three years old. They're about a hundred pounds each. Yeah, they're sweet, sweet, sweet dogs, but they're 100 pounds each. So they're a cross between Rottweiler and Cane of Corsal, which is an English Mastiff. So just think big head, big chest.
Tammera Hollerich37:24 - 37:32
Yeah, so that that is the dog you snuggle with when you lay on top of the dog, the dog doesn't lay on you.
Randi Deckard37:32 - 37:37
I usually have one on either side of me, you know, smothering me, but that's that's fine.
Tammera Hollerich37:37 - 38:24
Hey, you know, there is something about that unconditional love. And, you know, I try to tell non dog people this all the time. there is this unconditional love that you cannot, that humans do not possess. Humans do not possess this same kind of unconditional love that dogs do. And I, you know, of course my mom would go, no, I love you guys unconditionally. I'm like, yes, until like you're mad at me. So then it's not unconditional because I can be mad at the dog and the dog still loves me. So like we're, we're good there. But, um, I really, you know, I guess you just have to experience 200 pound dogs on either side of you to be able to understand that.
Randi Deckard38:24 - 39:05
Just with the unconditional, for someone who hasn't had a dog, think about this. You leave and you come back and they're happy to see you. It doesn't matter the length of time. I could go out to the mailbox and come back. and they're happy to see me. I could come back an hour later because I had to run to the store. They're happy to see it. There's just something about it. And dogs are very social animals. Lots of times I'll be working, one has to have their head on me or a paw on me. They have to be touching me. They really are. They're just really big goofball babies that just happen to be 100 pounds each.
Tammera Hollerich39:07 - 39:13
I cannot wait to see pictures of these babies. I can, you know, I had a photo shoot.
Randi Deckard39:13 - 39:20
I had a photo shoot with them. So I will send you a picture from my from my photo shoot with them because I love my dad.
Tammera Hollerich39:22 - 39:59
That is so fun. You know, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to take all six of them to sit on Santa's lap. Like that's my next thing. I'm like, the little ones are easy. You know, they're like this big. But you know, I've got Zeus, who is a miniature golden doodle who thinks that he's a toddler, a two year old that has to sit on my hip and carry him around like he's a two year old on a regular basis. And then my blue healer, who is still just a year old and smart, smart, smart dog. But she insists on hurting everybody all the time. Like the chickens, I had to tell her to stop the other day because she wanted to hurt the chickens.
Randi Deckard39:59 - 40:03
That's ingrained in them, right? It is. They got a working dog.
Tammera Hollerich40:03 - 40:53
Those working dogs. And I'm like, chicken because you had to buy that she had it kind of by the body. I'm like, I for sure thought he was dead. She just dropped it. And I was like, chicken was ran off. I was like, Okay, well, it's not bleeding. So at least we made it through. So that's exciting. So I'm really like, no, you had dogs. I was like, this is great. She's the dog person. I love it can have that conversation with her. So before we sign off, and Tell us how we can connect with you, because I want everybody to be able to connect on LinkedIn. I'm guessing probably LinkedIn, probably the best way. I know I got to you through the Bessler website, so I know you're up on the website there too. So best way for us to get in touch with you.
Randi Deckard40:53 - 41:06
Yeah, really the best way is is LinkedIn. You know, it's Randi hyphen Sue Deckard. And yeah, feel free to connect with me. Yes, that's the easiest way.
Tammera Hollerich41:06 - 42:24
Yeah, that's fun. So the reason I want everybody to connect with you is I know we've got a lot of CEOs, a lot of CFOs, COOs, HR, like those individuals that really do work with every aspect of an organization, you are the expert. From what I have found and digging through LinkedIn, you really are the expert and very well respected within the community for your talents on the customer experience. And so As you guys have questions or you just want to run something by somebody, Randi is the person that you would run that by. So Randi, I appreciate all of your time and visiting with us and walking us through what this customer experience really should look like. Really appreciate your time. Thank you, Tamara. It's great to be on. Hey, thanks. All right, everybody. This is Tamara with Everything is Up. Make sure you guys reach out to Randi on LinkedIn. Make sure you subscribe and share the podcast with your family and friends. We appreciate you guys. Everybody have a great week. Thanks, Randi.
Intro/Outro42:25 - 42:39
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