Marketers of Technology
00:03:07 · Andres Figuera
[00:03:07] S1: But anyways, it doesn't surprise me that you have or have entered the marketing area because I've learned of a lot of people that graduated in... Or like majored in writing or in journalism or anything like that. So if you're able to create a narrative, I feel that's one of the most important things for you to be able to market something since you have to create this whole story around the product and the brand and make sure it's all aligned. So I can see how you could have ended up in this. But then in terms of what United Systems is, Jeremy, could you maybe let me know what... In your own words, what you guys do?
00:03:39 · Jeremy Byars
[00:03:39] S0: Yeah. So United Systems is a nearly 50 year old company. It'll be 50 years old next year, 2027. And we specialize in metering solutions and software solutions for utilities and local government throughout The US. We have about 1,500 customers. We are spread out coast to coast. We're headquartered in a small town in Kentucky, Benton, Kentucky, been here its entire existence. And we try to provide technology systems of all shapes and sizes to utilities. This is an underserved population, utilities that is, and they operate on razor thin budgets. So it makes for a very interesting sales pitch in that you can't... The other thing about it is that these are public monopolies as well, in that you can't really play them off the other company that they're in the market against, there is no one else. There's only one water utility provider, there's only one electric provider, and so on and so forth. So the traditional sort of games that you might be able to play is you're behind the times versus your competitor here. They don't have competitors, right? They're really in their own league. And so it's really about solving their pain points. And again, with razor thin margins for a lot of them, it is a very interesting and challenging industry to market to. But it doesn't make it any less fun. In fact, that makes it much more fun.
00:05:02 · Andres Figuera, Jeremy Byars
[00:05:02] S1: It's all about the challenge, right? Making them want to use the product. And Jeremy, is it a highly regulated industry? Like I feel because it's with local governments and these types of utilities, do you have to face a lot of regulations, and does that tailor how you market to them? [00:05:17] S0: It doesn't necessarily tailor the marketing. It definitely tailors what we produce from a product standpoint, what we distribute. So we're a distributor for the... For one of the largest metering providers in the country called called Itron. In fact, they're a global 3,500,000,000 company. And ultimately, yes, it is a regulated industry, but the products themselves have to speak to that, not necessarily the marketing. Of course, there are things that you need to be fully aware of. Lead and copper rules is one of the big ones right now where utilities are having to go and mark, tag, and replace lead and copper lines just to make sure customers aren't their customers rather aren't getting contaminants in their drinking water, for instance. And so it's good to be aware of those things, but it's a little different, for instance, in the financial industry where every single word that came out of my mouth as a marketer had to be carefully, extremely vetted by our legal team because we were adjacent to a highly regulated industry as well. So yes and no.
00:06:20 · Andres Figuera
[00:06:20] S1: I get it, but I do understand. Yeah, I was taking the financial industry as the example and that's like, you can't promise anything that shouldn't be because that can make you be held liable against what you market or whatever. But then, Jeremy, you're mention... Jeremy, you're mentioning that it's a challenge marketing to all these companies due to their budgets and everything like that. But then, can you shed up a little bit more light into how you're being able to get them to decide to work with you guys? And if you have any campaigns or strategies you've implemented that work that you can tell us about, that would be amazing.
00:06:50 · Jeremy Byars
[00:06:50] S0: Sure. I take quite a bit of what I bring to this industry from the financial industry because of that sort of quasi regulated aspect. And that is most of the customers, whether they understand it or not, whether they think they need it or not, do need to be educated because there is an education shortfall. And honestly, this industry, there's so much turnover. A lot of people do not want to work within local government and with utilities. They feel like those are dead end jobs. They absolutely are not. They are amazing jobs. And I wish more people realize that. But as a result of that turnover, education and reeducation is so critical. So I guess maybe it helps to have that education background that I have and then to be in that highly regulated industry of finance and in retirement accounts, which is what we focused on, which is a subset, more regulations, Having that experience and having that sort of interest already, because I also was heavily involved in employee training, all that stuff co mingles and mixes together and makes it so that I want to make sure that, yes, we want to make the sale. Of course we want to make the sale. But sometimes you want to educate the customer first and you want to make sure that their pain point isn't solved by just more information, right? And if we can provide that solution to them and be that thought leader, be that company that understands, okay, yes, we want to have the product readily available, but we also want to make it known that we get it. We absolutely get it. And so I would say in this industry in particular, and during these times when funding's being cut and things like that, sometimes instead of trying to just wait on the long tail to be shorter, sometimes it's really just about providing that type of service, that knowledge, that hey, we will be ready when you're ready because patience is an absolute virtue in this industry.
00:08:52 · Andres Figuera
[00:08:52] S1: It is. It is. And Jeremy, when you're mentioning understanding the pain points for the customers and that way being able to empathize with them and show that you get them, how are you able to do that analysis? Or where do you get the data that allows you to know the pain points that the customers are suffering from?