The Water Cooler Hangout with Bob Poole Bob Poole

With the surplus of hype and sales-focused messaging, the need for authenticity has never been more real. Today we speak to Loren Weisman about authentic brand messaging and hear his perspectives on the meaning of this term. Loren is a brand messaging strategist with a focus on the authenticity, authority, optics, psychology, and perceptions of a brand, persona, or product for FSG Messaging and Optics. He is also the host of a brand messaging podcast called Wait What Really OK.
From speaking and counseling on brand messaging to brand discovery, analyzing the two sides of artistic vision, igniting the investor’s confidence, and brand protection and amplification approaches for sales, marketing, and retention, Loren helps across the array of the messaging experience.
In our conversation with Loren, we talk about what a brand messaging strategist is and the lessons our guest learned in this regard from the years he spent in the music industry. We take a deep dive into the need for authenticity in brand messaging and Loren shares a wealth of valuable lessons, such as how to set up social media in a way that provides value rather than sales, how to find success by getting clear on our unique stories, and a whole lot more! Tune in and hear more about how Loren’s approach to messaging revolves around authenticity, authority, transparency, and humility.

In today’s episode of The Water Cooler Hangout, we get together with Len Ward to discuss the intricacies of marketing investment and how he helps his clients get an optimal return on investment. We talk with Len about how he departed from a successful career in finance to embark on an entrepreneurial journey, taking on a partnership role with an e-commerce startup in 2004. Len shares how he discovered his passion for marketing and founded the online marketing agency Rank Me SEO. Today he is the CEO and founder of Commexis, a marketing consulting firm that specializes in financial auditing, investment allocation, and reporting digital marketing campaigns. Len founded Commexis through his dedication to marketing investment and upon identifying a need for a company that solves digital marketing ROI challenges. Commexis teaches companies how to optimize their marketing investment in order to improve their return on investment. Tuning in you’ll hear Len break down his process with new clients and how his company helps to bridge the knowledge gaps within a company, especially between CEOs and CFOs. For all this and much more, join us today as we unpack marketing investment intelligence!

You might have noticed that people are missing. Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen a dramatic drop in traffic on the podcast, website, and our social media. Even the phone has been dead! We were beginning to think it was something we said, but it turns out that Americans are hitting the roads, skies, trains, and bike paths like a swarm of sailors on their first liberty after being at sea for a month. It has been dubbed ‘revenge travel’, and, according to Forbes and travel agents across the country, people are eager to travel and much less willing to give up their vacation this year after a year of shutdowns thanks to COVID-19.
With this in mind, your host, Bob Poole, is taking a short respite from the Water Cooler Hangout in favor of a Beach and Mai Tai Hangout. To find out how to catch up on episodes of the podcast while you are traveling or relaxing on the beach, tune in today!

In today’s episode of The Water Cooler Hangout, we reconnect with Graham Bodie to talk about his work at the Listen First Project, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing people into conversation despite their differences, where he currently serves as the chief listening officer.
Graham is recognized as a highly accomplished international expert on listening, and the social cognitive underpinnings of human communicative behavior, having authored over 90 published papers. His immense productivity has placed him in the top one percent of published Communication Studies scholars.
In our conversation, we talk with Graham about the project’s mission, how it was founded, and what its impact has been. The Listen First Project has had a broad impact, especially in its partnership with the Weave The Social Fabric Project, with whom they have created America Talks, an initiative that hosts events geared towards repairing America’s divides, one conversation at a time.
We hear from Graham about how the America Talks events have helped empower individuals to combat toxic polarization in their everyday lives and what his hopes are for the future. Join us today for a powerful conversation on the power of connection, stories, and much more!

Today’s guest is Eli Marcus, who is the Executive Director of Davler Media Group, the publisher of New York City’s largest circulation visitor magazine, City Guide, and has spent five decades working with businesses in the hospitality industry.
He is the host of the Motivation Show Podcast, where he interviews the world’s best motivational speakers, New York Times bestselling authors, alternative health experts, mega-successful entrepreneurs, celebrities, and more.
As the former CEO of The Seminar Center, the premiere seminar company in the United States, Eli hosted numerous notable celebs and experts in all fields and, as a motivational speaker, he has spoken to tens of thousands of people on everything from essential secrets for success to how to be the number one salesperson in your industry.
He has also likely sold more advertising at a local level than anyone in the world, which makes him uniquely qualified to discuss the art of salesmanship, which he does in today’s episode. 

The question of which pieces of sales software to include in your company's tech stack can be a tricky one to answer. With so many options and different connections between emergent technologies, there can be a degree of overwhelm and concerns about compatibility, integration, and efficacy.
One of the most exciting new names in the space, and one that is aiming to bring more integration and unification to the technology is Veloxy, an AI solution to sales that has simple and intuitive workability with Salesforce, Gmail, Outlook, iOS, and Android!
Joining us on today's episode of The Water Cooler Hangout Podcast, is Senior Account Executive at Veloxy, Jeff Grice! Jeff works remotely in Buffalo, while the company's headquarters are in the tech hub of Silicon Valley, and he explains a bit about current operations at Veloxy before diving into some illuminating information on what they offer.
We get into sales AI, sales enablement, sales engagement, and more! This is the conversation you want to hear if you need some guidance on how AI relates to sales in the current climate and the powerful ways that Veloxy is addressing real concerns in the space today!