How to Grow Your Restaurant Business with Michael Beck

David "Rev" Ciancio: Welcome to the Restaurants Grow podcast where you get tips, tricks and tactics on how to grow your restaurant business. Today in the show we welcome Michael Beck, host of the Chat GTM podcast and founder of Ink Tank gtm. He is a longtime entrepreneur, hospitality technology leader and growth strategist. Beck spent his career helping companies scale, build stronger customer relationships and navigate the ever changing intersection of technology and human connection, which, wow, couldn't be more appropriate. Today, Beck is a master of AI, uh, sales and the microphone. On the Chat GTM podcast, he sits down with founders, CEOs, operators, investors, and industry disruptors to, uh, uncover stories behind their success. You guys definitely got to check out his show. Uh, I'm a big fan. I am beyond excited to have Beck on the show today because not only is, uh, did he and I recently set three baseball game attendance world records in one weekend, but because he's generally just a good dude, a good, uh, conversation, and has lots of interesting business growth ideas. Fun fact, uh, Mr. Beck here has a full pop culture museum which you can see on the show in, uh, his home. Where, uh, from. He. Sorry. He has a full pop culture museum in his home, which you can see while we're talking here. Uh, and from his balcony he can see dolphins, gators and manatees. Beck, welcome to the show, buddy.

Michael Beck: What it be like? My fellow world record holder, very excited.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Wore one of the team hats today. I think you did too.

Michael Beck: Yeah. So is that the Raptor? It's the Raptors I got right?

David "Rev" Ciancio: No, Sussex County Miners.

Michael Beck: All right, I'm trying to figure out which one I got here.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I want to get right into this. Okay. You and I both just came back from the Restaurant Marketing workshop where, you know, they're like the top proactive marketers, execs, solution providers. They gather to exchange ideas, learn, grow. What were like your biggest takeaways for restaurants? Ooh. Ooh.

Michael Beck: Well, one, I want to, I want to thank our host from Toast for putting together a great venue for us to all the meet in. That was fantastic. And Sharon team did a fantastic job of setting that up for us with the restaurant marketing Workshop. Um, you know, the thing that, that really landed with me was actually, and not to be serving just your content, but it was one that hit me. Is the idea that chasing, ah, viral or virality, I guess, isn't the way to go. Um, I, I like a little bit of, uh, astrophysics. And a little known fact is you can't fly to the moon by flying to the moon. Did you know that?

David "Rev" Ciancio: Uh, I think I know what that means, but what does that mean to you?

Michael Beck: Yeah, because if you try to fly to the moon, you're going to chase the moon as it keeps going. You never have enough fuel to get there. Right. And it lines up with what you said, is that if you're chasing viral, you're never going to get it because it's not going to be there. And so the way you get to the moon is you go to where the moon's going to be and you intersect its orbit. Right. And you catch that orbit, and it really feels kind of. Kind of like that's what it is with going viral for a restaurant is you have to set everything up in place to be ready for the time that you intersect that viral moment and be able to turn that into an orbit that's going to be meaningful for your business. And that really. I mean, that stuck. I was like, wow, that makes so much sense because, like, everyone's that viral moment. Everybody wants that person to show up, that Logan Paul to be at their front door and saying, this is the greatest thing ever. And then what happens if they don't say the greatest thing? Or what happens if you're not ready to take it? Or what happens between all those moments? You need the lights on until that next viral moment. Right. And so it was all about the things I caught was it wasn't the one thing you do well to execute and have a great restaurant. It's the thousand little things that are already in your control inside the four walls. Yes. That's what. That's what landed for me.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Thank you. Uh, landed on the moon.

Michael Beck: Um. Landed on the moon. All right, sorry.

David "Rev" Ciancio: My. My understanding of going to the moon is very similar. Uh, but the way I always talk about it is a rocket ship on its way to the moon is off course 90% of the time. Uh, and so it's about knowing where you want to land and figuring it out, making adjustments along the way. So similar. Similar idea. But, um, yeah, thank you.

Michael Beck: You know, you also have that moment in time where you hear, houston, we have a problem.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I love that you have that ready. Uh, I only have. I'm old school. I only have this. So. Yeah, I mean, you know, that was my presentation, but the thing I was trying to get after in that now you kind of nailed it was like, look, going viral is a byproduct of a whole bunch of other things. And it's more important to, like, sustain marketing over time so that if you have a pop, like, you can keep

Michael Beck: it going, you know, and it's also a big part of it, was that we talked about the operations that people will forgive food that isn't incredible, but they'll. They won't forgive a bad experience.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Yes.

Michael Beck: All right. And so that's like, the sandwich that makes everything delicious is great service inside the business that then makes people go out and tell people, hey, you got to go there, you know, wherever it's a great experience. Or that server there, or that chef or whatever it was that made you want to go back. So have your house in order. That's really what it said to me.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I think my biggest takeaway, I probably think a little differently than most people.

Michael Beck: Um, I would agree with that.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Thank you. You, too. Uh, was the importance of understanding each guest individually as best as you can, and marketing or speaking to them in a way that feels, uh, as personalized as possible.

Michael Beck: Well, that was another piece that you brought up, too, is that, you know, it wasn't so important to chase new guests is to take care of the ones that you've already earned and expand that business. Like, the advent of the VIP is kind of a big deal. Like, how do you take care of your VIPs?

David "Rev" Ciancio: Yeah, like, the burger shop at my restaurant, um, we are having a dip in traffic. It's. I can't make people go to Bryant Park. I can't. I can't. I'm not yet Zeus, uh, level power of affecting tourism to New York City. But, you know, like, our AOV is going up and our frequency is going up, and our LTV is going up. So, like, we're doing something right. But it's. That's what I'm saying is, like, there's a dip in the business. At least I know I can hold my retention together. You know what I mean? So.

Michael Beck: Right, right. Um, so, Rev, when. When you put together this program, who are you thinking about? And I'm reverse interviewing it. Sorry, I slipped in my podcast outside of things. But who are you thinking about, though, when you set this up?

David "Rev" Ciancio: The restaurant marketing workshop.

Michael Beck: Yeah.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Um, so this the genesis. I'll give you the story and then it'll sort of answer that question is two years ago, Fast Casual Executive Summit in Denver, Shara Cancel our from Connect Media comes up to me and she goes, rev, what's the one show that's missing? And it's hard to believe that there are any shows missing based on the volume of shows. Um, I said a show for marketers by marketers, where they show each other how to do their job better. And she goes, okay, Cool.

Michael Beck: Do you want to start it as one does? Yes.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Uh, so the idea was ah, to have a room, not a conference, not a trade show, but an actual workshop where multi unit marketers who have figured something out and it doesn't matter if your brand is big or not. Right. It was more of like, um, I'm a proactive person who tinkers around till I figure something out and then I'm happy to share it with everybody else and learn. So that, that's who was in mind was like marketers who want to do better. I found this out a long time ago. As a marketer, there isn't like a learning resource out there for us. Uh, for the marketers. There's not like a, uh, class I can go to, there's not a book, there's not a web series. Like there isn't. And I mean that's why I put out the content I put on LinkedIn because I'm trying to help. But like this, this show is intended to fill some of that gap. So that's who we were thinking about.

Michael Beck: We created it. Thank you for sharing that. I was curious.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Amen. All right, I'm gonna take my show back. Yeah, uh, you can. Okay. I asked you for your biggest takeaways on, um, uh, for restaurants. You come more on the vendor side of things. People who sell the restaurants. What did you take away for vendors? That's um, what.

Michael Beck: Well, hey, what I liked about that show is low pitch. Um, I think vendors often make the mistake, especially junior reps, they want to run in and just say, oh, let me sell you something. And I think, you know, the, the thing is, is that if you, if you're not listening to what's happening in the market, you're going to be tone deaf when you're trying to pitch some kind of solution to the people out there. So if you're trying to fix something without knowing what the problem is, you, you're going to go in blind to probably get blindsided by another project that's out there or some other competing initiative that, that might take gas away from that thing you're trying to do. But I, I think the first part is, is be more, be consultative. Which is rule one in, in being a good vendor is learn what your clients need so you can help address it. And if you don't have the answer, be the great vendor that's a partner to introduce them to, bring them the right people that'll help out. You know, uh, there's, there's so many competing solutions out there. That are in the same place. And I think the thing that's going to cause differentiation is that back to the human side of it, like, let me find. Let me care about you, and then I can get some business with you if we. If I want to earn it. And two, find a way to get it to get you the help you need.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Yeah. I look at, um. I look at it the way that, like, people. I think people look at, like, their primary care provider, right? Their doctor. If I go to my doctor and I walk in the ordinary, he's like, hey, David, how are you? How's the wife and kids? Uh, you know, is your knee feeling better? Um, let me check this, let me check that. And, like, I have this consultative conversation with a doctor who, like, knows me, feels me, cares about me, and when I'm in the room, they're the only person that matters. And they're not just, like, blanket writing, um, you know, scripts or whatever. They're, like, listening, hearing, prescribing, understanding. Like, I'm gonna stay with that primary care provider forever, right? Versus, you know, I walk into a place, I'm a name and a number. They don't remember me. I have no relationship. Um, they potentially are just go. I don't know, put them on amoxicillin, blah, blah. Like, I'm not probably gonna stay with that doctor, right? And you always hear these stories that people like, oh, my doctor retired after 30 years. I don't know what to do. They were amazing. Blah. Like, right? I think that that is the relationship that restaurants, uh, want with vendors. Even at an independent level. Even if I got one location, like, I want to be, call or talk to my. The person that's selling me something and have a consultative, friendly relationship. You know what I mean?

Michael Beck: The thing you're circling is the word trust, right? Your doctor earned that trust that, uh, your doctor earned the ability for you to say, well, here's what's really going on, right? Uh, in. In a sales conversation. I hate to say this to everybody, but when. When somebody's selling, it's typically the first couple answers from who you're talking to. Maybe deliberate or not, they're usually lies. Hey, we're great. Everything's perfect. Uh, no, we're fine. And then all of a sudden, there's this moment like, okay, here's the problem. You got to get the trust to get to the problem. Anyways.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Yes. And I think that, um, uh, again, I'm on the rest. I'm on the restaurant side, so I get all the cold Emails. Right. But I feel like every cold email I get from a vendor either challenges me, which I don't mind being challenged, but like you don't know me, right? So like you should be challenging me. Or they make me feel stupid. Right. Or they're like trying to cover up that they're trying to sell me something. It's like I know what you're trying to do. You know what I mean? Like can't you just be like, hey listen, yes, I'm trying to sell you something. Here's what it does, here's why people like it. Is this important to you or not? You know what I mean? Like that sounds like a better way to go. I don't know. You advise these people all the time. So.

Michael Beck: Well, I have a question for you. As a marketer that like I, I see vendors sending volume voluminous. Voluminous, I like that word. Voluminous emails like multiple chapters. Expecting people on a cold email to read a dissertation your opinions.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I mean I, I, I am constantly replying to clutter chat, GPT, tldr. Just the bullet points. Yeah.

Michael Beck: How about just hey, how are you doing today? You know, is now a good time? You know, maybe not now is a good time to talk but I've been thinking about your company. I'd love to have a conversation with you. That's probably the best to me, one of the best ways to reach out. Not that hey, I have a dev shop in qual and poor and I got 50 people that are ready to do that. Nobody cares.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Yeah.

Michael Beck: When I was want to work with you. Yeah.

David "Rev" Ciancio: When I was the CMO at single platform which is a no longer with us SAP AH slash platform owned by TripAdvisor, our number one performing cold email was do you want help fixing your menu on Google?

Michael Beck: That was it.

David "Rev" Ciancio: That was it. That was the number one performing email. And so somebody would get it be like yes.

Michael Beck: Yeah it's just a quick door opener. Then everything kind of goes from that. You start to fly while turning and you feed the relationship and then that makes it go and it is a relationship thing. I don't think we're as much as we want to say we're in a transactional world for, for, for buying business solutions. We're not, you know, uh, maybe something that shows up on your phone. You'll never see the person or company that made this thing and so you'll click on it. But most of these things where we have enterprise resource platforms and, and big solutions that, that thousands of jobs are tied to and personal successes and stuff. You're going to need to know the vendor that's working with you. And if you're a vendor, you don't want to want these people like you before you ever get to the door, doesn't like you. But that's a value. How you think about that things that the value that you have a solution to something or they're curious, like, wow, if I gave that guy the challenge, I bet he could solve it. Or gal, sorry, that was a little sexist. Yeah.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I think we live in this weird world where there's like a hard line that's saying, oh, you're a vendor. Oh, you're an operator. And like, uh, now that like, puts like a weird pressure on both sides where it's like, we can all be in the business together. You know what I mean? Like, you know, even you think at a distributor level, like, I know I can't make a pizza without tomatoes. Like, I have to buy the tomatoes. You know what I mean? So. Yep.

Michael Beck: Well, that's like what I, what I teach, uh, vendors when I'm helping them sell is, you know, the unfortunate reality is salespeople are viewed as inhuman. There's, there are these ravenous things that want something from you. It's usually from your checkbook. Right. And so they're like, ah, ah. They don't see that as helpful. So if I can humanize them, get them to love on their family, give the love on. Wow, they got a cool background. It might be a little different. Something that just opens the door that this is a human being that wants to help another human being. If we do that, the conversations get better. And that's, that's kind of my sales philosophy too.

David "Rev" Ciancio: So.

Michael Beck: Get them to care about. Yeah, that, that's, that's the first way to get there.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I mean, you, you say that in like a prescriptive, teaching way. Like, do you think that naturally somebody has to be that way to be successful, or does it have to be a learned skill?

Michael Beck: Um, some people have just the soft skills out of the gate. Some people, it's really hard for them. Like, it's really like, I don't know why my sterile background is going to say anything to somebody. Right. Like, even in your minimalistic background, I can see you're an insane baseball fan who collects first pitch balls.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Dude, I got a skeleton right there in a Hawaiian shirt. Yeah.

Michael Beck: And you're rocking. Yeah. I didn't say you're vanilla. You're minimalistic. Right. Mine is overkill. But I think if we can tell stories about ourselves. Like Chad, my business partner, he has pictures of his kids up behind them. You know, that's. That's a warm human being with a family that cares about him. I want to do business with them, you know, And I think a lot of people in the rush to sell that thing forgot the one thing they do, which is sell themselves. Hey, this is somebody I'd want to work with, you know? And at the end of the day, after the sow is signed and the honeymoon's over, on, on, hey, we're going to do this business together. Eventually somebody's going to show up during a difficult situation, right? Implementations aren't fun. It takes a while and there's going to be that. We're in love, we signed it. And then there's this part where we can hate these guys. We're in a bad spot. Software's not rolling out, the integration isn't working. Well, that's the person you need to worry about. Who's going to show up then? Or the company or the team? Because if I know I can deal with them, then, all right, I got them at the honeymoon, but can we deal through hard stuff together? Are they accountable? Ah, do they take ownership? Are they going to take care of me? Are they going to support the problem? Those are questions you should be asking too. When you're looking at a vendor and you're saying, yeah, they do good work. Oh, uh, sure. But what was it like during the tough moment, by the way?

David "Rev" Ciancio: I tell restaurants the exact same thing, right? Like when you're responding to reviews on Google and Yelp. Like, why do you respond to ones, twos, three fours and fives? Right? You respond to a one because first of all, that's just good customer service. If that person walked into your restaurant and said, I had a bad time, you wouldn't stare him blank in the face. You'd say, I'm sorry, you do win back. Right. That's just good hospitality. But, uh, the after effect is, if I'm going to look at a restaurant and I've looked at Google and I go look at their one star reviews, it doesn't really matter what happened to that person. It's whether somebody from the business responded or not. Because the signal I get as a guest is when things go wrong and it's clear they don't go wrong that often, they're going to make sure I'm taken care of. That's right.

Michael Beck: Yeah. People want to hear the basic human need is to be heard. Right? And then the the unfortunate reality is if somebody's happy, they'll tell one or two people. If somebody's pissed, they will find everybody they can to let them know. They will be on a mission to let them know. So it's probably imperative to put that fire out in a very kind way.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I've definitely broadcasted anger at businesses.

Michael Beck: I have a very nice poison pen over here that I do sharpen from time to time. Yes. Not, not in a Kearney sort of way. But yeah, I do have my level of vitrol. If I don't get the service, I'm sure gonna let people know because I want to make sure that when I'm somewhere, I give it too, so. But also go out of my way to treat the servers great. Like, make them feel good about the experience.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Heck yeah. Be grateful. All right. You've worked in multiple different parts of this business. You've been involved in multiple companies of multiple sizes. You've kind of seen the rainbow flavors out there. Um, it's the rainbow. Where do you think restaurant technology is going, like immediately next? Like, what are we looking at for the rest of this year?

Michael Beck: Um, well, consolidation has been going on for the last couple of years. Platforming has become a thing. Right. So you have the bigger players out there. They're continuing their M A journeys to build out the pieces that they need to have a consolidated offering so the, you know, the money stops going outside the four walls when they could keep it all there. Might not be the best in class in some of the pieces they get, but they want to get, they want to have that one customer in a mult in a number of different angles. I think that there's going to be some reticence still as AI continues to grow and develop new products. Because it's funny that you have this conversation. I had it last week, hey, man, have you tried this tool? And that thing's dead. I thought it came out a week ago. Right. Like things get replaced so quickly. I'd be, I'd be cautious and conscious of looking at things that are long term contracts with solutions that may in fact replaced in the next year. Right. So. Or, uh, look inside your own tech stack and make sure you have it because you might actually have that scheduling tool that somebody else bought at some point in time. But I think, you know, AI is going to keep taking the lead on, on what's going on here. I also think that people are going to start making some mistakes saying the AI is going to solve everything when it's a human problem, not a Technical problem. And so I think we're going to see people that are going to make some gross missteps potentially. Well, my AI review system answered everything. Did you check its work? Right. Is he having the impact you want? Um, it's fun. But what I think is also coming soon is that now with, with Claude code and similar tools like that, the people start baking up their own solutions. Not that it's going to work for enterprise because you have to really mitigate risk, but I would imagine that the SMBs, especially as you have younger generations coming up that grew up with the stuff in their hands, will be able to say, I just need this tool, I need this thing to do that. And I, I have a feeling we're coming close to that moment in time where point solutions might not be so, so attractive anymore if you can actually make it happen in your 20amonth subscription to whatever, uh, LLM you happen to use.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Yeah. Here's the crossroads I think we're approaching and you kind of touched on this. Um, I think the restaurant business with tech until kind of this year has this like build it or buy it mentality, at least at the enterprise level. Like if you're Panera, you have to be like, well, should we just build it and maintain it and then it does what we want and we don't have? Or do I gotta buy it?

Michael Beck: Okay.

David "Rev" Ciancio: At the enterprise level, at the mid market to independent, it's buy it because I don't have the ability to build it or buy it or maintain it. Right, yeah, that could be changing. Right. Like I can open up Claude code and figure out a couple of things I haven't yet, but you know, like essentially it's like I actually could build it. You know what I mean? Like I actually could build it. Do you think there's going to be More build it vs buy it? Is that the reality?

Michael Beck: I, I think so. I think so. However, um, you and I are both part of the same cohort over at Google. Right. And, and, and I think one of the things that Google's doing really smart is getting in front of that by democratizing some of the tools that only the big guys have access to and making it available to the SMB at a reasonable price. So if they can do that. And, and because what, what are they doing when they're, when they're tinkering with Claude? They're not serving their guests, they're not increasing the, the traffic or the experience or coaching their teams. They're tinkering with something and they're Being heads down. Just like when back when they're trying to figure out what their report was saying. Now they're trying to build something and they're not doing the one thing that makes the money, which is give a great guest experience. Right. So that uh, the reason you build or buy is one. Do you have, is there an opportunity cost that you could absorb to be able to do that thing? Or you're fooling yourself and you're doing your internal Ponzi scheme of, of taking time for, away from your customers to make something that you're not even a pro. When companies like Google have fast and deep resources and they made that thing available to you already on the subscription, you may have with them. Right. I mean, they're doing some really cool stuff that I don't know how much we can talk about because I forget what the NDA parts were, but it's freaking cool.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Yeah. I think that, um, there's some expectation, especially in the independent market, um, that A.I. is going to solve all my problems. Like, oh, I could press a button and magic will happen. And that can do that. It absolutely can. But I think what's actually happening is there's sort of like four classes of people, um, and what AI is doing is further separating us. And so before AI, there were people that were really good with technology, and guess what, they're really good with AI. And then there are people that are like, not as good, but like, we'll figure it out over time. Right? And so same thing is happening. They're figuring out over time. There's that group of people who are like going to misuse tools, right? And so they're just gonna misuse this. And then there's that group that's like technology, um, adverse, that's like, ah, uh, I don't like technology. And so like, I actually don't think things are changing. I just think each one of those buckets is accentuating what they do. So the guys that were good are better. The guys that know how to get good are getting better. The people that are kind of gonna figure out over time do this, like it's actually the same. You know what I mean?

Michael Beck: Well, I, I think part of that too though, Rev, is um, so pre, pre, uh, LLMs, there wasn't a massive amount. I mean there was lots of written content out there, but now I would say there's probably a thousand X written content because everybody's a writer now, right? And so LinkedIn, uh, and other tools are starting to have their AI sniffers try to locate what's actually an AI piece of content versus human generated content, which is smart because they're just a full flood of stuff that's out there. Right. You don't know if it's good or bad. It's just, what do they call it? Uh, uh,

David "Rev" Ciancio: slop.

Michael Beck: AI Slop.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Right.

Michael Beck: And, but also at the same time, like, uh, you know, like in, in. In high school, I played four chords on guitar because they'll get me some attention from girls. But I cannot compete with a guy that went to Juilliard. Right. And so I think that creatives who have these things in their hands will continue to elevate and be above where anybody else is because they're a, uh, creative on top of this tool that, that then gave them this horsepower to maybe go faster and farther and, and with more expanse, reach and, and save them some time. These guys that are testing it out and just creating slop, they're still going to continue to create slop because they don't have that, that, that intellect that took them there. And so I think, I think that, you know, like, to your point, the people that are good will get better. The people that are battle, I don't know, maybe get a little bit better. But compared to totality, they'll still, they'll still, they won't stand out. There'll just be more in the mix.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Yeah, they're just tools, man. If you sucked with, if you sucked with a hammer, you're gonna suck with AI. Like. Yes. Yes. Yeah, actually, that's not true. I'm really bad with a hammer, but I'm not bad with AI.

Michael Beck: But you get a lot of bent nails in your house. I can imagine.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Yeah. Oh, I don't even own a hammer anymore because I know what happens if I have one. Actually, this is the only hammer I have. It's my Whack a Mole hammer. So if I'm on a call with somebody like, guys, we're playing too much. Whack a molecule. It's really just like visual cue.

Michael Beck: I think you just have it around. So you tell people you're the world's greatest whack a Mole player on earth and you're undefeated.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I mean, that is true. I am lifetime undefeated as a Whack a Mole player. Like somebody at some point has to take me out and I keep telling my son it needs to be him. Like, I, I don't at this point because he keeps telling me he's gonna beat me and he's not. And it's like, you know, as like a dad or a parent, you're, like, supposed to let the kids win. It's like the one thing that I won't like.

Michael Beck: You told me when we were at SeaWorld, I did not let him in. He's gonna earn that one.

David "Rev" Ciancio: You know, if we're doing like the stack race or we're playing checkers, like, I don't care. But, like, this is the thing that I'm really, really good at and he wants to defeat me. Like, okay, then you learn, you get, I think whack a mole skills are important.

Michael Beck: Love it. Love, uh, it. Well, hand eye coordination.

David "Rev" Ciancio: How are you. How are you currently using AI at least, like in your business? Like, what are. What is it?

Michael Beck: Oh, wow. Um, so I have a lot of fun with AI in a number of different ways. Uh, I just took the leap to climb Claude last week just because, say I, you know, Sterling Douglas is like, dude, you're missing the boat there. Um, and so I'm playing, you know, with Gemini and Claude and, and, and, uh, chat, GPT. Uh, the, the totality. What I do mostly is like, I do a lot of writing and so part of that is being my co editor and helping me build out the content framework and then I'll fill it in with my own personality. Um, I like to use it for repeat characters. Like, you've seen my inky, right? My little, my little cartoon guy. So I make a seed character now, AI. I can have him do anything I want and have him stay completely on brand and actually and in tone and color. And I can even animate him now with that. Right. Um, I'll set up, uh, plans. Like, if I'm gonna go to a show, what are things I need to do? And I'll have it set up. Like, I saw your checklist before I left your house when we went on the road. It gives me my checklist and things. But that's, that's. That's tip of the iceberg stuff, right? That's like, that's when you first start learning it. Um, now I'm having it. You know, my. I don't know if people that tuned, uh, in or familiar with Fixer AI. That's when I enjoy which it answers all my emails for me. So when I go in, I don't have to answer my emails, I just approve them. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Tune that one on. Because it's just showing me all my responses as drafts. So I live with an email inbox of 0. It is great. All right. And, yeah, and so that's one of the things I like. Um, or here's a, here's a really quick tip. Uh, I will use AI to do my. Well also Fixer 2 takes my notes, transcripts. When I'm inside of a meeting, I'm doing my discovery calls and then what I'll do is I'll feed that transcript into another GPT I've built inside chat GPT and so now make me a proposal based on the contents of this transcript. And I don't have to do excuse the language but that is really cool outside of edit it because now I've heard everything that CEO said is represented in my proposal to, to the letter to show that I actually they have been heard and, and it's actually built that thing out beautifully and it knows all the services I do because I fed that thing and so now it comes out of their side. So Instead of spending three or four hours on a proposal, I do 10 minutes on a proposal, make sure it's lined up and I haven't missed anything in that. That is amazing. Right. Um, if you haven't used Gamma, uh, there's another AI tool out there which is a deck builder. It's a like power, you know, PowerPoint. But instead of that same thing, if I go to my. I'll have a discovery call and I'll go to Gamma and or first I'll go chat GPT and I'll feed in my, my transcript from that call. Into it I'll say make me a prompt for Gamma to make a 10 slide deck that talks about what we talked about on that call and Gamma will make a complete visualized uh, presentation, 10 slides exactly the way I wanted. And I just have to tweak some of the pictures and imagery in it. I built an entire deck that took me two or three days and a few minutes.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I want to have a call with you that's a fake call where we just say a bunch of silly stuff. Then you put it in and see what comes back out.

Michael Beck: Yeah, it's wild how efficient you can get with these things or even to the point I wrote your article right on, on the workshop. Right. Uh, which your, your presentation is fantastic. But that was derivative of feeding the transcript from your conversation into it, then putting my salient thoughts into there and mixing those two together. And there, there came your article from that. Right. Get a lot of efficiency out of having really good note taking with it. These initial thoughts. Yeah, amazing.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Well listen, this is a 30 minute show. We're gonna move uh, into a wrap here. Uh all right, tell people a little bit about what you do. Like what is Ink Tank?

Michael Beck: Yeah, Ink Tank. Uh, we are a go to market organization that helps technology companies that operate specifically in hospitality and retail. And we typically look at companies that are series A, Series B funding they're trying to get off the ground. Their circle of influence dries up after a little while because it's the founder and they're going to talk to. It's just like, uh, if your mom sold Amway or something at one point, people she knows and the family dry up really quickly. Right. And so we have some fantastic inroads with all the uh, either tech brands that are out there, that might be their integration, integration partners in the future, or the brands that are actually they're trying to sell to. And so we bring all that together in a way that you can get to them, that you can execute your sales and have an understanding of actually are you guys doing the right thing? So I'll uh, typically dip into CRM and see, you know, what's the comorbidities of dead deals, why they die using weak sauce language, bad follow up, just poor selling and find things that we can resurrect from that create some cures, so to speak, so they don't repeat those bad mistakes. Help them carve out their SOM or serviceable obtainable market as the MBAs like to do and uh, just get them some really strong selling disciplines. Then we also coach around, you know, what's trade shows to invest in what is going to be the best ROI based on who their ICP is. I love all these acronyms we're throwing out and, and also once we're at the shows, help them capture that moment. So we have a media side of the business that's content capture. And we do that whether it's on site, interviews, booth tours, or we do podcasts and we pull out that content like from something like this to have those cool, salient moments where you have the 30, 60, 90 second clips that add to some of their virality out there and get people hearing about them. But you know, we like, we call ourselves industry Sherpas. We figure out the path up the mountain, then we help take you up to the top of it.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I love that. Um, I know personally I do not like to be in a place where I'm sitting around going, I don't know what to do next. And so it's helpful to find people that do know what to do next. All right, we're gonna wrap it up here, buddy. I'LL say this before I throw it out. Uh, if you guys have not listened to Beck and Chad's podcast, I'm a big fan and just follow them on social media. They're content's really great. It will help give you an inside of like, all things restaurant, business and technology. They really understand the business in a way that like, most people don't. And so I feel like you guys are great Sherpas to understanding what's out there. So, uh, if people want to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to find you?

Michael Beck: You can find me on LinkedIn or also it's inktankgtm.com or you can find our, our YouTube channel, which is Ink Tank GTM on YouTube. And the chat GTM podcast is under the same name. Chad GTM podcast.

David "Rev" Ciancio: I love it. Well, thank you for joining us today, Mr. Beck.

Michael Beck: Thank you.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Uh, everybody who listened in. Uh, if you really like what you heard on the show today or any of the episodes, please jam that subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you like to listen in. And if you really thought it was good, share with a friend who you think will also like it. Take it, Take it easy. Thanks, buddy.

Michael Beck: Rev, thank you for being a friend. See you, buddy.

David "Rev" Ciancio: Thanks, buddy. Bye.

Michael Beck: Bye.