The Importance of Customer Experience with Daniel Rodriguez, CMO of Simplr

Welcome to the Marketing Growth podcast. I’m your host, Shane Barker, and my guest today is Daniel Rodriguez, the Chief Marketing Officer at Simplr. In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the importance of customer experience and delivering service in real time.

We’ve got Daniel Rodriguez today from Simplr—super excited. I’ve actually been looking forward to this interview for the last few weeks. Did a lot of research into your background, but I could tell everybody, the whole world, about you, but I’d rather hear it from you. So tell us a little bit about you—I want to start from the beginning. Where did you grow up? Give us a little backstory here.

Gotcha. So were you happy when LeBron left? Or was that like, did you burn the jersey? Just be honest.

But see, when you left Cleveland, you didn’t put anything in the paper. You just kind of left, right? I mean, I know there was a big impact because they were like, “Wait a second—who just left?” And they’re like, “Daniel just left!” Like, wait a second—enough about LeBron, tell me about Daniel! So then you left, and now you’re in what—Boston, right?

Well, I think the thing is—and we kind of have this issue in Sacramento—sometimes it’s hard to keep talent, because we’re not L.A., right? We’re not Miami, we’re not these bigger cities. So I get that, when you go to bigger cities. But it’s nice when people reinvest where they came from. So where did you go to college? You left Cleveland, then you went to Boston. Where’d you go to college?

That’s crazy. So Harvard—I’ve heard of Harvard. I’m trying to think… I’ll have to Google that. I’ve heard of that college. I don’t know why that rings a bell. But anyways, cool. So Harvard. And then—let’s just talk about your MBA. Let’s get this out of the way, because you’ve gone to two schools I can’t even spell. So where’d you get your master’s?

Awesome, awesome. So what was your—okay, you’ve got that, you’re in Boston. The funny part about Boston is—first of all, I was supposed to go. Long story, but there were two places. I saw Good Will Hunting, and that movie changed my life. I was like, either I’m going to Chico, California—which is the home of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company—or I’m going to Boston. My mom’s like, “Why Boston?” I was like, “Good Will Hunting. Hello? You didn’t see the movie?” She was like, “I think that’s solid. That’s solid that you’re going to go to Boston because of that.” So I didn’t end up going. I visited, and I think there’s like a college every nine feet, right? Isn’t it something like that?

Really? I remember when I went to Boston, I actually went to Harvard. I don’t know if you know that—I went there and picked up a sweatshirt. I only went for about an hour, but I did. It’s like a polo sweatshirt, and it says “Harvard” on the side. I’ve gotten so much attention from that. People are like, “Oh, you went to Harvard?” And I’m like, “Yes… for a day. Actually, just a few hours, to be totally honest.” I’ve let a few people down. They’re like, “Oh yeah, Harvard!” And I’m like, “No, sorry, they didn’t accept me. I don’t blame them. I wasn’t that smart back then. I’ve gotten smarter over the years.” That’s crazy. So Harvard, MIT—what was your first job out of college? What did you jump into?

Yeah, Harley was—I mean, talk about a solid brand. They went from being a hardcore biking company to like, hey, you can be Joe on the weekends, go grab your Harley and go for a ride, then put on your jacket, and more girls will like you. And I think that worked. Not that it ever worked for me, but I’m just saying—for other people. For Joe in that example, I’m sure Joe probably scored a lot.

But so cool, there are other companies you worked for, and I really want to talk to you about Simplr, right? That’s something that caught my eye—the reason we reached out to you for the interview—because of what you’ve been doing there. And you’ve been there for just about a year, right? Maybe just under?

So have you actually ever been to the office, or have you been fully remote?

You don’t stand up during Zoom calls, do you? Yeah, you don’t have to. Well, you shouldn’t, because you might not have pants on or something, right? I mean, super awkward. We’ve all been there. We’ve all been there. So—and you guys didn’t hug or anything, right? Just making sure, for COVID.

That’s good. So you do have COVID, because you said “trying not to give anybody.”

I can’t necessarily trump what you said, but nobody on my podcast knows this—I actually had COVID. My wife’s a nurse, and we had COVID a few months ago. I’ve never told anybody, but just because, you know, I’m worried. You can get it through Zoom now. So every time I get close to the mic, I think, “This is going to be terrible,” but at least I disclosed it.

Joking aside, your mom—dude, I’m glad she pulled through. That would’ve been—it was my biggest fear when I found out I had it. I had to call people. We weren’t seeing many people, we were masking up. My wife being a nurse, we’re high risk. But there were two people I had to call. One of them was—name withheld, but a buddy of mine, Scott. I called him and said, “Hey dude, just so you know, I think I have COVID.” I’m a smart aleck and he goes, “Yeah, whatever.” And I go, “No, seriously.” He’s like, “Dude, I just saw my mom last night. She was playing the piano at our house, and I told her just to take her mask off.” I’m like, “Oh my God.”

And in my head, I’m thinking, if I mess up this guy’s life—or his mom—I couldn’t live with that. I had sleepless nights. I was like, “How’s your mom doing?” I’d check in every day. I’m a mama’s boy. Not that if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t care, but in my heart, I’m like, if I messed up his mom, I’d be so pissed. She’s fine. She’s totally good. I’m glad your mom’s okay. And the COVID thing—yeah, it is real. Absolutely real. I mean, the chest tightness, all that craziness. It’s a whole other podcast episode.

I won’t spend the whole time on COVID, but I will tell you this: my son, 21 years old, got tested, but of course it took two weeks to get results back. We kept him in the house—no symptoms. Myself, I’m asthmatic. I had chest issues. Didn’t have to go to the hospital. My wife—there was a night or two we were on the edge of thinking, “Should we go in the hospital?” but didn’t.

Last story: a nurse who called me said, “This is the craziest virus. I have a 101-year-old patient who got it twice, didn’t even know she had it. Walks every day, wears her mask. Then there’s this other guy—works out, takes vitamins, doesn’t drink, never smoked—and he’s on a ventilator.” Like, how do you evaluate that? The 101-year-old, you’d think, “She’s gone.” And she’s totally fine. Meanwhile, the other guy barely made it, and now he can’t ride his bike anymore. He was an avid cyclist.

Anyway, we could talk about this forever. You and I would share stories, probably drink scotch and smoke cigars, and I’d cry halfway through. But we’re good now. I’m solid. So—tell me about Simplr. That’s really the thing that caught my attention. I hate to go from COVID to like, “Let’s talk about your company,” but I’m intrigued by what you guys are doing with customer experience. Give me some backstory on Simplr.

So it sounds like there was kind of an issue saying, hey, from the customer experience side, we’ve got some issues here. They found a solution, and now you guys broke off as another company, right? I mean, it kind of sounds like, hey, listen—because when you talk about the customer experience, usually people’s experiences aren’t good, right?

Historically, I mean, think about the companies you call. I’ll give you a stupid example. Actually, I’m not even gonna give the example of the IRS—well, I will. I called the IRS, and they were hanging up on me. I’m literally trying to give you guys money, and you’re hanging up on me. How is that a thing? It’s terrible. Not that the IRS really cares, because they’re like, “We’re gonna come get you no matter what,” which is awesome.

But it really comes down to: do you understand what your customers are going through and how they’re experiencing that? So, with Simplr, what are you guys looking to solve? Is it just that overall journey for the customers and making sure it’s a better experience?

As an entrepreneur, I totally second Daniel’s views on the importance of delivering the best customer experience possible. It’s been a great conversation. We’re going to wrap up the segment here, but in the next episode, I’ll be back with Daniel to discuss more about customer experience and how gig workers can help with it.

And if you want to improve your customer experience and satisfaction, you can reach out to us at shanebarker.com. My team has a wealth of experience helping business owners deliver better experiences for their customers. Stay tuned to Shane Barker’s Marketing Growth Podcast.