Though 95% of their employee base is in Utah, they’re now expanding into Brazil and Australia and having tremendous success in these countries.
Podium was founded in Lehi, Utah, in 2014. Today it helps over 40,000 businesses improve their customer interactions. But before it was named one of Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies, its founders, Eric Rea and Dennis Steele, set out to solve one significant problem: how to give a single tire shop in Canada the modern tools to operate in a modern economy.
Eric Rea’s father owned a bike shop in Calgary that struggled to collect reviews that showcased his outstanding customer service. So, Steele and Rea decided to create a review solution that would offer a fairer representation of the hard work Rea’s dad poured into his shop.
They had a simple approach: help a local business stand out by creating seamless connections between them and their customers. They wanted to empower businesses to create a brand that galvanized the workforce and reflected the people within it. But though companies consistently delivered excellence along the way, somehow, their efforts didn’t reflect on their online footprint.
“When Podium started, many companies had a similar problem and this became a challenge that Podium set out to solve,” says Jason Taylor, Podium’s Chief Technology Officer.
The majority of businesses only received polarized reviews when a customer were either overly delighted with their experience, but more often motivated to leave a bad review when something went wrong. There hadn’t been a solution for companies to capture everyone in between and create an accurate representation of the customer experience they delivered. So, Rea, Steel, and team established a system that sent review invitations to all customers automatically. Immediately, companies started to see an increase in their online ratings, more leads, and more positive reviews.
Today, over 89% of consumers would like the option to message a business. They expect the ability to use platforms like Apple Business Chat, Google Messaging, SMS text messaging, Instagram, or Whatsapp to directly message enterprises about their products and services. As a result, companies struggle to manage overwhelmingly long lists of text conversations across multiple mediums. Now, Podium offers those businesses a solution: manage all communications from one inbox.
“Our interactions are text-based, not email. They were started this way, and this focus on convenient messaging has fueled the company’s products ever since,” says Taylor.
Messaging allows businesses to create richer, trustworthy interactions with their customers proving to today’s buyer that said business values their input. Moreover, Podium’s Interaction Management platform has created a way for local businesses and enterprises to flourish both on and offline by offering businesses the necessary tools to improve visibility, drive more leads, and empower text-based payments.
In the past 5 years, Podium has been lucky enough to work with some of the best businesses in the world, helping them with their most significant business challenges and transformations. The company has also been recognized, receiving No. 13 on the Inc. 5000 in 2018 and No. 52 in 2019, and making Forbes Cloud 100 (2018), as well as Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups (2018).
