Just Be Yourself: Interview with Michael Kansky, Founder and CEO of LiveHelpNow
I recently went one on one with Michael Kansky. Michael is the founder and the CEO of LiveHelpNow and HelpSquad.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Michael: I started LiveHelpNow with a goal of creating a tool that could significantly improve customer satisfaction in various industries. In my work as an IT consultant for various companies, I saw inadequate customer service everywhere I went. Customers were consistently not treated well, kept on hold for hours, and just generally disrespected. I witnessed call centers that worked very inefficiently.
I wanted to change that. I wanted to give companies the means to really connect with their customers and serve them in an efficient and helpful way. With my IT background, I knew I could create software that could help small businesses and their clients.
After work, I’d come home and head to my basement after dinner. There I worked on coding and developing a live chat platform that could really help businesses with its simplicity, efficiency, and innovative design. I created a platform I myself would want to use and would pay to use. At first, I didn’t charge my customers, but once my customer base grew, I decided to introduce a pricing schedule. It worked. Turned out the platform was so helpful, business owners didn’t mind paying a few dollars monthly to continue to use it. And then the company grew. I quit my full-time job, and here I am, years later, with LiveHelpNow, and its sister company, HelpSquad, continuously growing. Along the way I founded additional businesses that came and went, either dissolved or sold, but these two companies continue to stand strong.
My biggest challenge was quitting my day job, leaving that stability and security behind, and going off on my own. Long hours and a lot of stress during the creation of the company and subsequent running of it, of course, were not easy to get used to.
Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?
Michael: Just for fun, back in the 90s, I designed a dating website. I created a chat feature to allow the users of the site to communicate with one another. The “aha” moment came when I realized that the users might want to talk to me, the owner of the site, for tech support as well. From that initial idea came the notion that, perhaps, other websites and businesses would want to connect with their customers via live chat.
My advice for others trying to come up with new ideas: seek the need among potential customers. Focus on people you’d like to serve, learn as much as you can about them, and really understand their needs. No one will want to use a solution without a need for it. Always start with a need and then come up with a solution.
Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?
Michael: When I first started, I offered my solution for free. I reached out to business owners and let them use my software at no charge. The demand was high, but I still wasn’t sure if it would be a profitable business. Then I took a leap of faith and one day introduced a pricing schedule. To my own surprise, most businesses stayed on board and didn’t mind paying for a solution that was already working for them. That night, within one hour I saw how many business owners were still on board, and I knew I could now quit my regular job and pursue this endeavour.
Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?
Michael: Try and experiment as much as you can with various tactics and strategies. Don't be afraid of trying every little thing. Don't spend too much time and money on one thing. Set up a metrics dashboard or system to measure what produces growth. Choose your winners and invest more in those. For us, focusing on SEO, Google Ads, social media, and review sites worked, but these are just a few things out of 20 or 30 things that we tried.
Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?
Michael: ABCs - Always be selling. But never sell without a complete understanding of your prospect’s pains, wins, and goals. For marketing, don't ever market your product by spotlighting your achievements and features and functions. Market your product by featuring your customers and the value they derive from your product or service.
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Michael: Come to work first and leave last. When it comes to your employees, never miss acknowledging a mistake - they are irreplaceable learning opportunities. But, more importantly, never miss an opportunity to acknowledge your team’s wins and successes.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?
Michael: Hire slow and fire fast. Get into understanding prospects and have a real degree of confidence that this person is who you’re booking for. If you see a person underperforming multiple times, it is not a good fit. Failing in the same area is not a good fit because the person is not learning.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders? \
Michael:
Be authentic in everything you do. Be real wherever you are and with everyone, especially with customers. Dont lie, don't underdeliver, don't underpromise. Just be yourself.
Make sure your foundation is rock solid. If you have problems at home and in your personal life, you cannot lead a team. Fix your problems first.
Always allocate shutdown hours. Take weekends off. The off-hours are very important for balanced emotional health and productivity. You have to have time to reset.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Michael: Don’t try to do everything yourself. You might save money in the short term, but it will cost you in the long run. It will cost you your sanity, your productivity, and your profits, too. The importance of having a general manager cannot be understated. When you build a team that you can trust your products and services will improve dramatically, you will be able to improve in every aspect of your business, and you will be able to grow your business. You cannot do it alone.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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