Identifying the trends shaping today’s workplace, workforce, and marketplace. Guests bring insight and lessons into the trends shaping their business, allowing listeners to learn, adapt, and get a little bit better at whatever it is they do.
What’s Working is currently broadcast 28 times weekly in 25 markets across the US, primarily in the southeast. The What’s Working with Cam Marston® 90-Second Business Tips are broadcasting 415+ times each weekday in 46 markets across the country. More stations join nearly every week.
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Matt Saurage’s great grandfather, Cap Saurage, began Community Coffee in Baton Rouge, Louisiana four generations ago in the year 1919. Matt’s vow is to keep the company true to its roots by providing the best, most consistent brew of coffee the company is capable of and keeping the company viable for the next generation of Saurage. Matt gives us details about his coffee business ranging from the two unique markets for coffee with chicory (Mobile is one), the fungus that threatened the world’s coffee crop, and the industry’s desire to become completely sustainable. He’s also a fan local coffee shops which, he says, often begins a person’s relationship with the beverage by way of its social qualities. If you’re a coffee fan, you’ll want to listen in.
Hayes Hitchens has created a summer camp experience for youth that takes them all over the globe to push themselves in unexpected ways. Though the destinations may be exotic, the environment, the treks, the goals, and the teamwork forces the participants to work together. And the outcome, according to Hitchens, is a confident child who knows how to support their colleagues and overcome significant obstacles. They learn how to do hard things.
Lane Zirlott’s passion for the oysters he raises is immediately evident. He gives them names, he talks to them, he treats them as passionately and as carefully as a wine grower treats the grapes in his prize vineyard. And it shows. Lane’s Murder Point Oysters are served in the finest restaurants from New Orleans to Charleston and beyond. Delivering 3000 dozen oysters to customers each week, Lane got a toe-hold in the marketplace through no-nonsense guerrilla marketing that demanded that the finest chefs he could find take a look at them. It’s a fantastic story and you’ll come away with a whole new appreciation for the once lowly, now mighty, oyster.
Cindy Grosso defines manners, etiquette, and protocol as the stuff that allows us to know what to do in uncertain situations so that we’ll not be uncomfortable and can focus on what matters. Often, the subtle behaviors a job candidate exhibits or the confidence a sales person displays sets them apart from the pack and allows them to close the deal. What sets them apart is that these people know how to behave in uncertain situations and they don’t allow the formalities of meals, introductions, receptions or the like to make them uneasy. The trick, says Cindy, is knowing the correct manners, etiquette, and protocol. They’re business fundamentals.
Daniel Dennis leads. As the president of Roberts Brothers he oversees the company made up of 285 agents, staff, and five different offices. He’s also chairman of the board of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce, putting him at the forefront of bringing new jobs to Mobile. He was recently at the Paris Airshow recruiting aviation businesses to Mobile to the bustling Brookley Complex. Mobile, he says, needs more homes. The city has such low inventory of homes for sale that people don’t want to move, gradually making the problem worse. Daniel offers insights to the city, the high-emotion world of buying homes, and a glimpse into what’s going on with the city of Mobile.
Michael Honig’s father was in the wine business and Michael’s first job when he took over the family winery at age 22 was to sell his wines door to door in San Francisco. Today he’s still selling his wines but now he’s traveling to all fifty states and is on the road three weeks each month, spreading the word. His enthusiasm for the winery that bears his family name has not waned, either. Despite the extraordinary expense of running a Napa winery and the perceived glamor of the industry, Michael reminds us that producing wine, at its core, starts with farming.
Jeff Zeiders and his business partner began CigarClub.com in an entrepreneurial bid to match a person’s preferred tastes to the cigars they’ll enjoy. It began with a simple series of questions to be answered which then led to the company’s algorithm suggesting cigars. Today the company continues to grow fueled by Millennial customers who appreciate the hand picked selections, the careful packaging, and the descriptions included in each shipment. Worldwide, more cigars are being smoked today than ever before and Jeff and his team plan to ride this wave as far as it will take them.
For three generations, Cockrell’s Body Shop has served car owners in the Mobile area and continue to do so today. While the technology that we rely on to run our cars has changed, Tim and his team have not been left behind. Tim continues to invest in training for his people and upgrading his equipment to be able to work on the cars the come through his doors. And while insurance companies are critical to Tim’s success, Tim is a strong proponent of customer choice and wants us aware, in the end, it’s your and my decision where we take our cars for body work.
Hire Pete Vallas to be your architect and he’s going to want to come to your home and go through your house. He wants to open your closet doors and the drawers in your bedroom. He wants to see how you organize things, how you use your space, and how you prioritize your living arrangements. He’s then going to get down to business designing your home using timeless principles of architecture to create a home of timeless beauty. Is he good? He doesn’t advertise, has lots of repeat clients, lots of referrals, and is as busy as he can be. Yes, he’s good. He’s very good.
Prior to selling his business, David Friedman’s company was awarded seven Best Places to Work awards. Company culture, he says, is too important to be left up to chance or to be side-swiped by a strong personality who may not be the one you want in an influential role. David works with companies to create predictable behaviors through a process of defining what the company does to be successful and inculcates it across the organization. The companies that need his help the most are the ones in rapid growth mode where attention to the details and the levels of service that got them there are dropped in the rush. Listen and get a sense of how purposeful and intentional this process needs to be and how successful it can make your organization.