Manufacturing eCommerce Success with Jessica Williamson from BigCommerce

Curt Anderson  00:03

Hey Damon what’s up? Dude? How are you?

Damon Pistulka  00:04

I’m just getting going after that Thanksgiving holiday curtain man.

Curt Anderson  00:08

Was that just a magical weekend or what?

Damon Pistulka  00:11

Why don’t know your football team didn’t do that. Well, my football teams didn’t do that.

Curt Anderson  00:16

It was a bad football. Thank God for Turkey because we won’t Yes. Wow. How’s that? We’re just we’ll just move. Well, you know what? I’m giving off so I’m just giving up sports altogether. We might talk a little baseball later today, Damon but anyway, I think guy then happy post thanksgiving to everybody. Happy Monday. What an amazing incredible what a way to kick off post Thanksgiving. If you’re having if you have like that little post Thanksgiving hangover match. We have the cure rate here. My dear friend Jessica Williamson is in the house. Jessica. Hello.

Jessica Williamson  00:49

Hello. Happy Monday. Good morning. I guess I should say good afternoon Curt. It’s super excited to be here. Thanks so much for having me. Man.

Curt Anderson  00:57

We are just absolutely thrilled to have you here today. We are going to guys we’re gonna man we’re gonna deep dive into eCommerce and for those of you new our show is called manufacturing eCommerce success. And man I don’t know if we have a more perfect guests and more perfect company represented here to describe manufacturing eCommerce success. So Jessica, let’s we’re gonna dive right in. You’re out there. drop us a note in the chat box. Let us know that you’re there. Give a big hello to Jessica. And if you’re starting kicking off your eCommerce journey, boy, put your questions in the chatbox you absolutely want to connect with Jessica on LinkedIn. Check out BigCommerce. Jessica. Let’s get this party started my first question for you today. My friend. Are you ready? Are you sitting down?

Jessica Williamson  01:40

Absolutely. I’m standing up because I like to when I talk I use my hands. I use my whole body but like I’m totally wrong.

Curt Anderson  01:46

Damon I love when our guests stand. We don’t want that too often. So I do often. Alright, how about you better? Hang on to something Jessica? Yeah. Hey, it’s a little good. Now you’re in Denver, Colorado if I’m not mistaken, grew up in Texas. You’re a Texas girl through and through. Absolutely. Little girl growing up in Texas little girl growing up in Texas. Who was your hero? Who’s your hero growing up in Texas?

Jessica Williamson  02:12

Oh, you know, I would have to say my brother. And I’m gonna have to send this to him after this. Cuz maybe I don’t give them enough props. My older brother Dylan. He is five and a half years older than I am. And he is just someone that I to this day continued to look up to. He was just the quintessential older brother. And I was the quintessential little sister. I was so annoying, but just wanted to be like around him and like dance and talk and sing songs and be in the car with him. Right? I just wanted to be around him because he is just such a strong human being. And my opinion, just so cool. And after high school, he actually went to college and then for a couple years for a year and then joined the military and women’s Special Forces. He got out a couple years ago and now works with my mom and their accounting firm. And just to hear how his mind thinks and just hear what he’s gone through. And to see him be an amazing dad and husband to his wife, Aubrey and the kids Beau and Daisy. It’s just so incredible. And if I could, like he’s just an amazing human being and I just thoroughly look up to him and his mindset. And the way that he looks at business is just so I don’t know if intoxicating is the right word, but it’s just so incredible to be able to be related to someone that has such an amazing mind to him.

03:38

We’ve got a feeling

Damon Pistulka  03:40

that had to be one of the best answers.

03:44

Hey, detailed.

Damon Pistulka  03:46

There’s so much behind it. That was awesome.

Jessica Williamson  03:50

Well, hey, just send it to him. combination of

Curt Anderson  03:52

things. So Dylan, we’re sending you tons of props. Dude, we look up to you. We applaud you. Thank you for your service to our country. Being a great dad and what a big brother. What just boy, man, was that inspiring are so So big shout out to your brother. Yes, absolutely.

Jessica Williamson  04:10

All right. So

Curt Anderson  04:11

let’s slide in here. So I wanted to give everybody a little bit of a background on you who we’re talking to today. We’re going to slide into you know, deep dive in eCommerce, particularly for manufacturers and that b2b industrial space, which is really right in the wheelhouse of BigCommerce team and we’ve got a couple of folks here. Hey, Brandon is asking football teams, man, I don’t know Brandon. I don’t know it was a bad weekend. Yeah. Or buffalo had a real Heartbreaker last night. The man is

Damon Pistulka  04:36

on a Memphis so he, I don’t know. I don’t know what he’s thinking. Here.

Curt Anderson  04:41

We’ve got Diane Hey, Diane from Philly, so Philly beat the Bills last night. So the Eagles Damon were you at the Seahawks game? Did you go to the game at Thanksgiving?

Damon Pistulka  04:50

No, we didn’t. We actually stayed home and it was a good call. It was like had you stayed home for that one he had pumpkin Turkey was much better than being there.

Curt Anderson  05:00

Speaking of football, Jessica, I know your background. I want to go here. Your previous life prior to eCommerce, very, very impressive College. You’re an athlete, you’re a cheerleader, so we’re kind of sliding in segwaying into our football conversation. Yes. And then post college you had a career I felt like at LA Fitness orange theory. Talk a little bit about like, how important it is for folks out there regardless of age. How important is it? Like taking care of yourself that exercise that mindset? How has that helped you with your professional career?

Jessica Williamson  05:31

Oh my gosh, yeah, so I was a little bit of backstory before that. I was in high school and competitive cheerleader and doing that in Texas. It’s a religion kind of like well, yeah, like it’s bigger the hair. Yes, the bigger the hair the closer to God was like a real thing for all.

Curt Anderson  05:48

It was just got I’m in big trouble, then I’m in huge trouble, right?

Jessica Williamson  05:51

Yeah, we can take a bow to your head, it’d be a Okay. Um, but my competitive church coaches really instilled this level of confidence and what like we I kind of jokingly say, delusional level of confidence of man, if I can do this routine, two minutes and 30 seconds back to back and making it five minutes and I’m flipping my body, I’m throwing people I’m catching people, I can do anything. And going into college to your college to your I was a college cheerleader at Texas State. And college here is a whole different beast. It is my body is hurtin steal from it all. And it just teaches you a lot of discipline, and also makes you learn a lot about your body. And more social awareness or awareness of your body as well. I actually didn’t do Texas State cheer for all four years, I stopped and kind of was getting a little lost. I was I don’t know what to do. And then I joined. I started doing bodybuilding. So I started lifting in January of 2017. And my first bodybuilding competition was November of 2017. And that I’ve done three shows it was what was it, it was November of 2017, September of 2018, in June of 2019 2019 is my last and probably forever last show, because that is really hard on the body and I would yo yo about 25 pounds every 12 weeks, I would shrink down 25 pounds and then kind of gain some back because you can’t be that lean. And once I stopped doing that, right, then I was like, I kind of miss being in the spotlight like that spotlight just cause my name and I’m not doing bodybuilding anymore. So what can I do? And so I thought I was gonna be a physical trainer or a personal trainer. And so started working at LA Fitness I was doing I was a bodybuilder made friends with the coaches, I was actually working in the kids club, everybody that takes your kids to the gym, kids club, make sure you think the people that are in there because it gets a little crazy in there. And then something that much Orangetheory fitness was thinking about being a coach, but I was actually a sales rep. And just to be able to see the mindset shift in the people that I was able to work with. And it’s not really necessarily about losing the weight, right. It’s about becoming a healthier version of yourself. So you enjoy your life more. And my dad, who I will do a shameless plug for my dad, he is on Instagram 50 and strong. And my dad when I graduated high school, completely shifted, he and my mom’s eating habits, workout routine. And my nephew was born in 2018. And he was like, I want to be pop ball who can run around and play with them. Like I want to be able to play with my grandkids. And so ever since then my dad’s become a personal trainer, he is completely certified. And although I’m not a personal trainer, you know, I’m an eCommerce in tech now, which I love. Fitness is an everyday thing. It is a community where you can meet meet new friends, I moved to Denver in February, all my friends that I have are from the gyms that I go to, because we’re like minded, we want to be active. It’s not necessarily I feel like there’s a big stigma of like, if you go to the gym, you want to lose weight. In reality, I want to go to the gym because I have an able body that I feel really blessed to have I want I mean, hey, I do like the big muscles, okay, I like my big muscles. But I want to be strong. I want to be mentally strong. I want to be physically strong. I want to be around people that are love life and see life as a thing to move your body get the vitamin D go on the hikes, right? And so I think that was a really long winded way to say it taught me discipline. But it mainly taught me confidence and a community that I don’t know where I’d be without it. And this isn’t a fitness podcast by any means. But like, join the Orangetheory fitness like if you don’t know what to do, like, go and find a class to join because the coaches are there to help you. And don’t focus so much on your body focus more on your health and wanting to do it for the future. So you can live a long life because we only get one. So sorry to get a little preachy, but like I get very passionate about fitness.

Damon Pistulka  09:47

Just keep preaching out to people here that I work out every weekday. And because of it I can do things that I couldn’t do 10 years ago.

Jessica Williamson  09:58

Absolutely. Absolutely, you gotta keep uh, you’re not we might be getting older but doesn’t mean that we have to just sit and allow it to happen. Yeah. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  10:07

exactly. All right. Just we might have to have you back just a jam. What about fitness? Man? I have run through a wall right now. Yeah, that was

10:18

phenomenal.

Jessica Williamson  10:19

Thank you. Thank you.

Curt Anderson  10:21

Good, what a pleasant surprise. I had no intention of like really going deep dive there. I saw that on your background and united become fast friends over the past number of months. And it’s my respect and admiration for you what you’ve done professionally. And when I saw that, you know, I felt we had a kindred spirit on an eCommerce side. And when I saw your fitness background, I’m like, Man, we’ve got to talk about that. So man, guys, you hit the rewind button and just play that over again. What a great preach. And thank you for sharing that. That was my take a moment just to savor that. Yeah, I just was soaking

Damon Pistulka  10:55

that it was so good. Okay.

Jessica Williamson  10:58

Thank you.

Curt Anderson  10:59

We have to move forward. I would love to keep talking about I promise,

Jessica Williamson  11:03

I’ll come back. And we’ll just

Curt Anderson  11:07

Oh, my gosh, and what you know what? Just just, you know, I have to recap that, you know, you talked about confidence. You talked about discipline, just that. You know what your dad did? You know, I’ve got I definitely need to check him out. Would you say 15? Strong?

Jessica Williamson  11:20

Strong? Yep.

Curt Anderson  11:21

What, uh, what are the inspiration your family is and what a great positive influence they’ve had on you. And I’ll tell you for you know, one big thing that I love that you said, I love everything that you said, but the thing that really stood out is like, I am blessed to kind of like, you know, these bodies are our vehicles. You know, like, take care of it the best that we can. And just you know how far you can take yourself. So kudos to you. gratulations, we need to talk more about that. Let’s now get into how does a person that is just as fear fitness fanatic? How do you slide into a career where you’re just absolutely crushing it in technology? In eCommerce? How did that talk to us about that transition? How did big, big commerce come on your radar? And then we’re gonna dig into a deep dive on BigCommerce?

Jessica Williamson  12:04

Yeah, absolutely. So I was a sales rep at Orangetheory fitness and really loved it, I realized I loved talking to people, I loved being able to kind of like help people in their fitness journey, and also like, build a relationship with them. Because I was the one that was doing the opening shift at Orangetheory fitness, I would get to the studio at 430 in the morning for the 5am classes. And you build that, like you are that you might be the first person they see in the morning, right? Like, how can you make their day just a little bit better. And so I really realized I loved people, I loved helping people get to a goal, whatever that may be. And so I was at Orangetheory fitness for a year. And when I graduated, I was getting up on graduation. And I was like, I need to figure out a job. And I was like, I need to be an SDR right, like, if I’m not doing personal training or physical therapy, like I thought I was going to do, I need to be an SDR. And I think there’s a lot of people are like, Oh, being an SDR cold calling cold emailing. It is a means to an end. STRS like, keep the world moving in my mind. Like, we might not want to make those cold calls. But that’s what makes you get the grit to be able to really appreciate it. Be nice to the people that call you. They’re just doing their job right randomly. Just plug that in right there. But um, one of my friends was working close family friends was working in a logistics company and was like, just we have an SDR position available. Why don’t you apply? And so I did. And I jumped into it, right? Like I nailed the interview, got the job and jumped into it and realize that I was like, Alright, I’m in the right place, like sales. Sales is great for me. And but logistics. There’s a ton going on in logistics that I never knew before I got into that position. And it was fascinating to learn all about what those what those containers on a truck go through to get you your orders, right. Like it was fascinating to me. But things happen, I was unfortunately laid off due to the COVID COVID 19. And in my mind, right, I was like, Alright, one door shuts another one opens. What’s the next step? And it’s actually really funny story. Some of that used to work, someone from big commerce used to work at the same logistics company that I did. And he came into the office one day, and everyone was like, Oh, the man like we miss you, buddy. Like, let’s go grab lunch. And me and the other new STRS didn’t get invited to lunch because we didn’t know the guy which is fair and understandable. When I got laid off, my manager from my previous company, reached out to this man and was like, hey, you need this SDR. Like she just got laid off. It wasn’t because of performance. Like you need this at like, big commerce needs this SDR. So that man put his name on the line for me. It gave me a chance and they’re like for sure. Like he was an account executive. And they’re like, for sure. If we hire her she’s going to be your SDR. So do you really want to put your like the neck like you really want to put your name on the line for this and he was like Let’s do it. I’ve been working with him for the past three and a half years and I don’t ever think I can fully tell him how much I appreciate him helping me get the position at BigCommerce. Um, and I was his SDR for a year and a half and we kind of we took the world by storm, I learned so much from him, I was like, hey, like, I’m going to be an EDI SDR. I want to be on every discovery call, I want to be on every demo, I want to be on every call that I can be on to continue to learn about this platform. So that way one, we can do more together, but to I want to, like help people like I’m calling these people. Why should they care about big commerce? Like, what can I do to learn about, like, what can I do? So I tried to be as much of a sponge as possible. I did that for a year and a half, and then joined the agency team over at BigCommerce. And so I know we’re gonna get into that in a little bit. So I won’t dive in right now. But I got into the tech industry because I knew I needed to be an SDR in Austin, Texas is a hub for the for technologies. So I was like, I guess I’m just gonna jump into this, I got laid off, and was very fortunate to have good friends or good friends of friends to help me get the position I’m in now, or I wasn’t back then and then jumped into the agency land and it has just been BigCommerce has been the best thing I never knew I needed.

16:13

Wow, the best thing I didn’t know I needed is.

Curt Anderson  16:19

So alright, man. I tell you, John, you are a powerhouse. Why? well beyond your years, you get just a couple of things. A recap there of like, you know, you came in, you know, you know, everybody went through something during COVID. Right? Like you have a setback. And so you know, because of your dad because of Dylan because of like this just relentless drive that you grew up with around you just this contagious enthusiasm is driving this house that you that you were blessed with, right. And so you just come in sleeves rolled up. All right, one door is closed. What’s the next one? You dive right into technology? You go into eCommerce, man? I mean, the sky’s the limit. What are you talking about an industry that is slowing? It has no signs of slowing down for like decades? Right? Yeah, yep. Let’s dive into BigCommerce. Please share with everybody who is B

Jessica Williamson  17:11

absolutely. So Big Commerce is an open SAS eCommerce platform. And so it allows, you know, the big this is so cheesy, but it’s one of my favorite things to say the big and big commerce stands for built in growth. So whether you are selling paperclips out of your mom and dad’s garage, or you are a ginormous company, like solo stove, you’re able to be on big commerce, and we’re able to help you grow as you as you evolve. We believe in best in breed. So we are an eCommerce platform and an eCommerce platform only. We partner with amazing technology partners to help you and enable you to run your business the way that you want. In BigCommerce will forever have a special place in my heart. Not necessarily just because I love where I work, and I love the people and I love the platform. But I come from a family of small business owners. I’ve talked about my brother and my dad, but my mom is the strongest woman I’ve ever met in my life. And she is president and CPA of my family’s accounting firm. And being able to know that BigCommerce makes it different for people like my parents or like Joe Blow on the side of the street that’s selling paper clips that might be like on Shark Tank next week, right? Like we are a company that no matter like the size we want to be with you and help you grow. So you can get on Shark Tank and have you know, Mr. Wonderful or Mark Cuban invest in your company. You know what I mean?

Curt Anderson  18:37

Absolutely love it. Alright, so let’s take it another step further. So there’s, we were talking before we went live there’s, there are one or two other eCommerce solutions out there names that we shall not name right. Now what separates big commerce are shows called manufacturing eCommerce success. Damon, we love speaking to our b2b Industrial folks, with manufacturers out there. Just please take us there. Why is big commerce the best solution? Now? I said it right. If you say it’s one thing, but I’m saying it, I feel very strongly that big commerce is an amazing, powerful solution. Gaming, we’ve had numerous folks from big Commerce on the show, we’ve gone through demos and examples. Just why is BigCommerce a best solution for manufacturers?

Jessica Williamson  19:20

Absolutely. Let’s break down like the technology of it. And I like visuals. So if you’ll come with me on this ride, right? If we have a cardboard box, open source platforms are really great, because the open source platform will give you a cardboard and duct tape. And they’ll say build the box however you want to build it. But if it breaks on you, so build it the way you want, but like I hope you know how to fix it right? SAS based platforms give you a fully made box, right? Here’s a beautifully made box. But if you want to go outside that box, it’s gonna be really hard to customize it, where big commerce comes in and where we coined the term open SAS. We will give you a box, right? You don’t have to fully customize, if you don’t want to write it’s a fully functioning box for you to do what you want. But we’ll also give you extra cardboard and duct tape to be able to allow you to build the box the way that you want, and really customize the experience to your business. And so specifically for b2b and manufacturers, we understand the complexities, that is b2b, right? You’re going to have your knee like Junior buyers, senior buyers, you should have an ERP or somewhere where there’s a source of truth for all your products. How are you going to connect to that we have we built out in 2021, we did launch a b2b addition, which is actually additional b2b capabilities on the big commerce platform that make it easier for you to be able to organize and make the sales for your customers. And we realized that the next generation of b2b owners are like my generation, right? Like, and that’s why I love b2b is because a lot of these are family owned businesses. But if it’s my generation, I don’t even want to pick up the phone and make a reservation at a restaurant. If I can’t do it online, I’m probably not going to go to the restaurant, right? I know that sounds kind of lazy, but I want quick, efficient, like, alright, it’s reserved that I have to talk to anybody. And I think b2b buyers are really similar to that now, because it’s my generation where it’s like, I want to go online, I want to browse what’s in my, what’s in my segment, right? What’s in my account, and I want to reorder, I want to make it easy. And then in turn, we, we allow you to do that. And then in turn, it makes it easier on the back end for the beat, like for the manufacturers, because there’s no more spreadsheets, right? Everything’s electronic, everything’s automatic. So it allows you to spend time on what really matters and not just cleaning up spreadsheets, or answering the phone calls or things of that nature, you can still answer the phone calls, because relationships are everything and a lot of the manufacturers, but let’s make it easier for you to sell more. And big commerce allows you to do that.

Damon Pistulka  21:58

Yeah, yeah, I mean, think about it, think about the manufacturing, selling manufacturers, right, if I’m an OEM manufacturer, I’m an even a contract manufacturer, right? Your customers are going to be buying products from you all the time rather new products, replacement products. And that could be coming from the end customer buying directly from you. It can be you can be selling through distributors, you can be selling complete units or distributors, components where items are distributors or direct to the customer, or all those together. That’s where the b2b and the in the big commerce solution is so nice, because you can drive it just like you want. And even if you’re not doing it today, I can make it do it tomorrow. So if if if everything’s going through distributors right now, I could change it. So some of my customers had go direct to us in the future that makes it better for all of us, right? It’s so much fun, so much fun thinking about this.

Jessica Williamson  22:55

And you’re able to like, have different prices, because obviously there’s different negotiated discounts. Everything’s behind an Account Login, right? Like, yeah, it makes it easy. And then you also don’t have to, like on the phone be like, Oh, no, like, what did I say to them earlier? Like, it’s all documented for

Curt Anderson  23:10

you. Right? Yes. So all right, let’s go ahead, Damon, go ahead. And as

Damon Pistulka  23:14

Kurt says, they can order whenever they want. 24 744 744.

Curt Anderson  23:22

Just let’s go here. Okay, because there’s, I want to dispel a little myth. A lot of manufacturers, you know, if they’re not a, they don’t have a proprietary product, they’re not an OEM original equipment manufacturer, they feel a little bit left out of the eCommerce party, right. But yet, they’re coming into a wave of buyers, who are your generation who don’t want to pick up the phone, don’t want to email like they just they need decisions. Now they are, you know, God bless your generation. I love your generation for so efficient, forcing us older folks to get more efficient with our lives kicking and screaming, right? Yeah, let’s go here. You guys have a lot of powerful solutions where eCommerce is not just, Hey, I have a finished good, I have this pen. And you can click the button and buy the pens may affect your generation is even using pens anymore, right? So

Jessica Williamson  24:11

let’s go nowhere a pin is and

Curt Anderson  24:14

I’m trying to get there. I’m not there yet. But anyway, let’s go there. Talk about some of the solutions. I know like we’ve talked about customer portals. People can place, you know, an RFQ. There’s configurators. Let’s go into some of the b2b solutions, the powerful b2b solutions that BigCommerce offers for manufacturers.

Jessica Williamson  24:31

Yeah, absolutely. So you didn’t quite a few of them. If we’re going based off the favorites to talk about, I think the customer segmentation is so powerful, being able to have like specific pricing and discounts and things like that behind and behind an account makes it so much easier. We also have sales rep Masquerade. So your sales reps like your manufacturing sales reps are able to go in as like the person or as the buyer, and make the orders right. And so your app You’re able to be out in the field, with your, with the buyer, with an iPad with your computer and start to create the order instead of being like, Okay, I can’t read my handwriting. So I’m gonna assume, yeah, this is the part they needed and hope for the best, right? So it really makes things a lot more efficient. And I also think something that Bigcommerce has a really great job of being open right, is the connectors to the ERP. Right? So we have really powerful connectors to Accu Matica, to NetSuite that allow the orders in the products and everything to live in, in in your ERP, and then go directly to big commerce. So the stock is up to date, the prices are up to date, everything is going to stay up to date, and you’re not having to everyday go in and be like, Okay, we’re gonna change this, and then we’re gonna push here, and then we’re gonna hope it’s on time, right? It’s an automatic connection. And so I think that’s the big thing is that the solutions that you’re using, it’s hard to have only one solution for everything I know, everyone would love to have just one solution. Right? Like, I would like targets great, because I can go shopping for clothes shopping for groceries, shopping for medicine, right? Yep. But that’s really hard to find. And so being able to have connectors to all of the solutions, payment gateways are really big as well. We Bigcommerce is not a payment gateway, we partner with over 60 game payment gateways to make it easier for your clients to be able to sell or to buy with the card that they want. Right.

Curt Anderson  26:23

Right. Right. Absolutely love it. Hey, we’ve got a comment here from Dale saying, Hey, this is great information can definitely lead to a successful eCommerce business. So just let’s slide here. Okay. So you could be manufacturers out there have been around for 50 years, 100 years, you could have a manufacturer, they just created a new widget, a thingamabob and they just they’re launching brand new. Let’s go through the process. Like what How about how about almost like an eCommerce one on one kind of like a little bit of a checklist? You work closely with agencies? Let’s talk about like, how would any suggestions advice that you have for manufacturers out there that are looking to that or to partner with an agency? What are some tips that you have there? Absolutely.

Jessica Williamson  27:04

So specifically for manufacturers? Well, I will say I love all my agencies, like all of the agencies at Big commerce are really wonderful. I feel like we have a very special partner network, and that I’m very honored to be a part of for the past two years. But when you’re trying to find an agency, there’s different things that you want to look out, right? Sometimes its location, do you want someone that’s in your same town? Vertical, right? Obviously, b2b is going to be really special big commerce actually has partners that are b2b specialized, that they have to go through a certain level of training to get fully b2b specialized. And that’s a filter on our partner marketplace directory. There’s experience in your current eCommerce platform, or your current ERP, and there’s experiencing big commerce that you can look into. So I really think it’s look at your company right now. Right? Are you are on eCommerce? Like, are you using a different platform? What’s your ERP? What is your IMS? What payment gateways? Do you use? What? Like email marketing, right, like, get a full snapshot of what you are currently using? And if it’s nothing cool, we’re starting starting on clean slate, right? Yeah. And then what’s the I deal? ecommerce platform? What’s the ideal? Like, what do you what do you want your site to look like? And what do you want it to do? Make a list of like, these are my ideals, like in a perfect world, if I had a magic wand, this is what I want. Right? Then when you’re looking at agency partners. You can kind of go off of that and be like, Hey, I did the research on my own, this is what I’m looking for. I’m using and this is just an example, right? Like I’m using NetSuite as my ERP. Do you have NetSuite experience? Point blank in the store? Like, do you have this experience? No, you might be great people, but maybe it’s not for us. So look at your technology of what you’re doing. Now, look at what you want in your site in your business. And then you’re gonna be able to find the company that matches that also really great thing with big commerce is we can help you with that. So if you come to big commerce and talk to our sales reps, our sales reps can talk to you are the channel team, the team then on being like, hey, I have this merchant, these are the requirements, this is what they’re looking for, what agency would be a great fit for them. Our job is to know our agency partners, so we can kind of help match up as well, to make sure you have the best agency partner that are looking for your requirements at this time. Right?

Curt Anderson  29:20

I love that just and the big thing is, you know, I’d say the number one word, trust, right? Like, they’re just like really establishing that trust. For many manufacturers. They are widget experts where they know their product better than anybody else on the planet. However, technology might not be their jam, let alone their commerce. So it is just imperative that you line yourself with somebody that speaks your language that’s not trying to speak above you or beyond you. And I’ll tell you like marrying those expectations, I found is just so imperative. And I love what you were saying Jesse Retama like, Hey, what are some of my must haves versus maybe my nice to haves and what does that look like? Because it is an investment so Built in a brand new home, it is right? And what let’s let’s so let’s go. I know, again, you’re on the other side, you know, you’re on the SAS side of things. What are some challenges? Or like, what are some things that you hear that like maybe when things, maybe a great project versus or compared to maybe a project that didn’t meet expectations, any tips or advice that you want to go there? I

Jessica Williamson  30:21

think communication is key, like any kind of relationship, whether this is or personal, right? Communication is going to be key. And being able to be open and upfront with your agency partner is how you’re going to have a successful build, keeping things close to the chest or assuming, right, like, I don’t know if you know, the saying, assuming makes something out of you and me, right? I like the word school, right? It’s, it’s full, it’s great, right? But like, don’t assume that your agency knows what you’re wanting to do, right? Have that make a game plan with your agency. And if you’re wanting to change that, communicate that as soon as possible and try to make a game plan after that. Because I feel like a good project between a good project and a great project. A great project has great communication and great relationship with the agency partner, that you’re doing the weekly syncs, you’re you’re spending the time with them, you’re making sure because like, if you’re building a custom if you’re building a home, right, they commerce is the foundation, we give you a really great solid foundation. But if you’re wanting to do a lot of customizations to it, you’re wanting to make sure for that home, that you’re talking to the contractor, you’re talking to the designer to make sure everything is how you want it. It’s the same thing with an agency partner as well. Right?

Curt Anderson  31:34

Well, alright, let’s go here, just so somebody decided to take the leap into eCommerce, we’re going to, they’ve picked a platform, they’re picking an agency to align with latest and greatest trends. Let’s let’s go there. What are some things that you’re hearing on the street or like maybe like, as you’re vetting folks, you’re working with your agencies that you align with? What are some of the latest, greatest really exciting things that you’re hearing from a b2b eCommerce front? What are you hearing

Jessica Williamson  32:03

marketplaces, marketplaces, marketplaces? It is imperative for b2c and b2b, BigCommerce required feeding omics at the end of 2021. And Peter nomics has been doing a lot of great investment work into b2b market. Sorry, marketplaces for b2b and phenomics is a feed management software. It’s a really amazing software that, you know, I’m not a phenomics expert. So I’m going to make this like super simple what comics does is it takes the product information from wherever your source of truth is, whether it’s your ecommerce platform, or your ERP, IMS, whatever it is, and it’s going to take that product information, it’s going to clean it up. And it’s going to send it out to all of the ad channels and the marketplaces that you choose. And make sure that it’s completely optimized. Because what Google wants from your products and what Amazon wants from your products are two different things. And that’s really hard for like anyone to know, to understand what the differences are. So phenomics takes out that guesswork, cleans up that data pushes it out. So that way, it’s fully optimized on marketplaces, and they do that for b2b as well. So I think really investing not only in your eCommerce platform, but also in to marketplaces and ad channels and getting your name out there more is a really big need, I would say, nowadays. Okay,

Curt Anderson  33:20

Damon, go ahead.

Damon Pistulka  33:22

Well, I think I think you hit something, Jessica that a lot of b2b or manufacturers don’t realize that even if I’m, I don’t care if I’m making street sweepers, right, and I and I’ve got this one where item, I should be on Amazon because my buyers are on there, if they were if they knew I could buy it off Amazon, they will be buying it off Amazon just because of the experience, the ease of checkout all these kinds of things that there are going to be a certain number of buyers, you still can fulfill it from your facility. So same thing but being on these different platforms will get you closer to your your end buyers.

Jessica Williamson  33:59

Absolutely. Like for DTC specifically like buying on Instagram, right? You’re buying on Tik Tok that’s so big, because you’re introducing new products to similar people that are already buying. Same with b2b Right? You want to get your name out there in these different marketplaces. Because if one person that buys from you is on Amazon, there’s probably two three or four that might not know who you are in need to be introduced to you. So it’s kind of like a gateway of like hey, wait this products really great maybe I’ll go to the website and just buy directly from them. Maybe I can create an account right it’s that gateway to be able to get to know you better.

Curt Anderson  34:37

Great boy this is alright let’s dive a little deeper here. I didn’t know what I didn’t plan on going here but we’re gonna we’re gonna go there just took us there. So marketplaces boy Damon, we preach marketplaces. We’ve had numerous marketplaces on the show here. And again, you know, little, our little tagline just is like, hey, we need to stop being the best kept secret and is imperative and important. It is for manufacturing. eCommerce store, kind of representing their brand. But it’s still like you’ve got a whole marketing your needle in a haystack, that that marketplace can absolutely help you drive traffic, not just for sale on the marketplace itself. But that buyer, that sophisticated buyer, that engineer will very likely go to the marketplace and then still go to your website. So the marketplace doesn’t necessarily replace or eliminate the need for your eCommerce store. It strengthens and enhances your eCommerce store.

Jessica Williamson  35:27

Yes. And that’s also the beauty of add channels as well. So if you do not mix feeds your product to add sales and marketplaces if that’s what you want it to do, right? And so marketplaces mean that the that the checkout happens up in the marketplace, the ad channel means that the ad takes you to the website. And so you there’s different ways and phenomics is a really great job of like, they’re not just like, Okay, you need Amazon, right? They actually go in and do Omni consults, and feed audits and see what you’re currently on. And give you actually like recommendations, not like oh, we just want you to be here. It’s like recommendations of because of your business because of your buyers. This these would be the best marketplaces for you, this would be the best these would be the best ad channels for you to be on. So it’s very prescriptive. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  36:11

I love that. And Damon, we’ve talked, you know, you’re doing a phenomenal job with marketplaces with a number of your clients. You know, of course, there’s Amazon Walmart, we’ve had Zorro on the show we’ve had DigiKey so there’s all sorts of like different in electronics and b2b space. There’s a lot of different marketplaces that are very niche that maybe you know, even as a manufacturer if you’re out there like ah, you know, I don’t think Amazon or Walmart’s for me, boy, there’s a lot of other options and solutions and just mentioned all social media. So whether it’s Instagram Tik Tok, gaming, what do you what do you add?

Damon Pistulka  36:42

Well, I mean, it’s you’re exactly right and Instagram, Tik Tok are a couple of great examples. But most people that OEMs or manufacturers don’t realize that Home Depot and and then you got the whole Kroger divisions and you talk somebody, they’ve got eCommerce channels behind them. And they actually sell these products, eCommerce only through their website. And that’s a Walmart does the same thing. And that’s how they they migrate products into their stores now even because they’re testing them out that way. There’s so many of these that you talk about. And even ones like you talked electronics, new eggs, one that people don’t realize you can sell on sale on Newegg is a third party seller on there. There’s an I’m missing a gazillion of them. Yeah. You know, we’ve had clients that have been 20 or more marketplaces that they’re in and you look at these and go, Oh, that that one may not be that much demand. But But you look at the whole ecosphere, all them together, it creates huge demand.

Jessica Williamson  37:38

Yes, absolutely. And I think with a lot of manufacturers, that W knows better than the W don’t. Right. And so I think there’s a little the I don’t want to say scared, but like might be hesitant to do eCommerce might be hesitant to do the marketplaces, because they might feel that that is you’re losing the personal touch, right? picking up the phone and helping someone through a problem. If that’s creating the relationship. I mean, I’m in the business of relationships with my agency partners, I love helping them. But how can we make those relationships more efficient? So that way, you’re not going gray by 30? Right? Like how can we help you in being able to just educate yourself on you know, lives like this, or going to town halls or just like inquire inquiring about information about companies like big commerce and feed and omics, and how they can fit into your business. We are in the business of helping you, right, we want to help you grow. And so I want to, like alleviate that like sense of like, being scared to change things up or losing that personal touch because we want to enhance the personal touch that you already have. automate, automate it, and also make you more money. Right? And so check out these companies check out how you can make your business better, because I know you’re not just sitting in your business being like, you know, we grew enough, I’m done. I’m happy. Yeah, everyone’s everyone’s hungry to do more. And so I encourage everyone to don’t be scared of the technology, embrace it and see what actually fits with your company and your vision. You know,

Curt Anderson  39:08

that’s a great point. And let’s, let’s say that because like we geek out, we get super excited, I hope Damon I’m like, I’m in Korea for like, I’ll be 10 steps, you know, whatever, you know, down the road or whatever. And we just need to bring it back and reduce the overwhelm. But let’s let’s so let’s recap a couple of steps here. So again, if you’re starting your eCommerce journey, or maybe you’re already in eCommerce and you’re like, Man, how like it’s just not not hitting my goals. What can I do, right? aligning yourself with experts, you know, boy, we have a whole deep bench of them reach out to Damon reach out to myself, we can align you guys with, you know, other experts that can help you take things to the next level number one. Number two, align yourself with the right platform that is just mission critical. Finding the right agency, we talked about, you know if if you’re like, Boy, those marketplaces that sounds exciting. Go to feed anomic go to big commerce go to feed nomics. Connect with Jessica here on LinkedIn. dropper no and say Hey, I heard you say feed something. What was it? Yeah, I think the nomics, and boy, there’s a whole like Damon said there are probably if I say hundreds upon hundreds, probably under exaggerating from how many marketplace solutions and just little niches, I’d say demon, like we’ve had clients that like, they go in this little niche. And they’re just phenomenal with that little marketplace, because that’s where their buyers are hanging out, you know? And so a lot of things. All right, let’s just let’s keep I don’t I could keep you here all day. I love that. We’ll start winding things down a little bit. Okay, let’s go here and manufacturer out there there, man. Like you really perked me up. You said that, you know, check out lives. We could check out webinars. When you go to big commerce website. I know like you know, Lance has been on the show. Paul has been on the show you guys are relentless of being educators. Yeah. What are some share a little bit like if somebody were to go to a big commerce website, and we strongly encourage you to do so what are some things that you guys are doing? I know, I’ve been on your podcast as a guest talked about some of the things that BigCommerce is doing to help educate your buyers. Yeah, absolutely.

Jessica Williamson  41:02

So right off the bat, if you look at on our website, we actually have a specific section for verticals that we are really great in. And so b2b is one of those Automotive is another. Because these are not easy. We know that these are not easy verticals to go online, right. And so we want to we already have on there, like, hey, we get it like we understand your needs as manufacturer. So there’s a whole page on the big commerce website for that. If you want to go to our partner, Mark, our partner directory, you can actually reach out to some of our b2b specialized agency partners and start that conversation as well. We’re active on Facebook, on LinkedIn, we do have a podcast. And we also other people from big commerce hop on other podcasts as well. So my agency partners have a podcast. And so it is not hard to Google or to LinkedIn search or Facebook, search big commerce and learn a lot about what we’re doing in this space today.

Curt Anderson  42:02

I love it. Okay, hey, before we wind down, we’ve got a great question here. I’m gonna pull this up. How can this econ, how can ecommerce help secure more construction private projects? If you guys want to take just one I’ve got a few ideas just want to take a stab at that one.

Jessica Williamson  42:18

Meaning, like new construction products, where projects where they are getting more products, or like selling more, if y’all want to go first, maybe I’ll understand the question. You’re learning from y’all.

Curt Anderson  42:28

So here’s David. So here’s where I’m going. So I love our manufacturers, our contract a lot of manufacturers, we consult with our contract manufacturers get them where they don’t have that proprietary product, they don’t have a finished good where they feel left out at the eCommerce party. But what we strongly welcome and encourage them to think about is though you don’t have that proprietary product, you indeed have a proprietary process. And that proprietary process, that’s where the eCommerce magic can happen. So what you’re selling is you can sell the process. And you can even if it’s not like a hard quote or a finished good, you can have estimates, you can have a range you can have, we’re here, we’re very close, you can say submit an RFQ submitted drawing, I hadn’t really thought David, we have our friend Mike, we’re gonna have a conversation with Michael again. And with contract with so here’s where I’m going. If you so our friend here a job to know about construction. If you’re doing like home construction, maybe you could create a configurator some type of a room, you know that you’re building the same thing. If you’re doing concrete projects, you could say, hey, it’s by yard or by square, but you know, whatever measurable. So what you’re doing is exactly to justice point. Your buyers are getting younger, every day, the buyers are no longer going to be Daymond to myself, right? Younger, and they bought they bought immediate information right here right now. And if they’re on a job site, if their bosses over their shoulder, or they just have a customer nearby, and they need an answer right now, the reality of them shooting you in email and waiting, or waiting weeks for an RFQ those days are quickly vanishing fast. So depending on what space you’re in, on a service sector, it could be even just as mom, her accounting firm. If you’re a corporate company and you need your taxes done, this is what it looks like. You could have like a different menu of options. Regardless of what service you’re in. Damon, I know you and I are so biased, there isn’t a there isn’t a solution or a service or a product on a planet that we don’t feel should have E commerce. What are you thinking?

Damon Pistulka  44:35

I’m with you 100% here because construction progress projects are perfect for this because you can lay out the basics you can give a an estimate with a range or even get, the more detailed you can get with your configurator the closer you can get to an actual cost. I don’t think it’s I think it’s a great way to do that. Give your customers immediate almost immediate feedback, and differentiate yourself, because if I’m the roofing contractor or I’m the home builder that you can just go in and configure your home, and tell me where you want it built. And I give you a pretty close estimate. How, how incredible would that be? How incredibly frustrating would it be to build a home ever again the other way where I have to go sit with somebody for 18 hours and figure it out?

Jessica Williamson  45:26

Yep. Yeah, I completely agree. And also being able to do the estimates the requests to quotes and things of that nature, having estimates on the site are huge. But that’s also like wanting to do a configurator. That’s a ton of customization work, that’s where agencies that I work with can come into play, and make your dreams come true, right? I’m not saying you’re able to do that right out, right out of the box with big commerce, right. But that’s what you’re going to be able to differentiate yourself, right? There’s so many companies now that do like, see, see the furniture in your home, right like that. AI and virtual reality and things, things of that nature, that’s you’re gonna have to work with an agency for you don’t have to you can do it yourself. Like, I would suggest working with an agency, but being able to differentiate yourself would be huge. And estimates are huge. I’ve lived through three house remodels with my family, I will when I get a house, I will be having a turnkey house. But I’ve lived through three remodels and being able to have like those estimates of like, okay, here’s the idea, right? It’s kind of like finding that agency partner. It’s like, these are all the ideals, these are the nice to haves. And these are the estimates that I can find off their website. And now more like this is the right price. Now I’m gonna reach out and figure it out. I think it’s just giving people more and more education, just like big commerce is to help help them feel empowered to make those decisions. And by doing that with big commerce and putting those estimates and those requests for quotes and things like that on your website would be really powerful.

Damon Pistulka  46:47

Yeah,

Curt Anderson  46:48

drop the mic just

46:52

pure. Well,

Curt Anderson  46:53

that was that is mere fact. Like, we’re putting out little YouTube shorts. And that was that was one of our YouTube that was I dropped the mic moment right there. Alright guys, let’s start winding down just has these. She is our superhero she has saved and just all sorts of folks that help out there. So just we’re gonna let you on with your day. A couple quick things left for you as we wind down. Number one, probably the most important question of the day, the most important question of the day. You’re an awesome dog. Mom,

47:22

can you share?

Curt Anderson  47:23

How is Duke doing?

Jessica Williamson  47:24

Duke is great. He is chill. I hate to say he’s chilling in his crate because if I’m on a call, there’s a chance you’ll see him like on my arm. He is six months old and 55 pounds. He is He is my Anatolian Shepherd Great Pyrenees and lab mix. And he’s just he’s just my best bud. Sure if you if you like, let me go grab him right click and I’ll bring him on. Once

Curt Anderson  47:49

we are done. Yeah, Damon, so I think so. Just if you can hear me I think I was with you like the week that you got to do.

Damon Pistulka  47:56

Oh my goodness. Yeah. Not virtually

47:59

not bad. Yeah. There. Yes. Yeah. Duke.

Damon Pistulka  48:08

kid doing mom. Yeah. Yeah, that’s my

Jessica Williamson  48:12

pride and joy. That is my dog, Duke.

Curt Anderson  48:16

I said, I think you and I came together right around the time. I think it was like within days or a day that you got Duke and so I’m, I’m like, I’m like the proud uncle watching your group and watching him grow. I

Jessica Williamson  48:28

love it. I love it. Thank you so much.

Curt Anderson  48:31

So So Duke made it famous today. So let’s go here. Because we wind down I have one last question for you. Now you’re sports fan cheerleader. Like of course are you Texas guys? Do you guys do baseball in Texas by any chance?

Jessica Williamson  48:47

If you’re from Houston, you love the Astros. If you are from Dallas, you love the Rangers. If you’re from Austin. You’re a band Wagner.

Curt Anderson  48:56

Riverside, right. So this year the region’s

Jessica Williamson  48:58

Yes. This year the Rangers I actually. Right. Yes. The week after my birthday. The Astros were coming up to Rockies to play the Rockies. Yeah. And so like I have some friends from back home that live in Colorado Springs. I’m in Denver, Colorado. They came up they gave me a Houston shirt, Houston Astros shirt. I was like, Cool. I’m gonna be an Astros fan. So very much like I now love the nuggets. I was here when they won the championship. And I’m like, that’s called bandwagoning people and I am not ashamed to say that.

Curt Anderson  49:26

We’re proud. Just so here’s, here’s my quick question for you. So let’s say hypothetically, you live right cross street right near Coors Field. So let’s say you’re at Denver, you’re at a you’re at a Colorado Rockies game and they’re playing Houston Astros okay. And it’s Biden on the ninth high score. And the Rockies are up there’s a guy on second base. Okay, bad. Really nice tie score guy and second base Rockies. In the manager. The Rockies like they need a winning run. They need to hit like right now. Right? Mm. manager turns down the bench and says, Hey, Williamson, get up to the plate and hit in the winning run because we need a Raptors game. We need a winning we need a hit like right now. Yeah, well you grab your helmet, you grab your bat, you’re striding up to the plate because you know, you’ve got just fierce confidence that you’re going to hit that winning run as you walk up to the plate, what is your walkups on the real Slim Shady? The row?

Jessica Williamson  50:27

I thank you so much for asking me this question because I’ve actually always wanted to answer it like live. Because I don’t think people understand like, the real some shady is my karaoke song. My friends know me as that song I’ll probably walk down the aisle to that song like it is mine personality.

Damon Pistulka  50:45

So, I’m writing it down.

Curt Anderson  50:47

I’m answering it so quickly. And I want to I want to thank you for sharing. Damon I thought I’m like there’s no way you and I are gonna know what song she’s gonna. The

Jessica Williamson  50:55

reason I was raised like my were I can say we’re all rednecks. My parents raised me on old country, but my brother introduced me to the good rap and the good the good people. Like I feel like I didn’t I was raised right with the good music in the house. You know what I mean?

Curt Anderson  51:09

Well, hey, fantastic answer. So just as we wind down

Damon Pistulka  51:17

I’ll stop it before it goes nasty.

Curt Anderson  51:23

All right, just because we wind down where can people find you? Obviously, we want everyone to connect with you on LinkedIn. Where can people find you hanging out?

Jessica Williamson  51:29

Yeah, absolutely. So LinkedIn, you can always email me Jessica,Williamson@bigcommerce.com I go to tons of shows and I’ll post about that. Please feel free to always come up and say hi, I’m usually wearing some bright pink suit pants like and I’m always super blonde. You don’t have to worry about me ever, not being blonde. And so please feel free to come up. shoot me a message on LinkedIn. Send me over an email if you have any questions and I would be happy to answer chit chat jam out as curtain, Curt says. And I’m looking forward to just connecting with everybody. I so appreciate y’all having me on. This is amazing. Absolutely.

Curt Anderson  52:03

So first off, thank you. Thank you for the inspiration with Dylan and just sharing your family with us. Thank you for the inspiration on fitness boy, I just I’m gonna hit the gym even harder. Damon thanks to Jessica and thank you for what you’re doing to help entrepreneurs helping business owners. It’s daunting it can can get overwhelming we don’t want to imply that it is but it can definitely get overwhelming. And I’ll tell you it’s just been an honor privilege for Dane myself getting to know the team at Big commerce and just how you’re just relentlessly helping manufacturers and b2b eCommerce companies all over the place just really crush it with our little tagline manufacturing e commerce success Damon your takeaway today What are your thoughts parting words words of wisdom What do you got?

Damon Pistulka  52:45

I just think that you know manufacturers and and anyone really that’s selling something even got to start looking at ecommerce BigCommerce is such a great b2b platform. It’s the versatility and I really liked the open SAS concert concept you know to be able to get a box and then modify it to connect with everything and work like you want it to. So I’m just it’s so good to be able to talk with people like Jessica and learn.

Curt Anderson  53:10

absolutely hate and Paul drops the door here rather farmers call today So Paul, thank you dude, he was on the show. Guys you can catch Paul he’s on a replay on my website these over the place on YouTube and everywhere. So it just got thank you for your time. Thank you for energy. Thank you for passion. Thank you for your expertise. Thank you for being you. And guys, we just just just like Jessica man, just go out and be someone’s inspiration. Just go hang out with us for one second data. We have another crazy amazing wonderful get this coming Friday, man. It’s going to be just on fire. So guys, God bless you. Have a great week and we will see you soon. Bye all