We were lucky to catch up with JC Quintana recently and have shared our conversation below.

JC, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Oddly enough the origins of what today we call DialoguePrime sparked amid a layoff. My job was part of 4,500 positions eliminated six months into the Covid-19 pandemic. Only a few months earlier the company had launched a global communications campaign telling employees how important they were to the company. Now we were being asked to leave
to eliminate $700 million in expenses (which ironically included money spent on that “we love employees” campaign
I just referenced). Two years prior to the layoff I wrote a book entitled “Serious Relationships” which focused on the psychology of business relationships. Now I was in the middle of a breakup with a company that had just told me I was one of their most important relationships. Across the globe, other employees were experiencing similar breakups. Even the companies not laying off people struggled to manage customer and employee relationship expectations. To me, the need was clear. Within 48 hours I had the branding ready and the website up and running. The following Monday I started reaching out to potential clients. The pitch: your business is not going to survive in this crisis unless you have a framework for meaningful conversations with worried customers and scared employees. Initially, I converted the relationship conversation framework from my book into an online workshop which eventually also became a self-paced online learning program.
Today you can find our relationship conversation framework in the technology sales, marketing, and support people use to build business relationships every day.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I was a trainer in the US Air Force for 10 years and continued teaching for years after. But the work I do today really started back in 1998 when I became a CRM instructor. CRM refers to customer relationship management and the technology companies use to manage customer opportunities and service cases. I taught and implemented the technology for many years. But after working on a project for the Florida Department of Children and Families something in me changed. I realized that technology had the power to change lives. I shifted my attention to the human element of customer relationship management.

I returned to school, finished my Master’s, and then started a Doctorate in psychology to better understand human relationships and behavior. Today we are solving human problems through technology.

What I do (and I absolutely love doing it) is the marriage of human-centered design thinking and technology innovation. We know that the key to meeting customer needs (while making life better for employees) is to use technology to make business relationship outcomes more effective, easier, and more enjoyable to achieve.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the toughest lessons I had to learn through the launch, development, and eventual acquisition of my business was that you must be the biggest fan of your brand. You have to start with a clear understanding of the need you meet for your customer and then become a loyal believer and advocate of that brand. That doesn’t mean that you won’t face harsh criticism. People are going to express disapproval. They are going to analyze your actions and question the merits of what you do. You have to use that criticism to smooth the edges to make your product or service even better while staying a raving fan of your own.

I remember the first client I approach to do an online workshop with employees who were trying to move from a traditional to a home office because of Covid. I wasn’t ready. They were frustrated because the work model change was costing them business. I was asking them to pause and listen to people’s needs. That is not what they wanted to hear. Yet, I presented my value with unwavering fervor and belief in the outcomes. The result? I did not win a single client for a month. But then came the first, and the next, and people started to believe in what I already knew. It is easy to think that people are not buying you or your product because you have no value. Don’t give in to that. Always have one person (you) believe in your value. Support that belief with market research and expert insight, but never let the state of the economy discourage you from being your greatest fan. Incidentally, many of my clients have shared that it was my enthusiasm for my company and our mission that convinced them to become fans themselves.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

One of the lowest points in my business came right before our acquisition this year. In a business that depends so closely on an individual or the knowledge that lives in someone’s brain, you place all your bets on the availability of that individual. That risk is one of the reasons I created our online learning program; so the “product” could be sold without me. However, our live workshops, consulting engagements, and keynotes depended on my availability. When my father passed unexpectedly it send the business into a financial spiral. Fortunately, we had already begun acquisition negotiations and rectified the financial upset. But this is a valuable lesson in financial and long-term planning. Financial planning because it is too easy for business owners to focus only on the immediate need to pay bills and payroll and not enough on the inevitable tough times to come. You have to be willing to make financial sacrifices to put away funds for the inevitable difficult times. Long-term planning is also an important consideration because no matter how strong and healthy you are today, there are no guarantees for the future. You have to start thinking about the evolution of your brain trust and IP. In my case, I was fortunate to partner with a company that believes in the value of my framework and we are collaborating on innovative ways for it to live long after I am gone.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://dialogueprime.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcquintana/

Image Credits
No credit required. All images were taken by me.