Cookies as a Service: How Building Genuine Connections Drives Growth | with Grayson Hogard
Episode 21:
I'm excited to introduce today's guest, someone who caught my attention on LinkedIn a few months ago. After a Word of Mouth recommendation from a fellow B2B marketer, I found myself diving into the story of Grove Cookie Company and realizing that they have truly embraced the Brand to Fan approach in their B2B company.
Today we will explore how Grove Cookie Co. has baked up success one cookie at a time. They have taken the cookie business to new heights with their understanding of the impact of word of mouth, relationships, trust-building, and advocacy for their customers and partners. I am so glad to share their startup success story with you.
In our conversation, bakery co-founder Grayson Hogard highlights the importance of excellent customer service in his business. Despite neither having a background in entrepreneurship or sales, Grayson and his wife Marie went all-in on the cookie business from their home-based hustle. Initially, they focused on selling their products to clients in the wealth advisory space. However, they soon expanded their client base by cold calling and utilizing LinkedIn to find more connections.
To expand his business, Grayson sought out opportunities with B2B gifting platforms used by large enterprises. By partnering with these platforms, he broadened his demand base and established new relationships for his company. Being on a vendor platform also allows him to create his own unique differentiation path instead of just being another cookie company.
With a growing demand for their cookies from individual customers and large enterprises, he emphasizes the need for a streamlined process for placing bulk orders. His company simplifies the order process, reducing it to just four emails or less for most orders. They also have tools to make it easier for customers to place orders with minimal interaction.
Finally, the episode delves into the importance of community-led or person-led growth in the business. Grove Cookie Company grew rapidly by focusing on excellent customer service and creating a great product, thanks to the word-of-mouth marketing generated from happy customers.
Grayson credits their emphasis on community-led growth for much of their success. He is grateful to LinkedIn for helping them find new clients and for the unexpected postings from satisfied customers sharing photos of their delicious cookies.
This episode offers valuable insights from a startup entrepreneur about building a successful business through excellent customer service, streamlining processes, and creating a great product that cultivates strong and enthusiastic fans. It will also make you hungry for cookies!
The Guest: Grayson Hogard
Grayson Hogard co-founded Grove Cookie Company, a touchpoint marketing business that enhances relationships with its clients and partners. With a focus on B2B gifting and building relationships, Grayson has created a unique differentiation path for Grove Cookie Company, enabling them to accelerate their success and gain a presence on several B2B enterprise platforms. Grayson's insights into the importance of word-of-mouth, trust-building, and advocacy for customers and partners will leave you inspired by the possibilities of cultivating fandom for your own business.
WHERE TO FIND Grayson:
TL;DL (too long; didn’t listen)
My key takeaways from Episode 21 with Grayson Hogard
Grayson and his wife Marie do not consider themselves to be marketers, entrepreneurs, or bakers. Yet they built a business that requires all of these skill sets.
Grove Cookie Co. was introduced to B2B gifting through a friend's father. He immediately introduced them to touchpoint marketing and gifting tailored to wealth management firms.
Grow and evolve with customer feedback to find the differentiation points to drive a successful business.
Used B2B podcasts to learn about marketing and business and get a leg up on the marketing side of their business. You need systems and process in a business that creates consistency in how to show up for your customers and recipients.
Identifying that they weren’t a cookie company but a prospect-client gifting niche really accelerated their success and elevated getting presence on the B2B enterprise gifting platforms.
They didn’t actually get approval from enterprise platforms until they were making noise on LinkedIn and then started getting attention.
Grateful that B2B clients are the ones helping tell their stories, even without asking for them to do so. Cookies are a no-brainer, low-education type of gift. Once sampling the cookies, there’s a yes/no option for
Since implementing a gifting backend on the website that auto-collects addresses, they can deploy a #CookiesAsAService mechanism that is more delicious and easy to use for anyone to give to someone.
About ensuring customer experience that the always at the forefront and enjoyable for everyone. Simplify order creation and fulfillment, and keep the relationships strong forever!
In this Episode (Time Stamps):
[00:02:25] Launching a cookie business from home
[00:06:05] Dabbling with online orders, expanded to B2B
[00:08:47] From holiday orders to business opportunity
[00:12:35] Marketing cookies depends on B2B and B2C
[00:16:19] Cookies enhance relationships with clear messaging
[00:19:52] B2B gifting platforms boost business
[00:22:38] Implementing cookies systems with a good team
[00:26:41] B2B gifting platform partnerships led growth
[00:30:25] Cookie outreach to promote product differentiation
[00:33:59] “Zest” powered gifting tool led to a cookie craze
[00:38:00] Customer service is key for sales growth
[00:42:32] "Entrepreneurship is like running a marathon"
[00:43:43] TL; DL recap of Grove Cookie Co. from novice to successful niche business
WHAT ARE YOU A FAN OF?
I fan over my Entrepreneur podcasts. There's just so many of those podcasts. I really enjoye them because the entrepreneurial journey is a mindset journey, I realize it's not all rainbows and unicorns, it's not easy. That's my fandom right now, constantly learning from these people that are very successful in freely sharing information that potentially could help me.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FANWEAR ITEM?
Selfishly, I think my favorite piece of fandom is my own marathon medals, because I think it's just really cool. I have them on the wall. I haven't ran a marathon in like 15 years, but looking at those and constantly reflecting on the mindset as you're running 26.2 miles, it was really funny to correlate to where I'm at now. We're like, at mile one. We got a long way to go.
Show Credits
Brand to Fan Show is produced by Teague FC and supported by FanWagn
Audio production by Bryan Griggs / Griggs Production
Producers: Kimberly Voorhis, Ashley Ruiz and Carrie Hellbusch
Video Editing by Garrett Teague
AI assistance from Pictory.AI and CastMagic
And I’m your host, Lauren Teague.