Intellicast S4E6 – Pivoting to Success Out of Crisis With Colson Steber

Welcome back to Intellicast!  On today’s episode, Brian Lamar and Producer Brian are joined by Colson Steber, the Co-CEO of Communications for Research and Ag Access.

Colson first joined us last April, right at the high of the shutdown due to the pandemic. In that episode, he talked about the impact it was having on his business, and how he and his team were working to stay afloat. Today, Colson gives us an update on what has occurred since then.

Colson starts off revisiting the impact he was facing during that time, including his work in progress dropping 70%. He then gets into a bit more detail around the additional hurdles he was facing during this time.

Before you think this episode gets too down in the dumps, it is a good story with a good ending.

Colson then gets into the pivots he and his organization have made over the last 8 months that have allowed them to build their own “v-shaped comeback”. He talks about how he was able to use PPP loans to keep his entire team, and then focus resources to push organizational projects that had been on the shelf, but we key to success in the future.

Colson also talked about launching their new brand focused on the agriculture industry, Ag Access. He also discusses how they were able to get it off the ground and launched in a matter of a couple of months rather than a couple of years. Colson then gives some details on how the new brand and the more targeted focus they have with it has helped them recover and now flourishing.

Colson and Brian then switch gears and talk about the changes internally Colson and his team made. This included moving his call center operations from in-person to totally virtual in two weeks. While that is impressive, Colson talks about having to add people starting in June, the turnover challenges he experienced, and changes he made, and how it has led to the lowest turnover rate the organization has ever had.

Colson then talks about the results they achieved for 2020, including matching their 2019 revenues, after being down in Q2 significantly.

In the last few minutes of the interview, Colson talks about some of the personal goals he has set for himself in 2021.

We hope you enjoy this great story!

You can learn more about Ag Access by visiting the website here.

You can connect with Colson on LinkedIn here.

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