More SKUs Don’t Equal More Revenue

Logicbroker’s Chief Operating Officer, Brian Schmidt, has over 20 years of experience delivering go-to-market SaaS solutions. Valuing trust and empathy above all else, Brian works closely with customers to build long-term relationships that extend beyond the sale. Brian is responsible for building stronger relationships with our customers, learning what they need to succeed, and helping facilitate those connections at Logicbroker.

In this executive spotlight, Logicbroker sat down with Brian to discuss his whirlwind introduction into the Logicbroker family, how conferences like NRF help shape the eCommerce industry, and how the misconception that more SKUs means more revenue has negatively impacted organizations.

Talk a little about coming on as COO at the tail end of last year and what you’ve experienced at Logicbroker in your time with the company. 

Logicbroker is unique in so many ways, starting my career in a small software company where I could walk down the hall and get any problem solved, it’s a familiar feeling where Logicbroker keeps that small company feel while servicing billions in GMV every year.

Our daily huddle is really similar to that feeling of making sure that everyone gets the help they need each and every day. Everyone is ready to roll their sleeves up through any problem or challenge. If you can get everyone together and have several people look at a problem from every angle, you get this incredible feeling of empowerment. It’s contagious at Logicbroker.

How does Logicbroker facilitate conversations, meetings, and relationships differently than other companies you’ve seen? 

Internally, the daily huddle helps cement the team as one cohesive unit, but externally that same feeling is extended to every one of our customers. Our team rallies around its employees, customers, partners, and even thought leaders who are pushing our entire industry forward through innovation and evolution.

Logicbroker’s white glove service is truly incredible. So many SaaS companies run through a ticket system. They sign companies and relegate them. At Logicbroker, we have Client Success Managers, onboarding specialists, and a leadership team that is willing to hop on the phone and solve a problem. Even if 60% of a customer’s problem can be solved with a simple code fix, or ticket, Logicbroker’s team is always ready and available.

In those moments, people are stressed and have to solve something quickly… That’s where our customers can really trust Logicbroker. We answer the phone, and we get to a resolution.

At NRF, we heard a lot about the status of retail as a whole, but what were some pivotal conversations that you heard, and how did those conversations influence further action? 

NRF was awesome. The technology, influence, and networking available at ‘retail’s biggest conference’ were incredible.

We heard some common themes running throughout the NRF team’s great sessions. The biggest theme, and the one that Logicbroker truly takes to heart, is the idea of staying true to your focus. Logicbroker is unique in our go-to-market solutions in that we don’t want to sell you everything and anything on your drop ship or marketplace program. We truly believe in the curated selling experience.

Before we speak more on curation, we also heard a lot at NRF about lifting your team and target audience both externally and internally. It’s the idea of continuous listening and learning. We think we know the answers and what our customers are saying. We really need to remove ourselves, put our customers in a forum, and ensure you have all your conversations and perspectives in order.

Coming back to the idea of curation, how does the Logicbroker approach to marketplaces differ from the rest of the industry? 

It all comes back to focus. At Logicbroker, we truly believe that your best new customer reference will always be delivered from our existing customers. People talk about what they love and if they love your products, they will recommend them. The Logicbroker marketplace approach, and our approach to all eCommerce solutions, is to focus on your target stakeholders and create a curated marketplace, drop ship program, or connection platform.

This focus extends beyond consumers and is the core focus of the Logicbroker team. We want all of our current customers to experience the full value of Logicbroker. We go to each customer individually to help them expand or, in some cases, begin utilizing all the tools and partners Logicbroker has at its disposal. A lot of SaaS companies will over-sell a solution set due to unclear scope and objectives, but at Logicbroker, we like to solve your specific problems and then help explore additional resources to grow, scale, and reach new heights.

Logicbroker’s focus is listening. It always has been, and it always will be. If a customer comes to us and has never done drop ship or marketplace before but just need access to supplier information, they are solving a different problem than some of our other customers. The most exciting part of this journey is that our platform can solve so many bidirectional partner interactions without the expensive technical footprint and costs.

When you have a comprehensive platform like Logicbroker, it’s important to listen to what customers really need and then go from there. We help customers with what they need right now and then help them expand into a more comprehensive solution. Throwing 50,000 SKUs at them when they need to really only sell 1,000 great products on their website is a mistake that our competitors make every day.

The term that I’ve heard over and over is that curated experience. In the software world, companies start to blend terms, and they lose all meaning. But our curated marketplace offering is about figuring out what our customers are trying to do and giving them one great solution. We want and earn our customer’s trust.

We’ve heard about the rise of Supply Chain Experience Management (SCXM). What is the growth potential of SCXM over other, more conventional business models?

Experience Management, whether in the Supply Chain or the service industry, boils down to the same core concept. We want our customers to have the visibility they need and the experiences they require to grow at unprecedented rates. Logicbroker’s solutions aren’t about providing a simple drop ship or marketplace program, they are about providing an all-encompassing experience that gives you visibility, vendor scorecards, white-glove service, 54-minute rapid onboarding, and so much more.

Instead of a brand needing 5 companies to create one solution, Logicbroker is designed to be the one-stop-shop for all your eCommerce needs. Honestly, it just comes from a place of not wanting to waste our customer’s money. Saving money is 50% of what our company is focused on for our clients. The other 50% is exposing new revenue streams and new go-to-market strategies that will rapidly expand your business using curated targeted strategies.

Being efficient and saving money will always be half the battle. But consumers are looking for something unique and Logicbroker directly impacts that consumer journey for our customers. Our operations, sales, and customer success management experience is truly unique.

Last question for you Brian, what don’t people see about being COO? What happens behind the scenes? 

Being a COO is very challenging but very rewarding if you like solving problems. You have to listen, delegate, and act to solve the problems SaaS companies like Logicbroker overcome on a daily basis. Hundreds of customers have hundreds of questions they bring us daily, and it’s my job to ensure we can facilitate those conversations.

If you don’t create an environment of listening and communication, anxiety, frustration, and stress build within the company. An old mentor of mine liked to say: “Problems don’t get better with time, you have to face those problems straight on and resolve them quickly.” That was right on the money.

About Brian Schmidt

With over 20 years of experience delivering go-to-market SaaS solutions, Brian Schmidt is Logicbroker’s Chief Operating Officer. As COO, Brian is responsible for building stronger connections with our customers, learning what they need to succeed, and helping facilitate those connections at Logicbroker. Valuing trust and empathy above all else, Brian works closely with customers to build long-term relationships that extend beyond the sale.  

Brian graduated from Saint Joseph’s University and loves spending his free time with his wife and four teenage children. A product of large families on both sides, the Schmidt household enjoys getting out on the Atlantic Ocean to enjoy the water.