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EAG’s chief marketing officer, Jeff Randolph, kicks off this podcast with our senior art director, Ashley Tebbe, and a quick discussion on how we make sure websites are accessible and user friendly. Listen and learn what Lucky Orange is. Then, we move on to our featured guest, Danica Cherry, grants manager at Samuel Rodgers Health. Sam Rodgers is a primary care clinic serving all, regardless of cultural barriers or ability to pay. With a mission to raise funds to support and grow Sam Rodgers, Ms. Cherry knows that “No” means “Not right now.” Plus, find out why Danica is yelling in her office.
Transcript
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast. I’m Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast is brought to you by EAG advertising and marketing. Yes, we are going to talk about marketing, but we’re also here to help celebrate entrepreneurs and I’ll bring tips to move your business forward. We give advice, we have lots of tips, and each week we’re going to introduce you to another small business hero to hear their story and grab some inspiration and advice along the way. Let’s go.
Back again with Ashley Tebbe, senior art director at EAG Advertising and Marketing. Ashley. Hey, what’s happening?
Ashley Tebbe:
Hi.
Jeff Randolph:
You good today?
Ashley Tebbe:
Very good.
Jeff Randolph:
Good. I thought we’d continue our conversation. People love to hear us talk about user experience and user interface and all kinds of great user experience things, so let’s do that. Let’s keep talking about it. What are some of those issues that we’re talking about when we’re talking about an interface and how people interact with it? What issues are we really looking for?
Ashley Tebbe:
With preexisting websites, I’ll preface that first, some of the most common problems I find within a website is first we look at information architecture and that is how the information is organized on your website or digital product. When we’re thinking information architecture, we’re thinking, is this organized in a way that people are going to easily be able to find what they need to find within each navigation or within the information on a page? Does the information flow? You remember back in second grade or fourth grade, I don’t know what grade.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s been a minute.
Ashley Tebbe:
It’s been a minute. When they start talking about how to tell a story, you have your introduction, you have your plot, you have your climax, and then you have the end, the
Jeff Randolph:
The denouement. Yeah.
Ashley Tebbe:
That’s almost how we look at the information organized on a website. Does this all tell a story? That’s what the first part of information architecture is. The other things I look at when I look at it from a user interface perspective, I look at it for accessibility standards. Accessibility standards are really important. We want to make sure that you’re not leaving any important person off of your demographic because they have a visual impairment or some kind of issue with being able to take in your website. Are your colors adhering to accessibility standards? Do they follow a colorblind test? Can someone see the CTA if you have a red button on a green background?
Jeff Randolph:
Yes. CTA, the call to action.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yes.
Jeff Randolph:
It would be important to be able to read what the call to action button is and not have it be a red on green button.
Ashley Tebbe:
Right.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s important. Good call.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yes. Can they read that? There’s also new information out there about different fonts for different age groups. Some age groups appreciate a font with serifs. That’s the little endings on the fonts, think Times New Roman versus Arial. Arial is a Sans Serif font. Different demographics there. Another thing to think about is how else can we follow these accessibility standards? Can people easily read information? Are you giving it enough breathing room and margins? A lot of our clients think, I don’t want people to scroll. Well, embracing the scroll sometimes is a good thing as long as the information is laid out so it’s easier to read.
Jeff Randolph:
I think at the same time we used to have all desktop based websites so that we would go to work and there was a computer or a laptop. As phones became a thing, now the romantic notion of keeping everything on one screen, I mean, good luck with that. You’ve got three words and that’s all you’re going to get on a cellular device. We have to design for both mobile and desktop and have the experience be good.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yep, exactly.
Jeff Randolph:
Do you take people’s word for it or are there helpful software tools that we might use to be able to watch people browse through this? He said, setting her up to talk about Lucky Orange.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yeah, I have looked at several Lucky Orange heat maps. Our lovely digital project manager Wynn has sent some over and they’re a really great tool to figure out how people are interacting with different buttons and seeing where they land on the page and making sure that they’re able to digest the page and not bouncing.
Jeff Randolph:
You’re literally watching someone browse the website, like an actual live user, you’re watching where they scroll, where they try to click. If there’s not a link that is clickable where they’re clicking, you go, “Huh, they must expect additional information right here, or they want to have that take them to a different page and it doesn’t link to a different page. We should think about that.” Okay, I see that. That’s a helpful tool.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yes, very literal helpful tool for figuring out how people interact with the page set up.
Jeff Randolph:
Good stuff. You mentioned accessibility standards as something that if we’re putting work into it, it’s going to cost some kind of money, because we charge by the hour, that’s how we do things. There is some help that’s available. I know there are some programs that if your business qualifies for it and you are making accessibility improvements, then you can get some cash back on that. We have some information available if you want to take that. We probably should recommend that everybody take advantage of that if they qualify, right?
Ashley Tebbe:
You don’t want to leave money on the table if you’re leaving people from engaging with your website as well.
Jeff Randolph:
It would be great for you to look at several more websites and give them the whole rundown. We’re looking forward to that. All right, Ashley, thank you for being with us, as always.
Ashley Tebbe:
Thank you. Jeff.
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome back. Happy to be here with my featured guest today. It’s Danica Cherry with Samuel Rodgers Health Center. Danica, first, welcome. Thanks for being here today.
Danica Cherry:
Thank you.
Jeff Randolph:
Let’s dive right in and find out about Samuel Rodgers. Tell me first about the whole organization and then we’ll get into you and your background.
Danica Cherry:
Okay. Samuel U. Rodgers. We’ve been around for over 50 years here in Kansas City. Our founder was Dr. Samuel U. Rodgers. He started the health center. He always had a vision that healthcare is a human right. He was always very progressive in that. Now that health equity has had a spotlight over the last couple years, we are finding that Dr. Rodgers was very progressive. He’s always thought of healthcare as that should be what everyone should have.
Jeff Randolph:
This is a right that humans should have.
Danica Cherry:
Yes. Healthy people in a healthy community is his vision. He is no longer with us, but he found our health center in 1968 and just every day we strive to carry out his mission.
Jeff Randolph:
In Kansas City, where are you located?
Danica Cherry:
Our main campus is at 825 Euclid in the northeast. We do have another clinic in the west side as well off of Summit Street, and then we have two clinics. We have one in the Clay County Health Department in Liberty, and then we have another one up north off of North Oak.
Jeff Randolph:
Gotcha. The type of population you serve, and there’s a category for that as a hospital, right? You’re doing insurance and no insurance. Tell me a little bit about that.
Danica Cherry:
Yes. I think over 80% of our patients are either uninsured or on Medicaid, and then 56% of our patients speak a language other than English. We are able to help people who normally don’t feel they belong in the community. We make sure that we are a trusted healthcare home for them.
Jeff Randolph:
Got it. Then everything that you’re doing going out, is it also English, Spanish or other? How do you handle the language stuff? Do you need to do twice as much work for everything?
Danica Cherry:
Yeah. We have onsite interpreters. We actually are also, we take in immigrants and refugees as well, so it’s not just Spanish, it’s Somali, Pashto, I’m trying to pronounce them correctly.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right.
Danica Cherry:
Karen, other languages that… We have in-person interpreters for those languages, which is amazing. We are really proud to be able to help.
Jeff Randolph:
That is a tremendous benefit. Well, tell me about you and your path to get here and what your role then is now.
Danica Cherry:
Yeah, I actually worked at the American Cancer Society previous to this role. I’m the grants manager at Sam Rodgers. During the pandemic, I did work at, like I said, the American Cancer Society for over 10 years, and then of course things changed during a pandemic. It probably took a pandemic for me to leave, but here I am and I’m just so excited to be here, to be able to help. Before my focus was cancer and then now I’m at Sam Rodgers and it’s great. I actually still am involved with the American Cancer Society with Sam Rodgers because they fund us for cancer screenings.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, delightful. How it all gets connected. No matter where you go.
Danica Cherry:
I know. It’s like I never left almost.
Jeff Randolph:
Something like that. You’re fundraising for healthcare happens across the metro, across the country, and there’s no end of need, whether you’re talking about American Cancer Society or the hospital itself. When you’re going out and talking to people, how do you set yourself apart? How do you set Sam Rodgers apart from the rest of the crowd?
Danica Cherry:
I think it would be our emphasis on taking in the immigrants and refugees as well as being able to welcome anyone in, making them feel trusted and making them feel like they belong. Our employees, we intentionally hire employees that look like our patients. It’s very important to us. When I just started in 2021, everybody who starts at Sam Rodgers in their employee training, they take a cultural competency training.
Jeff Randolph:
Wow. Okay.
Danica Cherry:
I mean, that just tells you right there how much we care and how much we want our patients to make sure they’re well taken care of. Every staff. I’m not a clinician, but I still took the training so that I know how to be cognizant of people’s different cultures.
Jeff Randolph:
Let’s talk a little bit about the process, because the process of getting someone to buy a product or service that you’re selling is one thing. You’re getting something for it. The thing you’re getting when someone is making a donation is the feel goods. They’re going to feel great about it, they’re helping, they’re making a difference. Walk us through the process of how do you go about start to finish prospecting someone who would be a good candidate and what needs to go into it. Because my assumption here is that the best practices, you don’t just meet someone for the first time and say, “I’d like you to give a million dollars to Sam Rodgers.”
Danica Cherry:
It’s relationship building. One thing that I enjoy most about my job is the relationship building. I started as a fund development manager and I was able to go out in the community and do networking and really just start building relationships before I came in. Individual donors are really hard to try to get in our health center just because of who we serve. My goal was to try to get a better individual and corporate donor base. Yes, you can’t just sit down with someone and say, “Give me $50,000 because we’re awesome.”
Jeff Randolph:
Even though you’re awesome, it still won’t work.
Danica Cherry:
Thanks. It is, it’s relationship building and I really enjoy it and I love getting involved in what other people do as well. I’m just the kind of person who wants to be involved in everything. It kind of gets me in trouble sometimes, but yes, definitely the relationship building and I like for them to see what they’re putting their money towards as well. Anyone’s always welcome to come in and take a tour. It’s really cool to come into Sam Rodgers because you get immersed in the culture when you walk in the door with people’s garments and just the diversity that you see walk through the doors. It’s amazing. It’s really cool.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s super neat. That process of talking through and getting somebody from first relationship into the doors and so they can see everything and then eventually making that ask. When you’re making that final ask, what’s your level of confidence in knowing that that answer is a yes before you walk in the door?
Danica Cherry:
I don’t.
Jeff Randolph:
You still don’t know. Take nothing for granted.
Danica Cherry:
I mean, sometimes you get a little hint.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay, like, I want to write you a check.
Danica Cherry:
Yeah, or you look at past. You can kind of do your research and see what the donor has done before and you can get some intel sometimes. Otherwise, if it’s just a cold call, you’ve built this relationship and you’re the one who’s done all the work, it’s hard to know.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s time to make the ask. There is still, so butterflies in the stomach when that happens? Is this the exciting part or is this the terrifying part?
Danica Cherry:
It’s exciting. You know what I’ve learned? No, is not right now.
Jeff Randolph:
Yes, okay.
Danica Cherry:
No is not right now. I have been turned down and yet still, you just have to keep the relationship going. I don’t say, “Well, bye.”
Jeff Randolph:
That’s it. Well, I tried. There was one time I tried.
Danica Cherry:
I love a good challenge. If someone says no, I will definitely keep trying and going back unless they tell me not to and then I won’t.
Jeff Randolph:
Then be polite. Yeah, no, that makes sense. Let me transition us now to the lightning round.
Danica Cherry:
Ooh.
Jeff Randolph:
I know, it’s very exciting. Lightning round. Here are the rules of the lightning round. There are no rule. No, that’s not it. The rules of the lightning round, answer in a short answer, soundbite, one word. Whatever it takes, whatever’s comfortable, but we’re looking for faster kind of answers, but we will dive into them. If there’s something exciting there, we’re definitely going to ask a follow-up question. No wrong answers because they’re just your answers.
Danica Cherry:
Okay.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s it. If you’re ready, the first lightning round question is what’s your favorite social media platform? Where do you spend your time?
Danica Cherry:
Instagram and stories.
Jeff Randolph:
Instagram.
Danica Cherry:
Instagram stories.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, you’re defining them separately even, because you really love watching through the story rolls.
Danica Cherry:
I do.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay. All the reels. If we looked at your Instagram right now, what would we see?
Danica Cherry:
What was the last thing I posted? Oh, I was mad about the Taylor Swift debacle queue. People were complaining about it and I didn’t even get a chance. I was on the wait list.
Jeff Randolph:
For those people who are listening in the year 2084, Taylor Swift was a musical art. No. Ticketing problems abound, and so you were caught up in all of that with them.
Danica Cherry:
Well, not really.
Jeff Randolph:
I’d really like to go, but I can’t.
Danica Cherry:
Yeah. I didn’t have to sit at my computer for nine hours.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s true. It’s a lot quicker.
Danica Cherry:
She got me out of that.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah, no kidding. Next lightning round question. What businesses or brands, what brand inspires you?
Danica Cherry:
Inspires me?
Jeff Randolph:
Inspires, really gets you, really makes you either feel good or gets you excited or you just hang on their every word.
Danica Cherry:
Oh, man, I don’t know.
Jeff Randolph:
Don’t even know, man. This is where the lightning round is really at its best. We’re trying to figure that out.
Danica Cherry:
Sorry, it’s not lightning fast response. Of course, Hallmark comes to mind.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah.
Danica Cherry:
That’s not true. They just have such good marketing that that’s what I want to say.
Jeff Randolph:
They do.
Danica Cherry:
I don’t watch Hallmark movies. I don’t buy cards.
Jeff Randolph:
That is maybe not the answer they would want to hear. They would like you to go into a Hallmark Gold Crown store and buy a card every once in a while.
Danica Cherry:
Yeah, I know. Sorry.
Jeff Randolph:
Send it to a loved one.
Danica Cherry:
Cut that out.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s all right. No Hallmark Christmas movies?
Danica Cherry:
No.
Jeff Randolph:
I mean, all of the feels just showing up there. We’ll ask a different lightning round question then.
Danica Cherry:
Okay.
Jeff Randolph:
Who, from a fundraising standpoint just across the globe, is doing it right?
Danica Cherry:
I mean, there’s MacKenzie Scott. She’s the opposite of what I do. She gives it away, but it’s really great what she’s doing.
Jeff Randolph:
Say a little more for people who don’t know.
Danica Cherry:
MacKenzie Scott is the ex of the founder of Amazon. She has more money than we could imagine.
Jeff Randolph:
She did pretty well.
Danica Cherry:
Yeah, and she just gives it away.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s good work if you can get it.
Danica Cherry:
Yeah, and I know of people in Kansas City who have gotten it. I got to have conversations with. I’m sure everyone who says they got MacKenzie Scott donation is getting a lot of phone calls. Can I have your Rolodex?
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right. Could I please? Any introduction? Let’s say that you’ve brought in a great big gift or you’ve achieved a personal milestone of some kind. How do you celebrate that success? What is it that you do to celebrate a big win?
Danica Cherry:
I always yell in my office. I do a big woo-hoo all by myself. Usually people will be like, “What happened?” Other than that, no. I like to share it. It’s not a one woman show. It always takes a team for me and Sam Rodgers to get a win, a big gift. It’s not just me.
Jeff Randolph:
No, it is, totally. Sure.
Danica Cherry:
I like to share the news.
Jeff Randolph:
All right. Next lightning round question is really, you’ve addressed it already, is how do you handle a no? You’ve mentioned already that it’s just a, not right now. Did it take a while to get there or was that just a natural thing where you’re like, nos just kind of roll off of you at this point?
Danica Cherry:
No, it’s something that a mentor has taught me and I’m like, yes, that’s a good way to look at it.
Jeff Randolph:
If you can hold onto that. Yeah.
Danica Cherry:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
My fear is that I am not able to get there. The no is just a no. I feel terrible and it’s a value judgment about me and terrible things like that.
Danica Cherry:
Well, yeah. No, it still doesn’t feel good when you get a no.
Jeff Randolph:
That doesn’t go away. Okay.
Danica Cherry:
No. Yeah, I’m not like, woo-hoo. I don’t do woo-hoo’s in my office When I get a no, but I keep trying and it’s a not right now.
Jeff Randolph:
Let’s close it out with this lightning round question, and that is, what kind of campaign do you have going on right now?
Danica Cherry:
Oh, I’m so glad you asked.
Jeff Randolph:
I know. What a setup.
Danica Cherry:
Samuel Rodgers is campaigning right now to build a children’s wing, a wing completely dedicated to pediatric care. It’ll be 40 exam rooms. It’s going to be a beautiful space. We really want to be known, if your kiddo is sick or even prenatal moms, postpartum mothers, we want them to think of us. I mean, there is Children’s Mercy. That’s a great organization, but again, we have those special-
Jeff Randolph:
Right. Your demographic profile, your economic profile, you’re all kinds of things.
Danica Cherry:
Right. It all comes around to us being a trusted… We want them to feel like they belong and they’re comfortable there. I’m sure they would at Children’s Mercy as well, but we just want to be top of mind for families in the Northeast and in these underserved areas where they know they can count on us for their care. Adding the 40 exam rooms will also free up space in our other clinics for other different programs such as adult senior health, behavioral health, dentistry. I’m forgetting one. Oh, we have mammography as well. We have a beautiful 3D mammography machine, which is so great that we can help people in this area have a 3D mammography or a mammogram. It’s pretty cool.
Jeff Randolph:
Excellent. Big goals pediatric wing. Good luck with that.
Danica Cherry:
Yes. Thanks. We’re about halfway there.
Jeff Randolph:
Halfway.
Danica Cherry:
We need more for it. Hint. I’m winking over here.
Jeff Randolph:
I think everybody can know exactly what to do at this moment. Get to Sam Rodgers online and make some connections.
Danica Cherry:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Let’s make this happen. All right. Danica Cherry with Sam Rodgers Health Centers, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it.
Danica Cherry:
Thank you. It was fun.
Jeff Randolph:
We have made it to the time where we wrap it all up and I say thank you to our guest, Danica Cherry. Thanks for being here. Remember to subscribe. Leave us a five star rating and review. Drop us a line on the website eagadv.com if you’ve got something to share. Until then, we’ll be out here helping entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.