Monika Kochhar's guest appearances

Monika Kochhar

Future Commerce Podcast: eCommerce, DTC and Retail Strategy

Success Unfiltered

Customer Equity Accelerator

Mike Lackman

Bryan Eisenberg

Kara Goldin

Drew Canole

Jasmine Star

Laura Roeder

Phil Smith

Cathy Heller

David Hill

Chris Voss

David Meltzer

Hunter Thompson

Rob Petrozzo

Darin Olien

Henry Davis

OwlTail

This week Monika Kochhar, CEO and co-founder of SmartGift joins Allison Hartsoe in the Accelerator. With all the attention paid to customer experience, you would think there was no stone unturned, and yet there is. Gifting is an untapped customer experience that naturally appeals to your most loyal customers. This week, Monika talks about the positive trends she’s seeing after the coronavirus pandemic as well as how companies can improve their gifting strategy.   “Thank you” gifts have risen 71% in the last 2 weeks benefiting IT staff, teachers, employees, nurses, and doctors."Please help us spread the word about building your business’ customer equity through effective customer analytics. Rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Google Play, Alexa’s TuneIn, iHeartRadio or Spotify. And do tell us what you think by writing Allison at info@ambitiondata.com or ambitiondata.com. Thanks for listening! Tell a friend! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Monika Kochhar, CEO and co-founder of SmartGift joins Allison Hartsoe in the Accelerator. With all the attention paid to customer experience, you would think there was no stone unturned, and yet there is. Gifting is an untapped customer experience that naturally appeals to your most loyal customers. This week, Monika talks about the positive trends she’s seeing after the coronavirus pandemic as well as how companies can improve their gifting strategy.   “Thank you” gifts have risen 71% in the last 2 weeks benefiting IT staff, teachers, employees, nurses, and doctors."Please help us spread the word about building your business’ customer equity through effective customer analytics. Rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Google Play, Alexa’s TuneIn, iHeartRadio or Spotify. And do tell us what you think by writing Allison at info@ambitiondata.com or <a href="http://ambitiondata.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ambitiondata.com</a>. Thanks for listening! Tell a friend! Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Ep. 109 | Gifting as a Customer-Centric Strategy with Monika Kochhar CEO of SmartGift

130 | Monika Kochhar Teaches Us How to Train Our Mind for Optimistic Thinking Have you ever thought that something as simple as optimistic thinking could change the course of your business? Monika Kochhar is the CEO and Co-founder of SmartGift. She has launched, grew and led startups that transformed music, payments and commerce, and redefined customer experiences. Monika previously worked in finance in derivatives trading, selling and emerging markets for JP Morgan, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs. Monika attended Mount Holyoke College and the London School of Economics. In addition, she is an avid writer and speaker on payments, commerce, tech philosophy and women in entrepreneurship. She grew up in India and lives in NYC. When you hear NO, does it ever make you question your abilities? Or do you believe in yourself enough that hearing a NO slides right off your back? I’ve heard a lot of NO’s in my life!  From my job right out of college, FITzee Foods, or even with what I’m doing today! What keeps me going is that I believe in myself, and I live in a state of never-ending optimism.  I know, based on my past experiences, that it’s ok to hear a NO. It’s ok to face rejection. Every time I hear a NO, I look to learn what I can from the experience, and then move forward. When I closed FITzee Foods, it would have been easy to hang up my entrepreneur hat, close up shop, and start applying for corporate jobs. You’ve felt that way after hearing a NO, right? But, like you, I knew that there was something else bigger out there for me, and I believed in myself and said YES! The best part is, the more I believe in myself and keep pushing forward, the happier I become. I am so happy with how far I’ve come, and I absolutely love what I do. This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Monika Kochhar, is the founder of Smart Gift. When she first created Smart Gift, she reached out to several large brands and they said NO to being part of her network. Her belief in herself carried her through, and you wouldn’t believe that the companies that initially told her NO later reached out to her to be included in the Smart Gift lineup!  If you’re feeling discouraged from the NO’s you’re hearing, make sure that you tune into this episode of Success Unfiltered! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts:  Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, &amp; LinkedIn   To help the show out:  Please leave an honest review on  iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on  iTunes.  Special thanks goes out to Monika Kochhar for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Why Do Most Business Strategies Fail? It’s not because they don’t work. It’s because you’re not READY for them to work. Before you can succeed, you’ve got to believe in yourself. And most of us don’t know how. But that’s all about to change! Let me show you my 3 best mindset hacks to help you raise your vibe, shift your thinking, and ultimately ROCK your business. Grab your copy right HERE and start believing in yourself, for REAL this time! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:  Michelle introduces Monika Kochhar. Monika explains Smart Gift, and how the business works: it’s all about creating an experience during the gifting process! When you’re starting out and have no name recognition, it’s key that you remain in an ego-less state, so you can pitch, and learn from rejection. Monika shares about a crushing rejection from a big retailer. Instead of just taking the NO, Monika reached out and asked for feedback; and asked what it would have taken to get a YES from them.  Because she asked, and asked in an authentic way, they gave the feedback she requested! For Monika, taking, implementing and learning from that feedback was key. When you hear NO, it’s tempting to just ask for more time, five more minutes to show them why you are the best choice. Monika found that keeping it together and calmly asking for feedback was far more valuable. You have to know that this will work: have “blind faith” in yourself. You’ll also need a supportive team surrounding you! The feedback from that NO led to Monika and the team completely redoing their system, and making it better than ever. The more rejection you get, the more feedback that you get and are able to make yourself and your systems even better. Monika raised a little over $2 million dollars in the beginning stages of Smart Gift. Many investors said NO to funding Smart Gift, but Monika kept moving forward and still pulled it off. Moving forward was hard: Monika had to believe in herself with unbridled optimism, always pressing forward. When you hear NO, it can be tempting to start applying for corporate jobs. You want to create a frictionless experience for gaining new clients. Genuine conversations are a great part of the sales experience: they help create the chemistry for that perfect match. Ask directly for the deal: many people struggle with closing business because they don’t even actually ask for it.  You can’t help your ideal client unless you close the deal by asking! Monika shares what she would tell her younger self.  Connect with Monika Kochhar:  Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter  Why Do Most Business Strategies Fail? It’s not because they don’t work. It’s because you’re not READY for them to work. Before you can succeed, you’ve got to believe in yourself. And most of us don’t know how. But that’s all about to change! Let me show you my 3 best mindset hacks to help you raise your vibe, shift your thinking, and ultimately ROCK your business. Grab your copy right HERE and start believing in yourself, for REAL this time!  Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

130 | Monika Kochhar Teaches Us How to Train Our Mind for Optimistic Thinking Have you ever thought that something as simple as optimistic thinking could change the course of your business? Monika Kochhar is the CEO and Co-founder of <a href="https://www.smartgiftit.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SmartGift</a>. She has launched, grew and led startups that transformed music, payments and commerce, and redefined customer experiences. Monika previously worked in finance in derivatives trading, selling and emerging markets for JP Morgan, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs. Monika attended Mount Holyoke College and the London School of Economics. In addition, she is an avid writer and speaker on payments, commerce, tech philosophy and women in entrepreneurship. She grew up in India and lives in NYC. When you hear NO, does it ever make you question your abilities? Or do you believe in yourself enough that hearing a NO slides right off your back? I’ve heard a lot of NO’s in my life!  From my job right out of college, FITzee Foods, or even with what I’m doing today! What keeps me going is that I believe in myself, and I live in a state of never-ending optimism.  I know, based on my past experiences, that it’s ok to hear a NO. It’s ok to face rejection. Every time I hear a NO, I look to learn what I can from the experience, and then move forward. When I closed FITzee Foods, it would have been easy to hang up my entrepreneur hat, close up shop, and start applying for corporate jobs. You’ve felt that way after hearing a NO, right? But, like you, I knew that there was something else bigger out there for me, and I believed in myself and said YES! The best part is, the more I believe in myself and keep pushing forward, the happier I become. I am so happy with how far I’ve come, and I absolutely love what I do. This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Monika Kochhar, is the founder of <a href="https://www.smartgiftit.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Smart Gift</a>. When she first created Smart Gift, she reached out to several large brands and they said NO to being part of her network. Her belief in herself carried her through, and you wouldn’t believe that the companies that initially told her NO later reached out to her to be included in the Smart Gift lineup!  If you’re feeling discouraged from the NO’s you’re hearing, make sure that you tune into this episode of Success Unfiltered! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into <a href="http://www.thepitchqueen.com/podcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Success Unfiltered</a>! To share your thoughts: <ul> <li>Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com</li> <li>Ask a question over at <a href="http://www.thepitchqueen.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.ThePitchQueen.com</a></li> <li>Share Success Unfiltered on <a href="https://twitter.com/thepitchqueen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thepitchqueen/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thepitchqueen/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, &amp; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleweinstein/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> </li> </ul> To help the show out: <ul> <li>Please leave an honest review on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/success-unfiltered/id1271423584?mt=2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.</li> <li>Subscribe to the show on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/success-unfiltered/id1271423584?mt=2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>.</li> </ul> Special thanks goes out to Monika Kochhar for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Why Do Most Business Strategies Fail? It’s not because they don’t work. It’s because you’re not READY for them to work. Before you can succeed, you’ve got to believe in yourself. And most of us don’t know how. But that’s all about to change! Let me show you my 3 best mindset hacks to help you raise your vibe, shift your thinking, and ultimately ROCK your business. <a href="http://www.thepitchqueen.com/believe-in-yourself/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Grab your copy right HERE and start believing in yourself, for REAL this time!</a> Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: <ul> <li>Michelle introduces Monika Kochhar.</li> <li>Monika explains Smart Gift, and how the business works: it’s all about creating an experience during the gifting process!</li> <li>When you’re starting out and have no name recognition, it’s key that you remain in an ego-less state, so you can pitch, and learn from rejection.</li> <li>Monika shares about a crushing rejection from a big retailer.</li> <li>Instead of just taking the NO, Monika reached out and asked for feedback; and asked what it would have taken to get a YES from them. </li> <li>Because she asked, and asked in an authentic way, they gave the feedback she requested!</li> <li>For Monika, taking, implementing and learning from that feedback was key.</li> <li>When you hear NO, it’s tempting to just ask for more time, five more minutes to show them why you are the best choice. Monika found that keeping it together and calmly asking for feedback was far more valuable.</li> <li>You have to know that this will work: have “blind faith” in yourself. You’ll also need a supportive team surrounding you!</li> <li>The feedback from that NO led to Monika and the team completely redoing their system, and making it better than ever.</li> <li>The more rejection you get, the more feedback that you get and are able to make yourself and your systems even better.</li> <li>Monika raised a little over $2 million dollars in the beginning stages of Smart Gift. Many investors said NO to funding Smart Gift, but Monika kept moving forward and still pulled it off.</li> <li>Moving forward was hard: Monika had to believe in herself with unbridled optimism, always pressing forward.</li> <li>When you hear NO, it can be tempting to start applying for corporate jobs.</li> <li>You want to create a frictionless experience for gaining new clients.</li> <li>Genuine conversations are a great part of the sales experience: they help create the chemistry for that perfect match.</li> <li>Ask directly for the deal: many people struggle with closing business because they don’t even actually ask for it. </li> <li>You can’t help your ideal client unless you close the deal by asking!</li> <li>Monika shares what she would tell her younger self.</li> </ul> Connect with Monika Kochhar: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.smartgiftit.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Website</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Smartgiftit/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/smartgiftit/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/monikakochhar/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/smartgiftit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li> </ul> Why Do Most Business Strategies Fail? It’s not because they don’t work. It’s because you’re not READY for them to work. Before you can succeed, you’ve got to believe in yourself. And most of us don’t know how. But that’s all about to change! Let me show you my 3 best mindset hacks to help you raise your vibe, shift your thinking, and ultimately ROCK your business. <a href="http://www.thepitchqueen.com/believe-in-yourself/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Grab your copy right HERE and start believing in yourself, for REAL this time!</a> Music produced by Deejay-O  <a href="http://www.iamdeejayo.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.iamdeejayo.com</a>

130 | Monika Kochhar Teaches Us How to Train Our Mind for Optimistic Thinking

Show Notes About Monika Kochhar Monika Kochhar is the co-founder of Smartgift, a gifting platform that is working to solve the complexity of shopping for others. About Smartgift Consumer brands use Smartgift's platform to let gift recipients customize their gifts or swap them for other gifts of their choice from comparably priced recommendations. Gift senders pay for the item after the recipient has made their pick. A deeper look into the "Science of Gifting"   Smartgift is taking rich qualitative and quantitative data to map out human behavior in gifting and shopping for others. By better understanding human behavior in gifting, they can make this process much easier for shoppers.   A function built into Smartgift called the Intelligence Swapping Mechanism learns semantically over time and maps out buying preferences such as color, fit, and size. This helps shoppers easily buy the perfect gift for an occasion for a particular person.   Smartgift hopes that over time analyzing gifting data will close the gap between what a gift shopper gives and what the recipient ultimately picks on their platform.   Is tech changing people or empowering people?   More specifically, are the way people gift or are gifting patterns affecting the way tech is created?   Monika mentions that ecommerce only accounts for less than 10% of all shopping which points to the fact that we are still in the early stages of online shopping and what it could be in the future. The more technology begins to evolve and grow, the more we'll see changing mindsets and the more shoppers will use ecommerce as a way to shop for themselves and others.   Amazon's Prime Day is an example of technology changing the way customers shop by encouraging people to shop online in large numbers for no other reason except that Amazon declared Prime Day a national holiday. Maybe the ability to purchase anything instantly has changed customers' impulse buying habits.   One area in which technology is going to change based on the user is in the end-to-end giving journey. There is going to be a deeper need to get the gift right. For too long, the receiver experience has been an afterthought in retail. Monika believes in using data mapping to build a better shopping experience that places equal emphasis on the gifter and the recipient. Maybe the process starts with voice and ends with an augmented reality visceral experience of opening a gift. The recipient still has a choice on the physical gift after opening a digital version of the original gift sent by the gifter. How will Aunt Brenda feel when she finds out you didn't like the polka dot sweater she picked?   How does the gift-giver feel in having their gift idea being replaced by the recipient. Does this diminish the satisfaction of the giver?   Smartgift has found that, for the gifter, the joy comes in the expression of gift-giving and also in not having the guilt of giving something less thoughtful, like a gift card.   Through Smartgift, happiness has been maximized on both ends of gift-giving; for the recipient and the sender.   As long as gift-givers are allowed to express themselves thoughtfully in gifting, they are still happy if the recipient decides on something different.   Is there room for personalization within smart giving?   Gifters have started to express personalization in gift-giving through special notes and selecting digital gift wrapping. Gifters want to participate in the delight of gift-giving digitally so that it doesn't just feel like some sort of emotionless transaction.   Thank you notes on the recipients side is an area of personalization that happens in smart gifting that has provided a wealth of data which helps us understand how recipients feels about a product or brand.   How Smartgift can help users give back.   Smartgift allows recipients the choice of sending cookies back to the gifter as a thank you gift after receiving flowers from the sender.   Smartgift sees an opportunity to use in-kind gifting as a way to encourage recipients to get involved with giving back where the recipient is given the option to give to a charitable cause of the sender's choice as a thank you.   In the future, Smartgift would like to partner with charities to make giving back more accessible to on their platform.   Our best practices around conversion rate optimization might be misguided   Our efforts are focused to one persona, the buyer, or the person purchasing for themselves. Smartgift is focused on a different persona, someone who is purchasing for someone else.   Ecommerce has evolved to create a great shopping experience and now we're at a point where we can dive deeper into the metadata and what else is happening within the shopping journey. We can now work toward answering questions such as, "Why are they shopping?" and "Are they shopping for someone else?" 

<h1>Show Notes</h1> <h3>About Monika Kochhar</h3> Monika Kochhar is the co-founder of <a href="https://www.smartgiftit.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Smartgift</a>, a gifting platform that is working to solve the complexity of shopping for others. <h3>About Smartgift</h3> Consumer brands use Smartgift's platform to let gift recipients customize their gifts or swap them for other gifts of their choice from comparably priced recommendations. Gift senders pay for the item after the recipient has made their pick. <h3>A deeper look into the "Science of Gifting"</h3> <ul> <li> Smartgift is taking rich qualitative and quantitative data to map out human behavior in gifting and shopping for others. By better understanding human behavior in gifting, they can make this process much easier for shoppers. </li> <li> A function built into Smartgift called the Intelligence Swapping Mechanism learns semantically over time and maps out buying preferences such as color, fit, and size. This helps shoppers easily buy the perfect gift for an occasion for a particular person. </li> <li> Smartgift hopes that over time analyzing gifting data will close the gap between what a gift shopper gives and what the recipient ultimately picks on their platform. </li> </ul> <h3>Is tech changing people or empowering people?</h3> <ul> <li> More specifically, are the way people gift or are gifting patterns affecting the way tech is created? </li> <li> Monika mentions that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ecommerce-percent-retail-sales-charts-2018-5" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ecommerce only accounts for less than 10%</a> of all shopping which points to the fact that we are still in the early stages of online shopping and what it could be in the future. The more technology begins to evolve and grow, the more we'll see changing mindsets and the more shoppers will use ecommerce as a way to shop for themselves and others. </li> <li> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Day/b?ie=UTF8&amp;node=13887280011" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon's Prime Day</a> is an example of technology changing the way customers shop by encouraging people to shop online in large numbers for no other reason except that Amazon declared Prime Day a national holiday. Maybe the ability to purchase anything instantly has changed customers' impulse buying habits. </li> </ul> One area in which technology is going to change based on the user is in the end-to-end giving journey. There is going to be a deeper need to get the gift right. For too long, the receiver experience has been an afterthought in retail. Monika believes in using data mapping to build a better shopping experience that places equal emphasis on the gifter and the recipient. Maybe the process starts with voice and ends with an augmented reality visceral experience of opening a gift. The recipient still has a choice on the physical gift after opening a digital version of the original gift sent by the gifter. <h3>How will Aunt Brenda feel when she finds out you didn't like the polka dot sweater she picked?</h3> <ul> <li> How does the gift-giver feel in having their gift idea being replaced by the recipient. Does this diminish the satisfaction of the giver? </li> <li> Smartgift has found that, for the gifter, the joy comes in the expression of gift-giving and also in not having the guilt of giving something less thoughtful, like a gift card. </li> <li> Through Smartgift, happiness has been maximized on both ends of gift-giving; for the recipient and the sender. </li> <li> As long as gift-givers are allowed to express themselves thoughtfully in gifting, they are still happy if the recipient decides on something different. </li> </ul> <h3>Is there room for personalization within smart giving?</h3> <ul> <li> Gifters have started to express personalization in gift-giving through special notes and selecting digital gift wrapping. Gifters want to participate in the delight of gift-giving digitally so that it doesn't just feel like some sort of emotionless transaction. </li> <li> Thank you notes on the recipients side is an area of personalization that happens in smart gifting that has provided a wealth of data which helps us understand how recipients feels about a product or brand. </li> </ul> <h3>How Smartgift can help users give back.</h3> <ul> <li> Smartgift allows recipients the choice of sending cookies back to the gifter as a thank you gift after receiving flowers from the sender. </li> <li> Smartgift sees an opportunity to use in-kind gifting as a way to encourage recipients to get involved with giving back where the recipient is given the option to give to a charitable cause of the sender's choice as a thank you. </li> <li> In the future, Smartgift would like to partner with charities to make giving back more accessible to on their platform. </li> </ul> <h3>Our best practices around conversion rate optimization might be misguided</h3> <ul> <li> Our efforts are focused to one persona, the buyer, or the person purchasing for themselves. Smartgift is focused on a different persona, someone who is purchasing for someone else. </li> <li> Ecommerce has evolved to create a great shopping experience and now we're at a point where we can dive deeper into the metadata and what else is happening within the shopping journey. We can now work toward answering questions such as, "Why are they shopping?" and "Are they shopping for someone else?" </li></ul>

"There is No One Best Experience" (w/ Monika Kochhar, Smartgift)