Spotlight Session - Podium

In this exclusive Spotlight Session, Stefan Kazakis, Founder of Business Benchmark Group, sits down with Tom Sudano, Partnerships Manager at Podium Australia, to explore one of the most overlooked profit leaks facing trade and service business owners: the gap between generating inbound inquiries and actually converting them into booked, paying jobs.

Together, they unpack why speed of response, online reputation, and customer retention have become the real drivers of sustainable growth, and how AI-powered tools can help founders capture more of the revenue they're already generating without adding headcount.

This is not just a conversation about marketing technology. It is a strategic discussion about reducing the "cost of silence," building credibility that converts, and freeing founders from the day-to-day so they can focus on scaling the business rather than running it.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why word of mouth is no longer the first touchpoint for most customers
• The difference between visibility (advertising) and credibility (reviews) in winning new business
• What the "cost of silence" really costs a business in lost bookings
• Why response speed — particularly within 5 minutes — has become the new trust signal
• How AI tools can handle after-hours and weekend inquiries without sacrificing a human touch
• The role of Google My Business (GMB) and online reviews in local search and AI-driven search results
• Why a leaky inquiry-to-booking funnel is usually a process and speed problem, not a marketing problem
• How to treat a past customer list as a low-cost source of repeat and referral business
• Three non-negotiable disciplines for a $2 million founder scaling toward $10–20 million
• Where to invest in AI (repetitive, volume-driven tasks) and where to hold back (genuine human judgment)

Who This Episode Is For

This session is designed for founders, business owners and leaders in trades and service-based industries who want to convert more of their existing inquiries into revenue, not just generate more leads.

If you are looking to:

• Stop losing inquiries to slower-responding competitors
• Build a repeatable system for generating 5-star reviews and online credibility
• Use AI to handle inbound conversations without losing the personal touch
• Understand the true cost of a slow response time
• Turn a dormant customer list into a source of repeat and referral business
• Remove yourself as founder from the day-to-day lead-response loop
• Future-proof your business with the right blend of high-tech and high-touch

This conversation provides practical, real-world insight into the systems and disciplines that separate businesses that constantly attract inbound demand from those stuck chasing work, and why closing the speed gap today can compound into significant revenue growth for years to come.