This week we feature, Steve Barrett Co-Founder and CEO at Go Reception . Go Reception is a Visitor Management Software and a monthly subscription service with annual billing options.

In this interview, you can read more about his work at Go Reception, favorite marketing tools, productivity tips as well as his advice for budding marketers.

Your location: HeadQuarter: Adelaide, South Australia.

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Your favorite gadget: iPhone.

You start your day with: Coffee & checking new customers

Your favorite time-saving trick: Get out of bed in the morning ;) time is a currency, the more time you give yourself the more rewards you will reap.

Your top blogs you read daily: I don’t. It all feeds into facebook, my current evolution is focused on building the business. I cut out the noise and the time I spend on other peoples thoughts. Having said that, it would be pinging between Facebook, Medium and various news sources such as Startup Smart, Startup Daily, Financial Review and vice.

"Do not be afraid to try, do not be afraid to fail."

Describe an average day at Go Reception.

We have customers all of the world so the days generally start with responding to those we miss outside our timezone based on severity enquiry type, the customer service team carries on engagement all day through simple conversations, either following up or starting new ones. Everything we do is an honest conversation, finding out the problems we can solve for our customers through existing or new product solutions.

The product development team has an extensive roadmap that is task based, we focus on a single feature at a time and test these with select customers who want to assist with beta releases.

Our days are always offering new challenges but generally fall into a cycle of development of the tech, and conversations with our customers (prospective, new and existing).

As a founder, what are some of your favorite productivity hacks?

Personally, I generally ignore the news and the noise. Facebook is a no for myself during the day unless I am communicating or advertising. Using the acquaintance function in Facebook filters out the food porn and brings more relevance.

I drink a lot of water, eat well (or try to) and (try to) get exercise daily, not just physically but of the mind as well. This keeps me in check so I can perform best each day.

I keep meetings to 30 minutes or less.

As a person who is well-versed with online marketing, I’m sure you rely on a few marketing tools to automate your efforts. What are the top 3–5 tools you use?

Intercom, Intercom, Intercom.

Your company has a growing community of users. How do you use this treasure trove of customer insight to power your marketing efforts?

Go Reception is a product built by our customers. We engage them regularly to ensure the development roadmap is theirs and not our own agenda. Seeing how they use and interact with our solution we are able to improve the service offering and send more relevant messages to existing and perspective customers.

What is your strategy for getting people to your site and then converting them to a customer?

Talk to them, have a conversation. Go Reception is not something that needs a hard sell. We offer a relevant solution that simply makes sense. It’s about finding the right conversation. We of course put into practice all the standard marketing efforts any B2B tech startup should, online and social advertising etc.

Is there any advice you’d like to give to budding startup marketers to help them work smart and stay productive?

Do not be afraid to try, do not be afraid to fail in those attempts. Never has there been a better time to test assumptions with very very minimal cost. Try not to copy your competitors, understand how they are succeeding and failing, then find a market gap or vertical to tackle.

A big thanks to Steve for taking the time out to answer these questions! If you haven’t already, we highly recommend that you check out Go Reception.

The ‘How Marketers Stay Productive’ series asks marketers their tips & strategies for staying productive. Every week we’ll feature a new guest and the tricks that keep them working smart. Know someone you’d love to see featured? Email Us.