Cheryl Dillon is a pioneering technology entrepreneur and Co-founder of Quik!, a leader in forms automation and productivity solutions. Her journey began in the early 80s with a passion for computers and problem-solving, leading to the launch of Efficient Technology Inc. with her son Richard Walker in 1999. Cheryl helped grow Quik! by tackling paper form inefficiencies in the financial industry, reducing tasks that took hours to minutes. Although retired from daily operations since 2010, she remains strategically involved with Quik! as a board member, influencing its mission to make paperwork the easiest part of every transaction.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
[2:46] Cheryl Dillon discusses how Quik! revolutionized paperwork processes for financial experts
[4:11] Why problem-solving is a core entrepreneurial skill
[8:17] Transitioning from individual work to entrepreneurship
[10:58] The sacrifices and behind-the-scenes work of starting a business
[15:17] Insights into providing empathetic and effective customer service
[18:35] Cheryl's approach to diffusing angry customer situations
[20:28] How telling the tough truths can build long-term customer loyalty
[31:41] The potential of AI and future business strategies
In this episode…
The secrets to customer success are often hidden in plain sight, but what if the key component is as fundamental as family dynamics? Can the principles of motherhood translate to groundbreaking business acumen? When technology meets empathy, a powerful combination emerges to rewrite the rulebook on customer relations and business growth.
Cheryl Dillon, a pioneer in the tech industry, delves into her journey, harnessing her passion for computers and problem-solving to revolutionize how forms are processed in the financial sector. Alongside her son and podcast host Richard Walker, she shares her experience and the challenges of starting a tech company from the ground up, including her strategy for earning customers' trust and loyalty through transparency and service — a tactic that has led Quik! to achieve remarkably high customer satisfaction scores. She highlights her commitment to customer satisfaction, which became the cornerstone of their flourishing business.
In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker interviews Cheryl Dillon, Co-founder of Quik!, about transforming customer experiences through innovation. Cheryl discusses how Quik! revolutionized paperwork processes for financial experts, the sacrifices and behind-the-scenes work of starting a business, insights into providing empathetic and effective customer service, and how telling the tough truths can build long-term customer loyalty.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
"Pivoting To Customer Success With Randy Cass of Nest Wealth" on The Customer Wins
"Helping Customers Win Through More Secure Transactions With Pem Guerry" on The Customer Wins
"How Evolving From Customer To Tech Insider Helps Customers Win" on The Customer Wins
"Be More Like Your Customer To Win Your Customer" on The Customer Wins
Quotable Moments:
"I will work hours to solve a problem — anything that can automate the process because I shouldn't have to keep doing something manual repeatedly."
"Being lazy is probably the mother of invention."
"I'm drawn to computers because they can do so much for us."
"You make better decisions with facts than untruths or lies."
"By listening very carefully, I could read between the lines of what a customer really wanted."
Action Steps:
Embrace technology for efficiency: Automating repetitive tasks can significantly reduce the time spent on paperwork to focus on more strategic problem-solving activities.
Listen to customer pain points: Understanding and addressing customer pain points is crucial for developing effective solutions.
Be honest and transparent: Transparency, even when it involves admitting limitations, can strengthen customer relationships.
Empathize with customers: Putting yourself in your customer's shoes can help you better understand and address their needs.
Learn and adapt continuously: Staying curious and committed to lifelong learning can help you adapt to new challenges and opportunities.
Sponsor for this episode...
This is brought to you by Quik!
At Quik!, we provide forms automation and management solutions for companies seeking to maximize their potential productivity.
Using our FormXtract API, you can submit your completed forms and get clean, context-rich data that is 99.9% accurate.
Our vision is to become the leading forms automation company by making paperwork the easiest part of every transaction.
Meanwhile, our mission is to help the top firms in the financial industry raise their bottom line by streamlining the customer experience with automated, convenient solutions.
Go to www.quickforms.com to learn more, or contact us with questions at support@quikforms.com.
Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:02
Welcome to The Customer Wins podcast where business leaders discuss their secrets and techniques for helping their customers succeed and in turn grow their business.
Richard Walker 0:16
Hi, I'm Rich Walker, the host of The Customer Wins where I talk to business leaders about how they help their customers win, and how their focus on customer experience leads to growth. Today is a special episode that marks the 100th episode of my podcast, and to celebrate it, I have invited a very special guest. Today. I'm speaking with Cheryl Dillon, co-founder of Quik! and more importantly, she's my mom. Also, I want to mention my first four guests on the show as a way of saying thank you to them for taking the plunge with me on launching the show. That includes Randy Cass of Nest Wealth, Pem Guerry of SIGNiX, Patrick Meyer of DocuSign and Adrian Johnstone of Practifi. And today's episode is brought to you by Quik!, the leader in enterprise forms processing. When your business relies upon processing forms, don't waste your team's valuable time manually reviewing the forms. Instead, get Quik!. Using our Form Xtract API, simply submit your completed forms and get back clean context-rich data that reduces manual reviews to only one out of 1000 submissions. Visit quikforms.com to get started.
Now, it is my pleasure to introduce my mom. Cheryl Dillon is a pioneering technology entrepreneur and co-founder of Quik! a leader in forms, automation and productivity solutions. Her journey began in the early 1980s when she started working on a Burroughs 500 mainframe, sparking a lifelong passion for computers and problem-solving. Building on this foundation, Cheryl advanced her skills in computer science and consulting, eventually co-founding Efficient Technology Inc, in 1999 with her son, that's me, to tackle inefficiencies. In 2002 this venture evolved into Quik!, now an industry leader informs processing. Since retiring from daily operations in 2010, Cheryl has remained an active board member, providing strategic insight to support Quik's growth. Her innovative spirit and dedication to efficiency continue to shape the company's mission to make paperwork the easiest part of every transaction. Mom, or should I say, Cheryl, welcome to The Customer Wins.
Cheryl Dillon 2:24
Hi.
Richard Walker 2:25
So happy to have you today. If you haven't heard this podcast before, I talk with business leaders about what they're doing to help their customers win, how they built and deliver a great customer experience, and the challenges to growing their own company. Boy, we had challenges. So Cheryl, let's help the audience understand our business a little bit better. How does our company help people?
Cheryl Dillon 2:46
We take an operation that is necessary for every financial guru out there, which is paperwork. It used to take up to two and a half, even three hours for a rep to fill out forms, and we brought that down to minutes and automated the process. So not only do they have it faster, but much more accurate and that's our main goal, is to help them save time.
Yeah. So it's been interesting, because one of the things that happened when I started this with you was I was the financial advisor. You were working with other financial advisors, but I was the advisor who said, I hate this so much, I'm going to solve it. And I thought our customer was me, somebody who hated paperwork. What I've learned over 20 years is that actually how we're helping people is empowering them to do their best work, which is not paperwork, by taking it away from them. So I'm kind of curious about something, I guess I presented this idea to you of, hey, here's this paperwork problem, and you had seen it before, like Carol Groser, for example, asked about it. I'm sure Steve Fazio had asked about it, but I had solved it in a unique way, and everybody kept asking about it. What made you say yes to starting this business with me?
Cheryl Dillon 4:11
Well, I think we were on the same path at almost the same time because my main client, who for whom I was designing a financial planning system was still doing paperwork by hand, and it occurred to me that this needed to be automated. And I had embarked already on some kind of program that would tap into a database that he could have, that he already had. He had to keep a database of all of his clients, and I don't know who started it, to tell you the truth, I think it was almost simultaneous that you both got on this same path. And I remember one day just discussing this, this was your pain, but it was also my client's pain. And we put our heads together, and I think I was in. On board. I don't know if I was instantly on board to create a company, but I certainly wanted to find a solution for my client and you. So it was easy to get on board, I think.
Richard Walker 5:12
Yeah, I think from that standpoint of, we're going to solve problems. I think you and I share that ethos of, love to solve problems. We love to figure things out. It's one of the reasons we're drawn to computers, if I can use the royal we here because I'm drawn to computers, and I think in the same way you are, is it can do so much for us. And it seemed crazy that in the year 2001 people were still handwriting forms when the promise of paperwork was supposed to go away.
Cheryl Dillon 5:37
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think my whole position and my reason I fell in love with computers is I'm lazy, and if I can get a computer to do it, I will work hours to solve a problem that be it a macro or be it other programming or anything that can automate the process, because I shouldn't have to keep doing something manual repeatedly. So being lazy is probably the mother of invention.
Richard Walker 6:05
Yeah, when I tell the story of Quik! from my perspective, I started turning in really clean paperwork in the branch office and the home office and other advisors kept calling on me, and I kept saying, no, there's one thing I left out. What I left out was is actually your client, Bonnie Woos, who came and said, I want this, right? Do you remember how that came about?
Cheryl Dillon 6:31
I've been doing some work for her, and she was so excited to see her programs come together. It was not this, it was not automating paperwork. But she had a very special it's actually what got you involved in my consulting business in the first place. She had this pretty large programming job that I didn't feel competent to do and I didn't have time. But when she saw what we could do, she came she started talking about the pain of manually filling out papers paperwork. So I don't remember at what point this all gelled, but that was just a contributing factor.
Richard Walker 7:12
I recall that you were working with her, and you told her, my son built a tool that fills out his forms for him. And she said, I have to have it right. Because to me, that was actually the catalyst, that was the one who said, wait a minute, if Bonnie wants this, and she's a top 75 producer nationwide for American funds at the time, she's always been super successful, if Bonnie wants this, then we might have something here. And to me, that was the catalyst of like, okay, we have to sit down and actually build a commercial product for the first time. And my gosh, that was daunting. It doesn't matter how techie you are, if you've never built a commercial product, and what do you do? So I want to go back and ask this question, though, from another perspective, what made you say yes to leaving what you were doing, which was your stability, it was your known thing. It was how you were making your income, to say, let's go start this company. Because, I mean, in hindsight, it was a terrible decision in the early days. We made no money forever. But have you always been an entrepreneur? Have you always wanted to have your own company?
Cheryl Dillon 8:17
That's a good question. I think I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but I don't think in terms of having my own company. I had tried earlier, having subcontractors work for me, and I didn't like all the paperwork. I liked going back to just me. However, when this idea came along, I think there were two or three factors. One was you were on board, and I know your background, I know your expertise, and I completely trusted your ability to do this. Now that may have been slightly misplaced, because we really neither of us knew what we were doing. However, I think the combination of our technical ability and I think our ability to look ahead. But another factor was I'd had a super good year.
I had been making six figures on my own just doing work, but I realized something, that I only made money when I worked, and if you don't start a company, if you don't have other people doing the tedious parts or any other part you don't really want to do of your work, you end up just working for money and not really getting ahead. So it was a leap, I'll tell you, it was a huge leap, because I had a pretty thriving business, and I didn't dump it. I finished my contracts, and it kept us going while we were trying to get this started. But there was a leap, I'll admit to that for sure.
Richard Walker 9:53
Yeah, you know what, your consulting business actually is, what carried us, because in those first two, three years when we made no money. And I think I've told this story before, we said, let's start this business with a very simple premise. We'll sell it for $150 per year, recurring, and we'll sign up 1000 users, 150 times, a 1000s, $150,000 of revenue. We'll split 50/50, we'll both get 50,000 and 50 will go to the company like it's easy, right? Most people can sign up 1000 users on their software product. That shouldn't be hard. And we signed up six users in year one, and we were at 76 by the end of year two. I mean, we're making nothing. So your consulting is actually what carried us, and this is what makes for an amazing partnership. And I'm so grateful and fortunate that you were my partner, because you did empower me to go do my work of building the software and trying to build the business while keeping us afloat financially. But this wasn't all about me. Talk about what you did in the early days and the sacrifices you made to run this company, too.
Cheryl Dillon 10:58
Oh my gosh. Well, I think the hardest thing I had to go through in the very early stages of our business, I was fine doing the consulting. I'd been doing it. I actually had more work than I could handle, so that worked pretty well for you to work on the programming side. But along that time, my parents were getting old and needing care, and I ended up taking care of my dad, 24/7, and working 70 hours a week. And that's one of the toughest things that I look back on and go, I don't even know how I did it. I really don't, because it was a lot to do and but putting in those 70-hour work weeks, I didn't mind it. I mean that that's, to me, felt like part of starting a business. But, yeah, there was a lot to do. And I think my major contribution in the early stages was creating a database, because that was one of my fortes. Was database work, and we used that database quite a while until we got more sophisticated. But that was my main and customer service. I was good at customer service.
Richard Walker 12:11
Well, that's what we're gonna talk about next, absolutely, yeah, but I think here's the other sacrifice that I recall that you made, especially for a long time, not just in the early years, you took on the administrative duties of our company, the finance, the HR, the payroll, the taxes, all the things that you actually didn't want to do. You did the minutia for us, and to me, that's a massive sacrifice, because you were making sure we got the things done we needed when that's expressly what you didn't want to do. Right?
Cheryl Dillon 12:40
Not only did I not really want to do it, I guess really, the reason I didn't want to do it is because I'm not good at it. I don't know much about the financial side of a business. I had to learn. I did take one class of accounting, so I had a little background, but I had to learn how to use some kind of accounting system. But yeah, I had run payroll before for another company, so that wasn't totally obscure to me, but yeah, I didn't really want to do those things. I didn't even really want to do customer service. I wanted to build the database, but somebody had to.
Richard Walker 13:16
Yeah, well, let's talk about your background of customer service, because one of the things that you and I agreed on in 1999 when I started working with you in ETI Efficient Technology Inc. and Consulting, but also something we talked about going into building this company around a software product, was the idea that we somehow always had the customer's best interest at heart, and therefore somehow gained their trust quickly, so we became their trusted advisor, and I work, I remember you and I talking about this in the sense of like it almost doesn't matter what product we come up with or what service we come up with, as long as we stay true to who we are and treat our customers really well, we'll succeed. Do you remember that?
Cheryl Dillon 13:56
Yeah, I do, and it definitely is the cornerstone of our whole business. We agree on that. I don't think we could continue if we didn't agree on that basic premise.
Richard Walker 14:08
Yeah, a side note to this. The other premise was that we always put family first, that we're not going to get angry at each other, we're not going to have business fights, we're going to be mother and son and really good friends the whole time that we do this otherwise, what's the point of doing this? Why? Why ruin a great relationship over a business, right?
Cheryl Dillon 14:26
That's right. We are mother-son, first, partner, second.
Richard Walker 14:32
Yeah. So I want to ask, where did you get this background you have in customer success and customer service? Because it is the heart and soul of quick and it has turned into a really, really important part of our business, so much that we have really high marks. Our customer satisfaction score this year is 98% out of 100 all year long, maybe better than that. We're going to get final numbers in a month or two. It's our NPS score, which is Net Promoter Score, is off the charts. It's always over 84 and a really good score would be 55 out of 100 and I credit you with that, even though our team is the one executing on it now, you instilled that in me. So where does that come from in you? Where did you get all this?
Cheryl Dillon 15:17
That's a good question. I'm not entirely sure, though, when you were asking the question, I thought of something I haven't thought of for a long time. Somewhere in my early history of working, I ended up working for a kitchen and bathroom cabinet installer, and I was a very low-level clerk, just handling phones, helping people schedule, and I kept getting the same call from the same customer saying, where are my cabinets? Well, I knew, because I handled a lot of the ordering, that we were six weeks out, if not more, to even get the cabinets, but their salesman kept telling them it would be there next week. This went on for a couple of weeks, and I'm the one they cried to. I'm the one on the phone with them trying to calm them down. And I finally went to my boss, and I said, well actually, before I went to my boss, I got one more call, and I just I couldn't handle it anymore. And I said, listen, I'm going to tell you the truth. We are six weeks out from even getting those cabinets.
And I'm sorry to undermine the salesman, but that's the truth, because I'm sitting here looking at the documents. Then I went to my boss, and I said, I know I'm probably gonna get fired because I went against what the salesman was saying. He fired the salesman and gave me his job, and he said, this is what we want in our company, somebody who is thinking about what the customer needs, not their own skin. And he said, I'm glad you did that. And that was kind of a wakeup call. I just did it instinctually because I felt sorry for this customer, and they were so appreciative. They were like, thank goodness. We keep telling our people, because they were actually, actually, they weren't getting installed. They were the installers. We keep telling our people next week, and we look stupid to them, right? And I said in I had told them that the reason, the reason for it, which was the manufacturers having trouble getting materials, etc, etc. So I think that was the beginning of my idea of what customer service really is.
Richard Walker 17:26
Yeah, that's something that carries with me. I think that people make better decisions with facts than untruths or lies. So I try to deal with transparency. I try to give our customers the reality of what is happening right now. And it's really hard, especially in the sales process, when customers are asking for things and saying, look, if we had this feature, if you could deliver this, or if we had that capability, I want to say yes to all of it. We just don't have the bandwidth to do that. So I have to be upfront with them and spell it out. But also in the sales cycle, this is another thing that I learned. Tell people what we can and cannot do. Don't lie to them about what they want us to do, that they think we could do, but we know we cannot. Tell them, No, we cannot. We may not be the best solution. At the end of the day, there's a story that we use in our company about you, and that is about the empathetic response of how you calm somebody down who's angry on the phone. So I want to know, from your perspective, when you get somebody who's upset, and believe me, we had upset customers in the early days of Quik!, how did you handle that? How do you diffuse the situation and get through it?
Cheryl Dillon 18:35
Well, I actually learned a lot of that working for IBM and in our subsidiary, I was in charge of the sales, pretty much inside sales desk, but in a lot of ways, it was just making sure that they got their orders and that all the paperwork got processed. So I learned I had decided, when I was made manager, that my role was to give my employees the ability to do their job, and part of that was I didn't expect them to handle angry customers. So when they got angry customers, I told them, if they couldn't calm them down, to send them to me. And I don't really know where I learned this trick, probably through all the reading that I did, because I'm always reading books on how to improve, but I would always listen first, let them have their say.
And there were times where a customer didn't want to stop, they just kept venting, and I would at some point have to say, look, I don't mind listening to you, because I can understand you're angry and we've made a mistake, but I'm ready to fix it. So if you can stop and listen, I think I have a solution. And by me not responding in kind, they would always calm down. They'd always come around and that, I don't know. I think it was trial and error, but just doing it and seeing that it worked cement that with me for our company?
Richard Walker 20:02
Yeah, yeah. So the story we tell is that when somebody calls in angry, one of the things you often would say to be like, man, if I were you, I'd be so angry too. You take their side, you actually look at it from their perspective and feel their frustration from how it would feel to be the customer, which to me, is one of the hallmarks of incredible customer service is you put yourself on their side of the table, in their shoes, and think from their perspective.
Cheryl Dillon 20:28
Yeah, that's true, and it actually was one of the reasons my consulting business was so popular, I guess. I got so many referrals from people because I was not a dynamite programmer, not at all, but I used to tell people I'm a dynamite problem solver, because that was where I was. I wanted to solve their problem. And so I found out that by listening very carefully, I could read between the lines of what a customer really wanted, what they were saying to me, and then I could feed it back to them and go, okay, this is what you want. And they would act so surprised that somebody actually understood them. But I found out that so many people in my profession were so intent on how they were going to program, they paid no attention to what the customer actually needed. But I would put myself at the desk using this software, this program, whatever, and what were the frustrations with it? And because I wanted for me to be able to use it.
I don't want to have to think about that too hard. I wanted it to be easy. So it is all part of customer service to put yourself in their shoes and feel their pain just for a moment, listen to them and let them understand that you know what they're going through, at least you can empathize with it. Yeah, and you do that, I know you do that, and it's one of the things, one of the reasons that our company is where it is is because, for whatever reason, you engender trust as soon as you start talking. I've seen it so many times when we would go to business meetings with big companies, Fidelity or American funds. They had a certain skepticism about us being a new company. But it didn't take long for them to say, wow, this guy knows what he's talking about. He's not trying to put full of wool over our eyes or sell us something we don't need. He's real. He's just there trying to help us, but it engendered a sense of trust that was just as important as customer service. So I guess I could ask you, where you got that from?
Richard Walker 22:34
I got it from you. I got it from you, because I must model that behavior somehow. Maybe it was all the teachings you had about people-watching. You're reading all these self-improvement books, and then you were helping my brother and I understand how the world worked, especially from an internal human perspective. And I've always had this really strong curiosity. In fact, it's one of my passions, is to understand how people work. But in order to understand how people work, you have to think like them. You have to be like them. You have to look at their perspectives. And because I think I have that just innate desire to understand how people work, I apply that to business. And so I will spend 20 minutes out of a 30-minute meeting, an introductory meeting with a new customer, just to understand them, because I want to really know. I can't apply technology to a problem if I don't understand the problem. That's the whole idea of selling for the sake of selling. I don't do that. I want to really solve a problem. You know what's funny, mom, I've always had this really high ambition.
When I was 13, I told everybody, I'll be a millionaire by 23 right? And I kept driving and driving and driving. What I've come to realize is I just want to solve more problems. The money follows. Sure, we make money from doing that, but I just love to solve the problems. So that's number one. The second one is just for my early entrepreneur days, and I'm going to tell a story that's very vulnerable to me, because I feel somewhat of a little bit of shame about this, but because you and my step father, Marcel, made fun of me for it over and over again, it ingrained a different behavior, and that is when I was in sixth grade, I was selling wire bracelets, and the wire to make the bracelets around our neighborhood, and a little kid came to the door, and my stepfather, Marcel, opened the door. He asked if I was there. I came to the door. Marcel stayed there and listened to this conversation. And how old was this kid, six years old, probably, maybe, right.
And so he comes, saying, I want to buy this wire. And so I show him the wire. He's like, how much is it? And I then turn around and say, how much you got? And he shows like, $1.34 and I count it up. I'm like, you're in luck. It's exactly the amount you have. So I knew I was taking advantage of that kid being a kid myself, and that story has lived with me to not take advantage of people. It's wrong. I don't want to get paid for something I didn't do. I want to deliver value and get paid for that?
Cheryl Dillon 25:01
Yeah, I actually had at least two clients I can think of that when they told me, this was during my consulting, days before ETI started, and they told me what they wanted, and at least part, if not all, of the project they explained to me, after they went through quite a bit of detail in two cases I know of. I said, I can do this. I can automate this, but I'm going to tell you right now it doesn't make sense. You'll be able to do it at this point. Computers weren't to where they are now. And I said, it's not going to make sense for me to put the time and effort and the cost it's going to be to you to solve this problem. You can do it manually better. Let me solve other problems around it. And I think they were grateful, because part of the problem for management is when you're running projects and all is to know where to spend your money and where to spend your time.
And I basically was giving him an okay, go ahead and do it manually. It doesn't make sense automate this one, and that kind of goes back to a miracle on 34th Street where the Macy Santa is telling people where to get the things they don't carry at Macy's. That was unheard of in that day and age. Who did that like, oh, well, go to Sears or go to pennies. They have those kind of skates. Yeah. It engendered incredible customer service and good feelings for the company itself. So same.
Richard Walker 26:27
Isn't it ironic, like you tell the truth which is opposite of your own best interest to help the customer. What does the customer respond with, more loyalty to you. Yeah, they trust integrity over everything because it's safe, and if you're safe, they can come work with you more. And that's a really hard thing to do in a company, to recommend your competitor or a different solution altogether. It's hard to say that to a customer, but it's worth it, because if you can't solve their problem, why should you take their money?
Cheryl Dillon 26:54
Yep, exactly. And there's a plenty of unscrupulous people out there that do just the opposite. And we've all heard the stories.
Richard Walker 27:02
Oh, we've all experienced that. So for the entrepreneurs who are listening, maybe curious about our story, when did you feel like we made it? When did you feel like we knew our company was viable? We're going to succeed and we're going to grow and do what we got to do?
Cheryl Dillon 27:18
I think now I can't remember the last name, but I think it was the moment that we opened a real office, and probably within two weeks of this office, because we've been working out of our homes, and we had a real office, and American Funds came to visit us. David Schroeder, and I I felt on the phone when we when we pursued them and tried to get them to let us have their forms, because that was the most important part of our business at that moment, is we needed to build our library. I felt the reluctance that you're a new company. We don't know you. How do we know you're going to stay in business? And David came, and I actually think he fell in love with us, sorry, David, if you didn't, but.
Richard Walker 28:04
He and I became good friends. Yeah.
Cheryl Dillon 28:06
I felt the whole attitude. It was never negative or they wouldn't have come in the first place, but it was very hesitant. Then I felt a complete change, and at that moment, when, when we had American Funds, basically partnering with us. I felt okay that now we're on the road. Now we're definitely well down the road.
Richard Walker 28:26
And it's so funny because if anybody could see that office, first of all, it was in a multi-use building with Public Storage roll-up doors on the interior, some offices on the exterior, across from a power plant. That was our view, looking at a power plant and no air conditioning or heat in the back room, this little, tiny office. We were proud of it, because, hey, we were in business. We had an office. But my gosh, it was so modest. I mean, compared to American Funds offices with their gorgeous settings, oh my gosh, right.
Cheryl Dillon 29:02
Yeah, I think really, I feel like I feel indebted to American Funds for taking a chance on us, because that was a big chance. I'm kind of stunned when I look back on it, that they believed in us at all.
Richard Walker 29:17
And for the listeners out there, American Funds has never paid us money. So when we talk about them taking a chance on us, it was just so we can have their library of forms to serve our clients. It wasn't about them paying us any money. There was no transaction other than an agreement to give us the forms. But it was so paramount to the success of our business, I totally agree with you, mom. I think another highlight for us was when we won Mass Mutual as our first Enterprise Client, and Fidelity as another Enterprise Client. We actually framed a copy of the check from Fidelity. We're like, we have totally made it. We're working with them now.
Cheryl Dillon 29:52
Yeah, I remember going back to visit Fidelity with you and their IT team. Often we encountered with our initial customers, being an unknown in the market, and then being young, at least you were, I was older, but of course, we were young as a company, but we go into this meeting, and I don't know, I think there were like six or eight Fidelity people, and most of them were IT, and the head of IT was almost antagonistic, and they were throwing questions at you about getting into a more web based system, and you were handling them perfectly. And I saw them. It was like, puppy dogs. It's like they started melting right in front of us. They pretty soon they're eating out of your hand. They're like, asking you questions about how to do things within their business, and everything changed because we did that personal visit. They became fans, and I think part of it was that IT felt threatened that they could lose their job, or get displaced because we're automating something. And I think they relax on that and then realize that was not at all what we were going to be doing. We were going to actually help the company in a different way.
Richard Walker 31:07
Yeah, I'm really grateful that before I started this company, I had three years at Arthur Andersen in business consulting, because I got to work with companies of that size, with CTOs and CIOs of Fortune 500 I learned how to have a conversation with them. I learned their expectations, and I learned how to be comfortable in those board room-type meetings with people. So I feel like that was such an amazing part of my journey to get here. We're going to run out of time, and I still have a couple questions for you. So one of my questions is, are you playing with artificial intelligence like chatGPT.
Cheryl Dillon 31:41
Yes, well, not as much as some people I know, being you, but if I ever have any questions, I ask chatGPT before I do Google or other things, and I've gotten some amazing results from it. I love asking chatGPT to do drawings and things for me illustrating ideas I have. It's on my bucket list to really get more involved in it. But yeah, I think it's the future for sure.
Richard Walker 32:11
Yeah, it makes me wonder if you wish your career had been 20 years delayed so that your consulting was based with AI tools instead of Excel and VBA and all the other ones that you were working in Microsoft, which was awesome back then. But, I mean, oh my gosh, what we could do with AI today is unreal.
Cheryl Dillon 32:28
It's unreal. Yeah, and I do feel a little that way, only I take it to a different side. If anybody asks me, people that know me, that know I had a successful career, and business asked me, well, how can I get into that? I tell them, now, don't get into that. Get into AI. Just start learning AI, almost any faction of it, and you're going to have customers, because everybody is going to be wanting that expertise.
Richard Walker 32:57
Yeah, we could talk all day about AI. I'm making it do my work every day. I love it so but here's my last question. Are you ready for it? I'm ready for it. Alright, who has had the biggest impact on how you have found fulfillment in your life?
Cheryl Dillon 33:14
That question is pretty easy for me, my kids, my three kids and for those of you that don't know, I have another son and a daughter, and it's amazing how we are all close. My three kids are about as different from each other as three kids can be and still be in the same family, but all of them are responsible, self-sufficient individuals, and they all have some a different expertise level, and things I've learned from and I have learned from every one of my kids, it's the best learning environment ever. But sometimes, if I ever, if I ever feel overwhelmed or anxious or down, I don't have to go very far to be brightened up by thinking about my kids and my grandkids. So that's probably the most important factor in my life that keeps me going daily.
Richard Walker 34:07
Well, I'm certainly grateful for it, because we don't have time to tell the stories of the hardships we went through and you carried us through with three little kids as a single mom and welfare and all the things that happened. But I'm also super grateful for the impact you have on my kids’ lives? My three boys, love you, adore you. Ask to go to grandma's house pretty much every day. Which mate is that your trick? Try to take my kids? No. So okay, I have to wrap this up. This has just been so much fun to talk to my mom on my own podcast, and I'm so grateful you're here. So I want to give a big thank you to Cheryl Dillon, co-founder of Quik! our company, for being on this episode of The Customer Wins. Go check out our website at quikforms.com where we make processing forms easy. I hope you enjoyed this discussion, will click the Like button. Share this with someone and subscribe to our channels for future episodes of The Customer Wins. Mom, thank you so much for joining me today.
Cheryl Dillon 35:02
Yeah, it was just fun.
Outro 35:05
Thanks for listening to The Customer Wins podcast. We'll see you again next time, and be sure to click Subscribe to get future episodes.
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