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Bill: I am talking to Donato Diorio who is the founder and CEO of BroadLookTM. And BroadLook is one of those breakthrough companies. You might call it a list generator. You might call it a business research tool. You might call it a client research tool. But all in all, it’s a business that’s designed to increase the effectiveness of sales people and recruiters. And Donato, I’d like to thank you for taking a few minutes to talk to us a little bit about BroadLook. Donato: Thank you, Bill. Great to be here. Bill: I wonder if we could take a second and have you give us an overview of BroadLook - the service it provides, the market it serves, the focus of the company. [Editor’s note: BroadLook is not a service, it’s a program which runs on the user’s PC without monthly charges.] Donato: OK. Well, BroadLook is, how we see it as, a ‘value add’ for any applicant tracking or contact management system. It acts as a bridge between all the data that you see out on the Internet, that you’d love to have in your ATS [Editor’s note: Applicant Tracking System], but you don’t have a means to get it in there. So, we’ve developed a system that enables you to get all that data into your system and then work with it – be able to target the companies and bring the data into that ATS/CRM [Editors Note: Customer Relationship Manager]. Bill: Well, simplistically, give me an example. If I were looking for information on a company, how would I use the BroadLook program? Donato: Well, there are two ways that you could do it. If you are looking at a specific company, BroadLook has a simple, one button, ‘Go’ – that would go out and pull the information which would include: names, titles, emails, phone numbers, press releases. So anything you need as a recruiter, specifically, (because we did design this for recruiters), to have that single point of entry, in order to get into a company, either for networking to recruit someone, or in order to promote your services to get a job order. Bill: OK, and it’s something that I don’t have to learn the Boolean constraints of something? I can simply, point and click, and press a button? Donato: Well, you don’t have to have the knowledge of using Boolean – it does help in some of our advanced parts of our engine, but no, it is actually as simple as typing in a company name and URL, and pressing ‘Go’. Bill: OK. Donato, what is your background, and how did BroadLook come into being? And what is the focus of the company and the positioning as you see it? Donato: I started out as a software engineer. I did that for about 15 years. And when I was out in California, I was recruited when I went into a recruiter’s office – never thought about being a recruiter, but, became a recruiter. I liked it a lot. I liked the networking with people. I was with Management Recruiters for about 3 years. I ended up moving from the Silicon Valley and Fresno, CA, back to Wisconsin with my wife. And I ended up founding my own search firm here. Did very well. And created BroadLook because we saw the need for doing a higher level of research before making a call. Before ever picking up the phone, I wanted to be informed on who my client was (or potential client). So, BroadLook grew as internal application. And eventually, it was seen by some people who said, “Wow, Donato you’ve got to make this into a product.” And, we ended up doing that. Bill: If you look at the product itself, if you look at the customer you’re aiming at, if you look at corporate customers, you look at the recruitment market place, look at sales, perhaps even candidates might even use something like this in their job search, how do you see the strategy of the company on those market places? Donato: Well, our heavy push is on the recruiter market. That’s where my background has been. That’s where I guess you could say the easiest explanation of what your ROI is with those clients. But it’s really broken into sales in general. Any sales rep really can use broadlook. We’re not trying to pigeon hole it into a specific, ‘just for recruiting” - or any type of sales, but really … ‘Broad’ … you know, it can be used by any sales rep on their desktop. Bill: OK, as the market is going through it’s own convolution, and it’s sometimes like watching a roller coaster ride, how do you see BroadLook playing in the market today and also, the market that seems to be evolving. And, Donato, what do you see that market that’s evolving looking like? Donato: Well, I guess what I’ve seen is that, the market is definitely picking up right now. I think people see that across the board. I probably talk to over a hundred sales reps and recruiters a day, and I think BroadLook will basically become what our clients ask for. That’s what has effected, I guess, the Darwinism of the product so far. When we first launched the system, a client comes and said, “Hey, Donato, we could really use this [feature].” We have a design meeting, we talk to existing clients, and if it makes sense, and it makes sense for everybody, we put it in the product. So, in terms of positioning, I think that in any market, if you have a compelling reason to buy a product, at a decent price that’s fair, and you bring value to the market, your product can’t fail. Bill: OK. I know you approached the CRM solutions. The Sales Logic, and UpShot, and those kinds of products. How about the recruitment side? Do you work with any recruitment management systems, or any of the applicant tracking systems? Donato: Absolutely. I think that is our number one strategy. We have a lot of partners out there – we export right now to PC Recruiter, to Resumate, to several others that are popular packages out there. By not positioning ourselves as an applicant tracking system, I feel that we are gaining a lot of co-operation with all the applicant tracking vendors. Oh, by the way, BullHorn, too, we just added recently. So, we are a ‘value add’ to any one of those systems. We take a neutral approach. We get the data to those systems and let the people use those systems that they’re comfortable with. We’re not trying to make them learn a new applicant tracking or contact management system. So we’re getting the data to as many of these systems as possible. Bill: And if I were using a contact manager like Act, or Goldmine, or Outlook, could I also use BroadLook? Donato: Absolutely. BroadLook exports to Act, Goldmine, and Outlook. Bill: And, one of the last questions I have is, “If I’m recruiter looking at and evaluating products like BroadLook, and I look at the market place – there’s some competitors out there, and why would I select BroadLook over product X, Y, or Z? Donato: Well, I’d say our number one compelling reason is, the system itself. Bottom line, no product right now can do what BroadLook does. The core of our technology, the core of what we filed our patents about, is our ability to generate lists. Let me give you an example: Let’s say you’re a recruiter, and you have a new search assignment. You’re looking for a company that makes heart valves. With today’s technology, aside from BroadLook, you’re kind of stuck with SIC codes, and really old, dinosaur ways of going and finding this information - other than going out by hand, and doing the research. With our system, we use what we call the science of self description: the ability to go into a web site and via linguistics, determine what a company does, based on their own self description. And we’re sort of betting the farm on this one concept: that nothing is more accurate than how a company describes itself. So if you go to a web site, and it says, “Hey, we make heart valves.” That’s a good indicator that they make heart valves. So, going beyond SIC codes, beyond that, we can build a list to get a recruiter up to speed on any new search assignment immediately – and give them that contact list as well, of who are the people in the company, what’s going on in the company, press releases, as well as something we just added into the system, which is “Trigger Events”. Bill: What’s a trigger event? Donato: A trigger event, simply put, is anything that would equate to a buying sign, for a recruiter or sales rep. For example, expansion of your location, financial changes like receiving venture capital, or stock changes, strategic relationships the company has, staffing changes or layoffs, a new product or service or press release – and these are built into BroadLook, they come with the product. You can also, self configure anything that’s important to whatever it is that you do. And that’s a theme, a continuum through BroadLook, that we’re not an ASP system, we’re a desktop application. We always give you the ability to target a company, and the industry that you want, instead of relying on an ASP – where you’re in the situation, “Well, I hope they have what I’m looking for today.” BroadLook gives you that ability to go in and target just what you’re looking for. Bill: Donato, if somebody was interested getting more information about BroadLook, how would they contact you, or how would they find out more information on the company? Donato:
Well, broadlook.com is our main website. On that, there is a great flash intro, which does a much better job than I do, explaining on the fly, the system. It’s narrated, flash demos. There are several ninety second demos that really step through the entire system. As well as you can give us a call. That number is 262-754-8080. Bill: Alright. Great. I want to thank you for your time. I think your product is innovative and interesting. And right on the cusp of what technology is doing to help recruiters make more placements. And I want to say, thank you for it, I appreciate it. Donato:
Thank you, Bill. About BroadLook Technologies BroadLook Technologies is a privately held company headquartered in Milwaukee , WI . BroadLook's flagship product, the BroadLook Suite, is a powerful integrated application for harnessing the internet as a real-time data source for sales intelligence. The BroadLook Suite currently interfaces with over 50 CRM's, applicant tracking systems and contact managers. BroadLook Technologies, Inc. can be reached at 262-754-8080.
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