Inuvo, Inc. (AMEX:INUV) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Richard Howe: Yes. So I think no. We don’t like talking about our clients at all. In fact, in many cases, we don’t have the right to. So my answer to this is, yes.

Unidentified Analyst: All right. I’ll hop back in the queue.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Your next question will be from Jack Vander Aarde at Maxim Group. Please go ahead.

Jack Vander Aarde: Okay. Great. Congrats on the strong results, Rich. Thanks for taking my question. Can you talk about the 10 new clients and the two returning clients in a little more detail, maybe particularly — how large are the two returning client campaigns just relative? And are they increasing in scale? Are they similar to what they produced last quarter? Just any color around the two returning clients first would be helpful.

Richard Howe : Yes, the two returning ones, they go out more than like a quarter, so it’s quite some time ago. I don’t remember the exact amount of time when they weren’t clients anymore, but it’s at least more than a year, maybe even two. So the answer to that one is, they’re still small, but that’s how everybody starts, Jack, right? Everybody we bring on for the most part, starts small campaigns, which then get added to as the performance is realized. So that’s true universally. The new campaigns and the new clients for the most part, they’re — the programmatic component of what we do is where they are not the open web connected television, display advertising, online video and display, they’re kind of what they’re doing. And they’re good sizes, and they’re good games that could be big accounts. They don’t start off a big account.

Jack Vander Aarde: Got it. No, that’s helpful. And actually that’s probably a positive size since there were clients over a year ago or so, and they came back, I must be doing something right. So that’s good to hear. How many of the 10 new clients are going to — are expected to turn on in the third quarter? And then it sounds like that’s kind of the driver of giving you confidence for year-over-year growth what’s the likelihood of these 10 new clients turning on in the third quarter and then also potential of them returning and increasing in scale in the near future?

Richard Howe : I don’t know for sure, Jack, but I think they’re all on now. So the answer is, I guess, near 100% without me knowing exactly it’s 100%, right, that they’ll be on in the third quarter.

Jack Vander Aarde: Fantastic. Okay. Great. And then, Richard, it sounds like you’ve really ramped up your sales and marketing hiring. Just based on your expectations, I’m curious, how long does it typically take from your perspective for your sales associates to achieve optimal productivity levels? Is it like six months a year it takes a year, I think, but I’d be curious to hear your thoughts?

Richard Howe : The first three months are training and learning and of course, given we — the approach that we take to be able to find audience is different, Jack than what everybody has been trained for the last 30 years, even when they went through school. So there’s an educational component, a learning component, getting comfortable with the materials. And so it’s usually zero to three months, they don’t typically close any deals unless, they’ve got a friend somewhere that they’ve known for a long time and they’ve managed to get us a deal in the first three months of their tenure as a sales executive. But then they start becoming productive in the three to six-month period. And if they’re not productive in this, let’s call it, a six to nine-month period, then we start wondering whether or not they’re going to ever going to be productive would be probably the cadence that we look at.