Behzad Sharifi is HackerNoon's Contributor of the Year in Remote Teams & Business Strategy

Hey Hackers! I’m Behzad Sharifi and I’m the Co-Principal for ResponseCRM.

First of all, I’d like to say a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community for recognizing me as the winner of:

• HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - BUSINESS-STRATEGY | Noonies 2021 Tech Awards by Hacker Noon

  
  

• HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - REMOTE-TEAMS | Noonies 2021 Tech Awards by Hacker Noon

HackerNoon Reporter: What does it mean for you to win this title?

I think this is such a great opportunity.

Hackernoon gives a different vibe than the standard online publications. It’s a place where I can feel comfortable giving advice and getting messages across while not having to sound so serious.

How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2022?

The pandemic has shown us how more jobs can be done remotely from home and how convenient it is to shop online. At ResponseCRM, we help to launch online businesses and grow existing ones. We give our customers the technology they need to facilitate growth and profitability with ease. We integrate with some of the most popular apps and are known for our great customer service and low-cost transaction-based model. We’ll continue to deliver powerful integrations to help our customers deliver a fast ROI and enhance the platform to meet evolving business needs.

What are some of the goals you’re looking forward to accomplishing in 2022 (whether it be through company initiatives or your personal journey)?

Personally, like most people, my New Year’s resolution is to work out more often. We’ll see how long that lasts. Our company initiatives will continue to help companies drive business with headless commerce. No, it has nothing to do with no longer streaming music from the classic rock group The Talking Heads. Headless Commerce involves separating the front end of your online store from the back end to easily customize and personalize the customer experience and scale without limits.

As you look at the variety of concerning trends in the world around you, what solutions can you think of? Name three trends and three solutions. Be as brief or as detailed as you like.

1. Working from home. As more people who used to go to the office experience the freedom of working from home, there’s no turning back. Remote work will continue to thrive. The flexibility is great for workers and it cuts down expensive office costs for businesses. However, people will need to understand what it takes to build powerful, connected, virtual teams. Collaboration tools, like Slack, Zoom, and Skype make a real difference. As we move into 3D meetings, it’s going to be super exciting. More people will also take advantage of online learning opportunities that weren’t available years ago.

   
   

2. Ecommerce growth. This all about personalizing the customer experience. That’s where headless commerce, like we offer at ResponseCRM, fits in. Even people who used to prefer shopping in person are discovering the convenience and increased product options available with ecommerce.

   
   

3. Inflation. Have you been to the grocery store lately? The gas pump? Tried to buy a car? As inflation rises people are going to look at ways to save, whether it’s doing more searches online to find the best deals, cutting back on spending, or keeping their cars a few years longer than they planned. At ResponseCRM, we have been focused on value from Day 1. Our ecommerce software is free and there are no monthly charges or set up charges. Our customers only pay for what they use at a low cost per transaction. And when you have online store, you can also white label products and sell on-demand—without having to deal with the overhead of inventory.

After participating in this journey, is there anything that you would like the HackerNoon team to know?

I like the freedom that Hackernoon provides of being able to explore interesting topics. It’s exciting to discover that people actually like to read what I have to say.

What is something special about you or your company that you’ve rarely had the chance to properly share but really wanted to? (Give this one a proper think, I’ll know if you didn’t!)

We’ve been taking advantage of remote working long before COVID. Proper work attire can be a robe and slippers (if you’re not on a video call; that is). Who said you need to wear a suit?

What song or music album are you currently enjoying?

VanHalen is great. I like the old American rock and roll and music that makes sense.

What are some concepts you wish people knew more about?

#1.Keep politics out of the conversation. It’s too divisive. #2. When you have an ecommerce site, and you find yourself struggling, concentrate on what it takes to make sales. Believe in the concept that “Sales cures all.”

Is there anything else you’d like me to know? It can be anything.

If you’re having trouble concentrating or sleeping at night, turn off the TV news and walk away from the news app on your phone. It’s just too distracting. Read Hackernoon instead.

Thank you for everything that you do! – HackerNoon Team.

For more information:

Read about the Noonies here. To see all of the winners you may visit this site, pick any award, and view the name that appears at the top. Or follow this account for posts with the list of names released over the course of the week of February 14, 2022.

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Noonies:

The Noonies Awards are sponsored by: Bybit, Avast, TECH Domains and hosted by: HackerNoon