thecovertcode, Author at The Covert Code

Episode 5 – Featured Guest Jeff Szur

By thecovertcode|2025-12-17T22:14:12+00:00March 29th, 2024|Podcasts|

Meet Jeff Szur

Jeff Szur, Chief Operations Officer, Altitude Water (https://altdwater.com/), a leading manufacturer and installer of several types of Atmospheric Water Generators (AWGs), from residential and light commercial machines to heavy-duty military-grade machines that produce water anytime, anywhere. With decades of experience, Szur’s vast knowledge and skill in creating pure water have earned him widespread respect. Szur’s expertise is recognized by the Weather Channel, the Red Cross, Environmental Directions with Nancy Pearlman, the US Marines, Camp Le Jeune, World Vision, Noah’s Arc, Kahului, Hawaii Mission, FootprintProject.org, Oahu, Hawaii; Maka Project, Cameroon-Jean-Felicien, Gacha Foundation, Ecuador, Universidad de Catolica Guayaquil, and the first Solar/Water Disaster Relief partnered with New Use Energy Solutions (NUE), a Phoenix-based manufacturer of mobile solar solutions.

Other successful clean water projects include The Water Awareness Project, Hurricane Idalia, Florida, outside Tampa; the Disaster Relief Trailer at Pu’uhonua o Nene Shelter in Kahului; Water Distribution in Our Community for the last 5 years during hurricane preparedness, Orlando Magic Advent Health Center; Solar Water Trailers in New Orleans; water for athletes at Sports Academy in Port St. Lucie; and Amy Grant Farm, Franklin, Tennessee. He has been a speaker and panel member for numerous water trade shows over the last 14 years, in addition to donating his time to various academic programs in schools throughout the United States. One robotics club won the most innovative award through Jeff’s tutelage.

Additional information:

https://altdwater.com/

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Episode 4 – Featured Guest Scott Aronson

By thecovertcode|2025-12-17T22:09:22+00:00March 22nd, 2024|Podcasts, In-Person, SolarCoaster|

Meet Scott Aronson

CEO at SunRev, an Elite SunPower Dealer

Scott Aronson is a distinguished business leader known for engineering a historic turnaround at the Better Business Bureau (BBB). He led a BBB region from near insolvency to achieving the #1 position in percentage revenue growth across the entire system in the U.S. and Canada for FY/09 and FY/10. Under his leadership, the region achieved fiscal vitality and increased market penetration by 29%, even against severe recessionary forces.

Scott maintained double-digit growth for three consecutive years through a multi-pronged approach. He successfully tripled new sales revenue, nearly doubled total revenue, and quadrupled net income, establishing a new performance paradigm for the organization.

As the director of the BBB region, Scott led it to become the National Sales Leader (#1) in its category, previously ranked #8 out of 10. The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) recognized his outstanding performance at the U.S. annual convention for FY/09 and FY/10.

Scott’s innovative mindset led to the development of eight value-added programs and new revenue streams, leveraging core users by upselling and cross-selling. Notable initiatives include a SaaS/Google SEM/PPC campaign co-branded with BBB, which contributed 40% to new revenue creation, and a Fee-Audit Program that significantly increased pricing.

In just one year, Scott boosted retention income by 20% within highly recession-prone home services verticals by designing and implementing a multi-tiered Customer Service Awards Program. His efforts in these areas not only increased revenue but also enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Scott was selected to serve on BBB’s Western Regional Innovation and Marketing Committee, reflecting his commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. He was also the youngest ever recipient of the CBBB Certificate of Commendation in FY/96, ranking as the 2nd highest national salesperson out of 1,100+ sales executives in both gross dollars and number of sales.

Outstanding leadership, creative thinking, and a dedication to achieving exceptional results have all distinguished Scott Aronson’s career. His work has not only transformed organizations but also set new standards for performance and growth.

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Episode 3 – Featured Guest Brian Kelly

By thecovertcode|2025-12-17T22:05:23+00:00March 15th, 2024|Podcasts, In-Person, SolarCoaster|

Meet Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly is the president of Sea Bright Solar, a leading company specializing in comprehensive solar solutions for both residential and commercial customers. With a strong commitment to sustainability and innovation, Brian has guided Sea Bright Solar to the forefront of the solar industry.

Under Brian’s leadership, Sea Bright Solar excels at seamlessly integrating design, sales, and installation teams to provide top-tier solar services. Brian’s expertise guarantees precise execution of every project, from the initial consultation to the final installation. Brian’s strategic vision focuses on delivering high-quality solar solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of each customer.

Brian also emphasizes the importance of accessible and flexible solar financing options. By offering complete solar financing and installation services, he ensures that Sea Bright Solar’s clients can transition to renewable energy with ease and confidence. This comprehensive approach has enabled the company to build a strong reputation for reliability and customer satisfaction.

With a passion for renewable energy and a dedication to excellence, Brian Kelly continues to lead Sea Bright Solar in making a significant impact in the solar industry, helping both homeowners and businesses harness the power of the sun.

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Episode 2 – Featured Guest Ellsworth Corum III

By thecovertcode|2025-12-17T21:57:39+00:00March 8th, 2024|Podcasts, In-Person, SolarCoaster|

Meet Ellsworth Corum III

Due to his passion for reducing the negative effects of climate change, Ellsworth Corum III is a devoted supporter of expanding the use of solar and renewable energy. Recognizing the urgency of the environmental crisis, Ellsworth believes that there is no alternative to preserving our planet. His professional endeavors, where he actively works towards sustainable solutions that contribute to a greener future, reflect his commitment to renewable energy. Ellsworth Corum III is making significant strides in the renewable energy sector with a clear vision and unwavering dedication.

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Anna Covert Releases Digital Marketing Book & Podcast

By thecovertcode|2024-12-13T19:34:58+00:00March 4th, 2024|Press Releases|

Unlocking the secrets of digital marketing and explaining strategies that deliver success.

I am passionate about helping business owners navigate the world of digital marketing. Too often, they have been ‘sold’ digital solutions that don’t work or are not able to be verified. That ends now!”

— Anna Covert, Author, Podcaster, and Principal of Covert Communication

Anna Covert, the founder of Covert Communication, the largest digital marketing firm in Hawaii, has added to her accomplishments with the addition of a book, weekly blogs, and a podcast. Over the last two decades, the industry has acknowledged Anna as a leading expert in digital advertising, renowned for her unwavering commitment to business ethics. A powerhouse, Covert has worked with hundreds of companies worldwide in a wide range of industries. In alignment with her deep knowledge of the digital world, Anna recently completed a book titled The Covert Code – Mastering the Art of Digital Marketing. On June 18, 2024, Forbes Books will release it for retail sale after being available for presale on major online book retailers.

To support the message of the book and to help readers get the most current ideas about digital marketing, Forbes will publish a monthly blog from Anna on digital-related subjects like: Are We Approaching the End of the Data Age? and FOMO and AI: Do You Have Fear of Missing Out? And more.

Extending the message of the book even further, Anna is also producing a podcast, also called The Covert Code, where she features case studies, best practices, and more for businesses of all types and especially for solar companies (a specialty of Anna and Covert Communication). The podcasts feature clients and high-level marketers and are energetic and entertaining while also being learning experiences.

“I have become passionate about helping business owners navigate the world of digital marketing,” stated Anna Covert, Author, Podcaster, and Principal of Covert Communication. “Too often, they have been ‘sold’ digital solutions that don’t work or are not able to be verified. I hope that ends now!”

Find out more about Anna, the book, the podcasts, and speaking engagements at: annacovert.com

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Episode 1 – Featured Guest Paul Sullivan

By thecovertcode|2025-12-17T19:47:27+00:00February 27th, 2024|Podcasts, In-Person, SolarCoaster|

Meet Paul Sullivan

No one knows SunPower like Paul Sullivan. Over his 15-year career in the solar industry, Paul has helped hundreds of SunPower dealers increase sales and expand operations nationwide. From overseeing the award-winning SunPower Master Dealer program to solar consulting through his company, Wogg, Paul knows how to find sales potential and expand opportunities. Paul joins SunPower by esaSolar, the first Florida Master Dealer, with the mission to take their success coast-to-coast utilizing the SunPower installer network.

Paul’s education includes the prestigious University of San Francisco School of Management’s Advanced Sales & Sales Management and the Leadership Academy. He takes great pride, and his experience is evident when building and developing professional cultures and training teams of varying sizes. Paul exudes an inner calmness and patient ability to help break through the challenge of leaning into the responsibility of what it means to be a leader. If you need some stress relief, he can help you break a board or two!

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Are We Approaching the End of the Data Age?

By thecovertcode|2024-12-01T03:27:54+00:00February 9th, 2024|Forbes Articles|

Anna Covert – Forbes Books Author

Forbes Books – AUTHOR POST

Published Feb 9, 2024

In marketing, data is an incredibly valuable currency. First-party data, or data that your business has collected, can provide you with information such as the IP address of a user who visits your website or details about a customer who has bought your product or requested a quote for a service.

Third-party data, which is essentially another company’s first-party data (collected from survives, subscriptions, public records, etc.), is also valuable. The key difference between the two is that, with third-party data, the customer who opts in or agrees to take a survey or completes a form never agreed to be contacted by your company, at least not explicitly.

New FCC Rules

The FCC recently announced changes that will impact your access to that third-party data (or aged data, as it’s known in advertising). The new rules require “one-to-one” written consent on lead generation.

What this means varies by industry, but the essential outcome is that a company collecting data is not allowed to resell it for the purpose of marketing. The only person who can reach out to the customer is the one they initially requested contact from.

When this ruling was first announced, it was overwhelming to get calls from panicking clients and vendors. They all wanted to know what the FCC changes meant and, most importantly, how they would impact leads.

Is this Overregulation?

Scott Aronson, former vice president of the BBB and current owner of SunRev, made a comment that really stuck with me: “This is what happens when industries don’t self-regulate. They become over-regulated.”

You can see the evidence that this is true with the steady increase in phishing texts and requests to sell your home. The industry has gotten wildly out of step with the intended purpose of acquiring customer data. That data is supposed to tell us more about our customers’ behavior so we can provide better solutions, not launch a digital door-knocking assault.

But maybe we need to acknowledge that it does work for many industries. If customers are finding solutions to problems, then is it all bad?

The answer isn’t clear-cut. It depends on how we use the data and how invasive it is.

A Better Way to Use Data

So, is there a better way to use that same data? Can we acquire new customers in a non-intrusive way?

In digital marketing, the use of AI and programmatic advertising channels allows companies access to third-party data streams and then provides methods to target those users in their daily journey online through digital radio, CTV, pre-roll video, in-game, native ads, and traditional display.

This allows a company to build a compelling media mix and deliver the ad to someone who is highly likely to be interested in your product or solution. Instead of being forced to pay attention, they have the opportunity to click, watch, listen, and then decide whether to take action to join your first-party data on their timeline.

It’s easy to see the cost-benefit. Aged data can range from $0.10 to $5 per record. Even in the best situations, a 1% conversion rate is favorable.

When you layer in customer service call centers using airtime, purchasing dialers and new phone numbers to get around customer blocking, and the cost for email campaigns and text messaging, all of this outreach quickly adds up. Not to mention the negative brand impact when customers (or potential customers) feel you are hassling them.

Rewards Far Outweigh the Risks

This approach feels different because it is different. Your output is about the same regarding funds and effort to acquire new customers, but the rewards are far greater because you’re creating the opportunity for the right customer experience. You are now in control of the messaging and are generating valuable data to help you convert website traffic at a higher rate.

It’s true that not every dollar spent will directly translate into desired leads, but your investment will deliver information—valuable information. Which third-party data was superior? What was the click-through rate by media source? Of all the traffic you generated, how much stayed and for how long?

This is valuable data, worth far more than a STOP text. It means that aged data isn’t dead. It just needs a facelift.

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FOMO And AI: Do You Have Fear Of Missing Out?

By thecovertcode|2024-12-01T03:28:34+00:00January 15th, 2024|Forbes Articles|

Anna Covert – Forbes Books Author

Forbes Books – AUTHOR POST

Published Jan 15th, 2025

“What do I need to know about AI?”

This may be the question that clients most often ask me.

I understand their concern. Technology makes us smaller. Business owners are desperate for ways to connect with their customers to stay relevant. I think the rapid adoption of this new tool stems from AI FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Where (and how) does staying at the cutting edge of technology ensure success?

Our ability to customize and elevate customer relationships has changed significantly in the past few decades. What started as cellular transformed into “dot com,” and with it came social networks that decentralized media authority, allowing anyone with a Wi-Fi connection to have a voice and engage with companies in a two-way dialogue.

What We Already Know

We’ve seen how our customers engage with content that matters to them and curate screen time experiences using search engines to help them scratch their latest itch.

This gives businesses the ability to think strategically, identify how best to reduce media advertising waste and reach their target audience at the moment of intent (i.e. when someone is searching for your service and finds you from a paid ad).

We want to capture as much customer information as possible and engage meaningfully with that data. But with all this data we have amassed, how much is actionable by a business owner?

When it comes to data, your past can become your present and future. All those posts you liked, articles you read, or apps you downloaded now live in some data warehouse and paint a digital profile of you. That means you might be on a list that says you are interested in horses or a cruise in Tahiti, but is that still the case?

AI’s New Challenges

Regarding AI, the concept of data integrity and the evolution of a customer’s journey are critical to understand. AI works by feeding it information and using data to guide the artificial intelligence to think and act on your behalf to achieve a satisfactory end result.

But customer wants and needs aren’t static. Will the AI you train today be able to resonate with the customers of tomorrow?

I don’t think so. Too many things contribute to our customers’ journey online, from the media sources they trust to the content they engage with to socio-cultural shifts.

In my book, The Covert Code, I explain the importance of maintaining control of the areas you can control. This means not taking shortcuts like “setting and forgetting” online bid strategies or generating core website content using ChatGPT. It also means that business owners must have a clear vision and foster a corporate culture that places trust in people first and data second.

The Limits of AI

While AI can be used to help businesses streamline processes and reduce redundancies, it can also limit your ability to scale and negatively impact your ROI if not carefully monitored and controlled. I encourage my clients to consider this question: Are your business choices today sustainable with so many AI unknowns?

What might seem like a cost-saving strategy might quickly become a bottleneck and result in you knowing even less about your customer’s journey, missing new trends, or locking you into technology decisions that will increase your long-term cost-per-lead, cost-per-demo, and cost-per-sale.

There are opportunities to leverage AI as a tool to support your team by doing “things” that they can’t or won’t do. One example is called listening and monitoring. Are you reviewing calls or spot-checking them based on the caller’s source, such as Google Ads? If not, implementing AI and training it to conduct call-listening and tag potential issues would be low-risk and high-reward.

AI Has Its Proper Place

If your business is Santa’s workshop, AI solutions should be the elves assembling the toys, wrapping them tight, and mailing them out to all the little boys and girls. They shouldn’t create a wish list or identify what the workshop will manufacture that year.

So, if you’re experiencing AI FOMO, take a breath. Look to your business first, figuring out what’s needed to expand your reach and ease your workload. There’s nothing artificial about that kind of intelligence.

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Panasonic Chose Covert Communication to Develop Their Solar Calculator

By thecovertcode|2024-12-01T03:29:06+00:00October 10th, 2023|Press Releases|

After Covert Communication developed a very successful Solar Wizard calculator plugin, Panasonic, one of the largest and most respected technology companies in the world, approached the agency to give them a proprietary version for their solar dealers. This customizable solar calculator estimates for Residential (with and without battery storage) and Commercial installations.

Now, potential customers of Panasonic dealers can easily get the answers they need to go solar with lots of options. It shows potential customers the costs of going solar and, more importantly, how much they’ll save over the years. They get information to determine if solar makes sense for them. Dealers will see the conversions; using the calculator in privacy means prospective customers don’t have to face a salesperson until they are ready. Never fear; dealers don’t lose the lead—the data is saved as they proceed through the calculator, allowing salespeople to communicate with them later.

“We are thrilled about the success of the Panasonic plugin,” stated Anna Covert, Principal of Covert Communication. “It adds to our ability to help solar dealers, literally worldwide, convert more leads to sales.”

The Panasonic calculator is completely customizable for a designated sales area. It reveals the range of costs, including all of the available incentives, revealing the affordability and savings a solar system will yield.

The plugin is easy to install and ready to go to work, helping to convert more leads!

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Covert Communication Solves Connectivity Problems with MANA

By thecovertcode|2024-12-01T03:29:26+00:00October 2nd, 2023|Press Releases|

In Hawaiian, MANA means power. The mission of Covert Communication was simple: to develop a way to connect application programming interfaces through custom code without the use of Zapier or third-party services.

In working with clients like solar companies and others who required tools to manage leads, customer interaction, sales, and follow-up, they developed the path to a simpler system. The best technology solutions allow companies to scale without taking shortcuts in custom fields or workflows that are key to their success.

“Break free of plans and subscriptions, with MANA clients gain a fairly priced solution to connectivity problems,” stated Anna Covert, Principal of Covert Communication and MANA. “Once implemented, clients can enjoy API connectivity now and long into the future.”

Coupled with an easy-to-navigate, informative website and trained staff, MANA keeps clients’ businesses on track to accomplish sales goals as well as retention! Learn more at MANA.com.

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About thecovertcode

New FCC Rules

Is this Overregulation?

A Better Way to Use Data

Rewards Far Outweigh the Risks

“What do I need to know about AI?”

What We Already Know

AI’s New Challenges

The Limits of AI

AI Has Its Proper Place