Q&A with Mike Nash, Owner of Tall Emu
Q&A with Mike Nash, Owner of Tall Emu CRM
20th November 2024
In this article Mike Nash, owner of Tall Emu CRM, chats about how Tall Emu is making life easier for small and medium businesses. Mike talks about how the company’s evolved over the years, why keeping things simple is key, and how they’re helping businesses save time and stay on top of things without the usual complexity. If you’re wondering how CRM can be practical and actually helpful—without the headaches—Mike’s got some great insights to share.
Q: What was the “aha moment” that led you to create Tall Emu CRM?
A: To be honest, it wasn’t so much an “aha” moment as it was a “this just isn’t working” realisation. Back in the day, we were spending way too much time adding custom extensions to third-party CRMs, trying to make them fit the needs of a variety of small local businesses. But no matter how much we tweaked, those systems were not exactly perfect, and still too expensive, complex, and didn’t get what Aussie and Kiwi businesses needed. Eventually, we thought, “Why don’t we just build our own?” And that’s how Tall Emu was born—something simple, affordable, and designed for small to medium businesses to hit the ground running. We started off with a desktop CRM, which has now evolved into the cloud CRM we have today.
Q: How does your experience as a business owner shape Tall Emu’s features?
A: As a business owner, you quickly learn that time is money, and every feature needs to justify its place. When we’re developing Tall Emu, the guiding question is always, “Does this solve a real business problem, make a process easier, or let someone do something they couldn’t before?” If it doesn’t save time or make life simpler, it doesn’t belong. Our focus is on creating a system that’s simple, easy to use, and truly efficient—so busy business owners can spend less time on admin and more time growing their businesses.
Q: What’s one feature every small manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor should be using?
A: A customer portal—and it’s often overlooked because people assume it’s complicated or only for big e-commerce businesses. But with Tall Emu CRM, our free branded portal is super easy to use and incredibly practical.
If you’re drowning in stock inquiries, price checks, or invoice requests, the portal lets your customers log in and access everything themselves—pricing, orders, tickets, quotes, invoices, you name it. Even without a website, you can sell online, show stock availability, and share customer-specific pricing.
It cuts down on emails and calls, saves you time, and gives your customers the tools to help themselves. Simple, efficient, and a no-brainer once you see how much admin it takes off your plate.
Customer Portal is available to all customers as part of their subscription fee
Q: If Tall Emu were a person, what would they be like?
A: Tall Emu would be that perfect neighbour—the one who’d feed your dog while you’re away, lend you their ladder, and never annoy you with a leaf blower at 7am on a Saturday. They’re practical, easy-going, and always there to lend a hand, whether it’s advice or just a laugh over a beer. Reliable and down-to-earth, you’re super glad you decided to buy the house next door to them because they just make life “better” for you and your family.
Q: Have you seen customers using Tall Emu in unexpected ways?
A: Most of our customers use Tall Emu CRM exactly how it’s intended—managing customer relationships, tracking sales, managing their stock…. Nothing too out of the ordinary. But every now and then, we encounter situations where customers aren’t quite on track. For example, we once had a business manually re-keying data from Tall Emu to MYOB because they weren’t aware of how the sync worked. It gave us the chance to offer extra training and show them how to work smarter, not harder. We’ve made a lot of improvements to our onboarding and support, so now we’re always looking for ways to ensure customers get the most out of the system, even when they’re doing something a bit unexpected.
Q: What common misconceptions do small businesses have about CRMs?
A: A lot of people still think CRMs are just for big businesses with huge budgets, or they worry their team won’t want to use it. In the past, CRMs used to feel like an add-on to the process— “Here’s something to type data into so I can track you.” More work, not loved by staff. But Tall Emu changes that. It becomes part of the business process itself, so the team actually gets something out of it. It’s not just for sales; it runs the whole business and handles the stuff accounting software doesn’t do. We’ve worked hard to make the onboarding process smooth, so teams start seeing the benefits right away and get excited about a tool that helps everyone stay on track and make life simpler.
Mike Nash onsite with one of Tall Emu’s customers
Q: How do you balance new features with keeping the system simple?
A: It’s like creating a fancy dish that still tastes amazing—you can’t let the “fancy” get in the way of what works. Innovation is great, but it should never cause frustration. Every new feature we add has to feel intuitive and make the process smoother. We always think about the business process first, and many of our new features come directly from conversations with users. If it’s done right, the user won’t think, “Wow, that’s complex,” they’ll just say, “Oh, that’s handy.”
Q: What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve received?
A: A customer once called me late at night and left a voice message. He’d been out drinking with his business partner and left a very colourful, sweary message about how happy he was with CRM, how it had revolutionised his business and helped it grow. It was the best testimonial I’ll ever get that I can never quote and never use
Q: Where do you see Tall Emu in 5 years?
A: My dream is for Tall Emu to be the go-to CRM for small and medium businesses across Australia and New Zealand—a bit of an Aussie icon for business tools. In five years, I’d love for people to say, “Need a CRM? Better call Tall Emu.” We’re all about making big-end-of-town features accessible to small businesses at affordable costs, and that’s something I see growing even more in the future. On the tech side, AI is the next big thing. We’re already looking into ways AI can help streamline and automate processes, all while keeping that personal, human touch. Our goal is to make things easier without losing the connection that matters to our customers. And, of course, we’ll keep growing our team, especially support, because taking care of our customers is at the heart of everything we do.
Q: Who would be the ideal Tall Emu brand ambassador?
A: If we could afford him – Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. He’s Aussie, from Sydney like us, and embodies strength, reliability, and just gets things done. Imagine him talking about how Tall Emu keeps his business organised while he’s out there saving the world, claws and all—perfect fit!