79. Marketers, Never Forget Your Why!

June 03, 2020 00:32:32
79. Marketers, Never Forget Your Why!
B2B Revenue Acceleration
79. Marketers, Never Forget Your Why!

Jun 03 2020 | 00:32:32

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Show Notes

As marketers, our why should be the foundation of everything we do.

But we all too often lose sight of our why behind promoting our products and services.

In this episode, I interview Rob Hughes, VP and Head of Marketing for EU at Automation Anywhere, about the reasons marketers should hold on to their why more tightly than ever.

What we talked about: Keeping your why at the forefront, using your why to shape messaging for prospects & customers, Vision is more fulfilling than product, Linking your work to societal change will reignite your passion

 

To hear this interview and many more like it, subscribe to The B2B Revenue Acceleration Podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or on our website.

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Episode Transcript

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:08.150 You're listening to be tob revenue acceleration, a podcast dedicated to helping software executives 2 00:00:08.150 --> 00:00:11.949 stay on the cutting edge of sales and marketing in their industry. lets get 3 00:00:11.990 --> 00:00:16.870 into the show. Welcome to be tob revenue acceleration. My name is Dan 4 00:00:17.030 --> 00:00:20.629 See Brook and I'm here today with Rock Hughes, VP and head of marketing 5 00:00:20.910 --> 00:00:26.500 for EU at automation anywhere. Morning, rob how you doing today morning there 6 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:32.340 very well, thanks our first say of official lockdown. Everybody starting to face 7 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:35.729 up to the challenges of this. Now I'm planning on growing a beard and, 8 00:00:37.049 --> 00:00:40.009 as being a it's never been a better time. So you know, 9 00:00:40.289 --> 00:00:45.570 we're trying our this, but first day and everybody's everybody still buoyant at moments. 10 00:00:45.649 --> 00:00:49.289 So really absolutely nothing. We're all in the same boat together. I 11 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:52.920 would say that I would try and grow a beard, but I think I'm 12 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:57.600 going to need longer than three weeks. So so I don't think I'll go 13 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.759 down that route. But hopefully we can know with this podcast provide some some 14 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:07.030 some content ands and some easy listening for people to receive when they're not head 15 00:01:07.109 --> 00:01:10.510 down at work throughout the day. So the topic today, rob is, 16 00:01:11.069 --> 00:01:15.750 is around marketing and markets. Never Forget your why. But before we get 17 00:01:15.829 --> 00:01:19.780 into that conversation, could you please introduce yourself to our audience and give us 18 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:26.819 a feel for your company and automation anywhere? Sure so, I run marketing 19 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:32.140 for Europe for automotion anywhere. I joined the company from an analyst background. 20 00:01:32.180 --> 00:01:36.969 I was in the analyst community for fifteen years and automation anywhere came around, 21 00:01:37.129 --> 00:01:42.010 as all vendors do for all emeralst houses. Everybody Pitches Your Business and tries 22 00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:46.849 to gain some insiders to had a game, pit competitive advantage and understand what 23 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:49.840 the markets doing and where the opportunities might lie. And our PA came along 24 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:55.840 as a sector really and it was. It's one of those technologies that I 25 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.200 couldn't find a business hole in as to why we wouldn't do it or why 26 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.189 company wouldn't start to automate or be forced to automate. You know, the 27 00:02:02.510 --> 00:02:07.750 macro environment is driving us to be much more efficient. I mean this recent 28 00:02:07.830 --> 00:02:12.710 issue with the with the virus and so on. It's just emphasize that even 29 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:15.819 further. But you know, you have to have some kind of straight through 30 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:20.340 processing goals in place. Otherwise we're not going to get to, we're not 31 00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:23.219 going to be able to deliver the services and the products that customers and our 32 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:28.659 partners and our ecosystem is used to delivery with the same amount of people. 33 00:02:28.780 --> 00:02:32.330 So as the the world population begins to peak, we're going to end up 34 00:02:32.449 --> 00:02:37.129 with a lot more old people and a lot fewer young people to do the 35 00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:39.250 work, and so we'll have more people to serve and less people to do 36 00:02:39.330 --> 00:02:43.689 the work. That's one of the macro drivers around it, as well as 37 00:02:44.250 --> 00:02:47.280 companies like Amazon and new digital native organizations coming in and changing the way that 38 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:53.639 businesses are run. So, after fifteen years of listening to lots of business 39 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:57.599 pictures, I work up one morning and said Ourpa is the is going to 40 00:02:57.599 --> 00:02:59.909 be the future, and I've got to the side, whether I talk about 41 00:02:59.990 --> 00:03:02.509 it or whether I get involved with it. And I got involved directly with 42 00:03:02.550 --> 00:03:07.750 automotion anywhere. So automation anywhere is one of the leaders in the marketplace and 43 00:03:07.909 --> 00:03:10.189 at that time it was still one of the leaders in the market place. 44 00:03:10.229 --> 00:03:13.620 It seems years ago, but it was only three and a half years ago 45 00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:17.139 that I joined, and I joined because of the vision of automotion anywhere in 46 00:03:17.219 --> 00:03:23.340 any new technology organization that I think the leadership of the leading companies within those 47 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:29.090 those markets. It is critical to define who's going to be the thought leader 48 00:03:29.129 --> 00:03:31.849 in the space. And I joined automotion anywhere because I believe in the vision 49 00:03:31.849 --> 00:03:36.490 that the company has and I believe in their in the leadership, their experience 50 00:03:36.610 --> 00:03:38.810 and getting us the vision. So that's a little bit about me and a 51 00:03:38.849 --> 00:03:44.000 little bit about the company. Yeah, and I guess marketing in a high 52 00:03:44.039 --> 00:03:47.599 growth sector like ourpa brings a lot of different elements to it. There's a 53 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:53.439 lot of different challenges. There's an element of maybe not creating a category but 54 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:58.270 kind of reinventing your category around automation and and and that sort of message around 55 00:03:58.270 --> 00:04:01.789 intelligent automation. So from marketing spectrum, I'm sure got your hands full. 56 00:04:02.229 --> 00:04:06.750 Now, Robin A, in recent conversation you've been telling us that you are 57 00:04:06.789 --> 00:04:13.020 a strong advocate of the transactional approach marketing and actually that's all about making your 58 00:04:13.180 --> 00:04:17.819 communications, your campaigns, your messaging, ensuring it's a line to your companies 59 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:23.420 overall mission and values. Now, can you elaborate on that further for our 60 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:27.730 audience and tell us what tell us by that and also give us a feel 61 00:04:27.850 --> 00:04:32.170 for why marketers need to really keep their kind of corporate and an individual why 62 00:04:32.290 --> 00:04:36.810 at the forefront of their mind when not sure. And I think, and 63 00:04:38.009 --> 00:04:42.240 you know, the transactional bit that you mentioned there is important, as it's 64 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:46.040 the transactional components that we build out marketing, and by transactional I mean we 65 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:49.480 do an event, we run a whip and are we run some contents, 66 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:56.189 indication we just placed as these are all levers and they're all transactional components to 67 00:04:56.870 --> 00:04:59.829 get us to where we need to get to. But I see, I 68 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:03.069 come from a predominantly a sales background, quite high level sales, quite big 69 00:05:03.149 --> 00:05:09.420 deals, advisory type work rather than product so you're almost having to invent your 70 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:14.860 own pitch. You're, you know, in the information space. It's all 71 00:05:14.899 --> 00:05:18.540 about the stories that you tell, and that's why marketing sits so comfortably with 72 00:05:18.699 --> 00:05:23.529 me, because in that consultancy space you kind of have to create your own 73 00:05:23.569 --> 00:05:29.129 marketing in your own ideas, because you're selling intellectual property and in reality and 74 00:05:29.410 --> 00:05:32.170 you're selling a vision. You're not selling something hard or a product or a 75 00:05:32.569 --> 00:05:38.240 something that's can touch and feel and use. You're selling an idea, approach, 76 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:43.720 advice, etc. That offered me a suppose a different approach to the 77 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:48.360 marketing component and saying when I stepped up a step back from what marketing this 78 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:54.550 traditionally doing, which is supporting sales. And we've heard this terminology around market 79 00:05:54.870 --> 00:05:59.589 led organizations and marketing their companies and so on, and but nobody, not 80 00:05:59.709 --> 00:06:01.509 nobody's the wrong way to put it, but very few companies seem to adopt 81 00:06:01.589 --> 00:06:06.980 that and run their marketing organization built on insight data. They they based it 82 00:06:08.060 --> 00:06:11.660 on lots of transactional data. This event really work for me. I ran 83 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:14.180 a Webin are around it and we ran a blog at the end of it 84 00:06:14.259 --> 00:06:18.009 and we ran a whole lot of transactional meeting maker type of functions. For 85 00:06:18.170 --> 00:06:25.769 us, that's those those transactional components add up into a program and the program 86 00:06:25.930 --> 00:06:29.689 was focused around certain things. That might be focusing on your target account list, 87 00:06:29.769 --> 00:06:31.290 that might be displacement, it might be a number of different things, 88 00:06:31.850 --> 00:06:36.560 but that program will run. For most people call that a campaign. Our 89 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:43.279 campaigns actually run annually. So the annual idea is that we and we work 90 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:46.120 in vertical so we look at vertical markets, we understand those markets, we 91 00:06:46.149 --> 00:06:50.230 understand our target accountless within those markets. We understand how we need to get 92 00:06:50.269 --> 00:06:55.589 to them and we spend around six months every year just gathering data to make 93 00:06:55.629 --> 00:07:00.110 sure that we understand we're aiming our sales team at at the right functions, 94 00:07:00.149 --> 00:07:03.100 at the right opportunities and at people who want to engage with us. The 95 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:09.259 idea of the why, and you know why this is important, and having 96 00:07:09.300 --> 00:07:14.860 an overarching umbrella around this allows us to take every of the transactional components and 97 00:07:15.019 --> 00:07:19.850 put them into the programs that are required and then run those programs in line 98 00:07:19.850 --> 00:07:24.209 with the specific campaigns. But it allows us to all, I'm very closely 99 00:07:24.329 --> 00:07:30.120 with sales and we don't marketing doesn't hand over to sales, and I think 100 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:32.560 that's the same and most organizations actually, and that you know, if you 101 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:38.199 think about how marketing influences a specific person, let's say it's a buy or 102 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:42.040 an influence or it just a user, developer, whatever, from the moment 103 00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:45.829 they are exposed to your brand, from that very first touch point, they 104 00:07:45.870 --> 00:07:48.589 could pick up a newspaper and read about you, they could download a white 105 00:07:48.629 --> 00:07:50.949 paper, they could go on to the website, whatever it might be, 106 00:07:53.189 --> 00:07:58.110 the moment they touch your brand, until really that moment that person disappears out 107 00:07:58.110 --> 00:08:03.220 of your ecosystem. It's marketing responsibility to influence the messaging, make sure that 108 00:08:03.300 --> 00:08:07.379 they have the information that they need, make sure that ourselves organization is aligned 109 00:08:07.459 --> 00:08:09.620 to be able to give them what they need when they need it, and 110 00:08:09.899 --> 00:08:13.889 if we tie it into the overall campaign, we understand their work world a 111 00:08:13.930 --> 00:08:18.449 lot better because we're listening to them. The programs are aligned for our business 112 00:08:18.569 --> 00:08:24.569 goals and the tactics are put together to be able or the various tactical approaches 113 00:08:24.610 --> 00:08:26.920 are put together in line with the overall achievement of where we need to get 114 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.240 to. So sorry for the the confusing explanation, but hopefully that gives you 115 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:35.519 an idea of why we look at the the why you have to figure out 116 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:39.799 why we're doing this in the first place. Understand that we own the customer 117 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:45.789 from beginning to end and every single time we touch them we have an opportunity 118 00:08:45.950 --> 00:08:50.110 to either influence them one way or another, either positively or negatively, and 119 00:08:50.269 --> 00:08:52.830 our job is to own that whole jour jurney from beginning to end, and 120 00:08:54.149 --> 00:08:58.100 every transactional touch point that we have has to be part of a wider story. 121 00:08:58.220 --> 00:09:01.379 So that they don't feel as if there's multiple message is coming from all 122 00:09:01.419 --> 00:09:05.220 over the place and then also allows us to walk our sales team in and 123 00:09:05.379 --> 00:09:09.860 support ourselves team through the whole lifetime of the customer experience, whether that the 124 00:09:09.730 --> 00:09:15.610 one off purchase or whether it be twenty year relationship. It's our job to 125 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:20.330 help sales and and and help customer support and services and everything else that the 126 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:24.960 business touches with our customers. So when we're talking about the transactional pieces adding 127 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.639 up to the Y, that's kind of the approach that we take. Okay, 128 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:35.000 that's really interesting take on sort of building relationships with customers out of interest. 129 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:41.990 Does that approach remain the same both to new prospect and also existing customers? 130 00:09:41.029 --> 00:09:43.830 Or would you? Would you, based on that sort of process you've 131 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:48.149 just described, their take a different approach to marketing to your distant customer base 132 00:09:48.230 --> 00:09:54.460 versus new prospects for that position purposes? Yeah, I mean you prospects is 133 00:09:54.500 --> 00:09:58.980 there's always a different it's a different ecosystem. The problems over, the problems 134 00:09:58.019 --> 00:10:01.820 that Compani s face always the same. You know, a lot of us 135 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:05.740 get hung up on how will we do on the Gardener Magic quadrant? Or 136 00:10:07.129 --> 00:10:11.570 wards we've received, or how many times were number one on whatever quadrants and 137 00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:15.929 how many times were mentioned. Then then we tend to go to market and 138 00:10:16.330 --> 00:10:18.970 jump up and down and say look, one hundred and one one and we 139 00:10:20.090 --> 00:10:24.080 could all these posts. I think you know quite often companies are way to 140 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.000 focus on what they do and not enough focus on what the outcome of the 141 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:33.120 markets that we're serving is. And we've got to relate our products and services 142 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:35.830 to solve that problem, not walk in and say look, we build robots 143 00:10:35.870 --> 00:10:43.629 as and they're cool. So I think all organizations are struggling with this idea 144 00:10:43.710 --> 00:10:46.029 that product, the product, is going to sell it for you, and 145 00:10:46.110 --> 00:10:50.179 I see a lot of marketing. We're selling is happening in the marketing process. 146 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:54.779 Now it's really about supplying companies with the information they need in a professional 147 00:10:54.820 --> 00:10:58.299 manner that they trust your source and say these are, this is a company 148 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:01.860 that I want to come and talk to, whether that's a prospect or a 149 00:11:01.980 --> 00:11:05.169 customer. With a customer you should have a lot higher level of trust anyway, 150 00:11:05.730 --> 00:11:09.889 and the message should still be the same. It's about solving problems for 151 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:13.889 the customer. It's not about the product. Now the channels that we use 152 00:11:13.970 --> 00:11:16.769 and noise will be different depending on whether it's a prospect or a customer, 153 00:11:16.809 --> 00:11:20.480 because you can swamp your customers with too much marketing information. You have to 154 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:24.440 have a very different type of approach. It maybe abm one to one or 155 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:28.320 a depending on the company, maybe one too onto few. So we tend 156 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:33.830 not to look at different strategies or different messaging. The messaging should be the 157 00:11:33.870 --> 00:11:37.309 same. The message you should be a lot about customer outcome and success. 158 00:11:37.350 --> 00:11:41.149 It shouldn't be a lot about our product and I think that that shouldn't differ 159 00:11:41.230 --> 00:11:46.820 between customer and prospect. But we can tell the stories coming from customers. 160 00:11:46.899 --> 00:11:50.580 We we use a lot of a user case studies and so on, and 161 00:11:50.700 --> 00:11:54.940 sometimes we have to anonymize them. But it's really about the Oddi of the 162 00:11:54.980 --> 00:11:56.179 possible, because they in our market. As you said, it's a new 163 00:11:56.259 --> 00:12:00.460 market. We kind of I don't like the idea of creating the market. 164 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:01.610 I think it's the wrong way to put it. stears me if I'm on 165 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:07.929 this, but it's much more about adapting to the market and leading it from 166 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:11.610 the thought leadership perspective, as this how we try to see it with a 167 00:12:11.649 --> 00:12:13.769 surf and not the wave, the waves behind us and we're trying to stay 168 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:16.120 on top of the ways to make sure that we can see what's coming. 169 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:20.720 Yeah, and I think that's an interesting take in it. Regarding your market, 170 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:24.360 I mean I think the idea around automating things, in automation in general, 171 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:28.960 has has has been around for a long time, but OURPA is kind 172 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:31.750 of the next phase of that and how I agree. I'm not sure you're 173 00:12:31.950 --> 00:12:37.470 having to completely create a market. I think the market is people believe the 174 00:12:37.549 --> 00:12:41.389 markets are. It's kind of about reinventing it and bring a new, intelligent 175 00:12:41.470 --> 00:12:46.100 version of automation to the forefront of people of mind. Now you're talking earlier 176 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:52.539 on in our conversation around your transition from a from a sales background into more 177 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:58.490 of a consultancy and analyst area through tractually joining automation anywhere in the marketing team, 178 00:12:58.850 --> 00:13:01.889 and I think you spoke about the fact that you joined them because it 179 00:13:03.049 --> 00:13:05.769 was a case of do you keep talking about it or do you get involved 180 00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:07.330 in it? And I suppose the reason you go involved in it you really 181 00:13:07.409 --> 00:13:13.360 believed in in the technology and the impact that you're having on on on businesses 182 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:18.559 and on people's lives. Now that that's an interesting taken, an interesting journey. 183 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:20.039 I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that. How from your 184 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:24.159 perspective, how important is it for people to join the company that they can 185 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:28.789 personally relate to, from a from a mission or vision perspective, or do 186 00:13:28.830 --> 00:13:31.870 you think it is possible to actually that sales marketing professional? Perhaps I don't 187 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:37.429 care and it's just about they see a big opportunity to and a lot of 188 00:13:37.470 --> 00:13:41.700 money for EACHAM for example. Do you think it's really about doing something that 189 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:45.820 you deeply care about? Yeah, that's that's a great question. And and 190 00:13:46.899 --> 00:13:48.899 you know it's weird as you get all the different things matter to you. 191 00:13:50.740 --> 00:13:54.220 When you're young, you know the M series cars the biggest focus in your 192 00:13:54.299 --> 00:13:58.009 life as a young man, let's say. But as you get older, 193 00:13:58.049 --> 00:14:01.769 you know it, you start to realize that once you get stuff and you 194 00:14:01.850 --> 00:14:05.250 know this is what it goes way beyond marketing and sales. This is how 195 00:14:05.289 --> 00:14:07.450 we love our life. You know, you realize that the more stuff doesn't 196 00:14:07.450 --> 00:14:13.000 make you happy and it's the little things that you want to work towards. 197 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:16.000 And you know, I've been lucky enough to be pretty successful in a lot 198 00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:20.799 of companies and with fantastic people around me, the analyst community, surrounding me 199 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:26.070 with PhDs and brain boxes that I I'll never ever have that opportunity again, 200 00:14:26.190 --> 00:14:28.950 with the professors from London School of Economics, with my colleagues, you know. 201 00:14:30.029 --> 00:14:35.549 So you're balancing ideas and thought processes offo and over time you generate a 202 00:14:35.629 --> 00:14:39.419 wider understanding of potential in life and what your potential might be. And I 203 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:43.860 think it's markets as most. A lot of people get into marketing because it's 204 00:14:43.899 --> 00:14:48.139 seen as creative, but now that I've been in the marketing space for a 205 00:14:48.220 --> 00:14:52.970 while and I see the creative bit is actually a bit of a dying art 206 00:14:54.169 --> 00:14:58.169 and I see everything based on analytics and pulling leavers in a digital everybody talks 207 00:14:58.169 --> 00:15:01.730 about digital being key. If your story is not good enough and you don't 208 00:15:01.769 --> 00:15:05.769 believe in it, you don't have the passion for an you don't understand the 209 00:15:05.929 --> 00:15:09.879 impact that you're trying to have and you can't relate your product to that, 210 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:15.159 you really really struggle to have any kind of real enthusiasm behind what you do 211 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:18.279 or how you run your teams are how you do your job. Now it 212 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:22.309 sounds admirable. Admirable to say and very lofty actually to say. Only take 213 00:15:22.309 --> 00:15:24.789 a job that you really love. You know, we see this all over 214 00:15:24.870 --> 00:15:28.309 the place, but I think through time you know you have to do your 215 00:15:28.950 --> 00:15:31.029 warts and all, you have to you know crap, get the callousers and 216 00:15:31.110 --> 00:15:35.539 do the hard work and learn through experiences. Is, in my experiences, 217 00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:39.659 is been the best way to learn. When your head enough times and you 218 00:15:39.700 --> 00:15:43.580 stop doing stupid things. But and it's never the first time that you stop, 219 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:46.419 trust me, it's you always give it another go. But I think 220 00:15:46.500 --> 00:15:50.809 you know. For me, I looked at this what makes you you? 221 00:15:50.889 --> 00:15:52.809 I looked at Oppia, at the market, and you said, yeah, 222 00:15:52.809 --> 00:15:56.570 we're not creating the market, and the problem with us is we're so successful 223 00:15:58.289 --> 00:16:00.330 in this market place. We grow, we double our business and we've been 224 00:16:00.370 --> 00:16:04.120 doing it for over ten years now, year on year, and we do 225 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:07.440 it not with ease. We work hard to get there and when you get 226 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:11.799 to a certain size double it becomes a refect, your real challenge. But 227 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:15.320 with the goal behind you and with the belief that we're making the right impact, 228 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:18.230 then you can change the world. And for me it was looking at 229 00:16:18.230 --> 00:16:22.269 automation, anywhere, looking at Darpa market and saying if I look at the 230 00:16:22.389 --> 00:16:26.269 macro world, I mean I've already mentioned that we don't have enough people. 231 00:16:26.309 --> 00:16:30.470 We lose twenty eight million people out of the workforce in the next forty years 232 00:16:32.029 --> 00:16:33.899 just in Europe. Now that's going to be a nearly twelve percent of our 233 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:37.580 workforce is going to disappoint. So we have to do more with less. 234 00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:40.659 Being a digital company. If you're not a digital company, I don't know 235 00:16:40.659 --> 00:16:45.259 what business you're in. Every everybody's digital and for maybe not in their operations, 236 00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:48.210 but and they go to market. Everybody has digital offerings, where it's 237 00:16:48.250 --> 00:16:52.289 websites or APPS or whatever it might be. Everybody's got their foot in the 238 00:16:52.370 --> 00:16:56.210 water. There the challenge. That can't be sad as we didn't the majority 239 00:16:56.250 --> 00:17:00.169 of our operations is not digital. It's based on legacy and our PA can 240 00:17:00.250 --> 00:17:03.440 step in and modernize all of that. But for me it's much more about 241 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:08.319 I've seen so many people in my career, really brilliant people that are doing 242 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:15.039 very mundane jobs, people with NBA's and in India running call centers and or 243 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:17.869 sitting on the on that another side of the phone, and then we wonder 244 00:17:17.950 --> 00:17:22.109 why we have high atrition and needs, and India specifically, because we have 245 00:17:22.190 --> 00:17:26.470 hugely talented people do very munday jobs. There's outsourced to India. So my 246 00:17:26.630 --> 00:17:30.900 mess for less. That can't carry on. We've got a free up intellectual 247 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:33.980 capacity of humans. We've got to change this. There's virus is really exposed 248 00:17:34.019 --> 00:17:40.299 us our supply chains or exposed there's a there's a hard drug, for example 249 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:45.170 in the US. I think said seven hundred ninetyzerole people are on this drug 250 00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:48.569 and it's only manufactured in China. Now that's not pointing fingers at anybody, 251 00:17:48.609 --> 00:17:52.250 it's saying that there's a weakness and our supply chain and if a supply chains 252 00:17:52.289 --> 00:17:56.769 get shut down, forget about the virus. The seven hundred Ninetyzero people that 253 00:17:56.809 --> 00:18:00.960 are relying on that drug to keep them alive on now at risk. So 254 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:03.240 the way that we business is have is going to have to change. There 255 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:07.759 the whole market is is, or the whole world is is pivoting at the 256 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:11.440 moment to try and understand how do we stop this type of thing in the 257 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:15.950 future, how do we build fail safe in and I think the only way 258 00:18:15.990 --> 00:18:21.029 to do that is to free people up to actually be people and think and 259 00:18:21.269 --> 00:18:26.509 contribute and just add value rather than just do things. So I think over 260 00:18:26.710 --> 00:18:30.460 time, for me they're, you know, the the golden light was the 261 00:18:30.539 --> 00:18:33.980 world has got to change. The economic models of the world are changing because 262 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:37.460 of the way that digital companies were. People are trying to companies are trying 263 00:18:37.500 --> 00:18:41.170 different things. They're trying things I've never done before. We've been poking at 264 00:18:41.210 --> 00:18:45.730 Agile for a long time now. We're all working from home at Metas for 265 00:18:45.009 --> 00:18:48.930 than ever, how we think, how we operate. So I think that 266 00:18:49.130 --> 00:18:53.089 from a mission perspective, you have to believe that you're doing. In my 267 00:18:53.650 --> 00:18:56.920 in my case, I'm looking at and thinking this software can actually free people 268 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:03.720 to actually have interesting lives rather than just do the same thing over and over 269 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:07.480 and over again and repeat it and etc. We never release the potential of 270 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:10.950 humans and we're going to have to as we move forward and we face with 271 00:19:10.990 --> 00:19:15.990 these massive ecological changes, these massive challenges that we've got with this virus and 272 00:19:17.150 --> 00:19:18.789 you know, we don't know if this is the last we're going to see 273 00:19:18.789 --> 00:19:22.990 of these types of things. So I think moving forward, a company of 274 00:19:23.109 --> 00:19:26.819 people are smart. People have to align themselves to good causes. They have 275 00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:30.460 to have a societal impact if they're really going to make a change, because 276 00:19:32.140 --> 00:19:34.619 you know that. And lastly, everybody's on their soapbox. So everybody's got 277 00:19:34.619 --> 00:19:40.849 a comment about your business. You know how organizations behave. It's critique constantly 278 00:19:41.130 --> 00:19:45.650 and companies can be made or broken, you know if the right people or 279 00:19:45.650 --> 00:19:48.809 the right influences are saying the wrong things about them. So all the right 280 00:19:48.890 --> 00:19:52.359 things about them. So we're much more interwove and I think you have to 281 00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:57.720 be socially responsible and we have to figure out how your product or service can 282 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:03.359 tie into doing something positive rather than just making money. I know it sounds 283 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:07.349 a bit lofty, but it almost everything, in every product in the world 284 00:20:07.829 --> 00:20:12.190 besides the obvious ones, can have some kind of positive impact on the environments 285 00:20:12.230 --> 00:20:15.829 that we serve. And as for me, understanding what that is and linking 286 00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:19.109 it that, that helps me decide where I want to work and where I 287 00:20:19.309 --> 00:20:22.500 want to throw my efforts. For sure, absolutely. And to your point, 288 00:20:23.019 --> 00:20:29.339 some most example you're using around, you know today and the virus and 289 00:20:29.539 --> 00:20:33.339 how much that bringing it to the to reality for a lot of people that 290 00:20:33.460 --> 00:20:37.250 haven't sort of thought about the impact of if we had something like this. 291 00:20:37.569 --> 00:20:40.890 How can we very quickly work from home. I mean there's a lot of 292 00:20:40.930 --> 00:20:47.769 businesses that are benefiting very nicely from the current circumstances based on exactly that collaboration 293 00:20:47.930 --> 00:20:53.720 tools or communication tools or security providers that enable remote working so so easily. 294 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:59.039 But actually I think, to your point it is lofty, but I think 295 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:04.309 situations like we've seen ourselves in recently absolutely will mean that the sort of general 296 00:21:04.470 --> 00:21:08.589 working pattern and process is going to have to change and down and, to 297 00:21:08.710 --> 00:21:12.549 your point, companies like yourself a probably world placed to impact that. We 298 00:21:12.710 --> 00:21:17.589 look at automation anywhere. As a company you're going through hyper growth, as 299 00:21:17.630 --> 00:21:19.819 you spoke about there, and as we see with a lot of businesses, 300 00:21:19.859 --> 00:21:23.539 they can begin to lose their way a little bit as that happens and can 301 00:21:23.660 --> 00:21:29.660 keep that consistency when scaling is a challenge. Have you seen that as a 302 00:21:29.779 --> 00:21:33.490 challenge at automation anywhere and from what are some of the things that you guys 303 00:21:33.529 --> 00:21:40.210 are doing to ensure that alignment and consistency around your around your messaging, around 304 00:21:40.210 --> 00:21:42.170 your why? Really, how do you ensure that that still there as you 305 00:21:42.210 --> 00:21:48.880 keep growing? I think we're sticking to we've got a frilly extensive five year 306 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.799 plan in place that's not actually coming to the end of its the end of 307 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:55.960 its activation. But you know, when you're building a company that's going as 308 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:57.799 quickly. And just to put it in perspective, I always employed two hundred 309 00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:02.549 and seventy three and we're now two stars and nothing, two thousand six hundred 310 00:22:02.549 --> 00:22:07.829 employees the last time I check. That's not including the developers and the tempt 311 00:22:07.869 --> 00:22:11.829 staff that work with US and support us at CITRI's. So and that's happened 312 00:22:11.869 --> 00:22:15.269 in three years, just over three years. So and we're now, and 313 00:22:15.390 --> 00:22:18.819 what I think we're in ninety two countries where active with sales and we're over 314 00:22:19.019 --> 00:22:23.779 fifty companies. We have officers now and when I started we had no officers 315 00:22:23.819 --> 00:22:27.859 in Europe at all. We now have three hundred fifty people in Europe and 316 00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:36.089 we have offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Warsaw, Milan, 317 00:22:36.329 --> 00:22:38.450 which is closed, of it everywhere close at the moment, and Madrid, 318 00:22:40.089 --> 00:22:44.759 Netherlands. And I think I've covered everything in Europe. I'm not one 319 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:47.640 hundred percent. I think the Mos Switzerland, we have an office in Switzerland, 320 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:51.200 as wrong to you. So we've grown pretty quickly and and you know, 321 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:56.160 I think the the challenge on scaling and consistency is always, you know, 322 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:00.309 keep your true north. Decide what kind of company you want to be 323 00:23:00.430 --> 00:23:03.750 in a different everybody knows, at different growth levels you require different sets of 324 00:23:03.789 --> 00:23:07.470 skills to get you there. You know, as you're moving, as you 325 00:23:07.549 --> 00:23:10.509 become more corporate, you need to hire a different CFO, for example, 326 00:23:11.269 --> 00:23:17.180 you need to hire a different team of people that around compliance implement. We're 327 00:23:17.180 --> 00:23:23.180 implementing huge systems from workday through to full implementation, full reimplementations of sales force, 328 00:23:23.259 --> 00:23:29.930 etc. And you need a whole team of skilled internal IT services guys 329 00:23:29.970 --> 00:23:33.730 to be able to build it. But the way to keep everybody, I 330 00:23:33.809 --> 00:23:37.849 suppose, kind of on track is is having your true north and just re 331 00:23:38.210 --> 00:23:41.680 to rating that. So we have a set of values that we live by 332 00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:45.599 and we try and will we run by OK ours as well. I don't 333 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:51.079 know if you're familiar with their books of objectives and key results, and those 334 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:56.230 are all broken down from our CEO right the way down to me and my 335 00:23:56.430 --> 00:23:59.630 team and everybody else. We all have a set of Ok ours and those 336 00:23:59.670 --> 00:24:03.829 are really the transactional stuff that we're trying to achieve and they all kind of 337 00:24:03.910 --> 00:24:07.710 total lot to make sure that me or has what he needs when he walks 338 00:24:07.750 --> 00:24:11.259 into the board meeting. It's on. So it's not easy. You have 339 00:24:11.339 --> 00:24:14.339 to have a plan B, if I'm honest, you know, because plan 340 00:24:14.420 --> 00:24:18.180 a very seldom works or it never works out the way you wanted to explain. 341 00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:21.579 It's always plan a, version twenty six by the time you get to 342 00:24:21.619 --> 00:24:25.450 the end of the journey. If you if you still with your plot plan 343 00:24:25.529 --> 00:24:29.049 A, we've been lucky and that the markets very, very active. So 344 00:24:29.970 --> 00:24:33.609 you know, we've tried things. We've got huge product development teams. We've 345 00:24:33.609 --> 00:24:37.130 got a huge amount of our revenue. I can't give the exact percentage, 346 00:24:37.210 --> 00:24:40.119 but a large percentage of our own you goes back into R and D for 347 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:45.680 product development. So we're our PA is today is credible. It's almost the 348 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:48.960 AI or three years ago. You know, the technology doesn't get done or 349 00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:52.910 get smaller as a technology. Get Smarty. You need to step up and 350 00:24:52.990 --> 00:24:56.829 extend your product offering into you know, rather than just task what emotion. 351 00:24:56.910 --> 00:25:00.549 You need full process, auto motion. You need to incorporate AI and analytics. 352 00:25:02.230 --> 00:25:07.109 We've just built a BOT called discovery, but that actually runs across your 353 00:25:07.140 --> 00:25:10.700 systems and then builds the Bot automatically for you, so you don't actually have 354 00:25:10.819 --> 00:25:15.660 to have any kind of internal development. Just plug and play, come kind 355 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:18.140 of stuff. So I think you got to keep your true north and hyperscale. 356 00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:22.250 You got to know where you're going, no matter which route you have 357 00:25:22.329 --> 00:25:26.609 to take to get there, because those change all the time. So and 358 00:25:26.769 --> 00:25:30.849 under communications super important. It's the most important thing, I think, in 359 00:25:30.930 --> 00:25:34.410 any business. Clear communication as to where we need to go and you need 360 00:25:34.450 --> 00:25:38.559 to spend a lot of time communicating to the team internally to make sure that 361 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:45.079 everybody's focused and one hundred percent focused. I suppose I'm where you need to 362 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:49.190 get to, otherwise you're not going to get there. So communication, you're 363 00:25:49.230 --> 00:25:55.549 true north, and those are probably the two most important points. I think 364 00:25:55.589 --> 00:26:00.390 in any scaling organization it's just keep keep your direction and show you flexibility on 365 00:26:00.549 --> 00:26:03.190 you know how you're going to get there and and you know, if you 366 00:26:03.470 --> 00:26:07.220 in any hyperscale business, people tend to work a lot longer hours just to 367 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:10.740 be able to get there. You know, as a lot of entrepreneurial type 368 00:26:10.819 --> 00:26:12.420 people, that you're play especially in the early days, to get stuff up 369 00:26:12.460 --> 00:26:15.980 and running and some of them are working sixteen nine days, six days a 370 00:26:17.059 --> 00:26:21.329 week for two or three years at a time, and you have to have 371 00:26:21.410 --> 00:26:23.730 a bigger purpose. You have to have a better true north than just are 372 00:26:23.769 --> 00:26:27.769 we're going to IPO. You know, very few people are motivated by that. 373 00:26:30.009 --> 00:26:33.200 So I think when you're younger, Ip is very attractive, but after 374 00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:37.000 a while you realize the complexities around and your way for as much as you 375 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:41.440 can. But yeah, it's that's let me stop there. I think true 376 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:45.599 door that flexibility and being and having a decent, purposeful help get there in 377 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:49.430 hyperscale. Okay, that's certain. That's a really interesting spector on it. 378 00:26:49.509 --> 00:26:55.549 And it's final point around that is you mentioned about having a true north. 379 00:26:55.670 --> 00:27:00.910 But in a in a scaling hypergrowth company, do you ever see that there's 380 00:27:00.910 --> 00:27:06.339 a an opportunity or an instance where actually you're your true north or your why 381 00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:11.380 around what you're doing can change? Is that something that you could see happening, 382 00:27:11.500 --> 00:27:14.460 or would that mean that you actually perhaps haven't found it true north in 383 00:27:14.539 --> 00:27:17.849 the first place? That's you're absolutely right. And what I mean by true 384 00:27:17.970 --> 00:27:21.130 north actually is not a destination for the company, it's a type of company 385 00:27:21.170 --> 00:27:23.089 you want to build. Yeah, you know, if you build, if 386 00:27:23.089 --> 00:27:26.089 you build a company and you if you build a team, you know, 387 00:27:26.170 --> 00:27:30.000 even a small team, and you build it with the right purpose in mind, 388 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:33.319 it doesn't really matter the roots that you take to get where you need 389 00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:37.240 to get to. So and the true north is about the type of organization 390 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:41.519 that you want to become, because then it doesn't matter if you're if you're 391 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:44.950 if you're just going to IPO, for example, as virus it's just put 392 00:27:45.069 --> 00:27:48.470 a block on everybody that's rushing to IPO and silicon valley at the moment right 393 00:27:48.789 --> 00:27:56.029 there's already the casualties. Any company that's exposed to the travel market is in 394 00:27:56.109 --> 00:27:57.660 trouble, especially if they're if they're funded, and there are, there are 395 00:27:57.660 --> 00:28:03.539 a small startup organization. So we're really starting to see some of those get 396 00:28:03.579 --> 00:28:07.019 hit by what's going on. But the true north of the company is really 397 00:28:07.059 --> 00:28:11.259 about what type of organization do we want to build, what do we want 398 00:28:11.299 --> 00:28:14.529 to do, what do we want to become? And I think in today's 399 00:28:14.569 --> 00:28:18.250 environment, with our first day of locked up, lockdown in the UK, 400 00:28:18.890 --> 00:28:22.529 it really shines is to well, we can sit here and try and make 401 00:28:22.569 --> 00:28:26.049 money on that, on this because automation is a huge opportunity. When there's 402 00:28:26.049 --> 00:28:29.640 not enough people around to do the work and people are working from home, 403 00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:32.839 there's huge amounts of opportunity for us to go in and say, look, 404 00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:34.799 there's lots of different pots that you can build to be able to do this 405 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:37.559 work. What we're trying to do at the moment as an example, as 406 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:42.470 we're working closely with the NHS and government, and I'm not going to say 407 00:28:42.470 --> 00:28:47.910 anything more at the moment, but we're trying to build as many bots free 408 00:28:47.950 --> 00:28:49.670 of charge. We're not charging for this, just to try and figure out 409 00:28:49.750 --> 00:28:55.670 how quickly we can move information around with regards to covid where the hot spots 410 00:28:55.710 --> 00:28:59.259 might lie, because dayten, big data coming in is going to be a 411 00:28:59.380 --> 00:29:03.019 big, big problem as this starts to scale up. We've seen in Italy. 412 00:29:03.460 --> 00:29:06.339 You know, where are the free bids? Everything's done manually. We 413 00:29:06.460 --> 00:29:10.730 need some kind of system to be able to identify where we have capacity, 414 00:29:10.930 --> 00:29:15.730 where we have hot spots. There's so many different opportunities for information to fly 415 00:29:15.849 --> 00:29:19.049 around and get lost in this crisis. So I think companies, if you 416 00:29:19.130 --> 00:29:22.849 have a true north companies, will do the right thing in times of need 417 00:29:22.930 --> 00:29:26.599 rather than just carry on going in the direction of the game. Now we 418 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:32.119 have to carry on right business because we support over fourzero enterprises and we have 419 00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:34.160 to figure out for them as well. We've, for example, we've created 420 00:29:34.200 --> 00:29:38.549 an HR bought that tracks where your staff are and we've told all of our 421 00:29:38.549 --> 00:29:41.589 customers just downloaded, there's no cost for this thing. Just download it, 422 00:29:41.670 --> 00:29:45.390 find out where I are, make sure a few of my team, for 423 00:29:45.470 --> 00:29:49.109 example, and isolation. The kids have got ill and they fact a lock 424 00:29:49.230 --> 00:29:55.019 themselves in. Our HR team needs to know how they are. They reporting 425 00:29:55.059 --> 00:29:56.140 every day and we use a bot to be able to track all of that. 426 00:29:56.259 --> 00:30:00.299 We're trying to push that type of technology out into the marketplace and be 427 00:30:00.619 --> 00:30:04.500 having your true north allows you to that flexibility to do the right thing first, 428 00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:08.730 rather than just chase the direction you were going. And if you're just 429 00:30:10.089 --> 00:30:14.450 you're true north is just the direction or just an IPO or just we want 430 00:30:14.450 --> 00:30:17.930 to be a billion, two, billion, twenty billion dollar company. How 431 00:30:18.009 --> 00:30:21.880 you get there will be much more complex, whereas if the company's led with 432 00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:25.240 a vision of this is where we're going to go and along the way we're 433 00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:27.079 going to have lots of adventures. It's a very different type of place to 434 00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:30.240 work and we can get sixteen hours out of people with with a lot of 435 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:34.519 enthusiasm because we all believe we're doing the right thing. Okay, okay, 436 00:30:34.599 --> 00:30:38.910 cool, that's that's really interesting and thanks for that. Inside so well. 437 00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:44.950 I think we're sort of near into the end of our conversation today and really 438 00:30:44.990 --> 00:30:48.829 appreciate that you've taken the time to share your thoughts around marketing, your why, 439 00:30:49.059 --> 00:30:53.779 how you keep the nesting consistent and and actually how you build a company 440 00:30:55.339 --> 00:30:57.940 with a true north mindset. I guess is is is the key, rather 441 00:30:57.980 --> 00:31:02.259 than looking at it as a destination. Now I'm sure there's going to be 442 00:31:02.259 --> 00:31:03.809 a lot of people that will want to continue that conversation with you. So, 443 00:31:04.210 --> 00:31:07.650 if that is indeed the case, how would you suggest that people get 444 00:31:07.650 --> 00:31:12.170 in touch with both yourself and, of course, your company, automation anywhere? 445 00:31:12.569 --> 00:31:15.809 Sure, so, if you want to get in touch with me, 446 00:31:15.970 --> 00:31:18.400 I'm on Linkedin, rock views. I'm automation anywhere. I'm pretty easy to 447 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:22.799 find. My profile is open. Alternatively, you know, we can go 448 00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:27.160 to our website. Is Automation anywherecom do search on Google and will pop up 449 00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:30.839 as lots of videos and so on. So anyway. Anybody wants to each 450 00:31:30.920 --> 00:31:34.910 other and carry on with the conversation will happy to do so and once again, 451 00:31:34.950 --> 00:31:37.869 thanks very much for inviting me. I really enjoyed a talking with you, 452 00:31:37.910 --> 00:31:41.710 Dan, and thank you very much. Thank you once again, and 453 00:31:42.309 --> 00:31:48.220 stay safe and look forward to catch up against operatics has redefined the meaning of 454 00:31:48.420 --> 00:31:55.859 revenue generation for technology companies worldwide. While the traditional concepts of building and managing 455 00:31:56.019 --> 00:32:00.140 inside sales teams inhouse has existed for many years, companies are struggling with a 456 00:32:00.180 --> 00:32:07.009 lack of focus, agility and scale required in today's fast and complex world of 457 00:32:07.130 --> 00:32:14.250 enterprise technology sales. See How operatics can help your company accelerate pipeline at operatics 458 00:32:14.410 --> 00:32:19.400 dotnet. You've been listening to be to be revenue acceleration. To ensure that 459 00:32:19.480 --> 00:32:22.279 you never miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. 460 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:25.200 Thank you so much for listening. Until next time,

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