Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Hello and welcome to the Tech and Tours podcast.
My name is Chris Fletcher and this is season 12.
Tech and Tours podcast is serving up fresh chats with the
sharpest minds in hostility and tech.
If you're looking to level up your up, streamline your
service, or just sprinkle a little tech magic into your
business, you've come to the right place.
And guess what? Our partners Lightspeed are back
this season to look after us. They're the E possum payments
platform helping over 165,000 businesses.
(00:26):
Businesses such as Big Mama, Mildred Mallow and Cubit House
help you scale it. You guessed it, the speed of
light. See what I did there?
With real time insights, faster transactions, and slick
integrations with people like OpenTable 0 News, and many more
light speeds, Unified Platform is built to boost your
performance and turn your tablesquicker than you can say flat
white extra hot. So if you need fast funding,
(00:48):
check out Lightspeed Capital. No hidden fees, no interest
charges, just smart support whenyou need it.
If you're curious about all of this, just head over to
lightspeed.co.uk/tech on Toast and book yourself a free demo.
You won't regret it. Now enough of that, ready for
the next episode? Let's go.
(01:10):
Welcome to the next episode, second to this podcast.
And today I'm delighted to be joined by Catherine Allen, Head
of Sales at Benson Vast. Catherine, how are you?
Yeah, I'm good. Thank you.
I'm sorry to be here. It's very schmaltzy.
Yeah, and we're recording again at Four Boss down in Liverpool
Street. Has your week been?
Yeah, it's a short week. It is a short week I've been on
a hen do, so I'm glad that I'm alive.
(01:30):
Where was your head? Do so very nice.
Yes, yes, Gracie, our events managers and Cotswolds.
No, they think their best life for her birthday.
So look, tell us a little bit about you, because people who
don't know you don't know what you've done.
Tell us a little bit about your background before we get into
it. So I am actually a children's
nurse, worked in the NHS. I am silly.
I didn't. I didn't hear that.
Years, many, many years, I worked in the community with
(01:53):
children with rare diseases, worked in the NHS, worked in the
private mental health sector. And I've always been told since
I was probably about 12 that I should work in sales as I always
thought B sales schluze. And when I'd had enough of the
NHS, loved the NHS, but had had enough of seeing all of these
(02:14):
inefficiencies and wanting to improve them, not being able to
because there was just red tape everywhere and asking things
like how can we make this betteror, I don't know, me going away,
coming up with a solution, coming in, come on, we can do
this, we could do this. Would this work?
Yeah. Yeah, that would work.
Great. Can we do that?
No. Why?
We don't make this. Continue says no.
Yeah, who does now at the top? OK.
(02:34):
Can I speak to him? No.
Why not? Don't know where he is.
All right. Right.
And I think that just keeps happening, like over and over
and over again. And I got to a point where I was
just like, do you know what? Maybe I will try sales.
My friend Lorna. Love you.
Lorna at the Access Group went to school with me and she
messaged me and told me that there was a job opening and I
(02:55):
should apply for it. So I did.
And then I got it. So I moved from Bristol to
London, took the job and was just really good at it.
And I, I'm not good at many things, Chris.
But for some strange reason thatI was really good at sales.
And within the first few months,I was being asked by the head of
(03:16):
sales and the head of design my night to talk to everyone else
in the sales team about why my average order value was 50%
higher than everyone. Else why was it?
I think it's because I cared. I'd bring empathy with sales.
I don't sell to people that don't want what I'm selling, and
I don't sell something that I don't believe in.
(03:37):
So I'm not really attached to the outcome.
And then I got headhunted on LinkedIn and went and worked for
a really cool startup called Limber.
So I went from this big global tech company to this little like
just start. Yeah.
And he's just like, really cool.He's got a tech platform that
basically allows you to build, manage and and also source.
(03:59):
It's kind of the flexible workforce and you don't have
partners. I have full time.
When I met Chris ages ago, we talked about the fact they have
flexible now. So you have that part time
workforce, full time workforce and then the flexible workforce,
which is what he's built basically through Limber and
he's based in Bristol. I used to, I used it.
A Prime Minister, he solds me. I caved in the end, I gave in.
I don't have been you. I don't know one of you, one of
(04:19):
you anyway. But yeah, we used it in Prime
Minister for when I was up there.
But yeah, how how was that then going from big to small?
Oh my gosh, Chris was like, Catherine, what we do here is we
throw stuff at walls and see what sticks and runs with and
run with it. And I was obviously I was so
used to all of this process. Yeah, that proper way of doing
things. And obviously they were much
earlier on in that journey. So it was took a lot of
(04:41):
adjusting but learnt how to be really agile and I got really,
really used to that. Then I was sort of there for six
months. I sold to over 100 sites.
Within six months. I was working with M&B up in
their headquarters, loving it, although funnily it's back in
Bristol because Linda's based inBristol and I and I was like,
what's going on? And then I went and worked for a
(05:04):
company called Night Group and they had three venues at the
time, one on Oxford St. above John Lewis, a rooftop bar,
Willows on the Roof, one called Night Tails, enormous 10,000
square foot music venue in Hackney.
And then also Night Tails loftedLittle jazz up on the roof and I
worked there as their bookings and sales manager.
(05:25):
So I went from the tech side to the operating size.
I got, I got FOMO. I think I was like, get a bit
jealous of the people talking tothe people that.
When you selling in, yeah, I mean go do that, that is there.
I want to see that. I want to see what they're
actually, you know. Did you see when you went back
into OPS, into hostility side, but actually the impact of tech
(05:47):
was as you were selling it, not necessarily you, but was it
having the impact you think it should have?
Huge, but people don't use it correctly and that is what I
brought to the operator side. So I helped them use their tech
and get the most out of the techwithout spending any more money.
You needed to do what you're. Doing no, no, I totally agree.
(06:08):
I think there's a lot. Of get rid of what you don't
need and get what you need. And it will.
It will highlight the bits that are ringing alarm bells to you
rather than a scatter gun approach.
There's a problem here, let's get this, there's a problem
here, let's get this. Where's the problem coming from?
Get to the real root cause of that.
I basically revamped their entire bookings process from
start to finish from people landing on their website to
(06:31):
having the experience they'd booked for and leaving.
And I revamped all of it, workedwith the web designer and
increased their bookings by 180%in three months.
And then I was promoted to head of sales and was also do the
same for the private hire eventsdepartment.
So I think sometimes it's just about cutting out the noise and
(06:56):
you can get really fancy and andtalk about all of these fun and
wonderful things. But ultimately if you're not
empathy mapping your customer and I think that's where it's
different, right? And you're in that nursing side,
then nothing you're going to do is going to really move the
needle enough to make a bigger emphasis.
It's a very unique approach to that experience in the NHS and
particularly with what you're doing, because it was empathetic
(07:17):
and it was you're caring people and I actually think Hostiles is
a lot like that or should be that you're actually caring for
your team, caring for your customers.
So that's a really unique approach, especially spreading
that to sales because without being too cynical, it can be a
bit cut and throw strike, it canbe a bit brutal as in you here's
your KPI delivery. I don't really work that way
(07:38):
actually. I don't know how you feel.
I know I have to do with sales people.
You kind of have to be a bit, you have to track them.
But at the same time, I think ifyou step on people too much,
they tend to go into that typical salesperson where they
just deliver at any cost, which becomes a bit depressing and
you're not like that. No, I think the most important
thing in a salesperson is that they're confident to be
(07:59):
unapologetically themselves. We're speaking about this as
we're walking through the shortsto.
London. And we essentially were saying
that anyone could come in and doyour job and sell this bit of
tech, but what no one can do, and therefore is your USP as a
salesperson is be you. So actually you're your own USP.
(08:21):
You've got to sell in your own way.
My way is I'm blinking reliable.If I say I'm going to e-mail
you, I'm going to e-mail you. You don't have to apply to me,
but if I'm going to e-mail you, I'm going to e-mail you.
And I'm memorable, hopefully a little bit.
I think if you build relationships, people often come
back anyway, right? Yeah, true.
So if they don't say yes the first time, there's a highly
likely if you're nice and they get on with you and you've
(08:41):
category, you know, first interaction, there's probably
likely you're going to see them again and sell capacity whether
it's in this job or the next one.
Exactly. It's a sales psychology.
It's I want to be I remember it sounds like a die.
I remember it in the prospects mind something positive.
If I come up on their phone, I don't want them to think, oh
God, that's Catherine chasing meabout this blooming contract
(09:03):
again. I want it to be oh Catherine,
she went on holiday last week. I wonder how it was.
Yeah, Catherine, before the product type thing A. 100% I'm
number one and. About being number one, I'm
reading here. So from we had you on a panel at
HRC, I don't know when was it March?
Yeah. And we were talking about, I
think we were talking about dataprobably were and CRMS all and
(09:25):
all the like. And you were very big in that
little session we had about being customer first customer
LED back there. But have you seen it fat beds
and vases you've been there in, in that seminars in the way that
you've kind of LED from the front kind of considered you
customer before everything else.Have you seen that come to
fruition for what you're doing now?
Yeah, absolutely. I think, I think sometimes it's
(09:45):
difficult, especially for the people that customer facing in
hospitality because it's so chaotic internally.
The the communication is a huge one because things are doing one
80s all of the time. And that's always going to
happen at some points. But actually what I really tried
to drive forward is what data dowe care about?
OK. And if we care about that, why
(10:07):
do we care about it? What decisions are is it going
to inform and what's the value of it?
Because a lot of people don't get to that second stage and
they say we care about this, this, this and this.
We go off and do all the work toget that data for them and then
we're like, OK, cool. And they kind of stops there.
So I think having the foresight is really important.
But I focused. I basically did what I did at
(10:27):
night group at beds and Bars. So I went in, I looked at
Collins and I worked with all ofthe sales and marketing managers
for each of the venues and revamped the Collins settings.
I did a pilot in Cumberland Bridge, the flagship site, and
the results that I got there, we're really impressed.
I mean, I'm not proud of much inmy life, Grace, I'm not going to
(10:49):
lie. But these results are I, I
wasn't expecting them to to be so great.
I mean as an example, the auto confirm bookings on the website
went out by 114%. To and I and I, this is where
tech can give you metrics absolutely, but otherwise you
would never get thanked for. And it's probably the reason why
a lot of sales and marketing people over the years have
(11:10):
churned. That's a horrible word, but have
been made redundant or moved on or whatever has happened.
Because really measuring your performance, I think apart from
pounds, it's always very difficult, isn't it?
You know, it's that's the track backer book that you made.
But now you have that, that techor the Beyoncémon measure
through tech. It's super interesting.
Absolutely. 10 people in above bookings.
(11:31):
Auto confirm increased by 151 percent. 10 people plus bookings
increased by 16,500%. I know well, it was like lads to
a confirmed increased by 94% andmy team's time because before I
did this project, I thought what's actually thinking about
ROI from this really really reactive.
(11:53):
I want my team to be more proactive.
So what can I measure to kind ofquantify that?
My team's time spent on Collins dealing with bookings at London
Bridge and that reduced by 87%. So we're getting way more
bookings and we're doing way less work.
So then I was asked to roll it out across Europe.
So that's what I did. And it's similar to what I did
(12:14):
at Night Group with the website and the booking system.
And I basically, I just start really simple and understand the
needs of the person that I'm trying to serve.
And then I just ensure that I make them feel safe throughout
the whole journey. I'm telling them the information
that they absolutely need to know in the booking policy.
I'm putting things like antisocial behaviour won't be
(12:34):
tolerated because if they read that and they're not going to
adhere to that rule, I don't want their custom anyway.
Don't shove all this informationin your booking policy that no
one's going to read. And then the things that I think
you should probably know this because it could cause the
general manager some problems ifyou turn up to the venue and you
do this. You say I wasn't told that, but
actually we need to be able to prove that you were.
(12:55):
Things like don't bring chew andcome into the venue.
That's going in the confirmatione-mail and it's just about what
you're telling who, when, because if you're giving people
too much information, they're not going to read it all. 30% I
think people take in. Yeah, I think it's as a former
area that multiple site manager,it's one of the biggest
(13:15):
challenges, right, for people tomanage individuals delivering
the same message, but doing it consistently, it's very
difficult. I think you, you have to have a
it's either exhausting for you, the person that's delivering it
or it's really exhausting for the people getting it because
they've got this tired individual doing it over and
over again and maybe their levels are dropping a little
bit. So that the ability to do that,
(13:35):
I mean, that those numbers you just read out, they have plus
the ability to live that consistently, consistently is
easy for me to say. Is, is quite an achievement for
you, right? To be able to see those results
on paper. Plus I I imagine those
individuals you're dealt with orappreciate it as well because
they will benefit as well, right?
Yeah, absolutely. And that's the thing with
Collins. I'll always believe in Collins
and I'll always back Collins. I I just, I just feel like it's,
(14:01):
it does what you would do anyway.
And I think a lot of people think that they're scared of
auto confirm quite rightly. You have got to be careful with
it. You need to be able to deliver
on expectations your customers have, but there are so many
nuances that you can do. And because I've come from that
background and I sold Collins, Ibeing the thorough, meticulous
person I am, I obviously memorize every feature and I
(14:23):
understand the settings so well.But tell me what you need and I
can tell you if Collins can do it or not.
And if Collins, if we're doing something with a booking, when
it comes into the system that Collins could do without us,
why, why aren't we letting Collins do it?
Let me build the It's all about getting that trust and
engagement first. I was.
Going to say, is that, do you think it well that worked
(14:45):
because tech companies obviouslyhave higher salespeople and
customer success people. Do you think they should be
coming from the industry or as much as they possibly can bring
people from with that experienceor is it the wrong way round?
Do you almost think that actually tech people should be
quite technical and actually explaining to because there's a,
there's a, there's definitely a gap in there between the
hostility operation and the techsalesperson where there's a
(15:05):
language barrier or whatever it might be.
Whereas people like you are having to almost care for the
product once it's inside. I honestly, I care so much.
I really care about making people's lives easier.
That's really my driving force. It's a really interesting
question though. I don't think you get many
people going from tech to sales Dollar ain't as good as IT, but
(15:26):
I do also think that going from hospitality into tech, I think
that could be quite a frustrating experience.
I've done it, it's very difficult.
Yeah. And were you going in being like
you don't understand? I was a hops director and I went
in to deliver act as a product monitor, which is totally, you
know, yeah, that's what I was doing.
And yeah, it was hugely frustrating for both parties,
(15:49):
probably because I'm box do my thing, right?
Yeah, have an impact and having an impact and not 600 people are
slack that easy I think, detective.
Hospitality is probably. It's just interesting because
you've done both and I think it gives you, I think the
difference between you and probably 95% of the others.
Is that the way you care if you go back to your original NHS
(16:10):
piece? I think that the ability to give
a shit about people and the products all the way around 360
is very admirable and very rare.I just feel bad if I tell
something someone something and it doesn't.
Happen, yeah. But I'd be annoyed if something
rare. Today.
Yeah. I'm not.
I'm not. I can't imagine not caring about
that though. Yeah, but I'm trying to become
less cynical as I get older, I suppose.
(16:31):
But I I do, you know, unfortunately there are people
in the market that will behave like that.
And I think it's the one of the reasons why hostile operas
probably don't engage as much asthey should with tax suppliers
because I think they're nervous sometimes of being oversold,
missold, whatever it might be tech.
Supplies have a responsibility. Yeah, like, do not be spouting
about this tech jargon towards fatality operator that just
(16:52):
wants a booking system. Like they don't care about most
of the stuff you're going to say.
Find out what they care about, learn more about it, understand
it. Make sure that you've understand
understood it, you know, clarifythat and then just pull up on
the bits that are relevant to them.
They don't have time. What's the common What's one of
the most common misconceptions you hear about sales and how do
you help move that mindset? Oh, they're just trying to sell.
(17:15):
That probably won't even help me.
They're just a scoozy annoying salesperson.
If you are sure that that is happening, run.
Because that person, you're right, that person only cares
about their targets and only cares about their quota.
But I think that those people have tarnished the view of other
people, sales people like me, who actually do really care.
(17:37):
And I think as we've said, that does set me apart.
But I think that because I've been through quite a lot, you
know, my fair share anyway, in my, in my life, I just want
every single person that interacts with me to feel a bit
lighter. And I don't really mind how that
happens. If it's that, you know, they're
(17:58):
passing me in a corridor as I'm coming out the loo, then it will
just be, you're right, like, do you know what I mean?
Like, it doesn't need to be anything fancy.
I think selling to somebody isn't my priority.
Connecting with people is. And with that connection happens
to come sharings of problems, and with sharings of problems
(18:21):
happens to come opportunity, andwith opportunities happens to
come me wanting to help and me wanting to solve that.
And I'm not, I don't really careif they buy or not, sorry.
I don't because I don't want anyone that I'm working with to
have a solution that doesn't help them.
That's not good for testimoniumsor case studies for the business
anyway. No, I, I, I think it's very
(18:41):
hard. I think to, you know, having
been sold to and selling to people, the constant obsession
delivering is actually will makeyou unhealthy.
Like genuinely for me, you'll break me out because it's
something I worry about constantly.
And I think you're probably the same, right?
Because you, just because you care and that's something you
can't really get rid of, but it's interesting.
And when you do sell something in there, one of the biggest
(19:02):
problems we've noticed and one of the things that we're having
to address for second toast, which actually makes our lives
more difficult is adoption and how, how can hostility operators
listening to you now? What's some of the best advice
you can give me around adopting new technology or taking it into
their business and actually rolling out?
Cut out the noise, make it super, super SIM.
Don't get distracted. It's really, really easy to go
(19:26):
it go out to tender with a problem and look for a solution
and be absolutely inundated withnew shiny things that are
solving problems that you didn'teven know you had.
And then you're suddenly really scared of those problems
happening because the salespeople are like, watch this
pothole like they're going to pull down.
And it's like, oh God, well, I don't want to do that.
And then you end up getting and roughly what you needed wrapped
(19:47):
up in all these shiny things. And actually, I think it's
really important before you go to tender.
I think this is the biggest advice that I would give before
you go out to market to look fora solution.
Get really, really clear on whatyou actually need.
And you might have I do this when I'm looking for a new
house. House Tax.
I say that as if I've done it loads of times.
(20:08):
Actually, I ran, but I have likemy must haves and then I have my
nice to haves. And I think that's really
important to document and to getreally clear on with whoever's
going through that process, makesure they're engaged and kind
of, you know, with you on that journey.
And I mean, I literally score it.
I literally have a spreadsheet and I have operators that I'm
interested in and. I think that's something that
(20:30):
shouldn't be available to operators, right, Because some
some aren't as technical or or as you know, they're not like
you and I think they need help. It's we try and do it for them
where we RFP I suppose their call, but give an opportunity to
kind of do exactly that. What do I love, what don't I
love or what is absolutely necessary to this deal.
If we don't get this, we're not doing deal.
Breakers. Yeah.
(20:50):
And then those new things that come up throughout the sales
process, they can't actually be beneficial, don't get me wrong.
So write them down, put them to the side and revisit them later
down the line. I think a classic example of
this actually is so, you know, asales obstacle, which is
hospitality operators. We've got rising labour costs,
we've got, you know, our eye on the bottom line like it's going
(21:13):
out fashion and we're really casting the net far and wide and
trying to reach as many people as possible as quickly as
possible. We sign up to all these third
party marketing platforms, right?
And we're getting all of these leads.
And for the board, it looks really good because it's like
we're getting hundreds of leads.We need to grow the sales team.
And they're all just reactive. You know, they're just
(21:34):
responding to enquiries quickly and the board are going well.
Why is our conversion rate so low?
And it's because you're signed up with, you know, 5 to 10 third
party platforms and none of yourlistings are up to date.
And I think it's really important to remember that is
the quickest way to the bottom because everything you're
putting out there, that chaos cannot go external.
That chaos has got to stay internal unless it's just pushed
(21:57):
through the energy and the vibrancy of the space that
you're creating. I'm a bit of a nerd.
I did some research. I look, I often read a few
different hospitality reports just to make sure I'm aware of
the landscape, what's going on. Meetings Industry Association
and the restaurant and bars report and UK Hospitality do
some good ones as well. And the forecast right of the
hospitality sector venue higher searches in England have nearly
(22:19):
doubled since 2004, peaking justbefore COVID and obviously at
the all time low by November, 61% of the 140 operators that
were asked predict higher revenue this year, right?
However, only 41% of them, only 41% of that forecasted revenue
is actually guaranteed, which isa 10% year on year drop.
(22:41):
So what that basically indicatesis how heavily they rely on new
enquiries with short lead times.And the most important thing
that we all need to do is make sure that we have a strong
pipeline. And people are so obsessed with
having a pipeline. If your pipeline is full of
people with the wrong information, I, I could have 10
people in my pipeline, but they all have a budget of three
(23:03):
grand. And I've just upped my venue
high fee from three to five grand.
But this is not updated on my listing platforms and it's been
paying someone. So just let them know the
budgets increase, no. So what can we do to make sure
that we're not just growing a sales team that are just doing
all of this reactive stuff all of the time?
They should be, you know, casting the net farm wild and
(23:25):
wide as a marketing KPI. And what we need to be focusing
on is the sales people not doingmuch qualification and actually
doing the selling and doing the connecting.
And I think that's that's reallyimportant.
Yeah, I totally agree. I think there's a lot of miss
misspent time or wasted time I suppose around that area of the
business because for a long timepeople have kind of, they report
(23:48):
up on it, if that makes sense. And they go up to the ball with
these numbers and actually require Someone Like You to
intervene or attack to intervenein the middle of all that to
make sure you're being efficient.
Because my worry, I mean, I usedto work at living benches a long
time ago, Living room and livingroom used to have mostly female,
don't know why, mostly female people who are in charge of
sales, their little desk downstairs at the front of every
(24:09):
living room. And they would drive bookings,
traffic, whatever was going on. And actually, it became a point
where they were kind of like a rule of their own, and no one
really knew. Well, we knew they were
generating per SE, according to a spreadsheet, but I don't think
anyone's really driving efficiency out of those roles.
And those roles ended up disappearing and coming back.
It does, exactly. And I think that's just a common
like cycle. Yeah, and we need to remove the
(24:30):
reactive stuff that tech can do.Now was this workshop driven?
Was it you or was it beds and bars related?
Or was. It it was me is.
That a sidekick? No, I don't know if you have no
GS this Chris, but I do just speak my mind, which gets me
into trouble sometimes that's. Why you're on the plug?
But because I do that, people, Ifind normally in jobs that
people come to me and tell me things that they think.
(24:53):
And it got to a point where it'slike, you're all saying the same
thing, like let's do something about it.
Let's get into. A room, Well, this reminds me of
a tech product, right? So a deliver act.
You get a lot of feedback from customers, but it used to be a
tipping point when that would then fall into a feature a.
Feature on Nash, right? So enough people say something's
wrong, and then we react and you're saying right, So you're
(25:13):
having all these people telling you we're not happy.
Well, you can explain what they weren't happy with, but then you
go and react on it. So tell us what you did.
I essentially got far too excited and stayed up far too
late planning a day-to-day Taco workshop and I basically was
aiming to do. I got my aims very clear before
I started because you put a lot of people in A room.
We want to chaos. And I basically said, you know,
(25:36):
we're all saying the same thing,but I don't want to just go off
that. I want to actually really delve
into it. Actually, my colleagues hated me
because I gave them all templated slides to fill out and
I sent them all in isolation to them so they couldn't see each
other's. I like your style.
And they were like, I went to look at a SO and I was like,
yeah, well, you've got to, you've got to come out.
(25:57):
You know, you said all this stuff to me.
So let's really delve into it clearly.
It clearly matters to you. And was the feedback similar
just across the different sites?Yeah, it was identical pretty
much. But what I was basically aiming
to do is make sure that the C-Suite were receiving helpful,
accurate and relevant information to help them in
(26:17):
decision making. And I looked at what exactly
what I was saying earlier, what data do we care about?
What value does it have? What changes do we make based
off this data? And the third aim was to reduce
time on reporting because regurgitating information, it's
like I could, I want to spend mytime increasing those numbers.
(26:38):
I don't want to spend my time telling you those numbers.
So that that was the aim. And yeah, we all basically just
looked at it and we all realisedthat we were using the same data
for different user requirements and we didn't understand the
context of each other's data. And I basically just did a whole
project and changed the whole way that we reported internally.
Did you reduce that? Because I'm quite obsessed with
(27:00):
the meeting thing today I had ane-mail saying can we have a
meeting about process Chris today about this particular
product. I was like, I didn't snap
because I don't really, but I kind of as close as Chris gets
to snapping. I was like, no, no more.
I say, we know what the process is.
You just need to remind yourselfand go back and do it because I
think that we generally in operations and hostility, love a
(27:22):
meeting. We love a meeting and we love
them, but everybody hates. I don't, I don't let's have a
meeting just to discuss what we're going to talk about at the
next meeting. And it's like, just send me an
agenda for the meeting and then I'll prep and then we'll
actually get value out of the meeting.
I. Think that's the key what you
just set there agenda right Thatsounds this is so stupid right
there sounds so stupid but yeah,but how many meetings do you go
(27:43):
to the don't have an. Agenda.
I declined. It and I'm a nightmare.
I'm honestly I'm one of the words for it and when I was at
Prime Minister we had have used to give this massive a three
sheets. I'm going to say I have magic
pie, no. It's Lord I wish, but we had.
We had a lot of pie actually. But my first meeting he gave me
this fix sheet. It was almost like a table map
and it had all the columns that and everything for that.
And it was all prefilled. But the main dates that you
(28:05):
needed, I mean, you would have been in hell.
I came from Carluccio's where wehad hundreds of sites, but it
was, it was like that. And I came, I was so organised
and it really helps people like me because I'm quite visual.
I don't really like writing everything down.
So, yeah, but I'm saying that what you're doing is helping
these people achieve what they need to achieve a quicker right?
(28:25):
Because it's, it's a, it's a huge issue in the industry.
Exactly, Exactly. I completely, completely agree.
That sounds like an absolute dream.
I'd be like that. Well, like the what came out the
data detangled day was I honestly, I was like, I tried
data analysts. I was like, by the way, your
data's not tangled. We're tangling it.
Yeah. So it's great because that's the
problem. And she got invited to it.
(28:46):
She said, what do you mean data detangled?
But no, I, I basically just got the CSV to be like to answer the
question that we asked them at the beginning and it got them to
think. And then we came up with, OK,
this is the day you're going to report on.
This is how often we know what value it has.
We know what decisions we're making back in there.
(29:08):
And this is what can be automated.
This is what can't be. And we're going to have one
person from sales and marketing who everyone sends the manual
bits to who's going to circulatethat report.
And it is, you know, a racy chart, right?
Who's responsible possible, who's accountable, so on and so
forth. But I I just, I can't explain
the power of that because time, as you say, is is the most.
(29:29):
You can't waste money, but you can't waste time.
If you could build your own venue, any kind of hostility, I
don't care. Golf Club, nightclub, whatever
you want to do. And powered by like the perfect
text, text sensor. What did it look like and who's
working the floor? Most importantly, what are we
drinking? I would definitely focus on
(29:53):
every single interaction. I don't care if someone is
walking past or on my website, whether they're paying or buying
something from me or not, don't care.
What I really care about is the way they feel after that
interaction. Whether they're gaining
something or they're shedding something a bit heavy that day.
As long as they left feeling lighter, that is what I care
(30:15):
about. And I think there are so many
ways to do that. Was it the bouncer that smiled
at them on the way in? Or was it the waiter that picked
up their purse that they dropped?
Or was it the receptionist that took them out and walked them to
their taxi at 11:00 PM at night because they're on their own?
You know, it's those little things that really, really
matter. And in terms of the tech stuff,
(30:38):
I. Tech stuff.
Well, tech stuff, yeah. It's.
My life, just drink a bit. I think as long as the tech was
the scaffolding that sat behind the scenes that allowed me to do
that, that's all I would want. I think it needs to enable the
(30:59):
authentic interaction and more. It opens the door for more
opportunities for that and the best tech disappears.
I always think you have. That Yeah, totally agree.
Yeah, Quas Tech is the next. Tech right and as long as they
left feeling lighter. Although to be fair, I probably
won't feel lighter if I drank 5 wines.
Actually Spanish wine. Yeah, I'm running the floor.
(31:22):
Jessie J. She's just Jessie J concert.
If you ever have a chance to seeher, please do.
She is a therapist, a comedian, and a singer.
I would want anyone there who isjust 100% unapologetically
themselves and cares for others.That would be the job spec.
Absolutely. And on that note about caring
(31:42):
for themselves, you're going through a moment at the moment.
I mean, can we talk about the sale?
We are. So you're on, you're onto new
ventures and you've got a plan which you showed me.
Tell us a little bit what you can.
It's essentially I've always wanted to start my own business.
I've tried lots of different things and I've never ever.
I think you need two things to start business.
(32:03):
First of all, someone that will take accountability and write
well. And secondly, a blinking good
idea. And I've never really got
behind. Not that I'm like, I can run it
really well, but I think I've got like the skills to do it or
it is to try, but I've never hadan idea that's good enough.
And I'll be honest about that. One of them was a rain Mac bike.
I want to do that. It's called Bike Mac, got
(32:27):
prototypes from China like. Big Mac, but.
Exactly. Yeah, don't even get me into
trademark if I'm not anyway. And I essentially through my
experience of working with hospitality operators is what I
was talking about earlier about having all of these third
parties and needing to jump on it.
(32:47):
I mean, the amount of third parties that have come out and,
and doing are doing really, really well and really
struggling to get the engagementfrom their operators because
they just don't have time, you know, updating all these listing
platforms. So I'm starting a company and
I'm actually going to launch a pilot soon.
So we're asking for operators that want to save reactive time
(33:08):
and be more proactive. And we basically just want to
see, does this reduce your labour costs and increase your
ROI on all of those third party listing platforms that you're
listing in private high spaces with?
I look, I think you're articulate, you're smart.
You told me I was like, good foryou because I think it's
definitely where you shouldn't be and we'll support you all the
way, right? But I've got some nursing funds
(33:29):
for rent though. Yeah, but good for you.
I mean, you're going to learn more.
I mean, I bet you learn more in nursing than you ever did.
Whether I've persuaded a kid to take some Calpol for their tummy
ache or persuading someone to sign up to something that I
think will benefit them, it's really isn't.
It. I do have another little.
I'll take Calpol and by EPOS to be fair.
I do have a present for you do you?
So the first one is anyone that's listening to this can
(33:51):
basically join the pilot for free.
Nice. And we'll really look after.
Them whatever they can do. That Yeah, yeah, I've got you a
special link. And the next one is the first
sketches of our potential logo, and I'm going to give it to you.
And hopefully when we're a massive company, we have to sell
it for thousands. Oh, I love that.
(34:11):
You're very cool. Fantastic.
Love me and you. Sorry for me you walk across
London. So it's nice.
So we've had a great 2K stint. From where were we?
Chris is lying. Chris was like.
Yeah, you might want to fly fromjust don't do like map or
navigation with it. So not so good.
But no, no really love to me. And I should say actually, how
(34:32):
do people get older? I forgot.
So if people want to talk to youand just kind of chat, is that
the best place to? Yeah.
Yeah, always open to opportunities and happy to chat
to anyone at any time. Available for some sales stuff.
I am absolutely yeah, love training, love sales training
and also I'm open to new job. This is the thing has got to be
a side thing because the pilot is you should.
Talk to our Timothy, I'm sure hecan help you.
I've got the guy runs out ABC sohe he could works with girls
(34:55):
market people. So I'm sure he can help you.
But that's it. That was taken to his Paul Press
that was catching on. Thank you very much for coming
in. Have a lovely day and say bye
bye. Thank you so much.