By CCO Lasse Garby Virtual customer meetings were something that large US-based IT companies used in their Inside sales organizations just a few years ago. Especially companies like Microsoft and Cisco that had their own video desktop solutions were some of the front runners. It was often a challenge to have customers download and connect and the first versions did not always give the best user experience. I have worked in some of the US IT giants and have seen how it has worked and not worked. In my previous job, we never used the video capability but only the audio which makes sense if you have larger meetings with 25+ participants, but even the key speaker did not use the video. That was a bit of a strange experience. When I was at Cisco we sold collaboration and video conference systems to many companies but still, a lot of companies did not really believe in not meeting face to face even though they could save a lot of time and money not traveling and reducing CO2 outlet not flying or driving. But since March 2020 when Covid-19 broke out everything changed completely more or less overnight. Suddenly almost all companies started to use virtual meeting platforms and video capabilities as well. Even small companies with 10-15 people would meet virtually as they could not meet in the office. Since I joined Stinto almost 1½ month ago 8 out of 10 customer meetings has been virtual meetings. As I had done it on a much smaller scale in my previous jobs, this was not completely new to me, but still different especially if you have not met the customer or prospect in person before. I had some concern about this in the beginning, but I must admit after having had a lot of virtual customer meetings with persons that I have not met before, I actually don’t think of it any longer, and the customer, as well as my self, uses the video function. Often it has been the customer asking for a virtual meeting and not myself. I have proposed it if the customer has used Covid-19 as an excuse for not having a meeting and often this has been well accepted. Having virtual meetings is also very effective as you can have many meetings per day versus physical meetings gives a natural limitation as you have to travel, find a place to park, wait in the reception, getting a cup of coffee, finding a free meeting room, getting your presentation up and running, not being able to connect to the wi-fi and projector, and then out again, pay for the parking, go to the gas station and fill up the car on the way back to the office where there are no free parking lots, etc. What I have learned from virtual customers meeting is that you should try to avoid using too many slides as it is much better to have eye contact with the customer (even though you use a small laptop). With a 25-page slide deck, you cannot see the reaction from the customer and you tend to lose their attention. Having a slide deck as a “backup” is the most so you can jump in and out to explain things in more depth but try to have a discussion. Another great thing is to have or to be a wingman during a virtual customer meeting. This gives the opportunity to have a more interactive meeting where your wingman can do a demo, or prepare something to share as part of the demo as we often do at Stinto. When my wingman does the introduction or vise versa I can prepare a demo of the Stinto App and our web interface and while presenting this my wingman sends a digital business card to the customer and have him download it. Seeing is believing. So if you have not already started using virtual customer meetings start now as customers are ready and have been used to have virtual meetings every day during the COVID-19. BUT virtual meetings can not replace all meetings. You need to meet the customer once in a while, to see their company and what happens at their office but keeping the appropriate 1-meter COVID-19 distance.
Ny CCO med fortid hos multinational it-virksomhed
Den danske sustainable startup-virksomhed Stinto ansætter Lasse Garby som ny CCO. Lasse Garby er tidligere salgsdirektør og kanalchef i den globale it-virksomhed Cisco. Tech-virksomheden Stinto har ambition om at erobre det globale marked med deres stærke contact management platform. Og med ansættelsen af Lasse Garby som ny chef for salg og marketing opruster virksomheden forud for et internationalt gennembrud. Den nye CCO har blandt andet en fortid som salgsdirektør og kanalchef i den multinationale virksomhed Cisco. – Jeg ser frem til at stå i spidsen for Stintos kommercielle strategi og til at videreudvikle vores salgs- og kanalorganisation, så endnu flere virksomheder kommer med på bølgen om at udveksle kontaktinformationer digitalt med deres kunder, forretningsforbindelse, leverandører og mange flere, siger Lasse Garby, der senest kommer fra en stilling som country manager i Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Med mere end 20 års erfaring fra store, internationale it-virksomheder ved Lasse Garby om nogen, hvad virksomhederne kæmper med. Arbejdsmarkedet er omskifteligt, og virksomhederne slås derfor med at holde deres kontaktdata opdateret, er analysen fra Stinto’s CCO, der tiltrådte stillingen den 1. september 2020. –Virksomhederne bruger mange penge og ressourcer på at opdatere deres kontaktdata. Stinto’s platform løser derfor et reelt problem ved, at virksomhedens kontaktinformationer automatisk opdateres via den enkeltes medarbejders smartphone, der taler sammen med virksomhedens CRM-system. Det har et kæmpe potentiale. Både i Danmark og globalt, fortæller Lasse Garby. Et kompetent valg Den danske virksomhed er kommet godt fra start med mere end 25.000 brugere fordelt på både små og store virksomheder, men Stinto har ambitioner om at nå endnu bredere ud med deres bæredygtige alternativ til de anslåede 10 milliarder visitkort, der bliver produceret på verdensplan om året. – Vi arbejder i øjeblikket på at skalere forretningen ved at udvikle vores egen salgsorganisation, og opbygge en forhandlerkanal, som sammen skal drive virksomhedens salg, fortæller Lasse Garby, der har stor erfaring med at opbygge stærke forhandlernetværk og udvikle gangbare kommercielle strategier. Samarbejdet med den tidligere Cisco-profil vækker begejstring hos Stintos bestyrelsesformand, Kåre Sand, der ser gode takter hos den nye CCO. – Vi er utroligt stolte over at tiltrække en kapacitet som Lasse. Han er yderst kompetent, og fra sin tid i Cisco ved han om nogen, hvordan man arbejder med salg og marketing i en virksomhed, der ønsker at sætte nye, globale standarder. Lasse er derfor et perfekt match for Stinto, siger Kåre Sand. Søger det globale marked At Stinto har det globale perspektiv for øje, kommer også til udtryk i virksomhedens investorkreds, der består af danske og udenlandske erhvervsfolk fra 13 lande fordelt på 4 verdensdele. – For os var det nærliggende at tilknytte flere små investorer, da virksomheden er et netværksprodukt, og netop kombination af investorer fra store dele af verden afspejler vores langsigtede ambitionsniveau med Stinto, udtaler Kåre Sand. Stinto er en dansk tech-startup, som har lavet en digital platform til udveksling af kontaktinformationer. Målet er at blive den globale standard for den måde, hvorpå virksomheder og mennesker forbinder og administrerer deres mest værdifulde forretningskontakter. www.stinto.com
New CEO
Stinto is proud to announce that Ann Rosenberg, who has previously been with the international IT giant SAP, is appointed new CEO as of September 1st, 2020. Ann brings a wealth of experience from previous roles, such as Senior VP of UN Partnerships at SAP, Mentor at Soho House, Purpose, Sustainability, and Public Affairs Expert, and Bill & Melinda Gates foundation Goalkeeper 2018. The Board of Directors has hired Ann Rosenberg as the new CEO to lead Stinto in the process of expanding internationally. Ann Rosenberg is based in New York and has more than 20 years of international experience from the IT giant SAP. Start-ups in high demand “I am happy and proud to be part of Stinto, which in its soul and DNA embodies all the principles of sustainability that I have worked for many years to spread in the global startup environment in collaboration with the UN. Stinto belongs to the growing group of startups who think purpose and sustainability into the business itself. This segment of sustainable tech startups is currently in high demand among investors in Silicon Valley and New York”, says Ann Rosenberg. Ready to accelerate With Ann on board as CEO, Stinto will accelerate its effort to become a sustainable technology start-up that helps companies of all sizes combine data privacy, compliance, improved master data quality, and sustainability with one simple, and easy to integrate SaaS product. “Ann Rosenberg has set out to challenge and support companies in being more strategic, and transformative in how they run their businesses to deliver on the 2030 Agenda and build on the ESG framework. With Purpose and Sustainability being so central to the Stinto value proposition, we could not think of anyone better to lead that effort than Ann, and we look forward to working together with“, says Kåre Sand, Co-founder, and Chairman at Stinto.