Show notes
Meet Jenna Pipchuk, EVP & CSO of SMART Technologies, responsible for global sales, and her colleague, Jeff Lowe, EVP, CMO & CHRO, responsible for external brand strategy, marketing, communications, human resources, and facilities.In this episode, you'll hear how Jenna and Jeff created a new commercial organization at SMART Technologies: a "unified commercial engine" with employees responsible for the entire customer life cycle all working together. You'll learn about the catalyst for this organizational restructure, how they implemented it, and critical pieces like the pod structure and "uber metrics." Lastly, we'll reveal the results they're seeing so far in employee engagement & retention, company culture, and revenue.Notes:- 04:00 A Tech Company That Provides Educational Solutions Globally- 04:35 The Catalyst Behind an Organizational Restructure and Mind Shift- 06:30 Identifying Misalignment Signs Between How They Were Selling and How Buyers Were Buying- 08:00 Creating a "unified commercial engine" With Five Key Roles and Three Enabling Units- 12:35 The Secret Sauce and Pod Structure Used To Reassign New Roles and Responsibilities to 250 Team Members- 15:50 Defining "uber metrics"- 19:35 The Three Enabling Groups That Support the Entire Customer Journey- 22:00 The "project heartbeat" for Better Customer Understanding and Knowledge- 22:40 A Collaborative Culture That Now Self-Generates- 25:45 Touch Points, Circles, and Squares- 27:25 Results: High Employee Engagement and Retention- 30:00 A Few Setbacks and the Biggest Hurdle So Far- 31:35 Two Pieces of Advice for Anyone Wanting To Replicate This Initiative