In this special episode I’m picking up my conversation with two retail’s brightest thinkers live from the virtual stage of the Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing Forum in late October. It was my pleasure to welcome Jeff Tate, Chief Innovation Officer at Henry’s, and Ian Rosen, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Digital, with Harry Rosen.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada
In this special episode I’m picking up my conversation with two retail’s brightest thinkers live from the virtual stage of the Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing Forum in late October.
It was my pleasure to welcome Jeff Tate, Chief Innovation Officer at Henry’s, and Ian Rosen, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Digital, with Harry Rosen.
We delve into the dynamics of managing and building a high performance team through the COVID era, and how to bring the values of DEI to life inside each and every retail organization.
Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss out on the latest episodes, industry news, and insights. If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a rating and review, as it really helps us grow so that we can continue getting amazing guests on the show.
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!
Jeff Tate
A senior marketing leader with over 15 years of experience working with some of the largest, most recognized retail brands in North America.
Skilled in using customer insights, analytics and competitive analysis in the approach of omni channel marketing management, strategy development and execution with a fluency in efficiently managing multi million dollar budgets and sales numbers in the multiple billions.
A leader that understands that effective marketing starts with the customer and is well versed in utilizing both traditional and digital marketing tactics to build effective campaigns knowing people now utilize a wider media base to consume more content than ever before with more access.
A strategic, analytical leader with the ability to coach as well as build relationships across a business both internally and externally with cross functional groups and agencies at all levels of an organization.
An accountable individual that leads by example and is not afraid to "roll up his sleeves and get into the weeds" when necessary but also understands that success comes from the sum of a strong team and everyone has a role to play.
A strong, effective communicator with the ability to tailor the approach to fit the audience while also being able to prioritize and manage multiple initiatives at one time in a fast paced environment.
Michael LeBlanc 00:04
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Mike LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
In this special episode, I'm picking up my conversation with two of retail's brightest thinkers. Live from the virtual stage of the Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing Forum, from late October.
Michael LeBlanc 00:19
It was my pleasure to welcome Jeff Tate, Chief Innovation Officer at Henry's, and Ian Rosen, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Digital, for Harry Rosen. We delve into the dynamics of managing and building a high-performance team through the COVID-era, and how to bring the values of DEI to life inside each and every retail organization. Let's listen in now.
Michael LeBlanc 00:40
I'd like to welcome Jeff Tate, with Henry's, and Ian Rosen, with Harry Rosen, to join me on the virtual stage. Now, this session will expand your mind about key players needed on the team, how DEI values that are included in the team building process, and how the added value experience that marketers can bring and building diverse thinking teams across the organization. So, Ian, Jeff, welcome, thank you.
Ian Rosen 01:10
Great to be here.
Michael LeBlanc 01:11
All right. Thanks, guys. All right, so you're both with very well-known brands, and people can read up on you on LinkedIn, if they haven't already. You know, probably know lots of folks in the audience. So, I'm going to ask you both the same question, something a little fun. And I'm going to start, Jeff, with you, tell me something about Henry's that would surprise us.
Jeff Tate 01:33
(Inaudible) in business 100 years. You know, (inaudible) which is interesting. So, that idea of constant innovation and pivoting, we've ended up becoming this creative place to go. But I always find the interesting, most interesting fact is, there is no Henry, there is no Henry in the business. Harry was the one that started the business, and he didn't like the way it sounded. So, he picked the name Henry, because he thought people would like that more. And I think that's a really interesting fact.
Michael LeBlanc 02:03
Well, Ian, I have to say your grandfather named him well. That's a funny thing. Tell me something about Harry Rosen, people might not know.
Ian Rosen 02:11
There, there is a Harry, he's in the office next to me at the moment, actually. So, something that might surprise people, I think building off of the presentation we all just watched, outside of our stores, about 10 to 15% of the store's business, every day is done outside of it.
Ian Rosen 02:32
That's with our clothing advisors and stylists going to customers' houses. That's with that client actually, you know, doing office visits or selling virtually, selling over FaceTime, curating our website. So, I think that last presentation brought up a lot of great points. And, you know, physical space doesn't have to be four walls, it can be, you know, a team and a business. And I think that's what we'll talk about today.
Michael LeBlanc 02:58
Now, Ian, is that something new in the business. I, I have been shopping at Harry Rosen since I was, you know, in university going to my first job interview, and it's always been the case that there's always been really great sales reps and people there helping me. Is it, is it new that they're doing this outside of the four walls? Or is that something that's just always been part of the DNA?
Ian Rosen 03:20
It's something that we've been training and standardizing, so I think we've amped it up. Obviously, COVID was a great acceleration of a lot of those behaviors and client’s willingness and wanting-ness to try new things. We always had a vision when it comes to the term digital, of bringing the experience that we were doing such a great job of in-store, to the online world.
Ian Rosen 03:44
So, we just had to train our people to bring that personalized field touch to digital outreach. Which is something that we work on every single week. Exercises, scenarios, ways of inspiring the client, how are you going to catch them with something that, you know, stops them in their tracks, and lets you know you're, you know, reaching out to them—
Michael LeBlanc 04:05
Yeah.
Ian Rosen 04:05
And thinking about them specifically. So, it's, it's an evolution of old habits or, and old capabilities.
Michael LeBlanc 04:14
Yeah, it's a topic beyond the scope for today. It's a whole other topic around, you know, it's a very different set of muscle memory to do it in a Facebook Live than it is in person, right. So, it's a great, it's a great rabbit hole to go down. But I'm going to pull us back out of that rabbit hole.
Ian Rosen 04:27
All right.
Michael LeBlanc 04:28
We're here to talk about people and I'm going to throw the first question to you. Let's start with hiring in the marketing function, e-commerce marketing together in the COVID, not quite post-COVID environment. I imagine, you know, not all of your team, or many of your team, wasn't working in the offices, in the head office, which brings up the hybrid discussion and then that naturally takes me to how your perspective is on hiring, in terms of looking for candidates who are not physically located where the Harry Rosen head office is. How are you at Harry Rosen thinking about that? And how are you thinking about that?
Ian Rosen 05:03
I, after you sent along these questions, I actually just got off of a conference call with somebody in Lagos, Nigeria, that's on our team as well, at, who, who's on vacation but visiting home for personal reasons, and wanted to make sure he could stay productive. As well as a new hire we have in Kelowna, BC, who I've never met in person and only met virtually.
Ian Rosen 05:25
So, I thought that was a great way of articulating, based on the role and based on what people are doing every day, we have ways for them to be productive. Obviously, we operate stores, and we don't have robots, robots, packing and shipping our e-commerce yet. So, we do need people to do that.
Ian Rosen 05:44
So, each and every role has a, kind of, new component or new element to it, where productivity can be done outside of the, you know, planting your feet on the floor. But we do have, you know, a way of thinking about it function by function, role by role. We just want people to be productive and predictable, are the two key tenants we work on. So, let's not hide where we are. If you're working from home, share that you're working from home and make sure you're productive.
Michael LeBlanc 06:13
Jeff, let's pick up on that thread. Has there been a cultural shift at Henry's as well, and how are you thinking about culture? Ian's talking about productivity. I think if you had to look back over the past 18 months, when I talk to executives, they all agree it's about like an eight out of ten in terms of productivity.
Michael LeBlanc 06:30
We all start to turn our minds now to culture cohesion, are people leaving because they're not, you know, aligned somehow to the, to the culture? How are you thinking about whether it's bringing new hires to the existing team, along with the vision? How are you balancing the, that, you know, the culture, the business, and marketing and innovation agenda?
Jeff Tate 06:51
Well, there definitely has been a shift. I mean, if anything, it's taught all of our businesses that we can be productive and work remotely, when there's something that keeps us out of the office, or, you know, there's other circumstances like a pandemic, that's happened. So, that was something that it, kind of, forced all of our companies into, and forced Henry's into as well.
Jeff Tate 07:10
Having the right tools and technology is there and available to us. So, that's the great thing, using Microsoft Teams, Zoom, allows us to stay connected. But what an important piece of all of this is, for us, is keeping the communication clear, and keeping the communication across the right team members. Because there is no longer a drive by conversation that's happening in the office, there is no—
Michael LeBlanc 07:31
Right.
Jeff Tate 07:32
You know, sharing information between that group of desks. That doesn't exist anymore. So, people can be left out if you're not careful on how you communicate and be very purposeful in the meetings that you bring the team together. The other piece of that, as well, is how do you keep team members working, and knowing each other, and interacting, when they don't necessarily work together on the same project.
Jeff Tate 07:51
Because when you're in your office, and you're only doing work things related to your projects that you're on, you could not talk to half, talk to the other half of your marketing team. So, being really purposeful, and creating, you know, trying to create events and think about what that hybrid environment is going to look like going forward is extremely important. And I think we've been pretty successful, but there's more work we're doing in the background, because we know that this hybrid office environment is something that's going to stay.
Jeff Tate 08:15
Employees like it, they like to have the flexibility, and how do we keep, you know, that culture continuing, and continuing to grow. And to Ian's point, some team members, you know, in my innovation team, they live in Europe. So, it's not like they pop into the office every once in a while. So, how do we keep our conversations going, and our team working, I think it's about being really purposeful, and really clear on how we can include people and keep them in the loop.
Michael LeBlanc 08:39
Now, speaking specifically, if some of your team being in Europe or wherever, is that something would have happened pre-COVID, is this, is this something that's new, or?
Jeff Tate 08:47
So, that team, that team was pre-COVID, because we were looking for very specific talents and very specific skill sets. However, in our core business, we also have had team members that, during COVID, have moved and they're in a totally different province now. You know, and they're still working just as effectively and interacting with the team at the same level.
Jeff Tate 09:05
So, I think it's a combination of both. And being able to successfully do it is something that I think we've done well to this point, but we're not stopping there. We're, there's a lot of good conversations happening at the exec level of how we continue that culture build.
Michael LeBlanc 09:18
Ian, I was reading a, two interesting marketing journal, kind of, academic research reports. And one was basically the conclusion, if I can paraphrase, that there's not actually a lot of evidence, evidence that's not anecdotal, that the kind of, drive by tap on the shoulder, working together creates a lot of innovation and marketing. It actually has been lately, just the opposite.
Michael LeBlanc 09:41
Everybody puts their headphones on and they're actually talking to somebody next to them in Slack. So, they could be in Nigeria, or they could be in Europe. There's other research that talks about, though, that is starting to prove a bit of a less, less cohesion, like people being disparate, have less cohesion to the business.
Michael LeBlanc 09:58
I mean, you know, if you've hired somebody they don't, they're not in front of you. So, there's two dynamics going on at the same time. So, picking up on these threads, you know, you've got your hands on a fast-moving business, you know, e-commerce is, is, you know, some of the terms, I don't even get anymore.
Michael LeBlanc 10:12
If you're out of the business for six months hands-on, you're talking about things like headless commerce and different things in different media types. As you see these changes, how do you keep the team skills fresh, and the enthusiasm for the mission, on a day to day, month to month basis? How do you, how do you keep that alignment?
Ian Rosen 10:30
I think the, you know, we are a product driven company. Harry was product oriented, and he believed if you bring great product into the market, clients are going to resonate, yeah. A great Eton shirt perhaps or, you know, we scoured the world, and we work with, you know, great vendors to curate an assortment that we think clients will be excited about.
Ian Rosen 10:54
And we have to get our team excited about product, no matter if they can't see it physically, no matter if, you know, we're doing buying appointments virtually. You know, I commend our buying team for curating an assortment without physically having all the product in front of them, it's been a great feat. But we want, we keep rallying people around the idea of everything that we're doing is trying to emphasize and champion the product, and the experience, and the, you know, what we're trying to accomplish for our clients more and more.
Ian Rosen 11:23
And emphasizing how the work that they're doing is contributing to that end. And I think that has to be the key motivating factor for each and every one of our team. Or I guess, you know, that, that's one of our core values and we find that though, the more, I don't know what the, the more not aligned you are with those core values, the less successful you're going to be at Harry Rosen. So, we, we keep bringing people back to product and customer, and then getting them enthusiastic about this.
Ian Rosen 11:50
And as roles change, as responsibilities, you know, grow, it might get more and more opaque. And the more removed you come, it might become more, you might become more and more distant. So, we've had to force a number of ways of getting people back in tune with product. Maybe that's participating in, you know, the, how the buying team curated this thing and connecting everybody with the buyers and saying, tell me the story about this brand. Technology makes that a lot easier than the office actually.
Michael LeBlanc 12:21
Now, conversely, though, I'd imagine you would, in the before time, perhaps walk around, tap somebody in the shoulder and say, hey, that was a great job you did on that thing. You know, not a big, bring everybody together, but just, kind of, tap on the shoulder and go, hey, that was great. It's a little hard for these days. So, you doing anything to, to kind of replicate or, kind of, be that same kind of leader that you, that you were in the before time?
Ian Rosen 12:45
Yeah, we, we've tried to set a target for each one of our leaders to make sure they're carving out an amount of time to recognize and acknowledge contribution, slow things down so people can know that they're on the right track. And that's something that our people pretty early on in the pandemic were emphasizing through our surveys and pulse surveys.
Ian Rosen 13:05
That, hey, I need more guidance, like am I doing the right thing right now, it's not clear if this is the right focus that I might have. So, we've been really focused on coaching our leaders to be a lot more communicative and slow things down and remind people, hey, thank you for your overnighter getting this database set up to, you know, make sure that we could hit this launch date, etc., etc.
Michael LeBlanc 13:30
Right, right. Jeff, I want to pick up on that, that theme a little bit, in terms of leadership and motivating people. Like when you, when you think about that in your team, you already were accustomed to having people from your team distant. What, what was your approach to that? How did you reward the small, you know, the small rewards that can, kind of, be meaningful, kind of, perk you up like a bit of an espresso in the afternoon? Any, any thoughts on that?
Jeff Tate 13:57
I think it's, it's, you know, making sure that we're recognizing the contributions, as mentioned, understanding what their contribution actually feeds into, the bigger machine and how that, we're winning as a collective group. I think that's a big win, as well. And making sure we just take the time to step back and recognize the good points, because during this environment where we're working virtually, or mostly virtually, you get really focused on what to do and where you're going, and not stopping to take a look back on what you've accomplished.
Jeff Tate 14:27
I think that's extremely important, as well. To stop and take a look as a team and go, oh, my gosh, we've been heads down working, meeting to meeting, you know, you know how the Zoom meeting is, goes back-to-back, there's no walking to meeting rooms, and oh, my gosh, look at what we accomplished. And I think that's extremely important to actually stop and smell the roses, is super important across these teams.
Michael LeBlanc 14:46
You know, in different ways, both your businesses has gone through, you know, such a time over the COVID-era. You know, one thing that's common to both is that there is a mission, and I think this, you know, when I talk to leaders, it's this, we all had one mission, which is kind of actually rare when you think about our career. Everybody, you know, let's get through COVID, let's keep our people safe, let's keep our cust-, let's get through it in whatever ways we have to.
Michael LeBlanc 15:10
You know, Ian, in your case, unfortunately, stores were closed, how do we get through it, how do we grow e-commerce, and, and, and, Jeff, for your business, everybody's looking for another webcam, how do we figure that out? As the mission begins to fade, thankfully, how do you keep that alignment going, Jeff? I mean, how do you, how do you say, listen, that mission was clear, but we now have, you've got a man that I want to talk to you about a bit later, from marketing to innovation, I want to get to, get to your transition personally a little bit.
Michael LeBlanc 15:41
But how do you keep that mission going? Listen, we need to drive the business and be aligned. Is, is that something you put some thought into? Is, is it, is it an opportunity to get people together more often at team meetings around the country perhaps, or, you know, more than you used to do before? Any tactics, you could, you could share with the people?
Jeff Tate 15:58
Definitely, yes. Having purposeful meetings where the team comes together at different levels of leadership and different groups, making sure that they all hear what's being done and making sure the strategy is aligned. So, I'll say one big thing that Gillian, our CEO, does is make sure she's very transparent, and very open with the strategy and where the business is going.
Jeff Tate 16:17
And we make sure that everyone hears this from, it doesn't matter what role you're in, the entire company hears the strategy, and why, and, and probably more detail than you see in a lot of other companies that I've been part of. And it's refreshing to be able to have everyone on the same mission because they know what they're contributing to the bigger picture. I think that's extremely important.
Jeff Tate 16:38
But having those purposeful meetings and those touch points, I think (inaudible) build, that will (inaudible) all the way, the role in the company. So, everyone knows what their top priorities are and what they're looking to accomplish. And then we, at the end of the quarter, sit down and take a look and say, did we accomplish them, or did we not, and where are we going? I think keeping that clarity on what's important, and what is a secondary initiative is extremely important to success.
Michael LeBlanc 17:09
Ian, I want to change the, change tracks up a little bit. And let's talk about DEI initiatives. I was reading a PwC survey, just came out, it's a great survey on global culture, includes some Canadian data. And it basically, there was one chart that, kind of, grabbed my attention. And it basically asked, on a number of different metrics around diversity, equity and inclusion, the C-level executives, and then the mid-level executives.
Michael LeBlanc 17:34
And the C-level executives gave themselves really high marks. And the mid-level said, yeah, you're, you're not as good as you think you are. It wasn't like a big gap. How do you think about, and incorporate, and work through DI, DEI within your teams, and as you hire and as you, as you bring your people together? How do you make it live within Harry?
Ian Rosen 17:55
So, I think it's an incredibly important topic, and one where, at least to, you know, counter to what the survey said, we said our job as, as executives is to give permission and recognize that this is important. And we need to pull together leaders at that next level to actually push us forward. Because a top-down Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy is not really your, you know, strategy doesn't really catch wind and inspire people to make changes.
Ian Rosen 18:27
We've pulled together a lot of people that are extremely enthusiastic on this topic and made sure that they have the right facilitation and, and that there's the right presence in the room for us to have constructive conversations. And they have been chipping away at things that, I guess, one of the rallying cries is like number one, you got to listen before you react, and number two is, we can do better.
Ian Rosen 18:50
Like, no matter what we want to put up there and, you know, here's how great we are, we can always do better. So, we're having that team champion and challenge each one of our policies, the way we hire, the way we measure success in this area, the way that we're, you know, as an example, presenting our brand, is that reflective of the, you know, customer base.
Ian Rosen 19:11
And we're going to, hopefully, see more and more material changes, both internally and externally, for us as a brand. And this is something that we can't hide from our clients as well. So, we're taking it seriously. And it's definitely been, I'm really proud of how far the team's pushing the thinking and pushing our thinking on the topics.
Michael LeBlanc 19:33
So, I like that. Basically, it's, kind of, a hands up strategy for engagement, right. Who wants to, who wants to help, who wants to get involved and up from the bottom versus at an executive level.
Ian Rosen 19:44
And just to, but also executive support to—
Michael LeBlanc 19:47
Right.
Ian Rosen 19:48
Be able to say, hey, it's really important that everybody takes a robust bias training, we all need to be refreshed on what bias and unconscious bias looks like. So, we just rolled that out across the organization. We have a learning management system, we made sure that everybody did it, there was no fake listening and clicking ahead because he had to take surveys with actual, relatively difficult questions in it, that made sure you pay attention to the material.
Michael LeBlanc 20:13
Paid attention.
Ian Rosen 20:14
So, and that's something that—
Michael LeBlanc 20:15
Yeah.
Ian Rosen 20:15
We as executives need to make a (inaudible). Be yeah, like, hey, we're going to do this because it's the right thing for us to do to push, I guess, the floor up as much as possible.
Michael LeBlanc 20:25
Right on. So, so it's a big component of your job, not just, not just the culture, but it's, it's a big focus for you. It's great to hear. Jeff, I want to touch on your career transition just for a minute or two. I mean, you're, you're a marketer for many years, and now you transitioned into innovation. Now, many would say they're, they're one in the same, they're close cousins, but you have a different objective.
Michael LeBlanc 20:48
Any advice that you can give the retail marketers who are listening, who might be themselves saying, you know, I've been a marketer, I'm really, you know, I love it. But maybe I should get some different experience and move around the organization. Would that be a good thing? Would that be your advice to the people?
Jeff Tate 21:04
Yeah, I would say that, you know, that the journey from, you know, marketing into innovation has been a very interesting, eye opening one. Lots of learning to be done on the journey, but as well as, as you said, they are closely aligned, where it all starts and ends with the customer, marketing very much the same. But it does open up a little bit more of my view.
Jeff Tate 21:24
And I'll say to anyone that's thinking about taking a role outside of marketing, because I still consider myself a marketer, and I still own the marketing on the innovation side. But I've done two roles in my career, one of them was at Canadian Tire where I was being internally recruited for two different areas, one within advertising marketing, and one was in a strategy role.
Jeff Tate 21:44
And I ended up going with the strategy role, and it was one of the best decisions that I ever took, because it helped open up my view as a retailer and help round me out, I would say, in terms of my experience, and understanding on how I affected other areas of the company, and how other areas of the company affected a marketer. And I found that extremely valuable.
Jeff Tate 22:02
And then I went back into marketing and proceeded with my career. And now I'm making another jump, which is learning how to innovate, operate more like a startup. And on top of all of that, how do you fail fast and learn fast, not just from a marketing perspective, but an entire business perspective.
Jeff Tate 22:18
And I would say, for anyone thinking of making the jump, try it, make the move, make sure it's something that it's, that you want to do, don't just move because it's a move. And also think about how that can impact you and round you out as an experienced retailer. And if you think that is the right move, you can always come back to marketing later on. But it could make you a better retailer for it.
Michael LeBlanc 22:41
Ian, I've been very impressed by the comprehensive social media, social commerce, performance marketing, work that you and the team have been doing. Tell me when you look for people, are you looking for storytellers, or are you looking for performance marketers, specialists, or generalists? How do you, how do you think of that?
Ian Rosen 22:59
I think we're looking for a balance on the team. And we want people to know both sides of the equation. So, you know, there, there are tricks to performance marketing, that somebody who's been deep in the weeds of performance marketing is going to do better than the next, you know, somebody who's learning it on the fly. But you need to teach them, you know, what story are you telling, what is the data not telling you? What is the business that you want to be building?
Ian Rosen 23:28
As a good example, your highest performing return on ad spend campaign out there is always going to be your sale campaign. But you can't always be promoting sale as a retailer, you have to be building, you know, you have to be converting that sale client into that first time regular price purchase or, or whatnot.
Ian Rosen 23:47
So, you have to be focused on what your overall storytelling objectives are, and be working with the creative team and the marketing brand team for like, hey, what is that story that we want to tell? How might you tell it? And, hey, I can actually serve it up in this really elegant way because performance marketing is evolving, every single day.
Ian Rosen 24:06
So, I think that's the way we're looking at it. We've had a good balance on the team. And I think also you have to educate people on what performance marketing is. There's a big knowledge gap. It's, kind of, you know, people know that ads are following them around the internet, but they don't know how. And I think it's something that everybody should invest a little bit of time understanding.
Michael LeBlanc 24:26
So, it's almost like a cultural orientation for some rather than a deep skill set, but everybody should have that kind of, everything we do should mean something. And—
Ian Rosen 24:35
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 24:35
At the end of the day, we're in business as retailers, you know, to build brand but ultimately, to sell amazing product to our great customers, right. New product or existing. It's, it's great advice. Jeff, I'm going to end off with you. Speaking of advice, advice to your fellow marketers, CMOs, innovation leaders. Top three things that you can think of to help their teams survive, and thrive, in the, in the marketing world that we, we look ahead to for 2022 and beyond.
Jeff Tate 25:05
Well, I'm just going to echo, first of all I'm going to echo what Ian said, which is great is, having that balance of the art and science is extremely important. And you can go down a path too far and one to the other. And the best marketing actually balances both well and has an understanding of both. So, functional marketing, and understanding, you know, there's so many different tools, and there's so much data, and there's so many different ways to talk to the customer.
Jeff Tate 25:28
Being able to really step back and look at it all from a functional standpoint will benefit the organization well, and that art and science balance is everything. The other one I'll say is, if you haven't yet started building your own community, and it's not just followers on social, but building an actual community of people that like and use your product, and like what you're putting out and loving your brand, you need to start doing that now.
Jeff Tate 25:53
This is the stuff that goes much further than any one paid ad, or one sale, or one promotion. And they're going to be the best feedback for you in terms of improving and innovating. And then lastly, and it really is that, that balance between my previous roles in marketing to this one is, be, be comfortable with a test, try-fail approach to things. Set aside a budget and some resources, some time to try some things out on the side, some things that are a little different, or whackier and see what happens.
Jeff Tate 26:20
And be okay to pivot. It might not be 100%, it may not be perfect by the time you put it out there. But just get it out there and see what happens. And by doing that, you're going to uncover and discover a lot of things. One, great insights about the customer but two, you might stumble upon something that works really, really well that you wouldn't have tried otherwise.
Michael LeBlanc 26:39
Well, Jeff, that's fantastic insights. And I want to thank you and Henry's because your marketing, your content marketing, I love gadget, your guy who does the YouTubes on, my lighting in here is from Henry's, and it's thanks to you that I can put this stuff together, you and Henry's.
Michael LeBlanc 26:55
And Ian, it's thanks to you and Harry Rosen that, you know, hopefully I look okay doing it. So, listen, thank you both for your insights and for both of you and your teams for the businesses you run and for joining us here today at the Retail Marketing Forum.
Jeff Tate 27:09
Thank you very much.
Ian Rosen 27:10
Appreciate it.
Michael LeBlanc 27:11
Thanks for tuning into today's episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure to follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts, so you don't miss out on the latest episodes, industry news and insights. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a rating review, as it really helps us grow, so that we continue to get amazing guests onto the show. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E LeBlanc & Company Inc. And if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co. Until next time, stay safe and have a great week.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, marketing, harry rosen, team, business, henry, ian, marketer, role, important, clients, jeff, building, dei, curating, innovation, strategy, thinking, retail, aligned