Future proof your business, renew yourself or die - Sofia Alexus CEO Kundo

Wilma Eriksson: [00:00:00] Hi, you have, uh, tuned in to Fail and Grow and opex Operational Excellence Podcast show. So fail and grow is for you. We wanna increase your revenue and become more profitable by listen, learning and off. Them laughing with the world class leaders within OPECs. So the people I invite, uh, and are lucky enough to, they say yes to become guests in failing Grove.

They're not just full of knowledge, they're also humble and they share their fuck ups and what they learn from it. And your host is NMA and one of the co-founders to vq. CQ stands for configure. Price quote. So if you ever thought about buying a car and you're going into the webpage and start to configure, that is what the CCP Q2 does.

So we secure sales organization from costly wrongs when it comes to quotes and proposals [00:01:00] and everything is of course seamless, integrated with your CM and the rest of your ecosystem. And today's expert is an asked for guest by Sophia Busk at World, and it's actually the second time the CEO of K join.

So I'm super thrilled about. Uh, having So Alex here with us today and the rumors says that she's an innovative, uh, and curious CEO and, uh, I think that is because she has lived in several countries. She's lived in the uk, France, US, USA, Silicon Valley. Woo. And within sauce. That is a cool thing to, to have, uh, to have done and in Boston.

And, but as a CEO, she focused on growth, talent development, and of course diversity. So with that global background, and she has been running and joined two tech startups, including AA with a 10 x hype growth. That is really impressive. Sophia, I'm so happy to have you here. It's an honor. Thank you. I'm really happy to be here.

Yeah. And uh, when I asked, [00:02:00] uh, when we prepared this call, uh, I asked a bit about you and you also said, I'm a dedicated mom with passion for interior design, so I just love that you brought up some, some personal things here. Would you tell me a bit more about you? And of course, also.

Sofia Alexus: Absolutely. No, exactly.

I am, uh, very passionate about interior design. I'm basically very passionate about anything that has to do with creative processes. Uh, and I think that that's my only creative output except for what I bring into my work as well then of course. Um, but yeah. And Kdo obviously is a Swedish sauce company.

Uh, we've been around since it was founded, 2010. You've already had our, uh, prior CEO on the show. Yeah. Uh, so that's, uh, something about the number of years. As we've been in the business and what we do is we develop and sell cloud-based services and therefore smart and accessible and effective customer service.

So we really focus on delivering solutions that [00:03:00] simplify and elevate the customer experience at every touch point, and we help. You know, our customers really try to find that service mix and service strategy to, uh, you know, serve their customers effortlessly. Uh, and we do that through ticketing systems.

We're launching this week our first AI driven solution. Wow. And, uh, you know, we also are excellent in self-service solutions, so,

Wilma Eriksson: yeah. Great. Well, I followed you a long, long time, and I really like what you do, so it's. I, when I say it's really an honor to have the second CEO of K, it really, and I know that some people working at K, they really, really enjoy their time at Kdo.

So yeah, looking forward to continuing following your journey, of course. Great. Thanks. So first of all. Everyone who's typically listen to feeling grown knows that I ask for your favorite after work drink. So what would you pour in your glass if maybe you're celebrate something or having a [00:04:00] bad day or a good day, what would you prefer to have in your glass of that?

Sofia Alexus: I think during this time of year, you need to kinda think, uh, go back to where it's warm and sunny and where you have your best afterwards. So I always, I would always like lean towards an Aperol spritz. It takes you on that journey to more. On your beaches and, uh, suicide settings in Italy. So I, I love apple spreads.

It's one of my absolute favorite drinks.

Wilma Eriksson: I agree with you. And it's a beautiful drink as well. Yes. It's quite simple, but so beautiful. I feel so much color. Well, wonderful. Wonderful. I would love to sit on that, uh, Italian bar and, and, uh. Uh, yeah. Share, uh, a process bit with you. That would be great. Fun. Of course.

And, uh, before we moving into more the serious part in the podcast, uh, I'm curious to know what kind of fuck up you wanna share with us today?

Sofia Alexus: I would say I gave this a lot of thought and I realized that maybe I'm not sharing a major up, but it was a major fail in [00:05:00] judgment and it was really, it was late spring, it was years ago.

Uh, during my time at. Erickson and I found myself at lunch with one of our largest Chinese supplier in Beijing, and the restaurant was super fancy. The service was amazing, and I was feeling very comfortable, and I happily gave my supplier absolute free range, uh, on ordering whatever. This soit on the menu and the food starts arriving.

It's all reallymy until the. I can only describe this as, you know, a bright yellow and orange, very large snail, and it's covered in through jelly, and it was very like. You know, uh, it was cut at the table into thin slices and like put on a small place in front of us, and it was very, you know, it was [00:06:00] done very fancy.

It was served raw. And I kinda sat down and I'm like, okay. So now I realized the frizz don't bite off more than you can chew.

And

Wilma Eriksson: I would have to just say that it was really shoey. Wow. It was a learning. It was a learning situation. More control. Well, did, did you, did you like taste it? You didn't have a choice? Did you eat it up? Absolutely. I was always very courteous. Well mannered, mannered. I might not have finished that part of the plate and moved on to the fish.

Memory for life. A weird situation for sure. Well, thank you for sharing. Uh, I, I would, yeah, I would be not horrified maybe in that situation, but I would not for sure have enjoyed it. So thank you so much for sharing. Gosh, that might be super disgusting, uh, if one could say so. Oh, yeah. It's just, [00:07:00] um, it was a matter of just, you know, ignoring what was on the plate and just putting it in your mouth and swallow.

Yeah. And then continue with life. And then continue with life. Uh, well, thank you. Thank you so much for sharing, Sophia. Uh, thank you.

And now to today's, uh, subject, uh, we are gonna talk about how to identify new growth opportunities through customer insights and growth hacking and obvious, uh, me being, uh, yeah, having sales roles for the past 15 years. Uh, I'm thrilled about this topic. Why is it so important for you and why did you choose this one when it comes to o.

Sofia Alexus: I would just say, I mean, joining Kudu, one of the main reasons I was brought on board by the board was to find new growth opportunities for the company. And right now, finding new growth opportunities or even trying to pivot your company's growth [00:08:00] in the financial times that we live in, not will not come, is uh, and I really believe that companies need to kind of dedicate resources and time towards finding new focus of growth.

But at the same time, I also know that time and resources is something that we're all getting less of. So I wanted to take this topic and talk about how we're working, really dedicated now with customer insights to really find new pockets of growth. So, you know, that's, that's why I chose this topic and it's very, and also I feel that right now it's very easy to focus on the here and now.

Uh, and try to kinda salvage as much of your business as possible, like everyone's clinging on to their customers for their life. Uh, but I would also say that by doing so, you tend to lose sight of what's your next growth opportunity and what will be your growth opportunity when we come out of the recession.

Wilma Eriksson: Exactly.

Sofia Alexus: Yeah. So these type of strategies, they will give you short term stability, but I [00:09:00] feel that, you know, long term it will build a technician. So if we're not focusing resources today on, you know, listening to our customers even more now than before, because they are, you know, voicing their concerns even more openly now, uh, you know, you're gonna lose out on, on growth opportunities.

Uh. Also, you're gonna get stuck in probably an old positioning. You know, you might be stuck in old differentiation or even in old pricing structures that you know you'll will not help you to move forward or will not help you to take that no new growth opportunity. So my, I would argue that this is really the time to try to renew yourself, uh, and regain your customer's trust and, you know, and their interest and prove to them why.

And I always, uh, I always say, you just need to start listening. Uh, you need to start listening to your happiest customers. They're basically the only people [00:10:00] that can kinda unlock your company's full business potential at this point in time.

Wilma Eriksson: That's very interesting, and I love the topic. Obvious being, uh, well, customer oriented for sure, but also, I mean.

Mm. Bear the moment now in tougher economic times, but also as you said in the future. Uh, and I like the part, uh, the most, the, the, the, the, the thing I like the most, what you said is they will be more open now than ever. Yeah. Uh, so. So many questions here. Where to start? So you, you talk about the data and get into the data.

We talk about listening to the customer. Yeah. Okay. You entered Kdu, you start listening, or where do you start? Uh, one and two. What, how do you map out the data and what do you look for in the data

Sofia Alexus: to be precise? So what we've done, uh, and I would say like I. It's really hard to master, to truly listen to your customers and how to listen to your customers.[00:11:00]

One of the main points that we talked about internally is because customers are very complex, uh, and you know, we look at our customer. B, we have over 500 different customers in various. Different, you know, verticals and businesses, they have very different needs. They have very different preferences, very different behaviors.

So we started looking at like, how can we understand and how can we meet our customers in an effective. We found ourselves answering the question ourself. We needed a deeper understanding of their complexities. So what we started as a company to do is that we started dedicating resources and time from people working within this, uh, you know, and having, and started forming a team.

The sole purpose is to identify and manage customer market insights. And try to turn this into new growth opportunities. So the first thing we did is that I had a very sharp UX designer, uh, who we started, who I started working very closely with. [00:12:00] And she had already started a lot of customer interviews and did interviews with our customer biz.

And, uh, now, or even if you have a, like a great service designer, that's a great start for company will. Uh, it consists now it's a small team. We're not a large company ourselves, so it's a growth team considered consisting then of a service designer. Uh, we have a growth project manager and then we have a brand expert and they're kinda working together to drive company-wide growth.

Through, uh, our brand, but also through positioning and differentiation of the company. And this is fully based on customer interviews and market insights. So we're really trying to do it like outside in perspective on every decisions that we're taking right now.

Wilma Eriksson: That's very interesting. I recorded an uh, episode with omics couple of weeks ago, and.

He said, you should interview your five best, uh, customers, the [00:13:00] five you dreamed of and five of something else. Sorry, math for not recalling this. It's embarrassing, but that's the way it is. But do you also, uh, do the interviews with, uh, dream customers or is this. Mainly

Sofia Alexus: the existing ones. I, I think that's a really good insight.

I think that what we've done is that we've looked at first, as all companies are doing right now, we're very focused on our, uh, you know, churn. So we started looking at like, who are churning right now? What companies are we seeing, what like usage? But then we said, okay, but not that you have any assurance.

Not, not that we would ever know. No has a problem, no one does not exist. And then, and then we started saying, well, who's. Who's who are, you know, who do we see are upselling right now? Who seems to be growing with our products and who are those? And then we started looking at like, who are our best customers right now?

And started interviewing our best customers. And that's kinda the journey we're on now. We haven't gone to the drill customer [00:14:00] yet because we're really trying to. Figure out from our best customers what could future I CCP for us, build for us. And we're really kind of like throwing everything on the table right now.

We're looking at our differentiation, we're looking at our positioning as a company. We're really doing our, you know, brand platform really to like, make sure that we don't stagnate right now. And we're trying to find all these different ways of building growth into the company.

Wilma Eriksson: Uh, okay, great. What kind of questions?

I mean, I, I understand this is really detailed and nitty gritty, but what kind of questions do you ask them to understand, uh, where you bring the most value? And, uh, I just guess where you could be most attractive for new potential customers and both doing upsell and of course, attract the ones that you decide upon is your dream customer moving forward.

Sofia Alexus: Yeah, absolutely. I think what this has been a good learning journey even for Mill, because I've always been more on the ordering side of what I want to sell. Uh, but I think that one of the things that we [00:15:00] saw is, um. That when we meet with our customers, we ask very open-ended questions. So first we'll meet probably with the person who's bought our system from the beginning so that we could build, you know, the head of customer support.

It could be the commercial head, or it could build, you know, e-commerce head. We'll sit with them. We'll talk about, you know, reasons, you know, the, what they wanted out of the products, uh, you know, what their journey so far has been and their findings. So very open-ended. And what my service side taught me is that I'm not allowed to answer anything.

I'm not allowed to, you know, put any of my own biases or, you know, wanting them to move. So really listen just to what they have to say. And I think that's something that's been the hardest part. And then we've also been sitting with the team members, uh, you know, in customer support and then our. Again, our service designer is really good at just sitting behind and saying, oh, why did you move like that?

Or, why did you go to that page? Or what? So really just following, but not, and they're like, [00:16:00] oh, I don't know, because I don't know how to, the tags are there or, and we know that they're somewhere else, but we're not allowed to answer. So. Uh, it's a very, but that's a very good technique because then you force yourself only to listen to what they're saying and you're not steering the conversation in any direction.

And I think that that's a, that's been one of the, like, key learnings from, and I think that that's, uh, that's something that has taught me that. If you start steering your customer's conversation, you're not gonna listen to what they're selling. So that's been very, like, that's been the focal part for us.

Wilma Eriksson: Then your assumptions will will become true in one way or another? In one level or another. Exactly. Exactly. That's what we've seen. But you have not involved the sales or marketing that much or?

Sofia Alexus: Uh, well, absolutely no, we have, because I mean, obviously we have a number of, you know, customer facing, uh, organizations.

We have the sales organization, they fill, you know, all the type of customer insights that they get. We have a customer success organizations obviously melting with [00:17:00] our customers on a more in-depth level. Uh, I think one directional change that I took when I, uh, joined Kdo was that we were very much listening on our.

You know, new sales customers because we were so there, you know, really, you know, wanting to engage and get more sales in as you know, as many, as many wants. But when I came in, I think that the change of mindset that I wanted to bring in is that. While it's interesting to listen at what our new sale customers, uh, are selling, they are just wishlist because they don't know our product yet.

It's our existing customer who's in the product, is working with the product on a daily business. They are the ones who truly, you know, have gained. Insights into our product, and that's the kind of the customer segment that we need to focus on when we wanna pull kind of interesting insights into how to steer, uh, you know, product development going forward.

So I think that was a shift that we did that, you know, we are now very much focusing on our existing [00:18:00] customer base and listening into them and our best. Customers in that segment rather than tr uh, listening to, you know, can we do market adaptations for one single customer in Norway, for example. So I think that that's, and that brings that long-term, long-term value driven kinda approach in, definitely this is super for

Wilma Eriksson: interesting.

And how do you gather all these data? That, what system do you use? How do you, after you've done this, uh, only listening interviews, what do you do with information and how to handle it and how to do analyze this by it? I think that's

Sofia Alexus: a great, so one would hope that we would have the perfect system, and I said that we need to give our, uh, our services designer a good AI transcript.

She does not, she interviews herself. It's very classical. She'll, uh, she know she'll record all the interviews she'll. Will sit through and like pull the most important facts out of the interview. We've had a Slack channel where, you know, after every interview she'll just share very, you know, unstructured, [00:19:00] unstructured customer feedback into that Slack channel.

Uh, and then she will also, then we'll pocket it because we have different things that we want to get out. So. Even though the kinda infuse will go the same, she will pivot towards certain areas where, you know, where maybe I'm interested to hear, you know, more about self-service and usage and the need of self-service and what their customers are asking for.

So she'll ask more of those questions, uh, and then we'll use that kinda subsegment to kinda fuel and understand how we should drive product development there. But it is very manual at this point in time. So I wish that I could say that we had the perfect. You know, AI tool that transcribes everything and pulls out all the insights, but it's very, you know, hands-on manual, manual labor at this point in time.

Wilma Eriksson: So if someone listening to this and have a great idea, they're gonna reach out to Sophia. Otherwise it, this seems like the typical way of, of handling it. Uh, and, uh, it doesn't need to say that it's bad for that. I mean, uh, I love [00:20:00] AI and I just, I actually, I really do. And the potential with it. I understand that it's a complex question.

And of course it helps me a lot. I translated a deck that I was supposed to send out yesterday afternoon and I was so tired. So I used it for just, you know, translating the full deck and then just walking through it, something where, you know, so of course it helps, but sometimes you really need to dig into the information that is received and they would analyze yourself.

So I'm sure maybe if someone out there could help us out, then please do. Uh, okay, so this is, um, the interviewing part, and then you had the growth hacking. Um. Is this a part of that or, yeah, and

Sofia Alexus: I, I would say that that's, you know, really where we're trying to move towards. I wouldn't say that with like, growth hacking is something that I bring with me back from, uh, from my years in the US and, you know, this focus on growth and having growth hackers.

And obviously it was super trendy in Silicon Valley when I was there, but I, I truly believe that, you know, as you can see, I always also [00:21:00] have a brand expert in this team. We actually don't have a marketing team at this moment because I feel that. You know, we need to focus any effort we do towards growth.

So, you know, all of our brand, you know, the brand, platform, all of that, that resides within the growth team because it's a will of driving growth for us. So it's not just a marketing activity, it's a growth activity. So that's, that's really the focus of the growth team. And there we're also, as I said, trying to find new ways of looking at you.

Could it build professional services? Could it build something else? Can we drive, you know, small proof of concepts, uh, on the findings that we see? We see that, you know, people might have a very hard time boarding certain features in our tool. Why is that? Can we answer that together with our customer success system?

How could we maybe drive a proof of concept around a additional service package around that? So that's how we're really trying to take the customer [00:22:00] insights and see where we have our pinpoint and. The organization and say, okay, is there improvements in the customer journeys that we can do here? And can that help us also, you know, uh, retain our customers better in the long run?

So it's all about trying to find this, you know, areas where, you know, resilient sites and we can actually transform them into actions in the, uh, in the organization. And maybe I should ask this earlier, but growth hacking for you, what is it? I think growth hacking for me is to have a very agile approach to finding opportunities of growth and drive, you know, very quickly testing them in the organization and towards the customers.

So, I mean, it could be, it could be something as simple as that, like, you know, before setting up a full professional service organization. Let's do a few proof of concepts and try the willingness to put in the market, you know, packaging, small service or small, you know, uh, um, onboarding or activation [00:23:00] packages.

So I think for me that's, it's growth hack is just about. Hacking into growth earlier than if you would say, oh, we're doing this as a product. We're gonna build it, we're gonna launch it, we're gonna go to market, and then we're gonna see if it makes us grow. So growth hacking is just trying to do this like smaller initiatives.

And so how can that pivot the company and then have that as a, you know, area decision to move forward and then do little longer term, you know, roadmap, roadmap, positioning. Okay.

Wilma Eriksson: When I worked at Get Accept, it was a lot of talk about growth hacking. Uh, I'm not sure I understand it fully myself. And then I'm not sure that everyone listening to the episode is either.

So, uh, when we just, you know, throw these, uh, passwords out, it's good to have a clarification. But,

Sofia Alexus: and I think it's good to clarify also because. I, I think that a lot of people are using growth today, and when they say growth, they mean customer growth, uh, which is, you know, extremely important because that's the end game, right?

But that [00:24:00] normally means that, you know, a growth team could build maybe the customer success team or the key account managers who are growing the existing bills with the offering that they have. What I see the growth as is, you know, finding new. Of growth in the organization. So it's not just leveraging what we've already decided will be their growth journey, it's about finding that growth journey.

Wilma Eriksson: Okay. So, uh, a lot of interesting insights here and if we're going back a bit, uh, to. The topic, and I mean, we're talking about that already, but I'm sure I forgot to ask questions. When it comes to growth opportunities through, through this custom insights and growth hacking, if we, uh, if you take the T pin as I would say in sw yeah, if you have the English word for that, please help me out here.

But if you were like, yeah, what would you like to share with the audience, that is really important here.

Sofia Alexus: The first one is just to dedicate resources to it. I know that resources are scarce right now, but if you [00:25:00] don't listen to your customers in a climate, which is quite tough, which we're all facing, you are not gonna be on the winning side. So you need to really dedicate resources, and it doesn't need to be a lot of resources, and it's to be, you know, this is one or two people that could do this in the company, will have.

Thrilled focusing on it. But that also means that we don't have a marketing department. So in, in lit, literally, they're, you know, filling that voice.

Wilma Eriksson: And how many employees are you all in all when you dedicate three people?

Sofia Alexus: Uh, 45. 45.

Wilma Eriksson: Okay.

Sofia Alexus: So, I mean, still a sizable part of our organization as, you know, focusing their efforts here.

The other one is really to think about what you want out this, uh, so what are trying to improve? Uh, and I would say that for me, as I. I need improvements in our customer journey because I think that that's, you know, the only way of proactively reducing churn and making sure that we build customer retention.

So, you know, you use the customer insights to identify pin points and then take those pin points [00:26:00] into, you know, the people who are then, you know. The ones who leads the customer journey and said, okay, we see this pinpoint. Is there something that we can do here in order to lessen them? Can we do the activation this year?

Can we really board these customers or can we even change the product so it's easier to use? For example, I think the other one is product development. Uh, I think it's very important. I've spent many years in products. Uh, at Ericsson, and one of the things that you need to think about when you do product development, especially, you know, in a smaller company, is us, is that what we're developing is truly melting, kind of our customer needs and will drive, you know, loyalty, customer loyalty long term.

So if we can, you know. Draw conclusions and insights from our customers in terms of, especially our best customers here. Uh, because you know, if you have a wide customer business will do, it's very easy to navigate the product development landscape, you know, wrongly. It's very easy to end up in a, in a situation where you've catered for [00:27:00] too many different needs and you need to like, stay very sure in terms of we're doing like a, a thing and now we're repositioning the entire, all of our products.

And what was the intended use? So that we can really, you know, still focus when we do our product development to say, but this is the intended use and these are the customers using it, right? And this is what they're selling so that we're listening to the right customers when we're doing product development.

And I think that's one of the key, key takeaways from it as well. And another thing around, you know, effective marketers, I think a lot of people are. Throwing money at Google and Google ads without really, you know, spending a lot of marketing dollars and not really knowing, you know, are you targeting the right?

Are you making the right efforts? Is it resonating with the right audience? And again, customer insights can really. You know, tell you who to target and what, uh, so I think that that's really with some major savings, uh, [00:28:00] from our side on marketing spend, but we are getting much more out of it, so much more inbounded with half of the marketing spend right now.

Wow. So that's really powerful in terms of like really just listening, focusing and adapting the messages that we're sending out instead of going very broad to a broad set of audience. So,

Wilma Eriksson: no, everyone is. They do? How did they find it out? What does the ads look

Sofia Alexus: like? It was so simple. We'll do another podcast on that, but it was super simple but very effective.

So I think that that's and the key for us now, we need to differentiate ourself. We have a lot of competitors, both global, both local, and we need to really listen what is our customer selling about us. That's truly us. So if we can use what they're selling and amplify that, in terms of building that differentiator for us, it's very easy.

So I think that that's, that's the main parts that we're using our customer insights for now. And finally, for me, I [00:29:00] use them to kind of still in tune of like, what's trending? What are this? Selling. What shifts in behavior and preferences are we sitting now in the downturn? Do they want more automation? Is everyone screaming for ai?

Will they invest more in, you know, in customer service? Yes or no? So it's, it's also a lot about just listening in what they're selling so that we can kind of build that into our long-term strategic plan visioning. But that's more on my table. Uh, I would say the other ones are more very, you know, active within the company and, you know, changes that we're driving now based on that, those insights.

Uh, what

Wilma Eriksson: would you say is the biggest difference of, uh, gaining this interest, uh, insights and, um, uh, acting now and, uh, compared to plan for the future and be competitive in the long run? Is there difference station at all, or what would you say?

Sofia Alexus: Oh yeah, I would say definitely because I mean, your best customers can really, they will tell you the story of now and they will [00:30:00] also tell you what they need right now.

Uh, they're, they might not, you need to combine their insights in combination with looking at like, what is the market selling? What are the large, you know, institutions and houses setting. We're looking at a lot of trend reports. You know, Gartner has a full, you know, segment for customer service that we're just, you know, going through webinars and really trying to listen what the market is selling because you need to kind of compile those customer insights together with the market.

What market the market is selling, and then starts. Also, as I said, take a few things. If you are, we're seeing a shift right now that we're kind of following. Then we're also asking those questions now, interviews. So we're like, including those questions in the, are the customers right now, what's their maturity here, et cetera.

But. That will not like help revenue today. It will help revenue tomorrow. So that's more on that, you know, visioning and strategic plan and positioning part.

Wilma Eriksson: Okay. What [00:31:00] is the trickiest part in everything of this? What do you feel is most cha challenging?

Sofia Alexus: I, I, I would go back to that. Customers are complex creatures.

That's the absolute hardest part.

So hard to, you know, the maturity levels are different. You know, their needs are different, their preference are different. That's really hard. It's like a young goal where you need to sort through, are they saying something that's, you know, a common, common view? And I think that's the hardest part, to be honest.

Um, if we would have, would have like a very homogenic like customer bills where like everyone's from the financial sector or something like that, it would, might have been easier, but. We have a broad customer bills and it's very hard and they're super complex. I would say that that's, that's, uh,

Wilma Eriksson: that's, uh, that's the hardest part.

Definitely. Uh, I won't take it, but I would like to, to name this episode. It's like a jungle, but [00:32:00] because that just describes Yeah. I mean, uh, I mean more or less no one I talk to. Don't have the as, uh, don't have these struggles or they, they, they appear like they have a very homogenic customer base and ICP, but then you start talking to people and they, it all feels like we are in the jungle together.

Yes, for sure. Absolutely.

Sofia Alexus: I can give you another title. I would say that it's however, a true win-win for any company to do this, though, uh, because you gain customer insights. And that can drive your business forward, but the customers also feel that you really care and take an interest in them and their success.

So we'll see it like, we'll use it as a true win-win kind of tool. And also, you know, great touch points with the customers.

Wilma Eriksson: Definitely

Sofia Alexus: just feel very soon. So I think that that's, uh, that's also the, you know, the, the very short term gi and benefit from this.

Wilma Eriksson: Well, I could only agree with you on that, Sophia, very wise.

Uh, is there [00:33:00] something else? That you want to, uh, to wrap the, the topic about this, about,

Sofia Alexus: I guess finally, one of the things that I keep talking about, and I hear myself saying it more often right now, is that I would argue that a company and a specialist, at least for us at Kdo. We need to build what we call collective customer knowledge.

Uh, and that is meanings that all parts of the organization needs to commit in ting our customers, getting customer insights and to a true interest in our customers. Uh, because if, if we don't have this collective customer knowledge. You know, we won't have that common understanding, and if we don't have a common understanding, it's very hard for us to be able to act in our companies or even our customers best interest.

So I would say that that, that would be my final, final point at it.

Wilma Eriksson: Final words. Well, thank you so much. So much knowledge to gain here and [00:34:00] I really love the hands-on advices and sharing so openly how you work with this. Uh, I'm sure it'll help a lot of companies out there willing to change, uh, and who have already understood that they have to do something about this and listen to their customers.

I mean, what could be a greater source of knowledge on that? Yeah. So I'm curious, who do you get most inspired by regarding this topic? Uh, you mentioned Gartner. Is that the source of truth? Do we have more?

Sofia Alexus: I was most inspired by Gartner. I think my old boss would love that. Uh, but I. I love, I'm in a very podcast, uh, type of mode right now.

I get inspired by a number of podcasts right now. Uh, masters of Scale is one of my favorite. Lately, one of my source of inspiration has come from listening to a podcast called Gradwell and Magnus, which is an older podcast. I'm really listening to it, but it truly inspires me because it inspires you to think differently on Wi Drive business success [00:35:00] and important and.

You need to kinda be inspired outside of your zone. So if you're in sauce, you know, look what fashion companies are doing. Uh, you know, because if you wanna keep it interesting for your customers, it's not about doing what everyone else around you is doing. So I, I try to, uh, I try to gain inspirations from people who speak more broadly on the topic.

Wilma Eriksson: Good choice. Good choice. And, uh, I would love if you could send me those links and I.

So, but I, and I fully agree with you and I always feel so sad when it doesn't matter what industry you always like hire from the industry. Yeah. Uh, and for long, many years ago I was, uh, at upsells selling their c and marketing automation platform. And what I love the most about that job was that you met so many different industries and you soon start seeing patterns.

Uh, and it was always [00:36:00] pattern, uh. Um, connected to their business model, not their industry. So, I mean, yeah, I really would next strive for that. Uh, listen to outside your zone, not within your zone. Uh, well, great.

Sofia Alexus: No, absolutely. And I think that it, it's a learning that I've had with me from, from long time ago, and I also think that, you know, sauce companies are amazing, but companies are also just.

Tech companies and the Texan in SOCOM is much larger in Sweden and is much larger. Uh, so I think that, you know, also remember that you're part of a very much larger network than Justo.

Wilma Eriksson: I agree with you. I agree. And what are your main challenges in your business at the moment that you want and there to

Sofia Alexus: share

Wilma Eriksson: with

Sofia Alexus: us?

There's no secrets. I think my main challenge right now is to find a growth. In what I can only describe as a very tough growth climate, um, and to drive rapid growth organically while also increasing our [00:37:00] margins. And that's, it's a tall order and we are literally right now driving transformation in all of our midyear business processes.

And we need to assure that we identify kinda how we can unlock growth from within the company. And we're also new, you know, launching a new brand platform, which I was talking about before. We wanna, you know, increase our attractiveness and differentiation through in on market. We wanna make sure that we have clear business goals and clear business goal owners to drive accountability in the organization.

So. I think that this is really the, the key challenges that we're facing, but we're not afraid, we're not stagnating in this moment. We're really taking it as an opportunity to kind of nearly do like a, a rebirth of the company in a sense. Yeah,

Wilma Eriksson: a lot ahead of you, and once again, looking forward to following the journey and with this.

Yeah, obviously I, I truly believe you're the right person to do this job. I learned so many things on this episode, and now it's your [00:38:00] time to, to wing and answer to a business related question from an earlier podcast

number. Pipe labs. When was the last time you did something radically different in your recruitment process that led to unexpected, but great. So have you done something that you would say was. Have you tried something else that was Yeah. Outside the books and, uh, managed well for you,

Sofia Alexus: radically is a big word.

Uh, puts a lot of pressure on my recruitment processes. Uh, I would, I would argue that one of the things that I. I am doing differently is that I never talk about a person's civil. I'm very uninterested. What I always [00:39:00] start with asking, and it's a question that everyone says, Ooh, that's a great question, is basically, who are you and what has impacted you throughout your life that has made you the person that you.

And that answer is very telling for if it's a reflective person or if it's a person who just starts raveling their civil anyway. Or you know what? Because what I want to see in a person when I talk to them is that are they reflecting? Have they learned? Do they know what they took with them throughout their careers, but also in their lives?

Uh, some people open up a lot and will go into you death. Death in early years. Form them to who they are today. So it's very, very interesting and that question just opens up and sets the tone for the entire conversation. So when I switched over from doing the PAL type of approach to going to more questions [00:40:00] about really trying to kind of get who they are and how they reflect and how they think that's, you know, that's been radical for me in terms of getting a much better insight in who I have in front of me.

Wilma Eriksson: That's a really smart advice. It's something similar, but, uh, uh, mat telling us, uh, talked about, it's a long time ago, I recorded with her, but she's a great leader as well, and I, she alwa also talked a lot about those kind of questions instead of, as you say, like addressing the CV or a previous job or something.

I could really see how that would set the tone to something completely different. And also, as you talked about earlier, when the, uh, your customers feel seen, I mean. Wouldn't you feel, you feel felt seen in this kind of type of question? So, yeah. Interesting. I don't think that was the answer he was looking for because he has some AI tool so you can check it out.

But, uh, I really like the answer a lot, uh, and I'm sure he would too. So if one were to get in contact with you, is it LinkedIn as everyone [00:41:00] else's say, or do you prefer that someone call you? Or how should one get in contact with you?

Sofia Alexus: My board asked the same question.

That's never good, is it? Uh, I think that, uh, definitely LinkedIn is a great way of getting in contact with me and I also have all my contact information. If you don't get a hold of me, then a text to my phone tends to be very good way of getting in contact with. Uh, but based on the conversation I've had today, I think LinkedIn is a perfect way of getting in contact with me.

Wilma Eriksson: Good to know and I mean, uh, so we ask for you. Uh, I'm here for happy for that. Thank you so much. So Sophia and who would you like to listen to maybe, uh, in this podcast or at least, uh, ask on me to invite?

Sofia Alexus: I would love to hear, uh, IL or Leon. She's the current CFO of HM Home today. Uh, will now join Luko as their new CFO.

And she is a true powerhouse and someone that I, [00:42:00] I admire for her strengths and innovation. And I think that she has more than enough in, uh, insights on how to drive, uh, opex.

Wilma Eriksson: Very interesting. It would be super happy if you connected us, and you are more than welcome, of course. So thank you so much for episode.

We are now, uh, in our, in our mind and our. Italy, it's warm, it's sunny. We have spritz in our hand and this song comes up and you, you see, you, you become super happy. Maybe you start dancing. I dunno. What are we listening to?

Sofia Alexus: One of my definite go-to songs right now is frill. With Florence and the machine.

Wilma Eriksson: Lovely.

Sofia Alexus: It's amazing.

Wilma Eriksson: It's amazing. Well, thank you so much once again for contributing to failing Grow and Opics.

Sofia Alexus: Thank you so much for having me. It was a great conversation.[00:43:00]

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