We speak to Neil Hammerton, CEO of Natterbox, which aims to revolutionise the telecommunications industry with impactful ideas and bespoke Voice Anywhere solutions on what inspires him in business and on what he thinks it takes to drive your company to be the best that it can be.
What do you currently do?
I’m the CEO of Natterbox, which provides SaaS, or Hosted Voice as we prefer to call it, to mid / large multi-national enterprises. We aim to revolutionise the telecoms / CRM industry with our voice solutions that takes data stored in tech CRM system and uses it to route / control inbound and outbound calls.
The result is a personalised service for each caller which improves the customer experience, therefore aiding the business with happier clients.
Who is your inspiration in business?
Jim Page, a co-worker who taught me “nothing is impossible, some things just may take a very long time to complete”.
Whom do you admire?
Many people, Sir Ranulph Fiennes for his determination and my wife for putting up with me!
Looking back are there things you would have done differently?
Many; life is about learning from mistakes. One that comes to mind is crashing a hang glider in Scotland that resulted in a broken back – should have gone walking instead that day!
What defines your way of doing business?
I have always aimed to deliver the very best service to customers and work fairly with suppliers. Exploring new and better ways of doing business is integral to my way of thinking; just because it’s accepted or customary to conduct business in one way, doesn’t mean it’s the right or best way.
I try to encourage my staff to be themselves and take the time to build relationships with the various partners that Natterbox is working closely with. Everyone knows the saying ‘it’s about who you know’ but I believe ‘it’s about who likes and respects you’.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Have a go, if you don’t you will always wonder what would have happened. Having the right product or service is clearly paramount to any successful business but for any start-ups, having the drive and belief to push your business is a key factor.
I believe it is also important to recognise when something isn’t working and be prepaid to adapt.
Also you must look after your customers and clients because their loyalty will be what makes or breaks a new company.
Promoting a new company, whether through marketing materials, visibility in search engines or PR can be extremely rewarding but if your customers can’t say anything good about you and go elsewhere then your hard work has been focused in the wrong area.