Employee Spotlight Of The Month: Philip Jarrett – Commercial Director

Welcome to the twentieth of our ‘Employee Spotlight of the Month’ interviews! At Dakota, we believe that everyone within our organisation plays an equally important role in making the company what it is today.

Each month we will be sharing an interview with a member of staff in order to showcase their key responsibilities within the business and the benefits which they offer to our valued customer base.

This month we spoke with Philip Jarrett, Commercial Director, to find out more about his role within Dakota.

1. How long have you worked at Dakota and how long have you been in your current role?

I have held the role of Commercial Director at Dakota since I joined the company in January 2021. However Keith, Karen and Dakota have been well known to me for almost 15 years now, since my time at Honeywell.  

2. What does the role of Commercial Director at Dakota involve?

The role of Commercial Director at Dakota is extremely varied. Primarily, I control the commercial strategy of the business, manage and support the sales team, oversee our vendor and strategic partnerships as well as negotiating commercial terms and conditions for clearly defined trading contracts. I also work with commercial lawyers and patent attorneys, complete tender documentation and drive technical innovation through our business, closely working with the technical teams, both internally and in association with our partners’ teams. 

I am also heavily involved with our marketing team to drive collaborative messaging in sync with our commercial strategies, both long and short term, as well as having an input on brand positioning and market analysis. I am also responsible for leading the line on large, global and/or strategic sales of hardware requirements and complexed systems such as voice and scanning in supply chain, as well as voice-directed solutions in the maintenance and inspection marketplace in addition to bringing voice-directed solutions into the healthcare and NHS sectors. I have also set up our sister company Voice-Care, taking it to market and establishing its partner framework and go-to-market model with significant global partnerships in place.

3. What key attributes do you believe you need in order to achieve success within your role?

With over 30 years of technical sales experience, I am an extremely strong communicator, well organised, commercially agile, a strategic visionary, technically savvy and fully aligned and in tune with the markets in which we operate.  I believe that the role of Commercial Director requires the harnessing of tactical and creative flair, knowledge and experience within the fields in which your business operates, the ability to be a guide and supporter for your team and the capacity to be a good, empathetic listener, along with the desire to display strong leadership qualities in order to lead by example with honesty and integrity at all times.   

4. What do you enjoy most about your role at Dakota?

I enjoy many things but the variability of the days is what I enjoy the most – no two days are the same, and due to the nature of the position that I am fortunate enough to hold, I get to work with a fantastic sales team, along with brilliant technical, customer service and marketing teams, who I enjoy seeing succeed in all of their individual endeavours as well as in their overall progress. The building of strong collaborative relationships with customers, suppliers and partners is also an extremely satisfying part of my role. 

I also like the dynamism and pace at which our business operates, as we as a team always strive to deliver first-class service. In addition, I enjoy taking customers through a commercial proposition from start to finish, working alongside customers right from an initial project concept through to implementation and full deployment. Seeing each client realise the operational and commercial benefits of the solutions which we provide gives me a huge level of enjoyment and satisfaction. Finally, the camaraderie of our collective teams and the cohesive bond we share, makes my role extremely enjoyable.

5. What are the most challenging aspects of your role?

Time! Due to the buoyancy of our business as well as the high expectations which I have set for our teams and the breadth of my role, sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day, however this keeps me sharp and focused and inadvertently drives the energy throughout and delivers the essence of who we are as a thriving, progressive and fast-paced company.

6. How do you believe that your role positively impacts our customers’ experience?

I like to think that my role positively impacts our customers’ experience in many different ways whether I am fully involved, partially or in rare cases not involved in their particular requirement because I, along with our team, emulate the focus and the high standards that our clients have come to expect. As trusted advisors, we aim to deliver a platinum service irrespective of the level of spend from any of our customers.

7. And finally…..please give us an interesting or fun fact about yourself

At the age of fifteen I was selected to play for Warwickshire County Cricket Club and remember being up for selection after hitting four sixes in one over, using my late Dad’s Grey Nicholls bat (I loved that cricket bat), but now I prefer to take life a little easier and love spending quality time with my wife and our daughters during the weekends and of course on our holidays!