Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Hello, ecommerce fans, and welcome to ten minute Ecom and AOV Lab podcast. Every episode we break down a new and different tactic that can help you improve your ecommerce KPIs key performance indicators. I'm your host, Andrew Figgins, and like most of you, I am an ecommerce professional. You may know me as the founder of AOV Lab, the former vp of digital product innovation at Scrubs and beyond, or as the former director of e commerce technology at Rural King. Today I'm excited to be talking to Glenn Swindell, an e commerce colleague that is doing very interesting work in e commerce. Anyway, Glenn, what did you come on the show to share today with your e commerce colleagues?
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Glenn Swindell, and I'm from Orange corporate, based out of Dallas, Texas.
[00:01:01] Speaker C: So one thing I've seen that works.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: In e comm that's really coming up is the increasing trend of fractional roles, especially in the recent layoffs. There's been so many layoffs that the industry is needing more fractional roles simply because they need that flexibility. And it provides that flexibility for not only the employers, but also the employees.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Thank you, Glenn. Fractional roles are a very timely topic after this ad. We'll get right into the chat. Today's episode of ten minute Ecom is brought to you by thrive commerce. If you are struggling to get your onsite promotions seen and engaged with, ecommerce is a go to tool that can help. I am actually a repeat customer of thrive, most recently with Chefware.com, and I can't say enough about how impactful their tools are at driving increased conversion and revenue. If you'd like to set up a discovery call with Rive, head over to AoV lab.com and tap on Vendor network to set up your 30 minutes discovery call and to see what all the fuss is about. And now back to the show.
[00:02:16] Speaker D: Glenn, thanks so much for coming on the show today and talking about this topic. It is very topical because like you said, there's been so many layoffs this year. There's so many good folks in ECoM that have been laid off, and I'm starting to hear about these fractional roles on LinkedIn. Like, I'm seeing some folks who are putting fractional leadership in their job history and they're getting new roles. Tell me a little bit about what fractional kind of just means for somebody who's new to it.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: Sure. Yeah, that's a good question, and it's a question that I get asked regularly, really. Fractional roles provides the advantages for companies for the reasoning of cost effectiveness, of accessing specialized talent and adaptability to changing workloads, without that constant ramp up, without that additional cost of medical benefits or anything of that nature. And so a leader comes in that fractional role for whatever time period, whether it be one, three, or six months, or what have you, and assist the organization in what their needs are in providing that specialized talent.
[00:03:30] Speaker D: So, Glenn, I think it makes sense from an organizational perspective, right? Like they're saving some money, they're bringing in some good talent. From an ecommerce leader's perspective, is there a benefit to the ecommerce leader to take on a fractional role and come into a company that way?
[00:03:47] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: I think it's very beneficial because it provides the employee, the leader, the fractional leader, the ability to also have that fresh perspective inside new companies, new organizations, new processes and procedures. And really, it sparks creativity and problem solving throughout organizations. And I've learned a ton from my roles continuously. There's not one fractional project that I go into that I don't learn.
[00:04:21] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: It is something that I think leaders truly lean into. It's just that ability to hone in on their skills and then also expand them.
[00:04:34] Speaker D: That makes sense. Is there a way for folks who are ecommerce professional to signal in some way that they're open to fractional work? I don't know if there's like an upwork version of fractional jobs or a place to find that stuff, or is it just like everything else, where it's just like, you got to have a big network and you got to work on ways to get in networking with a company that might be open to it?
[00:05:01] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. For really stepping into it. And I'll speak from my experience as well. Coming into the fractional roles was honestly, just by word of mouth, someone mentioning that there was a potential for advisory role or some type of consultancy for an organization. It was specifically startup in my case. And really that just came from being able to build a strong professional network and those communities out there that are very effective for that. And so I think leaning into your professional network, getting into groups or leadership agencies or what have you, to be able to have that scope and ability to scale the opportunity to get those positions is huge.
[00:05:49] Speaker D: Gotcha, Glenn. And I'm wondering, for somebody who is looking to get into this for the first time, are there some challenges that maybe you faced in the past just trying to start one of these roles or transitioning into these roles?
[00:06:07] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: I think that the biggest challenge or the biggest item that you really need to focus on is being adaptable and staying adaptable because you're constantly changing. It's not a one role and you're going to sit there for years and years. It's a one role, fast paced, moving atmosphere. And so understanding and getting a good grasp of that is super important. Additionally, obviously, building that strong professional network is imperative. And prior to honing in on that fractional work, I didn't have as strong of a network. And so really continually building your professional network, continually learning and just advancing your own specialties or expertise is extremely important. And that's a challenge that I really had to overcome was specifically building the network because it can be difficult.
[00:07:07] Speaker D: I'm seeing a lot of these roles open up, Glenn, in e commerce for sure. I wonder if it's outside of the e commerce industry as well. But I'm curious, what type of these roles have you sat in before these fractional roles or what are some areas that you've been able to move into in this way?
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I think when you think about really where you're going to specialize and kind of the niche you want to go into, you really have to dig down deep and do a twofold situation and ask yourself, what do I really want to do? And then also what do I actually truly specialize in? Rather than just thinking of, I took this job and I can learn it and transition it, because what you're doing is now you're going into businesses and transitioning that business and effectively making that business better. The specialized skills that I really hone in on for my fractional roles specifically is business optimization. That's a huge one for me, is finding the gaps in all of the processes and procedures and just streamlining their effectiveness for the business. Additionally, is directly within the ecom space, is focusing in on the payment processing checkout flow, ensuring there's a streamlined checkout flow for your customers, making sure your entire ecommerce platform is effective for the customers, and then also obviously, really focusing in on that retention and churn. That's a huge thing. More and more ecommerce, we see there's subscription based businesses and because that's just great for revenue. And so really understanding how to utilize subscription based pricing and checkout flows is instrumental. And so that's really something that I lean into. So two of those are the ecommerce checkout flow optimization, along with just the entire business process optimization.
[00:09:15] Speaker D: Have you found strong partners when you've gone into some of these retail or e commerce businesses? That have really welcomed you in the fractional role and you've been able to help them. I'm just wondering about that because I sat in a larger department at scripts and beyond recently and product team was leading the product team there.
It would have been really nice to have a fractional leader come in that could have been a business consultant for us because we had a lot of processes and procedures that were not optimized. I'll just say they were not optimized.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a challenge sometimes going into organizations and finding those partners that are effective, that embrace you as a consultant rather than are deflecting you because they feel you're coming in to change or take over their role. And so really you have to just tiptoe around it for the moment and then show them that you're there to really assess them. And so from my perspective directly, what I've experienced is really the partners that you lean into the most and those that want to be receptive as much as possible are those not direct C suites, but just slightly below them, whether it be in product marketing, sales, operations, what have you. Just finding that partner or just that resource to really advocate for your being within the business is essential and you'll find that out within a couple of days and they'll be your kind of cheerleader throughout the organization to make you more effective and successful in your job role and project there.
[00:11:05] Speaker D: It's tough to find those partners, I think both in a full time role and a fractional role. Stakeholders are fun to work with and bring a ton of knowledge.
[00:11:16] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: And so something really that's not top of mind for a lot of folks is the dynamic change within organizations that are run by PE firms, private one person shows that are startups and then also public companies. The dynamic is drastically different. And you have to be adaptable to all of those businesses and that dynamic because you're coming in and a lot of times you have to be that transitional being so that you can customize your solution and your optimization for that dynamic.
[00:11:56] Speaker D: I like that. The way that you've described it, Glenn, is that, and what I've heard is that you're adding value, like whether it's to the startup or to the P firm backed ecommerce brand or even the publicly traded company, which is awesome. And I think that's great. It makes so much sense as a tactic on ten minute ecom because we're all about adding that value to the community and to ecommerce professional. It is ten minute ecom. There's not a lot of time here. Before we head out today, I wanted to ask you if there's anything else that you'd like to share to your colleagues and peers in ecommerce?
[00:12:31] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: So I think for my peers and colleagues within the Ecom space, feel free to contact me anytime for either just a friendly chat or a business organization that could utilize a fractional leader to come in and provide that experience, that different perspective, somebody that's from the outside and then can look in. Feel free to contact me. We'll absolutely provide you the information and certainly look forward to it. Excellent.
[00:13:01] Speaker D: Glenn, thanks so much again for coming on the show today.
[00:13:04] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Look forward to chatting with you again soon.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Well, we've hit that ten minute mark, so that's a wrap for today's episode. I want to again thank our guest, Glenn Swindell. Bear with me today. I have a very lengthy list of ways that you can support the show. If you have a moment, be sure to subscribe like or follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or wherever it is that you listen. You can also rate and review the show inside your favorite podcast app. Also, you can go to AoV lablab.com and check out more episodes of the show, as well as our vendor network. If you can spare a half hour to take a demo of any of our sponsors, it'll be worth your time. I've hand selected a set of peer tested, proven technologies, including Optiversal, constructor, ecommerce, as well as Espresso and Shopbox AI, who we are helping to introduce to us based retail and ecommerce brands and professionals. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the show. Until next time, this is Andrew Figgins signing off in saying, have a good one. You.
