Meet Tom Ives, the Head of Sales Operations at LilaConnect, who has played a pivotal role in enhancing customer onboarding and building innovative sales structures since joining in 2022. Passionate about mentoring the next generation and driving business growth, Tom has led projects that focus on data-driven strategies and compliance.
Firstly, can you introduce yourself and your role here at LilaConnect?
I’m the Head of Sales Operations here at LilaConnect. My role is to oversee the team responsible for the onboarding of new customers, and renewing contracts for existing ones. My career at LilaConnect started in 2022 as a ‘Telesales Advisor’. Since then I’ve been promoted to ‘Compliance Supervisor’, ‘Compliance Manager’, working my way up to the role I am in now.
A major part of my role – and the one, if I’m honest, I enjoy the most – is creating the data related infrastructures and requirements to enable LilaConnect to define its ambitious goals. The understanding of the business’s data provides LilaConnect with a platform to not only know our customers better but also to define and build tailored solutions for them.
What’s one thing that you are proud of?
I’m immensely proud of my level of commitment to helping the next generation grow, and receive the skills and training that will push them on to career success.
Through our ongoing partnership with Keele University, I took the time to work on a 10-week consultancy project with groups of students from both its business and marketing, and HR courses. This helped them to gain some practical experience in the real world, and the feedback was great. I tasked them with solving a real-life business problem, through the use of creative and data-driven techniques, to develop a data structure for LilaConnect.
Additionally, in a separate project with Keele University, I assisted a group of business students learn how to develop their creativity and problem-solving skills as a part of the week-long ‘Creativity and Personal Development’ course. I also volunteered on a project to help some local T-level students receive some work experience. They spent some time with my team and I, to learn how the business works and how data helps LilaConnect to make better decisions.
What do you like most about the work we do here?
The people and the opportunity. For example, being supported and empowered to establish new processes for the sales side of the business. Which meant I could work with the team to put a highly successful structure in place for compliance and governance, as well as ensuring a transparent performance management and evaluation programme is in place for all salespeople.
This included the development of a sales commission structure from Dec 2023, helping the company give incentives to the salespeople and keep them motivated. I’ve recently been empowered to introduce another innovative monthly fun-incentive structure (gamification sales system) to further encourage the team.
By introducing the ‘LilaConnect Sales Playbook’ we’ve enhanced compliance and onboarding, leading to LilaConnect maintaining exemplary Trustpilot and NPS scores. LilaConnect has maintained an average score of 4.3/5.0 Trustpilot (excellent) with over +900 comments and a consistently high NPS score (70/100), highlighting the effectiveness of our customer service.
Alongside this, it’s the sense of pride in knowing that everything we do enriches the digital lives of our customers. Access to better internet and digital connectivity is such a great enabler, and being able to provide that across areas of historically lower social mobility can be instrumental. We are helping to raise people’s prospects, allowing the formation of companies, new ideas and technologies to be created and to grow, which ultimately benefits us all and goes some way in reducing the digital divide.
What’s next for you and LilaConnect?
LilaConnect has played a major role in making Stoke-on-Trent a Gigabit Full Fibre city. The next steps are focused on maintaining its significant growth trajectory. By the end of 2026 our ambition is to reach 30,000 active customers and to be providing connectivity to one fifth of all residential premises in Stoke-on-Trent.
I’m looking forward to working in collaboration with the team to continue developing the LilaConnect brand, establishing us as a key alt-net ISP and increasing our footprint across the Midlands, North West and beyond.
I’m passionate about our brand and values, and want to ensure that LilaConnect is established long-term as an ISP that continues to be an enabler of the UK’s digital future.
