Secrets of my success: Chris Underhill, Chief executive,smartFOCUS

I soon realised my brain was more attuned to selling software products than coding them, so I went to work for Thorn EMI Computer Software, quickly moving from a technical role into sales. From there, I moved from decision support software to hardware, working for Computacenter and ICL Multi Vendor Computing.

It was a fantastic time and gave me a great grounding in what makes people want to buy a product. I learnt how to maximise different channels to market, working with distributors, resellers, catalogues and off-the page advertising, corporate sales and telemarketing. At one time I even had a PC superstore at my disposal after making a deal with a large PC retailer.

My shift from sales to marketing was cemented when I moved to Computer2000, where I was responsible for a team of product marketers, often with 40 competing product lines and thousands of stock-keeping units to manage. With a fusion of product and relationship marketing, it was challenging taking companies like Microsoft, HP and Cisco to market; however, it taught me a valuable lesson - that being too far away from the end customer can give you a distorted view of reality, and knowing about what makes a customer tick is incredibly valuable for marketers.

From this experience, I gained the support and knowledge I needed to build smartFOCUS and grow it as a company where we help marketers create and use customer insight to deliver greater business success.

Of course, when building a business, you should expect to be personally committed, put in the hours, and do what it takes to develop a successful company. The real challenge is motivating the people around you to do it as well.

By having a clear vision, both for my business and the people in it, we have created something we all want to be a part of. It has built a sense of a collective goal that drives everyone to be a winner and to become successful, creating a powerful momentum that our people and our customers identify with positively. This feeling has been a defining factor in the great companies that I have worked with. Yet to make it happen takes more than just determination, persistence and an unyielding will to succeed. In my view, passion is one of the biggest instigators of great things, and creating passion in smartFOCUS has underpinned our success.

Of course without healthy dollops of experience and skill, it wouldn't work, either. Mixing this with a culture where the value of each team member is recognised and success is encouraged has sparked the momentum in smartFOCUS, creating a winning formula.

This method instils a quiet confidence that assures people of their own actions and decisions, which ultimately leads to better business results.

My last piece of advice involves a degree of self-awareness but is meant to be helpful. It is: don't be the problem! Build the right team around you that can take the business forward, with people you can trust. I've been lucky working with some talented and motivated people, full of entrepreneurial spirit, passion and a massive will to win. I want to recreate those feelings in all the people I work with, share their trust and be successful.

CV
Climbing the ladder
1986-1988 Sales, Thorn EMI Computer Software
1988-1991 Sales, Computacenter
1991-1996 General manager, ICL Multi Vendor Computing
1996-1997 General manager, network & communications division, Computer
2000
1997-1998 Managing director, Informed Networks
1998-present CEO, smartFOCUS Group
Secrets
- Invest in people who share a passion for success
- Have a vision and culture that people can be successful within
- Build the team you need, which you can trust