This month we had the pleasure of talking to Dan Craven, Head of Sales at Hyperoptic.
We took the opportunity to find what his role involves, how Hyperoptic are working with property managers and his weekend tea parties.
Tell us about your role at Hyperoptic? What do you do on a day to day basis?
My role is Head of Sales, but that translates into practice as ‘relationship management’ – looking after my team and making sure that our customers, many of which are property managers, are happy and having a good experience. I have a team of fifteen. On a day to day basis they are meeting property managers across the UK to discuss their broadband connectivity problems, outlining how we can work together and managing the whole installation process. This means I can be anywhere, as it’s important that I have an active leading role in these meetings, and that I ensure that our engagement process is consistent and industry leading at all times.
How are Hyperoptic working with Property Managers?
Property managers are a Hyperoptic key stakeholder – we work in partnership with them to install our services into their building. They are normally the first people we approach, and we work to make sure that it’s as administratively easy for them as possible and not disruptive for residents.
When Hyperoptic was first founded in 2011, many property managers (understandably) were a little hesitant about our proposition – after all, a company offering to come and install gigabit-enabled broadband services for no charge would have sounded a little suspicious. Now that we are more established and building across 30 UK towns and cities, our introduction is normally very welcome. Internet connectivity is a top tenant bugbear, so having us come and invest, upgrade and futureproof their digital infrastructure is hugely beneficial. It also makes the freeholders happy, as ultrafast connectivity is proven to positively impact occupancy rates and rental yields.
To ensure that the installation works well, we ensure that every property manager has a dedicated account manager at Hyperoptic. They have full visibility into the project, including clear notifications of works and an opportunity to coincide our visits to when other works are going on. Once installed, they can also use the connectivity for smart IoT applications – many property managers we work with have used it for IPCCTV, door entry systems etc.
What do you feel makes Hyperoptic different in the market place?
Currently nine out of 10 homes and businesses in the UK can only access their broadband through one of two routes – broadband packages from Openreach’s FTTC network and Virgin’s DOCSIS network. In both cases the fibre stops at the green box (cabinet) at the end of the street, and the actual connection into the home is delivered over copper or in Virgin’s case, coaxial cable, which means that users rarely get the advertised speeds and the performance is subject to distance. Although Virgin customers do receive faster connections, its service suffers from peak time slowdowns – typically when people most want to use it in the evening.
Hyperoptic was founded in 2011 to change this status quo and catalyse a step-change in the UK broadband market towards full fibre – the gold standard of connectivity. Our Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure enables symmetrical gigabit (1Gb) speeds – 1,000Mbps (at least 13x faster than BT’s FTTC service). We focus exclusively on urban areas, often in areas and buildings neglected by other providers and network builders.
Who do you admire most in the industry?
Without doubt I would say my CEO, Dana Tobak. She is a fantastic leader – she is always there to help identify an element of detail that makes all the difference. I was over the moon when she received her CBE in the New Year’s Honours List for her services to the digital economy, it really was richly deserved. Her vision and determination have been the catalyst to shift the UK to a superior broadband infrastructure – what a legacy!
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career?
As a salesperson I learnt resilience and self-motivation early on, but what has become clearer to me in recent years is that to maximise your career you have to take ownership of it. You have to have the passion and desire to go that extra mile, to push yourself to pick up that phone when other people are going home, to put in that extra hour to make sure the admin is up to date. If you want to be comfortable then that’s fine, but if you want to progress you have to be prepared to work really hard.
What is your proudest achievement?
I am really proud of the team I have – the atmosphere, drive and desire to succeed is brilliant. We are all pulling in the same direction and it’s a joy to come to work. In terms of my best career moment, I think it was probably when we signed a pioneering deal I was heavily involved in; a landmark block agreement to deploy our broadband infrastructure across the entire council-owned residential estate of Southwark, including the whole of Southwark Council’s housing portfolio, which was over 53,000 residential homes and nearly 1,000 commercial properties.
What drives you crazy about the property management sector?
Ha, it would be career suicide to say anything that isn’t positive. I guess the one barrier I sometimes face is the fact that the property managers are very, very busy people – so getting that first meeting scheduled can be tricky in some instances. That said, we are facing this less and once we have that first meeting it’s normally plain sailing to gigabit greatness!
What do you do away from the office?
My biggest priority out of the office is spending time with my family – I have a three-year-old and a two-year-old, so my weekends are more likely to be spent dressed up having a tea party, rather than relaxing in the bed watching Netflix. Mind you, I do still manage to squeeze in the odd game of rugby and drinks with my friends – it’s can’t be all work and no play!
