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Rebuilding the Demand Engine: Buyer Groups, Sales Trust, and Sustainable Growth · Sales Pipeline Radio

• 0:15
  Matt Heinz: All right, we are back live on the marketplace floor
• 0:17
  here at Forrester B2B Summit.
• 0:19
  Thank you so much again, Forrester, for making this possible.
• 0:22
  So many great conversations over the last couple days.
• 0:24
  We are right in the middle of day two of the 2026 Forrester B2B Summit,
• 0:29
  talking to analysts, talking to CMOs, talking to ROI Award winners,
• 0:32
  just having a really great time.
• 0:34
  Very excited to have with us right now the CMO of Rockwell Automation, Brian Hovey.
• 0:38
  Thank you so much for joining us.
• 0:39
  Brian Hovey: Yeah, thank you.
• 0:40
  Matt Heinz: And congratulations on winning a B2B ROI Award.
• 0:42
  That's a very big deal.
• 0:43
  Brian Hovey: Thanks.
• 0:44
  Yeah,
• 0:44
  Matt Heinz: A very coveted award.
• 0:45
  Tell us a little bit more about the programs you have going on
• 0:48
  and what you submitted to win.
• 0:49
  Brian Hovey: Yeah, absolutely.
• 0:50
  Well, appreciate having the opportunity to come on.
• 0:53
  So essentially, back in 2023, the organization was going through some fairly
• 1:00
  significant change coming out of COVID and the pandemic and the supply chain crisis.
• 1:05
  We had also acquired a number of different businesses, and so
• 1:09
  there was a view that the business was really set up for long-term
• 1:13
  growth, and so there was aggressive growth plans that were put forward.
• 1:17
  But when we stepped back and looked at the demand engine that was in place,
• 1:22
  there were some really significant gaps.
• 1:24
  And so the project we worked on was really re-architecting and
• 1:30
  transforming that opportunity-to-demand engine to be able to support the
• 1:36
  overall growth in the business.
• 1:37
  Matt Heinz: Yeah.
• 1:39
  Boy, that opportunity — sometimes we describe that as the messy middle.
• 1:43
  Where you've got — you do a great job building awareness
• 1:45
  and sometimes driving leads.
• 1:46
  And the sales team, they've got their methodology and they've got their whole
• 1:49
  thing, but going from lead to opportunity.
• 1:51
  And not just managing that process, but for your targets,
• 1:55
  it's not just one person.
• 1:56
  We got a large buying group, and a lot of people involved, and a lot of
• 2:00
  consensus-building and confidence-building that has to happen along the way.
• 2:04
  How are you doing that as a CMO, and what are the ways you have
• 2:07
  to integrate with your sales counterparts to make that possible?
• 2:11
  Brian Hovey: Yeah, no, it's a great question.
• 2:12
  Well, actually one of the parts of this project was — you
• 2:15
  talked about buying groups.
• 2:17
  Prior to the changes that we put in place, we really didn't have an
• 2:22
  opportunity-based waterfall that was being executed consistently, and we
• 2:27
  weren't standardized on buyer groups.
• 2:28
  So those are two significant changes, coupled with improving the data
• 2:33
  foundation, that's really helped us in being able to make that move forward
• 2:38
  — to have an effective overall engine.
• 2:40
  And so a couple of things that helped with that.
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  So one, on the data side, we were able to provide a much more robust set of data
• 2:50
  to the sales teams to be able to help contextualize what this opportunity was.
• 2:56
  Second thing is engaging the buyer group.
• 3:00
  As you said, it's a very complex buying process.
• 3:02
  There are a lot of constituents that are involved.
• 3:05
  And so being able to think about all of those different personas — how
• 3:09
  do we effectively market to them, and how do we bring them along
• 3:13
  together — is part of the opportunity process, and was a big step forward.
• 3:18
  Matt Heinz: One of the things — it's so fascinating, of course, the last couple
• 3:21
  days — not only talking about what people are doing right now, but also
• 3:23
  their journeys and what got them there.
• 3:25
  You very rarely see someone in a CMO role step into a sales leadership role.
• 3:30
  But that's what you did.
• 3:30
  You were CMO at Honeywell, and you stepped into a VP of Sales Excellence role.
• 3:35
  I want to hear why, and then I want to talk about what you learned.
• 3:38
  So maybe the two-part question.
• 3:39
  Brian Hovey: Yeah.
• 3:40
  No, absolutely.
• 3:42
  So, one thing I would say is I've been fortunate to work really closely
• 3:46
  with great sales leaders and with sales organizations throughout
• 3:50
  my career, but it was a big step.
• 3:54
  For me, the reason why was — a lot of it was based on need and opportunity within
• 3:59
  the business at that point in time.
• 4:01
  The business was going through a fairly significant change, and a lot of that
• 4:04
  had to do with how do we really drive sales excellence across the organization
• 4:09
  — whether it be about how we're deploying the sales team, how we improve the way
• 4:14
  that they plan and the way they execute.
• 4:16
  So it was a great opportunity for me to step in, and I think that it was also
• 4:22
  a significant learning opportunity for me, because I'll tell you — if you have
• 4:27
  not carried a bag or worked closely with the sales teams, I don't think
• 4:31
  you fully comprehend how difficult it is to be out there on the front lines.
• 4:36
  And so I learned a lot from that, and I think it's helped me as I've moved back
• 4:41
  into the marketing domain, because now I have that empathy, but then I can use
• 4:48
  that to prioritize — are the things that we're doing going to make a difference?
• 4:54
  And so that's been a big help.
• 4:56
  Matt Heinz: So I think that gives you not only knowledge and
• 4:59
  insights, but also credibility.
• 5:02
  I think too often when sales and marketing teams try to work together,
• 5:05
  they may have jazz hands at sales kickoff, but when you get into the weeds,
• 5:09
  they don't always trust each other.
• 5:10
  You don't know what I do, right?
• 5:12
  Or you think I'm just pretty pictures, or you think all I want
• 5:15
  is someone to sign at the end of the night after I give you everything.
• 5:17
  It just gets kind of visceral.
• 5:20
  And sometimes that's not based on what happened at this company.
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  It's based on what happened at your last company, and the
• 5:24
  baggage you brought with you.
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  That's easier said than done, for sure.
• 5:29
  The other unique thing for you — there are so many diverse backgrounds,
• 5:32
  and I feel like we're increasingly seeing more engineers become CMOs.
• 5:37
  Do you have a hypothesis of why that might be?
• 5:40
  Brian Hovey: Well, I think we are in inherently technical businesses.
• 5:45
  But for me, there's an element even about why I became an engineer — this
• 5:55
  inquisitive nature around how things work.
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  And so that's something that's always been there for me, and it's
• 6:04
  what made engineering attractive.
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  It's why moving into businesses that develop solutions was
• 6:14
  a logical step and somewhere that I've really felt comfortable
• 6:18
  and where I could thrive.
• 6:20
  And I think that having that degree of technical knowledge, but then
• 6:30
  the interest in really learning and engaging and asking the questions,
• 6:37
  has helped as I've engaged with our customers and our engineering teams.
• 6:42
  I feel like I have enough credibility and enough knowledge that I can ask the right
• 6:47
  questions, but then I can learn so much, and I think that degree of inquisitiveness
• 6:56
  also helps people open up.
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  Which then I can take back and use that knowledge to influence the
• 7:03
  things that we do, the way we engage with our customers, the programs
• 7:06
  we put in place out in the market.
• 7:09
  Matt Heinz: Talking here on the Forrester B2B Summit floor with Brian Hovey.
• 7:12
  He's the VP of Global Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer at Rockwell Automation.
• 7:16
  Can we talk about Automation Fair?
• 7:17
  Brian Hovey: Yeah.
• 7:17
  Matt Heinz: That sounds like so much fun.
• 7:19
  15,000-plus attendees last year.
• 7:21
  Create-what's-next theme last year.
• 7:24
  Your quote: "We're all here with the same mission to create what's next
• 7:26
  for our teams, our customers, and the industries we serve." Some people
• 7:31
  are more natural at creating things.
• 7:34
  Some people may be more risk-averse in doing that.
• 7:36
  How do you create an environment at Automation Fair to make that safe,
• 7:40
  fun, and productive for people?
• 7:43
  Brian Hovey: Yeah.
• 7:45
  Having — still being relatively new to Rockwell, I've just been amazed at what
• 7:49
  the team does with Automation Fair.
• 7:52
  It is a massive event, and it's a multi-layered engagement approach.
• 7:58
  We train technical engineers who work on our products day in and day out.
• 8:05
  That's one part.
• 8:06
  We're engaging with C-level audiences.
• 8:08
  So I think part of it is that creation comes by meeting people where they are,
• 8:15
  by talking to them about what matters in a contextual manner, and then creating a
• 8:22
  safe space to have those open discussions.
• 8:24
  And, as a company, we have the benefit of having 100-plus years of
• 8:33
  experience that we bring to bear.
• 8:35
  So there's a level of trust, but you have to keep earning that trust.
• 8:39
  It's engaging with customers, talking to them about the problems and challenges
• 8:45
  they're facing, and then engaging with them on solutioning — that's
• 8:51
  where the real excitement comes in.
• 8:53
  So it's a great opportunity.
• 8:54
  Lots of big machines moving around, good discussions to be had.
• 8:59
  Matt Heinz: I love it.
• 9:00
  And when I think about a fair, I think about — show me what you got.
• 9:02
  Brian Hovey: Yeah.
• 9:03
  Matt Heinz: Right?
• 9:03
  And so this isn't you coming and getting a bunch of experts telling you what to do.
• 9:06
  This is going to be all of us working together to find common solutions.
• 9:10
  I think another one of those angles that I've seen at Automation Fair is that
• 9:14
  sustainability as part of manufacturing — the sustainability opportunity and
• 9:18
  maybe even mandate for manufacturers to get smarter in the industrial sector.
• 9:24
  Talk about what you've done — obviously Rockwell, well known as an automation
• 9:28
  vendor, but really helping to position it as a sustainability enabler
• 9:33
  for the industrial sector as well.
• 9:34
  Brian Hovey: Yeah.
• 9:34
  No, it's a great point.
• 9:39
  You think about the way manufacturing processes work, the energy
• 9:45
  consumption, the potential for waste.
• 9:49
  So we've attacked sustainability in a number of different facets.
• 9:53
  One, clearly, is looking at our operations.
• 9:55
  And so how can we be more sustainable in the way our plants
• 9:59
  work, the way our enterprise runs?
• 10:02
  But then, how do we work with customers to not only help them solve
• 10:07
  their problems around resiliency,
• 10:12
  uptime, revenue, growth, but also then work with them so that it's
• 10:16
  not an either/or proposition.
• 10:18
  They can achieve those objectives while doing so sustainably.
• 10:22
  So, thinking about the design of solutions so that it minimizes power consumption.
• 10:28
  Matt Heinz: Yeah.
• 10:28
  Brian Hovey: Thinking about the way things are produced to minimize waste.
• 10:32
  Like, if you're thinking about food production or something along those lines.
• 10:36
  If you can reduce tolerances, you're limiting the waste, which
• 10:40
  has a cost savings, but it also has an environmental benefit as well.
• 10:45
  So I think helping with that — the "and" versus the "either/or"
• 10:50
  — Matt Heinz: Yep.
• 10:51
  — Brian Hovey: is really the key for us from a manufacturing standpoint.
• 10:54
  Matt Heinz: Well, I think so often you see people do greenwashing and
• 10:56
  green PR, and we try to have an angle because we want the optics, or we want
• 11:00
  our investors to think we're doing it.
• 11:01
  But doing it where you actually have the impact as well, in a way that you
• 11:04
  can be proud of, that your customers and employees can be proud of — that's a great
• 11:07
  story that can bring people together.
• 11:09
  That's awesome.
• 11:10
  I've noticed you've been doing some advisory board work as well.
• 11:12
  And usually when I see someone doing advisory work, oftentimes that is unpaid,
• 11:15
  oftentimes it's sort of volunteer.
• 11:17
  But it indicates someone's ready to give back — taking some of the knowledge
• 11:19
  and skills and experience you have to help the next group coming up.
• 11:22
  Talk about your interest in advisory work and what you're trying to achieve there.
• 11:25
  Brian Hovey: Yeah, absolutely.
• 11:27
  I'll talk about two different things.
• 11:28
  One is the advisory work that I'm doing with Aviso, but I'll also touch
• 11:34
  on a nonprofit that I'm working with.
• 11:37
  With Aviso — they were actually a partner that we worked with
• 11:40
  when I was back at Honeywell.
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  We had worked with them in the sales domain on how you effectively manage
• 11:50
  opportunities, how you think about deal scoring, and that sort of thing.
• 11:55
  They're a great company in terms of how they're an AI-first organization,
• 12:00
  new ways to approach problems, and they're consistently innovating.
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  So it's been great to be able to engage with them — as a former client
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  and now someone who can help provide some context to them as they're
• 12:15
  continuing to grow their business.
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  That's been really exciting.
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  The other thing is I'm on the board for a nonprofit that's focused on STEM.
• 12:26
  So, you touched on engineering and being in the technical domain — this
• 12:31
  organization, called Digi-Bridge, is a Charlotte-based organization focused on
• 12:37
  helping with Title I schools, those who
• 12:43
  are underrepresented.
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  How do you build that passion, that interest, and the aptitude around
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  not just STEM, but we talk about STEAM — so the art element as well.
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  It's just been such a rewarding experience to work with them, to
• 12:59
  look at how they can continue to grow the impact they're having.
• 13:03
  They're working with 38 schools today, and we're working on their
• 13:07
  strategic plan to grow the impact — these are the next scientists
• 13:11
  — Matt Heinz: 100%.
• 13:11
  — Brian Hovey: maybe the next CMOs
• 13:13
  — Matt Heinz: 100%.
• 13:13
  — Brian Hovey: that are gonna be out there, and so super exciting work.
• 13:16
  Matt Heinz: I love that.
• 13:17
  My wife teaches at a Title I school
• 13:19
  — Brian Hovey: Oh, great.
• 13:19
  — Matt Heinz: back up in Seattle.
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  She's a reading interventionist.
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  And for those of you who don't know, to qualify as a Title I school,
• 13:26
  at least half of your students have to qualify for free or reduced lunch.
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  So these are kids that don't have the advantages that a
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  lot of other people have.
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  And so I love that there are programs like this to not only give greater
• 13:37
  opportunities, but help kids build confidence in themselves — confidence
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  in who they are and who they can become, that they may not get
• 13:45
  in other places in their lives.
• 13:47
  And just having lived and watched and heard what my wife has done in
• 13:51
  her school — just the impact a great teacher can have, the impact programs
• 13:56
  like that can have for kids — she sees them in elementary school, and then
• 14:01
  when they graduate from the nearby high school, a lot of them come back.
• 14:04
  And you don't know their full story — they're only done with high school,
• 14:07
  but she says it's amazing to see these kids that really struggled in life in
• 14:11
  second and third grade, and now have confidence and esteem, pun intended, to
• 14:16
  go do some really interesting things.
• 14:17
  And I don't know — I think about what we do here in sales and marketing, and
• 14:21
  this is great, but what you're talking about there is just foundational stuff.
• 14:25
  That's right.
• 14:25
  So thank you for doing that.
• 14:26
  Brian Hovey: Yeah, absolutely.
• 14:27
  Matt Heinz: Awesome.
• 14:27
  Well, thank you so much for joining us here, so
• 14:29
  — Brian Hovey: Yeah, appreciate it.
• 14:30
  Matt Heinz: Yeah,
• 14:30
  appreciate it.
• 14:31
  Brian Hovey: All right.
• 14:31
  Thank you.