The motto “ACTIVATING the voice of the customer” speaks it all about the company: RO Innovation

RO Innovation, founded in 2002, is the world’s leading Customer Reference Management platform designed for sales enablement. It is headquartered in the United States. The company works in activating the right content and voice of customers at the right stage of the buyer’s journey, while providing real-time analytics on new revenue driven by customer advocacy. 

Brewing conversation with CEO

Why was the company set up? How did you select the vertical and decide to be a part of the global platform?            

RO Innovation was launched in 2002 when I was looking to solve my own sales challenge: the need to quickly and easily fulfill the requests for customer proof stories in a variety of formats- including live reference calls, video interviews, written case studies, testimonial quotes and more. After realizing first-hand the value, importance and effectiveness of activating the voice of my customers in my own sales cycles, I got hold of the opportunity in the market and thus created a new technology to help people. It’s been almost 15 years now, and I can proclaim RO Innovation is the world leader in customer reference technology.

What kind of mixed responses have you received from your consumers over the years? How have they motivated you and your team in shaping your offerings/grow the company?

Our team has sincerely been listening to our customers’ worries and queries. That is exactly how the company has evolved over the years.  I know that other companies say the same thing about listening to their customers, but based on the business that RO Innovation is in; we have honestly allowed our customers to guide us in each stage of the company’s growth plan. Organizations like- HP, Dell/EMC, Microsoft, Jive, Marketo, and Ceridian continues to help with our growth goals. If a customer is excited about a new feature, a better user experience or a new trending way to manage their sales cycles and marketing content creation, RO listens and builds the suggestion into the RO product roadmap strategy.

Fun Fact:

The company was originally founded under the name References Online. In late 2009, it was rebranded to RO Innovation to reflect the expanded suite of sales enablement solutions offered. The “RO” part in the current brand name pays homage to the original company name. 

What challenges did you face in your initial years? What can your peers learn from it?

The largest challenge previously was about the idea that happy customers are not enough. Having the opportunity to have the customer logos up on a screen in a PowerPoint presentation to a potential new customer is just not enough. We had to get sales and marketing leaders to think beyond the “case study” or the “customer logo slide” and proactively position their customer voice in a manner that guided new revenue creation. The idea and definition of “Total Customer Value”, needed to change and we were on a mission to help B2B Marketing and Sales professionals realize the hidden potential of TCV.

What do you feel are the reasons behind:

Your product popularity

Our solutions, through an agnostic view, connect with existing CRM’s, Marketing Automation Systems and Content Management Systems. This allows Marketing and Sales to align on the most effective ways to close new business - and to get stickier with existing customers. They’re also incredibly intuitive in their functionality, so it’s very easy to use them.

Your consistence growth as an organization

Our priority on our their- customers, talks about real needs, listening and then developing our solutions around those needs. It’s a cultural thing here at RO Innovation. Usually if there is a need by one customer, there is a need by many. We have taken that philosophy and integrated it into everything we do.

How do you and your company contribute to the global IT platform and society at large?

We have skilled developers who that are looking at varied ways to make the constantly evolving voice of the customer an important factor and always integrate it into existing IT B2B platforms. We are not looking to revolutionize and develop new platforms but instead, stay abreast to what is being developed and make it more effective by leveraging the voice of the customer. 

Where do you see you and your company a couple of years from now?

The future of RO Innovation focuses on Customer Engagement and Peer-to-Peer Selling. There is a movement happening centered around selling to prospects and increasing customer retention through the by activation of the voice of your existing customer base. The movement is the future and RO is attempting to provide a product solution that will give the marketplace a real opportunity to achieve their individual company goals.

Roll Out the Red Carpet forthe Founder/CEO, Jim Mooney

Jim Mooney, founder and CEO of RO Innovation, is a seasoned business professional with an extensive background in all levels of sales and business development. Jim holds a B.S. degree in Business from Ft. Lauderdale College. With over 30 years of professional experience, Jim has worked in and with major companies in several industries including High-Tech and Enterprise Software.

In 2002, after seeing a need for a sales technology in the marketplace that could deliver optimized sales tools and customer reference assets to prospects and provide intelligence on when and what tools the prospect engaged with, Jim founded RO Innovation. In his current role as CEO, Jim has strategically guided the company to be a true innovator and pioneer in sales and marketing technology. He has been instrumental in the development and evolution of the company’s customer reference management platform and enterprise-level sales enablement solution, and is always seeking new ways RO Innovation can help enterprises make sales easier, close rates faster, foster better customer relationships and create integrated solutions.

“Through our solutions and services, we leverage the voice of the customer enabling sales and marketing organizations to deliver the right content at the right time throughout the buying process.”