CAB Experience with Tim Hughes, author of Social Selling and co-founder and CEO of DLA Ignite
Running Strategic CABs at Oracle: Tim Hughes on Executive Engagement & Human Connection
In this powerful conversation, Irene Yam welcomes Tim Hughes, best known as the author of Social Selling and co-founder of DLA Ignite. Drawing on his years as a sales leader at Oracle, Tim shares hard-earned lessons from co-leading two high-impact Customer Advisory Boards (CABs), including one for GlaxoSmithKline. He breaks down how CABs shaped global product strategy, compressed sales cycles, and strengthened customer trust. This episode goes beyond CAB logistics — it’s about how thoughtful planning, human connection, and executive engagement create business breakthroughs. If you’re designing CABs for impact, this one is a must-watch.
CAB Experience with Tim Hughes, author of Social Selling and co-founder and CEO of DLA Ignite - Transcript
Irene Yam 0:00
So I am super lucky to have Tim Hughes today. Tim has been a mentor of mine. He's actually been a part of leading, facilitating and sponsoring customer advisory boards at Oracle during his Oracle day. So Tim, it's it's really great to have you. Thank you for being here. You're
Tim Hughes 0:20
welcome. Irene, of course, love to come on and talk to you about my experiences.
Irene Yam 0:24
I love that because I think you understand really what cabs are. And let me just take a step back, customer advisory boards are basically where executives from a company handpicks customers to spend some time yearly, over one to two days, typically off site. Sometimes they're flying in customers from all over and actually, that's a good segue to you were a leader at Oracle, and you were bringing some really big customers to meet Larry at at the Oracle headquarters. Could you share some stories around that?
Tim Hughes 1:00
Yes. So there was we ran two types of customer advisory boards. The first one was where we would take clients. And it's a very common thing for Oracle to take clients to Redwood Shores. And so we flew in GlaxoSmithKline, the lifespans organization. So I was actually working at the time for a life science team that was selling into life sciences. So GSK was one of my clients. And what we did is that, as you, as you're probably aware, with Oracle, it's quite we have quite a Oracle has a very large footprint in terms of applications, technology and and then the hardware piece. This was before cloud. And so what we did was that we we got all of the different people from GSK in those areas, and flew them over to Redwood, and then ran two days worth of events.
Irene Yam 1:59
And may I ask, like, it sounds like you had different experts. So would that be, like, three or four or five? Like, how many people were you flying over?
Tim Hughes 2:10
Yes, we, so we had a there was a whole bunch of experts. They, they're quite a very it centric decision making company. So it's quite, that's quite old school. I mean, this is, remember, this is 10 years ago, so things change, right? But, you know, we flew a whole bunch of people over, and we then pretty much had various experts from Oracle coming in and and that was pretty much back to back for two days. It was pretty intensive,
Irene Yam 2:43
yeah, but you got so much done being in person, yeah?
Tim Hughes 2:46
So three of us that were running it, and we actually got permission to go out a week before, because what we wanted to do is that we wanted to check out the rooms and we wanted to we, you know, we wanted to dry run the thing, talk to the people. Because, you know, you always say, people say, you know, you need to put some sort of deck together to prep the people that are coming. And of course, they never, they never look at it. So, so we, you know, we would actually, we'd actually go to the PAs and say, This is the deck. And they say, yeah, they won't look at it. So we had people where they said, where the PA said, well, to get to get to your room takes two minutes, so you you will therefore have two minutes to brief the person. So we then worked out briefings that we were going to do. So we would go and collect the person and then brief the person over two minutes, right? When they hit the room, they was as briefed as you can do in two minutes, but it was about using the time as efficiently as you can and using those experts as efficiently as you can.
Irene Yam 3:56
That if you were the head of sales, would you do the same? Would you fly your big accounts, or your most strategic accounts, to come and talk to your your experts, and have a two or one to two day planning session or or like a cab stress strategy? Yes.
Tim Hughes 4:12
I mean, it was invaluable. Now, what I would say is, because it was a life science organization. They paid themselves because, because they can't be seen as, and I think this is the case with a lot of companies nowadays, that they can't be seen to be having, you know, maybe the you know, we would take them out for a meal, yeah, but the second night, they went out for a meal themselves, because they said they wanted to actually talk amongst themselves. And yeah, and do a wash up on this. But, but, yes, so. But what was it? Yeah, I mean, it was it was it was it changed so many things. First and foremost, you knew you normally only get an hour with somebody, or if it's if it's nowadays, when it's virtual, it's 30 minutes in those. Days you were getting an hour face to face, but it's those corridor conversations that you can have. And one of the things that we did was that one of the people that we had, he was a a note taker, but he was there to watch faces. And I know you talk about this in your book, that it's not just about necessarily what they say. But it's about the odd, you know, when the the eyebrow goes up, yeah or something. And I remember, you know, we got someone really senior in to talk to them. And, and, you know, the quality of the speakers, which just immense, and, and, you know, they would, you know, they were prepped. They had whole load of objections and it, and we were able to tick off those objections, and we couldn't have done and then we took a sales cycle and we and we squeezed it. I mean, you know, we were in a position where they came out of that meeting, and it was a case of saying, so you're going to buy this or not, whereas we just wouldn't ever have had that and we had the relationship. So you're able to, you know, you can pick up the phone to people, or, you know, the ability to, okay, you're not the right person to so can you introduce me? I mean, the ability to the way that we got in, the way that we were then able to move about the account which life sciences for Oracle was at the time before Larry had made a whole load of acquisitions, was, was a very competitive, you know, they were using SAP for ERP. They were using, you know, so it was a, it was a, it was, for us, it was a competitive account. And it just change things so much. Okay, well, I'm
Irene Yam 6:44
going to be a little bit of a bad guy, because I always like to say that cabs are not a sales event, and you just kind of went there on the sales because you were wearing a hat as a salesperson. But I'd like to say a little bit about that these cabs, these things that you fly people in, you're building this true partnership. Like you say, you're getting more than an hour, you're you're building something together. You're building the outcomes together. And I think that's why you asked about the investment. It wasn't like, are you going
Tim Hughes 7:18
to buy it? Sorry if it comes across. You know, I'm a salesperson, so I look at things through a sales lens. You know, we didn't sit there in the event going, buy this, buy this, buy this. We just stood back. You know, you let you. You empower the technical people to do the have the conversations. Yes, and that's that, you know, they're not there to listen to sales people. They're there to listen to the technical people, thank you. They, they do the selling for you, yes, but, but that compacting of the the sales process from a sales perspective, I mean, it was, you know, it was amazing,
Irene Yam 7:51
yeah, but then after that, you're the conduit. Tim, yeah, they know that you can help coordinate all these other experts back at Redwood Shores to have another thoughtful discussion afterwards. Yeah, right. You can stand up a virtual cab, per se, and say, Hey, we know we forgot to get more details. So GSK is expert says we forgot to get more details on that before we want to do compliance and figure out the scope. We'd like to talk to that expert over there, right? And then you were making that happen.
Tim Hughes 8:22
Yeah, the other cab example was more product related. Again, it was in life sciences, but at that time, 10 years ago, Oracle, this was the point where Oracle really started to realize that there was a world out there that they needed to listen. And what we did is that we brought life sciences customers together to listen to them, to say, what are the business issues that you're coming across right now? And the one business issue was about some legislation around serialization, and that's that was about making sure that there's a lot of fake drugs starting to come out onto the market. And it was about making sure that when drugs are being created, even aspirin or paracetamol that they actually had, there was a serial number, and you could track the ingredients right back to the raw materials and and we actually sat down with you know, Oracle. We said, We know this is coming, tell us about it. And what happened was that they told us exactly what we need to do. And then, and this comes across, you know, in your book, you talk about this, and I and in a way, it was that what we did was that we built that exactly how they asked. And then those people became the alpha and the beta sites. That's right, because they felt that they were bought into the, you know, we've, we've built this product to the way that we wanted it. We want to be involved in it. And that alpha and beta team came from that customer advisory board, mm.
Irene Yam 10:00
Know, and and that also later on became that region's high growth is because of that, because customers were design customers, and they needed it, because it was designed for them.
Tim Hughes 10:13
And exactly like you say in the book, what happened was that they were the ones that went out. And because lots of these, life sciences is a very ancestral marketplace. These were the people that then would speak at conferences, and they were the people that were saying, You need to get this
Irene Yam 10:32
and I think it was really, really smart of Oracle to make this investment, because the customers that I've worked with with life sciences, it's not just one buyer. There's multiple buyers, and it's very, very complex.
Tim Hughes 10:46
Rescue is one about remote cabs, because all the ones that I've ever run, what we always got all of the people to the to the to the place,
Irene Yam 10:59
yeah, well, you know, I'm still a proponent to do in person, but there are companies that want to reach more people. They're lean right now. They also can't travel as much. Suggested a series approach. So we would have three series. The first one would be 90 minutes, and subsequent 60 minutes, and then, instead of trying to set up something like a luncheon or a wine tasting room or covid time, they would have like these experiences, try to plan it where it wasn't during an eating time, because you want people to actually be thoughtful during the same time and really spend that 90 minutes together and get the most output out of it. So usually I build a deck, I do a prep slide, I review it with everyone, I give them some homework, because what we don't want is we don't want to waste everyone else's time. And I also talk about being on a virtual cab is all about, actually a synergy both sides. What? What would you like out of it? Not just us telling you. So I will, before this series starts, I will be sitting down with the executives there working out the slide. Do we really need this slide? This was, you know, this is a little too much. Let's shorten it maybe, and it's always this is what happens. Is the client wants to show and tell as much as possible, which is very important. I get it. I want to show and tell. But that devalues the conversation that we can have online virtually. What you don't want is 40 slides and go, Okay, Tim, what do you think? Ask everyone else what they think. And I'm not saying you can't do that, but it's really hard to just then put it back on the cab number. So does that help in terms of
Tim Hughes 12:56
you can? Yeah, it's useful.
Irene Yam 12:58
Yes. The last thing is, make sure that you're following up. Don't just have this, you know, meeting and then just okay, we'll see you on the next series. Bye. Be thoughtful. Take down their information. Follow up. Have someone like me, someone dedicated on the team to follow up. It would be better if it was an executive. Wow, when social, selling your book, yes. Um, did that come before this training, or your DLA. And what does DLA stand for again?
Tim Hughes 13:28
So, so as a company, we call we, we trade as digital leadership associates, which is just a name that I came up with, but it's so long that we needed to call it DLA. And then anyway, we changed the branding. So in terms of my story, I've been in sales for 30 years, and the last 20 years is I've been involved with Oracle, either working for them or working in their channel. I actually ran one of the I actually set up and started a channel partner. And so a lot of it is always been very Oracle related. The second time I worked for them, I worked for them for 10 years, and I worked in their applications team, and it was and in parallel to that, I started getting involved in social media. So I'm just coming up to my 16th anniversary for being on x. What was Twitter? I've been on LinkedIn now for 20 years, and I realized that there was something in social media, but I didn't know what it was, and I worked for a particular innovative sales VP at Oracle who actually supported me. And we did a whole lot. We did all kinds of things, experimenting with social, which involved going out and talking to sales people about it. But in those days, going back 12 years ago, it was mainly about looking people. Up on LinkedIn before you went to meetings right there. We got to the point where the team who sold to government, we actually worked out that we could influence tenders by using social media. And we got a, you know, we got a lot of people saying, oh, yeah, our clients aren't on social media, yeah, but you, you don't know that and and you don't know how to actually to tap into them, to get them to be influenced. I mean, we had major pushback from the public sector team. But once you actually show that you can win deals by being on social media, the whole it changes the conversation. So I was involved in in that, and I knew, I kind of knew what, what was working, and then I got made redundant, and so did my business partner, Adam Gray from Oracle. We were there at the same time, and we set up DLA Ignite, and we built the program that we put together. And our first client was Thomson Reuters. And we've done all kinds of things like we've worked with the Institute of sales professionals, which is a membership organization here, who are trying to be sales, like a chartered like, like Chartered Accountants, but for sales, and they're trying to build that hit here. And we've worked with them in terms of the syllabus, and we now have a certificate so you can get, we're the only people in the world that have a a certificate in in social it's kind of, it's kind of, it, yeah, so it's kind of, it's kind of evolved,
Irene Yam 16:39
yeah, It's, and it's been
Tim Hughes 16:40
interesting, because when we started, everybody laughed at us and said that social media was just a fad and it'll go away. And of course, we said, no, no, it's going to take over the world and everyone's going to be on it. And here we are, and and we were right,
Irene Yam 16:54
that's true, and I know it's called social selling, but I think a really inside, for me, from reading your book, is learning to learn who they are. So I before even getting to talk to you and connecting with you, I did check you out on all these different platforms just to hear who you are, before saying, Oh, can I be a part of your podcast? Or could we connect offline? And that, I think that's, for me, what's really important that you've taught us in this book is that you're teaching us how to be human
Tim Hughes 17:31
and to connect first. That's Thank you. Thank you. I mean, unfortunately, the term social selling is, is, is, it's already there, right? Um, and, I mean, Rob Durant, who, who works with me, is he came up with with the term social enablement, which is probably better, because people think that with social selling, what you go do is you go onto social media and you sell and you don't. This isn't about our social selling is not about connecting and pitching. We have a definition of what it is, which is, I can't remember. It's tough to really offer the note here, using your presence of behavior on social media to build influence, make connections, grow relationship and trust, which lead to conversation and commercial interaction. And what we're doing is that we're teaching people, first and foremost, to have a profile that is interesting to the buyer. Most profiles on LinkedIn are totally bland, and you look like just another sales person. We talk to people about having a digital territory and connecting to people, because if you're not connected to them, you're totally invisible. And the third thing is that we talk to people about having insightful content. Your podcast is an example of that, Irene, rather than, you know, lots of people just putting out content, which is just nothing more than brochures. And we know what brochures say. They say, buy my product because we're great, so buyers aren't going to look at them. I mean, you know, nobody looks at brochures or brochure. You know, people put out case studies, yeah, but I know what your case studies gonna say, or say that you're you're great and, and so nobody reads them. So you know what happens at the end of the day is people by people and and social media is about being social, and it's about empowering your people to be on social media and build relationships and trust with with other people, and that's the way that you'll get you'll make sales today. Yeah, I,
Irene Yam 19:29
I think a lot of people have a hard time being social. And so if you can teach this course, you know, at companies to give to enable them to understand how to share. I think people have less fear because I I think I don't know your book to me, really changed my mind of how to be more on social media. So I'm just so grateful for your time. High five. Um. From the States and from the UK. And
Tim Hughes 20:02
thank you. We, you know, we when Adam and I set up the company. You know, this isn't just about about helping people to sell and generate revenue. It's also about changing people's lives. I was at Salesforce last Wednesday, the one of the teams that we've basically been working with that, they've, they've grown by 180 7% this year. One of the sales person has has earned what he describes as life changing money. Wow. And, and we just, we were just sort of like fairly modest Brits. And he said, No, it was your, you that helped us do this. Wow, and, and, and it's really is about giving people permission, yes, and understanding, and understanding because, because the thing about social media is we don't, we don't generally know what to do. And what we're doing is that we're giving people permission. Because if you send someone to try and have a conversation with somebody on on a direct mail on LinkedIn, you don't get a response, because it's like, what's happening here people, whereas we were used to using Facebook and having direct mail messages or WhatsApp or something like that. And really it's about helping people and and that, and also it's about them find, you know, finding their voice. You know, we've got one of the sales guys who's who wanted to be a rapper, and he still writes poetry, and he does it like quietly, because he didn't think anybody was interested. And we said, we said, Put, put a, put a poem out. He put one up, and his name's Tony, and he put one up, and everyone went, this is just amazing, Tony,
Irene Yam 21:49
that's so great.
Tim Hughes 21:50
And, and you know he, you know he would come up and you know he gives, you know, thank you so much for allowing me to be the person I am, and being able to share that, and no, he's got more fans. Now, this is the change that takes place in in in people when you give them the permission and the and the processes to go out on social and be who they who they are, and share who they are, and share, share the highs, but share the lows as well, because we're interested in people, and we're interested in in in, in where you come from, and when. Why? Why? You know what? What? What's the bricks that are built to you to who you are in
Irene Yam 22:34
your book you talk about, you know, it's not just LinkedIn, it's all the other social media avenues that you need to be on. I was like, Oh, how am I gonna do all this? Right? I know there are systems to do that, right, but I do wanna share with you. A couple weeks ago, I had an old colleague reach out to me. He's in the C suite now, and we were talking, and he's asking me to consider working to get we're going to work together. And he and I were talking about his daughter, and his daughter actually runs a podcast, and she's really brilliant, by the way, but he found my podcast. It's about numb when you're grieving, because I've had a lot of people pass away in my life, and that was why I decided to double down and focus on building more human connections in the business world through customer advisory boards. And he found that, and he said, Irene, that that numb podcast is really good. Like it, it i i heard your voice. I haven't talked yet. That was touching and it and then when I was reading this, I was like, Yeah, it's true. You do need to be on different platforms sharing who you are. So it's true, you need to be on different platforms. We do go
Tim Hughes 23:44
to Amazon and buy the book. That'd great.
Irene Yam 23:46
Okay, you heard that go. All right. Thanks, Tim,
Tim Hughes 23:50
thanks. Irene, take care.
FAQ
What makes an in-person CAB experience valuable for enterprise customers?
Tim explains that face-to-face CABs enable deeper trust, longer engagement time, and spontaneous “corridor conversations” that reveal customer concerns early. These in-person interactions often lead to stronger relationships and more actionable product feedback.
How do CABs accelerate sales or influence competitive accounts?
While CABs are not sales events, Tim acknowledges that thoughtful, technical sessions can organically reduce objections, align product fit, and compress long sales cycles — especially in complex enterprise deals. Human connection leads to commercial confidence.
How do you prepare executives and experts for high-stakes CAB meetings?
Tim’s team used two-minute hallway briefings with PAs to quickly align internal speakers before key sessions. This ensured experts were prepared to address objections and fully use their limited time with CAB members.
What’s the role of customer feedback in shaping new product features?
Tim recounts how Oracle used a life sciences CAB to uncover an urgent need around drug serialization. Customer insights directly shaped the product roadmap, and those CAB participants later became alpha and beta testers — leading to advocacy and growth.
