Life in the channel
DRIVING THE CHANNEL FORWARD
AOC’s Paul Butler reflects on four decades in displays, the power of relationships, and why his channel growth drive doesn’t stop revving.
How did you get into the industry? What did the channel look like then?
‘Te channel’ has many different connotations to many people. For my career to date, I have always been in displays – CRT Monitors, TVs, Business screens, LCDs, LEDs and more recently OLED displays covering over 40 years. My emergence in the channel was back in 1992 when I was approached by a vendor to start a new brand company. My boss at the time didn’t take kindly to my departure with his key supplier, so I told myself that I was going to succeed despite his disdain. It was a shame, as he and I had worked well together for 13 years with a good relationship, but it was a good lesson in company management, and I decided then that I would never treat any employee or team member the same way. In 1992, the channel was quite disparate – there was no internet,
and everything was about relationships. With a good brand, great products, a fabulous team behind me and some outstanding customers – many still prevailing and successful – we grew fast and furiously, going from zero to £35million revenue in four years. Tat company is still going strong today, albeit under different ownership. Over the years, I moved around the world, living in Taiwan for
four years and the Netherlands for another four years, moving into consumer electronics, OEM business, and creating another startup brand. It was when I was in Taiwan that my employer at the time went chapter 11, and I had to make a path for myself to get back into the UK channel – this was challenging during a difficult financial period. It was 2009, and I took a job as an analyst for one year, but it didn’t suit me as much as I thought it would. I love analysing data – give
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me a spreadsheet and a request report, and I will write you a business case, but my love is in the execution, not the theory. In 2010, I got the opportunity to work for AOC, followed by the
Philips monitor brand, and since then, I haven’t looked back. I have put everything I’ve learnt into this role to create one of the best and most versatile teams in the channel today – one I’m very proud of. We have grown the business by over 400% in those years with consistent, solid profitability despite the challenges of the supply chain, Covid-19, and political interference over the years.
How would you describe your leadership style, and how has it evolved? I have always led by example with any team. One of the things I have learnt in a sales environment is that if you set the targets at a reasonably achievable stretch number and you build parameters around that and support your team, they will work as hard as you need to achieve that number. If the target is clearly beyond reach, they lose faith, KPIs are not hit,
pay packets are not achieved, and there becomes a poor spirit within the team. If the target is too low, the work balance becomes affected, and the team become bored and unenthused. We have a group of team KPIs that the team focus on, and I have to say they have exceeded the high targets we have set, but there is a downside. We also need to ensure the team have the benefits of taking time to
manage their work-life balance at busy times and ensure the company provides the avenues to do that. My team know that I will only judge results, that there is no micro management, and that it’s down to the
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