Being strong believers in certain values, we’ve always known that NOT everybody can fit in well with us. And it did not bother us, because at Clever++ we like to be surrounded by people who share these values – just like a small family. But when we had our first chat with Flo and discovered that we have common principles towards high-level customer care and work ethics, we felt the click right from the start.

Flo is our new Head of Marketing and Business Development. No need to say that we will celebrate this special occasion with cakes and drinks during our soon-to-come team building event, but as a preamble, we decided to present a short article to get to know him better.

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Flo, how did you start your career in Marketing and Business Development?

The story began many years back and I like to believe that it is actually quite a strong life lesson. It makes you think deeply about destiny, but at the same time, it speaks about doing everything in your power to carry it through, once you are handed that opportunity.

Long story short, while living in England, my wife decided to take on post university studies, so I showed what a supportive hubby I was and accompanied her to the interview. I remember like it was yesterday – a big sports hall, filled with lots of booths for every curriculum, where students were interviewed by Heads of Departments.

As I was waiting for her to finish, I was approached by the Head of Business Development Department who was on a break and asked me what course I enrolled for. The whole conversation is still blurry in my head, but it ended with me rushing back home to bring proof of my previous studies and coming out as a fresh Middlesex University student. What followed next is a tale filled with sleepless nights juggling a job, marriage, a newly-born kid, but what matters the most is that many years later, I still think it was the moment that changed my life for the best.

The years that followed were spent at two of the highest-regarded companies in the UK Travel sector. They will always bring back fond memories of friendship and camaraderie, of colleagues that would do anything in their power to support you. These years instilled in me the passion for Digital Marketing and helped me develop strong work ethics and principles.

Your superpower is…?

It’s no doubt that working with numbers of post views, website visitors, clicks or other analytics has made me a very competitive person, and I always like to raise the bar higher.

But beyond my professional abilities, I think I have this ‘superpower’ to draw the right people with the right attitude around me. I have always believed in helping others. Showing that you are willing to sacrifice a bit of your time to help a colleague achieve a task will go a long way. No matter how hard they are, things will always seem easier if you work as a team.

What was your biggest challenge so far?

The biggest challenge was when the pandemic struck. It was a really strange feeling seeing that no effort works anymore. For a few months we witnessed how the world was shutting down and I realised how vulnerable we all were. Luckily, no pandemic could shut down the internet and I spent the lock-down period studying to refresh my certificates.

eCommerce development seems to have taken a huge leap. How do you feel about it?

Indeed, the pandemic generated positive outcomes too. First, the trends in consumer behaviors changed a lot.

Apart from that, two other interesting tasks have been keeping our team engaged to the max. The first one involved working on an improved way to deploy new e-People are not reluctant to buy online anymore. In fact, seeing that they can get better prices, for some it has slowly become the main means of shopping. Second, the strong momentum that online shopping is having has forced the market for eCommerce platforms to become very competitive.

There are many no-frills options for small businesses, like Shopify or WooCommerce, but as a medium to big retail business, you don’t want to have just any online shop, you want to present your customers with a special website, so that, when they land on it, you want them to feel that they open the doors to a unique shop, with a unique story. At the same time, you will want a solid platform, integrated with the best tools and systems, to tackle all the complexities of modern eCommerce, so for complex projects, the clear winners for me are Magento and its strong competitor, Shopware.

How would you describe your life in terms of leisure time? Do you have any hobbies?

It might seem like a cliche but family is an important part of my life, and I always try to get them involved in everything I do. Having shared passions will help us spend more time together. And as it’s wintertime, we’ve only just got back from a short ski trip. We try to stay active and a few days in the mountains surrounded by friends and enjoying fresh air and lots of activities are definitely the answer for a healthy body and mind.

Another favorite pastime is looking after our pets. We have 3 cats and 2 dogs, and you will often find us taking long walks with the dogs in the forests surrounding our place.

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