What Our Most Successful Clients Are Doing In February with Team BlueOcean

As businesses move through Q4 and look ahead to 2026, many teams are asking the same question. Should we slow down or should we be gearing up for the year ahead? In this episode of B2B Inspired, Dale Kenny and Freyja Slavin unpack one of the most important topics in B2B marketing right now. How to use the December and January period to create strategic clarity, build momentum and set your marketing function up for a stronger financial year.

Dale and Freyja explore the misconceptions around the New Zealand summer slowdown, why customer insight matters more than ever during this period, and how teams can remove friction and add value when clients are feeling stretched. They discuss the role of AI inside marketing teams, the mindset shifts required for better planning, and what opportunities they believe will shape 2026. This is a candid, practical conversation designed to help marketers think ahead with confidence and operate with intention

For more B2B insights, ideas and opportunities, head to www.blueoceanagency.co.nz

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Transcript

Setting The Q4 Planning Agenda

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Particularly as we drive towards E4 and the end of the year and coming into 2026 as well. For those of you who don't know Dale, Dale has hosted this podcast before, so you might be familiar with him, but he's our resident marketing strategist and has 10 years of experience building and scaling marketing strategies here at Blue Ocean. So we're really highly honoured to have you.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

You said it's a special treat. The special treat for me is being in the guest seat here. That's awesome. Looking forward to the conversation. What are we unpicking today?

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Well, I thought that the most relevant thing that we could talk about today was how we are moving towards Q4 or the end of Q4, and we're starting to move into planning for Q uh for 2026. We've had some really interesting conversations with our clients recently around what the strategic priorities should be at this time of year. We've had mixed sentiment around whether it's actually should we be taking our foot off the gas? Nothing really happens until February. So, you know, what should we even be doing? Um, we're not sure about what's going to be happening in April when we've got our financial planning. Uh, so maybe we should just back off. Or we're having the conversation that this is the time. Like now is the time to be putting the rubber to the road and thinking about what we're going to be doing next year. So I would love to dig into that today with you.

The New Zealand Holiday Mindset

SPEAKER_00 2:09

I I think it's such an interesting area. I mean, coming from like both of us are from the UK, and you take like seven days of holiday over Christmas in the UK, and maybe you do two weeks in summer, but otherwise it's pretty much pedaled to the metal all the way through. New Zealand has this sort of nine-month financial year where you'd lose December, you lose January, and then you lose most of March or whatever that crossover month is from end of financial to new financial. And I I don't know if I think you've probably seen the same thing as well, but what ends what seems to happen quite often, particularly I think in that sort of SME and in that mid-market space, is you come to the end of your financial year. So let's say it's March, right? You wrap your financial year up in March, and then on the 1st of April, you start working out what the fuck you're gonna do for the financial year that's just started. So you have a plan by you know, May, mid-May, you start putting the bricks and mortar together in sort of June, July, you hit the rubber, you know, the rubber hits the road in August, and then you've got September and October, and then you're sitting there thinking, oh geez, Christmas is coming. Really should we push? So you've got so few effective months if you take that approach, which is just madness to me.

SPEAKER_03 3:23

We are only six months in, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:24

You've made a great point that you know November is actually only six months into your financial year, so yeah, but you yeah, but like you said, you've that that that mindset, I think particularly in B2B as well, where I don't want to call out the I don't want to I don't want to drive more of a wedge between the sales and marketing camps, but like salespeople aren't selling much in January, generally speaking, you know, that mindset of oh, the customers aren't back yet. Um we'll just come back somewhere around the 26th. Um wait to see if we I'm waiting to see if Lee uh pops his head. We're recording in the Blue Ocean office today, which is really nice.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Oh, we are, yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Um, hopefully I haven't ruffled any feathers. Um, but yeah, it's one of those things that I mean, if I look at some of the really, really smart marketers um that we work with, they are the ones who look at January as this this moment of like a month of like uninterrupted zen when they can actually think about what's happening in the year ahead, they can they can look at the plan, they can look at the budget, and yeah, the numbers aren't final, but you know what? You're gonna be within 25% either way at this point, right? You know, by the time you're back in January, the race is nearly run. And if you if it's likely to be derailed massively, then actually you've probably got a problem there as well. Um so yeah, taking that that that January and I suppose early February period to actually do the the strategic work before you're before you're supposed to be delivering it. Um, you know, if you if you can get to that point of having a jump on it that on let's say April 1st, you've already got your budget squared away, you already know what the plan of attack is. Suddenly you widen your window from um, you know, what we talked about before of having that sort of really, really, really compressed time in market to put stuff to work to actually having a full run. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

You're not talking about tactics now, are you? You're talking about actual stratic work. Because I think that if teams start to think about the tactics at this time of the year, they very well might paint themselves into a corner. But you're talking about building out the strategic direction um and thinking about what that looks like in person.

Start Planning Before The Financial Year

SPEAKER_00 5:35

If I got that wrong, yeah, yeah, but I I think it crosses over into the tactical planning piece as well, because ultimately if if you're if you don't have the tactics to back your strategy up, then it's it's just a nice series of well-researched thoughts. Um, but if you can take that approach that says, okay, well, let's do the the real strategic review, you know, let's look, let's look at the numbers, let's see how the customers are behaving, let's see how the market's behaving, the competition, whatever. Um, get a good read on how the financial year is likely to play out. Um, you know, recognizing that by mid-January, if your financial year ends in March, yes, there's probably a few deals that are likely to fall either way. Um, but you know, you're gonna be relatively sure of where that's gonna end up. And if you're not, you should be, go and find out. Like just as a little ask here, if you are a marketer who doesn't know how the financial year is looking, do the entire discipline of favor and go and find out. Um, but yeah, I mean at that point, you should have a fair idea of what's gonna be possible um like financially and then next in the next year as well. So you I think you can tackle both halves of the coin. Um, you know, you can definitely get a jump on the strategic direction, was last year's valid, does it need to change, what do we need to respond to, what do we need to plan around? But then equally have a like a good better best, um, to quote um to quote James, your old boss, um, you know, approach to to tactical planning. You know, like if you if you're expecting that you're gonna come in at 75% of your um year's budget, like from a revenue and performance perspective, plan a 75% plan, you know, based on having 75% of the dollars that you think you could have. Do the 100%, do the 125. They could put a best approach so that when April 1st comes round, you're not going back to the drawing board. You're able to say, no, we've got strategic clarity, actually. By the end of the month, we've got stuff happening.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

So you're already you're already starting to make those moves. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Yeah, in theory. In theory.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

What do you see? What do you see as as uh are there any roadblocks to that actually happening? Because it's all very good to sit here on our ivory tower and say, do this stuff early, but you know, there are still constraints, otherwise it would be more prevalent.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

All the constraints, of course, are already meeting the you know the things that you've already said that you're going to do by the end of the year. I think that's um I think people see it as a bit of a race to the finish. Uh so people, while they might feel like they could potentially slow down, it is actually there's a there's a long list of things to do and and to have done by the end of the year. So it's almost a little bit of a race to the finish as well, I think.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Oh, it absolutely is. And I mean that whole piece around um, you know, sales taking half of December and most of January off. Sorry, Lee. Uh he's not, by the way, that's not. But that whole piece around, you know, nothing really happens in the second half of December, nothing really happens in January, it does place that huge, I suppose, stress and burden on what can we close in February, what can we close in March. So all of the energy in the headspace is often for those two months just on close, close, close, close, close. And from a marketing perspective, it's what can we do to have more opportunities to close now. Um which does put a lot of constraint, I suppose, on on your available headspace and time. Um but uh if you've got the opportunity to to have that sort of two-week run in in January to actually take a breath, take a beat, and say what needs to happen, um, I think it's a really good window of time. Um yeah, whether you do that by yourself or whether you actually recruit help, I think is a is an is another one as well. Because, like you said, you've always got that tension of um we had a plan, we had a budget, we need to deliver and we need to execute on that. So you kind of I suppose there's that whole notion that you know nothing stops, nothing is allowed to stop while this piece of work happens. And if you haven't carved out the space and time as a business or as a function to actually tackle the strategic piece, then I suppose actually tapping someone on the shoulder who can help you with that is a good idea. Um yeah. So it's an interesting one, it's always an interesting time of year. This um the sort of yeah, November into December, and look into the new financial year.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

So, firstly, let's unpack that myth a little bit around nothing actually happens over December and January. Let's uh from what we understand and what we see in the market, because you know we've got a unique perspective in terms of uh the scope of businesses that we work for, and also there's some recent research published around um people uh calling to attention the fact that actually people are often on their phones uh scrolling.

Strategy First, Then Tactics

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Yep. I I suppose that that there are there are two halves to that question. One is the one is the the marketing access piece, which is can we actually put something to market or to an audience in a way that will land while they're at the beach uh or at the batch or on the boat or whatever that looks like. Um, and then there's the other piece around, I suppose, whether sales actually happen and whether they don't. Um I I think what it comes down to there is is nuance. Um, you know, at the end of the day, if you're gonna be running a real hard and fast sales promotion targeted at business owners and heads of procurement that runs between the 21st of December and the 5th of January, then yes, you're wasting your budget. Like you're basically putting dollars on a bonfire at that point. But if you look at a different level or a different stage of the sales journey, the sales funnel, um for a lot of for a lot of people that's a time of um, I suppose casual introspection, you know, it's that time of year where yes, you're doing family things, but equally on your mind is what are we doing for the year ahead? What might we do different? How could we see things from a different lens? So if you're addressing from a, I suppose, a marketing execution perspective, um, at that higher, not yet problem-aware, yet aware, not possibly solution-aware level, then actually there's opportunity to add value there. And so long as you come at it, I suppose, from the perspective of how can we add value to this person in a time of introspection, yeah. Um don't go radio silent.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

I just had exactly the same conversation with Nicola. I actually asked her this question. Uh so Nicola O'Rock, if for context for the listenership, is uh previous podcast that we recorded. So do go listen to that. It's fantastic. Um, and I asked her this exact same question. So she is across several uh boards, she's involved with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise as a beachhead advisor, so she has a great perspective on this. Um, and she said, um, don't sit in the boardroom and you know, work on your numbers. Get out there and talk to your customers and ask how can we remove friction over this time of year? Um, how can we add value? What are they feeling at the moment? They're obviously probably feeling quite stressed. Um, and that instead of spending heaps of time as a marketing department figuring out what corporate gifts we can send out, start asking the question: where can we remove friction over this period of time for our customer base in a way that is memorable and that adds value? I thought it's a fantastic answer.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

That's it's it's such an interesting angle. I really like that. Um I also enjoy corporate gifts. I throw the baby out with the bathwater on that one completely because who doesn't love a good hamper and a bottle of whatever? Or um for the one person who's listening who will get this a uh a rotating cheese board. Um but uh yeah, that PC around friction is such an interesting one because you know that this time of year, particularly again, if you're sort of in that sort of small and medium um market space, particularly if you do a lot of uh if you're in a service-based business where your ability and your time in the day to either produce or work on a project is your ability to charge and and bill, you know, everyone's looking down the barrel of three weeks without any work being delivered, which means cash flow. You want to make sure that you're paying your staff over that period of time. I mean, we were talking to a client the other day in the um in the construction sector, and they said that you know they they've got this real issue that regularly, if you if you know, if you invoice on um first of month for payment on the 20th of the month, that payment on the 20th of December just almost never happens in some trades and some some industries. So there's that knock-on effect of um, okay, well, we're not getting paid, so we've got no cash running through the business, which means we're being risk-averse and we don't make decisions now. And if you look at that from a, I suppose through the marketing lens, and you apply, okay, well, maybe price is part of the remit of the marketer's skill set, then if you as a provider or as a business have the ability to actually be flexible on some of those things like payment terms, you might find that you can actually light sales up. It will still happen within the same financial year, so they're still gonna, you know, reflect on your end-year numbers, but you've got the ability to actually, I suppose, expedite um sales that otherwise would be deferred, and you'd be in that sort of decision paralysis state. You know, if you couldn't if you can make a decision in December for a tranche of work that you're selling that can happen in in January, but that your customer is afraid of the cash flow piece. One of the one of the best pieces of advice that that was ever given to me from um from a sales leader was I was working in the marine industry, and they he he used the phrase that if if someone is able to put down even a tiny amount of money to secure something, so if you've got a hundred dollars of someone's money, there's a hundred reasons why they'll spend the rest of it. Um so if you actually look at that from a perspective of okay, cool, well what are what are the ways that we can remove friction and remove fear from the way that we structure what we sell, um, so that we can, you know, for example, secure that hundred dollars of you know, metaphorical deposit in December to secure the rest of it, it just means that you're actually able to add value, you can come at it from a helpful space and yeah, keep things moving when they otherwise might not.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

Yes, I think you've hit the nail on the head with momentum, isn't it? Because a lot of marketing is consistency and momentum and how you show up day after day and you just can't have two weeks where you don't do anything.

Constraints And End‑Of‑Year Pressure

SPEAKER_00 15:54

When nothing happens, yeah. I mean there's there's yeah, there's there's definitely like there is a period of time there when yeah, you've got to be choiceful and selective about what it is that you're doing, and of course take a break. Go and get some sand between your toes and salt in your hair and whatever else like that. That's so important. Um, but yeah, the the world doesn't have to stop because of the assumption that it does. Yeah. How like you and I are quite quite different when it I think when it comes to the way that we that we uh approach certain things. Like you're a very myth, I don't want to paint myself into a corner here. You're a you're a really structured, you're a really methodical, like put it this way. If if there were in the context of this conversation, you're the person who's much more likely to have pre-organised the planning in January than I am.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

I'm probably more the person who will, you know, think along the way while they're out and doing things. But uh if the context of the conversation here is how can how can marketers, how can businesses actually make that that that early calendar year into financial year piece work?

SPEAKER_03 17:05

What would you do as a marketer? I think that we have a complimentary, definitely complimentary skill set because then I can uh come in behind the creative and and kind of like to make things happen. I'm definitely more action, I definitely take a very action-oriented approach to doing this. So I like to enjoy my time off and make sure that everything is uh consolidated and finalized by the end of the year. Um, and I like to make sure that the team is set up for success as well. So I think that I would be, um, if I worked in an in-house marketing team, I'd be really focused on the people and what they wanted to achieve over the year. Um, I would take a bit of a retrospective approach, but I would definitely be looking at what the customers um are saying, what the sentiment is in market and how we can remove those friction um pieces. Huge fan of design thinking as well. So a huge fan of asking the question, how might we? Yep. Um which I know you are as well. Um so I'd be using this time to, yeah, strategically think very strategically about what we will do in the um when we come back in January. I don't want anybody coming back and sitting at their desk and not knowing what to do.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

Um that would be something that I would try and actively avoid.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah. No, that's interesting. I mean, if you if you look at that example, you know, coming back earlier in the conversation uh to Nicola's comment around um maybe spend less time working out the corporate gifts and more time working out how to reduce friction, I think there's probably an opportunity in there as well for for for if you are going down that sort of corporate gifting route as well, to actually use that as an opportunity to gain some customer insights. You know, I think the value of a lunch with a client um in December, which value for everyone, but it's the opportunity to exchange, have that retro, like see what's happened in the year past, talk about what's happening in the year in the year ahead. Um, and that also is then giving you some of those thoughts to percolate on over the time you are out, as well as the insights and then start building some of that strategy work from as well.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

So um not that we have a crystal ball, um, and forgive me if I'm hijacking with asking you questions, but no, no, you just see 2026 looking like uh now I am a natural optimist and I think that I always tie tend to err on the sunnier side of things. So while um I I don't love the phrase we'll thrive in 2025, uh, because a lot a lot of businesses haven't done. I am really optimistic for 2026. I don't ever I'm really excited about where the AI piece is going and how we can bring more efficiency to our work, but also where the human in the loop sits with that as well. Um I feel like I've just immediately gone off topic, but that's exactly what I'm excited about seeing in 2026. Um, businesses and our clients in particular kind of getting this sentiment of continued optimism. You know, we've got some things that are changing in the economy, um, so things. Are on on the list. So I'd like to see a little bit more proactive investment, I think, in 2026 into technology, um, uh into the people and into the way that we do business as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah, no, that's cool. Um I I I skew on the side of optimists as well.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

Uh marketers, we've got to.

Debunking The December–January Myth

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Isn't it our job to just manifest positivity? Um, it's very interesting. I hadn't heard the sort the the phrase um thrive in 25 for a little while because I remember there was if you if you look at that sort of rhetoric, there was survive till 25 in 2024, then there was thrive in 2025, when actually that's been more like for a lot of businesses, survive. Um it does feel it does feel like we're nudging closer towards um a bit of a turnaround there. I can there are still some, I suppose, some of the the economic markers that are not there yet, but some green shoots there, I think. The AI piece I think is really interesting. Um just into I suppose across the whole spectrum, really. You know, there's there's there's lots of opportunity there, I think, for for marketers to put themselves at the at the center of um how AI adoption happens within the four walls of a business. And it's I we really set out to talk about AI, but I suppose you can't not talk about AI as well.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

No, no, you can't. It's having such a huge impact. Uh and and we are very much in the early phases. We're just doing some work with a client currently around, you know, what does what's AI's place in a business and what whereabouts is it sitting? And and talking about the Garner Pace Layering System, which talks about AI currently as a system of innovation. And while you're in innovation stage, you're in kind of that uncertainty piece, you don't quite know how it's adding value to the business. Um, but there is a stage gate to get through until you get to a system of differentiation. And once you cross that bridge, um, it becomes it starts to become a competitive advantage. I think companies need to move from innovation state to differentiation state uh quick, quickly, quickly. It would be my would be my read on it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Um it's a really good framework for thinking about it. I like that actually. Um, but yeah, I think you've you've seen that adoption curve. Um, you've got some of those early, early adopters who are possibly starting to actually embed some some demonstrable value from it. Um there's a lot of people tutoring, uh, which is fine. It's good. I mean, it's good to have that kind of healthy exploration of it. Um there are I mean, there are some really, really clear areas, I think, where it's going to add a huge amount of value to the customer centricity with which marketers and businesses approach the world. Um I think one of the finest use cases in our world is is adopt the voice of the customer. So having it as a sparring partner that is seeing the world through the eyes and the lens of of your customer, of your target market, and using it as a being able to stress test, be able to you know, stress test ideas, does this work? What could work better? And I suppose shining some light on on the blind spots that we all naturally have. So um from a from a strategy and from a an execution perspective, so much value and just having that AI in persona, as I think they're being referred to now in the room.

SPEAKER_03 23:21

Yes, yeah, exactly. And so I think that do you think that that could be a key takeaway from this conversation is that during this time, if there is a bit of space, uh, to do some research and spend some time looking at the areas where AI will add value because there's a lot to learn. There's there's so many uh different things happening and different people to learn from. So yeah, do you what do you think? It's easy to get bogged down, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Uh it it is. Um if if you look at some of the the ways that you can use some of those tools, like while we have this comp while we're having this conversation, I have Comet, the um browser from Perplexity, trawling through Facebook groups, looking at comments, looking at pain points, and looking at perspectives from the you know those threads of conversation. It could be LinkedIn, it could be Instagram, it could be whatever. But that level of detail and being able to say, okay, orientate me to what this group of people is feeling as pain. You can do that now robustly, quickly. Um, it's not going to synthesize an answer out of nowhere. It's actually gonna go through and look at real interactions with real people and pull uh a response from that. So I think areas like that have just got so much value to bring. And they're not scary. It's not market is being replaced. It's actually being able to say, do you know what? I can get some really good customer insight really, really freaking quickly that we can put our faith in. Um because it's not hallucinating uh worldviews from a persona that it knows nothing about in New Zealand, which is also a challenge, I think, you know, in that AI space is the body of data that models have to go by, I think will inherently skew more global. Um, but it can be done.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

How exciting for Lee and sales, yeah. To get that level of insight. You could only dream of it, couldn't you, really?

SPEAKER_00 25:14

You got stalked this week, you got a cold call, didn't you?

SPEAKER_03 25:17

Yeah, I got a cold call.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

And I'm sure that that was um not I'm sure your contact details weren't mined by a human.

SPEAKER_03 25:24

Quite possibly, yes. They did know my name and my number and yeah, called me in the middle of something very important, which I was very cross, very cross-bat.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

So yeah, I think there's a piece in there about using it for good, and I don't think that was a use case of using AI for good. But um, yeah, it's an interesting, uh it's an interesting space for sure.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Um what sorry, you do you you you've got questions, sorry. I'm I'm I'm just doing my naturally curious thing and just poking and product.

Remove Friction For Customers

SPEAKER_03 25:51

No, no, no, poke them poke and prod. Um really I'm just I think that uh this I think listening to this at this time of year is so important, like just having a bit of a using this as an opportunity to have a bit of a reflective moment around what people should not people should be doing, but like how can we how can we help each other as a team to to grow and develop through 2026? I think that's what yeah, that's what I'm interested in, and I think that yeah, what I'd like to talk to.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah, no, I it's I I think as much as anything that that piece around you know this time of year, the mindset that people sort of carry into it, I think it's very easy to fall into um paths that have been trodden by other people's feet. You know, you look at the you look at the sugar rush addiction in in retail of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and you've got that well, we have to show up because that's what the industry does, even though we're all you know pissing margin into the wind. And it's just that if you don't challenge some of the assumptions and some of the behaviours around that, there's I think it's very easy to to to march to a rhythm that you don't necessarily have to. And I think that that mindset of New Zealand shuts down, nothing will happen, is sales may not be happening, buyers might be away on holiday, but that doesn't mean that you can't be doing really, really, really important work at this time of year. Um and the beauty of it is doing it without some of those distractions. Um, you know, I I love the first week back of January. I mean, just from an agency perspective, all of our clients are on holiday, most of them, they're still away. And it's one of those times of year when actually you can take a step back without the pressure of having to deliver on X, Y, and Z because you've got that little bit of extra, I suppose, um, space to be able to actually take the the helicopter view of the world, the account, the business, whatever it is that you're looking at, and do that that high-level planning. So yeah, I I'd say that would be like my my takeaway at this time of year is is actually just think critically. Um don't make the assumption that that everything shuts. Don't make the assumption that that you have to necessarily do the same things that you've always done in January, March, and February. Uh got the order wrong there. Uh or just write in your calendar, why not? Um yeah, so a great time of year to actually challenge assumptions, think ahead and see if you can't give yourself a jump on the next financial year. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 28:25

What are some of the favorite uh your favorite things that you've seen clients uh talk about and do recently that's really piqued your interest and you you want to question. Um let's let's put some examples to to what we've talked about. Without giving too much away. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

I I'm um I I don't wanna I don't want to use the phrase here that I've got a few pet favourite clients because uh well I do. Um let's face it. Um we all do. We all have the people that we really, really resonate and really, really gel with. And there there are there are two marketing managers that I can think of um in particular in the context of this conversation who they knew exactly what the roadmap looked like for the year ahead, for their financial year ahead, which started in April. They knew that by mid-February. They had that absolutely well and truly locked in. And if I look at what both of those marketing managers, departments of businesses have achieved over this year, man, they've torn strips out of what they what they set out to do. There hasn't been that period of um the coupler effect of starting late, finishing, you know, getting into market late and and not having the time to kind of do things justice. Um, one of them has uh uh among many things, um they've built a podcast themselves which has gone absolutely gangbusters and it's a really, really good strategic lever for them. It's a thought leadership piece, it's a trust building piece. That's been really, really I think exciting to see that come together. Yeah um in terms of other things. How about you? I'm gonna put the question back at you to buy myself time to think.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

That's a good strategic tactic. Um, when I think about the companies that I'm working with, I work with a lot of companies who are on um, you know, we're not doing those big kind of strategic pieces, we're thinking about um service line positioning at a at a at a at a deeper level. So I think what we're thinking about at the moment in terms of my workload is um where are the areas of opportunity coming into 2026? We've taken a really, really good look at what the macro environment's going to look like over the first quarter of the year. Um, and we've made some pretty big strategic bets around where that opportunity is going to live and breathe. And now, right now, tactically, we're building the assets ready for that. Um, so we've identified something that we know is going to happen in market, are pretty certain around what's going to happen in market. Um, and we've done the work up front, or we're doing the work up front to make sure that that uh gets as much uh much rocket fuel under it as it can when when it when it when it happens next year. That's cool.

Cash Flow, Terms, And Momentum

SPEAKER_00 31:00

That's cool. Yeah, it's always an exciting time of year. I mean, it's it's nice to be able to look back, it's nice to be able to look forward. Um, and yeah, I I think um, you know, we said that as marketers we're always optimistic, but yeah, definitely optimistic for um where where things head in 2026, I mean, across the board, would love to see um some of those, I suppose, economic markets starting to turn around, New Zealand heading in a in a good positive direction. Um and the other piece there as well is that you know we touched on it with it with AI, but what does what does that make possible for a country that has a productivity issue, you know? You know, if you look at it from whether it's manufacturing, whether it's professional services, what can this country do with that as uh as a rocket up its ass?

SPEAKER_03 31:53

Yes, I love these big questions that go out to the ether, and and I'm sure that um I hope that Alistair Ship is is listening and answering those questions within their heads because oftentimes your gut as a market is such a such an important thing. Yes, of course we use data, of course we use customer insight, but um sometimes your gut can be really important as well.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Oh yeah, absolutely, you have to listen to it. Um if it's gurgling, there's a reason. Um it's almost lunchtime, it's gurgling someone. I know, yeah. Yeah. Um it'll be interesting to sit here this time next year and actually see what's happened in the year, how things have progressed, and um yeah, if if any of those, I suppose, bets that we we we thought would, you know, that we've that we've that we've made and things that we thought would happen have. So um yeah, interesting, exciting time ahead. We'll see how the year pans out.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

Yeah, I think so too. I'd love to sit here in the next uh in the next year or maybe even the next quarter and just like have a little retrospective on whether we think that actually the things that have happened, uh, you know, things that are happening uh are actually happening and have happened and what we see to be the future. I'd love to get Lee on as well and talk to talk to Lee about um what his sales perspective is. I think there's so much value in having marketers sit together and talk, but yeah, I'm interested in what Lee would say.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Yeah, the the guys at Indicator will be running the uh Mood of the Sales Leader as well this time of year, as well, which is always a great report, great read every year just to see what their outlook and perspective looks like. I've got one last question um because I know that you are um going on a bit of a tiki tour around uh the South Island over the new year.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Um what books are you gonna read? And this is not like this is not like Freya, what are you gonna be reading over Christmas? It's like I'm just gonna speak enough for me on this one.

SPEAKER_03 33:36

Do you know what I am gonna be reading um is the Witcher series?

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

Yes, I am, so I'm gonna take that. So I'm obviously a huge fan of uh Henry Cavill and The Witcher Netflix show.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Have you seen the latest series? I've seen the latest series.

SPEAKER_03 33:51

It's a different, yeah. Liam Hemsworth. So he stepped into the into the um yeah, he stepped into Gerald's uh.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

I didn't fancy him as much, I won't lie. I I don't I didn't have the same say that I can't say that I didn't have that same sort of um gosh I'm not new a man crush that I had on on Henry Kimmel.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

I can't I have to admit I binge watched the whole series and I am not a binge watcher and I don't watch much TV, but I just have to know what happened because this story has me hooked. The whole world has me hooked. Um and that's why I have to read the books because now I've got faces to add to the characters, um, and I have to know what happens to Siri. So that's what I'm gonna be taking.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

That's what you're gonna be reading. I like that, that's excellent.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

Good. Yeah, so nothing too intense. I think I'm gonna take it.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

No, that's fair enough.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

Yeah, you've earned that break and so what are you gonna be reading? I know you're a fan of fantasy.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Um I do enjoy, yeah, I do enjoy fantasy. Um, I think if I look at areas that that interest me and where I see like work-wise, that where I see a bit of curiosity, um, I'm really I'm really curious to see where the world of B2B and um behavioral uh economics intertwine. Um not just because I love Rory Sutherland and find him thoroughly entertaining on a podcast, but there's something in that territory which I think as yet feels untapped in in our in our world. So I don't know anything exists yet, but if I can find something around that, I might spend a couple of afternoons um reading through reading through some of that stuff if I can find a bit of downtime about it.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

Well, if anybody has a recommendation and is listening, please send us it on LinkedIn because we would absolutely love to talk about this. I think that it's I completely agree with you, completely on tap Terrier. I think you're fantastic at it. I think you've already got those um sort of threads of understanding and empathy. So I think that you would be great to once you develop your learning, let's have a podcast and let's talk to you about it.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Yeah. And also, props for the uh the audience engagement piece there. That was like that was just so un unrehearsed, but like so on point. Yeah, yes. Like, comment, and subscribe. Very much cool. Cool.

Team Set‑Up And Design Thinking

SPEAKER_03 36:00

All right, well, thank you so much. That was such a great conversation. Was there anything else that you'd like to add on anything else that you think that people should be thinking about at this time of year? Apart from also having a break, I do want to prerequisite the fact that you know, while I do love things happening, um, you know, please take a break because that's where that's where the creativity comes, right? That's where actually the magic happens, is when our when our minds are rested. And and um, you know, I have been reading a bit about sports psychology at the moment, and um there's kind of this phrase around there that's um relax to win. You know, like that when you know you're on the playing field, um, the the the best performance usually comes when your mind and your body are relaxed in in the flow of things. So I do encourage everyone to go and take a bit of a break as well.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

There's so much value in that. I mean, if you think if you look at the pace of of of a day in the life of whether you're a business owner, whether you're a marketer, whether you're a your GMO CEO, whatever the role is, speed is the thing, and constancy is one of the things that I think that defines the way that we work. Um, but having space and time to actually slow down, it just it just does give you a completely different perspective. I mean, we compared notes the other morning. I remember we came in and had a chat, and you'd just been watering the plants in the garden, and I admitted that I actually talked to my bonsai trees most morning and asked them what they're doing. That little ritual of decompress, analog environment, slow down, um, yeah, just make space for that as well as trying to be a good marketer and good at your job.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's value imbalance for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's interesting because so much of so many of our um uh podcast guests that we've had on have echoed that as well.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

Yeah. I've got one actual last question. Um, how have you found the journey of stepping into the role of podcast host?

SPEAKER_03 37:48

Oh, well, uh it's not I I hope that we will share podcast hosting. Um I love it. Yeah, I think this is a fantastic forum um to I I kind of see the podcast as a catalyst, uh as a catalyst of connection to our community. Um we've got this fantastic resource that's available to us to have a conversation um about very real things that happen. Um, I think podcasting is a wonderful medium.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

Yeah, I couldn't agree with you, Boris. And we we've been so like so lucky with the type of people that we've been able to sit down and talk to, and you've had some fantastic conversations with some really interesting people who you leave and you think, wow, you're cool. You are a really interesting, good human, and I'm glad that we got to spend the time.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

So Right, right. And and we talk about this often how the New Zealand business community can feel a little bit fragmented. You know, we are in Toronto, we're in uh we work with a lot of businesses in Auckland, we spend a lot of time in Auckland as well. Um, how do we how do we uh be a bridge between um not only businesses but also um also people, um agencies alike, you know? That's uh it's it's it's another method of bringing everyone together after a very difficult couple of years in terms of um in terms of companies having to put more distance between themselves. I think it just makes us stronger as a community.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

I couldn't agree with you more. I think that's a sort of lovely parting thought.

SPEAKER_03 39:09

Yeah, there you go. All right, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Cool, see you next time.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

See you next time.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

That's that. Thanks for listening to We Do B2B by BlueOcean. Now, break for TT8. If you want to join and grow the community, make sure to subscribe wherever your eyes and ears absorb information. Don't forget to twitch on notifications so you know when the latest episodes drop. And for more B2B goodness, be sure to follow BlueOcean, the B2B agency, on LinkedIn. Hello, you know how this next piece works. The more reviews we get, the faster this thing grows. So please do for us what you hope your customers would do for you. Leave a review and share your thoughts. Let's stay connected and keep the B2B marketing conversation going.