Run by the ever-enthusiastic Bruce Bignell, Evolve empowers business growth through digital transformation and is one of the proud sponsors of the Sussex Business Show 2024.
As a Brighton-based CRM and sales technology consultancy, Evolve works globally, with clients in the UK, EU and even the USA. The company specialises in Pipedrive implementation, consultancy and training, helping SMEs and scale-ups automate, integrate and optimise their systems. Pipedrive helps you to keep on track of your sales pipeline, your leads and automate your entire sales process.
We catch up with Bruce to find out about him and his field of expertise.
What is a common myth about your job or field of expertise?
A common myth about this job, or any job really, whether in sales or as a business owner, is that we know it all, right?
No one does. I’ve come to learn that quite a lot in my later years.
But you don’t have to have the answer straight away. In fact, you actually look a lot better if you say you don’t know, but let me find out first. You build a lot of trust that way. So I’d say the common myth is we don’t know all the answers.
What is one piece of advice to give to someone starting out in your career?
I think the advice I would give to anyone starting out in my line of work or any other career is:
- Don’t be afraid to work for free.
- Find people that inspire you and follow them. Getting inspired will give you energy to crack on and do the work that you need to.
- Try new things depending on the timing of what you’re getting into your new career.
- Oh and don’t be unreasonable… There’s no good reason not to be reasonable.
If you had to write a book tomorrow, what would you write about?
If I had to write a book tomorrow, I probably would be using ChatGPT to help me write it!
But I do have two ideas….
The first would be a sitcom based around the scenarios that you find yourself in at service stations. I would call it ‘At Your Service’, because I think it would be very much David Brent-esque! And the other one would probably be about endurance, and how we all have much more endurance than we might think to carry on, whether that’s in physical or business ventures.
What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?
I looked out of the window of my mum’s car when I was about nine and I saw a teacher who wasn’t the most liked teacher in the school. She looked a bit sad and I remember smiling at her.
About a week later, she said, “Bruce, thank you {for smiling at me}, you really made my day”.
That stayed with me even though I was only about nine years old at the time.
What that taught me then is you have no idea the impact a small piece of kindness can have. It shows you that whatever other people think of them, you don’t have to treat them the same way. So yeah, that compliment, not necessarily about me at the time, was the best compliment I’ve ever received. It taught me the impact it can have on other people.
Tell me about the three most influential people in your life and how they’ve impacted you?
I’ll have to name four. I grew up without a dad, and I had a pretty bad father figure, so I was always looking to certain male figures to find out what it means to be a man. So the most influential people in my life really impacted me in that way.
So one was Mike Reynolds, and one was Simon Bottrell, who lives in Brighton. A shout out to Simon, hopefully you’re seeing or listening to this. And others, two other friends, Shaun Brown and Chris Bruce.
They just showed me that you can be a better version of yourself.
What are three movies you recommend to our audience and why?
My top three movies for the young, or anyone actually, has to be:
- Toy Story
- Jurassic Park
- Any of the Batman.
Reason being, you don’t need a reason, just go and enjoy them.
Where can we find you online?
You can find me online everywhere on any social @Bruce Bignell, or you can find the business using @Evolve Pipe Drive.
Or just Google the best place to buy Pipedrive and you’ll find Evolve! If you search for best pipe drive apps again, you’ll find Evolve and you can find our podcasts and demos where we host apps that connect to pipe drive.
But though you can find us online, we can’t wait to meet you in person at the Sussex Business Show on the 26th September!
