Timothy (Tim) Hughes

Timothy (Tim) Hughes is a bestselling author, creator, influencer, and a content sales professional. Tim is currently the co-founder and CEO of DLA ignite after a 25+ year career in sales and executive positions in companies like Oracle, Fujitsu, Sysao and more. Using his social media networks, Tim has been contributing to the creator economy in his given subjects of social and digital selling, digital marketing, leadership, and management.

Timothy is a bestselling author, having co-authored “Social Selling - Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers” now in its second edition and “Smarketing - How To Achieve Competitive Advantage through Blended Sales and Marketing”, both published by Kogan Page.

Having worked extensively for more than 35 years in sales and marketing, Tim has made possible large-scale sales transformations within different organisations, including Fujitsu, Sysao, e-Vector and DSP Global. But his most important role has been at Oracle as UK Business Development Director. His position at Oracle brought large-scale sales transformation and with the result of increasing by more than $100m the sales uplift of the company.

He became associated with HighChloeCloud to merge the benefits of the social media changes, and the consequent changes in business it brings, and consequently co-founded DLA ignite, a business transformation consultancy that helps organisations and businesses leverage digital across sales, marketing, human resources, etc., leading it as a CEO.

He is also a lecturer of social selling and digital media in the Executive education program at Rutgers Business School in the Greater New York City Area and ThePowerMBA, where he has created a new module for the sales program. 

As a pioneer of the Social Selling marketing concept, he ranks Number 1 by Onalytica as the most influential social selling person in the world. And in 2021, he was considered one of the top 8 LinkedIn’s sales experts globally to follow.
 

Tim Hughes started working at the very early age of 14, but those years at Royal Oak Public House as a kitchen staff taught him some of the greatest lessons in life. Thereafter, he went to Fujitsu in Birmingham, UK, for his graduation.

On leaving the university, he joined STC (Standard Telephone Cables), which was a part of the US Tech conglomerate, ITT, as a commissioning Engineer. He later joined ICL (International Computers Ltd.) which was the only British Computer Company at that time, and now a part of Fujitsu. This gave Timothy a grounding for his career.

His first role in sales was at Arcast (now Midland Software), where he sold software. He was then associated with McKeown Software in Stevenage, UK to sell their new Payroll and Personal Software.

Thereafter, Timothy went on to work at large corporations like Oracle, Fujitsu, Sysao, e-Vector, DSP Global, Patech Solutions, and Capgemini from 1994 - 2006. Timothy then progressed to supply chain roles in almost every sector, including Life Sciences, while being at Oracle Corporation. 

He was responsible for a large-scale sales transformation within Oracle, the result of which delivered in excess of $100m in sales uplift.

He shares his wealth of knowledge in social selling and digital media with the students in the Executive education program at Rutgers Business School in the Greater New York City Area. The program is for salespeople and business leaders to understand social issues in today's digital world. He is also a global instructor and business case contributor at ThePowerMBA, creating a new module for the sales program. 

Tim Hughes is universally recognised as one of the world’s leading pioneers and exponents of Social Selling and he is currently ranked Number 1 as the most influential social selling person in the world. 

 

Timothy is a believer of merging the benefits of the social media changes, and the consequent changes in business it brings, to create social mobility for all. With this vision in mind, he is an active part of HighChloeCloud, a brainchild of Chloe Hacquard while studying her Masters at INSEEC Business School in Paris. 

It is with a similar vision that he co-founded DLA Ignite (Digital Leadership Associates) in 2016 to empower and transform the businesses leveraging the social and digital channels. 

Timothy has co-authored a few bestselling books “Social Selling - Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers” and “Smarketing - How To Achieve Competitive Advantage through Blended Sales and Marketing”, both published by Kogan Page.

Smarketing is the first book that explores the shift that will become the future state operating model for companies seeking to remain competitive and relevant in this fast-changing digital world. It explains how and why companies should blend sales and marketing into one single, streamlined smarketing department. Sales people will become better marketers, and marketers better sales people, leading to bigger, better business growth all round.

On Social Selling, authors Tim Hughes and Matt Reynolds provide a practical, step-by-step blueprint for harnessing these specific and proven techniques including how to use networks purposefully to build social trust and create a high-quality community; how to develop real influence and authority in your subject area and connect with change-makers and how to scale the social selling strategy across an organisation including maturity and investment models, risk and governance, and technology platforms.

Concepts that are increasingly important as the digital landscape continues to change buying habits at both B2B and B2C level. This has made it increasingly difficult to reach customers early enough in their decision-making process through traditional sales methods. Developing relationships with decision-makers through social networks has become an increasingly critical skill - enabling sales professionals to engage early on and 'hack' the buying process.