Ep. 129 - Trades + AI = Growth - Rachel Truair
In this episode of Future Fuzz, host Vince Quinn welcomes Rachel Truair, CMO at Simpro, a leading field service management software company with over $200M in ARR. With 15+ years of marketing experience from startups to Fortune 100s, Rachel shares how Simpro is transforming the trades, like HVAC, plumbing, and electrical industries, into efficient, tech-enabled businesses. She discusses the impact of AI across operations and marketing, from AI-powered work notes and email agents to chatbots, and dives into Simpro’s flagship live event, Simproseum. Whether optimizing go-to-market strategies, creating a partner ecosystem, or delivering intentional content, Rachel emphasizes how efficiency, customer-centricity, and sustainable growth are reshaping modern marketing.
Guest Bio
Rachel Truair, Chief Marketing Officer at Simpro. She brings over 15 years of experience steering revenue and growth for a range of organizations, from nimble startups to Fortune 100 firms. At Simpro, she oversees global GTM strategy, leading efforts that drive approximately 90% of the company’s annual revenue.
Takeaways
-AI as a multiplier, not a replacement: Simpro uses AI-powered work notes to reduce manual data entry.
-AI email agents outperform expectations: A pilot “AI BDR” named “Daniela” qualified two opportunities within two weeks and closed one in 30 days. -This initiative contributed to an estimated $1.8M ARR uplift since June.
-AI chat enhances availability: Their AI chat function lifted meetings booked by 320%, giving teams flexibility and better customer experiences.
-Human + AI = elevated roles: AI freed up BDR time, enabling full-cycle sales careers and deeper account work. Rachel shared a story of a BDR turned AI course creator, AI powered his career leap.
-Intentional events and ecosystems: Simpro’s Simproseum (London in October, Sydney in November) unites customers, partners, and industry experts, highlighting AI, change management, labor challenges, and featuring IDC’s Ali Pinder.
-Customer‑centric content fuels sustainable growth: Simpro’s marketing thrives on deep customer listening, strategic content creation, and doing fewer things, but doing them better and iterating based on feedback.
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction to Future Fuzz & Guest
01:14 – What is Simpro: platform for trades
03:12 – AI in Simpro: work notes & email agents
05:12 – Revenue impact from AI email rollout
06:00 – AI chat & meeting uplift
10:03 – AI creating new BDR career paths
11:12 – Custom GPTs & personal productivity
12:30 – Simproseum: live event overview
14:35 – Symposium themes & featured speaker
16:01 – Building the ecosystem & Marketplace
17:53 – How to determine event content needs
20:25 – Intentional sustainable content strategy
23:16 – Episode wrap-up
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