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The following is a transcript of a portion of a question and answer session at Plantronics, Inc.s (Poly) annual Sales Kickoff event held on May 17, 2022:
Q&A- Dave Shull, Carl Wiese and Alex Cho
Carl:
Thanks, Dave, for the comments more importantly, thanks for continue support of the sales organization. Alex, thanks for being here this morning. I know you had to do a very early arrival and I know youre not busy at all, so youre probably just looking for something to do at 4:30 in the morning. So I appreciate you decided to show up in Santa Cruz.
Dave:
Well, the good news is its the only time we had in our schedule. So it worked perfectly.
Carl:
Thats why we actually did this time because we knew there would be no conflicts at 4:30 in the morning. All right, Dave, Im gonna start with you and you know, I love just softball questions.
Dave:
Thats your reputation, Carl
Carl:
Yeah, I know <laugh> . Number one question on everybodys mind in the field is supply chain. Is it gonna get better?
Dave:
You know, it is getting better and I think the key thing is kind of, whats getting better and whats not getting better. So weve narrowed down the number of problems that we have so that theres a few key vendors, and theyre tough. And as you said, very publicly to the team, this is not gonna get better in the first two quarters to be crystal clear. Where Im encouraged in a strange sort of ways is the underpinnings of what weve built, the frameworks, the systems, the ability to, to translate the supply chain commitments to our customers in a way thats tangible and credible. Cause thats been a huge issue for us is getting better. I think weve gone from 30% accuracy to maybe 60%. Its nowhere close to acceptable, but the team is working their backsides off, trying to make sure that we deliver on that. I would say the other thing Ive seen as a team is the interaction between sales and supply chain is the best Ive ever seen in the 18 months, 20 months that Ive been here now. And to me, thats gratifying, right? That teamwork, and in a tough environment where its be so easy to point fingers, you and Grant and the rest of the teams are working together in a way that is, uh, wonderful. And so I think thats gonna make us an amazing machine as the macro supply chain environment starts to improve.
Carl:
Yep. I agree. And I do believe, and I said that Grants the right guy. Hes building the right team. Its gonna get better. Alex. Thanks again for being here. I think one of the things Id just like to start out with is just make sure people understand who HP is. Its kinda size of scale, et cetera.
ALEX HP:
Sure. Maybe I can give you a quick summary. So HP is about a 60 billion dollar company and we have about 50,000 employees. We really, I look at it very simply, we have three main businesses. We have a printing business and most people are aware of our printers and printing. Uh, we have a personal systems business, which Ill talk a little bit more about, but personal systems is our PC business. We have a services business, we have a peripherals business and the third is we have a 3D in industrial business and uh, together that makes up HP.
Carl:
Got it. Dave, back to you now for a question, uh, you were at ISE last week, you kind of talked about that in your comments, any observations overall from that two or three days you spent in Barcelona?
Dave :
Well, first of all, we had a good time. We, uh, had hundreds of people show up to one of our cocktail events, which was amazing. And so, you know, 2019, it felt so pre COVID. It was, it was wonderful and hopefully everyone stayed safe. Um, but the energy was good. And, I think I want to reiterate one point that you highlighted in your comments, which is get to the persona research right away. Right. We had big customers who have been buying for us for seven years and boy, their eyes lit up when I would ask a dumb question, which is, so have you looked at how youre gonna return to the office and how do you kind of divvy up your employees and what are their roles gonna be? And then how do you match that to the rooms that you have? Its like, oh yeah, I mean that intersection between people and space and technology, it sounds simple, but its really, really eye opening. And so that resonated across all the customer conversations we had.
Carl:
Thats great. Alex, going back to you in terms of, from an HP perspective, you know, as Ive just kind of started to kinda listen more, watch more followed you guys on social media. I must admit in the last 60 to 90 days, a little bit more, one thing that kind of strikes me as the HP culture. I want you to describe a little bit, because what I find is a couple of things. Number one is, is we interact as part of the early days of integration people stay at HP for a long time. They must be something they like about it. But furthermore, its not just that. I see you guys a lot talking about diversity inclusion, ESG, its a pretty wide and deep culture. Can you talk about that?
ALEX HP:
Sure. Uh, we obviously have a lot of products. I mean, in personal systems we will ship over 70 million products. But what weve said is its not about products, its about people. We do all this innovation to enable people and how they work, how they live, many in education, increasingly how they play in our gaming business. And so first is recognizing that its not about the product, its about the people. And as we talk about people, weve had a long history of really focusing on culture. And it seems like the big fuzzy word, but Ill tell you its very specific, its very concrete and very much is the center. Because what we believe is the highest probability we have to deliver great solutions for our customers and to our shareholders is by focusing on our people, because its people who activate innovation. Theyre the ones who sell. Theyre the ones who execute. So all three pillars of that strategy around delivering, creating and enabling great customer engagements happens with great people. So thats why were focused on it. And its really around a broader vision for what we call sustainability. How do we make sure this is a better planet? We enable people and really think about the broader impact that we make as a company.
Carl:
I think its super important. I used to work for a CEO who said that, uh, culture eat strategy for lunch
<laugh>. And thats how important it is from my perspective. So Dave, back to you. After 18 months at Poly. Observations you have about the company?
Dave:
You know, I came in, and uh, got some very blunt feedback from you, which I appreciated, you know, as I know your team always appreciates as well. And I think it was spot on, which is, theres a massive opportunity here. And uh, youve been in this industry a lot longer than I have. This is a generational opportunity, right? and so I want the team to understand that were not saying that lightly, were saying that sort of, you know, at a speech level, were saying that in all seriousness. And I Ive been gratified to see us move and really claim much, much bigger market share with some of these global 2000 accounts. Cuz to me, some of the early conversations I had with were with CIOs who knew our brand, right.? But then I asked kind of how much they spent with us and it was tiny. And so to see us kind of go into the millions of dollars with these big accounts has been really, really gratifying. And, and to me its an endorsement of the strategy and the opportunity. And again, the team kind of coming together.
Carl:
Yeah. Alex, uh, one thing Id love to get your thoughts on is we know the reaction from the Poly employees about the announcement. If I turn it at the other direction, whats been the HP employee reaction to the acquisition?
ALEX HP:
Very good. I gotta tell you, um, because we, its funny, I listen to everything you talk about its as if we were separated at birth <laugh> because your vision for owning the hybrid work environment, rooms and homes and everywhere in between, if you were in an HP meeting like this, wed be talking about the same thing, we are talking about the same thing. A once in a generation pportunity, everythings moving to the cloud, its about compute enabled room experiences, home experiences, owning hybrid. We obviously have a lot of compute resources and we see that your great leadership around video and voice and rooms. So we look at it as its probably the best reflection of win together. We can win together and maybe more importantly faster, cuz I really think we have a window of time to go after those rooms. And so if we can win together, faster, great cultures coming together and really innovating. I mean we wanna create great experiences together with you all. So theres so much energy in that we just cant wait to get started.
Carl:
The other thing I wanna do a quick follow up kind of on that answer, Alex, in your problem about culture is one thing I think probably the most important thing for me, uh, from an employee perspective is yes, theres bigger opportunities, youve got more bulk, youve got more assets, et cetera. But the one thing that you said one time that really stuck with me, I really want to give our people more career opportunities. And weve been a little challenged in doing that candidly given our size and our issues. I think theres just huge opportunities. I sit there and talk to people at HP and theyve had 5, 6, 7 different kind of roles. You made a comment, youre gonna hire 10,000 people next year. I want people to understand if you wanna stay in sales, youre gonna have a great opportunity. But for those people who wanna do something different diversify for a couple years, theres great opportunities there as well. I dont know if you wanna talk about that.
ALEX HP:
I think thats a great point. One of the key things that we wanted to make sure people knew was that this is great for our customers. Yes. This is great for our joint businesses. Yes. But this is also great for employees and career development is such a big focus for us. We are larger. We do serve many businesses. We have a lot of growth. We are hiring yes, uh, uh, 10,000 people in the next year. And Ill tell you, like, my story is, Ive been at HP now 27 years. <laugh>
Dave:
I think that was still recorded.
ALEX HP:
Yeah. 27 years. And its because you can do so many different things yeah. In different, uh, regions or theaters as you call them . Different businesses, different functions. You can scale, you can have new growth initiatives. I love that. I mean, its a great place to have a great career. So were very excited to bring some of those broader opportunities as well to the Poly team.
Carl:
Dave, heres a question for you that, uh, make you probably a little uncomfortable. Um, we never get a chance to really look back and what if..a do over
Dave:
A do over
Carl
And just to be really frank, Id just be curious in terms of, if you had a chance to do a do over, what would you do differently?
Dave:
Always listen to Carl
Carl:
<laugh> this guy is really smart. Did I say that <laugh>
Dave:
All joking aside two things actually that come to mind, right? One is October of 2020. You told me to get into the true wireless business. And there was a lot of resistance in the company, right, because that was consumer grade. That was the right decision. Right. And so were, were now playing catch up a little bit in the headset space and I want to acknowledge all the work from the sales team and the product team, but boy, I wish we gotten into that more quickly. Right. And, and the product thats coming together, Im excited about. And well I know well talk more about it.
Number two is I think I moved really darn quickly when I first came in, boy, I wish Id moved even more quickly. Right. And it sounds cheap. But once you have a sense that theres a decision to be made, whether its organizational or product or vision, sleep on it for three days and make the decision to move on. And so I dont regret the speed. I wish I had moved even more quickly. Right. And so I guess for me that sense of urgency, if we can get that into the sales team and into the account teams, by empowering them and were all making decisions. And if we make a mistake, as Christian Horner said, we learned, dont make the mistake twice, but lets get some acceleration and velocity here. I think itll go a long way.
Carl:
Alex, just, uh, as we start to wrap up just any closing thoughts or comments for the Poly sales team.
ALEX HP:
So I wont share with you a Mulligan story, I guess, but, uh, <laugh> maybe, maybe one Mulligan is we wouldve done this earlier. I mean, seriously. The opportunity is so tangible. Its right in front of us. We can go do this and that stands out. Secondly, is I have to tell you, I am very excited about what this means for innovation, because at the end of the day, its about great product experiences. I love the focus that I heard. I, you know what, as an aside, youre a big number four, like four things. Im a big number three. So I want to give you my three, but I love the focus on experiences because at the end of the day, were not a gear shop. HPs not a gear shop. Its about experiences. And I listen to your leadership. Its around delivering experiences. I love the focus on personas and people. Because its about enabling use cases and workflow and the environment that customers are in which I love. And then third is just to focus on execution global 2000 supply chain, everything day to day. Were so focused on that we cant wait again to get started to work, um, in earnest really together to win together.
Carl:
Great. Thanks Alex. Dave, last few comments or words. Thoughts for the sales team.
Dave:
Ive had a chance to meet a lot of them, um, face to face now, especially the last two weeks, right? Whether it was on the east coast, New York, here or ISE. ll be in Asia by the way in September. Thats the plan. So Im looking forward to meeting a lot of the AsiaPac team. I think the, the energy, the enthusiasm, despite the difficulties to me that is thats remarkable. And to me, thats what gets me excited about this team is a desire to win through adversity and the perseverance. And so a huge thank you to the team and to you, Carl, for your leadership and looking forward to this, this is gonna be fun.
Carl:
Great. Alex, thanks so much for once again, taking time. I couldnt thank you enough. Dave, thanks for being supportive of the sales organization. We couldnt ask for more. Youve never said no. When we came to you with a proposition. Uh, so I keep doing that. <laugh> Alex said it was fine for you to do.
Dave:
Okay, Okay. <laugh> As long as the revenues there, were there. <laugh>
Carl:
So team hope you enjoyed the first couple hours. Great. kickoff of the day. Were gonna take a few minute break. Were gonna come back and guess what? Were gonna have a great story. Youre hear Chris Moss and Jen Adams talk about persona research. Youre gonna hear them talk about, um, you know, the hybrid work message youll hear from the best person you can deliver in the company. Youll get more out of it. Take a quick break while well be back you in just a few minutes.
The following is a transcript of a portion of the remarks of Polys CEO at Polys annual Sales Kickoff event held on May 17, 2022.
Transcript: Dave Shull:
HP and Poly. Theres only so much I can say as I mentioned before in the all hands, because were both public companies, but I wanna reiterate one thing. This strategy that I just outlined is something weve started talking about publicly over the last couple quarters. The alignment of this strategy with HP is critical to why this deal is happening. HP shares the same vision of making sure that we own the future of work together. HP has a vision for growth for Poly. HP has said publicly that they wanna do 15% growth year over year, over year for Poly in the next couple years. Of course they wanna do it more profitably, but HP is all about growth and the growth opportunity in this return to hybrid work. And so thats, whats driving this business. What that means for you all? Sales is critical. Your understanding of the channel, your contact with our global 2000 customers, your capabilities of executing these high end design efforts around the return to hybrid working personas is exactly what HP is looking for. And so I think this is gonna be an amazing opportunity for our sales team. And Im very, very excited about the possibility of scale and growth here for all of us.
Weve talked, HP has said, but Ive also said that the people are really the heart of the transaction. And I believe that thats really, really true. HP has 50,000 employees that hire many, many thousands of employees every single year. But again, its the channel. Its your understanding of the customers. Its your relationships with the customers. Its your understanding of the solutions that we sell is really, really critical to what theyre buying here. So Im excited about the possibility for all a Polys team as we move into this transaction.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding: the proposed acquisition of Plantronics, Inc. (Poly) (the Transaction), including the expected timing of the closing of the Transaction; the anticipated benefits of the Transaction and other considerations taken into account by Polys Board of Directors in approving the Transaction; and expectations for Poly prior to and following the closing of the Transaction. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if any of Polys assumptions prove incorrect, Polys actual results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties include those associated with: the possibility that the conditions to the closing of the Transaction are not satisfied on a timely basis or at all, including the risk that the required approval from Polys stockholders for the Transaction or required regulatory approvals to consummate the Transaction are not obtained; potential litigation
relating to the Transaction; uncertainties as to the timing of the consummation of the Transaction; the ability of each party to consummate the Transaction; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the right to terminate the Transaction; possible disruption related to the Transaction to Polys current plans and operations, including through the loss of employees, customers and business partners; economic, market, business or geopolitical conditions (including resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, or the military conflict in Ukraine and related sanctions against Russia and Belarus) or competition, or changes in such conditions, negatively affecting Polys business, operations and financial performance; the failure to realize anticipated benefits of the Transaction when expected or at all; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the periodic reports that Poly files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), including Polys Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on May 18, 2021, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on July 30, 2021, October 28, 2021 and February 8, 2022, each of which may be obtained on the investor relations section of Polys website (https://investor.poly.com). All forward-looking statements in this communication are based on information available to Poly as of the date of this communication, and Poly does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law.