In Conversation

Every month Katy Gordon speaks to Courier Country business people to learn what makes them tick. This month she talked to Tricia Fox, founder of Volpa.

When Tricia Fox was 11-years-old, her grandmother asked what she wanted to do when she grew up.

“I told her I didn’t know what the job was called, but that I wanted to go into companies and tell them how they could do better,” she told me as we sat in the Den, Volpa’s Perth HQ. “And I suppose in a way that’s what I’m doing now.”

For the past 16 years, since Volpa was started in her spare room, Tricia has worked with companies of all sizes on marketing, PR, events management and more. Since then, the company has grown rapidly, both in terms of staff and the spread of clients, which includes companies in England as well as Scotland and a Hollywood actor over for the Edinburgh Fringe.

Volpa even got the keys to their second office, in Dundee’s Exchange Street, this month.

“Some people have questioned why we would get an office that’s only 20 minutes from our Perth office, but for us it makes sense,” she tells me.

And that’s a big part of the formula that has made Volpa a success – they do what works for them and their clients, sometimes at great speed.

“I think fast and can come up with a solution to a problem, weighing up the risks and rewards, before many people can finish thinking about it. And I have an innate belief that I’m right – which can come across as arrogant but it gives me the ability to confidently take risks.

“When I go into other businesses it’s usually crystal clear that the problem usually lies in one of the five P’s – price, product, people, place or promotion – and we can help them solve that problem.”

Tricia, a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur who has to rein that side in because “although I have plenty ideas and could start businesses I couldn’t put in the amount of work it takes”, explains that one of the core values at Volpa is team – which sometimes even includes Molly, Tricia’s Staffie, who was in the Den when I visited.

“We believe that marketing should be one agency doing the whole thing, not different agencies doing different parts of the job. And because of that, we all have to work together and know what each other is doing.”

Not a great believer in meetings, “even the experts can’t agree the right way to have meetings and they never stick to the agenda anyway”, Tricia keeps them to a minimum but still manages to know what each of the team is doing even when they are in far-flung locations with clients.

“From now until November we are very busy, so I do check in with the team but at a certain point I have to trust that they are doing what they should be and leave them to do it.”

And one aspect of bringing people into the team that Tricia is particularly passionate about is work experience.

“We always have a steady stream of work experience people coming in and more businesses should get behind it. It’s good for the morale of the team and the person coming can learn and make a contribution.

“In my own work experience opportunities,

I had experiences and meetings that were invaluable and that I still use today, like working with graphic designers.”

Although Tricia and the team work on a lot of long term campaigns and strategies, the nature of PR (particularly crisis PR) means that it can often be a fast-paced role. And part of their job is to make sure the clients are working at the same speed.

“We deliver training to clients so they are prepared if something happens and they need to respond quickly.”

And with the speed Tricia works and thinks, I’m not sure she would want it any other way.

We believe that marketing should be one agency doing the whole thing

Tricia Fox