ON AIR: With Owen & Josh

Our 72nd guest is Kate King, Head of Recruitment at Seed Talent.

Kate and Owen discuss the world of SDR recruitment, as it looks now.

Including:
– Who is Kate and who are Seed Talent?
– The current state of SDR recruitment and how it’s changed in the last 12 months
– What does it look like heading into 2023?
– What’s working and what isn’t for organisations growing out their SDR functions
– The soft skills recruiters look for which make a good SDR
– What the top companies are doing to differentiate themselves when recruiting for SDRs
– The importance of culture and employer brand when recruiting for SDRs
– The ideal hiring process: speed vs. quality
– Kate’s ‘SDR shopping list’: three things SDRs should do before applying for SDR roles

Our 71st guest is Adam Weekes, Sales Lead for EMEA at Bigtincan.

Adam and Owen discuss prospecting via email.

Including:
– The do’s and don’ts when prospecting via email
– The current trends around sales enablement
– How salespeople are using data to make decisions at a strategic management level vs rep level
– Where Adam has seen the most success with email prospecting in 2022
– Adam’s top-secret recipe for email prospecting
– How to personalise your emails in an authentic way
– The best types of content to include in your prospecting emails
– Open rates, reply rates, booked meeting rates – what does good look like? 

Our 70th guest is John Richardson, Founder & CEO at ExP.

John and Owen discuss all things coaching for SDRs.

Including:
– What is coaching and why should managers be doing it?
– The differences between training and coaching an SDR
– How to coach effectively and productively
– How to guarantee training sessions are not wasted
– How does external coaching work?
– How SDR managers’ roles have evolved over the last 10 years
– 1-2-1 coaching vs. group coaching

Our 69th guest is Robert Smart, Enterprise Account Executive at Haiilo.

Owen and Robert have an interesting discussion about Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

Including:
– The definition and purpose of an ICP
– What elements define and document your ICP
– A new concept: Acceptable Client Profile (ACP)
– The downfalls of a scatter-gun prospecting approach
– How your prospecting time could be better spent with research & data
– How to approach a broad ICP from a targeting perspective
– Deviating from the ICP plan – should it be done?
– How to validate your thesis for your target market
– Scenario: How to deal with an inbound enquiry that does not fit within your ICP

Our 68th guest is Jack Shepherd, Co-Founder at The Social Shepherd. 

Owen and Jack have an in-depth discussion around ‘demand capture’ and ‘demand creation’.

Including:
– Definition of the terms ‘Demand Capture’ and ‘Demand Creation’
– The main differences between the two tactics
– When you should focus on one over the other, and when to leverage both
– Difference in quality of opportunities and how they behave when coming from capture vs creation
– Insight into The Social Shepherd’s marketing strategy in the early days

Our 67th guest is Omri Chosnek – Regional Sales Director at Salesforce.

Owen and Omri have an “all about sales” discussion…

Covering:
– Salesforce’s strategy for Demand Generation
– The biggest challenges for sales leaders in today’s economy
– Managing a multigenerational and multicultural workforce
– Dealing with buyer hesitation and delayed decisions in the sales process
– Big changes that have impacted what Salesforce are focusing on in 2022

Our 66th guest is Hannah Ajikawo – LinkedIn Top Voice in Sales 2021, Practice Lead for EMEA at Skaled Consulting and Director of Global Partnerships at Sistas In Sales.

 Owen and Hannah discuss the sales process, with a particular focus on the discovery phase.

Including:
– What the discovery phase is and how it should be approached
– Common mistakes sales organisations make during discovery
– Where most companies are losing their way in the sales process
– The downfalls of a rigid sales process
– How the sales process has changed in the last 15 years
– The fear of breaking the learning trend in young SDRs
– How being ‘human’ and adding personality to your conversations makes you a more effective salesperson
– Being customer-centric: what it means and how SDRs can achieve it

Our 65th guest is Nicki Paterson, Chief Growth Officer of Solutions Driven.

Owen and Nicki discuss the importance of a growth plan in a business.

Including:
- What a growth plan is 
- The importance of being informed by data and the important metrics when it comes to growth 
- Nicki’s take on demand vs headcount growth

Our 64th guest is Charles Smee, Founder & CEO of Transaction Focus.

Owen and Charles discuss best practices for expanding your business into international markets and territories.

Including:
– Most common reasons for companies choosing to explore new territories 
– Misconceptions around moving into international markets
– Frequent mistakes made by leaders when breaking into new markets
– Adapting to cultural differences in business around the world and adjusting internal company culture accordingly
– How to ensure you are recruiting the right people in different countries 
– Are there certain countries or markets which are easier to break into than others?
– Setting expectations for the ‘bedding in’ period
– Three key bits of advice for leaders who are considering taking their organisation global 

Our 63rd guest is Chris Loveridge, Regional Sales Manager for EMEA at BigPanda, previously Account Director at SAP Customer Experience.

Owen and Chris discuss leveraging the team around you through a sales process and managing the politics within enterprise.

Including:
– What are you typically doing and who are you working with through an enterprise sales process?
– Who is accountable for the end result?
– How to effectively manage internal and external relationships and how you should split your time and effort between the two
– The most common politics you have to navigate through an enterprise sales process
– When and why you would break the process
– How to get an ‘A-team’ on board
– In-fighting: what does it mean, when do you tend to experience it and could it be a good thing?