COMMUNITY
First Things First…Launch of SDR Leaders of Europe

During the Christmas break and the many walks I took with Choccy the dog, I’ve been thinking about how to help the community I’m part of, SDR Leadership and especially here in Europe.

One of the big topics I hear from SDR leaders in Europe is the feeling of being in an echo chamber. They are mostly by themselves, with their bosses in the USA and a US-centric SDR organisation.

As we enter 2024, something needs to change.

I present to you the SDR leaders of Europe!

The goal will be to build a community and home for SDR leaders on this side of the pond to help each other elevate their game and improve one another.

If you are interested in joining, register here. We will be kicking off at the end of January!

STUFF ONLINE
Content of the week

• Make Cold email work for you in 2024

• Losing your job never defines who you are. Remember that!

• Stress survival guide

THOUGHTS
What am I seeing this Week: Your Career growth Is never an overnight success

Like many others, I also have been reflecting on my 2023. Specifically, I'm focusing on the growth I’ve attained in my 10 years in B2B SaaS. My ‘overnight success’ was not at all that. It was far from it! It consisted of:

Being concussed after a Rugby training accident in my first SDR job and not being able to function properly resulted in some pretty bad business and personal decisions being made.

In my next role, being on a PIP as an AE after a successful run as an SDR caused my confidence to be shattered.

Then, I nearly did not pass my probation in my next role.

After this, I still was not comfortable as an SDR for nearly 18 months.

Then, finally, after 2 years in my third role and 5 years in all together, I started gaining some momentum.

Don't let social media blind you; everyone has had to work hard to get success in their career.

Let me know your story in the comments below!

For those new to the newsletter and like what you are seeing, please click on the subscribe button, and you’ll receive this top-quality newsletter in your inbox every Friday morning!

INTERVIEW
Five Questions of the Week: Richard Washington

To kick off 2024, Richard Washington, Founder at Tick Talent, has joined the newsletter to discuss how he sees the job market in 2024, how you should approach your job search and also discusses who his next guest will be on his podcast with Tolu Adebekun.

So you used to be in Sales Development? What was about the role that you enjoyed so much? 

The SDR role sets the foundation for your whole sales career. How so? You learn that communication is mechanical. Therefore, you can control it and affect the outcome. You learn about questioning, listening, understanding, pains, SPIN, MEDDICC, cold calling, social selling, marketing, copywriting, emails, prospecting, targets, activities, outcomes, qualifying, sales behaviour, buyer behaviour, business needs and solution selling. To name a few that spring to mind. Then, when you start to progress and have the opportunity to train and coach people, you pick up learning styles, teaching methods, representational systems, role-playing, KPIs, reporting, managing up, hiring, firing, leading and developing people. I don't think there's a role on the planet that gives you a better grounding in sales and leadership.

What would you advise someone who wants to move from Sales Development into another role within an organisation? 

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to make yourself easy to lift. So, if you want to move up or sideways, you need to know what the successful people in that role are doing well, what they learned when they started, and what the manager needs. In essence, what it takes to succeed. Then, start working on those things ahead of time. Most leaders love to help a motivated person to progress. But they don't have the time to teach someone everything or take the risk that you might not like it. So, showing you're serious and working towards it will make it a no-brainer.

You've worked and lived in a lot of countries. How have you handled learning how to communicate and lead in different cultures? 

A good friend told me recently that we've all had much more in common than differences. And it's true. The differences in cultures, attitudes, etiquette, and formal communication methods are important to understand in order to adapt and thrive. But, the fundamentals around questioning, listening, human behaviour, the desire to avoid pain and pursue pleasure, to grow, have impact and win... are much more powerful. Understand people, and you can adapt to any situation. Plus, learning a few words of each language helps show you care enough to be respected more highly.

How are you seeing the talent market in 2024?

It's very tough on both sides. There's a major top talent shortage in sales and revenue operations globally. Coupled with a higher level of pessimism from both sides, it slows everything down as people take more care to avoid mistakes. But I always say you're not trying to build a GTM engine. You usually only need one. Be that a job or a hire. So being hyper-targetted, personalised and thinking differently stands out from the crowd every time. And that's the hardest part for companies hiring and people looking for a new role.

Can you discuss the ‘What makes you tick’ podcast? I hear someone named Dave Wilkins is on it next week? 

Ah yes, that legend 😉 - it’s a top episode not to be missed! We started the pod in August to bring the real-life career stories of the best tech leaders in the world. Their journey, the bets they took, the decisions they made and the best advice. To help people to achieve a bigger and better career in tech.

Earn free merch 🎁 

You can get free stuff for referring friends and colleagues to our newsletter 👇️ 

1 referral - Linkedin Shout out 🔊 
5 referrals - Mastering Sales Development Stickers 🎉 
10 referrals - Free Copy of Closing the Gap 📖 
15 referrals - Limited Edition Mastering Sales Development mug 🍵 

You currently have 0 referrals, only 1 away from receiving a Linkedin Shout out!.

Copy & Paste this link: https://saleswise.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

GOOD READS
Book of the week

LASTLY
Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I could help you

The new Community for European-based SDR leaders: SDR leaders of Europe

An ebook about SDR<> AE Alignment: Closing the Gap