Who am I?

Hey! My name is Dave Wilkins. I’m a British guy, living in the Netherlands for nearly 15 years.

Sales Development is my vocation. I love developing people and developing organisations that build revenue for businesses.

I originally started out playing and coaching rugby in the Netherlands, then wanted to become a school teacher, working at a private school in the UK which can only be described as like Hogwarts but with Monks running around.

The pull of living in the Netherlands was too great, and I returned, gradually progressing from SDR to individual contributor to first and second-line leadership roles for Enterprise SaaS organisations.

Why this newsletter?

Let me take you back on a swift journey… Around ten years ago, I moved to the Netherlands for the second time, trying to figure out my journey; I stumbled upon this role called ‘Sales Development Rep’; I had no idea what it was and what I was doing. Then something significant happened to me that still remains etched in my mind to this day. We sat in a room to start our enablement, the door opened, and our trainer began handing out a ‘for dummies guide’ and told all of us in the room, ‘Learn this and see you in 2 weeks to start calling’ and then walked out.

‘Treat others just as you want to be treated.’

Now this isn’t an ideal experience for any new hire into a role, and since then, I have vowed to improve the experiences of those around me and ensure we are all being elevated together. That’s the reason for this newsletter.

What will you get out of this Newsletter?

• Provide unique insights from a seasoned European sales leader who has progressed unconventionally.

• Interviews with some of the best in the field of sales and sales development.

• What’s trending in the market?

• Some of the best roles in the Netherlands and Europe will be highlighted.

  What I’m seeing this week?

It’s easy to say, ‘AI is going to take everyone’s jobs’. However, the conversation is much more nuanced and multilayered. We have seen many sensationalist headlines over the last ten years when it came to the destruction of the SDR role, some but not limited to:

• The multidialer will reduce the need for SDRs as they can make 1000 dials in an hour.

• Sequencing tools bring to an end a real need for knowledge of the product you sold so that anyone can do the job.

• Outsourcing SDR functions will mean more significant greater meeting generation.

All of these advancements in the market have made the SDR role more professionalised and essential, as the need to identify quality talent, enablement and coach them means that at the end of that SDR’s lifecycle in the role, you’ve created a powerful starting position for a closing rep.

What can you do to stay ahead of the curve? First, breathe! The SDR role won’t become obsolete, but you need to continue to learn new skills and also be able to coach those new skills to be able to stay relevant.

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