First things first…

Since this Newsletter’s announcement, the support and messages I received for this project have been overwhelming! Thank you so much! Today we discuss soft skills, how to rise fast into SDR leadership and book of the week!

What am I seeing this week: Soft Skills

Pfft, oh, back in my day, it was so much better

We have all sat with our elders, who love to regale you with tales of their youth. It ranges from candy bars being smaller now to the cost of gas. Let's talk about how the last four years have affected people’s ability to be fully set up for success as they enter the workforce.

Covid left a generation of young people, through no fault of their own, hamstrung in the ability to communicate with people in a real-life setting. University/ College is where many of us have spent our formative years meeting new people. We must leave our comfort zone to make new friends in new cities. It allows us to become comfortable with the uncomfortable.

The result now is talent comes into the workforce with underdeveloped skills that older generations take for granted. As the WSJ article reads, it has had macroeconomic effects that roles down to challenging employers in how they ramp this covid generation of talent to be productive.

So what can we do about this?

Firstly, employers and employees need to embrace this challenge rather than reflect on talent from the past. This group of talent entering the workforce is incredibly tech-savvy and resilient. The challenge that they faced was once every hundred years. They can handle ambiguity that employers can take and embrace.

So What would I recommend?

It’s two-folded, on both the employee and the employer. What can the employer do? It’s about removing the assumption of core soft skills and adding those into the onboarding programmes they deliver. It’s about providing on-the-job training, not just at the onboarding stage, but in the continuous professional development they receive. What do I think is critical here? Its:

• Presentation skills

• Executive presence training

• How to assume positive intent when challenged by peers.

For the employees, embracing your strengths and discovering the skills you didn’t know you needed. I’d recommend going to Toastmasters, a public speaking organisation. I would also gain a mentor; why? They can provide you with an independent perspective into areas they see you’d benefit from growing in. Need help finding a mentor? Drop me a message. I’d be happy to facilitate. There are some great articles to read as well, like this HBR collection, which can provide you with perspectives you might not have considered:

Five questions of the week

We have Lizzie Reeves, SDR Manager, EMEA at Solace, for our first interview segment. Lizzie has been a fast riser, moving from being an SDR to management within two years. This week she will go over why she chose sales, how she leads teams and what she has done to rise as fast as she has in leadership!

So Lizzie, why did you choose sales?

I wanted to find a career where no two days are the same. I am always curious to try new experiences, and I felt like sales were the perfect environment for that.

What advice would you give old Lizzie from 2 years ago on further accelerating your career?

I would tell myself not to be afraid of people’s job titles. No matter what level of your career you are at, everyone’s opinion is valuable, so you should never be afraid to suggest a new idea or provide some feedback just because you are early on in your career. Standing out from the crowd and building relationships with everyone around you is important. These are people you can learn so much from!

What is your leadership methodology?

I would say that I promote autonomous working within my team and have a relatively laissez-faire attitude regarding leadership. No two people are the same, so you must be flexible and adapt your approach to different team members.

This allows my team to establish their levels of individuality when it comes to their outreach and also means they can confide in me as a leader when times are tough.

What is the best prospecting channel for SDRs, and why?

LinkedIn allows SDRs to make themselves into thought leaders regarding prospecting. Having the option for voice, video, or traditional messaging is excellent, and I love LinkedIn.

How do you see the SDR role changing in the next two years?

A.I. is going to be a huge influence on the SDR world. It isn’t here to remove our jobs, but it is certainly here to make us more efficient. I’m excited as it is developing SDRs into more comprehensive sellers. We are using tools like ChatGPT to educate ourselves on what particular personas care about and to ask silly questions about complex technologies that we may be afraid to ask an engineer / senior leader.

It’s going to help SDRs strengthen their knowledge and capabilities.