ON AIR With Owen: Episode 96 | Navigating Business Partnerships

Introducing our 96th episode of ON AIR: With Owen – our podcast series for honest conversations about starting and scaling your own business, hosted by our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards, and his new co-host, Neil Finnie.

Meet Your Hosts: Owen Richards and Neil Finnie

Owen Richards hails from Kent and began his sales career at Forrest Marketing Group in Sydney. After an 8-year stint, Owen returned to the UK and co-founded Air Marketing Group, growing it into a powerhouse offering specialist B2B sales and marketing solutions to businesses across the globe. Known for his relentless positivity and strategic foresight, Owen brings a wealth of experience and a knack for big ideas to the podcast.

Neil Finnie is your quintessential ‘wabi-sabi entrepreneur’ – flawed but beautiful in approach. With over 25 years of experience in nurturing businesses around his passions, from co-working spaces to professional development agencies, Neil’s unique perspective enriches our discussions, making each episode a treasure trove of insights.

What to Expect in this Week’s Episode

Thinking of starting a business with a partner? Then this episode is for you. Join Owen and Neil as they dive deep into the world of business partnerships, sharing their personal experiences of what worked, what didn’t, and the lessons they learned along the way. From structuring shareholding to dividing responsibilities, they break down the key decisions and processes involved in building a successful partnership. Whether you’re looking for practical advice, cautionary tales, or expert insights on how to avoid common pitfalls, this episode will help guide you in forming a strong and sustainable business collaboration.

Where and When to tune in

Catch new episodes every Wednesday:

Watch: On YouTube or via Air Marketing’s Knowledge Hub.

Listen: On Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn + Alexa, Deezer, and more.

Join us as we dive deep into the dynamics of running a business in today’s fast-paced world. Whether you’re seeking inspiration or practical advice, our podcast is your gateway to becoming more adept in the business arena.

Warning: Contains swearing

Why You Shouldn’t Outsource Lead Generation (Unless You Do It Right)

In today’s competitive B2B landscape, the pressure to generate high-quality leads is immense. Companies are increasingly turning to outsourcing for lead generation, seeking to scale their efforts while keeping costs manageable. However, while outsourcing can be an incredibly effective strategy, it’s also one that can fail spectacularly if not done correctly.

As someone who’s spent years helping companies achieve success through outsourced sales, marketing and SDRs, I’ve seen both the potential and the pitfalls of outsourcing lead generation.

Here’s why you shouldn’t outsource lead generation unless you’re prepared to do it right—and how to ensure your efforts lead to success.

The Allure and the Danger of Outsourcing Lead Generation

Outsourcing lead generation can seem like an easy fix to a complex problem. After all, the promise of gaining access to a team of experts who can take the burden off your internal team is compelling. However, in the wrong hands, outsourcing can become a nightmare. Poorly executed lead generation strategies waste valuable resources, damage your brand’s reputation, and ultimately leave your sales pipeline dry.

According to a report by Forrester, as much as 50% of B2B marketers believe that their lead generation programs are underperforming. The root cause? Misalignment between outsourced teams and the company’s internal goals. If the outsourced team doesn’t have a deep understanding of your industry, target market, and specific sales objectives, the leads they generate are likely to be irrelevant, unqualified, or worse—counterproductive to your brand image.

Why Outsourcing Fails: Common Mistakes

  1. Lack of Alignment with Business Goals

The most common reason outsourcing fails is a lack of alignment between the external SDR team and the internal business strategy. Often, companies outsource to generic lead generation firms without ensuring that the provider fully understands their goals, target audience, and unique value proposition.

As Gartner points out, alignment between sales and marketing is crucial for success, and this extends to any third-party vendors you work with. When there’s a disconnect, the leads generated won’t fit your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), leading to wasted resources and misdirected efforts.

  1. Over-Reliance on Automation and Volume

Some outsourcing providers focus on volume over quality, relying heavily on automation tools to churn out leads at scale. While automation has its place in modern sales, it can’t replace the nuance of personalised, thoughtful engagement. Harvard Business Review warns that excessive automation in lead generation can alienate prospects and reduce engagement, rather than fostering meaningful connections.

The key is striking the right balance—leveraging technology to streamline processes while ensuring that human intelligence and personalisation guide the strategy.

  1. Failure to Invest in Relationship-Building

Successful lead generation isn’t just about numbers—it’s about relationships. In many cases, outsourcing providers fail because they don’t take the time to build trust with prospects before pushing for the sale. According to Salesforce, over 79% of B2B buyers say that building trust is more important now than ever. If your outsourced team is prioritising speed over relationship-building, they’re likely missing out on the very leads that would convert with proper nurturing.

How to Outsource Lead Generation the Right Way

While the risks of outsourcing are real, the potential rewards are significant—if you approach it correctly. Here’s how to ensure that your outsourcing efforts succeed:

  1. Choose a Partner, Not a Vendor

The most successful outsourcing relationships are partnerships, not transactions. You need to work with a provider that takes the time to understand your business, your market, and your sales goals. They should operate as an extension of your team, with a shared commitment to achieving your objectives.

This means you shouldn’t just evaluate potential providers on their promises of lead volume or speed. Instead, assess their strategic understanding, their ability to align with your internal teams, and their approach to personalisation and relationship-building.

  1. Focus on Quality Over Quantity

At Air Marketing, we focus on delivering leads that are not just plentiful, but primed for conversion. This means taking a targeted approach, leveraging in-depth research and personalisation to engage prospects who are genuinely aligned with your product or service.

Research from HubSpot shows that companies prioritising lead quality see a 45% higher conversion rate compared to those focusing purely on lead quantity. When outsourcing, make sure your provider understands this distinction and is committed to delivering quality, not just numbers.

  1. Integrate with Your Internal Teams

Your internal sales and marketing teams shouldn’t feel disconnected from your outsourced SDR efforts—they should be fully integrated. Ensure that your outsourcing provider maintains open lines of communication, regularly reports on progress, and adapts based on feedback from your internal teams.

Effective integration allows for seamless handoffs between your outsourced SDRs and your internal account executives, ensuring that leads are nurtured properly through every stage of the funnel.

The Bottom Line

Outsourcing lead generation is not a silver bullet—it’s a strategy that can either drive tremendous value or lead to wasted time and resources if mishandled. The difference lies in how you approach it.

Done right, with the right partner, outsourcing can free up your internal teams to focus on high-impact activities while ensuring that your sales pipeline remains healthy and productive. But if you choose the wrong provider, or fail to align your strategies, it can easily lead to frustration, wasted investment, and missed opportunities.

At Air Marketing, we pride ourselves on getting it right. With the right clients we’ve demonstrated that when outsourcing is done strategically, it doesn’t just work—it accelerates growth. If you’re considering outsourcing your lead generation, let’s have a conversation about how to do it the right way for your business.

Opinion piece by Commercial Director, Neil Clarke.

B2B Telemarketing Team

Air Marketing Reaches Platinum Tier as a HubSpot Solutions Partner

HubSpot Platinum Partner Award
HubSpot Platinum Partner

PRESS RELEASE:

Today, Air Marketing announced that it has reached the platinum tier of the HubSpot’s Solutions Partner Program. HubSpot, a leading CRM platform for scaling companies, works hand-in-hand with partner experts to grow their businesses through inbound software, services, and support. 

The Solutions Partner Program is an ecosystem of experts that offer marketing, sales, customer service, web design, CRM, and IT services. It’s a global community that believes putting customers first is the key to growth, and enables its members to offer a wide breadth of more sophisticated solutions across the entire customer experience.

To achieve status as a platinum tier solutions partner, partners must earn 270 sold points, earned by selling to new or existing customers, and 150 managed points, earned by servicing existing customers.

Over the past year, Air Marketing has grown its business by incorporating inbound strategies to attract, engage, and delight customers. The Exeter-based agency provides comprehensive outsourced sales and marketing solutions to businesses worldwide, from start-ups to established brands. Their range of customisable services—including outsourced SDRs, multilingual sales, digital marketing, and organic content marketing—are designed with flexibility to meet their clients’ unique business objectives. Founded in 2015 by CEO Owen Richards, Air Marketing remains independently operated, leveraging experience and results-driven strategies to generate quality leads, build relationships with ideal customers, strengthen sales pipelines, and enhance ROI.

To learn how Air Marketing can support your business as a HubSpot Solutions Partner, click here

LIVE Event: Marketing & RevOps Are Killing Your Sales Performance – How to Reclaim the KPI Crown

Is Your Sales Performance Under Threat? Discover How to Reclaim the Crown for Your SDRs!

Are your marketing and RevOps teams unintentionally stifling your sales performance? It’s time to flip the script. Air Marketing invites you to an exclusive live roundtable event where we delve into these critical issues and reveal how SDRs can regain their rightful place as KPI champions.

Why Watch?
This isn’t just another webinar—it’s your ticket to actionable insights that can transform your sales team’s trajectory. Our distinguished panel of sales leaders and industry experts share the proven strategies they’ve used to build powerhouse SDR teams that consistently outperform the competition.

Meet the Experts:
Georgina Beard – Head of Sales Enablement, SEON Fraud Fighters
Helen Boothby – Director, Sales Express
Chris Hatfield – Founder, Sales Psyche
James Newell – Sales Consultant, Clear Sales Message

Hosted by:
Owen Richards – Founder & CEO, Air Marketing

What You’ll Learn:
– Mastery Over KPIs: Discover how SDRs can blend data-driven processes with their innate sales instincts to dominate every KPI.
– Interdepartmental Impact: Uncover the real effects of cross-departmental KPIs on sales performance and how to navigate them.
– Performance Prioritisation: Learn which KPIs truly matter and how to measure genuine success.
– Process vs. Instinct: Debate the best path to sales excellence—rigid processes or sharp instincts?
– Unified Revenue KPIs: Explore whether a single, revenue-focused KPI across all departments is the game-changer your team needs.

Who is it for?
Founders & CEOs
Sales & Marketing Leaders
Revenue Leaders
Sales & Marketing Managers
Sales Development Representatives (SDRs)
Business Development Representatives (BDRs)

Don’t Let Your Sales Team Fall Behind—Take the Lead in 2024!

This is your chance to gain a competitive edge with insights that could redefine your approach to sales. Whether you’re a CEO, sales leader, or SDR, this event will arm you with the knowledge to elevate your team’s performance and set new benchmarks for success.