Introducing our first live debate of 2023 in our popular debate series! We’re excited to tackle the topic of Paid vs Organic – where is best to invest your marketing budget in 2023?
Our panellists have tried and tested in their field, they have their favourite and they’re ready to battle it out…
Fighting for team ‘Paid’ we have:
Jaye Cowle – Managing Director of Launch
And on team ‘Organic’ we have:
Sam Dunning – Co-Owner of WEB CHOICE
Dan Holt – Managing Director of Boss Digital
Sitting in the cross-fire and chairing the debate is our very own Founder & CEO, Owen Richards.
Who is it for?
Founders
Sales Leaders
Revenue Leaders
Sales Managers
Sales Development Representatives
Category: Sales
How to Be Brave and Sell More with Your Sales and Marketing
We’re living in an exciting age of advertising, so there’s no doubt that you’ve recently come across a piece of highly creative and snappy marketing and thought ‘I wish my company could do something like that’. The good news is, that no matter what industry you operate in, you can! Thinking outside of the box and being brave with your sales and marketing has many benefits that can drive revenue growth.
Let’s delve into some of them:
Standing Out From the Crowd
CPB London’s 2022 International Women’s Day Campaign around breaking the gender bias was built around a nationwide study that said 39% of primary school aged children still believe that mothers should look after babies and do the housework, whilst fathers should go to work.
They produced a series of bold text-only posters that challenge instant biases with copy such as ‘Imagine a CEO. Is it a man?’ and ‘Imagine someone crying in the office. Is it a woman?’ They also launched a children’s colouring book alongside this that went further in challenging traditional gender roles.
Image credit: cpblondon.com
This campaign made them stand out from their competition and differentiate their brand as a disruptor within the industry. It also introduced them to a wider audience, including people who would not have been aware of their brand otherwise.
Increasing Brand Awareness
What feelings do you want to evoke when people think of your business? Boring, dated, ‘had its day’? Didn’t think so.
Your brand identity is the key to resonating with your target audience and driving more sales.
Take the latest British Airways campaign, for example. They’ve put a series of billboards up around the UK encouraging people to take their holiday seriously with a series of tongue in cheek out of office emails such as this one:
Image credit: famouscampaigns.com
They are implicitly driving sales by subverting expectations and relating to their audience’s desire to book holidays in order to switch off from their everyday working lives.
How relatable are your current marketing and sales materials? How could you appeal to your target audience more closely in your next campaign?
Building Trust with Your Potential Customers
By being bold and assertive with how you sell your products or services, you display a confidence in them that attracts interest and can lead to sales. Take this recent #RaiseYourArches advert from McDonalds. It doesn’t feature a single product or restaurant shot. It doesn’t even feature speech. It uses clever body language and their iconic golden-arch branding to show how people may communicate that they want a McDonalds.
Image credit: McDonald’s
McDonalds know that they don’t always have to use product imagery in order to sell burgers – they can instead focus on the feelings their food and the experience of eating it offers.
Consider how you could demonstrate confidence in your products or services within your marketing or sales collateral.
Increasing Sales Through Scarcity
KFC’s double down burger is one of its most popular menu items. But it’s not available all year round. The fast-food chain only makes it available for limited 5 week periods and when it’s on sale, it accounts for roughly 5% of its total revenue. The fact that it’s never clear when the burger might be returning to the menu, drives sales from satisfied customers who have previously enjoyed it. The product has a loyal customer base which means KFC can expect increased revenue over time, so long as they keep selling it.
Image credit: KFC UK & Ireland Instagram
How could you replicate this sense of urgency to motivate your ideal customers into action? Could you create exclusivity around a product or offer a lucrative limited time deal? The bolder, the better!
Leading Not Following
The release of the John Lewis Christmas advert is a highly anticipated event in the festive calendar. Viewers have come to expect a highly emotive and heart-warming tale that evokes the yule-tide spirit of giving. Hailing back two decades, this format has now set a trend with lots of other retailers now following suit with story-telling adverts in a similar format. This powerful story-telling format increases brand awareness and can be effective in driving sales, especially around the all-important festive period.
How could your business lead rather than follow with your sales and marketing processes? Could you offer added value that your customer base wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else? How could you inject freshness into your industry?
Being brave with sales and marketing isn’t something that’s exclusively reserved for the titans of their industry. In being bold and making your offering stand out from that of your competitors, you’ll force your audience to sit up and listen to what you have to say.
In thinking outside of the box with how you market and sell to your audience,, you will undoubtedly achieve a wider reach, build trust, and ultimately generate more opportunities for revenue growth. So be brave with your ideas, make the sky your limit and then go a bit further. In today’s oversaturated digital world, who dares wins!
Is your business ready to be brave and sell more, but in need of some guidance on how to execute this strategy? We’re here to help. Get in touch today to find out how we could guide you through the process and help you to generate more revenue opportunities.
CloudTask’s Transform Sales Podcast Featuring Owen Richards – Founder & CEO, Air Marketing
Want to know the secret to a successful sales strategy? Air Marketing’s Founder & CEO, Owen Richards, reveals all in an interview with Amir Reiter, CEO of CloudTask.
They discuss:
– How to qualify leads efficiently
– How to find the right niche for any product or service
– How to identify when buyers don’t fit your target
Learn more about how Air Marketing works with expert teams that provide all the sales and marketing services you need to generate a pipeline that drives results and revenue, here.
Connect with Owen and Amir on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenjrichards/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirreiter/
Do Your Extra Leads Cover the Cost of Your CRM? Does That Make Your Investment Smarter?
As a HubSpot Partner and as an organisation that offers SDR services among other things, naturally we have a lot of conversations internally and with clients about CRM systems. You can see from my job title that for me it is my professional life and the rabbit hole I live in!
What is really interesting is how the term CRM seems difficult to translate, or it at least means something different to everybody. There are so many different, sometimes conflicting, views of what a CRM is for, but also why it is needed. Some companies just want somewhere to store customer and prospect data. Some of our clients have little to no visibility of sales and leads moving through the business. Others want to reduce the amount of different software they’re using and connect data sets from different departments into one ‘single source of truth’.
All of these are logical reasons to have a CRM. I’m obviously on the side of the fence that encourages organisations to look at this (I of course know a talented CRM Manager that can help you!), but you can have all the great ideas in the world and then cost and budget come up ☹
A CRM platform isn’t something tangible you can sell and directly see ROI, unless you’re in that industry. You can, for a time, survive without a CRM and still sell to and manage customers. If you then decide to get a CRM, you will naturally have some disruption when implementing it and adapting processes that will feel like you are losing time and therefore revenue. With all that in mind and the cost of running a business going up, why would you pull the trigger? If you make the investment and pay a monthly subscription, when and how do you see a return? Won’t it just be eating into profit and margin? How quickly can that investment start to wash its face at least, and show you financially that you made the right decision?
All of those are sensible questions I hear all the time. First off, I’d suggest an assessment of your entire tech stack. How many different pieces are software are each team using to just do their jobs? Can cost savings be made by not only replacing software with a function within a CRM system, but also having that software directly linked to vital data? I’d advise then thinking about your current operation i.e. how easily can you show and track the ROI from your marketing efforts, and how well are you tracking and staying on top of your leads and deals? How valuable is that data to you?
Then there’s the obvious point that, again, we at Air Marketing constantly talk about: Lead Gen! What if having the right CRM could help you generate more leads? What if a few more closed deals a month, from leads that came off the back of an increase that’s linked to having a solid CRM in place, provided you with profit that could then pay for that monthly CRM cost? In that scenario you aren’t having to find additional budget; you’re seeing an increase in your numbers and have slicker and more integrated processes. I’ve made it sound really simple but that’s got to be a no-brainer, right?
We’re a HubSpot Certified Solutions Partner and became so because we see how the platform adds value to the Sales and Marketing services that we offer. It will always be our first recommendation, because we believe in HubSpot and use it ourselves. There are, however, other great alternatives on the market, Salesforce being one of them.
Both HubSpot and Salesforce have reacted to the question “how can I see ROI from my investment in a CRM?” and have provided some excellent calculators. When shopping around for a CRM, we advise you do your normal due-diligence and investigate features and benefits, but we’d also advise going through the exercise of running some numbers through these tools so you can satisfy that part of your curiosity and/or explain to the powers that be, what returns will come from the cost of CRM implementation.
Try out these FREE calculators:
The alternative, of course, is to fill out a contact form here, and I’ll happily get on a call to help and offer our perspective 😉
Opinion piece by Shaun Weston – CRM Manager at Air Marketing
LIVE Event: The Great Sales Debate – Outsourced SDR Vs. In-House SDR
Join us for our LAST live event of 2022, in our popular series ‘The Great Sales Debate’. Watch as we bring together some of the top sales and revenue leaders from around the world, to argue their cases in controversial sales and marketing disputes.
This month’s topic is: Outsourced SDR Vs. In-house SDR
Everybody has an opinion, most have chosen a side. Our panellists have tried and tested in their field, they have their favourite and they’re ready to battle it out…
Fighting for team ‘Outsourced’ we have:
Luke James – Founder & Director at 4Marketing
Marco Alfano-Rogers – Sales Director at Air Marketing
And on team ‘In-House’ we have:
Benjamin Dennehy – The UK’s Most Hated Sales Trainer®
Matt Milligan – Co-Founder at Uhubs
Sitting in the cross-fire and chairing the debate is our very own Founder & CEO, Owen Richards.
Who is it for?
Founders
Sales Leaders
Revenue Leaders
Sales Managers
Sales Development Representatives
3 Important Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Stop Prospecting in December
The Christmas tree is up, your office is planning its Secret Santa, and your team is talking excitedly about what they’re going to do in the long-deserved holiday break.
However, does this mean you should stop making sales calls?
We asked our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards, his thoughts on the issue…
When November rolls around, we’re often asked by our clients if they should stop their lead generation campaigns. Their logic? People are either away on holiday or not in the mood for sales calls.
My response? ‘Carry on like you would any time of the year.’
Does this make me sound like a Scrooge in the run-up to Christmas? Probably. However, the facts show that you need to keep prospecting in December instead of slowing things down.
The evidence: why you should keep those calls going
As an agency specialising in outbound sales support, Air Marketing make hundreds of thousands of calls on behalf of clients every year. As a result, we get to identify patterns in behaviour.
Our data for 2021 shows that positive decision maker engagement increases significantly in the run-up to Christmas. Why? People are cheerful, excited, and willing to talk more.
As well as this, the likelihood of an appointment converting into a lead is still high. Even in the week commencing 20th December, when businesses are starting to wind down, the conversion rate is still comparable to the weeks before.
Now, at this point, you might be thinking, ‘but Owen, that’s one isolated year. It was the first year back in the office after lockdown, and people were just happy to speak to another human. Look at another year, and it will probably be another story.’
We also carried out a similar study in 2019 where we compared clients that kept their lead generation going in December 2018 and January 2019 against those that didn’t.
We found that conversations with decision makers increased by 18%, and the time required to generate a qualified sales lead dropped by 51%.
So no matter which year you look at, it’s still important to pick up the phone all the way through the festive season.
Why you should keep picking up the phones in the run-up to Christmas
So we’ve looked at the statistics behind prospecting in December, now to see why you should keep making those calls.
1. The quality of conversation increases in December
According to YouGov, 38% of people say their mental health improves over Christmas. There are family and friends to visit, lots of food to eat and best of all… no work for a week!
As a result, we’ve found that decision makers are more talkative and happier. The quality of conversations increases, as does the length of phone calls. This increases the chance of a positive interaction and a prospect turning into a lead.
You also have a quick win up your sleeve in December; you’ve got something in common with the person you’re calling. You can talk about what they’re up to for Christmas, when they’re finishing for the holidays, and if they’re having an office party.
Use it as an opportunity to forge a connection with your prospect and structure a successful sales call.
2. People are planning their budgets for the year ahead
In December, departments are starting to think about budgets for the upcoming tax year. This makes this time of year ideal to introduce yourself and state your case as to why they should work with you.
Decision makers will be in a better mood and have more time to talk, meaning your conversion rate will increase.
Will prospective customers want to meet up in December? Probably not. However, you can ’keep them warm’ until they’re back in for the New Year and arrange an appointment then.
3. People aren’t going to write off 8% of the year
Think of the year as the equivalent of a Christmas cake, cut into twelve slices.
You think, ‘I don’t want to bother people just before Christmas.’ That’s a slice gone.
You then think, ‘People are going to be away in August for the summer holidays.’ There goes another slice.
Finally you think ‘There’s no point calling people at Easter.’ Another slice. Before you know it, you’ve given up a quarter of the year, and that’s before you start taking holidays into account.
When there are targets to hit in the workplace, every moment counts. This means people will keep on working, and it will be business as usual for many of your prospects.
Unless your key decision maker has decided to take the whole of December off, they’ll still be around to listen to you.
A Christmassy caveat…
Another question our clients frequently ask is if they should start a new sales campaign in December.
My answer? It’s never a good idea to start something new in December. If you’ve already begun your campaign, keep the momentum going in the run-up to Christmas, but leave the brand new initiatives until you’re back at work after New Year.
That way your sales team will be recharged, refreshed, and ready to go!
My final thoughts
When the Christmas lights are up, and you’re doing your Christmas shopping during your lunch break, the last thing you want to do is pick up the phone and talk to prospects.
However, December is the perfect time to make calls if you want to see positive engagement with decision makers.
Don’t forget, if you’re planning your sales campaigns for quarter four, it pays to get started now. Our team of sales specialists will fill your sales funnel and help you reach your sales goals.
Contact Air Marketing today to find out how we can work together in the months ahead.
Outsourced SDR vs In-House SDR: Which Is Better For Business?
When you’re looking for new leads for your company, a team of experienced Sales Development Representatives, or SDRs, is essential.
The big question… do you outsource the work to an external company or recruit in-house?
You’re probably thinking that as an agency specialising in outsourced sales, we’re going to say that you should always trust your sales processes to an external provider. And, of course, we have discussed the benefits of outsourcing your sales many times on our blog.
But the truth is that there’s no right or wrong answer! There may be circumstances where outsourcing your SDR function isn’t the right option for your business.
However, here are three circumstances where outsourcing your SDR may be the ideal solution.
Wondering if in-house or outsourced marketing is right for your business? You might be interested in this article.
- You’re looking for sales support without increasing headcount
One of the main reasons businesses outsource their SDRs is to grow sales without spending time and money recruiting in-house.
It might be that your business is very new, and you don’t have the budget for an in-house team just yet. It may be the case that your in-house sales team focuses on warm leads, and you need SDRs to bring in new business. You may just have one salesperson and need to hang fire before bringing new employees on board.
According to Glassdoor, the average salary for an SDR in the UK (in 2022) is just over £32,173 a year. Not only do you need to take salary into consideration but also commission, the equipment needed to do their jobs, onboarding and training costs, holidays, pensions, and other benefits.
Plus, new recruits may expect a promotion within a couple of years, or they may move on, meaning you have to start all over again.
Add a couple of SDRs to your in-house team, and costs can quickly mount up! Outsourcing sales means you can get the valuable support your business needs without the expensive outlay.
- You want flexibility
The main bonus of hiring SDRs externally is that you can quickly ramp up or down as needed. For example, let’s say you want to push sales before the end of the financial year, or in the run-up to Christmas. You can call on additional outsourced SDRs to increase capacity temporarily, and have them stand down when the rush is over.
You can also use outsourced sales to adapt as your business grows. Outsourcing your SDRs means you can reach out to more customers, make more sales, and boost average revenue per customer, filling the gap before you hire internally.
Many businesses that outsource their sales are SMEs. According to Clutch, one in three small businesses outsources at least one of their business processes. Outsourcing sales gives these businesses the flexibility they need to try new processes (more on that in a bit) and means they can quickly scale up or down when needed.
- You want to test new things
An outsourced team of SDRs is excellent if you want to try new things in your sales department with minimal risk. Think of them as a team of sales scientists, ready to experiment on behalf of your company!
Let’s say your business has a new product you want to sell to customers. You have three options available:
The first is taking one or two of your in-house SDRs and moving them to your new product. This is risky as this means you’re potentially losing sales revenue on your existing product lines.
The second is to hire new staff. This will cost your business time and money as you need to recruit and onboard these staff. Plus, if the new product isn’t a success, there is the risk that you may need to let these staff go.
The third option, and the one we recommend, is to outsource the sales. This is the best option, as you can test the product’s success with an external team. If the product sells well, you have the evidence needed to hire new staff in-house. If it doesn’t, your in-house sales team is unaffected, and you can go back to the old way of working.
An external sales team can also offer fresh insights and new thoughts on how you run your sales team. Is there anything they do differently that you can apply to your in-house processes? A good outsourced sales agency will be more than happy to share its experience and knowledge with you.
Choosing the right outsourced SDR team is critical
If you were recruiting an in-house SDR, you’d spend a lot of time selecting the perfect candidate. You’d pore over CVs, carry out detailed interviews, and go through your notes before making the final decision.
The same logic applies to who you choose to outsource to.
Outsourcing can be done well, but it can also be done wrong. We’ve seen many small agencies start up with just a mobile phone and a laptop, and in our experience, they can’t provide the services most businesses need to grow sales revenue.
Knowledge, practical experience, and transparency are essential.
We work with each of our clients to provide a tailored outsourced sales experience to suit their needs.
When in-house recruitment is the right solution
If you have a mature business with a dedicated in-house team, high-quality outbound sales processes, and a brilliant Sales Manager in place, you’re generally best hiring internally.
Of course, there are a few circumstances where outsourcing your sales may be of benefit, for example, if you want to test something new. However, nine times out of ten, we’d say stick with what you know!
Remember, if you need a little extra help with your in-house recruitment, we can use our experience to help you hire the best SDRs on the market. Our sister company, Seed Talent, specialise in helping businesses recruit the best SDRs and AEs on the market. Visit their website to find out more.
Myths of Resilience Webinar (Air Marketing x Sales Psyche)
“You need to be resilient”
We hear this on a regular basis in commercial roles, but it’s one thing saying it, and it’s another knowing how to be resilient and most importantly how to develop it.
Our resilience is key to managing our mental wellbeing and being successful in our role; dealing with those knockbacks and failures.
If you want to truly understand what it means to be resilient and how to build it, then tune in for the ‘Myths of Resilience’ webinar, hosted by Owen Richards (our Founder & CEO) and Chris Hatfield (Founder & Coach at Sales Psyche).
Agenda:
- Hear about the 4 main myths of resilience that most people believe in
- Learn how to challenge your self-talk and build resilience in challenging situations
- Learn about the 3 types of failure and the importance of understanding them
- Opinions and questions from the audience
Who is it for?
Managers and Reps in commercial SaaS/Tech roles
Sales Confidence B2B SaaS Sales & Revenue Leaders In-Person Event | 21st September 2022 | Co-Hosted By Owen Richards
On Wednesday 21st September, we joined Sales Confidence for their popular in-person event for Sales & Revenue Leaders, at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London…
…to learn and network with the top business and sales leaders responsible for some of the fastest growing SaaS companies in the UK and Europe.
James Ski hosted the event alongside our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards, and they were joined by a panel of inspiring industry speakers, including:
Ali Z. Syed – Director of International Revenue and Growth at ZoomInfo
Brigid Fox – Revenue Leader at Apheris
Nicola M. Doherty – Director of Enterprise at Gong
Alice Carlisle – VP Sales at 1E
Pete Blackhurst – Vice President Sales International at Trackforce Valiant
Why watch?
Learn from the top business and sales leaders responsible for some of the fastest growing SaaS companies in the UK and Europe, and achieve the competitive edge necessary to accelerate your own growth and success.
LIVE Event: The Great Sales Debate – Cold Calling Vs. Inbound Marketing
Sometimes the recipe for a good discussion is to simply pick an important topic, invite a few experienced people who disagree with each other, and then sit back and listen… so that’s exactly what we’re doing!
Join us for our latest live event series of 2022: The Great Sales Debate. Watch as we bring together some of the top sales and revenue leaders from around the world, to argue their cases in controversial sales and marketing disputes.
The third topic of the series is: Cold Calling Vs. Inbound Marketing – which is best for lead generation?
Everybody has an opinion, most have chosen a side. Our panellists have tried and tested in their field, they have their favourite and they’re ready to battle it out…
Fighting for team ‘cold calling’ we have:
Owen Richards – Founder & CEO at Air Marketing
Gerry Hill – Regional Vice President, EMEA at ConnectAndSell
And on team ‘inbound marketing’ we have:
Sam Dunning – Co-Owner & Sales Director at Web Choice
Justin Rowe – Chief Marketing Officer at Impactable
We are switching things up this month, with James Ski, Founder & CEO of Sales Confidence, hosting the debate! He will aim to challenge the viewpoints of our panellists and encourage a healthy debate, with tangible takeaways for everybody tuning in.
Who is it for?
Founders
Sales Leaders
Revenue Leaders
Sales Managers
Sales Development Representatives
