Office or Home Working – Which Is Better For SDRs?

The pandemic has changed not only how we work, but where we work.

Before 2020, just over 1.5 million people worked from home. Now, this number has skyrocketed to 23.9 million.

Now lockdown is over, many businesses have requested their SDRs return to the office. However, others have continued to let their sales teams work from home.

While Airbnb has enacted a ‘work from anywhere’ policy for staff, Elon Musk recently made the headlines for forcing Tesla employees back into the office.

Which is the right solution? Let’s look at how office and home working can benefit your business and most importantly, help your SDRs develop to their full potential.

The advantages of working in the office

SDRs learn more

One of the benefits of office working is that SDRs learn through their interactions with others. For example, a new SDR might learn new sales techniques by listening to their more experienced colleagues making phone calls.

Learning through observation is harder in a remote environment as sales reps are more self-contained.

SDRs are more accountable

Creating a culture of accountability and responsibility in your sales department is essential, especially if you work with younger, more impressionable SDRs.

84% of employees say the way leaders behave is the most critical factor when it comes to accountability. In an office environment, managers and team leaders can be more present with sales reps and set a good example.

SDRs (typically) react better to being around people

Extraverted people typically gravitate towards a career in sales.

Extraverts are people who get their energy and motivation from being around others, which makes an office environment an ideal place for them to be.

If your sales reps thrive on getting out there and seeing people, the social interactions the office provides will keep happiness and levels of wellbeing high.

SDRs can make connections

When working in an office, SDRs don’t just connect with the people in their department; they connect with everyone in the building.

Whether they’re waiting to go into a meeting or making a cup of tea in the break room, there’s no telling who they might bump into!

Getting to know people at work helps SDRs feel part of the company culture and provides them with valuable networking contacts that will help them in their future careers.

The advantages of working from home

SDRs have more flexibility

One of the reasons why people fell in love with working from home during lockdown was it offered a better work-life balance. Workers had more time to spend with their families and partners and even started new hobbies – we all know someone who started making sourdough bread in 2020!

Giving SDRs the option to work from home means they can be happier and more productive in their sales role.

SDRs can work without interruption

As we mentioned above, some salespeople thrive in an office environment. However, others do their best work where it’s quieter, and there are fewer distractions.

If you manage a team of SDRs who are more likely to hit their targets when there’s nothing to disturb them, a work from home solution might be ideal.

Our thoughts at Air Marketing

We believe working from home full-time isn’t the answer, especially for those just starting out in their sales career.

We also believe working in the office full-time isn’t the answer either.

The solution? Hybrid or flexible working. One in four people in the UK now split their time between home and the office, meaning they get the best of both worlds.

For the final say on the matter, we spoke to our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards:

“When I was younger and working as an SDR, some of my best memories were time spent in the office. I learned from my managers and made friends that I’m still in touch with today. It’s vital that young people starting out in sales have that connection to the office as that’s how they’ll grow into the sales leaders of the future.

“At Air Marketing, we ask our team to be in the office at least two days a week. After that, they can work from home if they want to.

“I’m usually in the office four or five days a week. However, it’s great to have the flexibility to work from home if I need to write a report or want to spend time with my family.”

Don’t forget, if you need a little sales support, whether in the office or working from home, we can help.

Our expertly-trained SDRs will provide you with high-quality leads that are ready to buy your products or services.

Contact us today to find out more.

ON AIR: With Owen Episode 59 Featuring Will Holden – Co-Founder at Vidu

Introducing our 59th episode of ON AIR: With Owen – our latest interview video series with honest conversation about scaling revenue, hosted by our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards.

Our 59th guest is Will Holden, Co-Founder at Vidu.

Owen and Will discuss how to use Gifs, memes, and all forms of creative media effectively in your sales process and outreach.

Including:
– The definitions of memes and Gifs
– How creative media works and when you should be using it
– Examples of creative media that has worked and not worked well
– The personas that work well with creative media
– How to keep creative media fresh and engaging
– How to integrate creative media with other channels
– Who should be using Vidu

SaaSGrowth Live 6th July 2022

Wow, what an event! If you didn’t manage to tune in for SaaSGrowth 2022, powered by Sales Confidence, on Wednesday 6th July, you can watch it here. 1,700+ people signed up for the event co-hosted by our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards, and James Ski, Founder of Sales Confidence.

We listened to some incredible talks from fantastic speakers including a talk from Owen himself around SDR ramp time being much longer than you think. You can watch it below.

ON AIR: With Owen Episode 58 Featuring Tim Hughes – CEO and Co Founder at DLA Ignite

Introducing our 58th episode of ON AIR: With Owen – our latest interview video series with honest conversation about scaling revenue, hosted by our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards.

Our 58th guest is Tim Hughes, CEO and Co Founder at DLA Ignite. Owen and Tim discuss social selling and digital transformation in sales.

Including:
– Tim’s take on digital transformation in sales
– What is “life content” and why you should be posting it on LinkedIn
– The biggest social selling trends in 2022
– Why being yourself is the most important thing when it comes to social selling successfully
– What’s more important when social selling – quality vs quantity

LIVE Event: The Great Sales Debate – Quality Vs. Quantity

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!

We are excited to announce 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 first topic of the series is: QUALITY Vs. QUANTITY of activity in outbound sales Everybody has an opinion, most have chosen a side – and our first panellists of the series are no exception!

They have tried and tested in their field, they have their favourite and they’re ready to battle it out.

Including:

Benjamin Dennehy – “The UK’s Most Hated Sales Trainer®

Dale Dupree – Founder & CSO at The Sales Rebellion

Mark Ackers – Sales Director at Allego

Sitting in the middle is your host, Owen Richards, Founder & CEO of Air Marketing, who aims to challenge the viewpoints of our panellists and encourage a healthy debate, with tangible takeaways for everybody tuning in.

There will also be the opportunity to give your own opinions and ask questions throughout the event. Simply register for free, send us your question in advance or ask us live.

Who is it for?

Founders

Sales Leaders

Revenue Leaders

Sales Managers

Sales Development Representatives

ON AIR: With Owen Episode 57 Featuring Anup Khera – VP & GM International at Attentive

Introducing our 57th episode of ON AIR: With Owen – our latest interview video series with honest conversation about scaling revenue, hosted by our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards.

Our 57th guest is Anup Khera, VP & GM International at Attentive. Owen and Anup discuss the dos and don’ts of scaling an organisation internationally.

Including:
– The importance of spending time getting to know the team and understanding the business
– The importance of hiring when building a go-to-market strategy
– The things Anup would definitely replicate and the mistakes he would avoid making again
– The ‘thinking like a CEO’ mindset and why it’s important
– How to maintain culture and collaboration with your team, wherever they are in the world
– The benefits of being on the front line as a leader and being involved in deals
– Avoiding the temptation of hiring the wrong candidates, too quickly

What’s Next For Tech?

Value will continue to rise. Companies will churn. Merges and acquisitions will augment the market and people will be more important than ever before.

SaaS and tech funding gained momentum during the pandemic, with mega-deals recalibrating and redefining the value of tech industries forever. The pandemic takes credit as an accelerator but not the reason. Companies had digitisation and digital strategies in place but it was Covid (more specifically lockdowns) that made it impossible for a board to procrastinate any longer. In addition companies were suddenly exposed to, and forced to react to, a lack of utilisation of their suite of existing tech and software and ‘technical debt’ rocketed up the priority list straight into the top 5.

Disconnecting human interaction at work made digital adoption and tech hygiene a basic requirement. In the case of sales and martech, one of the only ways of proving individual and team effectiveness performance was by ensuring activities, interactions and meetings were logged, noted, actioned. Out of this sales enablement and RevOps has blown up. ‘Faster, higher, stronger, together’ isn’t just applicable as a motto for the Olympics and athletes.

So where’s it heading?

According to CB Insights Q1 2022 State of Fintech Report, there has been an 18% reduction in tech investment in Q1 this year, that will make for some interesting boardroom discussions. Competition for investors’ money will come with more scrutiny, more prudence. Less Dragons Den and more Goldman Sachs. Because of this companies will churn and mergers and acquisitions will be on the rise. The mega-mergers will make the headlines but the SMB and mid-market conglomeration will be prolific and shape the landscape just as much.

SaaS and tech investment drive returns and whilst the value bubble isn’t going to burst, the talent bubble might. Leaders and executives who can deliver at speed have never been more in demand – nor have they ever been more aware of their value. Forget brand equity, ARR or EBITDA, what’s your talent equity?

Exceptional people, who have the right attributes not just to perform and develop their function (e.g. sales, IT) but across other areas of the business are in scarce supply. The cross-pollination of ideas across business functions is the alchemy where the real magic happens. It’s hard, almost impossible, to create these conditions remotely which is why we saw Google earlier this year mandate employees to be back in office three days a week on average. How this plays out and how it defines and affects companies success is a subject for another day, another blog.

Neil Clarke

Commercial Director – Air Marketing

LIVE Event: Cold Calling Training Session for SDRs, BDRs & Telesales Executives

On 16th June, we ran an exclusive online cold calling training session for Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), Business Development Representatives (BDRs) and Telesales Executives. Watch the recording or download the presentation below.

On the topic of cold calling, the two hour session covered:
– What to say
– What not to say
– How to get the best outcome
– How to handle objections

Hosts:
Owen Richards (Founder & CEO at Air Marketing)
Isheeta Abdullah (Training & Resource Manager at Air Marketing)

Who is it for?
– Sales Development Representatives (SDRs)
– Business Development Representatives (BDRs)
– Telesales Executives

Whether you’re a cold calling newbie; looking to start your sales career; or a seasoned professional seeking to refresh your sales approach, you are guaranteed to learn something.

CAREERS

Join team Air

We’re always open to hearing from talented people who are interested in a career at Air® Marketing.

We’re based in a vibrant, modern office in Exeter city centre, close to the Cathedral, and pride ourselves on having an exciting team-orientated culture – there’s never a dull day at Air HQ!

5 Tips to Generate High Quality B2B Leads Every Day

Discover how to generate high quality B2B leads with 5 effective strategies to help you keep your sales pipeline full of qualified prospects.

One of the top challenges businesses face is consistently generating high quality B2B leads that can then go on to be successfully converted into customers…

Whilst there are lots of lead generation tools and methods out there, naturally you’re only interested in the ones that provide qualified leads. In a classic tale of quality over quantity, there’s no use generating an extensive list of potential leads only to find very few of them are actually interested in seriously pursuing your products or services.

With this in mind, we’re sharing our 5 top tips for generating high quality B2B leads on a daily basis to help you keep your sales pipeline just as you like it – fully loaded with qualified prospects:

1. Install a Live Chat Function on Your Website

It seems as if almost every website these days has a live chat function, right? But for good reason, it’s so convenient for people who may not have time to browse your website or have a query they’d like answered as soon as possible.

It actively reduces your website’s bounce rate and delivers warm prospects straight into your inbox – from the moment they click on the chat they are ready to be nurtured by your sales team.

Implementing a live chat function from a technical point of view is easy with powerful CRMs such as HubSpot. Once your sales team are familiar with how it works, your potential customer is treated to a personalised experience where all their questions are answered, and their pain points addressed in an instant. If you don’t have live chat on your website already, we definitely recommend it!

2. Optimise Your Outbound Calling Strategy

A lot of B2B sales happen over the phone so taking advantage of every interaction with an optimised outbound calling strategy is a must. This strategy should include:

  • Clearly defined goals: what are your average handle times for calls and close rates? How can you improve them?
  • How will you qualify the lead with each interaction in order to move them down the sales funnel?
  • Follow-up processes – how will you increase your company’s connection to the contact after the call has finished? What channels will you be utilising to do this? Think emails, remarketing and more!

3. Social Selling

LinkedIn is the #1 platform for B2B lead generation and offers multiple touchpoints to connect with and nurture prospects. This is where social selling comes in – as you know LinkedIn is a platform full of professionals actively sharing updates about their jobs, wins and triumphs and crucially their pain points – so be one of them! But crucially also listen to what your prospects are saying in order to create meaningful content around their hopes and challenges that resonates with them.

Social selling is all about building credibility as a thought leader and offering the solutions your audience seeks without being overtly ‘salesy’ – i.e., no hard selling of your products or messaging people out of the blue with a sales pitch.

It’s actually shortened the sales cycle for a lot of companies but be aware that this is not a short-term win solution – it’s all about building authentic professional relationships with your target audience by interacting with their content and posting your own with which they can identify.

4. Aligning Your Sales and Marketing Teams

When sales and marketing exist in separate silos, it’s a recipe for chaos and means you’re far more unlikely to reach your overall business goals. Aligning the two teams from both a company culture and for every campaign will see both team’s performances soar. Some proven ways to align your sales and marketing teams include:

  • Clearly defining what a sales qualified lead is and what a marketing qualified lead is
  • Agree when marketing hands leads over to the sales team to avoid conflicts and confusion
  • Use lead scoring to qualify leads first and then prioritise the best ones second
  • Facilitate an open culture of collaboration, sharing ideas and feedback on campaigns. Encourage everyone to offer their views and listen to one another’s respective expertise.

5. Research Your Ideal Buyer’s Industry

When it comes to lead generation, time is money. You don’t have the time to waste nurturing companies that won’t engage with you. Whilst you have already undoubtedly looked into the company, having a wider view of what’s going on in their industry can make all the difference.

Sometimes warming a lead can be as simple as striking up a conversation about a piece of news relevant to their industry. It assures the prospect that you are tuned in to the needs of their industry, boosting your company’s profile in their eyes. You can then leverage this to explain why your business’ offering is relevant to them. The best salespeople subscribe to news or social alerts within their target market’s industries for this reason.

You could also get inside their professional world by browsing LinkedIn and Twitter accounts they follow, listening to a podcast targeted at them or even browsing videos on YouTube relevant to their sector.

Utilising all of these tips will see you generating high-quality B2B leads on a daily basis in no time but if you’re looking for a B2B Marketing partner to provide tailored lead generation solutions, then simply get in touch for an informal chat to discuss your business’ needs!

ON AIR: With Owen Episode 56 Featuring Tom Bianchi – VP of Marketing for EMEA, Acquia

Introducing our 56th episode of ON AIR: With Owen – our latest interview video series with honest conversation about scaling revenue, hosted by our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards.

 Our 56th guest is Tom Bianchi, VP of Marketing for EMEA at Acquia.

Owen and Tom discuss the difference between creating demand and capturing demand.

Including:
– At what stage in your business journey would you use each of these strategies?
– Does every organisation go through the same process and journey?
– What types of things should a company be doing in the early stages i.e. ‘creating demand’
– The types of things you should be doing in the ‘capturing demand’ phase
– How quality and quality come into play at each phase
– How to measure success in each phase
– The journey in switching from one mode to the other, and how messaging & process need to change
– The common mistake of applying the same strategy to all markets and why good self-awareness is important
– Moving faster than is comfortable – getting from ‘create’ to ‘capture’ much quicker
– Improving how you score your leads
– Why brand awareness is important at the ‘creating demand’ stage
– What metrics are important to Acquia right now and the tactics changed along the way
– The internal challenges within sales & marketing teams when switching modes