Category: Uncategorized

 

I am someone who loves patterns. Sewing patterns, knitting patterns, data patterns, all of them. And one of my personal patterns is to constantly seek new interests. New ways of doing things. New ways of thinking. To learn, to be taught, maybe to teach in return; to try, and try, and try once more.

When the opportunity came for me to become Carbon Global’s new Strategic Operations Manager, I seized it immediately. An industry new to me? Check. An activity new to me? Check. A team new to me? Check. A role new to me? Check-mate.

I find great beauty in being a beginner. In this case, I was fortunate enough to be given an additional head-start —thank you again Elodie for your time and energy during our two-week handover—, and I can also draw from my previous experiences. Despite these, being a beginner is scary. There aren’t any habits, any automatisms, any background you can rely on when the going gets tough. So you make mistakes. Lots, and lots, and lots of mistakes. I’ve already made a few of them here, and I am certain I will make more. This is part of the process of learning however, and it needs to be encouraged and celebrated, provided we actively learn from our shortcomings.

With that said, trying something new, without the slightest idea of what success looks like, is usually a much lengthier process than when you have at least a faint idea of the direction in which you’re going. Don’t get me wrong, some occasions do call for purely empirical learning, and the joy of simply playing is at times a highly needed respite from the productivity-leaning nature of our modern urban lives. I haven’t however found it to be generating much success in the professional realm. 

This is where goals, data and patterns enter. 

A goal is a definition of success given certain parameters. If you have ever had the misfortune of being micromanaged, you know that when someone dictates every single step of your work, this doesn’t automatically lead to success —and in most cases is at best counterproductive, at worst damaging to your psyche—. This is because people are different. I know. Shocker. Sit down, grab a cuppa, you’ll recover. When a manager focuses on the ‘how’, they define success in a way that only those who can assimilate to their method will be able to experience. This is not only profoundly inequitable, it also kills any potential for innovation. How can we move away from this approach? By focusing on the ‘what’. I believe it is the ultimate difference between humans and machines; where the latter need an algorithm to give their best work, the former need a direction.

Having solved the crisis of poor management, the Terminator-adjacent conspiracy theory and the entire philosophical questioning of the past few millennia, we still need to decide on ‘which direction’ to provide. That is the role of data. By analysing what the overarching goal of a company is —which in most cases involves the word ‘growth’, a very numerical term—, we can break it down into more manageable chunks; either per department if you happen to be in a functional structure, per project for matrix organisations, or per ‘task type’ for flatter structures. With the help of clear data, we can set attainable goals, empower our people to decide how to reach them and truly become ‘outcome-oriented’.

This is where I hope to have a positive impact on Carbon Global in the next few months, by introducing a goal-setting strategy and championing the routine use of data in learning from our mistakes and advocating for our successes. You could even say that these are some of my goals.

 

Félix Thevenot

Strategic Operations Manager

Carbon Global

Sim joined us at Carbon Global last October 2021 through the Government’s Kickstart Scheme. As the Business & Operations Intern, she shares in this interview insights into her experience and tips to make the most of an internship. As I have been working closely with Sim, I found it interesting to hear how much she  learnt in three months and to look back on what we have already achieved so far.

More information on the scheme can be found on GOV.UK here.

 

Elodie: Tell us a little bit about yourself and what motivated you to apply to the government’s Kickstart scheme?

Sim: Last Summer, I completed my Postgraduate Diploma in Law. As soon as I graduated, I was looking for opportunities in both commercial and law to gain professional experience. During my studies, I had the chance to undergo internships and also had some part-time jobs but they did not have a commercial focus. One of my friends recommended the Kickstart Scheme as she had also been on it. From my point of view, this was a great way to get my foot in the door and to gain experience in business to round up my knowledge and feel ready to enter the market place. So, Carbon Global was a great chance to gain more of that commercial awareness I was seeking and I have also learnt plenty about lead generation.

 

Elodie: Can you please describe your role at Carbon Global? 

Sim: I am the Business & Operations Intern at Carbon Global. This means that I have a mix of responsibilities that are both commercial and operational within Lead Generation. For instance, some of my day-to-day activities include researching marketplaces and building contact lists for our business development team as well as doing more internal work such as the transfer databases and dealing with our B2B client requests. Fortunately, I also get to participate in team meetings to have a glance into the strategy that goes behind project delivery and I have played a keen role in supporting the team to hand client projects in on time. So my role is quite mixed and interdependent which will help me in my future career goals and to develop personally and professionally.

 

Elodie: Any tips on how to start a new role as an intern? 

Sim: To be open to learning and also definitely to be flexible. As an intern, you have a good advantage because you’re here to work of course, but you’re also here to learn and your employer knows that so don’t be afraid to take on new responsibilities and to ask questions to the team and your manager. I would say to definitely take on new responsibilities and be flexible with the opportunities that are given to you. 

 

Elodie: Would you say that it’s a good opportunity to take more risks too? 

Sim: Definitely, I think it is. It’s the one time in your career when you are kind of expected to not know everything. So, it’s a good opportunity to take risks and indulge in areas that you’re not comfortable with. Since you are assigned a manager or mentor, you will have someone to ask for support if a task becomes tricky. In return and by the end of your internship, this is going to give an amazing set of new skills and you will feel more confident in future jobs.

 

Elodie: What are some of the key skills that you have learnt so far and how do you think you will be able to apply them in a future role? 

Sim: Whilst there are a lot of skills that are required in a lead generation agency, in general I think some of the main skills that I’ve learnt and observed are prioritisation, time management and problem solving.  The ability to think laterally and on my feet while under pressure has definitely been important. Also, as I was aiming to do, I gained knowledge in thinking commercially because, at Carbon Global, we really want to make sure that our lead generation client’s needs are met and strategised. These are some of the skills that I’ve learnt so far. I would also aim to develop further in terms of strategy and client relationship as well as account management. 

 

Elodie: In terms of maintaining a good relationship with a B2B client, what have you learnt or observed? 

Sim: I think having good communication skills is definitely key because you need to know what your client wants and you need to make sure that you are on the same page as them. So I have been learning more about this and observing the team during client meetings. A thing that we do at Carbon Global that is a good takeaway is how we take the time to understand our B2B clients through a ‘wishlist’ that we build and update with them. It has been interesting to see how we progress and fulfill client expectations.

 

Elodie: Who would you recommend the Kickstarter scheme?

Sim: Definitely either students like me who just finished university and are yet to enter a full-time career or students who are not yet sure which career path they want to take. It’s definitely a good way to ‘kickstart’ your career and Carbon Global has been a great opportunity to do this. Also, for anyone who wants to learn new skills, it’s an experience that can be adapted to your ambitions. Here, I have been lucky that everyone has taken into consideration my own wishlist so that I have a tailored experience that helps me develop both personally and professionally.

 

Elodie Smith

Strategic Operations Manager

Carbon Global

 

As many people will know Carbon Global has a brand called spikizi – an ever growing global community-led accent and dialect app. If you haven’t seen it, then check it out at www.spikizi.co

 

We were lucky enough to be invited to WebSummit, the worlds biggest tech event spanning four days in Lisbon. By big, I mean it was massive. 2000+ start ups, 40,000 attendees and we were invited to pitch three times during the event, in front of live audiences and once for a US investment television programme called ‘Meet the Drapers’. We were also lucky enough to get onto the Alpha track. The Alpha track is designed to help products that are in their early stages to give them exposure to the wider community and to help them grow.

I’ve taken some time to reflect on what we learnt, by all intents and purposes it was successful but here’s what we’ll be working on when we attend Collision in Toronto in June:

1. No matter how niche or full of potential your product is, investors want one clear and defined line of direction, all with a focus on profit. They don’t care that spikizi has four different verticals, they want to see how they can make the most profit in the shortest amount of time. Therefore our focus, our pitch decks and our rhetoric needs to be more one track, succinct and clear.

2. Networking is education. I met so many people. From someone asking to sit next to me at lunch and speaking about his job as a brain surgeon to understanding how business in Moldova works. I learnt so much in a very short amount of time from some brilliant minds. This also brings another side of this lesson to mind; be visible, be present. Whether that’s in person at events or being visible in the digital space, networking comes from being seen and being approachable. There are loads of resources available if you’re looking for tips on affordable seo services for small business but if you want to get in front of people in the real world, it comes only from putting yourself out there.

3. Having something different at these events makes a huge impact. We saw how many people had a product that helped recruit developers, crypto wallets, AR/VR, all very innovative but it became very beige. spikizi stood out in a good way. It did push some investors off but a lot of people were interested in where we would be going next, we need to look into capitalising on that.

4. Everyone is talking about the Metaverse. It’s fast becoming a reality. I saw a t-shirt the other day that said ‘Make Orwell fiction again’. I think the same should be said for Huxley and Cline too.

5. Talk to someone to get to know them as a person, only then tell them about your product. This is fundamental to everything we do at Carbon Global. We don’t sell our clients services to prospects, we talk to them and by the end of the call offer them a meeting. We get to know them before they’re being sold to. The amount of people at Websummit who were trying to flog their wares was incredible. The ones I remember are from the people we had a beer with at NightSummit, I remember those products because I know their story and that made a big difference.

 

Business Development is also Relationship Development, that’s all we’re doing, forming and building a relationship for the future; and it’s working. Our clients are winning more work than ever before through our Lead Generation services and we’re getting lots of referrals because fundamentally we’re getting meetings that turn into work. We believe we’re doing it the right way, if you don’t agree, I would love a chat, after all the biggest thing I’ve learnt is that education through socialising is the best form of growth.

As I have recently joined Carbon Global as the Business & Operations Intern, I had a virtual chat with Elodie, Strategic Operations Manager, to talk about the operational side of things within a business development agency. Our conversation has shone a light on the significant role of an operations team for a smooth running and effective company. 

Sim: What specifically attracted you to a role in the operations team of a business development company as opposed to working with the commercial team? What are some of the key differences between the two roles? 

Elodie: Interestingly, I first applied to be part of the business development team. As I was new to the role and business development after graduating, we agreed that I would be trained to call, but I would also help out with some of the operations as the business was growing quickly. A few months in, we realised that operations was something that I would be better at and that my personality and interests were more relevant to that role. Operational tasks were also what I enjoyed the most, as it involved a great sense of organisation and strategy, which are two things that I really love. My role within operations is also a great way to be in contact with the team and with the clients, which I enjoy as it means making sure that everyone’s happy on both sides.
The key difference between operations and business development is that the business development team is constantly in communication with prospects. However, in operations, it’s more about internal communication so the people you interact with are different every day. Also, in operations the work you do is more behind the scenes unlike a business development manager as it involves ensuring our B2B activities are running smoothly and streamlined. 

Sim: You have been in your role as strategic operations manager for quite some time.   What are some of the challenges you have faced? What did you do to try to overcome these challenges?

Elodie: I think, in operations, it’s not so much about your own challenges but it’s mostly identifying the challenges of the team and also understanding the clients. I aim to have a good understanding of what we can improve within the company and make them my own challenges to solve. For example, understanding why we may not be performing well in some specific areas of the business and see what the team needs to improve their productivity to win new clients. 

Recently, we created a new system to help the callers within the commercial team to improve their performance by making it easier for them to work on their calling list and report back. Now that this challenge has been resolved, it’s onto the next team challenge that we need to overcome, there is always something to do. So, I wouldn’t say that I have big personal challenges within my role, but a big part of it is making sure everyone uses the same internal processes so that we remain organised and work effectively. With that, I guess, a challenge I take on myself is to communicate well with the team and the clients to make sure that they clearly understand whatever new internal decision we make. Also, it is important that they’re happy with the decision. If not, we will keep working towards solutions that are best for everyone to win work. 

Sim: As part of the operations team, your role consists of not only managing the daily operations but also communicating with a range of people and solving new issues daily. How are you able to manage your time through this? 

Elodie: Yes, I definitely think that time management is the most crucial part of operations. With an operations role, you are accepting that the to-do list you wrote in the morning will probably be totally different by the end of the day to change depending on new daily priorities. You need to manage your time very well, but also make sure that you’re prioritising the right issue or person, whether it’s the client or the team. If both the client and the team need any support, you have to make a good judgement on who needs a response first. I think a sense of priority is definitely very important. At the same time, the challenge is also remaining constantly available and adapting your time to others. 

Recently, our co-managing partner, Henry, introduced the MoSCoW method. Each initial stands for the degree of prioritisation for a task and that has been very helpful: ‘must do’, ‘should do’, ‘could do’, or ‘won’t do ’. This method helps to prioritise different tasks you could have during a set period of time. I have been using this method to clear my head and really have a focus on what I have to prioritise, and what could wait for maybe the next day or even the next week. 

I also think putting your tasks and commitments in the calendar helps a lot. For example, for tasks like this interview, even if it is a co-worker promising a time to discuss, by putting it in your calendar, you promise yourself that you will stay committed and remember it. 

Sim: For fresh career starters interested in operations, what do you believe are some of the skill sets necessary to be successful? 

Elodie: I think to work in operations, you have to be happy to speak with the team, but also the clients, so communication is key. Remaining positive is also important, as your role requires you to make others happy and help support them in working better. To do that, I think that you also have to be quite well organised and be good at managing your own time because, as mentioned before, you will have a list of different tasks that you have to do. You have to be independent and self-aware to successfully complete your tasks and manage your priorities. This is necessary for success when working in the operations team of a business development and lead generation agency, and I really enjoy it!

 

Sim Aslan

Business and Operations Intern

Carbon Global

Even with the best business development manager, the best service or product, it’s important for a lead generation agency to have the right processes and systems in place to ensure that great work is rewarded with great success. Below, we share a few tips:

1. Follow up with personalised credentials

Just like the calling script, the follow-up email should be tailored to the prospect’s role and industry. Depending on how warm the lead is and how the conversation was left, the creds deck can be personalised as much as necessary. Typically, with a general creds deck only a few slides long, such as five or six slides, it is easy to add in some information that will make your lead even more interested (and see that you have put some time and effort to gather relevant information for them!). For example, you could share some facts and figures that prove how relevant your service is, that there is a gap in the market or how the industry is generally performing.

2. Send a professional calendar invitation

Ideally, by the end of your call, your prospect has agreed to speak further on a set date. Try to take control of setting up the calendar invitation. On the one hand, it makes agreeing to the meeting hassle-free for the prospect, and on the other hand, it gives you the opportunity to schedule a thoughtful invite. At Carbon Global, we always make sure that the contact details of both parties are included as it ensures that should a technical issue arise or someone does not show up, it gives an optional channel of communication. In addition, it is useful for the prospect to have a refresher on who they are about to meet and their role within the company. Sometimes, when meetings are set way in the future, busy prospects might need a reminder regarding the purpose of meeting. 

3. Set a precise meeting agenda

Within the calendar invitation, when relevant, recap the meeting agenda so the prospect can feel prepared for the meeting. You do not want a meeting taker questioning further down the line what the purpose of the meeting is. So, along with the contact details, add a sentence or two that summarises your conversation, what you agreed to talk about and any other little nugget of information that made the conversation memorable. For example, if you are a digital marketing agency in the pharmaceutical industry offering a wide range of services, it is good to slide in a keyword or two like ‘patient engagement’ or ‘medical education’ to personalise the conversation. Sometimes, we like to ask prospects to do a little bit of ‘homework’ by asking them to think about their current needs and challenges so they can share these with us before the meeting.

4. Confirm the meeting

Depending on your business and your target prospect, meetings may be scheduled a few months ahead so it is worth touching base a week or two before the set date. Do not miss out on this opportunity to strengthen your relationship and to ask if they wish to add anything new to the meeting agenda. Have their priorities changed? Are they still looking at launching a new product? Would they like to extend the calendar invitation to their colleagues? In a nutshell, confirming the meeting is a chance to ensure that all is set and optimised so that the meeting runs smoothly. Be aware, the conversation could also lead to a reschedule so ensure that you have some alternative dates at hand to suggest. 

Setting a strong calling process will help your B2B lead generation as it is inherently part of building a trustworthy relationship and creating a good first impression to find new clients and win work.

 

Elodie Smith

Strategic Operations Manager

Carbon Global

When a start-up decides that their products/ services are market ready it’s important for them to see where they place themselves in that market for maximum effectiveness. To do this, they need to really hone down what their USP (Unique Selling Point) is. It’s imperative to look at where the competition places itself. For us, at Carbon Global, there are of course other Lead Generation and Business Development agencies out there as competition, but none of them have trained as actors. None of them have trained specifically for 3 years to communicate with different audiences or to take in, retain, and engage with information whilst making it sound like it’s the first time they’ve said it! So our USP is that we use the techniques that we’ve learnt to not only train our staff but to communicate directly with our prospects as well. We could have only found that out by understanding our market and where we should place ourselves within it. What is the selling point that your startup has that is markedly different, interesting and not easily replicable?

Systems and Processes

A pitfall that a lot of companies fall into when beginning on their journey is the thinking that you can just make handwritten notes for all your outreach, keep track of it in your head or in your diary and that something will just naturally, organically come to fruition. The reality is that lead generation, especially b2b lead generation, can take six months to implement and that needs to be trackable at any given point. So it’s well worth researching the best tools to make sure that your systems and processes are in order, not only for now but for when the start-up begins to scale up. There are many great tools out there, including ones that are free to use until your company has large numbers of employees. (Hint – Take a look at Hubspot)

Data building

Once that is all in place and the start-up knows what type of prospects they are looking for then it’s worth doing the data build as soon as possible. To go one by one can make someone lose their rhythm when reaching out to prospects so we always suggest to our clients that we build a ‘100 list’. This is a list of 100 prospects in the sector they want to target. This gives us a great foundation to work from and can be added to day or night.

Outreach

Outreach is the bit of lead generation and business development that people worry about but actually if you know the product/ service and have a good pitch, then that’s half the battle. It’s then about learning how to improvise in high-pressure situations (this again is where our acting training comes in) and being able to gather your resilience when the inevitable rejections come pouring in (again thanks Acting for providing us with thick skins). If your start-up provides a solution, the pitch works, you’re reaching out to enough people in the right way and you’re following up correctly by using a system and a process that works for you, then your start-up will be winning work in no time.

Henry Regan

Managing Partner

Carbon Global

Hatty has been with us at Carbon Global for almost two years now and she was recently appointed as the Social Media Manager of Carbon Global’s new brand, spikizi. For this reason, I wanted to tap into her experience of doing both business development and social media to understand the links between both activities.

Elodie: You have been managing the spikizi social media operations from an early stage. What insights has it given you and how has that changed your views on your Business Development Manager role at Carbon Global?

Hatty: Working with Henry and Sam has been very insightful in understanding founders’ mindsets. What strikes me most is the undeniable energy and passion that founders have for their product and the amount of time that they invest into their brand. It has really highlighted to me the risk that they take on hiring a company to work for them. And that’s also the case for Carbon Global’s B2B clients who have a high level of trust when investing in us to take care of their business development strategy and win work. The experience has made me value, even more, the time that I spend on accounts as I have a better understanding of the stakes involved and how hard it is for our clients to have grown to where they are at now. You put everything into starting your own brand!

Elodie: What correlation did you find between business development and social media? How useful is it for the business development and social media team to work together?

Hatty: In both cases, we are trying to reach the right people. In business development, we want to schedule meetings with our target audience and in social media, we want followers that have a genuine interest in our brand. Therefore, the target has to be right so it is invested in the product or service. By working together and identifying a common target, it is easier to identify the contacts that are not quite right and so any research or insights are great to share between the teams.

Elodie: What is the difference between reaching out to prospects in business development rather than via social media? 

Hatty: Online, you cannot instantly speak with your followers and those liking your posts so it can be difficult to understand their objections or potential challenges. They may have questions but not ask them. So you’re basically going out into some sort of no man’s land and just throwing things out there to see what lands, it’s much more of a reiterative process. Whereas at least in our B2B lead generation strategies, you actually have conversations and obviously you can pick up questions and have meaningful conversations. You get that connection with someone (or not!) and you get to know quite quickly if they want to keep going. Through social media, it just takes longer to build that up.

Elodie: I think it is also easier for targets to follow an account and see posts from time to time instead of investing time and effort in a phone conversation. That is the tricky part, identifying who is truly interested in the brand and who will eventually buy from the brand.

Elodie: Do you have any tips on how to best collaborate between the business development team and the social media team? How can they best work hand in hand?

Hatty: From social media activities, you obviously gather information on who is engaging with your posts and who is following you and that information can be passed on to the business development team who can go and reach out to them directly which improves their lead generation strategy. At Carbon Global, for one of our B2B clients, we went through the contacts who engaged on LinkedIn and expressed interest in the webinars our clients organised. At Carbon Global, for one of our B2B clients, we went through the contacts who engaged on LinkedIn and expressed interest in the webinars they organised and relayed that information to our business development team. The other way round works too, from our conversations, we can also spot common questions or objections and feed those to the social media team so they can address these online with a targeted message and win new leads.

 

Elodie Smith

Strategic Operations Manager

Carbon Global

 

The Business Development function is often confused with the sales function but there are quite a few important differentiators between the two that are vital to ensure a healthy growth strategy. Think of the Business Development professional as the inspector in a police force and the sales professional as the constable. The inspector works on the strategy for the case, joining the dots, and the constable goes on the chase to arrest the person. 

Business Development starts with trying to strategise which markets would be best placed for the product the company is selling. This then leads to sourcing company names and budget-holding prospects. Typically Business Development Management is overseeing which direction the business is going to grow, planting the seeds for a healthy crop. They will typically have the first conversation with a prospect to see if there is an appetite for the product. Once this is the case, they will make an appointment for the sales team to go in with the nitty-gritty. 

The sales team are the ones to offer the product or service to the customer. They probably haven’t been involved so much in the strategy behind ‘why this customer? Or why this market?’ but they will be responsible for getting them to sign on the dotted line and finalise the deal with that new customer.

It’s an important part of the sales process that these two functions have a different relationship to the potential new client. The Business Development role almost acts as a third party who is ideally seen by the potential customer as a more impartial member of the team, not directly trying to push them to the sale. This leads to a more open, honest and free speaking dynamic, but ultimately allows for the BD Manager to help gently guide them towards the next steps and ultimately speed up the sales process. 

In many companies, these two roles, even though they follow one another, don’t communicate well. There is a distinct lack of passing the leads over with enough information and therefore revenue starts to drop. It’s incredibly important for both sides to collaborate to be able to seal the deal together and so even though they have different functions a smooth and communicative relationship between sales and BD is key.

 

Henry Regan

Managing Partner

Carbon Global

Lead Generation is more important now than ever before, but with so much noise out there, it’s difficult to be heard. A lead generation strategy is the crucible moment for a b2b agency to know what’s to come. Lead Generation is an important facet for any agency to hone down on the prospects that they would love to work with rather than end up casting the net far and wide.

To do this, it’s important to take a few things into account: 

1. Company Culture

Who do your employees want to work with? Company culture is a buzzword for any creative agency and for good reason; listening to your employees has never been so rewarding. Going for a business development strategy together will make the company grow in the way that everyone wants. It’s a balancing scale of course, but for a machine to work well, each component needs to be working to maximum capacity, and as humans, we typically need to be passionate about something to work hard. Find out which brands Freya in Marketing, Nicole in Finance and Dave in IT get excited about and push your strategy towards them.

2. Low hanging fruit vs Long-term company growth

What is going to be low hanging fruit and what is going to grow your company? You cannot focus solely on the big campaigns that cost a truck tonne of money and resources to pitch on, otherwise, no ones getting paid, equally, you cannot keep foraging from the same tree forever. Having a set plan in place means that you give yourself the best chance of success in the long term.

3. Getting in at the right time

Walking the floorboards of companies will get you noticed. You have to be in the room to win the work. Although you should not go to meetings for meeting’s sake, I am a firm believer in an introductory meeting. Pick a time when the brand’s workload has lessened and think about their annual cycle so they have the headspace to listen. This will give them the chance to see where you might fit into their plans.

4. Winning the right clients

Not every win will push your company forward, they may pay the bills in the short term but it’s about getting to a point where you choose your own clients, and that starts with a targeted approach to lead generation. Some clients can even be detrimental to the long term ambition so it’s all about finding the right clients. This might feel counterintuitive if up to this point you’ve been taking any work that comes your way. I can say from experience that if you utilise your lead generation correctly, you can choose the clients you want to work with and you’ll have a company that people want to work for.

Henry Regan

Managing Partner

Carbon Global

This week I had a chat with Henry Regan, Managing Partner at Carbon Global to find out what he thinks makes someone right for a role in new Business Development.

Elodie: Carbon Global has been actively recruiting recently and you, Henry, have been conducting the first interviews to find our new business development manager. Which personality traits have you been looking for and that you believe are key to be successful?

Henry: I think it’s a really good question. I’ve obviously got my ideas but I’m gonna switch roles and ask you the same question, purely because you’re not prepared for it. I think this highlights two of my own opinions on the topic. The first is that being able to improvise and not being afraid to jump in with both feet is a hugely important character trait for BD. No matter who you’re speaking to you can never anticipate how the conversation will go or what they will ask of you. This uncertainty can be crippling for a lot of people. We’re looking for those who thrive in the unknown. And two, on the flip side, a drive to research and be prepared is also key in this job. For every single contact you try to reach, you have to have a unique set of information gained in various ways, whether that’s checking their LinkedIn, socials or however you do your research. This enables you to answer their questions in the most concise and confident way. Go ahead, tell me your ideas. 

Elodie: I believe curiosity and wanting to get to know other people is very important. This often goes hand in hand with being friendly, approachable, and likable, which is key to building good relationships on a first call. Ultimately, you want them to understand that you’re genuinely interested in them, their company, and their challenges.

Henry: I think people often assume that you should be extroverted to be in the job. I don’t think that’s the case. You can be a social introvert and be absolutely fine in business development because it’s more methodical than that. You know, you’re not trying to sell anything at the end of the call, you’re just trying to have a conversation with people. As you said, being likable definitely gives you a kind of edge as people definitely buy from people. What else do you think is important because there’s obviously also a lot of administration to do in business development and lead generation?

Elodie: Yes, being autonomous and keen to get things done are also important attributes because there are always admin tasks to do in addition to calling prospects. To that, we could add the usefulness of being well organised and a willingness to take on responsibilities to get the work done. 

Henry: I think that all is key, yes. There’s a self-diligence that people must have as well because, here at Carbon Global, we’ve put in so much work to streamline the internal systems and processes, it’s vital that we all adhere to our operations processes. Without this diligence, your role becomes about correcting people’s mistakes rather than building and streamlining the operations department. We can also add to this social intelligence. Indeed, we do not just want to get something from a prospect, we also want to build a professional relationship through a personable and honest conversation. Going back to our acting training, we had to learn to demonstrate some kind of openness and boldness when facing uncertain situations in addition to being able to improvise. In lead generation, you’re speaking to somebody who you have never spoken to and who has no idea who you are. While your objective is to secure a meeting, sometimes you can be taken by surprise by where a conversation is heading. So I think we can also add that one should have a lot of tenacity and determination. 

 

Elodie: When recruiting, are you looking for particular experiences whether personal, educational, or professional? 

Henry: As mentioned, I think social intelligence is key but academic intelligence is as important. I think they come in different legitimate ways. Academic intelligence is key to conducting your research and your ability to write out meeting notes to clients while social intelligence will help craft your way through a conversation with a prospect. This mix will enable a business development manager to read up about a company, understand the industry and be on the pulse of current conversations. 

Inevitably, excellent written English is vital. There’s also obviously some kind of level of fluency that is imperative especially since we work across various sectors and industries that can have very complicated vocabulary.

Everyone can bring something different to the table in business development and lead generation. I don’t think there is a prerequisite of what you need to be in that position. We are not brain surgeons or astronauts. You know, we do like to bring in people who don’t necessarily have relevant experience on the surface. I think a lot of the time when we hire experienced salespeople, it’s tricky to unlearn practices from past professional experiences.

 

Elodie: Finally, do you believe there are any misconceptions about the role?

This isn’t a sales role. You know, we only sell a cup of tea and that’s the biggest misconception of what lead generation is. We are not the sales cycle, we are a hard-working cog within the sales cycle and we help to build that pipeline up and nurture those contacts. Basically, we are the door opener at a posh hotel, giving that first experience. I think of myself as a man with a top hat. So it’s not about being aggressively salesy like many might have initially conceived of the job. It’s about the personal touch. As we have said many times already, people buy from people.

Elodie Smith

Strategic Operations Manager

Carbon Global