Second Voice is a sales agency with a difference. It takes people with little or no sales experience and turns them into world-class SDRs, then creates a working environment for them that is the polar opposite of traditional boiler rooms. Happy salespeople, motivated by more than just money, get results.
The story
It was one of those chance meetings in a pub beer garden where you just click with someone. Ben, a fellow dad, was keeping a watchful eye over his young son and I was doing the same as my kids looked like they might take each other out on the swings.
Between diving into the melee to prevent another A&E visit, we discussed a business he was thinking of starting focus on SDRs (sales development reps). He had an extensive background in sales and sales training, and felt that it was a skill that could be taught to anyone with the right mindset, provided they had the right support infrastructure around them.
Having seen how effective the very best SDRs could be in my business, and how tough it was for them working at home through COVID (without that support network), it seemed like a interesting space to be in.
As Ben chatted through his vision over a few pints of Asahi, with just the occasional interlude to get crisps or do toilet runs with small people, it was obvious he was onto something. I agreed that outbound sales, done well, is still one of the most effective tools available to scaling businesses, but that too often it falls over through lack of structure and process.
This was also the very early days of ChatGPT and it was clear that one of the quick wins AI would deliver would be shortcutting the time-consuming repetitive tasks SDRs have traditionally had to perform, which eats into the time they can spend getting meetings. As a result, the initial idea of taking underrepresented but talented people and giving them the skills to be effective SDRs and nurturing them in the right way, soon also included tooling them with the correct technologies and creating an integrated AI-powered tech stack that made them highly efficient.
What did we do?
Ben set up the business alongside his co-founder Sara, who brought with her the sort of detail-focus that’s hugely valuable around training processes, along with a strong vision for creating a business with real purpose.
“We want to build a reliable sales engine with people at the core - something truly exceptional. We want to work with a brilliant group of people, with a clear vision, and a culture that I’m deeply proud of.”
Lead Out Labs joined initially to flesh out the GTM strategy and build out a nescient marketing function, but the role quickly evolved to cover all manner of areas. This including CRM design, sales technology integrations and customer success processes.
Constantly scanning a rapidly-growing list of sales and marketing technologies, we were early adopters of Clay and Smartlead to create highly effective outbound email campaigns, supporting the SDRs managing calls and social sales.
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From a marketing standpoint, we built out plans and content frameworks, and produced multiple high-value pieces including eBooks and video interviews. This was supported by founder-led LinkedIn outreach and an SEO-focused website revamp around the ‘Everything Outbound’ tagline.
The entire programme was delivered at practically zero budget, using tools like Canva, Riverside FM and MissingLettr. The Wix website was integrated into the ActiveCampaign and HubSpot automation and CRM stack and Slack using Make, fully automating inbound lead processes.
Building on the vision
From and outside-in perspective, I’ve never seen such a consistently high quality group of SDRs in one place at the same time. After fine-tuning the hiring and training approach over 18 months, Ben, Sara and the team are now finding and creating SDR talent methodically, and it shows in the results they are able to achieve for clients.
A year after inception, Second Voice was named "One to Watch" in the Startup of the Year category at the Sussex Business Awards