As Business Development Director for what3words, Geordie Palmer knows all about scale. After all, he leads sales for an organisation that has divided the entire surface of the planet into three-metre squares and is working to engage global organisations with a new way of thinking about location. However, Geordie also knows the value of making every touchpoint unique and memorable. That’s the idea behind the what3words system of labelling each of its location squares with three words from the dictionary, creating a unique identifier that’s easy to remember and share. It’s also a guiding principle of Geordie’s sales methodology. “How to cut through the noise is the million-dollar question,” he says. “You do it by leveraging technology but not being overly dependent on it.”

In Geordie’s view, a people-first sales organisation that puts itself out there and builds a real understanding of its customers is far easier to scale than one that’s been overly dependent on automation. “Don’t be afraid to learn as you go and build your sales process around that,” he says. “Do the non-scalable things first. Hire exceptionally talented people who will get out there in the world, listen to decision-makers and feed back what they say. You can build a scalable sales team around that.” 

Scaling that bespoke sales approach is where Geordie believes the real value of technology lies. “Cutting through comes down in part to research,” he says, “identifying the key people you need to speak to, leveraging your network and the networks of others in your team. LinkedIn is fantastic. It gives us access to most decision-makers in most companies, around the world, and that’s a huge enabler.”