CEO MONTHLY / CEO OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2023 56 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 12 2023 8 Lead Generation’s Leading Expert hrough the career journey of Trueleads Founder and CEO Tom Happé, hard work and innovation are immediately apparent. Beginning as an internal sales representative, it was not long before Tom had secured the role of VP of Sales, and it was during this tenure that he first identified a key gap in the market, one that could be filled with a global and digital-first lead generation company. It was this realisation that laid the foundation for the curation of Trueleads, a business boasting the mission of assisting technology and software companies in the generating of repeatable and constant leads, without the need of resorting to outdated methods such as cold calling or mass email campaigns. Starting a business during a global pandemic was tough, and Tom was forced to bootstrap the company, helping it to its current sevenfigure enterprise in just three years, all while balancing family responsibilities. As a natural leader, Tom has embraced these challenges, meticulously solving them through the adopting of a mindset that looks forward to tackling adversity. Although challenges related to cash flow, recruitment, staffing, the market, and technical obstacles are not uncommon for CEOs, those who tackle Apr23017 Trueleads Ltd was established in 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and today the company serves to liberate the sales teams of its clients, reducing stress and freeing up time for making deals, forging relationships, and delivering proposals. In the dynamic landscape of modern sales, traditional prospecting is a thing of the past, with sales professionals now managing a diverse range of tools, systems, and data to help make the most of early opportunities. Cold calling too is history, and the future belongs to digital lead generation. Founder and Lead Generation CEO of the Year 2023 – UK awardee Tom Happé has cultivated a successful career in the tech sales and software industry, one that culminated in the founding of Trueleads and the subsequent successes it has faced. We catch up with Tom to learn more about his duties as CEO and how he has spearheaded the future of digital sales channels. T them enthusiastically and learn from their mistakes are the ones who will ultimately succeed. Tom’s prior position as VP of Sales showed him the true power of digital channels such as LinkedIn, and the impact these can have in lead generation marketing settings. Covid-19 spawned the rapid acceleration of the already on-going digital transformation in the industry, cementing such current statistics as 70% of the buyer journey having been completed before speaking to sales and the prediction that almost 80% of B2B interactions will have shifted to digital channels by 2025. Having been founded during the throes of this rapid evolution, Trueleads possesses a firm aim to, “bring honesty, transparency, and humility to an industry historically lacking in these qualities.” By embodying a method of positive disruption and providing an ethical approach to the lead generation concept, clients are afforded the best possible opportunities to achieve success at the hands of Trueleads. Tremendous growth has followed as a result of this ethos, with the company today partnering with three of the top ten global software companies and a host of others. Further stimulating growth is the adherence to strict core values, with these emphasising trust, honesty, flexibility, and integrity above all, echoing Tom’s own key qualities that have been honed over a successful period working as a tech sales professional. Skills and competencies Tom has picked up over the years allow for a style of leadership that is ultimately characterised by a supportive, direct, and open approach that is neatly combined with a keen self-awareness. The latter of these is vital, as it allows for strengths and weaknesses to be recognised and either solidified or worked upon, and Tom has no qualms about delegating responsibilities to trusted individuals in areas where he is weaker than the team of experts he has curated. By proudly empowering his team through a careful blend of autonomy and responsibility designation, the growth of employees is effectively fostered by the wider organisation. Further cementing this is Tom’s overarching goal to cultivate a workplace ethic that is equal parts innovative, inspiring, and fun. This results in an excellent work-life balance for team members, and as a father of four himself, Tom is acutely aware of the importance of securing such a balance and is passionate about ensuring that the same opportunity is afforded to all within the company. It this added personal approach that truly makes Trueleads an excellent place to work, and Tom an excellent leader to work for. With this quality to boot, Trueleads works with clients on a global scale across a variety of sectors and industries, but with a particular focus on helping the leading software and technology companies. Since these larger organisations are oftentimes in possession of larger sales teams, there is a general lack of a repeatable, scalable, and measurable lead generation programme. Although big companies invest in an array of tools, they frequently struggle to extract demonstrable value from them. With Trueleads, the existing data and building processes of clients can be leveraged for future success, as well as being replicated throughout sales teams and channel partners. For Tom and the Trueleads team, the advent of AI has created both challenge and opportunity. Although AI is being used to carry out such tasks as content creation, messaging, and prospect
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