10 Years, 10 Milestones
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April 2021 marks 10 years in business fordurhamlane. That means 10 years of enhancing sales performance for clients across multiple industries, both in the UK and worldwide.
But that’s not all.
Salesmay be our foundation,howevertherearea ton of additional elements thathave contributed to our rapid growth and continued success, from team building events to innovative servicesdriven by thought leadership.
With this in mind,here are10 landmark eventsto mark a decade ofdurhamlane:
1. Our First Signing
March 2011saw thesigning ofNaREC(The National Centre for Renewable Energy)by Co-Founders Lee Durham and Richard Lane–one month beforedurhamlanewas officially launched!
The project initially involved a bespoke Sales Training & Coaching programming, built upon our unique ‘Selling at a Higher Level’ methodology.So impressed wereNaRECwith ourprinciples and approach that we were later enlisted to run an accelerated lead generation campaign on their behalf.
2. Talent Scouting
In 2012, we added a third service, Sales Recruitment,on top of our Sales Outsourcing and Sales Training offerings.This move was made after we identified a need among manyorganisationsto buildhigh-performing sales teams in-house.
Thisrecruitment armwas initially launched as a separate brand to the maindurhamlanename. However, this was quicklybrought under thedurhamlaneumbrella after it became clear that recruitment was simply another avenue for driving sales performance, which has always beenourkey focus.
Since then, we have moved towards a primary focus ongenerating demand,driving salesand accelerating revenue growththroughOutsourcedSales &Marketing. However, we continue to offer high-level Sales Training and Recruitmentasvalue-addservices.
3.New Homes, Northern Roots
From humble beginnings in a small office basednext to St James’Park (the home of Newcastle United),durhamlanemoved to a biggerbuildingin Jesmond after three years in business.Havingseen further acceleration in our growth and success, we’ve resided in Wallsend since 2018.Despite a tumultuous local economy, we’re proud to have remained true toourNorth East roots and havecontinued to create jobs forlocal, national and international professionals alike.
Our current homeincludes a large staff kitchen and gaming areaandmultiple hangout rooms.There’s evenasound-proofrecordingstudio(the office was previously GalaxyRadio’s regional HQ)where we host thedurhamlanepodcastand the infamousdurhamlaneBlues Explosion have been known to rehearse.
We also underwent rigorous cloud-baseddigital transformation when moving to our current home. This paid off in a big way when lockdown hit, as it enabled us to rapidly implementa highly functional remote-working setup– this, in turn, led to us ending the calendar year on a record high.
4. TheEvolutionof DGS
Having started as a pure salesorganisation, we’ve evolved over the years into a fully aligned sales & marketing services provider.September 2019 marked another step forward in thisevolution,with the launchof ‘DGS’ (Demand Generation Services).
The first of many successful DGS projects was a new market entrycampaignforDutch telecommunications giant, KPN.This involved the creation (and translation) of content for theFrench,Italianand GermanIoT markets.Thecontent was then usedto generate quality MQLs whichwereconvertedto SQL by our multilingual sales team.You can find out moreby readingthefullcase study.
5.Team Building Events
Team building is something we take very seriously, which is ironic considering our days out are always a lot of fun.There have beensomany iconicdurhamlaneteam events held over the years that it’s impossible to pick any single one as a standout. So, instead, we’re giving them all a collectivenod.
Sadly, our people were unable to enjoy the same level of social celebration in 2020 due tothe Covid pandemic. But we didn’t letlockdownstop us entirely, and instead had some friendly competition in the form of the Virgin Pulse fitness challenge.Our people divided into teams and, collectively, amassed over 26.5 million steps!
6.Top #10Best Companies Award
Our company culture is another thing we’re immensely proud of, and so we were delighted when our positive working environment was officially acknowledged by Best Companies.
In late 2019,durhamlanewas named among theeighth best company to work forin the North East.Achieving this required a Best Company Index score of at least696.5 – this was measured through a range of criteria including personal growth, wellbeing and leadership.
In 2021, we’re aiming to reach even greater heights by being named among the top 100 best companies to work for in the whole UK. Watch this space!
7. MultilingualExpansion
In recent years, we’ve helped more and more leadingorganisationsbreak into new territories withdemand and lead generationcampaigns. This has been made possible by the expansion of our multilingual capabilities, and our professional team now comprises of enthusiastic salespeopleand marketersfrom all over Europe and beyond.
As we continue to grow,durhamlaneis fast becoming the top choice for ambitious businesses looking to land and expand in new markets – something we’re extremely proud of!
8.The Full Works
durhamlanebegan as a front-end sales specialist,with a focusonopening doors into target industries/organisationsand generating high-quality leads for our clients.
In recent years, however, our offering has expanded to encompass the full sales cycle. Though we still offer the same front-end focus, our clients now know they can rely on us todrive demand andnurture leads from that critical first point of engagement, all the way through to close.
9. Breaking intotheUS
After much success in the UK, we made the move in 2018 toexpand intothe US market.
Initially focusing on high-growth tech companies, it wasn’t long before our international client basewas rivalling our number of UKcustomers.By combining our own proven sales methodology with additional investment in theRevGenSummitto further build relationships, we were able to win projects with the likes ofSodexo,AdvisorStreamandAllego, the latter of whomrecentlyacquired our friends atRefract.
10. Going Digital
When the Covid-19 pandemic became a widespread problem in early 2020,businesses around the world were forced to closetheiroffices andmany workers found themselves on furlough or made redundant.
Fortunately, throughmuchperseveranceand rapid transformation,durhamlanewere able to remain operational. And so, in an effort to give something back to the sales community,we decided todigitiseour ‘Selling at a Higher Level’ trainingprogrammeandoffer it free of charge– thusthe digitaldurhamlaneSales Academy was born!
Over the course of several months, we had hundreds of sign-ups from sales professionals all over the world, many of whom were able to upskill themselves whileout of work.
We’re eager to achieve manymore greatthings over the next 10 years and beyondby continually innovating and evolving.