Curious Leadership with Dominic Monkhouse E339 | From Founder-Led to Scalable: Sales Lessons with James Dawson & Richard Doherty
James Dawson and Richard Doherty are seasoned professionals from the fintech and financial services industries, each bringing decades of expertise to their respective fields.
James Dawson, founder of Humble Technology, has over 21 years of experience in fintech. His career has been dedicated to addressing and overcoming the challenges fintech startups face in sales. James believes that many fintechs fail not due to a lack of funding but because they rely too heavily on relationship-driven sales rather than employing proven, science-backed methodologies. As a former Head of Europe at OpenFin, a leader in desktop interoperability, James successfully built high-performing teams and developed his own sales techniques. To share his strategic insights, James created the Fintech Sales FastTrack programme - a framework designed to help startups establish predictable and scalable revenue systems. In addition to his fintech achievements, James also owns Humble Grape, a wine bar and merchant that imports high-quality wines from 600 small vineyards across 22 countries, exemplifying his entrepreneurial versatility.
Richard Doherty, meanwhile, leads the technology practice for Asset & Wealth Management at Publicis Sapient, a prominent consultancy in financial services and digital business transformation. With over 20 years of experience in technology and financial services, Richard specialises in helping firms align their technological initiatives with business strategies. His expertise lies in implementing large-scale technological changes, including system overhauls, data transformations, and technology-focused innovations. Richard advises business leaders on building future-ready operating models that leverage technology to drive innovation, generate revenue, cut costs, and mitigate risks. By collaborating with both business and technology stakeholders, Richard fosters alignment that enables firms to ensure sustainable and expedited transformation in highly competitive markets.
Together, James and Richard exemplify leadership and innovation in their fields, uniting expertise in sales strategy, technology, and enterprise transformation to shape the future of fintech and financial services.
In this episode, Dominic explores methodologies used by founder-led sales to scalable sales operations. Learning that in the early stages of business development, a relentless focus on an initial product offering is essential. For example, for Amazon it was books and for Google it was search functionalities - even though their objective was expansion and market domination.
With James and Richard emphasising the importance of aligning sales strategies with marketing efforts, they encourage leaders to nurture a growth-oriented mindset among sales personnel. Hear their insights on the complexities of building successful sales engines that can withstand the rigours of today's competitive landscape.
Discover
Business Growth and Focus: Successful companies often start by focusing on a single, straightforward offering before expanding into larger and more complex operations. This focus is essential in the early stages to build a sustainable foundation.
Sales Transition Challenges: Transitioning from founder-led sales to scalable, enterprise-level sales processes is a significant challenge for businesses, especially in the fintech sector. It requires a particular skill set and mindset to scale sales effectively from small to large operations.
Collaborative Expertise: Leveraging the collaboration of industry experts with diverse professional backgrounds, such as consulting and financial services, can help scale businesses by addressing complex challenges and driving transformation.
The Importance of Combining Sales and Marketing: Businesses can benefit greatly from aligning their sales and marketing functions. This alignment ensures that both teams work toward shared goals and deliver consistent messaging, which improves the overall business development process.
The Value of Specialised Framework: Implementing structured approaches, such as the MEDIC framework, helps businesses enhance their sales processes by focusing on clear, measurable, and adaptable steps, leading to more predictable and successful outcomes.
Book recommendations:
Patrick Lencioni - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now
** Listen to Richard interviewing Dom on his podcast 'The Fintech Scaling Show' **