Perfecting Sales & Building Strong Teams – with Daniel Seligman of Talently

“Sales [is] a huge asset to anybody, whether it’s in business or in life. It’s something that everyone should invest in and learn.” 

It’s certainly a dive into sales talk with this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast. Derek speaks with Daniel Seligman, the CEO and Founder of Talently, which offshores South African talent. 

They converse about how Daniel brought his sales background into the outsourcing industry and how Talently delivers realistic people solutions to its clients.

Talently and the South African workforce

Daniel starts by introducing Talently.

“We are an offshoring staffing and recruiting firm focused specifically on South African talent.” 

Like many in his position, Daniel began his career outside the outsourcing and offshoring industry. He worked in a B2B SaaS company, eventually achieving the role of VP of Sales.

“Throughout that time, I really tried to hone my craft in sales, which in my biased opinion is probably the most important skill you can have as a founder.” 

He eventually broke out as an entrepreneur, recalling how his previous company would always need to seek talent. 

“For us to be able to grow, we had to hire great talent. And very quickly as the business was growing, it became apparent that if we kept on hiring in these expensive talent markets, the business was going to be economically drained.

So we started to build and hire and grow people outside of North America.” 

This, along with the viewpoint that offshoring was inevitable, led him to launch Talently. 

“I sat front row and saw firsthand the benefit, economically and operationally, of having offshore employees. 

But on the other side, I saw how frustrating, time-consuming, and confusing [it was], and for me as a business person, my thought was there has to be a different way.” 

He honed in on South African talent, saying that “the South African talent has world-class salespeople,” and finding them the most efficient after trying different workforces. 

Bringing the sales concept into offshoring 

Daniel brought his sales background not just into Talently’s service model, but also in selling offshoring itself. 

He says that it all comes down to the same basic principle.

“Everyone is trying to sell a service, a product, or whatever it may be to somebody. And your job as a salesperson, or as a founder, is to identify who [is] the most likely person to gain value from your product or service, communicate your value to them, [and] deliver on that value.”

He details how this process led him to target the right market for Talently. 

“Something that any business should do is ask the question, ‘who is going to see the most value in hiring talent from South Africa?’ 

One of the theories we had from a sales perspective was, probably CEOs and founders in these more expensive markets who are originally from South Africa.

This allowed them to run a successful campaign, winning them business and multiple clients, and even forming connections with other companies.  

He sees his experiences as a hint that offshoring is inevitable for most businesses.

“There’s amazing talent everywhere, and there’s businesses that can work with and provide those jobs to everyone, and I truly believe that talent is going to become global.” 

Adapting and finding solutions 

Daniel recommends that companies not see Talently and similar firms as merely plug-and-play services

He’s spoken with many clients who have come away with a negative view of offshoring afterwards, and suggests this piece of advice.

“You should go out and do the first ten sales or whatever it may be to prove [that] this model or this process is going to work, because then you can throw money at something that works [and] can be scaled.” 

He also highlights the importance of setting realistic expectations. 

“Everyone’s very impatient. Sales does not happen overnight. 

You [have to] create a process, create prospects, run demos, close deals, nurture your pipeline. You have to give them runway, [like] six months, 12 months, [to] make sure people are doing their job successfully.”  

However, he assures you that it pays off in the end.

“If you give them the room to grow and learn, it will happen for the right people with the right companies.” 

You may visit Talently’s website here. Feel free to connect with Daniel through his LinkedIn and email, and mention if you came from this podcast for a little bonus.