The Fishbowl: David Trencher, Reddit

The Media Chief’s interview collection asks the media business’s high salespeople 10 revealing questions, drawn from our fishbowl. The questions shall be drawn at random and comprise some difficult posers set by the business chiefs themselves.

This week is David Trencher, head of huge buyer gross sales, UK, EMEA & Australia at Reddit.

David Trencher began his profession at companies with media purchaser roles at UM after which MediaVest, now Spark Foundry.

He has held senior gross sales and management roles at Fb and Spotify earlier than becoming a member of Reddit in 2019 as senior supervisor for model partnerships. Trencher was promoted to go of gross sales for the UK, EMEA & Australia in 2021.

What was your first paid job and why did you do it?

Coincidentally, my first paid job was as a newspaper supply boy. The native paper rep was going home to deal with when my older sister answered the door.

The rep pitched her on the gig and whereas eavesdropping all I heard was $200 a month! Nothing excited me greater than incomes my preserve even on the tender age of 12. I suppose gross sales has at all times been in my blood!

What are the three most essential abilities {that a} media salesperson wants in 2023?

I’ve been lucky sufficient to construct an unimaginable gross sales crew at Reddit during the last two years. The crew has excelled by offering glorious customer support to our purchasers by listening and understanding their advertising and marketing and enterprise goals.

The main target is on offering a full-funnel resolution that drives actual enterprise success, and above all, taking the time to construct relationships on the company and consumer stage on a day after day foundation.

What podcast do you commonly hearken to and why?

I don’t hearken to podcasts. You’ll normally discover me lurking on r/casualuk or r/avfc when I’ve a spare second on the Tube!

What’s certainly one of your best achievements?

You’re solely pretty much as good as your final win. And proper now, my present position appears like my best achievement.

I established Reddit’s go-to-market technique for EMEA and Australia again in 2019. Once we started planning our Reddit UK workplace launch it occurred to be a month earlier than Covid hit, which compelled us to rethink every little thing we thought we knew and begin over.

By way of all of it, we nonetheless discovered a approach to develop our enterprise — thanks largely of the true worth a platform like Reddit provides individuals in instances of uncertainty — and I’m proud to say that we’re now working with a few of the largest promoting companies and types on the planet like Disney, Sky, and KFC.

**Peer query** Who was your first media lunch with and the place did you go?

I used to be an assistant media purchaser at Common McCann, and in my first week a colleague of mine was within the cubicle subsequent to me and recommended we exit to lunch. He needed to behave like an enormous shot and inform me how issues labored across the workplace, so we went to Docks Oyster Bar and a blossoming friendship started.

Almost 20 years later we’re nonetheless shut mates, he stayed on the company facet whereas I went into gross sales and he has at all times been my hardest consumer. That stated, he’s purchased in on Reddit so it’s my flip to purchase a dozen oysters!

** Query from Emma Callaghan, Attain gross sales and invention director.

What one factor would you modify when coping with media companies?

In my expertise working with media companies, it at all times appears like they by no means have sufficient time within the day. At Reddit we’re consistently holding workplace hours on the companies to assist them higher perceive our platform and worth proposition.

I feel it will be intriguing to see company of us host open hours on the platforms as nicely. As companions, we’d love to listen to what challenges they’ve, what their consumer expectations are, and have a easy, open dialogue on a month-to-month foundation with no agenda aside from attending to know one another’s enterprise higher.

Has promoting media grow to be simpler or tougher?

You’ll be able to’t ignore the macroeconomic atmosphere proper now, however we’re assured in our technique and proceed to see momentum at Reddit.

Reddit is the place individuals discover group, type opinions, and take motion, they usually’re doing this all day, day-after-day, whatever the wider atmosphere, which implies there’s at all times alternative for manufacturers.

Our crew is due to this fact utterly dedicated to serving to advertisers discover their individuals, and their dwelling, on the platform in a method that units them up for long run success.

**Peer query** From a piece perspective, what had been you most pleased with final yr?

I’m pleased with Reddit’s continued development, significantly exterior of the US. The UK is dwelling to our second largest viewers exterior the US and we’re persevering with to develop what we name our “remainder of world” presence from a person and enterprise perspective, which is energizing. We additionally proved out by means of a current white paper examine that Reddit is additive to customers’ lives and has a constructive influence on person wellbeing. With all that’s occurring on the planet, that is one thing I can say with satisfaction after I inform individuals I work at Reddit.

**Query from Kelly Williams, managing director business at ITV.

**Peer query** What recommendation would you give your youthful self?

Lead from the center. Be your self and by no means cease eager to study or expertise new issues. Keep curious.

Query set by Ed Couchman, former UK normal supervisor at Snap, now head of gross sales for UK and Northern Europe at Spotify.

If you happen to might take a yr off from work, what would you do?

I’d rewatch my high 100 films of all time and likewise strive my finest to impress the r/smoking group with my BBQ abilities.