Owen Warne joins Business West as Head of Membership Sales

The Membership team at Business West are thrilled to welcome Owen Warne into our growing team as our new Head of Membership Sales. We spoke to him to find out more about him and his experience and what he's most looking forward to in his new role!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? 

I’m originally from a small village in Berkshire, but I currently live in Royal Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. I live with my wife-to be (we get married on 27th July), 3 kids (2 boys and a girl), 1 cat and 1 dog.

What is your favourite holiday destination?

My favourite holiday destination right now is the New Forest. Before Covid (and before our youngest came along) we had a VW van and used to pick the boys up from school and head down for a weekend camping. Nothing beats camping amongst the trees, watching the New Forest ponies wandering about and paddling in the river. We love it so much we’re actually getting married down there in July. Hopefully, a new van is on the horizon for next year!

What were you doing before you joined Business West as our new Head of Membership Sales? 

Before joining Business West I worked as Head of Client Services, helping Tech Start-ups in the US plan and execute talent scaling strategies. We offered a range of business support services from talent roadmaps to fractional talent acquisition.

What are your aspirations for this role and for your team?

My aspirations are mainly focused around our members. I want to make sure we are communicating effectively with members and potential members, to ensure we are providing them with a great offering and empowering them to get the most value possible from their membership. When we sign up a new member it’s our job to ensure they have as much information as possible, and every available opportunity to get the most out of their membership.

What attracted you to work in Business West’s Membership team?

The people, the opportunity within the role, and what the business stands for. Everyone I met throughout my interview process from Emma Carter, Phil Smith, Phil Bridgeman and Julie on reception at Park House was genuine and enthusiastic about Business West, and were welcoming and genuinely interested learning about me.

The role itself provides such incredible opportunity, because while the framework of the plan is there; enough of a plan to convince the board to invest, the rest is up to me and my team. I get to put my stamp on how this department moves forward, and build some best practice into it as we go, and that was too good an opportunity to turn down.

Finally, having spent years working in start-ups and most recently providing support and strategy for them, the chance to continue that good work and provide genuine support and development to businesses in the South West was always going to appeal to me. I get a real buzz from meeting and working with business leaders and facilitating their ambition. 

How will your role impact our Membership communities, including our Chamber of Commerce and Initiative members?

Hopefully, all members can look at my role and others within the membership team as a sign that Business West cares about their members, and wants to put them at the front and centre. The investment going into the membership team over the next 5 years should excite current members and show potential members that we are really moving the dial on what they can expect. We’re building up the resources now to enable us to be proactive in our engagement and really deliver on our incredible service offering.

What is the best business advice you could give to the next generation?

Find your ‘why’. Why are you doing what you do? It doesn’t matter what that ‘why’ is, but if you can keep referring back to it, keep reminding yourself of why you’re doing what you’re doing, you’ll find it much easier to keep going during the tough times, and it makes the good times so much sweeter too.

What is one productivity tool you couldn't live without?

It’s a recent addition to my arsenal but my reMarkable tablet is a game-changer. I take loads of notes in meetings throughout the day and get through note books very quickly. This isn’t great from an environmental perspective, but it also means I’m regularly left with notes that don’t make any sense days / weeks later, or I can’t find important notes after a few days. My reMarkable allows me to make all my notes as usual but keep them organised and easy to find at a later date etc. I also prefer writing my notes than typing on a laptop and this allows me to continue doing that. I’m so much more organised now!

What is a common piece of advice you don’t agree with and why? 

It’s not specific advice but essentially any ‘advice’ centred around the idea that you can’t be ‘successful’ without hustling. The idea that you have to be ‘maximising’ the hours in your day to achieve ‘success’. All this advice is based on a very materialistic idea of ‘success’. Success isn’t all about money, material objects and financial worth.