Top Slovenia interview: Dejan Kovačevič

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Dejan Kovačevič, you work and live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. How would you describe Slovenia in 5 words?

Small, but diverse and full of life.

With so many ongoing projects and responsibilities that you have, how and where do you like to spend your free time? Is there a spot in Slovenia that you absolutely love going to unwind after a long work week? 

I believe that many of us COVID-19 are affected and therefore you have to adapt to survive and grow further. That means new starts of projects and challenges that come with it. When I need time to unwind, I usually go to Bled or Bohinj. These are places where truly relax and with a relaxed head, I get all the answers I usually wouldn’t during the workweek. Regardless the place, I find it easy to relax by spending time with my daughter. 

You have more than 15 years of experience in sales, business development, and marketing in Slovenia and abroad. Which companies have you worked with? 

In these 15 years, I worked with a different type of client from “one-man bands” to the biggest company in the world – Saudi Aramco from Saudi Arabia where dimensions of business are completely different from everything I have learned in Slovenia. Easiest to work with are SMEs which are usually very clear what they would like to achieve and they are looking for high-quality delivery and at the same time they are flexible to new suggestions out their current zone of thinking and operating.

What knowledge and skills do you find most useful at work?

By studying and working in Slovenia and abroad I learned that the best skill or let’s say the quality of a person is the ability to learn and adapt and be accountable for their own work. 

First of all, can you explain to us what lead generation is and what is the one thing that intrigues you the most about it? 

Lead generation is a process through which let’s say agency collects the leads, due to the client’s requirements. There are many ways how to do it ad everyone does it by their own best experiences. Usually, a client would like to cooperate with the agency by paying per acquired lead.  

I personally don’t think that the main added value is a vell targeted lead by itself, but intel about it. For example, by creating a sequence and inviting them to organized webinar, or event…you’d also like to know how engaged was lead through the whole process, which parts of the webinar, offer person liked the most. Such things are usually are not told or seen, but can be measured and managed by many lead management tools. At the same time role of the agency is to design funnel well to convince leads and create demand. This is the key differentiator of generating leads or generating demand.

With years of experience in the marketing industry, could you tell us how the sales, business, and marketing industry in Slovenia has changed? 

Definitely! There is a lot more work in content, working with influencers, interaction with direct customers online, marketing automation, and the necessary adoption of various mar-tech tools and growth techniques. Even B2B marketing is changing, especially during the COVID-19 situation, where business trips are not so trivial anymore and current marketing techniques are outdated. We can expect further improvements here.

Since you have the experience of working for both Slovenian and international companies we are sure you have noticed differences between the way one and the other work and communicate. What is the biggest difference between working with Slovenian and international companies? 

Well, I worked and lived in Saudi Arabia for almost a year. My role there was to establish a digital marketing agency there for my client. It was a BOT project (Build Operate Transfer). You can imagine how difficult is to work in a different culture. I have never experienced a culture shock like this, not even close. The business culture there is very different from ours and it relies much more on trust than here. Once they accept you, it’s much easier to work. Besides cultural differences, the biggest difference was the scale of business and mindset. Think big way of thinking is their comfort zone and it does not go well with the Slovenian way of thinking usually. Personally working with international companies requires much more structure and following procedures, background company, and people checking. It is something very usual as the numbers of deals are much higher.

Any future projects or campaigns we should know about that you can share with our audience? 

There are 2 projects I am currently working on. And one will start at the end of September, another month later. I am looking forward to starting.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you over the years?

The best lesson I learned is to keep everything in balance. Only then you can function properly and be the best version of yourself in whatever you do.

What is your motto or philosophy in life?

There is a limited time of one’s existence on earth and too much to learn.