ConnectAndSell “De-Risks” VC Backed Technology Companies

Risk

This is a BOLD statement, and can be backed up by the nearly 1000 clients that ConnectAndSell has served over the past 7 years.

ConnectAndSell Customer Stats:

  • 31 of the top 40 clients of ConnectAndSell are Venture Capital funded.
  • 3 were backed by Private Equity
  • 4 were Acquired
  • 2 went IPO

Why do A Round funded companies choose ConnectAndSell?

  1. To learn if “the dogs will eat the dog food”!  ConnectAndSell helps the CEO and Executive team answer the question – “are product adjustments needed?”  The difference: Using ConnectAndSell, the CEO can gather this feedback in days/weeks, not months.
  2. To learn if “the right sales people are on the bus”!  In technology sales, turnover can be as high as 40%/year.  Most startups do not learn about a Sales Persons ability (or inability) to sell until months down the line.  With ConnectAndSell, clients can be equipped with analytics about the sales team in days, not months.

Cost justification for an A-Round VC Backed company?

  1. Speed – Collect data in weeks not months.
  2. Cost – ConnectAndSell is 10% the cost of human capital.
  3. Quality – Why hire B Players, when you can make your A Players 4-6X more productive!

 

Why do B Round funded companies choose ConnectAndSell?

  1. To learn if there is a market for the product/solution.  In the A Round, companies learn if the dog’s will eat the dog food.  In the B Round, it’s essential to determine, “is there a market, and can we compete & win in that market?”
  2. Make a team of 10 feel like it’s a team of 40!  It can take months/quarters to staff a team of 40 sales professionals, and the cost is often 20% of OTE (on target earnings).  Cost for recruiters: 40 x $100k x 20% = $800,000.  Cost of delay in hiring 40 people = lost sales, turnover, massive amounts of pain.  With ConnectAndSell, a team of just 10 people will have as many conversations as a team of 40 will have without ConnectAndSell!

Cost justification for an A-Round VC Backed company?

  1. Speed – Determine if there is a market in weeks not months.
  2. Market coverage – A “market” is basically a LIST of prospects.  When a CEO says “we can sell to anyone”, that’s a recipe for disaster.  When a CEO says, “we serve customers in this industry, this region, with this type of characteristic, and this can be created as a list, that’s a market!”  Whether the market is 691 prospects in Louisiana, or VC Backed Technology companies in the Bay Area/Denver/Austin/Raleigh/Boston, once a list is created of like companies who will tend to buy more when other companies on the list make purchasing decisions, then you have a market.  ConnectAndSell enables companies to reach a100% of the prospects on a list.  Where marketing automation falls short (typically enabling sales to reach just 9% of the list), ConnectAndSell customers approach 100% penetration.
  3. Quality – Revenue = Frequency x Competency.  ConnectAndSell helps companies increase Frequency 4-6X!

 

How do C Round, D Round, E, F, and Public companies use ConnectAndSell?

ANSWER: When the A & B round funded companies “grow up” with ConnectAndSell, the C, D, and Public companies have their sales team built around a new paradigm in sales–the paradigm that Sales Reps can actually talk to prospects on the phone again.  A San Mateo based VOIP Telephony company for example leverages ConnectAndSell with 8 Reps delivering upwards of 37 conversations/day per rep!  Before ConnectAndSell, they averaged just 2/day per Rep.  This company would have had to hire 18X more Lead Gen Reps to deliver the same # of conversations.  If you were the CFO of your company (or CEO, VP Sales, VP Marketing), would you rather hire 144 people, or 18 people?

 

Why haven’t more Public Companies adopted ConnectAndSell?  Consider: As a VP of Sales with a $100M, or $250M public company managing a team of 50 – 100 Sales Professionals, why would I want to reduce the headcount on my team because I can do more with less?  ANSWER: I wouldn’t!  Growth companies that are venture backed have to grow.  And this is EXACTLY why growth companies that are venture backed will choose ConnectAndSell over manual dialing tools – because ONLY ConnectAndSell can enable a growth company to grow faster, with the same headcount.

What’s the right answer for a Public Company WHO WANTS TO GROW?  (note: some public companies don’t want to grow)

ANSWER: Stack rank your sales team.  Determine how to cut the bottom 10% (or 20%, or 5%).

Example: 100 Reps @ $100,000/year = $10,000,000 annual cost.  Cut the bottom 10%.  Save $1M.  Use a portion (or all) of the $1M in savings to make the 90% of Sales Reps 4-6X more productive.

Would you rather…

  1. Have 100 Sales Reps making 30 – 50 dials/day for 3-6 hours, having 2-3 conversations/day?  Total conversations/day = 200.
  2. OR… have 90 Sales Reps making 250+ dials/day for 1-2 hours, having 10 – 15 conversations/day? Total conversations/day = 1,350

EVERY VP of Sales that I know… knows the bottom 10%.  MOST VPs of Sales I know would rather have their sales team talk to more prospects!

What type of CEO or VP of Sales are you?