How a Remote Lead Generation Service 6Xed Account Growth with VanillaSoft
When sales-focused startup Pereus Marketing launched Superhuman Prospecting, a new division focused on cold calling, lead generation, and appointment setting services, founder and CEO Ryan Pereus began looking for software that would meet the needs of his growing firm. After months of research and demos, he chose VanillaSoft based on its user-friendly interface, flexibility, and seamless transitions between customized campaigns for each client.
Executive Summary
Superhuman Prospecting, established in 2017 as an offshoot of Pereus Marketing, has grown from one employee and two clients to a team of 34, serving a wide range of small- and medium-sized businesses as well as enterprise clients like Uber, Amerisource Bergen, and The Economist. As the company ramped up its workforce, its offerings, and its client list, it needed a robust lead management platform to match. That’s why they landed on VanillaSoft.
VanillaSoft empowered Superhuman Prospecting to better serve its clients with custom campaigns tailored to each and every one.
VanillaSoft provides them with the ability to toggle between campaigns without any downtime, or any logging off, almost instantly. They can set up custom campaigns for an unlimited number of clients based upon their specific requirements, including individualized routing rules, lead prioritizations, and more. For an agency that specializes in generating leads and booking appointments on behalf of its clients –– each of which offers a different product to a different audience and requires its own sales scripts –– this was a game-changer.
“What I really like about VanillaSoft is that it’s just smooth. It’s so easy for our call team and our client SDRs at any level of experience to understand how to use it, and for us to ramp up that training to optimal usage.”
SUPERHUMAN GROWTH REQUIRES SUPERLATIVE SOFTWARE
Over the last few years, Ryan has built a solid team that’s committed to the mission of “human to human lead generation” and “spreading the human sales approach.”
Superhuman Prospecting started with just a handful of employees and initially targeted small businesses, solopreneurs, and entrepreneurs. As it grew, it focused on mid-size businesses as well. Just last year, it began honing in on enterprise-level firms.
Plus, Ryan adds, Superhuman Prospecting has been steadily ramping up its inbound game as it grows. It has found success with companies in the commercial insurance sector, as well as digital marketing and SaaS firms. The latter is what he calls “unique solutions to market –– not a traditional professional service, but a new idea in a marketplace.”
Another client type has emerged as well, he says: companies that are in the process of hiring a new VP of sales who need a way to pick up the slack: reaching out to tradeshow list leads or people who’ve downloaded a whitepaper –– those who show interest, but need additional engagement.
As Superhuman Prospecting generated more revenue, “we were really looking for something else,” Ryan says. “We wanted to increase the velocity of our output.”
That’s where VanillaSoft came in.
“We had done several demos and had tried other software when we were introduced to VanillaSoft. It was good timing because I think we had been through enough at that point, where we really understood what we needed. But we hadn’t found what we needed yet. That’s where things picked up with VanillaSoft.”
NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES: VANILLASOFT TO THE RESCUE
With clients that range from small to Uber-massive, “we pretty much can work with anyone across the board,” says Ryan.
Plus, the company has transitioned to a 100% remote operation for at least the duration of the pandemic, so his team has to be versatile — and nimble.
Ryan said, “Vanillasoft’s reporting has made it much easier for remote management. The custom and “pop out” dashboards allow us to dedicate a monitor to real-time performance.”
They can set up custom campaigns for as many clients as they can handle –– and configure clients as a standalone project within the platform. That means they can simultaneously run multiple campaigns for all of them, complete with individualized routing rules, lead prioritizations, and other components. Plus, they can seamlessly toggle between campaigns and clients.
This was a huge boost for a company that manages so much communication for its clients –– each of whom has different needs and requirements.
And, because time is money, especially in sales, it’s crucial for Superhuman reps to connect at the speed of our digital life. With VanillaSoft, the entire team can access those campaigns quickly and seamlessly from wherever they are. Its interface gives them the ability to cue up calls and transition to the next task after every single dial.
“Our system is built on efficiency and effectiveness,” Ryan says. “Our team is very attuned to what those things mean on a day-to-day basis within our operation.”
In practice, that means Superhuman operation managers can communicate easily with account managers about the campaigns that need work. The account managers, who work directly with the clients on strategy and messaging, can facilitate call team training on individual accounts.
“We’ve really fought tooth and nail for our clients,” Ryan says. So as his company grows, VanillaSoft is not only increasing the efficiency of his operation. It’s amplifying its impact because his team can produce results at scale.
“We specialize in the conversation and way humans connect to products and services.”
RESULTS: SPEEDY ROI IS RIGHT ON THE MONEY
The cost of rolling out VanillaSoft at Pereus Marketing “was so easy to justify,” says Ryan. “We just knew we just had to produce X amount more, because we look at revenue per dial. So we just said, we need to increase our dials –– and VanillaSoft was able to do that.”
It happened quickly, too: when they began using VanillaSoft, the Superhumans had three accounts. Now, after one year with VanillaSoft, they have 65.
“The bill did start getting higher, but so did the calls, by a longshot,” Ryan adds. “It’s been huge because it’s freed up resources for us to invest in other things –– like working on our callers’ effectiveness, their ability to master a script, and their ability to navigate a conversation … which takes strategy and skill. That, I think, is sometimes overlooked by other types of dialers out there.”
Another plus? Unlike mammoth CRMs like Salesforce that require lengthy training and a company-wide learning curve, VanillaSoft is ridiculously user-friendly.
“It’s so easy for anybody to figure out how it works within the first 15 minutes, or the first session of using it,” says Ryan. “There are some people who are fairly new or didn’t use anything else prior, and it was such an easy ‘yes’ moment for them. They thought, wow, this is so much better than our manual dials. VanillaSoft is eons past what we were doing before.
None of the dialing software the company used before had the ability to toggle, he explains. “This is such an easier method, considering the amount of campaigns our team runs through.”
That feature alone makes it worthwhile –– and that’s feedback from his team on the sales floor every day.
“The bill did start getting higher, but so did the calls, by a longshot.“
WORDS OF WISDOM
Ryan’s advice for would-be VanillaSoft users?
“Make sure that you know what your numbers are, in terms of your current productivity, so that you can see the value once you start using it,” he says. “You’ll be able to tangibly see what the end result is and how it’s changed your company for the better.”
Do the training VanillaSoft provides on how to create reports, he adds, so that you can seamlessly integrate it into your system.
Adapting to any new software can present challenges, says Ryan.
“But if you keep helping your team understand why it’s important, not only does their muscle memory start to change while using your tool, but they start to see the value.”
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