ScienceSoft is a full-cycle software consulting and development company with over 700 employees across 9 locations and with HQ in Dallas, TX. They've worked with over 1,200 customers from 75 counties in industries such as healthcare, banking, government, and others since 1989.
Industry: Custom Software Development
ICP: Large Enterprise, 2,000+ Headcount
Directions: Healthcare (SaMD), CyberSecurity (QLean)
Geo: US, Gulf Region
Industry: Custom Software Development
ICP: Large Enterprise, 2,000+ Headcount
Directions: Healthcare (SaMD), CyberSecurity (QLean)
Geo: US, Gulf Region
CHALLENGE
ScienceSoft approached us with a desire to diversify their sales channels beyond traditional inbound that has been a strong, yet unpredictable, source of qualified leads for years.
There were telesales efforts made in the past but they didn't bear much fruit - low conversions and poorly qualified leads were negatively impacting the department's ROI - so they were put on hold at the time.
With 2023 setting new challenges for global outsourcing companies, the decision was made to revive telesales as a quick pilot before investing more into this channel.
Because the company offers a wide range of services within dozens of industries and verticals, we picked two directions that ScienceSoft leadership agreed to test during the pilot: cybersecurity and healthcare with SaMD in particular. All within the US and Gulf regions.
We agreed to run a pilot in Jul-Aug 2023 for two months (while most agencies estimated a min. of 6 months for a similar scope) with a target of 10 SQLs in the chosen verticals — it was a challenging number to hit given the short timespan and unfavorable season.
But we were up for the challenge.
There were telesales efforts made in the past but they didn't bear much fruit - low conversions and poorly qualified leads were negatively impacting the department's ROI - so they were put on hold at the time.
With 2023 setting new challenges for global outsourcing companies, the decision was made to revive telesales as a quick pilot before investing more into this channel.
Because the company offers a wide range of services within dozens of industries and verticals, we picked two directions that ScienceSoft leadership agreed to test during the pilot: cybersecurity and healthcare with SaMD in particular. All within the US and Gulf regions.
We agreed to run a pilot in Jul-Aug 2023 for two months (while most agencies estimated a min. of 6 months for a similar scope) with a target of 10 SQLs in the chosen verticals — it was a challenging number to hit given the short timespan and unfavorable season.
But we were up for the challenge.
SOLUTION
We broke the project into two phases: inception and delivery. The former was a thorough and strategic preparation that took us 1 month which included:
#1: Building the technology core, i.e., creating brand new email domains and setting them up according to all best practices including lesser known tactics that would allow for a bullet-proof message delivery and open rates in the challenging enterprise environment full of firewalls and anti-spam filters.
#2: Designing a sales strategy that would align with the chosen directions. We carefully crafted tactics along with cold email & LinkedIn sequences that would resonate with each segment and persona, and that were personalized enough. to yield better conversions yet automated to allow for a wider market reach.
#3: Collecting verified-only lead bases for each direction, cleverly breaking them down into narrow segments for more personal approach, and enriching them with AI-generated personalized snippets that would make automated emails difficult to tell apart from more expensive fully-manual outreach.
After all the preparation, it was the time to deliver.
We only had one month to hit a very ambitious goal of securing 10 SQLs in a challenging enterprise segment, during the slowest sales season of all - August, where on every 10 cold emails, you get 13 vacation auto-responders.
#4: We started with the QLean direction first, testing the waters, i.e., both the tech setup and our sales messages to make sure we were hitting the sweet spot in delivery, open, and response rate conversions before going all in with all our sales campaigns and directions.
#5: Once we saw a steady 70%+ open rate and positive response across our campaigns, we started gradually increasing the volume of emails, adding more directions, and handing SDR-qualified leads into the sales pipeline for deeper discovery and setting next steps.
#1: Building the technology core, i.e., creating brand new email domains and setting them up according to all best practices including lesser known tactics that would allow for a bullet-proof message delivery and open rates in the challenging enterprise environment full of firewalls and anti-spam filters.
#2: Designing a sales strategy that would align with the chosen directions. We carefully crafted tactics along with cold email & LinkedIn sequences that would resonate with each segment and persona, and that were personalized enough. to yield better conversions yet automated to allow for a wider market reach.
#3: Collecting verified-only lead bases for each direction, cleverly breaking them down into narrow segments for more personal approach, and enriching them with AI-generated personalized snippets that would make automated emails difficult to tell apart from more expensive fully-manual outreach.
After all the preparation, it was the time to deliver.
We only had one month to hit a very ambitious goal of securing 10 SQLs in a challenging enterprise segment, during the slowest sales season of all - August, where on every 10 cold emails, you get 13 vacation auto-responders.
#4: We started with the QLean direction first, testing the waters, i.e., both the tech setup and our sales messages to make sure we were hitting the sweet spot in delivery, open, and response rate conversions before going all in with all our sales campaigns and directions.
#5: Once we saw a steady 70%+ open rate and positive response across our campaigns, we started gradually increasing the volume of emails, adding more directions, and handing SDR-qualified leads into the sales pipeline for deeper discovery and setting next steps.
RESULTS
Despite the slow vacation season and many leads wanting to talk in the coming months, we were able to hit 60% of the ambitious 10 SQL plan we set out at the beginning of the pilot.
#1: The sales tech and strategy showed a repeatable 70%+ open rate with 3-10% response (2x market average) that is now being expanded into other sales directions beyond healthcare and cybersecurity.
#2: As of early September 2023, we got 3 Enterprise SQLs for QLean and 2 for Healthcare directions — all from the ICP markets and segments.
More meetings planned for later this fall along with 20+ positive replies that the team is converting into sales meetings now.
#3: One of the leads turned out a project with a 5-year roadmap that was assigned a VIP+ status and qualified as a strategic partner in the Gulf region.
#4: All the tactics and sales know-hows are now being taught to the fresh SDR reps that are being actively hired now.
#5: The telesales pilot was considered a success; now ScienceSoft leadership is scaling telesales into a dedicated business unit that will help diversify company's lead funnel beyond inbound and roadshow channels.
#1: The sales tech and strategy showed a repeatable 70%+ open rate with 3-10% response (2x market average) that is now being expanded into other sales directions beyond healthcare and cybersecurity.
#2: As of early September 2023, we got 3 Enterprise SQLs for QLean and 2 for Healthcare directions — all from the ICP markets and segments.
More meetings planned for later this fall along with 20+ positive replies that the team is converting into sales meetings now.
#3: One of the leads turned out a project with a 5-year roadmap that was assigned a VIP+ status and qualified as a strategic partner in the Gulf region.
#4: All the tactics and sales know-hows are now being taught to the fresh SDR reps that are being actively hired now.
#5: The telesales pilot was considered a success; now ScienceSoft leadership is scaling telesales into a dedicated business unit that will help diversify company's lead funnel beyond inbound and roadshow channels.
