CIENCE Technologies

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Marketing Specialist at Hirebook Technologies, I was part of the team that made up the Point of Contact during our partnership with CIENCE, participating in our sync up meetings as eventual speaker and taking notes of relevant information about results and the strategy in place at the time. Hirebook Technologies offers a SaaS for companies that want to improve the employee engagement while also facilitating a visualization and management of OKRs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CIENCE Technologies?

We were looking for a US based company that offered lead generation services with a solid background.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

It took some time and thought to finally make the decision to go with CIENCE, since we considered other competitors in terms of pricing and reviews. In this case we picked CIENCE because they were also recommended to us by one of our partners and the difference in what we were going to invest compared to the other options wasn't that big a deal.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After the discovery meeting with their sales teams we were sold. We went on to proceed with the details of contract and payment to then move on with the on-boarding. They shared some questionnaires with us that we needed to fill out to share information about our ICP, expectations in terms of region, what we offered in detail, pain points and their respective solutions, etc. They then introduced us to their team that were to be their POC and SDRs, with whom we had a short training before they kicked off the outreach.

What was the team composition?

We worked closely with an SD Manager, mainly, but their team was composed of a caller and an SDR that took care of emails, plus someone in charge of preparing their templates and canned responses.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We noticed a significant increase in our brand awareness in a positive way within our region (East Coast), while also saw some sales taking place with leads that were brought in by the CIENCE team. I couldn't tell an exact figure for how much our sales grew since it is not something constant and gradual but rather eventual and that takes some cooking to start showing noticeable results.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had bi-weekly meetings that lasted for 30 minutes and some times a little more, where we coordinated any solutions to blockers that were faced along the way, and also went over the results from those 2 weeks in detail. It was a great opportunity to discuss directly with their SD Manager and have them relay adjustments that were needed to their team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their commitment and passion to the service they provide showed everywhere in their work: their call recordings, their emails, responses, objection handling, their manager and during their meetings with us. Their high spirit brought positive results overall in all aspects of our partnership.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

Some hiccups here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for a lead generation company in today's market.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m Co-founder in a mobile app development company. We offer mobile app for on demand business

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CIENCE Technologies, and what were your goals?

For leading in mobile app like uber clones and gojek clone we gave many efforts but failed. After hiring CIENCE Technologies, we could increase our sales up to 40% in the span of 6 months and earn more revenue from US based traffic.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

CIENCE gives assurance of their services to gain potential clients by maximising the outreach with a multichannel approach to contact the right leads.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

They described the project in detail and walked us through their service package, including any calling and live chat tools used.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked with a project manager who is very punctual and provides hassle free service to our firm. He is very polite and listens to every problem sincerely and all members try to improve all the way.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

At the beginning of the month, it was time-consuming to outsource what we wanted. But after some time we got our expected audience and generated maximum ROI. I recommend CIENCE for their commitment and hassle-free service.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The way they handle the entire project from the beginning is amazing. CIENCE team is committed with its timeline and give immediate solution of our problem

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The most impressive thing is their high-skilled team and personalised approach to solve any issues in a short period and making the right adjustments asap.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not at all

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Chief Commercial Officer for a contract research organization . We provide biometric services for biotech and pharma companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CIENCE Technologies, and what were your goals??

Historically my organization used an internal team for lead generation services and I felt that team didn't have the same bandwidth as an external dedicated team could provide.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I had my own experience with third party lead generation teams and did a bit of market research. CIENCE was very diligent with their outreach to me as a potential client of their services and I was very impressed with that, knowing I would want the same effort applied to gaining new clients that CIENCE was demonstrating in trying to win my business.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package, including any calling tools used.

I am not sure what internal services and software CIENCE uses to create the lead lists but I do know that they utilize some elements of Google Ads to leverage our marketing materials and that piece was very attractive to me.

Who did you work with and what was the feedback process like?

I work with a Project Manager (Erick) and and Account Manager (Danae) directly and they both work directly with an SDR team that conducts the outreach.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the service?

Initially, it took a bit of time to target the "correct" customer for us. We offer a very specialized service, so there was a significant amount of time that my team needed to work with CIENCE to get the message and target audience right. As a result, many "leads" were initially provided to us that were not the right fit and would not be candidates for our services.

However, over time that was adjusted in an iterative manner and now the team is producing high-quality leads at a rate of around 1 a week. Each week they also provide the metrics on the outreach and valuable KPIs to demonstrate their efforts.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They are clear communicators now, but initially there was some confusion and it took some time to resolve. The account manager was changed and I think that helped.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I was most impressed with the access to a entire multi-disciplinary team for the services rather than just access to a couple of individuals that would be completing the outreach.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I think they probably need to consider additional streamlined solutions for scheduling that doesn't require access to outlook calendars.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior VP of business development and marketing at a strategic consulting firm specializing in implementing end-to-end technology solutions for our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CIENCE Technologies?

We needed help with lead generation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CIENCE is our lead generation partner and acts as our SDR. They work collaboratively with us on building outbound messaging campaigns. They also leverage multiple channels like phone, LinkedIn, and email to set appointments for our sales team to meet with prospective clients.

For every campaign, we first provide CIENCE with our ideal client profile (ICP) we want to target with the campaign. The ICP contains details about the type of company that would be a good fit for our services, including the demographic and psychographic information of those from a business level and an individual target level.

We also revisit the value proposition we can offer those targets. Then, CIENCE takes our input and our branding assets to put together our hypothesis on how we can help them. To create the campaigns, they also use case studies and past success stories to prove to those potential clients that we can help them.

After that process, CIENCE’s team develops a sales playbook, which is a fully-fledged campaign that goes cohesively across all of our sales channels. We then review the campaign and its execution plan, iterating on it until we approve it.

Once approved, CIENCE starts executing the campaign, involving a research team that helps gather the contacts and other people involved in calling, emailing, and LinkedIn messaging. As appointments come in, they introduce those leads to our sales representatives for us to run our sales cycle.

What is the team composition?

I have two main points of contact from CIENCE: an account manager and a project manager. Of course, their team also includes the people dedicated to calling, emailing, and messaging prospects, with whom we interact as needed.

How did you come to work with CIENCE Technologies?

I did a deep dive and reviewed a variety of lead generation agencies, and CIENCE stood out head and shoulders among the other candidates. I believe I found them on Clutch.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around February 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Since working with CIENCE, we’ve increased our monthly new appointments by over 500%.

How did CIENCE Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

CIENCE is extremely responsive; they usually get back to us within 10 minutes. Additionally, they’re very collaborative, and they accommodate their schedule to our time zone. Every week, we review their efforts and make the necessary changes. We use Microsoft Teams, Zoom, the Google Suite, and email to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CIENCE excels in two aspects. On the one hand, they custom tailor their entire service to their client’s needs, and they're very adaptable throughout the process. On the other hand, they’re very transparent about how they measure results and don’t try to use data to make them look good. We always know when things are going well and when they aren’t, allowing us to adjust our efforts in real time. Overall, they’re very data-driven and willing to adapt to ensure we’re successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more transparent you are about your goals, resources, and constraints, the more helpful they can be. Trust them in their process as the experts they are and treat them like an internal team so that they can effectively help you move forward.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Head of Sales for a Marketing Agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CIENCE Technologies, and what were your goals??

We hired CIENCE to do outbound lead gen via cold calling, email, linkedin messaging and display ads.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I actually found them through Clutch and the positive reviews here. I moved forward based on a well organized sales process, supposedly proven process and great reviews. I wish I hadn't.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package, including any calling tools used.

We hired them for lead gen - they offered a playbook, reporting, outbound cold calling, outbound email, LinkedIn messaging (which they never actually did), display ads to target accounts, lead form landing pages.

Who did you work with and what was the feedback process like?

We mainly worked with the Project Manager (this person changed 3 times in 3 months) and Sales Development Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the service?

We have had two calls booked over 2.5 months. There is a small chance they might book one or two more calls before the project closes.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had a dashboard, weekly report, regular meetings.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have nice reporting.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

They need to better understand their clients' offerings, better train their sales team. They have a process that sounds great from the sales person, but it clearly doesn't get results. They never set up the LinkedIn campaigns. They wouldn't own that they were doing a terrible job. I started testing two other partners at the same time who have performed way, way, way better, so I know it isn't a product-market fit issues.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of a consulting company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CIENCE Technologies?

Outreach - business development

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Online search followed by telephone calls

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Supposedly, a Linkedin campaign, followed by emails and outbound telephone calls.

What was the team composition?

A rag-tag team of amateurs. Several of the team members either left or were fired during our programme. There were no handovers between the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

One valid telephone call.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We did everything we were asked to do, on time. They failed at every point.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The sales guy. However, he oversold their capabilities.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

DO NOT TOUCH THIS COMPANY WITH A BARGE POLE. This company oversells its services. The salesperson will confidently reassure you with stories of previous supposed successes. But their system is clunky and fixed to their model only. You will pay for a rag-tag team of ‘specialists’ who are all over the place. In the first 3 months of our programme, five or six of our dedicated team members turned over, one at a time. Handovers were non-existent And not one of them (on their own admission) took time to really understood what we do. One even admitted to me that their prospect list is unchecked. They’ll blind you with your performance stats to give you false hope. Suddenly your three months are up and then they’ll try to sell you a follow-on programme. Despite false promises, they secured ONE real meeting for us and one dud one. LinkedIn is on fire with ex-‘Cientists’ on the JOB hunt now complaining about their ex-employer. If we had just given the money to a charity, I’d be feeling a lot better right now.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of customer service for an e-commerce company. We produce mainly a custom product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CIENCE Technologies?

We essentially wanted to reach out to other businesses that may use our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CIENCE Technologies has created several sales playbooks that we use to reach out to different businesses within the target industries. We send out samples and book demo meetings to explain the different ways we can partner with groups like them. CIENCE Technologies had been in charge of everything that goes into the sales outreach.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with at least 6–7 people. The project lead and project manager are the two main people we work with, and we also have an outbound sales representative.

How did you come to work with CIENCE Technologies?

We did multiple Google searches and looked at several outside sales firms that did the same.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2022, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We had a slow start; I think we were a bit different than the companies they were used to working with. However, we can say that within the past month or so, we’ve seen an increase in the work they’re doing. The success has been cyclical.

How did CIENCE Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We typically communicate in a biweekly Zoom meeting. We do check-ins every two weeks and use emails as well. Some project managers and leaders have fallen off the boat, but there’s a good turn-around for the main project leader who has been with us since day one. They’ve been solid.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their main strength since the beginning has been in their email strategies and campaigns. They’ve been really impressive with cold emailing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Often, the communication could be much better. Many times, it feels like we’re pushing and asking incessantly. They could be more proactive before we start complaining.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an enterprise sales associate for a building management company. My company retrofits buildings for lighting, water, and solar efficiencies. Specifically, I focus on lead development and new company introductions to ensure we maintain momentum behind our deals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CIENCE Technologies?

We brought them on board to pilot our outbound and SDR program and see how they would fit in our industry verticals. After doing a proof of concept, I realized that there was a lot to be gained by bringing in an outside vendor. We didn’t want to completely commit to hiring SDRs and managers to facilitate a strong outbound process, as it would strain our internal resources too much. After some research, it was clear that CIENCE would be the best fit to facilitate the manpower behind our SDR and outbound activities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team is very helpful and proactive in making sure that our playbooks get put together and reaching out to our target companies. They really understand our industry and how we got about selling our services. This gave us ease of mind in knowing that someone who knows our pitches, customers, and teams is representing us.

What is the team composition?

I’m in contact with two of their representatives, as well as a manager for the SDRs. There’s also a program manager that makes sure our operation and portfolio are running smoothly.

How did you come to work with CIENCE Technologies?

I found them online and did a bunch of due diligence on different services to see which one would fit us best.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested at least $25,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

So far, they’ve been able to book 15 meetings for us. While that may not sound like a lot, our target audience is very small and focused; we’re not a one-size-fits-all solution, so we have a list of about 500 companies that we’re focused on in our vertical. CIENCE’s ability to connect us with 15 of these organizations, and specifically with people in those organizations who hold targeted titles, is incredibly helpful.

Just one customer can bring in $5 million worth of deals, so bringing in one or two could pay for the program ten times over.

How did CIENCE Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

It took us a bit of time to understand one another on the frontend, but things have been incredibly smooth for the past four months or so. They’ve been right on target and have been incredibly effective in booking meetings. We normally communicate over Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The sheer system that they’ve developed behind their SDR service stands out. It feels much more organized and fleshed out than that of other vendors I’ve worked with. They’ve been ready to roll from the beginning. Additionally, their ability to merge SDR services with marketing it great for establishing consistency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard to say if this is just due to COVID, but there have been some challenges in the handling of our account, especially at the outset. We went through quite a bit of turnover, but that has smoothed out. I think it would be helpful if CIENCE implement more training.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come prepared to invest your time in working with the SDR manager on your account. I have meetings when them every other week and we’ll put together anything they need: customized emails, etc. The more you put into working with them, the more you’ll get out of them. They have all the tools to help you go into battle.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the sales operations manager and digital contributor at an online mental health therapy service. I focus on the B2B side of our business, selling our services to different organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CIENCE Technologies?

We were trying to prospect into a new target market of on-the-budget organizations, such as associations, charities, and nonprofit organizations. We were already doing some prospecting, but we wanted to increase our efforts to schedule more discovery and demo calls, so we hired CIENCE to help us with our efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we had a launch call with CIENCE where we talked about the important things for our new campaign and the new market we were targeting. Then, we provided them with an information sheet to get them on the same page and had another touch base call to ensure they got everything right before we went to market.

The initial discovery process took a couple of weeks, after which CIENCE went into campaign mode. This campaign was targeted at nonprofits, member-based organizations, unions, fraternities, and sororities. CIENCE worked with us on a strategy to offer one month of services for free for all of these organizations’ members, and they helped us identify which organizations would be a good fit for that. 

Their team was also involved in the messaging so that we could help those organizations understand what we were offering. This part of the project included creating copy for emails, a script for our calls, and a go-to-market strategy plan. Additionally, CIENCE was in charge of scheduling the meetings with the right stakeholders, as well as messaging, emailing, and calling the prospects that they identified for us.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of four people from CIENCE supporting us at all times, including a dedicated sales development representative (SDR), an account manager, an SDR manager, and a campaign operations manager.

How did you come to work with CIENCE Technologies?

I was doing research on G2 and contacted 4–5 companies, including CIENCE. They were highly rated on G2, and I made sure that they were the right fit for us during our call.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2022, but we had to pause the engagement in June 2022 for internal reasons. However, we might continue working with them in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

CIENCE was able to schedule 26 meetings for us over a three-month period, from which we closed two business opportunities, helping us generate about $113,000 in revenue.

How did CIENCE Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

CIENCE performed really well. They were on top of everything and were really responsive. We had weekly calls to check on the progress, and they listened to feedback really well, immediately iterating on our feedback and adjusting the project accordingly. We communicated via email, Zoom calls, and phone calls, and we used Google Drive to share documents and spreadsheets. Additionally, they used an internal tool for tracking analytics that they gave us access to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CIENCE’s main strength was their wonderful and robust communication. They were also very experienced in the type of campaign we ran, and the number of resources they provided for support was very strong.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind; they were wonderful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring feedback to the weekly meetings and have direct and frequent conversations with the project management team to ensure that everyone is on the same page. CIENCE is very good at setting up those weekly meetings, so make sure that you keep up with that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO for an organization that develops software for college programs to manage their field experience and accreditation requirements. I’m responsible for vendor management. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CIENCE Technologies?

We launched a trial version of a new product line, and we wanted to test it out and get feedback using CIENCE’s capabilities. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a new career center for employers. This was on top of the services we offered to colleges and their graduates. CIENCE promoted it, and we wanted to learn from them in the process.

CIENCE used a multi-touch approach, including email marketing, phone calls, LinkedIn marketing, and PPC. We had a targeted list of employers to whom we wanted to sell our career center website. For email marketing, they developed content; we gave them guidelines, they developed the message, and then we reviewed it. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account manager, a data project manager, and a couple of other people. In total, we dealt with 3–4 people. The data project manager was our primary contact who kept me up to date with lists, data, and other information. 

How did you come to work with CIENCE Technologies?

I was already working with CIENCE on data enrichment. Then, I learned about their sales development resources. They contacted our team, including our CRO and president. We were impressed with their multi-touch approach. In fact, we didn’t typically respond to cold calls, but we responded to them because of the said approach. We decided to try them and see how they’d work for our project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $21,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from February–May 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Quantitatively, CIENCE reached about 172 unique companies and made about 2,500 calls. They connected with 56 people and set them up for appointments with us. It took around 10 engagements to set up one appointment.

This was a new venture, and we weren’t sure it was going to work. CIENCE was able to give us the market’s feedback: the venture wasn’t viable. Simply put, even though we didn’t generate sales, it was the reporting that we wanted to understand; we wanted to know if we had a viable product. We wouldn’t be able to determine that without CIENCE’s help.

The problem that the product ran into was that it wasn’t big enough as a ticket item to warrant the expense. Even if we had been successful in selling the product, it just wasn’t a good purchase. If we had a bigger ticket item, then the project would’ve done well.

How did CIENCE Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

I was truly impressed with CIENCE’s project management. They had a great system and were well-organized. Everything from content development to call management and email automation was good. To communicate, we used emails and Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

CIENCE had a system, and that system worked. We were attracted to it from the beginning, though it didn’t work for our product. Apart from that, everyone from CIENCE was professional. We never had any concerns about their performance — we could see this in the metrics and the responses during the meetings we held.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any.