First Point Communications

Please describe your company and your position there.

Software provider for Telecom, Energy and Power Utility companies

For what projects/services did your company hire First Point Communications, and what were your goals??

Lead generation help in Latin America, emulate our success in the North America and Europe

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

Variety of factors. We were referred to First Point. Muneeb seemed to have a lot of experience in B2B with tech vendors, after first few discussions we knew we are in good hands.

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

We had been looking for a partner who can provide us high-quality leads that can turn into opportunities. We decided to work on an cold calling program with First Point. Muneeb directly worked with us as our Account Manager. Two experienced B2B reps were assigned. We were provided with an orientation of the First Point process and we went with it.

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

We worked with Muneeb Khan, owner/founder of the company who assigned a team of two cold callers on the project. We had weekly feedback calls to discuss progress as well as regular reporting.

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

Cannot share specifics of the outcome. However, we are very satisfied so far.

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

They are very collaborative and flexible to meet customer needs. Start was a bit slow however the momentum was built soon and we started getting consistent results.

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

They have an impressive quality of work and dedication to client's success.

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

Nothing I can think of right now

Please describe your company and your position there.

I worked for Royal LePage Terrequityas a Licensed Realtor; which is part of the largest Real Estate Company in Canada.

For what projects/services did your company hire First Point Communications?

Outbound Call center services for lead qualification and setting appointments.

What were your goals for this project?

Build my pipeline and increase sales. Reduce time prospecting and spend more time following up and building relationships with warm clients.

How did you select this vendor?

Contacted some companies I knew and did some web search and decided to hire them.

Describe the project in detail.

Toronto was going through a real estate boom and there was a lot of demand. I knew if I could get on more calls and meetings, I can pull off a few more deals. I had acquired my own database through research and had leads provided from the company as well. I wanted some help for a few months to vet the leads and get me maximum meetings to increase my sales.

What was the team composition?

There were 4 full time cold callers working on this project for me.

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

Results were outstanding. Their ability to connect and quickly build rapport with prospects help me hit the ground running and earn trust of many of the prospects. This activity led to increase in my sales by 500%. Definitely worth the investment.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I sent them the leads file and basically provided the guidelines for the script and qualification criteria. They worked off of that to create their talk tracks. I had daily visibility into progress and was having a weekly calls to sync up on goals and progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are thoroughly professional and hard-working.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're an investment management firm providing investment opportunities for Independent Financial Advisors. I was responsible for business development.

For what projects/services did your company hire First Point Communications?

We were looking to grow our global partner network to produce investments that fit the specific requirements for independent financial advisors. We hired First Point Communications for appointment setting with our target partners in the US and Canada.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to extend our partner portfolio to leverage wider range of structured products to our clients.

How did you select this vendor?

I have worked with First Point founder Muneeb in the past and was familiar with their offerings and I reached out and he said they could help us.

Describe the project in detail.

We were a relatively new firm. We offered structured products and UCITS for institutional investors which requires immense global market insights to provide a true picture of market conditions for the clients. Since global financial markets are interdependent, having global presence through partners or physical locations is key to be able to offer sound advice for acheiving desired return on investment and managing risks. We were looking to expand our partner network and needed a local business developer. Prior to doing that we decided to hire a marketing firm to do warm introductions and get us through the door so we can later take the relationship further.

What was the team composition?

We had one full time individual working on our campaign.

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

We had a very targeted list of clients we were going after. We engaged 50% of the companies into partnership discussions as a result of the campaign.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their process was very transparent. We never had any issues in workflow coordination. We were very clear on their methodology and were satisfied by the level of engagement they required from us to manage the program.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were very quick to understand some important dynamics of the relationship we're looking to build with our targets and were able to convey that very adequately.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Working Pacific Time zone was a little bit of drawback I would say, because our target clientele was mainly on the east coast. However it didn’t hinder our prospects much.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Network storage software and hardware solutions. My position at the time of the project was of Sr. Sales Engineer.

For what projects/services did your company hire First Point Communications?

We hired First Point Communications for appointment setting with our enterprise customers. Our company was looking for a b2b firm with cold calling and email marketing capabilities that First Point Communications had expertise in.

What were your goals for this project?

Our company’s goal was to increase the Sales Qualified Leads in our pipeline. Our website was relatively slow in getting us the leads so we want to leverage outbound methods.

How did you select this vendor?

Muneeb Khan the owner at First Point Communications met our CEO through a referral. Our CEO at that time was looking for different options to scale lead gen. First Point Communications came across as the rightly priced and a reliable option.

Describe the project in detail.

We wanted to push 3 different offerings at the same time: Network Storage Software, Disaster Recovery Software and Video Surveillance servers. We wanted to run 3 separate campaigns running cold calling, email marketing, tradeshow engagement and webinars.

What was the team composition?

We maintained 4 callers on average throughout the program. There was a team of 3 list builders to support the calling team. We also had one virtual inside sales manager in Muneeb’s team at First Point who worked with video surveillance system integrators.

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

From getting a handful of warm leads for the whole month, we very quickly reached a point where we were getting 10-15 warm/hot leads a week. Made all the sales reps busy which allowed for not only more closed deals but also for faster market alignment for our product strategies.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had all the communication channels open with their team. Skype, phone, email. Very collaborative remote-team style relationship rather than a customer-vendor one.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Most impressive is their ability to generate leads. They do it really well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing that I can think of right now.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are manufacturer of enterprise and industrial networking automation hardware solutions. I am Director of Product Marketing at the company for North America region.

For what projects/services did your company hire First Point Communications?

We were looking to build our sales pipeline, engage key target accounts and help our sales reps become more efficient by focusing on selling and let someone else take care of prospecting.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to increase number of hot leads.

How did you select this vendor?

We were actively searching for a provider. Muneeb, the principal at First Point, was recommended to us by a senior employee who had worked with Muneeb in another similar program before while employed at another company.

Describe the project in detail.

We work in several industries that we cater to with our customized solutions. Each industry has a sales rep or two to cover the entire market within the assigned industry. First Point creates builds lists for us and create calling campaigns in a very semi-autonomous way where we have become very much reliant on their leadership to guide our lead generation efforts based on our overall product strategy. They cold call using 5 different cold callers and reach out to our target market, setting up appointments.

What was the team composition?

5 callers. one list builder and manager.

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

Our sales team loves First point Communications. They are our secret weapon for successfully penetrating some of the key accounts over last few years besides several excellent deals we have won through through their engagement as the first line of attack. Our Sales Reps work very closely with First Point and see them an important partnership.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

There is a weekly campaign meeting in which we go over last week's results and sync up on strategy. Discuss upcoming products that need to be promoted. List building plan is discussed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Attention to detail and self-driven program management. They pay very close attention to the knowledge building part. Which is the key factor for them to be successfully supporting us. Under a wide variety of customer profiles we go after is challenging but their diligence in learning and understanding each one and then crafting impactful messaging is one of the main strengths.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None.