S D enterprises

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief commercial officer for Brisqq, a logistics startup based in London.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sales Division?

We were looking to grow our sales. We didn’t have in-house expertise in email marketing, so we got in touch with Sales Division. We wanted to improve our general public profile and generate new leads.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we discussed the project and its requirements. They assigned an account manager and several different people to work on specific activities for the project. Once we had agreed on everything, we began the project, and their subdivision took the path forward.

To jumpstart the project, we did a few sessions and a couple of workshops with them. We provided Sales Division with more background about our business: the messaging, target market, and existing customers to profile and segment the audience.

What is the team composition?

There were four people assigned to the work. One was the primary executive with who I agreed on the initial project, commercials, and requirements. The second person was an account manager who oversaw the entire project. The third person wrote the actual content for the respective emails, and the fourth one did the actual execution of the email marketing.

How did you come to work with Sales Division?

It was a referral. I was introduced to Sales Division by someone who had used them in the past, and I got in touch with them.

We’d looked into people for help with email marketing in the past, but we’d never been confident with the teams. On the other hand, we were pretty optimistic about Sales Division because they understood our business precisely and defined the specific KPIs and metrics we would work towards. Other agencies were always against doing that. Sales Division was different, so we decided to go ahead with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent between $5,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2020, and the project was completed later on. We’re in discussions for further projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve already generated about 65 leads over the initial three months, which was the defined period of the email marketing project. On the PR initiative to improve our public profile, they were able to land us an article in Yahoo Finance.

How did Sales Division perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. They were organized, and communication was pretty seamless between everyone. In general, they were responsive to any questions, feedback, or comments we had.

We communicated through pre-scheduled Zoom calls for our workshops, and we also used emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took the time to understand the requirements in a lot of detail. Moreover, they helped put together a plan so that everyone was in the loop. The communication was great between both parties, and we were actually working towards a goal with measurable metrics.

Are there any areas they could improve?

To be honest, there wasn’t anything in particular.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would definitely recommend them to any SaaS company. Also, I’d recommend simply get in touch and have an initial conversation. Discuss and define the project’s objectives so everyone is in line and working towards a specific goal.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a corporate animation company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sales Division?

We wanted to generate sales. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our goal in engaging Sales Division was to generate sales. We used automated email marketing and LinkedIn outreach through them. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a peak of 7–8 employees from their staff. There was a high turnover rate among their employees. As a result, we worked with a lot of people in total, including project managers, marketing experts, and social media marketing experts. 

How did you come to work with Sales Division?

We shared an office with their founder in London, and that was how we met them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $16,000–$17,000, or $2,200 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from September 2020–July 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were happy with Sales Division in the beginning, but it became truly disappointing towards the end. For example, there was a month when they set up 30 meetings for us, but about 25 of those prospects were trying to sell us things. The others weren’t hot leads. 

Moreover, for our LinkedIn marketing efforts, we paid them a base fee and another fee for every meeting they organized. As a result, it felt that they organized meetings for the sake of getting paid. In other words, their services became expensive; we ended up losing money with them for 4–5 months in a row.

How did Sales Division address the challenges that arose?

They addressed our concerns by asking us to give them more time. However, nothing changed. Their communication was ok; we’d have calls every 3–4 weeks where they presented statistics and numbers. However, they didn’t understand that the leads simply weren’t converting. Two-thirds of the leads they provided were sellers, and those would never convert in a million years. 

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

They were always good at setting up and organizing group meetings, where they delivered feedback and numbers from their side to ours. On the other hand, one of their sales representatives was quite forceful. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should be more adaptive and provide more practical solutions. For one, their payment structure was wrong. I didn’t like that we had to pay them for every meeting they organized whether the leads converted or not. We shouldn’t have to pay them when the lead was selling us things. In fact, that was one of the main reasons why we stopped working with them. 

On top of that, they should take more responsibility for the engagement’s end results rather than saying they’d set up a number of meetings for us. If none of those meetings were useful, what they did wouldn’t matter. Unless the leads were truly interested in our business, the meetings were just a waste of our time and money. 

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

Do your homework and speak with the people that have worked with Sales Division. I’d suggest not signing up for a multi-month agreement — stick to a monthly rolling contract. Otherwise, you’ll get signed up for something that might not be useful for your business.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on 11/24/2020 

Founder, Corporate Animation Company

Design

1-10 Employees

London, United Kingdom

Less than $10,000

May 2020 - Ongoing

Project summary
A corporate animation company enlisted Sales Division to provide automated email marketing services. The goal is to improve their meeting booking efficiency.

Feedback summary
Thanks to Sales Division, the stakeholders continue to see a steady improvement in the meeting bookings. The client is now sending fewer emails and receives more meeting requests for their business. Overall, the engagement is going great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a corporate animation company and I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sales Division?

We hired Sales Division to manage our automated email marketing. We'd done it in house prior to working with them and we had a super limited knowledge.

What were your goals for this project?

Increase the amount of meetings booked via email and linkedin outreach.

SOLUTION

How did you select Sales Division?

I knew their founder who had given me very valuable free advice prior to us engaging in this deal.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They were to completely manage our automated email marketing campaigns and launch linkedin marketing campaigns. They worked with us on a workshop to establish everything they needed, wrote new campaigns and are constantly tweaking and reporting back to us.

What was the team composition?

Worked with 4 people on the team - all have been great.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Very happy with the number of meetings booked - we're sending far less emails and receiving more meeting requests. They've come in and changed the game for us - we're very happy.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very - couldn't be happier.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their effective copy and strategy even in the early months impress us. They're delivering on their promises.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really - I've been very pleased.

RATINGS

Overall rating: 5 

Quality: 5 

Cost: 4.5 

Schedule: 5 

Willing to refer: 5