B2B Tech startup case study
How a B2B Tech Startup Closed Their First $1 million Deal
Business Context
Docurated was a New York based B2B startup in the sales enablement software management space that has since been acquired by Quark and incorporated into their solutions offering. In the early stages of the company, leadership at Docurated wanted to figure out how to make the jump from mid tier to enterprise sales—which comes with a significantly larger deal size.
Challenge
They wanted to grow the company and were aware that many of their competitors had already managed to grow average deal size. The challenge for Docurated however was that the company was significantly bootstrapped in comparison to their competitors in what was a nascent sales enablement software space. In this crowded and hotly contested space, Docurated needed to figure out a way to leverage their smaller size against larger, more well-funded competitors. In search of a strategic breakthrough, the VP of Marketing at Docurated engaged with MFS around strategies that would help the company break the million dollar deal mark. Docurated and MFS had an ongoing relationship, the company having leveraged our services to set up and roll out their inbound marketing program.
Solution
Within this challenge lay a significant opportunity. From conversations with Docurated’s Head of Sales, it became apparent that one of Docurated’s larger competitors was having customer churn issues and, as a result, a number of sales opportunities had come Docurated’s way. The question now was how to capitalize on this opportunity.
Working closely with the VPs of Marketing, Sales, and Business Development, we developed a cross-functional plan containing the following elements:
A key part of this campaign was speed of roll out. Working closely with the VP of Marketing at Docurated, we made this campaign our number 1 priority and were able to roll it out in a matter of weeks not months.
Working closely with the VPs of Marketing, Sales, and Business Development, we developed a cross-functional plan containing the following elements:
- Competitor web pages - We created and built web pages that compared Docurated’s software to each of its competitors. These pages came with 2 key benefits: Firstly, they would rank organically anytime someone searched on Google for competitors or alternatives to the Docurated competitors. Secondly, these pages would then give a high level overview of ways Docurated stacked favorably against their competitors.
- PPC - We rolled out PPC ads on Google that would fire anytime someone searched for the Docurated competitor in question and, again, would link back to pages on the Docurated website that showed - at a high level - how Docurated stacked up well against its competitors.
- Marketplace Listings - Like many startups, Docurated began life targeting a number of different categories before honing in on the sales enablement space. As a result, we made sure to update Docurated’s listings in all online marketplaces and directories to ensure they were listed in the same category as the faltering competitor.
- Outbound - MFS worked with the business development team on some email cadences and sales scripts that would highlight the advantages of Docurated over their competitors.
- Sales Content - We developed a number of sales materials to help the sales team to progress deals through the pipeline. Chief amongst these materials was a highly detailed competitor comparison document, which delved into much more detail than the high level web pages on how Docurated compared to its competitors. We also created a specialized deck that could be shared with sales opportunities that originated via this competitor campaign.
A key part of this campaign was speed of roll out. Working closely with the VP of Marketing at Docurated, we made this campaign our number 1 priority and were able to roll it out in a matter of weeks not months.
Result
Breaking the million dollar barrier - As a result of this campaign, Docurated were able to close their first million dollar plus sales deal with one of the world's largest finance companies - who had become disgruntled with the competitor's sales enablement software solution.
Ultimately, the lead in question would come from the web pages and organic search ranking for alternatives to this Docurated competitor. From here, however, there was still a lot of work to do. There was an initial qualification call which business development reps were able to conduct equipped with sales materials and messaging which communicated the strengths of Docurated over its competitors. Once the lead was handed off to the sales team, they too were equipped with the materials they needed to effectively communicate Docurated’s advantages for this particular use case.
The end result was a closed won deal that 5xed the company’s largest deal size. At the heart of this campaign was close-knit cooperation between MFS and the VPs of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development. The campaign was strategic, cross-functional, revenue-focused, and rapid.
Ultimately, the lead in question would come from the web pages and organic search ranking for alternatives to this Docurated competitor. From here, however, there was still a lot of work to do. There was an initial qualification call which business development reps were able to conduct equipped with sales materials and messaging which communicated the strengths of Docurated over its competitors. Once the lead was handed off to the sales team, they too were equipped with the materials they needed to effectively communicate Docurated’s advantages for this particular use case.
The end result was a closed won deal that 5xed the company’s largest deal size. At the heart of this campaign was close-knit cooperation between MFS and the VPs of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development. The campaign was strategic, cross-functional, revenue-focused, and rapid.
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