Frequently Asked Questions
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Gabriel Sales provides full time sales outsourcing, lead generation outsourcing, lead development, lead nurturing and sales marketing execution for companies with aggressive sales goals. We also execute and manage lead generation, sales nurturing and sales engagement campaigns.
Because we take the sale all the way to close for some of our clients, our focus and our company culture is always focused closing business. We are committed to building sales machines, or parts of the sales machine, that can scale from lead generation, to lead qualification, to sales engagement, to closing business. When outsourcing sales or outsourcing lead generation, we staff full time reps at the appropriate level and they represent themselves as our client’s employees. We support their efforts with a marketing team that executes all the the necessary digital sales campaign support. This includes sales content production and technology platforms including; electronic direct marketing, webcasting, Saleforce.com, Marketing Automation Software, video, and social media outreach for third party verification. The teams are led by proven managers, and we collect and are transparent with exhaustive data and recorded phone calls, making management and integration with our clients easy.
One question that comes up frequently when discussing a new product or service launch is: “Should I hire a Rolodex Rep or hire Gabriel Sales?” There is no clean answer to that question because it depends on:
- Short term and long term strategic needs
- Short term and long term revenue goals
- Competitors
- Maturity of the market
- Maturity of the solution
We can make recommendations once we understand all the specifics with relation to the bullets above but here are some general thoughts (based on experience) for boards and executives to consider when evaluating Rolodex vs. Sales and Marketing Outsourcing.
Pros of hiring a Rolodex Rep
- Rolodex Sales Reps have established relationships.
- They can generally get you in front of a handful of decision makers quickly- By quickly we mean they should be able to spend 2-4 weeks reaching out to their network and another 2-4 weeks doing the first round of meetings. So within two months you should have 6-10 meetings completed and if the product or service is the right fit you can get some quick deals in the pipe depending on the sales cycle.
- If it works you are a hero. If it does not work you are no further along than when you started and you will have lost two quarters (1 quarter waiting for that rep to produce and another putting another solution in place).
- If it does work you can show investors traction but not scale.
Cons of hiring a Rolodex Rep
- The ability of a Rolodex Rep to penetrate the market is limited. Studies have shown that the average Rolodex Rep can maintain 7-20 really strong relationships with senior buyers and another 15-30 plus friendly relationships. If you have a finite market this could be a great solution.
- In most cases you have no visibility into what a Rolodex rep is doing for you until they actually produce something.
- It has been our experience that Rolodex Reps with valuable relationships (20 strong relationships with senior buyers and 30 plus friendlies) are not cheap.
- An experienced Rolodex Rep with genuine value in their network are often reluctant to take on a product until its proven unless you are willing to give them an exclusive for a period of time.
- Rolodex reps rarely sell using a script (process in not necessarily repeatable and sometimes does little to convince investors you can scale) and do not provide and significant sales ratios for future pipe forecasting.
- If it does not work you are no further along than when you started and you will have lost two quarters (3 months waiting for that rep to produce and another 3 months implementing the next solution).
Summary of hiring a Rolodex Rep
When a Rolodex produces it’s a huge win! Hiring a Rolodex Rep is generally high risk and high reward. Gabriel Sales is often brought into an organization after this approach has been attempted unsuccessfully. We are also often brought in simultaneously to start the lead generation engine so when the Rolodex Rep’s pipe runs dry we are filling it to sustain the sales momentum.
Pros of hiring an Outsourced Sales Company (like Gabriel Sales)
- Outsourcing Sales Companies sell using a repeatable sales process. They generally get on the phone to start filling the pipe leveraging a scripted and repeatable sales process.
- Outsourced Sales Organizations staff blended teams so you get the advantage of being able to hit 1000’s of decision makers with their dedicated telemarketing staff, leverage direct marketing campaigns and still have senior inside reps and part time enterprise reps to close business.
- Unlike a Rolodex Rep, Outsourced Sales Companies are collecting critical market data for long term strategy and growth, creating a sales content strategy (and in our case producing digital sales content ).
- When Outsourcing Sales and Marketing you don’t have to deal with all the database management and acquisition work. You get the advantages of a dedicated sales team without the 100K-200K of technology and support team investments required if you were to build your own technology stack. In addition you get rid of some of the fixed costs you would incur by hiring a Senior Sales Executive and Senior Strategist to frame your own engine. The savings is usually in the 100K -150K+ range.
- With an Outsourced Sales and Outsourced Marketing Organization you get accountability, market intelligence and transparency on a weekly basis.
- You get into the market fast and you get infinitely smarter faster.
- Unlike a Rolodex Rep with a Sales and Marketing Outsourcing Company your sales momentum is just starting to build heading into months 3 and 4 which is generally when a Rolodex rep is starting to run out of steam.
Cons of Sales Outsourcing vs. a Rolodex Rep
- The same principle applies here as with a seasoned Rolodex Rep: The better the Sales Outsourcing Organization, the more expensive they can become. (On the plus side neither comes close to the sunk cost of building and managing your own team).
- A Sales Outsourcing Organization can get you into the market much faster than you could get there on your own but it will still take a little time to customize your sales machine and build a process that is both sustainable and repeatable.
Overall Summary
The best solution if you can afford it is to hire both. However in this market you are better off walking away with something if you can’t afford to risk walking away with nothing. Good Rolodex guys are not cheap and you don’t know if you are getting anything back on your investment unless guarantees are made up front. With an Outsourced Sales Organization you are guaranteed call volumes, weekly reports to help you shape future metrics, market intelligence, a sales pipe with multiple stage deals that you can at a very minimum if the product you are taking to market does not quite hit the mark.
At the end of the day everyone is looking for the fastest cheapest way to fix their problem. While you might be able to get something in the short term from a Rolodex Rep you will not get anything for the long term. Building a sales engine is like building house and you have to do it the right way, build a strong foundation and lay the groundwork for success, or you will end up dealing with repairs on a consistent basis and wishing you had invested that extra effort up front.
For more background on the type of consulting you can expect and to understand some of the additional options you have we invite you to check out our blog post on Sales Consulting vs. Sales Outsourcing. If you are looking to drive sales faster while building a sustained foundation for a high velocity sales machine we invite you to contact us for a free consultation to see what we can do to help.
- We have sold to budget makers and budget spenders with P&L authority over:
- Sales and Marketing
- Brand Management /Category Management
- Pricing and Promotions
- Merchandising
- Operations, Finance and Corporate Strategy
- Supply Chain
We have closed business in:
- Retail
- Media and Entertainment
- Travel and Hospitality
- Consumer Package Goods
- Professional Services
- Technology and Software
- Manufacturing
- Pharma, Medical Devices and Healthcare
We have worked selling for clients with headquarters across the United States and from across the globe including India, Netherlands, UK, Germany, Israel, and Latin America. The solutions we have sold include:
- Professional Services
- Hardware with Managed Services
- Enterprise Software
- SaaS
- SaaS to Enterprise Solution
- Security
- Networking
- Database
- Middleware
- Managed Services and Creative Services
- Offshore BPO, IT and Call Centers
- DM/MR/Data Analytics
- Ad and Media Sales
- Telecom Services
- Mobile Applications
When executing a campaign, discrete tactics, targets, call volume and time frames are agreed to upfront. We focus on leveraging specific content and messages. Certain campaigns also include content production, vendor management, establishment of technology platforms and content distribution.
Outsourcing lead generation means we will recruit staff and train a team dedicated to generating leads for your enterprise on an ongoing basis. This staff is supported by a database manager and marketing coordinator. We also staff executives to provide strategic insight. When you outsource lead generation operations to us, tactics are more flexible and fluid, allowing us to can experiment with different tactics, targets and verticals, and provide strategic recommendations based on your shifting lead volume sales targets and business goals.
Some clients start by outsourcing lead generation and then migrate to outsourcing more of their sales operations. In these cases we shift from setting appointments into sales engagement and development, and in some cases, closing deals.
Gabriel Sales core competency is working with experienced executives that are entrepreneurs, or entrepreneurial minded. Our backgrounds and bios will give you an idea of where our professional passions reside. Gabriel System™ is designed for companies, sales organizations and/or products that are at a certain level of maturity. Gabriel Sales does a rigorous due diligence upfront to ensure that we are the right fit before we take a client on. In the past companies, products and teams we have successfully worked with meet 3 or more of the following 14 criteria:
- The company is committed to an aggressive growth strategy and committed to investing intelligently and prudently in a sales effort.
- The company is clear on its revenue targets and its business objectives.
- Market Intelligence flowing throughout the organization is important to the company. The company feels it is critical to understand its market (including all competitors for budget), its sales metrics, its sales cycle, and its customers’ needs.
- An EVP or SVP of sales doesn’t have the bandwidth to manage the growth of an internal sales operation and infrastructure.
- The company wants to generate revenue and grow a scalable sales machine. In some cases scale means the ability to slow down growth while not losing sales delivery.
- The product has gained traction with a handful of clients and has some tangible (hard ROI) and intangible value for that client.
- There is a proof of concept sale that scales to a larger relationship.
- The proof of concept can be predominantly qualified, developed and closed with inside reps. We will travel to close enterprise deals.
- The product can be sold through an annual subscription.
- The company has aggressive growth targets where we can generate wealth of its founders and stakeholders.
- The company is post angel moving to a Series A, or Series A moving to a Series B, and needs to achieve hard targets in a specific period of time to make that happen.
- The division of the company we are working with has a strong VP or EVP of sales that wants to focus on the big ticket and big revenue deals. The executive wants a competent sales management team and focused sales team to execute the parts of the machine that feed or sustain the growth of that business.
- The company ran out of steam once the first round of hires blew through their Rolodex.
- The company has a disruptive solution or technology that can change an existing business model.
Gabriel Sales can fill the following gaps for you if:
- You need a senior sales executive to focus on building major accounts
- You need a sales operations executive
- You want a repeatable sale process that can be forecasted
- You need to penetrate new verticals systematically
- You are going upstream into the Fortune 1000 or downstream into mid-market or small business markets.
- You need senior executives that understand selling in a start up environment
- You need management or executives that understand marketing, but whose core focus is sales
- You want to launch a new product or service and not disrupt the company’s plans or momentum of your existing sales team
- Your reps or senior executives with a Rolodex ran out of steam as soon as they ran out of Rolodex.
- You need sales management that understands P&L management
- You want a proven entrepreneurial track record
- You need a team experienced in selling disruptive solutions
During the launch and pilot period, Gabriel Sales provides a managed sales service that combines sales consulting while at the same time actively fills the sales pipeline using Gabriel System™. Gabriel System™ is a proprietary sales approach, methodology and technology infrastructure designed to hit the market hard and fast. The result is that your sales process is completely mapped and sales cycle is completely documented. Coming out of the implementation period, your business is accurately forecasted. We apply this process to outsourcing sales and marketing operations and abridged versions for campaigns.
That depends on your revenue goals, what makes strategic sense for your business based on long term business objectives and what the forecast and pipe are collectively telling us. Generally, our engagements last between 18 months to three years with one of four results moving out of the pilot:
- We dedicate full time and part time staff in specific roles from lead generation, qualifying/developing and closing deals
- We continue to generate leads, develop and close the smaller deals while supporting senior sales executives that cherry pick the pipe
- We recruit, train and transition part of the team or the entire team over to you
- The company is acquired by another entity for the exit event that was the goal of the founders
We generally try and plan for transitions 30-90 days in advance so the transition is seamless for the employees.
Gabriel System™ takes between 6 – 9 months to fully execute. This is dependent upon the complexity of the sale, the maturity of your business and your ability to scale operationally. We set the period prior to starting an engagement, based on the results of our due diligence process.
Gabriel System™ is priced based on what we discover during the due diligence phase. Factors we look at are the maturity of your sales team, the competitive value of your product, the cohesiveness of the offering, the experience of your operations and executive team and your quantitative sales history. Our model combines sales consulting, sales management, sales execution, database and list management, technology management, analysis, strategy consulting and operational consulting into one monthly upfront retainer (and backend performance bonuses).
No.
Having been in this business for 10 years, and entrepreneurs for 20 years, we do know it is a lot easier to get into an equity relationship then to get out of one. We will explore taking some equity in our clients post implementing Gabriel System™, because at that point we all know what the real numbers and real opportunity in working together is, so a win-win partnership can be crafted.
We are not a re-seller or a rep agency. When we scale clients, we focus on building sales machines and this requires consulting and creating a custom infrastructure.
We do not work straight pay-per-performance. Our core business and culture is driving wealth for partner’s long term, by creating value for the company or business unit by creating sales machines.
