Two Qualified Meetings, Two Verbal Commitments in the First Month of Working with RevenueFlow
“These are people that know what we do, need what we do, and they connected with us pretty quickly.”
In its first month with RevenueFlow, Exodus HR Group had two qualified meetings, and both prospects asked for an agreement. Rudy Buel, a Sales Xceleration advisor, referred us to Exodus. He had coached Scott Merritt, who leads sales there, so he knew what a new client is worth to Exodus and what its close rate is, and could see the numbers would work on a pay-per-meeting model. Two cold email vendors before had produced two appointments in about four months, then nothing in six.
The problem we stepped into.
Exodus HR Group takes care of the administrative side of employees for small and medium sized businesses: payroll, HR and safety, keeping them compliant.
Its ideal client has 50 to 150 employees, big enough to need help but not big enough to bring it all in house.
In five years Exodus had tried two cold email lead generation companies.
The first produced two appointments in about four months, and neither moved forward.
The second produced nothing in six months.
So the owner was reluctant to pay for lead generation at all: new business came from walking in a door, or from introductions by customers and referral partners.
“I knew his business fairly well and could kind of connect the dots with the numbers as to what his annual sales per client is worth, kind of what his close rate was.”
Why they chose RevenueFlow.
- 01Rudy Buel, a Sales Xceleration advisor, referred us. Many of his clients were frustrated with lead generation programs that don't deliver what they're supposed to.
- 02He had coached Scott for six months, so he already knew what a new Exodus client is worth and what its close rate is. The pay-per-meeting numbers were easy to check.
- 03Exodus pays per meeting, not for activity: $750 for a 50-employee prospect, against a client worth about $40,000 a year.
- 04Every meeting is with someone who replied because they need payroll, HR or safety help, so the sales team skips the first steps of the sale.
| Criteria | Other vendors | RevenueFlow |
|---|---|---|
| Meetings | Two appointments in about four months, then zero in six | Two qualified meetings in the first month |
| What happened next | Neither appointment moved forward | Both prospects asked for an agreement |
| How it works | Thousands of emails, hoping somebody opens one | A meeting with someone who replied and needs what Exodus does |
What we built across the engagement.
Every engagement runs through the same six steps. Before launch, we agree the target market, decision-makers, exclusions, and Qualified Meeting definition. A meeting counts when the prospect attends and matches the agreed firmographic ICP.
Referred by the advisor who knew the numbers.
Rudy already knew Exodus's annual revenue per new client and its close rate from coaching Scott, so whether a pay-per-meeting model would pay off was an easy conversation before anything started.
Only prospects who asked to talk.
Every meeting was with someone who responded to the outreach because they needed payroll, HR or safety help, so the sales team skipped the early steps of the sale.
Pay per meeting, not for activity.
Exodus pays for each meeting, not for emails sent. Its owner had said "we're not spending money on this"; Scott had already paid the deposit and said let's see how it goes.
Outreach for speed, beside referrals.
Scott says it takes a good 12 to 18 months before a networking group trusts you enough to refer. Outreach finds the companies with the problem now, so it runs alongside networking rather than replacing it.
“This is different because you're putting us in front of somebody. We've skipped the first six steps.”
Results in a nutshell.
| Metric | Before RevenueFlow | After RevenueFlow |
|---|---|---|
| Cold email results | Two appointments in about four months, then zero in six | Two qualified meetings in the first month |
| Meeting quality | Appointments that did not move forward | Two verbal commitments: both asked for an agreement |
| New business sources | Walk-ins, customers and referral partners | Outreach added on top, for speed |
| Owner's view of lead gen | "We're not spending money on this" | One agreement now with the prospect's attorney |
Hear it from Exodus HR Group.
Read the transcript
Interviewer: Hey, Rudy. Hey, Scott. Thanks so much for joining us today. Rudy, you're an advisor at Sales Xceleration. Can you explain why you decided to bring RevenueFlow in and support Scott, who is one of your clients?
Rudy: Thank you, Ben. Sure. I have lots of clients who have expressed frustration with lead generation programs that don't necessarily deliver what they're supposed to on a retention basis. Scott was a client of mine. I've done some sales coaching with him, so I knew his business fairly well and could kind of connect the dots with the numbers as to what his annual sales per client is worth, kind of what his close rate was. So I knew it would be an easy conversation to figure out whether this would be a good program for him. When we presented to Scott, he was open to the conversation and it went from there.
Interviewer: Thanks so much, Rudy. Scott, thanks so much for joining us as well. Can you give us an introduction to your role and what Exodus does, in a few sentences?
Scott: Yeah, absolutely. I lead our sales team. Exodus HR Group is a payroll, HR and safety provider for small and medium sized businesses. We take care of the administrative details around employees, making sure they stay compliant and safe. So that's what we do.
Interviewer: And Scott, you tried email lead generation before and didn't have much success. What's been different this time around?
Scott: Well, the whole reason for cold emails is to find people that you're not currently working with that might be interested. You send thousands and thousands of emails hoping somebody will open your email. We've tried two different companies since I've been here, in five years. With one of them, I got two appointments and they did not move forward, out of probably four months of working with him. And then the next one, six months of working with him, zero results. Not good. So my owner is very reluctant to do anything that doesn't have a positive ROI, that we kind of know is going to work. He's like, I'm not paying for lead generation, because the only way it works is to walk in a door, meet somebody, or be introduced by a current customer or a referral partner that they know. So this is different because you're putting us in front of somebody, and like Rudy said, we've skipped the first six steps. There's somebody that responded to your outreach message that needs what we do, and so we're having that conversation: here's what we are, here's how we do it, here's what we cost. And so it works.
Interviewer: And Scott, that first partner you used, two meetings in four months. The second one, zero meetings in six months. What outcome has RevenueFlow driven in the first month of working together?
Scott: So far we've been introduced to three people. One never responded to our phone call, but the other two met with my sales rep and after the 15, 30 minute meeting asked for an agreement. So pretty strong. These are people that know what we do, need what we do, and they connected with us pretty quickly. So that's where we're at with that.
Interviewer: So three meetings booked, two of those qualified and moving straight to an agreement phase already?
Scott: Correct.
Interviewer: Wow. And what's one new client worth to Exodus? And how does that compare to what you pay us for a meeting?
Scott: It varies. We get paid based on the amount of employees, because that's what our revenue is based on. So a group that's 10 to 20 employees, for example, is anywhere between $4,000 and $8,000 a year to us, and for that appointment we pay $500. So pretty strong. We're targeting the 50 to 150 employee groups, simply because they are big enough to need help, but not big enough to bring it all in house yet. That's kind of our ideal client profile. A group of 50 employees, full service, is more like $40,000, and we'd pay you $750 for that. So if we can get in front of 10 of those people a month and close two of them, that'd be pretty strong.
Interviewer: Well, Scott, that's great to hear. And there's two that are in agreement. How close are those to closing?
Scott: One is reviewing the contract with their attorney and meeting with our owner next week. The other one hasn't responded to our first two follow-ups, so we're still doing it. They're in Houston, about a six hour drive from us. We'll get them eventually, they'll respond.
Interviewer: And Scott, a lot of firms like yours, as your owner said, just walk into a door. A lot of them rely on referrals and networking. Why add cold email, cold outreach on top?
Scott: There's probably a couple of answers to that. One, speed, right? It takes so long. You go to a networking group, and Rudy can attest to this, and they don't know you, they don't trust you, and they won't refer to you yet. It takes a good 12 to 18 months in a networking group. Whatever the networking group is, they're still waiting for you to prove yourself, so it takes a long time to get referrals from a referral group. Your other partners, your existing clients, they're under pressure to perform their own jobs. They're not thinking about who else they can send our way. And with payroll, unless there's a problem, you don't talk to anybody about it, because it runs smooth. But if all of a sudden things go bad, oh my gosh, I can't believe this happened with our existing provider, who do you know? Then we get involved in the conversation. But both of those are slow, and you have to be front of mind to get those referrals. So having an outreach program where you go out and look for opportunities, find those people that have those problems, and book an appointment: it's just speed. If you want to ramp up, if you're trying to scale, you're trying to generate revenue for your organization, the best way to do that is to partner with somebody that's good at what they're doing.
Scott: One month later, you've proven yourself. And my boss said, when I told him what we were doing, we're not spending money on this. I'm like, too late, I've already paid a deposit, so let's just see how it goes. And so he goes, listen, I'll be the first one to admit I'm wrong if this works.
Interviewer: Has he admitted it?
Scott: He hasn't admitted it yet. Once one of those comes back signed after next week, I will put him on video and tell him, you're right, you got one right.
Interviewer: Perfect. We'll have to get him on next week. Thank you so much, Scott. And last question: what would you say to another business owner or head of sales, such as yourself, who's interested in this but keeps putting it off?
Scott: Well, we're always trying new things and trying to be innovative. We don't want to recreate the wheel. It's already there. So partner with somebody that's been doing it, has some success. They have a runway that's already built and they've proven themselves. You always want to do two or three things at the same time, and this is just one more spoke of the wheel, so to speak. The cost is low, the reward is high. So take a chance.
Interviewer: Scott, thank you so much. Rudy, thank you as well. Really appreciate your time, and look forward to continuing to work together.
Scott: I look forward to it too.
Rudy: Thank you.
“If you want to ramp up, if you're trying to scale, the best way to do that is to partner with somebody that's good at what they're doing.”
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