Need-to-have product needed a better process!
Plivo is a leading cloud communication platform that offers a simple, fast, and scalable way for companies to modernize their business communications. Companies of all types use Plivo’s API’s and SDK’s to quickly integrate voice and SMS capabilities into their applications. Direct relationships with over 1600 local carrier networks deliver reliable connectivity in 195 countries, With pay-as-you-go pricing and visual builders, Plivo offers a cost-effective and easy-to-deploy global communications solution.
In this case study, we’ll share how Plivo scaled its inbound and outbound operations with help from InsideScale.
Diversification of the sales funnel
Offering a need-to-have product in the CPaaS industry, Plivo had traditionally relied on inbound leads as its main source of business.
Despite Plivo’s initial (and impressive!) success, CEO & Founder, Venky Balasubramanian, suspected that the company’s sales team was leaving money on the table and lacked process. Venky also wanted to diversify the funnel with outbound leads in an effort to elevate average selling price.
So, Venky brought us in to build a scalable process and manage the SDR team.
Boosting engagement with inbound leads
After diagnosing the situation, we confirmed that Venky’s concerns were indeed correct. Plivo had a high number of inbound leads that were only touched once – if ever. SDRs were cherry-picking leads and ignoring the rest, which is typical for a green team without expert-led architecture.
We also noticed that Plivo’s Salesforce and Outreach instances were a bit of a mess (again, normal for an early stage team with high lead volumes). After working closely with Plivo’s Sales Operations team to overhaul lead stages, we implemented a bulletproof follow-up process that leveraged Outreach triggers for immediate followup.
Implementing a 7+ touch follow-up motion for inbound leads delivered:
- Opens averaged 85% at scale
- Replies averaged 65% at scale
- 30+ meetings a month per SDR
Now that’s pretty good for inbound, but what about outbound?
Overhauling outbound
The next phase was to dial up Plivo’s outbound efforts. We reversed engineered their best customers and sourced data from Datafox, Crunchbase, LinkedIn and TryProspect
From there, we launched an omni-channel SDR motion in Outreach that produced:
- Opens between 60-90% at scale
- Replies above 15% at scale
- 10+ Sales Accepted Opportunities a month per SDR
Now, ten opportunities per SDR / month is solid, but what’s wild is nearly every opportunity was using a competing CPaaS product. We had created a repeatable process for breaking in with competitors!
Staffing up and passing the baton
Now that the engine was humming, Plivo needed help with hiring.
We scaled the team and a few SDRs were promoted to AE, Solutions Engineer, and Team Lead. From there we groomed the Team Lead to take over the operation through coaching, sales enablement, reporting – and comprehensive infrastructure in Outreach and Salesforce.
It’s why Tom White, VP of Sales and Success at Plivo, said “Lou from InsideScale is ‘the guy’ for building your BDR team! I’ve never seen a more predictable and repeatable process than what he built for us at Plivo – and we operate in a complex space with technical buyers. We now have a world-class BDR team thanks to InsideScale.”
Maximize pipeline velocity with InsideScale
From inbound to outbound and recruiting, our team at InsideScale is here to help you every step of the way.
Message lou@insidescale.com to learn more about our solutions.
