memoryBlue review: Benefits, methodology, and alternatives
Author
Jeffrey Lupo
Jeffrey is a digital content marketer for B2B technology startups and marketing agencies.
Published:2024-09-25
Reading time:13 m
Founded in 2002, memoryBlue has since built one of the longest-standing global outreach and sales development programs for technology companies.
Before we get into their B2B service offerings, ask yourself a question:
Do you prefer a service that trains young SDRs in a specific methodology or one with seasoned SDRs who adapt their approach to your needs?
memoryBlue’s evolution has solidified its position as a major player in the sales development industry. The company’s focus lies in scaling its service offering and cultivating new sales talent through a rigorous training program.
They are no longer just another vendor; they are a launchpad for sales careers.
Why this focus? Are they capitalizing on attracting and training entry-level talent? Is it a strategy to manage high turnover rates within their ranks?
If you’re curious about the full scope of what memoryBlue offers, let’s begin by unpacking who memoryBlue is and what they’ve become known for.
memoryBlue offers a suite of services designed for high-tech sales development. Their core service offerings are as follows:
SDR services: memoryBlue takes a multitouch approach to identify and qualify key decision-makers within target markets. Each interaction is meant to move leads closer to a sales-qualified meeting.
Sales recruitment: memoryBlue leverages their extensive network to attract fresh talent for both their own sales operations and to be placed within their clients’ teams.
Marketing services: memoryBlue’s marketing strategies are developed in alignment with sales objectives, focusing on market penetration and lead generation.
Sales training: The memoryBlue Academy is an integral part of their sales training and SDR preparation for the competitive high-tech market. Training covers everything from prospecting fundamentals to advanced sales techniques.
memoryBlue services a range of industries within the tech sector, including but not limited to:
Global presence and its impact on sales development
memoryBlue is headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, and has additional offices across the U.S., as well as in Europe and Singapore.
Expanding their operations across multiple continents, memoryBlue has gained a range of experience within diverse markets. This kind of global presence undoubtedly enriches market insights and extends potential reach for clients who want to serve companies worldwide.
For instance, in markets with heavy regulation, such as found in the European Union, familiarity with compliance demands could lead to a tailored sales approach, one emphasizing security and privacy features, thus appealing to local businesses.
An extensive international presence also speaks to sustained success in sales development. By adopting global market trends, developing their own methodology, and positioning themselves as a partner to tech companies seeking to expand globally, memoryBlue has not only adapted to industry trends but influenced them.
The benefit of decades of industry experience
memoryBlue has over 2 decades in the tech industry. In that time, they’ve honed a reputable sales development methodology that, although costly, is cited as being well worth it under the right conditions.
Their longevity has also granted them extensive experience in guiding and training a steady flow of SDRs. This efficiency becomes a significant advantage for minimizing training and onboarding time, as well as associated costs.
memoryBlue’s ability to streamline such processes doesn’t just help sustain a steady flow of well-trained SDRs for themselves and clients. It’s both built the company a reputation for reliability and allowed them to expand operations globally.
How memoryBlue’s alumni network creates career opportunities
memoryBlue’s alumni network serves as a testament to their commitment to career development. The network isn’t just a roster of past employees; it’s a resource for professional development and advancement.
On the alumni network platform, former employees connect and share opportunities. For example, alumni often share special events, webinars, or training sessions that they’ve found valuable.
Moreover, the network includes initiatives like the “Rising Stars” program, where members of the network hire memoryBlue-trained sales professionals directly.
For memoryBlue, the alumni network also serves as a resource for fostering a community of advocates and future partners.
Why memoryBlue might not be the right option for you
memoryBlue’s standardized approach to training and sales development, while proven effective for many, doesn’t always align well with unique company needs.
At Belkins, we’ve distinguished ourselves by offering a customized approach to sales development. Instead of a uniform model, we tailor strategies to the specific needs, strengths, and weaknesses of each client.
Being flexible also means setting realistic goals and expectations. Often, these initially seem modest compared to the ambitious targets promoted by service providers like memoryBlue. However, our adaptability and commitment to iteration allow us to consistently meet promised outcomes.
Whichever outreach service provider you choose, we encourage you to first consider what you value most in a sales development partner. What are you able and willing to compromise on? What aspects of your sales process are crucial for scaling up?
By thoroughly understanding a service provider’s strengths and weaknesses as they pertain to your company’s situation, you can better assess how well it suits your growth trajectory.
To that end, the following sections — based largely on client feedback — explore areas of concern regarding memoryBlue’s services.
High SDR turnover hurts consistency and quality
memoryBlue, like most agencies in the tech sales industry, experiences a high turnover rate among its SDRs.
Attrition always impacts consistency and quality. New faces mean, to some degree, resetting of otherwise accumulated knowledge. It also means a variance in talent and skill levels.
Because continuous engagement and understanding of the audience are an important part of refining outreach, inconsistency inevitably hurts lead quality. In other words, when each and every new SDR must essentially start from scratch on a client campaign, the normal lead generation optimization process happens very slowly or not at all.
Again, this is not at all unique to memoryBlue. Their chosen method of managing high turnover, however, is not to try and mitigate it but to expect it — hence their strategy for onboarding and training a steadily accumulating pool of SDRs.
Feedback and reviews show memoryBlue’s SDRs are industrious and committed but relatively inexperienced and often require substantial training and guidance from the client’s side. If you’re going to partner with memoryBlue, expect to invest time and resources in SDRs.
Furthermore, know that frequent turnover suggests it’ll be difficult to maintain a stable, experienced professional at the helm of your lead generation efforts.
Overall, memoryBlue’s lack of reducing SDR turnover means companies should evaluate the level of resources they’re willing to commit to selecting, training, and managing sales development processes.
Rigidity in service customization
memoryBlue has refined its service model over many years, which, while proving successful much of the time, has also resulted in a degree of rigidity. This inflexibility becomes a problem when clients have unique requirements.
Because memoryBlue’s services are not cheap, hiring them can be a significant risk for clients, as reflected in reviews where the outcomes are polarized: memoryBlue’s model either fits exceptionally well or leads to unsatisfactory results, with little middle ground.
Additionally, your marketing needs are those essential to attracting, converting, and retaining clients. If memoryBlue’s service model doesn’t align with those specific needs, you should expect at least some of the following results:
Low-quality leads
Low volume of appointments
Metrics and KPIs that fall short of expectations
Rigidity in customization also plays into the aforementioned high-turnover issue. When the service package fails to meet critical targets, it often leads to burnout among SDRs. This, in turn, brings increased time and resources spent getting the next SDR up to speed.
Ultimately, lack of flexibility limits the range of scenarios that can be effectively serviced. If you’re interested in memoryBlue’s services, we encourage you to thoroughly question the details of their services and packages offered. Do they seem well aligned with your precise needs? If not, don’t expect them to make significant changes to standard offerings.
Engagement model lacks collaboration and integration
Lead generation and sales development are never a fully done-for-you service, despite how hard some providers try. For this reason, the effectiveness of the service hinges greatly on the engagement model.
memoryBlue’s engagement model has been noted for its deficiencies, particularly in terms of collaboration, communication, and software integration. Even among the more positive reviews, these issues appear frequently.
The problem stems from memoryBlue’s standard training model, which complicates integration with client teams and leads to operational delays, management challenges, and, ultimately, increased costs for the client.
Software integration is also repeatedly mentioned as problematic. As your company’s tech stack for lead generation and sales development becomes more complex, the potential for integration issues increases.
Shortcomings in the engagement model should not be underestimated. They can not only hurt campaign performance but also cause significant emotional frustration.
To get a better idea of what it will be like working with memoryBlue, we encourage prospective clients to conduct thorough inquiries into how their team plans to collaborate and integrate with your existing systems and processes.
Limited omnichannel integration hinders engagement and conversion rates
Omnichannel marketing requires multiple touchpoints — social media, email, direct messaging, etc. — to engage prospects consistently across their buying journey.
The problem with memoryBlue’s approach is that, while SDRs may be well prepared in traditional sales tactics, they lack broader communications training needed to synchronize efforts across platforms.
Discrepancies in how customer interactions are handled from one channel to another deliver a fragmented customer experience and result in missed opportunities.
Prospective clients should consider whether memoryBlue’s training focus makes sense for your current sales and marketing funnel, especially if an integrated marketing approach is central to your strategy. If so, expect further investment in training or supplementary services.
memoryBlue Alternatives
If you were originally interested in memoryBlue but think they may not be the best fit for your outreach service needs, here are some related alternatives as well as top competitors:
Belkins — Best omnichannel approach
Revit — Best pay-per-appointment option
SalesRoads — Best sales team outsourcing
Belkins
We admit we’re biased. So, instead of simply stating that we’re better than memoryBlue or the other alternatives, we’d like to explain our approach. From there, you can see how we’re different and evaluate if working with us makes sense for your situation.
At Belkins, we begin by comprehensively understanding your business, target market, and current running strategies. Next, we work with you to set realistic and measurable goals for the short, middle, and long term.
To get a more in-depth look at our flexible approach and what it yields, you can peruse our case studies. In them, you’ll see how we’ve tailored strategies to unique situations and achieved remarkable results in challenging markets.
Why clients choose Belkins
ROI-focused strategies: Instead of rolling out a predefined set of steps, we prioritize your return on investment and work backwards. This ensures that every strategy directly contributes to your bottom line.
User research and channel viability: Once we identify the most effective channels for your specific needs, we conduct in-depth user research to understand your target audience.
Goal definition and lead qualification: We help you define precise sales goals and establish criteria for qualified leads for the closest possible alignment with your business objectives.
Transparency and communication: Maintaining clear, open communication channels with our clients is fundamental to our process. With Belkins, you are always informed on how things are progressing.
Rethinking traditional lead generation
In keeping in step with marketing trends, we’ve recently updated our fundamental approach to lead generation. Traditional methods often prompt decision-makers to jump straight into sales calls, an approach also utilized in Belkins’ current appointment setting.
However, considering that only 5% of the B2B customer journey involves interacting with sales, this method limits impact when deals are lost before selling has a chance to begin.
To counter this, Belkins is shifting focus to educate buyers and implement an acquisition strategy that engages potential clients throughout their buying journey, not just at the later stages. An essential part of this strategy is through multichannel outreach.
Integrating omnichannel customer acquisition
Belkins offers omnichannel customer acquisition solutions that integrate marketing initiatives for comprehensive reach. We achieve this by combining the following services and expertise:
Strategy consulting: Instead of keeping sales and marketing departments siloed away from each other, we help you design an integrated marketing and sales program.
Lead generation: Starting from the problem recognition stage, we nurture leads early in their purchasing journey.
Business process outsourcing: We handle tactical tasks within lead generation, outbound marketing, and user research to improve your operations.
Expertise in appointment setting: As market leaders in B2B appointment setting, we deliver qualified business leads that are ready to engage further.
Belkins’ comprehensive approach ensures that your marketing efforts are not isolated but are part of a concerted strategy to maximize effectiveness across all stages of the customer journey.
Why we invest heavily in our SDRs:
Reducing turnover: By focusing on the well-being and professional growth of our SDRs, we minimize turnover and build a more stable and experienced team.
Deepening expertise: The more SDRs understand and become proficient in your business and target market, the greater their ability to craft and iterate effective personalized messages.
Why we care so much about transparency and communication:
Efficient collaboration: Efficiency of interaction between our teams is part of delivering ROI. Transparent practices help to set clear expectations, making collaborations smoother and more productive.
Building long-term relationships: Our goal is to foster long-term relationships, not just short-term gains, making mutual understanding and respect key components of our partnership strategy.
Our differentiators
These are what’s actually responsible for the effectiveness of our client engagements. Taking stock of each of these will not only help you understand what makes us unique, but how well we fit with your company’s culture and values.
Integrated marketing and sales alignment: We synchronize your marketing and sales efforts to create a comprehensive strategy designed to drive revenue.
Measurable systems: Our strategies include measurable systems that create accountability by clearly demonstrating the impact of sales and marketing in terms of business objectives and revenue.
Extension of your team: We operate as an extension of your in-house team by collaborating with your staff, guaranteeing that every strategy integrates seamlessly with your operations.
Expertise across all outbound channels: Our deep understanding and expertise span all outbound channels including email, calling, and social media. We employ best practices and frameworks optimized by actionable data.
Access to advanced tools: Our clients benefit from a comprehensive tech stack across all channels without additional costs. There’s no need to acquire separate licenses or increase budgets. We provide all necessary tools as part of our service.
Data-driven campaign management: We manage campaigns with the attention to detail of a well-established company and the agility of a startup. This includes making fast, weekly adjustments to implementation based on ongoing results.
Access to top talent: We leverage the entire Belkins family of agencies to ensure holistic go-to-market (GTM) support, including areas like content creation, SEO, and website development.
Targeted lead sourcing: Our lead research and sourcing are driven by ICP strategies, enhanced with both AI and human verification for comprehensive TAM (total addressable market) list building with 100% data quality.
Dedicated center of excellence (COE) team: Both internally and externally, we assemble a dedicated COE team to provide deep insights into unique industry requirements. This grants effective GTM execution and specialized support tailored to each client’s needs.
Revit specializes in B2B appointment setting and lead generation. We like them because they offer flexible and results-driven strategies tailored to different company sizes.
They use real-time dashboards and custom outbound consulting, along with a broad range of lead generation support, such as:
Individual training for sales teams
Outreach tool setup and optimization
360 support for outreach campaigns
Unlike memoryBlue, Revit places a strong emphasis on customized client services and scalability. An example of one client-centric practice that helps Revit stand out is having no long-term contracts, demonstrating a commitment to financial flexibility and ROI.
Overall, the feedback surrounding Revit is highly positive. Their adaptability, comprehensive tools, and team expertise have helped them quickly build a reputation as a reliable option.
SalesRoads
SalesRoads focuses on outbound lead generation and sales services. Their strategies aim at improving lead quality and increasing conversions. This approach differs somewhat from memoryBlue, as SalesRoads offers a more bespoke sales solution based on client objectives and company targets.
SalesRoads is renowned for its B2B sales outsourcing expertise, offering support that covers everything from strategy development to execution.
General feedback on SalesRoads is also very positive; fast-growing companies have found great value in their strategic approach.
Other alternatives
LeadGenius — marketing automation and demand generation
What our clients say about previous service providers
memoryBlue totes extensive global reach, deep industry experience, and an impressive alumni network. These assets have undeniably established them as a leader in sales development.
However, challenges such as high SDR turnover, rigidity in service customization, and issues with their engagement model raise real concerns about the viability of their services for certain business situations and markets.
Many of our clients and SDRs have voiced past experiences where they struggled to find a good fit between service offerings and expectations.
For example, when sales calendars fill up with lackluster leads, sales teams start to burn out while the marketing department is reluctant to accept fault. The service provider, having honored the contract to its fullest extent, may feel that things are going well, while clients feel like they’re being taken advantage of.
Many of our initial consultations have started with these all-too-familiar stories.
While memoryBlue has developed a formidable platform for launching sales careers and delivering SDR services, we encourage you to consider both the strengths and limitations of their model in reference to your current business goals.
Ready to get started with Belkins?
If you’re eager to learn more about Belkins, here are several options and free resources that will help you on your outbound sales journey:
Hire Belkins: To discuss your current business goals and how we can potentially help achieve them, contact us.
Belkins case studies: Learn how we’ve generated 4,760,850 leads and millions of dollars for businesses of all sizes. Read their stories.
Belkins Growth Podcast: Meet our VP of sales, Brian Hicks, and Belkins cofounder, Michael Maximoff, as they interview the pros on market challenges, effective sales practices, and business perspectives in various industries. Listen to the Belkins Growth Podcast.
Jeffrey is a digital content marketer for B2B technology startups and marketing agencies. His background is in hard-close sales, teaching English, and creative writing. He's worked with B2B marketing agencies, SaaS, DevOps, Martech, and cybersecurity companies. Jeffrey was raised in and is currently based out of Houston, Texas.
