26 appointments in the first month of service — becoming a reliable outbound sales partner for an enterprise software company

Problems

OutSystems is an American SaaS B2B solution that started looking to go outbound into the APAC region. Having 350 partners and thousands of active customers in 87 countries, mainly from inbound, OutSystems wanted to minimize time to market and outsource outbound lead generation to an agency. Once Belkins does the prospecting and books appointments, the OutSystems sales team steps in and starts nurturing prospects and closing deals. Here’s a bunch of tasks the client set for us.

1. Outsourcing pipeline generation – Although the client has had around 2,000 employees and a full-stack sales team, a quick expansion into new markets requires increased headcount. Companies can outsource pipeline generation to a third party when they want to scale up fast. This way, the company grows, and the headcount remains the same. OutSystems wished to provide their big sales team with a steady flow of qualified appointments.
2. Increase business visibility – OutSystems has few high-quality counterparts that can provide a similar product in quality, price, and availability. However, being an innovative leader in the modern application platform space won’t automatically scale your business. The key to success is to build your business visibility to stand out from the crowd and attract more customers. Belkins’s mission in this collaboration was to bring as many potential customers as possible by increasing the company’s visibility even among those who previously doubted their need for cooperation.
3. Sales templates – Whatever email outreach approaches OutSystems had used before Belkins stepped in, the new ones had to be developed for a new market. At least one set of templates with a specific value proposition for different titles has to be developed before an outreach campaign starts.

What we did

OutSystems decided to switch from Europe to Asia-Pacific markets when we were just about to start, which took them 1.5 months to organize another team.

According to the contract, we had to deliver 40 appointments in three months. Having half that time, it was apparent that the bottom line would be less, but Belkins knew they wouldn’t drop the ball on tasks.

Building a pipeline for APAC

OutSystems has had a strong market presence so that even APAC prospects would reply that they knew them. They work with organizations of all sizes to deftly tackle any critical application. Using its surefire prospecting strategy, Belkins started booking the calls right from the start.

Belkins saw its task in targeting predominantly large corporate companies. When dealing with account-based sales in B2B companies, it’s essential to get:

• Well-defined ICP. OutSystems already had their ICP figured out. It helped Belkins decide on what industry was the best fit for OutSystems, which accounts the team had to send messages to, and which key stakeholders they had to be looking for.
• Targeting the right stakeholders. As OutSystems develop enterprise SaaS solutions, the sales team doesn’t need to target B2B marketers. Instead, you want to target those responsible for application development and IT personnel. Usually, in account-based sales, you focus on several decision-makers rather than targeting one key person.
• Hyper-personalized focus. Social media platforms offer ample opportunities to find out what your key stakeholders are interested in and talking about. Deep lead research enabled Belkins SDRs to tailor their message and get in front of key stakeholders quickly and hassle-free.

Ensuring communication with OutSystems

When you’re working with a new partner, it’s essential to understand their internal process and ensure that your lead generation efforts align with how they do business. OutSystems is a large company that has an established way of doing things. Here’s how the Belkins team responded to the challenges.

• Staying in touch. For an outsourced appointment setting to be successful, continued communication between the client and the service provider is a must. There are always issues that emerge along the way. Regular communication makes it more effective to handle. Mary, an account executive, has always been available and tried to find a solution halfway that works for both teams and doesn’t interrupt the workflow.
• Adapting to the client’s inner processes. OutSystems has a really long approval process. When the Belkins team initiated changes for locations, titles, and so on, OutSystems took some time to approve. Understanding that large companies are less flexible in their decision-making, the Belkins team members did their best not to let it hamper their workflow and keep a steady pace.
• Accommodating the client’s needs. OutSystems had a “special request” for Belkins’s SDRs, asking to organize the chart with leads and appointments in their format. That way, the Belkins team could punch in all the lead data right into OutSystems CRM. This is something extra the Belkins sales and research team has been doing.
• Holding the ground. However, there can be requests that Belkins is unable to do, such as pre-qualification calls. This is not something we normally do, so we agreed that we would follow our normal prospecting process and book calls for them, and they would qualify the prospects on their own.

We've found that the most successful partnerships are rooted in communication, which is why we always approach our clients' needs with the understanding that it's not just about getting the job done — it's about getting them what they need to keep moving forward.

That's why we make it a priority to listen carefully and respond quickly, whether you're looking for leads or simply want to talk through your marketing strategy. We'll work through every step of the way with you, so feel free to reach out at any time!

Getting a new partner is successful as long as communication remains unfaltering. There are so many things to learn and consider, from understanding their selling process to their views on collaboration. What are the key milestones? How long does each step take? How many people or departments are involved? This will help you identify opportunities for collaboration between your company and theirs. And answering these questions is impossible without transparent and continued communication.

Adjusting templates

For OutSystems, Belkins used outbound email marketing. The team has a set of email templates with a specific value proposition for different titles. We didn't look for other approaches since then, this approach worked from the very beginning.

However, the Belkins professionals had to handle many active outreach campaigns running in 5-6 countries at the same time. It wasn’t easy because of the differences in approaches to communication, time zones, and requests from the product side.

For example, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia were quick to engage, while Australia and Indonesia required a different approach. The copywriting team had to change the wording and edit email templates so as not to lose sight of what could attract a potential prospect from this GEO.

Results

Regardless of a stretchy onboarding and challenges along the way, Belkins achieved the sales goals within the available time frame:

• 26 quality appointments scheduled in just 1.5 months
• Enhanced insight into marketing strategies that are success-programmed
• Precise data analysis that will be of great help with future campaigns
• +55% avg. open rate from quality leads
• +10% reply rate from potential customers

Key takeaways

1. The dualism of hard skills and soft skills. The Belkins team is confident in delivering great results. Many years of their experience prove that. However, having hard skills is just one part of the deal. To be successful, salespeople rely on their ability to effectively communicate, foresee problems and prepare for possible difficulties. Fast response, resilience, and creative thinking are no less essential.
2. Communication is part of the deal. High, stable performance is impossible without team coherence, which, in turn, is impossible without communication on both sides. Outsystems has always promptly helped in solving various requests and has had transparency in setting tasks. Belkins has provided well-coordinated work in finding high-quality leads, creating exciting and catchy templates, and booking appointments on time.
3. A problem is a challenge. Belkins’ mentality is to see arising problems as challenges that get your creative juices flowing. As it was at the turn of the year, project onboarding got delayed due to technical reasons on the client’s part. However, Belkins was looking forward to this exciting challenge to meet deadlines and objectives without compromising quality. As long as your strategy is working, tight deadlines are no problem for success.
4. Partnering with the right people brings quick results. Literature on outsourcing sales acquisition partners prescribes clients not to expect immediate results. The point is that a new team needs a lot of time to get the rope and begin to deliver results. A learning curve indeed can take as much as 60 to 90 days. However, the SaaS industry is quite familiar for Belkins so partnering with OutSystems didn’t require a long onboarding time once the project had really started. When two professionals cross paths with each other, cooperation is smooth and productive.