The story behind Close.io

Lesson #4 of the Startup Sales Success email course is the story of Close.io.

Startup Sales Success Email Course: Lesson #4 I hope you're great! Let's quickly review what you've learned so far in the course: You learned about the 7 characteristics of a true startup sales person and what to look for in yourself and others you're hiring. You discovered the 7 deadly sales sins committed by most startups and learned ways to avoid them yourself You learned how to develop a predictable and scalable sales model for your startup So what's next? Well, let's talk about how to help you close more deals and make more sales with the use of technology.   ***Warning: What follows is a sales pitch. It's the best kind of sales pitch in my honest opinion: the type that will genuinely help you become more successful with your startup. Continue reading at your own peril ;) ***   Background Story In 2011 we started a "Sales As A Service" business called ElasticSales. The vision for Elastic was to build a massive sales infrastructure and empower startups and companies around the world to tap into that infrastructure in order to scale their sales efforts. Think Amazon AWS for Sales. Our mission was simple: Never again should a great company fail because of a lack of sales. We started hiring top sales talent, opening offices and signing up clients within the first few weeks. It was clear that there was massive demand for this service out there. What wasn't clear was what kind of software we would have to use to make this whole sales operation work smoothly.  We went out in the market to research the best technologies available and came back incredibly disappointed. Nothing out there was designed to actually help you sell more successfully. All existing solutions seemed to be focused on the premise of turning sales professionals into manual *data-entry-monkeys*. None of them showed any understanding whatsoever of what a sales person's needs are when it comes to their job and daily workflow. So after a lot of frustration we decided to fix the problem instead of complaining about it and we started developing our own internal sales application. We lovingly called it our secret sales sauce :) We knew nobody had ever been in a better position to develop next generation sales software since we had a few unfair competitive advantages: We had both salespeople and engineers in the founding team We ran a sales outsourcing and consultancy firm for startups empowering us to test the software in all kinds of different use cases We had a clear and distinct philosophy and vision for the product All that translated in a few simple principles when we started developing our software: It had to be simple to use It had to minimize manual data entry as much as possible It had to be focused on the #1 priority in sales: good communication  We wanted to build software that sales people would actually love. We wanted to build something WE WOULD LOVE. It took about 1.5 years of constant development and iteration with our internal development and sales team to realize that early vision and create something truly special. During that time our sales people generated millions and millions of dollars in sales for hundreds of venture backed Silicon Valley startups using our secret sales sauce: Close.io  We knew we had a huge winner when we suddenly started to get more and more demand from other people who wanted to use our internal "secret-sauce-sales-software". At first we resisted (there is a reason you call it your secret sauce after all) but eventually we realized that it was the right thing to do to be true to our core mission: >> Never again should a great company fail because of a lack of sales. << So we did it. In January 2013 we finally released Close.io to the world.  And the response from the market has been incredible: "Close.io is awesome! Moving over from Salesforce is mindblowing. I just wanted to see something and found it immediately. Funny how that's an advantage. Keep it up!" Joseph Walla, Founder & CEO, HelloFax  "The straightforward email and calling integration in Close.io helped us solve many of our workflow issues and increased our outreach by over 30%. This has caused us to achieve huge growth in revenues while doing less work! " Nick Persico, Director of Sales Operations, Krossover  "I used SugarCRM for a while, but switched to Close.io because of its modern technology and nice design. Close.io helps to make selling fun again." Ryan Buckley, Co-Founder & COO, Scripted  Not too shabby right? :) Yes! Well…But how exactly does that affect you? Let me tell you... There are 4 reasons why Close.io will help you Close More Deals & Make More Sales: 1.) You will make more & better calls Make and receive calls with just 1-click. All calls are logged automatically. Lead activity information pops up as soon as the phone rings so the data you need is always at your fingertips! 2.) You will send more & better emails All your sales related emails are automatically tracked within the app no matter where you write the emails. You can see who opens your emails, save templates to improve your email workflow and keep all digital sales communication in one place without any manual work.  3.) You can finally say NO to data entry We hate data entry as much as you do, so we tried our hardest to help you avoid it. With auto-logging of calls, emails, and activity you can spend more time closing deals instead of entering data. 4. ) You can get answers to all your questions The app collects most data based on your actual behavior and thus has not only more data but also more accurate sales data. We've built a powerful search platform that allows you to answer any question within seconds. Example? "Show me all leads in California with a 70 percent or greater chance of closing, whom I haven't called or emailed in the last week." Boom!   BUT IT'S NOT FOR EVERYONE! Close.io is not for you if: You are managing a pipeline of less than 100 leads per year You are not using a phone or email to do sales You work for a Fortune 500 Company If you fall in one of these 3 categories you SHOULDN'T BUY Close.io since it's not a good fit for you. Don't worry, if you reply to this email and tell me this is not for you, I will personally send you recommendations for other sales software that will help you be more successful. I know them all. No problem. In all other cases you seriously need to become a Close.io customer and see the immediate boost in sales success it will give to your startup.     Happy Selling! Steli P.S. If you've already bought Close.io I'd love to hear from you. Just hit reply and let's chat :) Close.io PO Box 7775 #69574 San Francisco, CA 94120-7775 You may manage your email preferences anytime.