“TEG helped us to begin our journey to approach new prospects; they do have the experience and the people to make it right.”
Luis Perez, CEO of Cafeto Software
Luis Perez is an entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the technology industry. Luis founded Cafeto software in 2010 and has spent the last ten years refining his expertise and carving out a niche in the tailor-made software sector. Before engaging with The Endurance Group, Cafeto’s sales did not generate adequate growth. So when Luis received a message from The Endurance Group in February 2020, he was intrigued.
In early 2020, Conor Sullivan was living and working in Cali, Colombia. By day, Conor taught English at a local high school. By afternoon/evening, he dedicated himself part-time to his family’s business, The Endurance Group, as a business development consultant.
During this time, Conor studied the South American market to better understand emerging industries that would benefit from The Endurance Group’s expertise. He found that many South American technology companies were interested in US market entry. Conor organized and launched an outreach campaign by proxy as The Endurance Group, CEO, Jim Sullivan. He targeted South American business leaders in the technology sector.
Conor connected CEO of The Endurance Group, Jim Sullivan, to Luis Perez, CEO of Cafeto Software in Cali, Colombia. Luis and Jim corresponded over LinkedIn and exchanged background stories on each other’s businesses. Shortly after that, they agreed to proceed with an introduction call.
The Need
During the introductory phone call, Luis explained he wanted Cafeto to further enter the US market. At that point in time, Cafeto only worked with US companies that previously employed Luis, which limited Cafeto’s potential for growth. Luis desired to develop a broader customer base.
Once Luis opened the floor to Jim and Conor, they explained how The Endurance Group could help Cafeto meet their goal. They presented a multi-phase approach for outreach, starting with an alumni campaign by proxy on Luis’s LinkedIn account. The Endurance Group would target individual decision-makers previously employed by a company in Cafeto’s current client portfolio. TEG would engage these prospects in conversations based on that work commonality and attempt to schedule meetings.
In addition to the outreach campaign, TEG proposed an inbound campaign. They suggested infusing Cafeto’s social media with meaningful content such as blog entries, reposted content, and social interaction with prospective targets. Furthermore, TEG would create a Google Adwords campaign, and generate a Clutch profile to drive inbound leads.
Cafeto and TEG reached an agreement for engagement that would include all suggested services from the introductory meeting. Jim Sullivan assigned the workload to Conor due to his personal investment in the engagement’s success and his local proximity to Luis’s offices in Cali, Colombia.
The Engagement
To finalize the contract and agreement, Conor met Luis in person at the Cafeto office. Once they reviewed and signed the documents, Conor and Luis started the onboarding process.
A few short weeks later, COVID-19 shook the world and sent everyone into lockdown. The first visit to the Cafeto office would be the last. The pandemic forced Conor and his wife to make the difficult decision to leave Cali and move back to the USA. Conor’s location shift also prompted his work transition, making him the Vice President of Operations for The Endurance Group, which only increased his drive to make Cafeto a success.
Conor initiated the initial campaign and targeted high-ranking decision-makers who were alumni of Cafeto’s current US-based clients. TEG also targeted US-based C-level executives who graduated from Luis’s alma mater in Mexico and top Colombian universities. Additionally, Conor looked closely at the forming insufficiencies due to the pandemic that Cafeto could solve. He decided to focus on technology companies in the US that would be seeking staff augmentation. The additional targets served as a secondary campaign to the alumni campaign.
“We did weekly reviews and a monthly review to review results and adjust campaigns. I believe it is important to have an expert look at these processes because that is what led us to open new channels, discover new tools, and, of course, generate new leads.”
Lina María Ardila, Marketing Specialist
Throughout the campaigns, Conor joined Luis on introductory calls and helped Luis to gracefully move from his initial commonality with the prospect into a sales pitch about Cafeto.
Conor coached Luis on his sales pitch to ensure that he included specific points of Cafeto’s value proposition that would most appeal to the target prospect. As an added benefit, Conor took notes in the meetings, held debriefing sessions with Luis, and made a post-engagement follow-up plan.
In the meantime, in addition to the lead generation work, TEG developed an inbound sales campaign including the management of Cafeto’s Instagram, LinkedIn, and Clutch profile. TEG also wrote content for Cafeto’s website and a blog entry, which explained the importance of staff augmentation during pandemic times. TEG met weekly with Cafeto’s marketing specialist to review progress:
“The time that Cafeto worked with TEG on the social networks helped us to establish a strategy for each of our audiences and reinforce the engagement with our Cafeto employees.”
Lina María Ardila, Marketing Specialist
Outcomes: First Six Months
- Deals with two new clients valued more than $1,000,000
- 65 qualified leads
- Facilitated over 50 meetings with high ranking decision-makers
- Increase in Cafeto’s social media total impressions
- Growth in the average number of likes/comments per post
Ongoing Work
Due to the work of The Endurance Group, Cafeto has developed a healthy sales pipeline. Cafeto has multiple pending deals with clients generated by TEG that have a high likelihood of closing. Also, TEG plans to follow up with companies that asked Cafeto to reach out after changing the way they work due to the pandemic.
TEG is proud to have helped Cafeto Software grow into the US market and diversify its client portfolio in a time when such growth was incredibly challenging.