Increasing the average value of contracts signed by approximately 25%

Appsilon is a technology consulting firm founded in 2013 by four experienced programmers who previously worked for Google, Microsoft, Bank of America and Domino Data Lab. The company specializes in providing innovative solutions based on R Shiny technology and in scalling technologies in the enterprise. R and Shiny is a technology for building analytical and statistical models and visualizing these analyzes. Thanks to this, people working on data analysis and machine learning (generally understood as Data Science) can deliver business value directly from their calculations and models through easy-to-use and interactive dashboards and visualizations. Appsilon ranks as the R Shiny technology leader in the world and works with the largest companies on the Fortune 500 and Global 2000 lists.

Challenge

The main goal of the cooperation with Casbeg was to optimize the sales processes so that they were less time-consuming. At the time of starting the cooperation, sales in Appsilon were handled by the owners of the company (currently one of them is doing it) and arranging the sales processes was to free their calendars from unnecessary sales activities.

We want the sales process to be more effective and less burdensome at the same time. We’re doing it right, but it has to be optimized so that it doesn’t take up a lot of time.

Filip Stachura and Damian Rodziewicz, co-founders of Appsilon

Increasing the quality of leads

We focused on improving lead qualifications first. When the time for sales activities is limited, it becomes necessary to distinguish which contacts are worth devoting more time to, and which are unlikely to eventually become the company’s customers. Appsilon, as leaders in the technology they work with, enjoys great interest among potential clients – project dates are often reserved for several months ahead. The efficiency of the sales contact was more important, so that there would be no shortage of it for those who really need support from Appsilon.

At this stage, we set the criteria for qualifying leads and budget levels below which they do not conduct the sales process. The second solution carries some risks, but the managers of Appsilon decided to try it and the effect met their expectations.

Extending the sales department

We moved on to hiring a board support person at an early stage of the recruitment funnel. We supported Appsilon in recruiting for the position of presales:

• we assessed the ad in terms of effectiveness,
• we conducted the second stage of interviews with candidates, verifying their skills,
• we presented recommendations regarding candidates,
• we provided an onboarding scheme that Appsilon adapted to its needs.

As a result, a specialist responsible for the beginning of the sales funnel was hired.

Additionally, the company hired a US salesperson to promote R technology: market education, indicating solutions, and consulting. Our task was to verify the plans for this position: identifying potential threats, setting verification periods, and verifying the plan for the actions and development of this person.

It is worth noting that along with the shortening of the sales process, Appsilon began to consciously expand its sales team. Managers did not give up all control over sales, but found support in activities that are already worked out and repeatable, allowing them to focus on closing the sales processes in the case of large collaborations. It’s a model that works.

How to make the client able to wait

Advance sales were a challenge for Appsilon. The company had to have interested clients wait months because the team was busy with ongoing projects. How do you make the client ready to wait in such a situation?

Together, we developed several solutions:

• we introduced a communication scheme to help make clients aware of the time to start a project, so that there would be no misunderstandings later,
• we recommended doing a client audit before starting worki with a client.

Results

Thanks to our work, we were able to optimize the sales process and take some of the sales obligations off the shoulders of Rodziewicz, who is currently responsible, among others, for that part of the business.

The process is more transparent and predictable, which makes it easier to plan the next steps and communicate them to others. We also achieved better production management and customer onboarding.

It is worth noting that Appsilon does a lot of hard work on its side. It is a very partnership-based cooperation with great customer commitment, which was clearly reflected in the effects.

Without the management’s strong commitment to cooperation, our consultant would only be consulting; hoiwever, thanks to the real introduction of changes and testing solutions, while ensuring that they harmonize with the company’s DNA, we became a partner for Appsilon who had a real impact on business development.

Thanks to the cooperation, we can quickly receive answers to difficult questions and validate our ideas, because we know that Casbeg comes to us with knowledge and experience from many businesses. We have been working with metrics for a long time, but Casbeg helps you look at them from a different angle – efficiency, effectiveness and better planning. We are very pleased with the value that Casbeg provides us with sales support.

Damian Rodziewicz, vice president of Appsilon

As a result of the cooperation:

• The CEO is no longer involved in sales
• The process of lead qualification takes 50% less time
• The company is sold out an average of 3 months ahead
• The average value of contracts signed increased by approximately 25%.

Appsilon is constantly looking for new talent, developing dynamically and facing new, interesting challenges. If you are looking for changes and want to have a direct impact on the success of Appsilon, and at the same time you want to enter the market of the largest international companies in the Data Science niche, take part in the recruitment process https://appsilon.com/careers/ or write to them at [email protected].