PlaceWare, Inc./Microsoft Office Live Meeting

Build a scalable, repeatable sales model

After the attacks on September 11, 2001 and concerns over the safety of air travel, PlaceWare found an additional need for its products. PlaceWare offers web conferencing technology that allows cost-effective, secure communications using only a phone and web browser, making it possible for its clients to communicate and carry on business nation and worldwide without getting on airplanes. Thomas Torf, Vice President of Sales, worked with Phone Works to restructure the existing sales organization and build a state-of-the-art process to follow up on the large volume of prospect calls, determine which calls were qualified leads, and convert those leads into sales.

“Before the Phone Works project,” says Torf, “it was tough to accurately forecast sales. Afterwards, I could predict the number of leads that would result from initial inquiries and of those leads, how many would close. With these metrics as my planning tools, I could predict quarterly results and adjust budget and headcount accordingly and feed information back to Marketing.”

Restructure the Sales Organization

After a thorough evaluation of PlaceWare’s strengths and areas for improvement in Sales, Phone Works re-aligned the strategy and implemented three distinct groups with specialized functions and separate goals: Lead Development, Telesales, and Account Management. Under Phone Works’ direction, Lead Development was chartered with qualification of incoming web inquiries while Telesales followed up on qualified leads and closed sales in all but named accounts which were covered by Field Sales. The Account Management team worked with existing customers. For each group, Phone Works hired staff, developed training and compensation plans, developed tools and metrics, and implemented automation to track prospects and customers.

During the 8-month project, Phone Works also provided Acting Management for all three groups.

Results Tell the Story

Two quarters later, the results were measurable. “Customer retention increased by 123% and the average order size for new sales nearly doubled”, says Torf.