Scaling Outbound Success for Robaws

About the Client

Company Profile:

• Name: Robaws
• Industry: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solutions
• Size: Serving over 1,000 companies
• Location: Belgium, expanding into the UK, Netherlands, and Germany
• Description: Robaws provides innovative ERP solutions tailored for construction and installation businesses, helping them streamline operations and improve efficiency.

Mission and Vision: Robaws aims to revolutionize the construction industry’s operations by providing user-friendly, efficient, and scalable ERP solutions. Their vision is to become the go-to ERP provider in Europe for construction and installation businesses, fostering growth and innovation in a traditionally manual sector.

The Challenge

Initial Situation:

• Reliance on Inbound Channels: Robaws heavily depended on inbound marketing and word-of-mouth referrals, which, while effective, were not sufficient to meet their aggressive growth targets for 2024.
• Need for Outbound Scaling: Recognizing the limitations of their current strategy, they aimed to explore outbound channels to increase brand awareness and reach a broader audience in the traditional construction market.
• Resource Constraints: They wanted to scale outbound efforts without hiring a large sales team or risking their main domain’s reputation through increased email outreach.

Impact on Business:

• Growth Limitations: The reliance on inbound marketing constrained their market penetration, especially in new regions where brand awareness was low.
• Operational Strain: Handling inbound follow-ups required a full-time role, limiting the sales team’s ability to focus on strategic initiatives.

Goals and Objectives:

• Financial Target: Generate €200K in ARR from outbound campaigns.
• Operational Efficiency: Reduce the time spent on inbound follow-ups.
• Market Expansion: Accelerate brand awareness and network effects in new and existing markets through outbound strategies.

The Solution

Outbound Catalyst’s Approach:

Step 1️⃣ Analyze

• Onboarding and Understanding: Integrated into Robaws’ organization by reviewing their sales processes, narratives, Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), sales collateral, and past outbound campaigns.
• Technical Setup: Purchased alternative domains and set up email accounts in the sales leader’s name to protect the main domain’s reputation.
• Email Warm-Up: Used email warm-up tools to gradually build the reputation of new email accounts.

Step 2️⃣ Targeting & Segmentation

• Bucket System Creation: Developed a segmentation strategy based on the number of knowledge workers, collaborating with the sales leader to reverse-engineer use cases and average deal sizes.
  • Bucket 1: 10-50 knowledge workers
  • Bucket 2: 2-10 knowledge workers
  • Bucket 3: Less than 2 knowledge workers

Step 3️⃣ Campaigns (Email First)

• Campaign Development: Created diversified email campaigns to surpass previous benchmarks.
  • Campaign 1: Slightly edited existing messaging, maintaining the same sequence and content.
  • Campaign 2: The “Reference Play” targeted customers in specific regions, referencing existing clients in those areas.
  • Campaign 3: Use Case Approach focused on specific product modules, highlighting pain points relevant to each segment.
  • Campaign 4: “Hiring For” campaigns targeted companies hiring for specific roles, offering personalized messaging and adjusted offers based on job descriptions.

Step 4️⃣ Results Analysis and Iteration

• Benchmark Outperformance: The new campaigns outperformed previous benchmarks, indicating a successful strategy.
• Messaging Refinement: Analyzed responses to iterate and improve messaging for even better engagement.

Step 5️⃣ Follow-Up

• Engaging the Grey Zone: Identified and engaged with non-committal (“grey zone”) replies.
  • Action Steps: Called these leads to schedule next steps, subscribed them to marketing emails, enrolled them in nurture flows, or booked future meetings.
• Emphasis on Follow-Up: Recognized that diligent follow-up was crucial for converting leads.

Step 6️⃣ Scaling & Continuous Experimentation

• Scaling Successful Strategies: Increased outreach from 2,000 to 6,000 emails per month based on what worked.
• Ongoing Experimentation: Continually tested new ideas to drive incremental improvements.
• Data Management: Mapped and enriched the Total Addressable Market (TAM), obtaining 22,000 direct contact emails of decision-makers and keeping the database current.

Innovative Techniques:

• Automation Wizards: Leveraged automation tools to handle groundwork tasks, allowing the team to focus on high-value activities.
• Segmentation and Personalization: Used detailed segmentation to deliver highly relevant messaging to each prospect group.

The Results

Quantitative Outcomes:

• Pipeline Generation: Created €100K in pipeline within three months.
• Improved Conversion Rates:
  • 1 Deal closed for every 116 people contacted.
  • 1 Reply received for every 17 people contacted.
• Operational Efficiency: Reduced inbound follow-up workload from a full-time role to 1.5 days per week—a 70% reduction.
• Database Expansion: Built a robust database of 22,000 direct contact emails of decision-makers.

Qualitative Outcomes:

• Enhanced Brand Awareness: Increased exposure in target markets, especially in regions with low prior awareness.
• Sales Team Empowerment: Enabled the sales team to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual follow-ups.
• Strategic Insights: Developed a segmentation system that allowed for more effective and targeted outreach.

Timeframe:

• Duration: All results were achieved within a three-month period.

Client Testimonial

Feedback from Robaws:

“Partnering with Outbound Catalyst has been a game-changer for us. Their strategic approach to outbound marketing and segmentation significantly increased our outreach effectiveness. Not only did they help us generate a substantial pipeline in a short period, but they also streamlined our processes, allowing our team to focus on closing deals. Their expertise in sales automation and commitment to continuous improvement have exceeded our expectations.”

— Sales Leader at Robaws

Watch the full testimonial here.

Key Takeaways

Lessons Learned:

• The Power of Follow-Up: Persistent and strategic follow-up converts “grey zone” leads into valuable opportunities.
• Effective Segmentation: Tailoring messaging to specific segments significantly improves engagement rates.
• Automation is Key: Automating groundwork tasks frees up resources for high-value activities.

Best Practices:

• Protect Domain Reputation: Use alternative domains and warm-up tools to safeguard the main domain.
• Data Enrichment: Regularly update and enrich your database to maintain accuracy and relevance.
• Continuous Experimentation: Regularly test and iterate on campaigns to discover what works best.

Next Steps

Ongoing Support:

• Scaling Outreach: Increasing email outreach from 2,000 to 6,000 emails per month to amplify successful strategies.
• Continuous Improvement: Ongoing experimentation with new ideas to drive incremental improvements.
• Database Maintenance: Continuously updating and enriching the existing database to ensure data quality.

Future Plans:

• Market Expansion: Support Robaws in penetrating new markets in the UK, Netherlands, and Germany.
• Strategic Collaboration: Explore additional outbound channels and strategies to further accelerate growth.
• Sales Team Enablement: Provide training and resources to Robaws’ sales team to maximize the impact of outbound efforts.

By leveraging Outbound Catalyst’s expertise, Robaws not only achieved their immediate outbound goals but also laid a strong foundation for sustained growth and market expansion.