In the dynamic world of field service management solutions, Simpro, a global software group operating in six countries, faced a pivotal challenge: how to evolve from a purely inbound marketing approach to a more strategic, account-based model.
Under the guidance of Tim Lamb, vice president of growth marketing, strategically chose to focus on the UK market as a proving ground for their transformation with 6sense.
The global challenge: Choosing a focus market
Simpro encountered a scenario common to many global companies:
- The company operated across multiple countries, each with unique market dynamics.
- Marketing relied heavily on inbound strategies, which were responsible for 85-90% of pipeline generation globally.
- Sales and marketing teams operated in silos across regions, often with misaligned goals.
- The company aspired to move upmarket but lacked a unified account-based marketing (ABM) approach.
The strategic decision: Focusing on the UK
“We did not do any account-based marketing. We actually were almost 100% inbound,” Tim shares, emphasizing the significant shift in strategy that was about to unfold.
Recognizing the need for a targeted approach, Simpro made the strategic decision to focus their transformation efforts on the UK market. This allowed the company to pilot their new ABM strategy in a key region before potentially rolling it out globally.
The solution: Embracing 6sense and ABM with a UK focus
Tim championed the adoption of 6sense as the cornerstone of Simpro’s new ABM strategy.
In early 2023, Simpro began implementing 6sense in the UK, leading to several UK-centric initiatives:
- Adopting both Sales Intelligence (SI) and ABM components of 6sense for the UK market.
- Creating the UK Pipeline Council, a cross-functional team to foster collaboration.
- Providing comprehensive 6sense training to UK sales and marketing teams.
Overcoming hurdles: A global company’s local effort
The transition wasn’t without challenges, especially in adapting global strategies to the UK market. “We went to 6sense’s user conference, Breakthrough, in 2023 and were happy to hear that we weren’t the only ones. It was incredibly common to relaunch it and do an ‘okay, take two,'” Tim admitted.
The team had to learn how to leverage 6sense’s insights while maintaining the personal touch British businesses appreciate.
New leadership support proved crucial in driving the strategy forward across teams. “We got a new CEO and CRO, and they started to get behind this, saying, ‘No, we need sales bought into this as well,'” Tim explained. This executive backing helped align global strategy with local execution in the UK.
A UK success story with global implications
Simpro’s commitment to the new ABM strategy in the UK delivered impressive results:
- 125% of revenue target achieved in Q2 in the UK.
- 126% increase in average deal size year-to-date.
- 1.7x higher close-won rate for outbound efforts compared to inbound leads.
Perhaps most impressively, the UK became the revenue leader in closed-won Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) for the first time in Simpro’s history, demonstrating the effectiveness of its focused ABM strategy.
Building on this success, Simpro is exploring new avenues to further enhance its marketing efforts and drive even greater engagement and results. Additionally, the company needed to inject more automation to support its upmarket push while it broadened its field service management global footprint through acquisitions of Clockshark, AroFlo and BigChange. One of those avenues is 6sense’s Email Agents, which automate email outreach and intelligently responds to prospect replies.
Automating further success with Email Agents
Leading the charge of Simpro’s Email Agents implementation is Megan Parks, Demand Generation Manager, and Jennifer Nelson, Director of Growth Marketing.
After learning more about Email Agents at 6sense’s annual user conference, Breakthrough, in October 2024, Simpro discovered they could use 6sense’s Email Agents to address specific challenges and improve outreach strategies:
- Lead qualification: They needed a more efficient way to qualify leads, particularly from inbound sources.
- Handoff processes: Streamlining the handoff of leads from marketing to sales was a critical issue.
- Communication efficiency: Ensuring timely and effective follow-up with leads was challenging, especially when Business Development Representatives (BDRs) were unavailable due to vacations or sickness.
- Automation: There was a desire to automate communication processes to reduce the workload on BDRs and improve overall lead management.
“What excited everyone about Email Agents was all the different types of use cases and campaigns it supported. We liked the idea of having a fifth BDR without adding headcount.”
So, Simpro began with rolling out Email Agents to BDRs to improve customer lifecycle communication, specifically for prospects. The implementation strategy focused on inbound campaigns in Australia, which are generally lower in the funnel and less cold compared to outbound campaigns. This approach was chosen to achieve quick wins and develop a robust playbook for future expansions.
“Email Agents do the dirty work for BDRs, which allows them to focus their time on more inbound efforts.”
Initial metrics prove the campaign to be a success achieving a 42% reply rate and 23% qualified rate, which are both notably higher than typical outcomes without Email Agents.
The positive impact of Email Agents has been felt beyond quantifiable results. The Simpro has noticed additional benefits, such as:
- Higher lead influx: Email Agents have helped generate more leads.
- Efficient outreach: The streamlined outreach process has reduced overthinking, making outreach more effective.
- Self-serve experience: Potential customers had a more self-serve experience, which has improved their engagement.
- Lead qualification: With Email Agents pre-qualifying leads, BDRs only target the most promising prospects.
- Consistent follow-up: Leads were not missed due to delays or human error since Email Agents provide consistent follow-up even when team members are unavailable.
“What I love most about Email Agents is the peace of mind it provides. We know that no matter what, leads are being followed up with.”
Simpro’s Email Agent rollout has been a success, demonstrating significant improvements in lead qualification and BDR support. By maintaining a personal touch and ensuring consistent follow-up, the team has not only achieved promising results but also laid the groundwork for future expansions and integrations.