FLEXENGAGE: RETENTION
THROUGH RECEIPTS
flexEngage is a SaaS provider and post-purchase communication platform out of Orlando, Florida. They help their clients — global and regional small enterprise businesses, such as Under Armour, Michael Kors and GNC — reduce churn and turn one-time customers into repeat customers through personalized transactional messages.
“Anytime someone buys something in a store or online, that micro-journey is where we live,” Sam says. Using the flexEngage platform, retailers can capture more email addresses, improve post-sale engagement, drive repeat sales, and build an increasingly loyal customer base.
THE
RESULTS
Through RevsUp, Sam has been able to hire two new sales reps, putting his sales team at full headcount. Sam reports that these reps are precisely what he was looking for and that they’re on track to exceed their goals for the year.
“Mark understands what makes a good salesperson a good salesperson. That’s what he’s done. He’s lived and breathed that complex sales environment. That’s a huge advantage.”
Sam Capra, Vice President, Sales
flexEngage
IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE
But although flexEngage’s ultimate goal is to help their retailer customers increase transactions, the flexEngage sales process is anything but transactional. Rather, it’s a complex one that can take the better part of a year, with deals that approach or exceed seven figures and “involve up to 15 people to herd and to close,” Sam explains.
Navigating that process and doing it well isn’t an undertaking that just any salesperson — even a seasoned one — can do, according to Sam. He says that it takes a specific combination of sales experiences: someone who knows both the SaaS technology and retail worlds. And then there are what Sam calls the “intangibles,” those qualities that can be difficult to find and difficult to ascertain during the hiring process but that are must-haves in his ideal candidate: “A natural problem solver, someone that thinks outside the box, that you don’t need to handhold, and that is also coachable. We need people who can pivot and adapt, especially in a nimble startup environment and culture.”
That’s where the RevsUp team came in. Sam had some familiarity with the company already, and was confident in their abilities to track down that elusive talent Sam was searching for, as well as in their knack for finding the right fit culturally.
One thing Sam particularly appreciates about RevsUp is the robust sales background of the RevsUp team members, including that of founder and president Mark DeChant. “Mark understands what makes a good salesperson a good salesperson, and so he’s already coming to the conversation with a good understanding of what I’m looking for,” Sam says. “That’s what he’s done. He’s lived and breathed that complex sales environment. He has those intangibles himself and he knows what other qualifications to layer in.”
THE REVSUP APPROACH:
POINTED SERVICE
Even though the flexEngage sales environment is full of complexity, Sam required just the opposite in the recruiting and hiring process: straightforward, streamlined and service-oriented. And RevsUp delivered.
“They didn’t overcomplicate it for us,” Sam says. “Their process is really fluid and organic. My time is getting more and more cluttered. Mark really understood me as a VP of sales, how much I’m getting pulled in different directions. With Mark, there are no inane calls, and he knows I don’t have the bandwidth to be hopping on calls every other day.”
Sam says that two important hallmarks of the RevsUp approach are efficiency and preparation.
Both were evident starting with the kick-off call. Sam says he’s been on two- to three-hour “painfully long” kick-off calls with external recruiters before. But Mark was honed in and had prepared extensively in advance of the call.
As the recruiting process continued, the team at RevsUp managed it not through Sam, but by engaging the people on Sam’s team that could take action immediately. This kept everything moving along seamlessly. “Most recruiters would send things directly to me. I’d get bogged down for two or three days, and not be able to respond, and that would delay everything waiting for me,” Sam explains.
The candidates, as well, were appropriately prepared. “We have a very systematic approach to hiring, and Mark did a good job of educating candidates on how to put their best foot forward, but without divulging certain things so that their reaction could be genuine. He did not over prepare them, but did a nice job walking that fine line,” Sam says.
In Sam’s view, the RevsUp approach is unusual in the industry. “It really goes back to his sales and his understanding of how to manage deals,” Sam says..
