In this blog post, we continue the discussion begun in The Glimpse of Sales at Fusemachines. Carol Bunevich, Sr. Sales Consultant at Fusemachines, sat down with us to discuss the overall state of sales at Fusemachines. In the following article, we address the sales strategy of Fusemachines and its implementation in sales operations.

In discussing the most effective sales measures taken in the company, Bunevich says, “I believe companies should use all forms of customer acquisition: outreach, inbound, events and referrals. At Fuse, we change our emphasis periodically. Currently, we have a rigorous outbound process that helps us with generating predictable revenue. We also like to experiment with new tools. Most recently, we have been adding video in our outreach and LinkedIn invites into our cadence.“

We will start where we left off last time: with methods for prospecting. The following eleaborates on the prospecting methods used by sales associates in our office.

Outbounds

Communication is the strongest tool to keep your sales pipeline flowing. Connecting with prospects and customers is the number one priority of our sales associates. They use Prospector – the AI assistant platform – for lead generation and nurturing. Prospector is one of Fusemachine’s products. Since our product is an AI generated platform that provides lead source for other businesses, we have a wide range of Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP).

Prospector merges with LinkedIn to store leads on our database. The leads are generated through two separate sales channels and are outreached accordingly. The only outreach method that’s used is cold emailing. There are two strategies the sales team uses:

Mass Email:

Leads are approached in mass numbers, beginning with an introductory email. The emails provide a brief insight about Fusemachines and its products.

Sales Development Reps:

SDRs’ emails consist of more personalised content specific to the receiver. Thorough research is conducted about the contact’s interests, involvements, etc. The content is tailored in a way to appeal to the client’s interests and other relevant attributes. The conversation may be presented in more than a written format, such as phone calls and video outreach.

Inbound

For the inbound process, Fusemachines attracts its potential clients by making its brand felt on the Internet. Through content marketing, i.e. blogging on relevant topics (sales, tech, AI), social media engagement, and online discussion participation, brand awareness is created. After the leads are properly nurtured, the Marketing department hands them over to the Sales team. Leads are then converted to loyal customers by the Sales team.

Besides content marketing, the prospects are interested in the regular search engine optimization. By maintaining the most relevant search results, we are connected to clients organically.

Events

Since February of last year, Fusemachines has regularly held an event called Salestech. In this event, various experts in the field of sales and technology are invited to speak about different topics associated with the industries. This gives us the chance to market the company’s name amongst similar businesses. This also helps to expand our networking in relevant business communities.

Ambre Hasson, a founding member of the Sales team at Fusemachines, believes in the importance of attending and hosting events: “Events are one of the favorite ways for the sales team to get leads. The Meetup community is large in NYC, so there are always great events to attend. The team attends events on a weekly basis in order to not only get our name known, but also stay abreast as a salesperson in tech. It’s a great way to get to know what’s happening in the space, what’s important to decision makers, practice a new pitch, or just make a connection… or just enjoy the free food.”

Our sales associates also participate in events related to sales and technology outside of Fusemachines as much as possible. Engaging in sales expos and tech related events inside New York City promotes the brand recognition. It is also a great way to score leads. Interacting with business representatives similar to ours and explaining our products to them in person increases the credibility of the company. It also helps get the word of mouth going for us.

Referrals

Referral is one of the oldest sales strategies there are but it still remains very effective. We asked our current customers to refer our product to their friends and family in return we offer them a certain discount on our services. It’s a simple technique, but it is very efficient.

When someone refers you to a product or company, it is prompted by their complete trust in the product or company. It means that they are completely satisfied with the provided service. This can convince the referred party of the quality of the service.

Hope this blog gave you some insight into strategies involved in manual sales. In the next part, we will get into the technical aspects of sales at Fusemachines.