STOREMASTA Journey
STOREMASTA is an Australian family-owned storage business that manufactures storage for dangerous goods. Started in 1991 by the Urqhart family, it began as a wholesaler provider selling through other distributors.
Three years ago, the business decided to make the transition into selling its own products. Now the company provides storage all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and South-East Asia.
We spoke with Braden Urqhart from the STOREMASTA headquarters in Tasmania. Braden is a Sales Manager who leads a team of six sales consultants’ who are tasked with closing new customers.
Beginning the transition into direct sales
When we made the decision to start selling directly from STOREMASTA, it was a huge change to our business. Prior to the change, we relied solely on revenue from our pre-existing distributors; to have this blank canvas where we could take on new customers was an exciting opportunity. However, looking back it was an opportunity we didn’t grasp well to start with.
STOREMASTA had an old school approach when it came to our sales technique, as well as the technology that was carrying our processes. “Closing a new customer was cumbersome”. We were writing all our potential customer details down with a pen and paper, before retyping all those details again on HubSpot.
When we made the decision to start carrying out our own direct sales, we joined HubSpot to help process new customers. But none of those details were automatically transcribed, and we had no idea who was calling into our offices as the service didn’t connect with our CRM. It became increasingly frustrating for both my sales team and customers calling in to have to repeat details or wait to be redirected to the appropriate person.
Hitting sales targets was a foggy area for STOREMASTA; we didn’t have an exact idea of how many calls were coming in; HubSpot was only able to track the exact figures on the number of outbound calls. Because call data couldn’t be tracked, it also meant as a manager I wasn’t able to keep across how our sales reps were performing.
Looking back, it’s fair to say we didn't really have a defined sales plan. By not having the exact data on how efficient the team was performing, we weren’t able to accurately make team decisions on where we should be growing next.
Cradle for Sales
Cradle was the missing piece to the pie, since joining six months ago we’ve recorded our sales team securing a customer 60% faster.
Cradle connects into HubSpot and has the ability to gather data that’s transformed our sales team’s productivity and efficiency.
All our inbound and outbound calls are tracked and transcribed, with the contact and transcript stored. It is literally as easy as pushing a button to have any information stored against HubSpot. Originally, we used to manually enter every call with the details, but all we do now is just talk and move onto the next task.
One of Cradle’s features I’ve found particularly helpful is its dashboard that tells me how many calls each member is taking or making and how long they’re spending on each call.
Having access to that data over the last six months has transformed our sales targets, which are now centred around the number of outbound calls and how quickly our sales team can close a new customer. It’s become a tool and a force of motivation that creates a bit of healthy competition. It also acts as a critical tool when it comes to comparing our team’s performance to the month beforehand – this way we’re always able to identify not only where we are lagging, but most importantly how we can improve.
I’ve noticed our sales members also monitoring their own performance and want to better themselves; it’s also a very handy tool for me as a manager, as I’m able to keep an eye across things and help any team members who may not be performing to their best potential.
The great thing about Cradle recording calls means we can always refer to one as an example when it comes to training our sales team. Now that we’re in the swing of things, I notice our team wants to be as time-effective as possible - using a good example of a sales conversation that displays trust, empathy and a personal touch from the STOREMASTA team has helped bring our entire team up to a newfound standard.
Prior to joining Cradle, we were closing around 15 new clients a week. Since joining, that’s now doubled to around 30 new customers a week and we’re recording increasing revenue month on month with our conversation rate sitting at around 36 per cent.
Our team is far better prepared when closing a customer – this is something our customers have also noticed. The combination of having access to all the relevant information means their time isn’t being wasted with repetitive conversations, and we’re also a lot more effective with our line of communication in terms of scheduling phone calls so we don’t miss a beat.
Prior to joining Cradle, it was taking us up to two to three days to close a customer. Now it can take us just a matter of hours.
HubSpot was the right choice
HubSpot was a great place to start when we decided to move into direct sales. Cradle has enhanced its features and the two systems work together to make our sales team productive and work to the best of their ability.
Fit right in
Given the current technology climate, most of our sales team were already savvy with apps from their smartphones. Cradle has an easy-to-use similar interface, and we didn’t find any of the team experiencing major issues with the transition.
Before we made the move, we had a video meeting with the Cradle team, who listened to what our current challenges were at the time, and they talked us through features of their service that they knew would help. They’ve regularly been in contact to check what’s working for us, and what they can do to help with our business targets.
I would say the majority of them became more motivated in their work; having a system that tracked, transcribed phone conversations and stored information has maximised their time. They’re able to focus on selling the product and not be distracted by repeating questions or writing down notes.
What’s next
Given we’ve only been with Cradle for six months, I’m excited to see what comes for the next half of the year. We’re looking to expand our services in Singapore and given our current increases in sales I’m confident we’ll be successful with bringing on new customers.
