At Saleslift Studio, we recently had the privilege of sitting down with our valued partner, the creative Frank de Blok of Content Animators.
He gave us insight into the challenges he encountered with organic growth, and how outsourcing the prospecting process allowed him to focus on what really matters to him: content animation, predictable sustainable growth, and return on investment.
We’ve now been working together for about a year — can you tell us what the main reason was for wanting to work with Saleslift Studio?
We’re a start-up, and the people we employ are mainly focused on making animated videos. That’s what we want to focus on, because that’s what we’re good at.
At the same time, we don’t want to rely solely on organic growth. By outsourcing sales development to Saleslift Studio, I can focus on Content Animators and don’t have to worry about sales development. I only take action when it’s really needed.
On top of that, I don’t have the resources and expertise to do this in-house with the same quality and speed. A nice side effect, of course, is that the risk is very low thanks to the flexible collaboration.
You mainly work on a project basis — how do you make sure clients come back? What would you say your customer lifetime value is?
That’s right, we don’t work with a licensing model or anything like that. But thanks to our quality and know-how, clients often come back multiple times a year with different projects. We don’t just focus on the initial order value, but especially on the customer’s lifetime value. A quality sales development solution fits well with that.
Can you explain what Saleslift Studio has meant for Content Animators, without giving away too much personal information, of course?
Our business case is pretty clear: we get an average of about 12 qualified meetings per month from your sales activities. Of these, we convert around 60% directly into a project within 3 months. We stay in touch with the rest of the contacts for when it becomes relevant.
We know the average initial deal value of our clients and their lifetime value. By running the numbers, we can calculate the exact ROI of our partnership. We’re still working together, so it’s going very well so far.
You make content, of course — what exactly do you do, and how do you think it can best be applied?
We help clients achieve better reach through the use of animated videos. This gives our clients greater impact with their marketing or communication campaigns and measurably better results.
Animated video can be used by any organization (formal or informal) and in countless ways. What matters most is that the message is tailored to the client’s goal and target audience.
On top of that, the video should mainly be about solving the customer’s “problems,” rather than focusing on the company itself. A short, powerful message combined with a striking design delivers the desired result.
Finally, how do you see the future of marketing and sales? We try to bring the two together — what trends do you see among your clients in this area?
- Evolution of traditional Marketing & Sales: We’re seeing that during this coronavirus crisis, traditional forms of Marketing & Sales that aren’t measurable or don’t deliver demonstrable results are being phased out faster. Following up on measurable marketing campaigns with sales, so demonstrable results are achieved, or strengthening your sales funnels with valuable marketing content, is becoming an increasingly important focus.
- Video marketing: We’re seeing that video marketing delivers better results, because video is not only faster but also easier to consume and more engaging than, say, a piece of text. Combining sales funnels with video/animated video has proven highly effective. It not only makes it easier to explain propositions, products, or services, it also lets you literally put a face to the organization, making a message much more personal and resulting in much higher engagement.
- Analytics/automation: What we see a lot is that marketing and sales need to be tracked so impact can be measured and managed. We also see both sales and marketing becoming increasingly automated within content flows. This way, you not only create awareness, but can also achieve concrete results by providing leads with the right content throughout the entire sales funnel.
Thank you, Frank, for all your insights and knowledge. They were truly inspiring, and we know these learnings can be applied as best practice for many organizations.
We’d like to take this opportunity to invite readers to get in touch using the details below, as we’d love to review your current growth strategy and offer a free playbook on how to take your business to the next level.
