BI 315: How Leveraging an Inside Sales Team Helped Jivochat to Massively Increase Conversions to Paid Users
May 26, 2020
Have you lost a potential customer because of a late response? Are you looking for the right CRM tool to make your company visible in several channels to drive revenue growth?
On the show with me today is Tim Valishev, CEO of the business messenger tool JivoChat. JivoChat allows website visitors to connect with business owners using their favorite platforms.
To see if this interview is for you, I recommend that you read the episode highlights below to get a quick overview of the topics I covered with Tim during our conversation. When you do, I think you'll quickly see that this episode is jam-packed with knowledge-bombs for using live chat software to bridge the communication gap between business owners and their customers.
Watch the video above, read the transcript, or listen to the audio file below and benefit from the knowledge that Tim shares. Then leave a comment or question for him to answer.
Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode:
1. Discover how JivoChat can optimize the way you handle your sales and communication with customers.
2. Learn about the business and marketing strategy behind JivoChat’s revenue growth.
3. Find out how they manage their teams remotely and use their setup to their advantage.
5 Powerful Quotes from This Episode
“Nowadays, a new channel appears every half a year. So all the big guys are opening their APIs—Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat. And customers expect to see your company everywhere they are.”
“What we noticed is, a lot of our customers do not have [the] right tools for that. They are already too big to use Excel or email inbox for that, but not too big yet to implement a proper CRM solution.”
“I think we didn't do something special to make it work. We just organized processes for the guys so they have everything they need.”
“When you're working from your own office, you're the smartest guy in the room, so you don't even know how do you need to grow and develop. But that's totally solvable. We just need to introduce special meetings or events for our guys to share the experience.”
“The only thing that is reliable in measuring effectiveness is measuring the result.”
On the show with me today is Tim Valishev, CEO of the business messenger tool JivoChat. JivoChat allows website visitors to connect with business owners using their favorite platforms.
To see if this interview is for you, I recommend that you read the episode highlights below to get a quick overview of the topics I covered with Tim during our conversation. When you do, I think you'll quickly see that this episode is jam-packed with knowledge-bombs for using live chat software to bridge the communication gap between business owners and their customers.
Watch the video above, read the transcript, or listen to the audio file below and benefit from the knowledge that Tim shares. Then leave a comment or question for him to answer.
Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode:
1. Discover how JivoChat can optimize the way you handle your sales and communication with customers.
2. Learn about the business and marketing strategy behind JivoChat’s revenue growth.
3. Find out how they manage their teams remotely and use their setup to their advantage.
5 Powerful Quotes from This Episode
“Nowadays, a new channel appears every half a year. So all the big guys are opening their APIs—Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat. And customers expect to see your company everywhere they are.”
“What we noticed is, a lot of our customers do not have [the] right tools for that. They are already too big to use Excel or email inbox for that, but not too big yet to implement a proper CRM solution.”
“I think we didn't do something special to make it work. We just organized processes for the guys so they have everything they need.”
“When you're working from your own office, you're the smartest guy in the room, so you don't even know how do you need to grow and develop. But that's totally solvable. We just need to introduce special meetings or events for our guys to share the experience.”
“The only thing that is reliable in measuring effectiveness is measuring the result.”
[04:30] About JivoChat
*JivoChat is a messenger tool helping you communicate with customers and your inside team.
*With this tool, you can connect all channels to your messenger tool—your phone, your email, your live chat widget, your Facebook account, and all other possible ways of communicating with your customers.
*It optimizes your means to handle customer support and drive revenue growth.
[06:54] Launching the Company
*The company started in 2012. They currently have 130 people in their team.
*Tim built the company through bootstrapping because of his predisposition to investors.
[08:02] Customer Acquisition for Revenue Growth
*When they launched their product, Tim started engaging with his friends who have e-commerce businesses and had them try the software for free.
*His team used guerilla marketing techniques. They spammed forums for web developers and went to conferences to look for potential partners.
*They also went to marketing agencies and offered them an affiliate revenue share.
*Because of their financial situation, they took actions that do not require considerable investment in marketing.
[09:30] Guerilla Marketing for Revenue Growth
*Times are changing, and what worked before may not work now.
*You can still try guerilla marketing when beginning a business. But Tim believes the window of opportunity is closing because businesses now offer much better products at a much cheaper price.
[11:06] Marketing Strategy Behind Revenue Growth
*Tim thinks they can do better with content marketing like social media and building communities.
*JivoChat’s initial growth is due to organic traffic through “Powered by JivoChat” links and word of mouth.
*They have an effective freemium model.
*Their goal is to get as many free users as possible and then show them the value of the premium version.
[15:07] Live Chat Software for Revenue Growth
*JivoChat is more than just about communications. It helps business owners facilitate revenue growth and support processes through a CRM system integrated into their messenger.
*They can do follow-ups, set reminders, monitor funnel statuses of the customers looking at the CRM reports, and assign leads to their sales or support team.
[17:29] JivoChat’s Call to Action
*The Powered by JivoChat link serves as a sign-up button. It goes to the sign-up page directly without any other distractions.
*On the front page, it just shows what the product is and what solutions it can offer.
*When potential customers enter their email address, they will get a premium trial followed by a limited-time free version. They have two weeks to try out the premium version, and then they get switched to the free version.
[20:22] How Jivo Chat’s Email Funnel Drives Revenue Growth
*After the sign-up, subscribers will get three or four letters telling them about the different features they can use.
*The 14-day trial aims to get them to use the product. They remind users to install the code on their site, as well as download and install the app on the user’s computer and phone.
*On the 14th day, they usually get the peak of payments.
*JivoChat’s sales team contacts users with activity on their accounts, installed widgets, downloaded apps, and chats with customers five to seven days before the trial period finishes.
[20:48] Working with an Inside Sales Team
*Tim ran an experiment where he got a group of six people to only call prospective accounts.
*They sorted the prospects using metrics like the number of site visitors, chats, agent accounts they have on their system.
*His team noticed the speed of growth of paid accounts has doubled since then.
*They ask people to leave their phone number during the sign-up process. But they did not make it a mandatory question. For the rest of the customers, their inside sales team just went to the prospect’s website and got their numbers.
[24:36] Building An Inside Sales Team for Revenue Growth
*He asked someone who had experience in building such teams. It started as a project.
*He entered into a contract with him and paid him, but the amount was not substantial. They just agreed that he would receive a bonus based on the increase in sales.
*The project ran for 4 to 5 months. The guy he hired built a model for the sales team and gave them the tactics and the exact scripts to follow.
*Currently, his inside sales team is dispersed around the world.
[31:21] Compensation Structures for Sales Teams
*They have a formula with three coefficients: K1, K2, and K3
*The first coefficient is the conversion rate from the leads assigned to a manager.
*The second one is the conversion rate by the revenue per lead.
*The third one is the average number of seats sold to customers.
*Listen to the full episode for more details on how to compute the compensation!
[37:21] Managing His Teams Remotely
*Tim’s employees are spread throughout the globe. He believes they need not be in the same room to be effective.
*He puts his trust in his employees. When they saw that he trusted them, they trusted him in return.
*They organized processes for their remote teams to work with and introduced a couple of rules to follow. They also have a basic hygiene of working remotely.
*He also has a Tech Bonus Program where programmers receive prizes for giving exciting presentations for the team about the technology they have learned or a problem they solved.
[42:36 ] Results-Oriented Productivity
*They don’t use any remote screen control tools. Tim thinks it's not very productive because they are easy to trick.
*The only reliable way to measure effectiveness is to measure the result.
[44:10] Recruitment Strategy Behind Revenue Growth
*Working remotely is one of their wild cards. It’s their way to compete with big tech companies who hunt the best programmers.
*It allows them to hire from any city in any country.
*They post jobs and get most of their candidates in LinkedIn and Upwork.
*JivoChat is a messenger tool helping you communicate with customers and your inside team.
*With this tool, you can connect all channels to your messenger tool—your phone, your email, your live chat widget, your Facebook account, and all other possible ways of communicating with your customers.
*It optimizes your means to handle customer support and drive revenue growth.
[06:54] Launching the Company
*The company started in 2012. They currently have 130 people in their team.
*Tim built the company through bootstrapping because of his predisposition to investors.
[08:02] Customer Acquisition for Revenue Growth
*When they launched their product, Tim started engaging with his friends who have e-commerce businesses and had them try the software for free.
*His team used guerilla marketing techniques. They spammed forums for web developers and went to conferences to look for potential partners.
*They also went to marketing agencies and offered them an affiliate revenue share.
*Because of their financial situation, they took actions that do not require considerable investment in marketing.
[09:30] Guerilla Marketing for Revenue Growth
*Times are changing, and what worked before may not work now.
*You can still try guerilla marketing when beginning a business. But Tim believes the window of opportunity is closing because businesses now offer much better products at a much cheaper price.
[11:06] Marketing Strategy Behind Revenue Growth
*Tim thinks they can do better with content marketing like social media and building communities.
*JivoChat’s initial growth is due to organic traffic through “Powered by JivoChat” links and word of mouth.
*They have an effective freemium model.
*Their goal is to get as many free users as possible and then show them the value of the premium version.
[15:07] Live Chat Software for Revenue Growth
*JivoChat is more than just about communications. It helps business owners facilitate revenue growth and support processes through a CRM system integrated into their messenger.
*They can do follow-ups, set reminders, monitor funnel statuses of the customers looking at the CRM reports, and assign leads to their sales or support team.
[17:29] JivoChat’s Call to Action
*The Powered by JivoChat link serves as a sign-up button. It goes to the sign-up page directly without any other distractions.
*On the front page, it just shows what the product is and what solutions it can offer.
*When potential customers enter their email address, they will get a premium trial followed by a limited-time free version. They have two weeks to try out the premium version, and then they get switched to the free version.
[20:22] How Jivo Chat’s Email Funnel Drives Revenue Growth
*After the sign-up, subscribers will get three or four letters telling them about the different features they can use.
*The 14-day trial aims to get them to use the product. They remind users to install the code on their site, as well as download and install the app on the user’s computer and phone.
*On the 14th day, they usually get the peak of payments.
*JivoChat’s sales team contacts users with activity on their accounts, installed widgets, downloaded apps, and chats with customers five to seven days before the trial period finishes.
[20:48] Working with an Inside Sales Team
*Tim ran an experiment where he got a group of six people to only call prospective accounts.
*They sorted the prospects using metrics like the number of site visitors, chats, agent accounts they have on their system.
*His team noticed the speed of growth of paid accounts has doubled since then.
*They ask people to leave their phone number during the sign-up process. But they did not make it a mandatory question. For the rest of the customers, their inside sales team just went to the prospect’s website and got their numbers.
[24:36] Building An Inside Sales Team for Revenue Growth
*He asked someone who had experience in building such teams. It started as a project.
*He entered into a contract with him and paid him, but the amount was not substantial. They just agreed that he would receive a bonus based on the increase in sales.
*The project ran for 4 to 5 months. The guy he hired built a model for the sales team and gave them the tactics and the exact scripts to follow.
*Currently, his inside sales team is dispersed around the world.
[31:21] Compensation Structures for Sales Teams
*They have a formula with three coefficients: K1, K2, and K3
*The first coefficient is the conversion rate from the leads assigned to a manager.
*The second one is the conversion rate by the revenue per lead.
*The third one is the average number of seats sold to customers.
*Listen to the full episode for more details on how to compute the compensation!
[37:21] Managing His Teams Remotely
*Tim’s employees are spread throughout the globe. He believes they need not be in the same room to be effective.
*He puts his trust in his employees. When they saw that he trusted them, they trusted him in return.
*They organized processes for their remote teams to work with and introduced a couple of rules to follow. They also have a basic hygiene of working remotely.
*He also has a Tech Bonus Program where programmers receive prizes for giving exciting presentations for the team about the technology they have learned or a problem they solved.
[42:36 ] Results-Oriented Productivity
*They don’t use any remote screen control tools. Tim thinks it's not very productive because they are easy to trick.
*The only reliable way to measure effectiveness is to measure the result.
[44:10] Recruitment Strategy Behind Revenue Growth
*Working remotely is one of their wild cards. It’s their way to compete with big tech companies who hunt the best programmers.
*It allows them to hire from any city in any country.
*They post jobs and get most of their candidates in LinkedIn and Upwork.