Sales Spotlight: Ted DeBettencourt, building sales by sharing your vision
What’s it like to be the only sales role in a growing B2B tech company?
How can you use your vision to boost sales?
Ask Ted DeBettencourt, Co-founder of Juvo Leads. He helped start a successful martech business that helps his clients get up to 35% more leads from their website.
How did his vision turn into a successful business that continues to thrive despite the current state of the world? Let’s find out.
Meet Ted, a one-man-sales-show from Boston, MA
Ted was working at a marketing agency in Cambridge when he met co-founder Nick at a coworking space. Together, the two of them developed a brilliant idea:
With the right technology, they could out-convert live web chats.
After running tests, though, Ted and Nick realized that nothing could beat live web chat.
So instead of trying to beat it, they decided to improve on it.
That was how Juvo Leads was born: A live chat system for B2C websites. Their company improves on the live chat concept by providing, not only the chat software, but also highly-trained live chat agents to answer the questions coming in from users.
And with this new company getting off the ground, Ted found himself in a sales-based role.
After four years in sales at Juvo Leads, Ted runs the operation like a pro. He’s the only sales role at the company, and he’s learned that helping people solve problems is what makes his job worthwhile.
“I had a vision,” he says, “and I needed people to see what I see.”
That said, being a one man sales team is no walk in the park.
Overcoming challenges and tasting success
Thinking on his feet and building his skills is part of Ted’s daily life.
But chasing people down to take the action they said they would is part of the job that Ted could definitely do without.
Back when Juvo Leads had just started getting its first big clients, Ted broke into the world of cold calling.
His persistence and go-getter attitude seemed to backfire: In fact, one prospect told Ted outright that he was the most annoying person in the world.
But it turns out that being the most annoying person works for Ted: That same prospect later became Juvo Leads’ third-largest client!
That's one of the reasons why we preach the power of the follow-up. Most sales reps don't follow up enough.
Of course, many businesses are now facing challenges due to the outbreak of COVID-19. So, we asked Ted how the pandemic has affected the way his business sells.
Working from home, Ted was already accustomed to using Zoom for sales calls and work meetings. But many of his clients didn’t get the hang of Zoom until the pandemic started.
“Now there are less people fumbling with Zoom because they use it more frequently,” he says.
Having a CRM that natively integrates with Zoom of course helps to manage and keep track of your Zoom meetings.
Ted’s best sales advice for junior salespeople
Now that Ted has become a total sales expert, we asked him what advice he’d give to someone who’s just starting out in sales.
His answer:
Prospect when you don’t want to pick up the phone.
For junior sales reps, cold calling can be a source of stress in sales. And it’s easy to fall into the trap of procrastinating when you should be calling.
Instead, take Ted’s advice: If you just can’t bring yourself to pick up the phone, spend some time prospecting. When done correctly, you’ll have spent the time in a productive way while you psych yourself up to do some more cold calls.
Plus, there’s another benefit to prospecting regularly.
When we asked Ted what he wished he knew early in his sales career, he said:
Keep your pipeline full.
By spending time prospecting instead of procrastinating, you can build a better sales pipeline and continually have good leads to contact.
Juvo Leads + Close: The perfect match
As co-founder, Ted has a lot of jobs on his plate. He’s in charge of operations and growth, along with his work as a salesperson for the company.
That’s why Close was the perfect solution for his sales process.
“I love having outbound calls tied with email receiving,” he says.
With Close’s Inbox, Ted can see any calls he’s missed, emails he’s received, reminders to follow up, appointments that are coming, and more!
Plus, each lead’s profile shows him all the activity he’s had with a lead, whether it’s email, call, SMS, Zoom meetings, and more.
Close is the right system for Juvo Leads’ only salesperson. Is it the right CRM for you? Take Close for a test ride to see why Ted loves it so much!
