the challenge

In 2019, Black Swan Data had a solid book of services business, operating as a data-to-insights agency working with some of the world’s largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. We’d built a self-service SaaS platform, but we only had one or two customers on it and we were cycling through pilot after pilot with other prospects who didn’t convert. We’d committed to building a SaaS company, but we didn’t have a sales team or any understanding of how to sell SaaS. We had to fix this, quickly

the solution:

We brought Lee in as a consultant to work on a strategy and plan, with a brief to not require substantial capital or incur high Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). After just three weeks of observing our business, and meeting with staff, clients and prospects, Lee delivered a coherent strategy that focused on finding out why customers might buy our solution, what would drive urgency, and how we could sell for a premium. 

We trained the two sellers we already had, build a reliable pipeline generation engine and use a common language to assess and IMPROVE opportunities. Honesty, diligence, discovery, scrutiny and obsessive focus on the details would all be new but vital habits we’d need to form.

Lee thought his work was done, but we asked him to stay for three months to help execute the plan. Thankfully, he agreed and eventually joined as an employee (we call them Swans) for another two years. The results were exactly what we needed, and this was a huge morale boost, encouraging us to invest more. We developed the confidence to make key hires, making the SaaS platform our main focus. This was, in effect the trigger for Black Swan to grow aggressively and secure vital investment to fund it.

results

The endpoint of this stage was to secure growth funding in a series A round so that we could expand globally and develop the product to access new markets. We achieved that, and there were additional benefits to how Lee’s strategy helped our business.

By focussing heavily on deeply understanding our prospects’ challenges, we scoped well-thought-out proof-of-value (POV) events that not only dramatically improved our win rate, but also gave us signals to help build a better product. The unstructured pilots that we’d been running, stopped and we only worked with prospects that we’d highly qualified. This saved us a huge amount of time, effort, and money.

customer wins

The customers we won in that period included Kraft-Heinz, Coty, Henkel, Beiersdorf, Edgewell, Moët Hennessy, Heineken, Mars, Johnson & Johnson, SC Jonson, Conagra, and a global seven-figure deal with P&G. All of these customers not only renewed, but grew significantly year over year, and this was largely due to how they had been sold in the first place.

conclusion

Ultimately, our investors saw that we could scale rapidly, efficiently and sustainably. This triggered the Series A event of an $ 18 million investment round. The company continues to grow successfully.

Hugo Amos, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Black Swan Data