Going Global: Week two
Our journey of international expansion
Ahh, the start of the school year. Parents everywhere are breathing Ahh’s of relief, while teachers… let’s just say Ahh’s of another kind. For me, the start of school has meant I’ve finally been able to get my itchy feet into schools all across NSW, Australia.
That’s right, this week has been the start of my sales endeavours.
And in my experience, the path to inbound sales is through direct sales. Sure we’re all looking at getting to that tipping point as fast as we can, but it’s not an instantaneous thing. Growth may come organically, but not at the pace you desire. I consider direct sales a powerful growth coefficient, and more importantly one that is within your control. People often look for new and novel ways to drive traffic to their site, but like many others, I believe in the old school approach.
It’s a numbers game, and not one for the feint hearted.
Over the last week I’ve been locked out of my gmail account three times due to ‘an irregular volume of emails being sent and received’, I’ve spent almost 270 minutes on the phone with strangers, and I’ve been into more than 20 schools. I’ve walked a total of 58.36km, spent more than $40 on bus and train fares, and I’ve become quite familiar with the words ‘no’, and the phrase ‘busy right now’. I’ve refined my pitch around three dozen times and have questioned myself hundreds more.
But I’ve also heard that magical word ‘yes’.
I’m not a saleswoman by nature. For those of you who know me you’d back this up. I’m awkward, irregular, and too transparent. In fact I despise the notion of sales people. They evoke images of ill-fitting suits, well-greased hair, and commission at all costs mentalities. Selling goes against my personal grain as the practice of it often revolves around convincing and the blurring the line between needs and wants. Rather than sell, my approach is to assess actual needs. To be honest I don’t want someone using my product if from the outset it’s clear it’s not going to work longterm. We’re wasting each others time. I’d rather understand their circumstances to be confident that Banqer would benefit their classroom situation and curriculum requirements.
This means a lot of questions, and in some instances leaving a meeting before I even explain Banqer.
It may seem wasteful, but think about it; we’re a SaaS product. Retention is key and economically it doesn’t stack up for us to waste large amounts of time on low quality leads. Instead with our mindset we know when someone starts Banqer, they’ll be hanging around for a while. On top of that, we know they’re really going to enjoy it, and in turn they also start spinning the inbound wheel a bit faster through their referrals.
I guess it’s the old adage; quality over quantity.
So what kind of quantities does a quality first approach result in? I’m proud to say that after a week on the ground more than 400 Australian school students are now using Banqer. As for their teachers I’m confident that this is going to make their teaching lives easier and more enjoyable as well. I’ve met some truly inspiring Australian educators who are already injecting their creativity into the platform, using Banqer differently to anything I’ve seen before.
So for all the “no’s”, and even that one “how did you get in here?” I’m still motivated to get up and do it all again this week.
And if you want to give me a hand, you can too. If you believe in Banqer as an education tool that prepares kids for the financial world ahead of them, share it with any Australian educators and parents you might know. It might save me an hours worth of pavement pounding in 37 degree heat.
