LYRASIS + EBQ
EBQ sets sales meetings & generates awareness in a new market for collections management software.
The Challenge
Before working with EBQ, LYRASIS had not focused on active sales outreach for CollectionSpace, an open-source collections management software they offer. Instead, sales relied largely on word of mouth and a passive inbound approach.
As their business model evolved, the need for more direct sales outreach emerged. LYRASIS was experienced in selling to the libraries market, but when it came to the museum market, they needed to generate market awareness for CollectionSpace.
“Beyond lead generation, the side goal was creating market awareness, not only for the software but the end-user advantages of working within an open-source technology infrastructure also,” said Lisa Larson, Senior Director of Outreach & Engagement at LYRASIS.
The Solution
LYRASIS hired EBQ for Data and Appointment Setting. EBQ provided a complete Appointment Setting department for the project, including a Consultant, Project Manager, and sales development representative.
The partnership began with a series of meetings involving the LYRASIS and CollectionSpace teams, EBQ’s Consultant, Mindy, and Project Manager, April. During these kick-off meetings, LYRASIS and EBQ defined where CollectionSpace stood in the market, what the software does, who the competitors were, and why people would want to adopt CollectionSpace.
The LYRASIS team provided a list of target accounts to get started, and EBQ’s Data Specialists built out the list with job titles and contacts at each museum.
The first couple weeks of the project were spent iterating the messaging that their EBQ SDR, Brennan, would use when speaking with prospects. He made calls and took note of pushback and objections, so LYRASIS and EBQ could then collaborate to create a better script and better talking points.
“Over the past couple of months it’s been pretty steady. He’s been calling and setting up meetings, and we’ve been taking it from there. I think we settled on a really nice place where we felt like Brennan, April, and Mindy really understood where we were and what we needed,” said CollectionSpace Program Manager Megan Forbes.
EBQ’s appointment setting team made sure LYRASIS knew why a meeting wasn’t set, annotating each interaction with relevant information like budgetary objections, competitor software already in use, and prospects who need to be followed up with next year.
“Beyond the meetings that were set up, all the intel from the call notes that Brennan took are super helpful for us as we think about positioning and what specific markets we want to go through,” said Forbes.
The Results
Over the course of the project, EBQ made contact with 300-350 museum organizations. Roughly 10% of those interactions resulted in a sales meeting, enabling the CollectionSpace team to have meaningful conversations with 30-35 organizations about the collections management software.
“Out of those 30-35 sales meetings, we could see about half of those turning into a sale. For us, given that it was a complete cold call situation, the numbers are great,” said Forbes.
“From my perspective, because this was my first time working with EBQ, I consider the results exceptional. They’re the same sort of statistics I would expect to see from an in-house effort, from a team that was already familiar with the software, organization, and marketplace,” said Larson.
“This project that we worked on with EBQ not only helped us with lead generation, but also created that market awareness,” added Larson. “EBQ allowed us to shorten the ramp time. We would have gotten there eventually, but we needed to get there quickly. And that’s what EBQ helped us do.”
EBQ Helps LYRASIS Get Meetings With Relevant Leads
From my perspective, because this was my first time working with EBQ, I consider the results exceptional. They’re the same sort of statistics I would expect to see from an in-house effort, from a team that was already familiar with the software, organization, and marketplace.
LYRASIS + EBQ
EBQ sets sales meetings & generates awareness in a new market for collections management software.
