Increased Lead Conversion Rates from 0% to 400% for a Seed B2B Startup

"That's the reason we hired an SDR - to bring in new business as we hit a rut with our old way of reaching out to people. Now we are currently talking to five major utilities and more people are saying they are familiar with us at events due to our improved top-of-funnel strategy."

-VP, Business Development at Enerlytics

01 — Project details

Company: Enerlytics (Confidential)

Industry: Renewable Energy

Role: Founding Sales Development Representative (SDR)

Duration: January 2023 - March 2024

01 — Challenge

Before bringing on a sales development representative, Enerlytics faced challenges and some bottlenecks in new business generation and sales outreach. As the first and only SDR, I was tasked with building and optimizing the sales process from the ground up. The company had minimal brand recognition. Additionally, the sales team, including Account Executives (AEs), was spending a disproportionate amount of time on prospecting and outreach, leaving less time for nurturing and closing deals.

03 — Objectives

1. Increase lead conversion rates by implementing effective and up-to-date outreach strategies.

2. Enhance brand recognition within the target market, particularly among utilities.

3. Optimize the sales process to allow the sales team to focus on nurturing and closing deals further in the pipeline, and to have a seamless established system for future SDRs.

4. Contribute to meeting the company’s yearly revenue goals through new business acquisition.

04 — Strategy/Execution

Personalized Outreach Tactics:

• Developed targeted email campaigns for energy industry decision-makers, addressing specific pain points for risk and portfolio managers.

• Leveraged LinkedIn and in-person events to establish connections and engage with prospects.

Sales Automation Tools:

• Integrated tools like Apollo.io to automate tasks such as email follow-ups and lead tracking.

• Created automated sequences to maintain consistent communication without overwhelming the sales team.

Optimized Sales Process:

• Worked with AEs to streamline the sales funnel, focusing on strategic account planning to reduce prospecting time and advance leads more efficiently.

Brand Awareness Initiatives:

• Used industry events to boost brand visibility, with pre-event campaigns to familiarize attendees with Enerlytics and encourage in-person meetings.

• Targeted a key industry segment with focused campaigns, improving engagement and brand recognition.

03 — Results

• Achieved a 400% increase in lead conversion rates, transforming the pipeline from virtually zero conversions to a consistent flow of qualified opportunities.

• Notable increase in brand awareness within the energy sector, particularly among utility companies. Prospects at industry events began recognizing Enerlytics, attributing their familiarity to the outreach efforts.

• AEs reported a significant reduction in the time spent on prospecting, allowing them to focus more on nurturing and closing deals. This contributed directly to meeting the company’s annual revenue goals.

• Successfully brought in more utility companies as clients, a key target market for Enerlytics, significantly expanding the company’s client base in this sector.