Natural evolution: Why we can’t continue without a sales department

Until recently, Applifting had successfully operated without a traditional sales department, which differentiated us from our competitors. But this situation has proven to no longer be sustainable and after some reconsideration, we have started building our own sales team. And because we are a free company built on transparency, honesty, and a no-bullshit culture, we are sharing the reasons that led us to make such a big change.

How did we do things before? Our gurus--the most experienced developers and solution architects, who understand the craft and speak the client's language without business jargon--had been negotiating with clients. But from the moment we stepped up our marketing game and started working on lead generation campaigns, it became clear that we couldn't continue without sales anymore. We consulted with the gurus, which resulted in us deciding to rethink our approach to sales. 

When we asked the gurus what their least favourite task in the entire customer acquisition process was, lead generation came out on top. They’d always naturally focused on the later stages of working with clients, when trust was established and clients already knew what they wanted. It is at this point that gurus can fully impart their deep expertise when tackling a particular project. They much prefer to design solutions rather than write contracts or deal with the hassles of administration. And because they are often strapped for time, potential clients--whose contact details were laboriously acquired through webinars or other events--were left hanging.

The one who promotes clients' interests

Together, we’ve concluded that for our gurus to be contacting leads and dealing with contracts and other formalities is inefficient and costly for Applifting. So there was a need for someone to take on the initial stages of communicating with potential clients, contacting them, helping them out and guiding them to the right places and people, or referring them to other vendors. They would simply advocate the client's interests to Applifting and support them on their path to success.

The job of the person in this position is not to sell anything, we certainly don't want any snake oil salesmen! Their job is to find out what the customer needs, evaluate who in the market can best help them, and if it's us, connect them with the right people. They will be acting on marketing and networking leads, no cold calling involved. While our parthership developers (yes, we plan to have more than one in the future) won't be former CTOs or CEOs like our gurus, they will need to have enough technical knowledge so that talking to them won't be a waste of time for clients. We want to set up the whole process and this new role in a way that is miles away from traditional sales, while still following the same principles that Applifting breathes and lives by: a different approach to leadership, decision making, and transparency.

It's a big change for us, but we take it as a natural evolution. We thought we would be able to work with clients and leads effectively with just our gurus, but practice has proven us wrong. We believe we can handle the new situation and role without losing the thing that makes interacting with Applifting what it is. We are hopeful that this will allow us to serve more customers at the point of entry and to help them quickly understand if we're the right partner for them. 

Are you interested in working at Applifting? Learn more about this role and become our new partnership developer.