how we multiplied our reach rates (+ a lesson for lean startups)

Years ago we used to run an sales outsourcing company. We eventually were running the sales operations for hundreds of venture backed startups in Silicon Valley. But we ran into a problem: [We couldn't reach enough prospects](W4Gjqgf3fmLDyW6njll-3wK22f0/*W3ZJ7H57hF444W8VJWb56twJnz0/5/f18dQhb0S5ft9c-jvnW8GGVL44T_wzTN64Jw1ddDWqzVsd1vt1SddPTW53DQ4N5nY8r9W8-xQQ-54WVWqW8XlR6q4c37hqW54q26q558NQRW4L9HBw4yc3CTW4Dl4vq49vSnFW3C8dfB2HGNb9W2HGMS830yKH2W4rxRfL5kqbLBW26_NxQ24ZwhVW6BrqyW24SS1zW1Q45jc6Gm3FMW2wR6YR5T094wN17KZ8yW2CYxM-vlzgXxv49W6hQPqx7ndhV6W8l_H2z33_rp1W7MlXyW47YlYyW4bfcHb47r3m8W37RhqR5V0wJYW3l6c9r5gW0NfW2KSp1S4yt9qZW26PXJS7ZzDyKW7GLjPj2LG_JSW269Qzd1mpXjNW1Ydzjx1Hmlf4W6BBLJ17QYDwTW7n3Q5V7050QbW1mjytn7sSrP0W7PX0th7h0p2fW6Ct99D6MqHJcW7XNJ3v1gt-ySW248qZk88gkt9W7zNlft1W8-RbW7gXNq0263PmfW7WwqP-62VPYhW7GH1_r7dn0gbW7L39fK7PyQsjW4KfDzc72Vb_sMrPpMvrJh2DW6n1JKp4kvvxdMyqXYPQ_f1KW61lPZv25bHLCW4qtjXQ9f2vDgV4728z85tbKrW9bFM4x78WM3SW87Gf2M7D7HxjW1Dy_KC32DK_0f6crj3604) without hiring A LOT more salespeople. And hiring a lot more sales people is very expensive—especially if you have to seasonally scale your sales team up or down. So we considered solving this problem with technology. But the technology we needed didn't exist. And building it ourselves would have been very expensive. So we used [IBMs surprisingly simple lean business hack to build an MVP](W4Gjqgf3fmLDyW6njll-3wK22f0/*W5h5dh38STbFkVGCWpH14mVjl0/5/f18dQhb0S5ft9c-jvnW8GGVL44T_wzTN64Jw1ddDWqzVsd1vt1SddPTW53DQ4N5nY8r9W8-xQQ-54WVWqW8XlR6q4c37hqW54q26q558NQRW4L9HBw4yc3CTW4Dl4vq49vSnFW3C8dfB2HGNb9W2HGMS830yKH2W4rxRfL5kqbLBW26_NxQ24ZwhVW6BrqyW24SS1zW1Q45jc6Gm3FMW2wR6YR5T094wN17KZ8yW2CYxM-vlzgXxv49W6hQPqx7ndhV6W8l_H2z33_rp1W7MlXyW47YlYyW4bfcHb47r3m8W37RhqR5V0wJYW3l6c9r5gW0NfW2KSp1S4yt9qZW26PXJS7ZzDyKW7GLjPj2LG_JSW269Qzd1mpXjNW1Ydzjx1Hmlf4W6BBLJ17QYDwTW7n3Q5V7050QbW1mjytn7sSrP0W7PX0th7h0p2fW6Ct99D6MqHJcW7XNJ3v1gt-ySW248qZk88gkt9W7zNlft1W8-RbW7gXNq0263PmfW7WwqP-62VPYhW7GH1_r7dn0gbW7L39fK7PyQsjW4KfDzc72Vb_sMrPpMvrJh2DW6n1JKp4kvvxdMyqXYPQ_f1KW61lPZv25bHLCW4qtjXQ9f2vDgV4728z85tbKrW9bFM4x78WM3SW87Gf2M7D7HVgW1Dy_KC8jr9BSf6crj3604). (I know, IBM is probably the last company that comes to mind when you think lean startup. But they actually did this in the 1980's—decades before lean startups were even a thing.) Doing [this](W4Gjqgf3fmLDyW6njll-3wK22f0/*W6gvvMJ8Mrjp2W6VxgXp8Nqf0y0/5/f18dQhb0S5ft9c-jvnW8GGVL44T_wzTN64Jw1ddDWqzVsd1vt1SddPTW53DQ4N5nY8r9W8-xQQ-54WVWqW8XlR6q4c37hqW54q26q558NQRW4L9HBw4yc3CTW4Dl4vq49vSnFW3C8dfB2HGNb9W2HGMS830yKH2W4rxRfL5kqbLBW26_NxQ24ZwhVW6BrqyW24SS1zW1Q45jc6Gm3FMW2wR6YR5T094wN17KZ8yW2CYxM-vlzgXxv49W6hQPqx7ndhV6W8l_H2z33_rp1W7MlXyW47YlYyW4bfcHb47r3m8W37RhqR5V0wJYW3l6c9r5gW0NfW2KSp1S4yt9qZW26PXJS7ZzDyKW7GLjPj2LG_JSW269Qzd1mpXjNW1Ydzjx1Hmlf4W6BBLJ17QYDwTW7n3Q5V7050QbW1mjytn7sSrP0W7PX0th7h0p2fW6Ct99D6MqHJcW7XNJ3v1gt-ySW248qZk88gkt9W7zNlft1W8-RbW7gXNq0263PmfW7WwqP-62VPYhW7GH1_r7dn0gbW7L39fK7PyQsjW4KfDzc72Vb_sMrPpMvrJh2DW6n1JKp4kvvxdMyqXYPQ_f1KW61lPZv25bHLCW4qtjXQ9f2vDgV4728z85tbKrW9bFM4x78WM3SW87Gf2M7D7HJPW1Dy_KC1V56gjf6crj3604) allowed us to figure out if building the tool would actually be worth it. The results of our little experiment were extremely surprising: Not only was building [a tool to increase our reach rates](W4Gjqgf3fmLDyW6njll-3wK22f0/*W79_MkT4rqgSTW1sxZWR7gtmsn0/5/f18dQhb0S5ft9c-jvnW8GGVL44T_wzTN64Jw1ddDWqzVsd1vt1SddPTW53DQ4N5nY8r9W8-xQQ-54WVWqW8XlR6q4c37hqW54q26q558NQRW4L9HBw4yc3CTW4Dl4vq49vSnFW3C8dfB2HGNb9W2HGMS830yKH2W4rxRfL5kqbLBW26_NxQ24ZwhVW6BrqyW24SS1zW1Q45jc6Gm3FMW2wR6YR5T094wN17KZ8yW2CYxM-vlzgXxv49W6hQPqx7ndhV6W8l_H2z33_rp1W7MlXyW47YlYyW4bfcHb47r3m8W37RhqR5V0wJYW3l6c9r5gW0NfW2KSp1S4yt9qZW26PXJS7ZzDyKW7GLjPj2LG_JSW269Qzd1mpXjNW1Ydzjx1Hmlf4W6BBLJ17QYDwTW7n3Q5V7050QbW1mjytn7sSrP0W7PX0th7h0p2fW6Ct99D6MqHJcW7XNJ3v1gt-ySW248qZk88gkt9W7zNlft1W8-RbW7gXNq0263PmfW7WwqP-62VPYhW7GH1_r7dn0gbW7L39fK7PyQsjW4KfDzc72Vb_sMrPpMvrJh2DW6n1JKp4kvvxdMyqXYPQ_f1KW61lPZv25bHLCW4qtjXQ9f2vDgV4728z85tbKrW9bFM4x78WM3SW87Gf2M7D7J2MW1Dy_KC4PFFS3f6crj3604) worth it. After looking at the numbers, it became shockingly obvious that not building the tool would be nothing but stupid. It would be a huge missed opportunity that could totally change our business. So we built it. [And it did totally change our business](W4Gjqgf3fmLDyW6njll-3wK22f0/*W6fCjP473Vt8bW7H2fTZ615yxL0/5/f18dQhb0S5ft9c-jvnW8GGVL44T_wzTN64Jw1ddDWqzVsd1vt1SddPTW53DQ4N5nY8r9W8-xQQ-54WVWqW8XlR6q4c37hqW54q26q558NQRW4L9HBw4yc3CTW4Dl4vq49vSnFW3C8dfB2HGNb9W2HGMS830yKH2W4rxRfL5kqbLBW26_NxQ24ZwhVW6BrqyW24SS1zW1Q45jc6Gm3FMW2wR6YR5T094wN17KZ8yW2CYxM-vlzgXxv49W6hQPqx7ndhV6W8l_H2z33_rp1W7MlXyW47YlYyW4bfcHb47r3m8W37RhqR5V0wJYW3l6c9r5gW0NfW2KSp1S4yt9qZW26PXJS7ZzDyKW7GLjPj2LG_JSW269Qzd1mpXjNW1Ydzjx1Hmlf4W6BBLJ17QYDwTW7n3Q5V7050QbW1mjytn7sSrP0W7PX0th7h0p2fW6Ct99D6MqHJcW7XNJ3v1gt-ySW248qZk88gkt9W7zNlft1W8-RbW7gXNq0263PmfW7WwqP-62VPYhW7GH1_r7dn0gbW7L39fK7PyQsjW4KfDzc72Vb_sMrPpMvrJh2DW6n1JKp4kvvxdMyqXYPQ_f1KW61lPZv25bHLCW4qtjXQ9f2vDgV4728z85tbKrW9bFM4x78WM3SW87Gf2M7D7HD2W1Dy_KC5pCm9Nf6crj3604). In fact, I can't even imagine where we'd be now as a company if we hadn't launched that tool inside our CRM back in 2012. [Check out my latest video on the Close.io blog](W4Gjqgf3fmLDyW6njll-3wK22f0/*W4MBZcx65bnw2W5Xc53k2RlkpM0/5/f18dQhb0S5ft9c-jvnW8GGVL44T_wzTN64Jw1ddDWqzVsd1vt1SddPTW53DQ4N5nY8r9W8-xQQ-54WVWqW8XlR6q4c37hqW54q26q558NQRW4L9HBw4yc3CTW4Dl4vq49vSnFW3C8dfB2HGNb9W2HGMS830yKH2W4rxRfL5kqbLBW26_NxQ24ZwhVW6BrqyW24SS1zW1Q45jc6Gm3FMW2wR6YR5T094wN17KZ8yW2CYxM-vlzgXxv49W6hQPqx7ndhV6W8l_H2z33_rp1W7MlXyW47YlYyW4bfcHb47r3m8W37RhqR5V0wJYW3l6c9r5gW0NfW2KSp1S4yt9qZW26PXJS7ZzDyKW7GLjPj2LG_JSW269Qzd1mpXjNW1Ydzjx1Hmlf4W6BBLJ17QYDwTW7n3Q5V7050QbW1mjytn7sSrP0W7PX0th7h0p2fW6Ct99D6MqHJcW7XNJ3v1gt-ySW248qZk88gkt9W7zNlft1W8-RbW7gXNq0263PmfW7WwqP-62VPYhW7GH1_r7dn0gbW7L39fK7PyQsjW4KfDzc72Vb_sMrPpMvrJh2DW6n1JKp4kvvxdMyqXYPQ_f1KW61lPZv25bHLCW4qtjXQ9f2vDgV4728z85tbKrW9bFM4x78WM3SW87Gf2M7D7H-0W1Dy_KC1jPBh0f6crj3604), where I share the whole story with you, and how you can apply it to your own business. Go get'em! Steli PS: In case you're wondering, I'm talking about a predictive dialer. It was a very basic, rudimentary version of the Predictive Dialer we've just recently launched for our customers. You can [try it out for yourself with a 14-day free trial here](W4Gjqgf3fmLDyW6njll-3wK22f0/*W4GvqyY1hZX2dW2MWMvD7NSvl-0/5/f18dQhb0S5fq9c-kQvW8GGVL44T_wzTN64Jw1ddDWqzVsc_nJ1SddPTN53DQ4NJz-MnW5l-1nh33Gpy9W8-tPTB8W1BwgW8Jn2B85pXSJCVHG7r-4c2Rr9W3ZHs5n54SnJxW4d22hk31lZKGN1DWTtBtj3rxW4vgKM13WqF_mN8S3yR5bXTdJW6G7XXZ1nk4sTVbpTbf95Q1YCW72rPtP7JZGRHW7lcT9F7vP_crW7sxRNk64jnqGW3Htl1d24PsFfW25NC1g8JQ9x_W625bx16Gj8TSW6bx_M81fdmXTW2yqHm45m3ZCxW7Vv5kc7WgkRxW7DM3TH3qk4rWW403tVS3vbpkwW6n5dqK6Vx2HvW3QLh-x64KG2ZW5vvS8-47Mjw8W6vz5lG4LbSVCW2nX3c-2TRN8JW3btQC666m9dvW3vqynd36pCcKW3JX4mr5Jbx_7W3VNPQg6nFnsTW2yl0LJ3bZFk0W5bZS832HBdfyW5TnNxJ332JLyW3g9fHB2X86SJW6yLyMP70b_6GW2MghpL6Pc2NRVJBGmY11rnNbV4Vjjn6PhsFsW6hz8D64JQc61W6tNcFD2L5GhqW8kPg-q7g_JTVW89cXGb45LZp5W4zSSd63vwVklW4y2y4-2dBpXnMtJCL43_BWKf6NpLH411). Close.io PO Box 7775 #69574 San Francisco, CA 94120-7775 You can manage your [email preferences]( anytime.