QUARTERLY FACILITATION-TAKEN TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL!
Darmstetter is out to prove “Salesby5” delivers
San Antonio Business Journal, 7/13/2007, Marketing & Media, Andi Rodriguez
In the age of the branding blitz and the PR pitch, it’s easy to get caught up in the glamour and the hype of marketing. But the million dollar question remains: Did it help your company make the sale? Erik Darmstetter’s company, Sales by 5, addresses that question by teaching companies how to dramatically increase sales via good customer service and by listening to the client.
Darmstetter, well known as co-founder and former CEO of local ad agency Creative link, began Sales by 5 in 2002, to creatively address a need he saw many clients facing -the inability to sell more effectively, from the inside out.
“Many companies with a great product skirt the issue of sales and don’t know how to sell well-and don’t like it,” he explains. “They want to design or help brand a company, but the bottom line is really sales. I refer to it as internal branding then going external. You have to feel it before you can deliver it.”
It’s a unique, but valuable niche, no doubt. Sales by 5 is the only featured company in the United States as a part of Eureka Ranch’s Team Eureka!- the inventors of products such as Swiffer, Febreze and the American Express Centurion (Black) Card.
But why the name “Sales by 5?” Darmstetter explains: “In 22-plus years in business, I have seen where companies and organizations both go through times where no matter how many people they have working on ’stuff,’ they still needed sales and they need them fast. I saw this most severely after 2000 and 2001 market downturns. We had many companies that could blink and sell something prior and now it was more important than ever to sell smarter and sell more by 5 p.m. each day.”
Darmstetter stresses the need for great customer service.
“It’s like a restaurant having salt and pepper,” he quips. “You can’t advertise that you offer it … it’s expected. You have to go beyond that to deliver.”
He also focuses on reducing clutter in messages given to the customer. “Communicating with clarity is key,” he explains.
The Sales by 5 client roster boasts an array of companies and their success stories, including Blue Clover, Tesoro Corp. and TMI-The Episcopal School of Texas. But the firm’s reach isn’t limited to just the traditional. A stem cell research company in Canada hired Sales by 5 to teach Ph.D.’s how to “sell” research, and the First United Methodist Church in Midland, Texas, became another client in order to learn how to increase membership and create better marketing messages.
Darmstetter and his team have worked hard and they’re proud of the progress they have fostered for both their clients and themselves. He hints at new announcements and liaisons being made and the thought of possibly branching into other areas, including nonprofits. “Everybody can benefit from a good message and great customer service,” he says.