SalesBy5 focused on shaking up traditional sales models
San Antonio Business Journal – By Donna Tuttle – March 6, 2009
It’s almost hard to imagine that Tesoro Corp., a Fortune 150 and Global 550 company, would struggle to attract workers. But three years ago the independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products hit a snag recruiting on college campuses for the first time in 25 years.
“We needed to connect with Generation Y,” says Don Young, director of talent acquisition at Tesoro. “We weren’t an indentifiable brand to that generation.”
Young interviewed marketing firms and chose SalesBy5, a San Antonio sales consulting agency that specializes in messaging, branding and marketing. Instead of designing a traditional advertising campaign, SalesBy5 first scouted and snooped career fairs and learned that corporations were boring potential recruits with cookie-cutter exhibit booths and ho-hum brochures.
“So, we attacked the project as if Generation Y was the ADD (attention deficit disorder) crowd,” says Erik Darmstetter, founder and CEO of SalesBy5.
The result was a recruiting campaign on media steroids that included: a four-color “Fuel Your Future” brochure chock full of photos and light on text; a snazzy trade-show booth with a LCD screen running videos; music on iPods; free jump drives and T-shirts. Tesoro’s management was advised to shed the suits for casual wear.
“Everyone else was giving away pens and Koozies, and they were sitting and waiting for takers,” Darmstetter says. “Tesoro had lines of potential recruits and was busy all day.”
To clinch the deal, SalesBy5 created and hosted a separate Web site (www.tsocareers.com) where students could log on and follow up with the Tesoro representatives they met.
“We learned from students that they would visit the main Web sites of these big employers after a career fair and get completely overwhelmed and lost,” Darmstetter says. “The Tesoro recruiting site catered just to that crowd and was filled with testimonials from young Tesoro workers saying things like: ‘I thought I’d be serving coffee and instead I’m doing financial analysis.’ ”
“One out of every five students came by our booth. The result was phenomenal,” Young says. “We now show off our recruiting campaign at industry associations all over the nation.”
Never mind traditional advertising and marketing plans. Today’s companies have to latch on to the one or two products or services that distinguish them and sell those strengths in a bold and brassy way. That, says Darmstetter, is the engine that runs SalesBy5. To drive home the point, SalesBy5 hands out barf bags emblazoned with the company’s mantra: “Don’t show up and throw up!”
“Ten seconds: That is how long it should take you to pique someone’s interest on what you can do for them,” Darmstetter says. “Clarity in your marketing messages (5th grade reading level) increases your odds of selling by 70 percent.”
Darmstetter has built SalesBy5’s success with a small, dedicated staff that is willing to deliver whatever it takes to get the job done. Need help decorating the office you’re trying to sell? Confused about which computers to buy? Business card costs too high? SalesBy5 will tackle and solve the problem, Darmstetter adds.
“They saved my company about $15,000 a year just in phone equipment and service alone,” says Rick Rodriguez, CEO of Magi Real Estate Services, a 160-employee firm that’s been aggressive about acquiring local properties.
Darmstetter’s right-hand man, Nan Palmero, the company’s chief inspiration officer, is a technology wunderkind who helps clients understand how to best buy and use technology and social media to cut costs and increase sales. Last week, he was blogging to clients about how to attend local Tweetups — local meetings and lunches where attendees simultaneously use microblogging tool Twitter — to meet new customers and get the word out about their business.
Anatomy of a sale
Darmstetter launched his firm in 2002 after leaving Creative Link, a San Antonio design company he founded in 1992 that built a solid reputation for its work with the San Antonio Sports Foundation and the NCAA Final Four. Creative Link was expanding to include a full-service advertising arm, and Darmstetter said his heart wasn’t in operating as a traditional ad agency.
“I didn’t want to have to sell PR and advertising services if that’s not what the client needed,” Darmstetter says. “I thought clients needed something new and fresh. I didn’t want to work with the chief marketing officers anymore. I wanted to work directly with company CEOs to make the kind of changes that have impact.”
So Darmstetter sold his share of Creative Link and fired up his BlackBerry and laptop in his home. Between 2002 and 2003, he quickly gained clients that needed help separating themselves from the pack. Darmstetter eventually leased office space at 85 N.E. Loop 410 (in 2007 moved to bigger offices within the same building), and added partner Palmero and three support assistants.
The company charges clients a monthly fee, plus expenses and now racks up sales of more than $1 million annually. Darmstetter says SalesBy5 has experienced 60 percent to 77 percent growth in revenues every year for the last six years.
The five-person team, enabled by wireless and computer technology, handles incoming and outgoing communication with the ease of a large staff. Every morning, the SalesBy5 team meets (some in person; some via phone or video) for a 9:15 a.m. huddle.
“We cover three things: news, priorities and hurdles,” Palmero says. “It ensures that everyone is on the right thing that day and brings issues front and center so we can solve them quickly.”