Who is Couchbase?
Couchbase is a powerful database for building web, mobile & IoT applications, and has won a reputation as a performance and scalability leader among NoSQL vendors. Based in the United States, Couchbase works with global clients such as Amadeus, eBay, Marriott, Criteo, General Electric, PokémonGO, LinkedIn and many others.
Predictive Leads Help Pierce a New Market
Vincent Gonnot initially began talks with IKO while working at his previous company. After a change in top management, priorities shifted and the IKO project was put on hold - for the time being. However, Vincent was so convinced that IKO would increase productivity and pipeline that he recontacted them in his new position as Sales Director at Couchbase. Couchbase, too, saw the value of IKO’s lead scoring technology, opting for a flow of leads for the French market.
During the first year of use, IKO helped Vincent acquire new business in three main ways:
- Pure Prospection: IKO provides Vincent the right contact at the right time - a perfect aid as he was breaking into a market that was new to him. This was a much more effective method than reaching out to cold contacts through databases, personal networks, and especially LinkedIn and Viadeo.
- Account Mapping: Vincent uses IKO to get a global view of an account, find other key decision makers or employees that could directly or indirectly positively influence a business opportunity.
- Upsell/Cross-sell: In a similar vein, once one BU was convinced, Vincent was able to identify other promising ones via the IKO feed of predictive leads.
IKO proved to be a huge success, bringing in a significant amount of new business for Couchbase. “40+ meetings came from IKO sales leads within the last year,” comments Vincent, “and IKO helped deliver 100% of my deals in various ways, whether it be through sourcing net new leads or through competitor awareness, which helped me map out my key accounts” adds Vincent. Overall, Couchbase built a +700K$ ACV pipeline with IKO predictive leads, including key accounts such as Pernod Ricard, Brinks, and Auchan.
From Manual to Automated Engagement
Up until recently, Vincent’s way of engaging with IKO leads was very manual: sending individual emails and following up with phone calls, inmails and social selling techniques. “It really takes a lot of time and a lot of discipline to get ahold of a decision-maker,” notes Vincent. “Humans by nature are going to forget sometimes, and their time is better spent actually selling. This is why we’re interested in an automated solution.”
Automated Email Engagement = Fast Growth
As a fast-growing start up, Couchbase’s sales team is charged with bringing in a significant amount of new business. Freeing up sales reps and helping them generate more meetings in the same amount of time, with the same headcount, was a very appealing idea for Vincent. As their sales team quickly grew, and as they added Italy, Spain and Belgium to their prospecting territories, increasing efficiency and hitting targets became a top priority.
Vincent therefore decided to start working with IKO’s consultants on an email engagement scenario, sent via IKO’s in-house sales automation solution. “I wanted to apply an idea important to social selling - personalisation - to an email prospecting approach” notes Vincent. They plan to continue segmenting via industry to create even more relevant email scenarios for their prospects. Vincent projects that coupling IKO’s predictive leads with automated engagement will significantly increase meeting rates, saying that he expects IKO to have, “a direct impact on +30% of my deals signed within the next 2 years.”
Overall, Vincent sees IKO as a powerful prospecting tool. “IKO significantly helps with sales team productivity. It’s operational, and helps us prospect intelligently through automation, facilitating our continued fast growth.”
