Appointment Setting for Red River
The U.S. government represents an $82 billion IT market.
That’s an incredible amount of opportunity – but the market can be difficult. Success comes only to those who can navigate fluctuating budgets, tight timing and stringent regulations to make the sale.
Yet in this complex market, Red River, a provider of IT hardware integration, maintenance and support services, has executed a sales and marketing program that resulted in $1.7 million in new business and 18 active pipeline opportunities in less than a year – by leveraging the know-how, access and speed that come with BAO’s Appointment Setting services.
In just one year, Red River's engagement with BAO drove:
Red River serves as a channel partner to a long list of elite technology companies – a “who’s who” of vendors in hardware, services and software – to provide IT products and hardware-related services to military and civilian agencies and the companies that work with them.
Red River sells exclusively to the Federal government. With more than 20 years in the business and a very seasoned sales team, the company has a strong foothold in the market. But when one of the world’s largest storage vendors invited them to engage with BAO for appointment setting services as a benefit of its partnership program, Kim Carter, Senior Alliance Partner Manager at Red River, realized that this was a new path to opportunity.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time. Federal is a finite space in terms of the number of target organizations, but the landscape within those organizations constantly grows and changes. We have incredibly solid relationships across many agencies – including the National Institutes of Health (NIH);the Air Force, Navy and Marines; the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; the Department of Homeland Security; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and more – but there are always new contacts in other departments or offices where we haven’t established a connection yet. That’s exactly where BAO fit into our strategy.”
Red River has a large sales team that includes both inside and outside reps. Carter brought in BAO as an extension of the inside team to focus on identifying and connecting with new contacts within target agencies.
There are so many companies out there who try to do this, but don’t understand how the government market works. You can’t fake it in this space – you have to know all the rules. And BAO has done their homework. They really get it.
BAO had been working with Red River’s partner company for years and had built a dedicated team of inside sales representatives (ISRs) that focused exclusively on the partner’s solutions. For Red River, this meant that they could get up and running instantly – there was no learning curve for the BAO team.
BAO knew the market. BAO knew how to position the Client’s messaging. And, powered by the industry’s most comprehensive Public Sector database, BAO knew the decision makers – and how to navigate to them.
Red River was immediately able to tap into the BAO machine to extend the reach of its inside sales organization.
To deepen Red River’s presence within existing accounts, Carter quickly deployed BAO against previously untapped groups within target agencies.
“If we win a new contract or the government mandates new technology, we have a reason to reach out to new people with different products,” she said. “So while our inside team might be talking to folks in the data center whom they know well, we’d have BAO go after fresh contacts in video surveillance, for example. The breadth and depth of BAO’s database gives the team instant access to a whole new universe of potential customers.”
Almost immediately, BAO began generating results – and the team has gone on to book nearly 200 appointments in less than a year, half of which have resulted in second sales activities.
“One of the best things about working with BAO is the fact that we really operate as a unified team,” Carter said.
“They know the industry as well as we do, so together, we’re able to tweak things in real time. If a certain angle doesn’t work in one call, we can change messaging on the fly to see what works on the next. There are so many companies out there who try to do this, but don’t understand how the government market works. You can’t fake it in this space – you have to know all the rules. And BAO has done their homework. They really get it.”
The breadth and depth of BAO’s public sector database gives the team instant access to a whole new universe of potential customers.
Based on the results of the BAO program, Red River has closed three deals totaling more than $1.7 million. And they’re actively working 18 additional opportunities, many of which are on track to close before the end of the Federal fiscal year. The response across the organization has been incredibly positive.
“These are tangible results – we can directly tie this program back to closed business,” Carter said. “On our most recent all-hands call, one of our executives spoke about the BAO campaign. He got on the line and said ‘If you’re not doing a BAO program, you need to get in touch with the marketing group to do this in your patch.’”
Carter points out that the success of the program also improves Red River’s reputation with its partner company. “With partners, our success is their success. They offered this program and we took it very seriously – plus we leveraged it to bring them business. It shows that we’re appreciative and helps us earn a bit of a gold star with them.
At BAO, we have the knowledge, contacts, and track record to help Clients maximize revenue from key Public Sector accounts. Our dedicated Public Sector practice offers the insight and expertise to uncover real, open opportunities within target accounts – from Federal agencies to state and local organizations, K-12 to higher education, or a combination of all of these.
Why do so many leading high-tech and services companies rely on BAO to expand their Public Sector footprint?
Red River is an excellent example of how BAO helps organizations effectively invest in channel partners – offering programs that provide partners with the intelligence and tools to generate more business, faster.
And Appointment Setting is just one of the many services designed to uncover real buyers within partners’ target accounts. Whether you’re working with partners to break into new markets, ramp up existing territories, or measure the viability of existing leads – BAO can help with your channel sales strategy.