Challenge: Ambitious Revenue Goals and Fighting wasted time

When Anthony Nava joined Crunchbase as the Senior Sales Development Manager, the company had an ambitious goal: to 3X its ARR. Even though Crunchbase has high brand recognition in the market – roughly 60% of ARR originates from inbound channels such as word of mouth and organic search – Anthony knew that ambitious goals required complementary outbound pipeline efforts.


“Initially, our reps were spending a ton of time dialing to get very minimal results. Plus, they were experiencing call reluctance and were not having the most enjoyable experience cold calling.”

The Sales Development team utilized a combination of emails and phone for outreach. The team’s iitial workflow for cold calling relied on manual tools that took reps more than an hour to get through 40 calls. Looking at this data, Anthony was on a mission to improve the team’s performance through driving efficiency. 

Orum: The AI Conversation Platform

Anthony shopped for a solution that would help his team connect with more prospects, faster. After a convincing demo, Crunchbase’s SDR team implemented Orum. Orum’s AI technology detects bad numbers, helps reps through dial trees, and parallel dial prospects. Tasks that took an hour or more each day took 15 minutes with Orum. Within a few hours of connecting to Outreach, Crunchbase’s Sales Engagement Platform, the team was already calling and having live conversations with prospects. 


“One of the fastest ways that we can generate meetings or get information is through cold calling, so that’s where we need to look for opportunities to get more efficient.”


Results: More connects, Better SDR Team Morale, and Improved Sales Culture

Anthony and his team saw immediate results. At the end of the team’s two-week pilot, the SDRs were consistently hitting their connect goals.

Coupling with investments in data quality, Crunchbase’s connect rate also improved, increasing from a 3% connect rate to 10 - 15%. Salesreps are now each averaging 8-10 connects per week, which would have taken more than two weeks in the old workflow. 



Results Spotlight:

• 400% Improvements in call productivity

• ~7 hours saved per rep per week
• 
5X Increase in # connects


“Thanks to Orum, our reps would hit 200 calls in a day, a task that previously would have taken them an entire week. That’s a 400% improvement in productivity.”

For SDRs


In 2021, Anthony’s team of 10 SDRs attained 130%+ of quota; all the more impressive, none of the reps had SaaS SDR experience prior to Crunchbase. Orum allowed the team to work out the kinks in scripts and book more meetings. Cold calling prospects was no longer a mundane task, but one that can be worked through easily while building new relationships and conversation skills.



For SDR Managers


Anthony feels proud of the SDR team culture at Crunchbase. Not only are reps achieving, but they are also growing in their skills in cold calling as they get more experience on the phone, and are more committed to Crunchbase as a company.

“With Orum, My team lead and I feel better about call coaching. Orum makes it very easy to search conversations and find out the outcome. Our call coaching– individually and as a team– is happening more often. As a result, reps are learning, building off feedback, and getting better.“

The team now sees cold calling as a surefire way to build relationships with prospects. Anthony and other leaders are also better enabled to coach calls through Orum’s features for listening in on and recording calls. Crunchbase reps spend substantial time in Orum each day and recognize how much Orum has helped the team reach its pipeline goals.