Demand Generation: +$1M Sales & Pipeline Growth in 3 Months

PolyMailersUSA, an e-commerce envelopes manufacturer and supplier located in Montreal, produces and supplies polyethylene e-commerce envelopes for online retailers across North America. The owners were looking for sales and marketing strategists to bring their company to the next level.

The Situation

The company hired Toledo Capital Advisors as it was looking to grow its business by developing its North American presence. The founders had established their online e-commerce website and were generating modest sales from online channels but they were looking for effective sales lead generation strategies to grow the pipeline and attract fortune 1000 & 500 companies. 

The Problem

Toledo first met with the owners and discuss their main market and the applications of their product. From there, Toledo analyze interactions and sales cycles with smaller accounts provided by the Management team to understand buyer profiles. With trial and error, Toledo came to the conclusion that small-medium online retailers provided an appropriate avenue for growth, but large traffic volume figures were needed for eCommerce operations to take off. Toledo saw an opportunity to target 50 Fortune 1000 & 500 companies to supply mailers via long-term partnerships. This required an Account-Based Marketing (ABM) approach to sales & marketing to really drive revenues. 

The Solution

Toledo first conducted a deep dive market research & insights from customers and competitors. Product research, customer surveys & competitor intelligence enabled Toledo to craft a strategy that would make PolyMailersUSA's envelopes more competitive. 

Modifications 

Modifications to the existing mailers made were adding a double adhesive (secondary closure) to the mailers to allow the customers' customer to return clothing they no longer wanted or use the mailer as a method for sending clothes to third party charitable organizations. This presented the added value to companies to market the bags as a CSR campaign. 

With the growing concerns of the use of plastic, we suggested that all envelopes had certified on them that materials used to fabricate the mailers were made with 100% recycled materials.  

Finally, Toledo identified a growth opportunity for PolyMailersUSA to supply kraft (paper)  envelopes.

To market the mailers, we used a combination of direct cold calling and personalized emailing to drive the pipeline. 

The Results

Once the final touches on the envelopes were made, Toledo identified strategic target accounts, the value proposition and fired away. To date, Toledo created  +$1M in additional sales backlog and in current discussions to supply the largest online retailers in North America and the world. 

Value

• Increased the competitiveness of existing mailers with added features and functionalities.
• Delivered communication procedures and faster timelines for quote creation.
• Created +$1M in sales pipeline in 3 short months and deals currently under review for approval.
• Generated RFQ for 2.4M kraft mailers, ~ $900,000.00 (repeat orders).

Marvin Garellek, Co-Founder PolyMailersUSA:

We weren’t only able to successfully open the door for new prospects, but we started receiving quotations to fill our pipeline and generating orders to grow our business. The pipeline mattered the most to me. I didn’t want 100 companies that had 5,000 sales; I wanted ten companies to do a couple hundred thousand in sales. Within three months, Adam built the pipeline to $1 million.

The Client

Making Your Life Easier (MYLE) is a Montreal-based startup founded by three entrepreneurs with a mission of providing homeowners the gift of time by managing their personal assets. 

The Problem

MYLE hired TCA for advice on setting up a business plan, defining its target market, creating a sustainable business model and outlining a successful marketing strategy.

The Solution

Toledo first crafted a business plan based on the ultimate passions and goals of the entrepreneurs. We defined what the team's passion was - what value they wanted to provide to consumers which preceded their company name "Making Your Life Easier". They wanted to provide an easier lifestyle to households from the click of a button. No need to worry about your landscaping, fixing a rooftop, cleaning your rooms and such. Ultimately, their goal was to provide leisure to consumers via the gift of time. 

We then defined what offering the team can currently excel at and what they cannot at this point of time. This commenced the phase of defining their Minimum Viable Service Offering - cleaning services. Cleaning services presented an easy way to establish trust with the test market, such that a quality cleaning of the household would enable consumers to eventually order other services for their homes.

Consequently, we defined what the company could not be the best at today - which was being the ultimate full-service provider in the market. This enabled the founders to focus on what works right now and pivot their strategy where needed as more consumer data (surveys, reviews, repeat orders) came to fruition.  Lastly, it enabled us to define and track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are crucial to the success of the business while aligned with their value proposition.

Once the foundations of MYLE were established, we advised on establishing the business model: Is it a one-time transaction model? Would a subscription model be more appropriate? What working capital levels are necessary to service the business? 

Once the business model was established, we needed to derive a marketing strategy that was directly relevant to MYLE's target market. Our first step was creating three different buyer personas, with emphasis on what were their needs, how do they make a purchase decision & how they consumed information. 

Once personas were created, we identified 2 mediums to connect with our audience: Direct Mail campaigns in selected neighborhoods and social media (Instagram) campaigns.

The Value

• Client reached +$25,000 in pre-sales in the first 2 months of operations.
• MYLE reports Toledo's demand generation program resulted in $50,000 actual sales at FY2020.
• MYLE continues to designate Toledo Capital as the driver for its early success. 
• Client continues to refer to Toledo Capital as their preferred marketing consultants of choice.

Paul Vital, Founder of MYLE

Toledo brought MYLE to the next level. His demand generation program & marketing advice were the the key to unlocking $25,000 in pre-sales in our 2 months pre-launch phase & $50,000 in new actual sales by end of FY2020.