Interview: what is the core business of DEVEO?

What is the core business of DEVEO?

DEVEO helps Technology Vendors selling to Telcos & Broadcasters identify qualified leads and worldwide business opportunities. These leads could then become customers. This is the core business of DEVEO, and we are an expert at lead generation.

This can be managed through arranging teleconferences throughout the year. Pre COVID-19 we also managed this through the pre-arrangement of meetings at trade-shows. Essentially, we help our clients deliver the right message to the right people.

Where do you see the biggest challenges for companies and their sales departments?

All technology vendors face the same issues:

1. Their contact database is not sufficiently updated or enriched. This only enables them to reach a small fraction of their market.
2. Getting leads is not about volume, it is about reaching out and qualifying the right decision makers. They can be converted into hot leads and ultimately customers.
3. No one in the marketing or sales department wants to be in charge of identifying new qualified leads. This is a time-consuming and repetitive task that doesn’t require any technical expertise.

What can companies do to compensate for the lack of tradeshows?

With the arrival of COVID-19, we can no longer go to tradeshows and virtual events are only gathering around 10% of the audience that a traditional tradeshow did. Yet, sales pipelines have to be filled and this period is a great opportunity to adapt to the new business reality.

1. Lead Generation and Telemarketing Programs: thanks to highly targeted email campaigns with telemarketing support we can provide you with qualified leads in less than a month.
2. Promote webinars to a quality audience of “invited only” executives. You take care of the webinar content and platform, we will promote it by email, telephone and LinkedIn.

What makes the difference between outsourced and inhouse managed lead generation?

Pros and Cons of Insourcing: The monthly cost of an Inside Sales Manager is usually cheaper, and this person has easier access to the team. However, it takes a lot of time to organise Inhouse Lead Generation and train Inside Sales Managers for success… and it is very difficult to keep them motivated for this job since they usually want to become a Sales Manager by their second year.

Pros and Cons of Outsourcing: The monthly cost is higher, but it’s more flexible to have an outsourced partner that can be operational within a few days in any language, anywhere in the world. An external database also guarantees immediate access to any kind of target (in all territories, segments and roles). Last but not least, being able to rely on experienced experts is a huge time-saving measure.

How can DEVEO help companies to grow business?

Growth only comes from new clients! You can’t solely rely on your trade-show presence, website and a busy sales team to identify new business opportunities.

DEVEO offers to deliver what companies cannot manage internally in terms of qualified leads and business contact data. For a start-up and SME, it will be mainly the capacity to identify business opportunities and schedule teleconferences or trade-show meetings with qualified leads. For a large account, it will mostly be the acquisition/update of contact data to update their database or the registration of new participants for roadshows and internal events.

Our methodology is based on selecting the best contact from our database, emailing them and following-up with a call. This is a tedious process (which explains why Sales Executives tend to give up this task) but still the best way to identify business opportunities and qualified leads among specific targets at a cost-efficient price.

Why do you think DEVEO helps companies to save money in the long run?

First of all, because the question is not how much it costs, but how much it generates. 1000€ for zero results is wasted money; 10K€ to potentially sign a contract is a good investment.

Secondly, there is no equivalent to the positive ROI that Lead Generation can generate after a few quarters:
Trade-shows are very expensive and the rate for each NEW qualified prospect often costs thousands of €’s. Advertising & Digital Marketing are well established long-term communication methods, but they don’t bring business opportunities in the same month. Hiring business consultants is quite random and they’re usually only well connected to a few CSPs.

Let’s take an example: A tradeshow budget for 50sqm stand is about 80K€. You reduce the stand space to 40sqm and reinvest what you save in a lead generation campaign. Since you are able to track the success and also to fill the tradeshow schedule with the right people, you will get more for the same budget.

Finally, more companies are now asking for pre-arranged meetings with qualified leads without a proper booth, just with a meeting room. This is much cheaper, and you still get the cream of the crop of the trade-show (meeting with potential new clients) for the best budget possible. The core business of DEVEO is to help you!