CompanyCam Significantly Increases Sales Call Volume with TextExpander

Brian’s secret to success

The CompanyCam app offers a simple solution for contractors to take, share, and organize job site photos. Like most rapidly-growing B2B software companies, CompanyCam relies heavily on its sales team—and high demand for their product keeps the CompanyCam sales team very busy.

Their days are full of software demos, following up on free trial sign-ups, and answering questions from prospective buyers. With so much interest in the product, the key to success for a CompanyCam salesperson often comes down to how many conversations they can have each day.

So, when Brian Deighton shared one of his secrets to successfully leading CompanyCam’s sales team in call volume, his colleagues and manager took notice.

That secret was TextExpander.

Discovering Efficiencies

TextExpander is a software tool that allows users to easily insert snippets of text and images in any application from a library of custom content shared across their team. Brian’s first experience with TextExpander was with a personal subscription, but he quickly found ways to put it to use to save time in his sales role at CompanyCam.

“Back when I first got TextExpander, we had to manually email every lead. Depending on whether I had already spoken with them or not, I would change the first line or two of the email,” Brian explained. “For example, I might start by telling them that it was nice to speak with them or let them know that I had left a voicemail for them.

“Back when I first got TextExpander, we had to manually email every lead. Depending on whether I had already spoken with them or not, I would change the first line or two of the email,” Brian explained. “For example, I might start by telling them that it was nice to speak with them or let them know that I had left a voicemail for them.

“It was simple, but having those sentences in TextExpander helped me be way more efficient because I no longer had to type the exact same thing over and over again.”

From there, Brian continued to find places where he could replace repetitive typing with TextExpander. He began to build up a library of his frequently-used content, such as text messages to users about their trials expiring, landing page links, and more. Every time he could use TextExpander, he got a little time back in his day—time he could use to make more calls.

“We make anywhere from 60 to 120 calls a day depending on how many of them involve demos. We also take a lot of notes on those calls and send a large number of text messages and emails. When you’re working with that much volume, efficiency becomes very important,” Brian said.

He estimates that with the time savings TextExpander gives him, he’s increased his call volume by about 5%. Over the course of a year, that equates to 1,000 extra calls or more. As Brian told us, “you can sell a lot of software with an extra thousand calls.”

Some of the ways CompanyCam’s sales team uses TextExpander:

• Email and SMS Signatures
• Meeting Links
• New Promotion Messages
• Landing Page Links
• Call Notes
• Call Follow-up Message Templates
• Product Update Message Templates
• Introductory Emails and
• SMS Messages

Expanding TextExpander Across the Team

As you might imagine, Brian Deighton’s extra call volume attracted attention from others at CompanyCam. So when he suggested that the sales team sign up for a trial of TextExpander’s Teams version, his manager gave the green light.

One of the salespeople that really embraced the team’s new tool was Dustin Hahn. Having joined CompanyCam just a few months prior, he was looking to his more experienced colleagues for tips and tricks. Dustin had heard Brian mention TextExpander before, so he was more than willing to give it a try—though he wasn’t yet sure it would make a difference for him.

“To be honest, I didn’t think TextExpander was going to be that much of a time saver for me, really just saving 10 seconds here and there,” Dustin remembers. “But right after we got hooked up with the trial, I fell in love with it and how much time it was actually saving me. I didn’t have to keep typing repetitive things or worry about typos because I could just hit a few keys and everything gets typed out correctly.”

Today, Dustin inserts over 1,000 snippets a month from TextExpander, giving him back an hour or two of time each month in typing alone. But TextExpander helps Dustin with more than just time savings—he also credits the tool for allowing him to have higher quality calls with prospective customers.

“Since I can insert snippets into my notes within a matter of seconds, I can really key in on listening to what prospects have to say and have higher quality conversations with them,” explains Dustin.

For him, TextExpander has become an essential tool. “If I restart my computer and forget to open TextExpander, it always reminds me how much of a pain typing is without it. I realize all over again just how much easier it makes things.”

Using TextExpander Alongside Other Sales Tools

While Dustin, Brian, and the rest of the sales team do have access to templates in other tools like Mixmax and Kixie, TextExpander provides a level of simplicity, flexibility, and customization other tools do not.

“Our role and the technology we use changes a lot because we’re a software company and we’re growing fast,” said Brian. “TextExpander allows me to adapt to those changes more quickly because I can find efficiencies in whatever systems we evolve to using.”

Not only does TextExpander work in any application, it also allows users across a team to set up their own snippets. CompanyCam believes it’s important for each of their salespeople to have a voice and find what works best for them.

“One of the things I love about TextExpander is that each of us can customize our snippets,” Brian shared. “I have some of my own that I use daily and some that I only use for specific situations, but none of them sound like automated messages.”

With each salesperson having access to shared snippets from their team and the ones they’ve customized for themselves, they can communicate authentically and effectively to prospective customers much more quickly. To Brian, that’s the key.

“There’s not a large gap in skills between the people on our sales team, but there used to be an efficiency gap. That was usually the difference between someone thriving here or not. A tool like TextExpander that can make you more efficient in a role where you get paid based on how much you sell is immensely valuable.”