Vaisto turns dumb devices into smart ones
Vaisto (Vaisto Solutions Oy) is a Finnish software and services company based in Tampere, Finland, focusing on industrial IoT. They are a top team from Tampere, whose core competence is making dumb industrial devices smart and sentient. In practice, Vaisto's services are divided into software engineering services, industrial AI and analytics, and IoT solutions.
The starting point: Vaisto sales needed focus and power
Marko Luomanaho and his team had considered various options for developing sales. Hiring his own salesperson would be a possibility at some point, but it would be a big investment. You don't meet good IT salespeople every day. In addition, there are several factors that can go wrong when recruiting a salesperson. The risk was not to put all the eggs in one basket (the vendor), but to find a solution that would fit well with the company's situation and stage of development.
The company's business was already well established, with a turnover of almost EUR 2 million. The company's own networks were relatively familiar with Vaisto and its service offerings. New customer relationships had to be opened up, and the existing team was no longer able to do this.
We had very good collaboration with Sellai. Nice people with very professional approach to sales. I can strongly recommend!Marko Luomanaho
02/2023
Vaisto Solutions Oy / TAMPERE
"The traditional appointment booking service was not a good option for us. Simply adding the front end of the sales funnel is not a sensible use of resources. In our experience, the emphasis in sales and project start-ups was always on expert discussion from the first call. It can be talked through over the phone and one meeting does not bring a sale. We didn't want to outsource just one step of the sales process, but a partner who would help us build good customer relationships. " - Marko Luomanaho, Sales & Operations, Vaisto
Marko Luomanaho (Sales & Operations) knew from previous experience that developing Vaisto's sales requires expertise, perseverance and a solution-oriented approach.
The traditional approach of booking meetings in bulk did not make sense, as the target group of genuinely potential customers was limited. Building awareness and trust was more important. In this type of business, sales must be consultative and actively build a relationship with the customer, taking into account their needs.
The instinct had grown to the point where the founders' own time and focus was no longer sufficient to acquire new customers. Servicing, recruiting and communicating with existing satisfied clients required Luomanaho's main attention.
High-quality consultative sales as a service
Sellai sales agency's service model worked well for Vaisto and was unique in the market. They were able to get the sales team to take over the solution sales in an agile way. They found an active team of two expert salespeople among Sellai's sales consultants. Both Sellai sales consultants had sufficient knowledge and understanding of the industry's sales work.
Luomanaho also found it very useful that Sellai's consultants came with practical tips for improving sales processes in addition to active sales work.
The start of cooperation
The Sellai consultants' sales team helped to define Vaisto's dream customer, target group and sales process at the beginning of the collaboration. They then set up the necessary processes and tools that are still in use today in Vaisto's sales organisation.
"As part of Sellai's service model, in addition to active selling, we received know-how and practical tips on how to develop sales processes and implement the necessary modern tools." - Marko Luomanaho, Vaisto
Sellai's consultants had discussions with dream clients for a year and a half as an integral part of the Vaisto team
The close weekly cooperation between Vaisto and Sellai was based on transparent sales and cooperation. All work done was documented and reviewed every two weeks in sales reviews.
They also addressed issues and themes that emerged in the sales discussions. The sales team, made up of Vaisto and Sellaista, worked together on how to develop and guide the work.
The actual monitoring of the level of sales activity in the bi-weekly meetings did not require much time. The number of activities was constantly visible at Vaisto and cooperation was based only on the work done.
"The cooperation with Sellai was completely transparent. We didn't have to spend our own time and energy thinking about what we were paying for in this partnership." - Marko Luomanaho, Vaisto
Working together, Sellai's agents and the Vaisto team became a team, both in everyday life and at parties. Sellai sales consultants also participated in Vaisto's internal parties in Tampere.
"It felt like we were truly part of a team. Vaisto has a great team and it brings confidence to sales when you know the people personally."- Ville Louko, Sellai sales consultant on the project.
The results of the cooperation
Sellai's consultants helped to open up several new projects and client relationships in the target group Vaisto was trying to reach. In addition, Sellai helped:
- Vaisto to create an outbound sales process, which was also proven to work in practice.
- Vaisto to select and implement the tools needed to maintain the outbound sales process
- Build a documented dream client profile, which was further refined during the collaboration
- To open more than 100 conversational relationships with organisations that match Vaisto's dream customer profile.
The cooperation between Vaisto and Sellai, both in terms of the actual sales work and the building of the outbound sales model, created the conditions for Vaisto to hire its own salesperson. Vaisto was able to respond to the opportunity to hire its own experienced IT specialist salesperson when an expert already familiar to Vaisto contacted them in autumn 2022.
Based on the documented sales work done by Sellai's sales consultants on Vaisto's dream customers, it was also possible for the new person to quickly and smoothly continue his or her expert sales work on dream customers.
Preparing for the next phase of growth by keeping the dialogue between Vaisto and Sellai active
The relationship between Sellai and Vaisto is warm. Discussions between Vaisto and Sellai are steadily taking place, exploring the point at which the growth Vaisto is seeking will require more specialists in sales quickly.
A more detailed description of the client organisation:
Vaisto (Vaisto Solutions Oy) is a Finnish software and services company based in Tampere, Finland, focusing on industrial IoT. The company's services are divided into software engineering services, industrial AI and analytics solutions and industrial IoT solutions.
For software design services, Vaisto works closely with companies specialising in vehicles, machinery and industrial automation.
As an expert in industrial AI and analytics, Vaisto focuses in particular on solving business challenges in (manufacturing) industry, from data collection to machine learning models. Customer solutions combine the ability to design and deliver AI-based applications with managed deployment.
For industrial IoT solutions, Vaisto offers its customers the Velocity IoT platform and solutions tailored to their specific needs. IoT solutions are fundamentally tools to connect, collect, visualise and analyse data. The mission is to deliver simple, understandable and rapidly deployable IoT solutions.
