Their bet paid off – Activation Systems grew steadily for years, based entirely on attendance at select trade shows and some really impressive word-of-mouth referrals. Their work was so good, clients came to them. It was a beautiful thing.

While that hard-won success supported that initial phase of the company, Activation Systems’ leadership knew their growth method wouldn’t sustain them into the future. They needed to scale, but they needed help.

They needed Predictable Revenue.

Robert Howell, Vice-President and Partner at Activation Systems, had read Predictable Revenue while pursuing his MBA, and figured he’d reach out to the people behind the book. If anyone could help them establish an outbound program, he thought Predictable Revenue could.

Because they were just dipping their toe into outbound, Activation Systems had fairly conservative expectations, and no real context for how long it takes to build an outbound machine. So, they figured if they could just sign one outbound deal over the course of a year, the experiment would have been worth it.

“We went in saying ‘let’s just try to break even on the investment,'” says Howell.

“It can take years to close a deal in our industry. But we started seeing positive responses in our second month working with Predictable Revenue. By month four we knew that we could expect meetings every single week.”

“At the end of the day, we’re a somewhat small business and, for us, if we can break even on it than that would have been good enough for an experiment. I mean, if we can’t land one client, then we have bigger problems with our company.”

What they got far exceeded their expectations.

The Predictable Revenue Accelerate Team took the time to educate Activation Systems on the ins and outs of outbound, intimately learned their niche, refined their messaging, and, ultimately, delivered results that blew just “breaking even” out of the water.

Since starting with Predictable Revenue in April 2017, Activation Systems has received 377 handoffs, signed a $50,000 deal in January 2018 (less than a year into the partnership), and just recently closed a deal for $1,275,000.

That’s right, $1,275,000.

“It became predictable – meetings were just arriving to our inbox.”

And there’s plenty more where that came from. Activation Systems’ current pipeline from Predictable Revenue sourced opportunities sits at a whopping $17,000,000.

“It’s massive right now,” says Howell.

“Of course, we know that’s not all those are going to close. But even if 10% of those closed, we’ll be in an absolutely great position.”

Not too bad for a company that just wanted to break even in their first year. But that’s the thing with outbound sales – it can provide incremental revenue like no other revenue source. It just takes time to get the wheels in motion. Once it gets moving, though, it just doesn’t stop.

“You just have to trust the process, because it works.”

“Imagine being introduced to 377 potential clients in a year and a half. It’s huge. We’ve looked at our other lead sources – trade shows and word-of-mouth referrals. Those are all great sources, but Predictable Revenue blows it out of the water by long shot,” says Howell.