Startup Spotlight #3: The Simplest Way to Sell
They say that one picture is worth a thousand words. Well, when it comes to sales, one real-life success story is worth a thousand marketing clichés. Today's startup turns these stories into reality.
About the project
British startup Symbe has developed an AI-powered tool designed to help B2B companies create compelling business cases with minimal effort. These cases demonstrate how other companies have successfully used their products to address specific challenges, offering concrete examples of their effectiveness and showcasing their value.
In B2B sales, especially when it comes to high-value or complex products, case studies often play a crucial role. Potential clients tend to be more convinced by real-world examples than by abstract (and often empty) marketing promises. They want to see tangible proof that similar businesses have achieved tangible results with the product in question.
Symbe’s platform is built to streamline the creation process, making business cases more accessible for sales teams and ultimately helping close more deals. The platform offers pre-built templates tailored to various types of case studies. These templates guide sales representatives in documenting a potential client’s current challenges and goals during meetings.
Symbe’s AI then combs through a library of existing case studies to find those most relevant to the client’s situation. This isn’t just a simple keyword search – their AI leverages contextual understanding to locate appropriate examples, even if they’re described differently or relate to other industries altogether.
The company's platform has already garnered significant interest. Currently in beta testing, it’s being used by 20 companies, with many more on the waiting list. The startup has also secured £1.2 million in funding, signaling increasingly strong demand for its product.
What’s the Gist?
Many people believe that sales reps are the driving force behind B2B sales. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, research shows that 90% of B2B purchase decisions happen internally, often without the salesperson’s direct involvement. This underscores the importance of internal advocates (or ‘Champions’, as Symbe calls them), and having those advocates equipped with the right resources.
Having competent internal advocates — employees who push for a product’s adoption — is essential in B2B sales. And they require concise, persuasive materials to help them lobby decision-makers within their organizations. Symbe’s case studies are designed with this in mind, providing advocates with tools that are clear, impactful, and tailored to their audience.
Let’s explore some other ways Symbe’s platform creates value for clients.
Building urgency
One crucial aspect of effective sales is creating a sense of urgency. Symbe’s templates include sections that highlight what the client stands to lose by not adopting the product – like potential revenue or various competitive advantages. This approach helps motivate decision-makers to act sooner rather than later.
Supporting client retention
Symbe’s tool is equally effective for retaining existing clients. By continuously updating the library with success stories from current users, businesses can demonstrate the ongoing value of their products. These updates support contract renewals and offer fresh, relatable examples to new prospects.
Value engineering
One interesting term I’ve encountered on Symbe’s website was “value engineering”. Historically, value engineering has been a systematic approach to finding ways to complete a project with minimal costs. Let’s take manufacturing for example. In manufacturing, value engineering would involve identifying cheaper materials, labor, and more cost-effective production methods.
However, this concept has recently been adopted in sales, where it has taken on a slightly different meaning: “a persuasive articulation of a product’s value for the client.” In this context, Symbe can be considered part of an emerging category of AI tools – tools designed for value engineering in sales.
Drawing conclusions
Leveraging AI tools that help engineer value in sales is vital for any B2B company, especially as artificial intelligence becomes more ubiquitous. If you can’t clearly define and communicate the value of your product to potential clients, you’re not going to sell it – period.
But the perceived value of a product varies from client to client. It depends on who the client is, their specific situation, and the challenges they prioritize most in the current context. That’s why it’s essential to identify and reframe the product’s value in a way that deeply resonates with each individual client.
Experienced salespeople can do this kind of thing with their eyes closed, just by using their skills and expertise. But not every salesperson has the necessary experience, or nous. And even if they do, why rely on expensive, time-consuming human effort when AI can now handle this task just as effectively?
The key is having enough “raw material” to construct the right value propositions: presentations, case studies, testimonials, and, of course, communication records with clients that reveal their specific needs and pain points. Building and maintaining libraries of this information is an integral part of such platforms.
This task is critically important, and the potential market is massive. It’s only now that AI has reached a point where it can effectively automate this process. As a result, demand and timing have aligned perfectly.
This means it’s the just the right time to create your own solutions in this space, drawing inspiration from the successful examples we’ve discussed today.
What do you see as some of the best use cases for AI in sales? Let us know in the comments below!
Company info
Symbe
Website: symbe.co
Last funding round: £1.2 million, 05.02.2024
Total funds raised: £1.2 million over one round