SalesBrain Zooms in to understand decision-making processes

At SalesBrain in San Francisco, the consultants depend on Zoomerang to help their clients identify barriers to purchase for their clients products and services.

SalesBrain, LLC is a San Francisco-based consulting firm that researches and trains technology and biotechnology firms to understand the processes by which people make purchase decisions for large, expensive and complicated items. By surveying their clients customers and potential customers, the team at SalesBrain is able to pinpoint areas of decision-making that cause customers the most concern and then help their clients directly address these issues.

Asking to understand buying behavior
Given their technology-focused client base, SalesBrain works frequently with Ph.D.s who are very good at technical elements, but they arent doing the amount of homework that goes into selling a complex solution, says Christophe Morin, CEO. For this homework, SalesBrain uses Zoomerang.

Morin conducts about a dozen Zoomerang surveys a year for his clients, many in Europe and Asia. The surveys typically inquire about the deeper level of fears people have when making large, costly, complex purchasing decisions. To get at these concerns, Morin will ask 10 - 15 open-ended questions. By capturing the words and expressions of the survey respondents, he gains a qualitative understanding of the fears associated with purchasing the product.

For example, one of their recent clients was a manufacturer of microwave radios used for cellular transmission. Its a large, complicated purchase decision process to buy this type of equipment, Morin says. SalesBrain surveyed 60 potential purchasers around the world by asking questions such as, What keeps you awake at night? and, What makes your life miserable? They received a 50% response rate and the survey captured the words and expressions of the respondents describing their greatest concerns. Having 30 detailed responses to open-ended questions is extremely powerful, he says, and gave his clients information about the concerns of their potential customers that they hadnt even considered. The results were so successful that SalesBrains client was able to use this insight to close a deal two weeks later worth millions of dollars.

Web-based platform works world-wide
When Morin first discovered Zoomerang, he was impressed by its flexibility and user-friendliness. Its web-based platform means that he can gather information world-wide quickly and dependably, he says, which allows him to do the research his clients need. As well, the anonymous nature of the web-based product means that you can collect some interesting data, Morin says. We may collect data externally from a companys customers. Then I suggest that we survey the clients own employees. Clients are usually amazed by the result, he says. The anonymity provided by the platform means that employers are often receiving uncensored opinions from their staff for the first time.

Zoomerang becomes an integral part of each project
Morin is so pleased with Zoomerangs reliability and accessibility that even when our surveyors do interviews over the phone, we use Zoomerang to enter data, he says.

Morin is a firm believer in the use of surveys to expand what you know. Anyone who does business should realize how many opportunities there are to collect information, he says. There is no business situation in which Zoomerang can't help. It's as important on your desktop as Excel and Word.