A top-tier US producer of optical profilometers
How we increased sales velocity by 757%: from 2 months to 7 days
"The team came with a proposal of improvement… about which I never supposed to be implemented” – our client
Challenge
Our client was a top-tier US producer of optical profilometers – mighty machines that could spot every bump and wrinkle from micrometers to millimeters. We’re talking about the kind of high-fidelity semiconductor technology used by R&D labs, universities, and lens manufacturers who treat a single micron like a crime scene. So what was the problem with sales velocity? Their sales process was basically “Door-to-Door Sales” for giants. Whenever a lead wanted to see the tech, the sales team didn’t just hop on a Zoom call. They performed a manual heavy-lifting ritual: 1.They hauled a massive, sensitive machine into a car. 2.They drove across the country like high-tech delivery drivers. 3.They spent hours wrestling with cables to connect the profilometer to a dedicated desktop app (this is important, see below). 4.They performed the demo, drove home, and then… they waited. Sales velocity worthy of the 21st century ;) As we mentioned, each optical profilometer came with its loyal sidekick – a computer plugged in via cable with a dedicated desktop app (point 3↑). During these on-site performances, a special desktop app displayed the scan results in real time, letting the client poke, prod, and process the images on the spot, like a mini sci‑fi movie starring their own product surfaces. The result of the whole process? A sales cycle that dragged on for 60 days of pure friction. In a world of low-latency architecture, our client was literally stuck in the slow lane, waiting for decisions while their most expensive assets were sitting in the back of a van.
Solution
Our client came to us with a quest straight out of a tech fairy tale: “Please conjure up 3D map browsers for us.” They’d already tried this twice with other teams, but both attempts went the way of floppy disks and Internet Explorer – may they rest in peace. At this point, we need to underline that the whole initiative didn’t come from the dev cave, but from the sales team. They had the idea how to improve sales velocity, they had the budget, but their internal IT couldn’t deliver results. (Sorry, dear IT folks – just the brutally honest ballad of this story.) The Challenge: Sales wanted a web application that was a 1:1 pixel-perfect clone of their heavy desktop software – the one tethered to those massive profilometers. They wanted the power of a workstation inside an IE 11 web browser. The Sanddev Response: we sat down, did a proper estimate, and boldly declared: “One month in React!” (And yes, it was 2017. React v.15. In 2017. No docs, no support. Thank you, we’ll take our innovation trophy now.) Despite the fact that React was still in its infancy, and “3D in a browser” was usually a recipe for a frozen computer, we didn’t just replicate their clunky desktop interface. We did a lot more. Instead of just building a map, we built a competitive advantage how to increase sales velocity.
Results
We took their library, dissected it, and quite simply – use it better. We hit 100% feature parity with their desktop software. While building this beauty, we implemented 100% coverage of what was in this desktop application, except for file downloading. So we built them a proprietary cloud (back in 2017, mind you). End result: you can do whatever you want with your 3D images – render, measure, transform, zoom in, zoom out, rotate, orbit, view from any side – from the comfort of your own computer. Once this went live, the whole process of the optical profilometers’ sales was totally redefined. Now, when someone wants to buy a profilometer, they just ship a material sample and check the scan results online in our browser app. The sales team no longer had to drag the heavy machine around the country (trade shows don’t count – that’s their catwalk) And that’s where the 7 days came from in sales velocity: courier in, samples out, straight to our client’s lab. The faster the courier, the faster the deal. Everyone suddenly discovered they liked waiting for packages :). From day one, it hit the bull’s-eye – this wasn’t a success that “gradually grew.” We launched it – and it immediately started flying off the shelves like hotcakes at a Sunday fair. Besides boosting profilometers sales, the application took on a life of its own. Anyone could create a free account, toss files into the cloud, and start doing their own 3D wizardry. People uploaded all sorts of treasures, pushing the cloud up to 3 terabytes of data.
I do not have to come with a very detailed description, and the team is discovering what I want. Sometimes the proposal is even better than I expected
Małgorzata Petlińska-Kordel, CMO
Project Details
Duration
8 years of cooperation
Team Size
10 people
