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Case Study
Finding the “Write” Sales Process with Sandler
The Story of Hurley Write, Inc.
A little over 32 years ago, Pam Hurley, PhD, was a college professor teaching technical writing at UNC-Wilmington. Pam realized that the concepts that she was teaching would have real benefit for professionals, so she began cold-calling local businesses to pitch her idea. One large pharma company, PPD, took her up on that offer and hired her to teach existing employees and to start a training program that would initiate new employees into the kind of writing they’d be expected to do. Her success at PPD led her to contact other businesses and soon she found that she was working with professionals in many businesses, including engineering, government, and biotech.
The Problem
In addition to cold-calling, Hurley Write relied on pay-per-click advertising, which was successful; however, while the leads came in consistently, the company realized it wasn’t closing as many deals as it would’ve liked to but didn’t know what the solution was. In addition, the company was spending too much time writing proposals and chasing prospects who never responded to the proposals.
Their sales process was a problem: it included a 15-minute phone call with prospects and immediately sending them a proposal; often, the organizations to which they sent proposals never responded, resulting in a lot of time and effort wasted on poor prospects.
Why Hurley Write Chose Sandler
Hurley Write found Jason Caywood at Sandler and, after their initial meeting, realized they needed to take a harder look at their sales process to increase sales.
At their initial meeting, Jason showed Hurley Write the potential revenue they were losing because of their mediocre sales process. They realized that they needed help to improve their sales process and felt that Jason could help them achieve this.
How Hurley Write Responded
MJ Hurley, MA, was the person at Hurley Write primarily responsible for sales; MJ was new to sales but was passionate about Hurley Write’s product and knew that with a better sales process, he could persuade others to see the value in Hurley Write’s services. Through Jason’s program, MJ developed a better understanding of the sales process and implemented more touchpoints with clients. He also began setting expectations so that prospects knew next steps, which increased the prospect's comfort level. In the end, Hurley Write discovered that they’d been working harder than they needed to get new clients.
The Results
Since starting Sandler, Hurley Write has increased its revenue by 58%, from $1.2 million in 2021 to $1.9 million in 2022, all while sending out roughly 30% fewer proposals. It now has a much better understanding of the value it’s bringing to clients and no longer feel compelled to lower its prices; consequently, both the close rate and price points are higher (before working with Sandler, the average price point per deal was $13,000, but is now $22,000).
Hurley Write no longer spends hours chasing prospects, because it implemented a prospect qualifying process and started asking better questions to determine if Hurley Write was a good fit. The average sales process is five weeks, down from a high of six months. Hurley Write has also learned the value of asking clients and prospects for a referral, which has helped generate more business.
The biggest thing Hurley Write learned is that sales doesn’t have to be a painful, drawn-out process and that it could quickly eliminate prospects who weren’t a good fit. By implementing the lessons from Sandler training, Hurley Write has increased its bottom line, decreased the time spent qualifying prospects, and been able to work with clients who understand the value of its offerings.
