How to tackle with crisis? What’s the secret of smooth teamwork? And how can Leadfinder boost your business? Welcome to our first case study, where we’ll answer all these questions and much more.
For over two years now, we’ve had a productive co-operation with Belbin Eesti, a team-training-company focused on finding out teams’ strengths, weaknesses, and hidden potential. In addition, Belbin’s professional trainers tackle many other topics that help different people and teams, including leaders, have a much more straightforward approach to their roles. To get into the case, we spoke with Mats Soomre, founder of Belbin Eesti, who has been a teamwork and management trainer for the last 24 years. We tried to cover all the questions above and many more with him. Let’s go!
Let’s take the journey back.
Before we move on to the exciting topic of successful email sales, let’s step back to a time when Leadfinder was established in January 2020. As we know now, that was the exact period when one of the biggest crises of our times slowly started. The news about COVID-19 began to strike almost every day.
And of course, there were many people for whom the unknown critical situation was so worrying that they started to pull back their business. Indeed, it’s logical. Mats says, “First crisis might be something you are not afraid of much as you don’t know what to expect. The next one is probably the most horrible because you still remember everything from the previous one, but you are not as experienced as you’d like to be. But when the third, fourth, fifth, and so on occurs, you already know what to do because you have experience. Things can be rough, but that can mean new possibilities. If needed, you can adapt and keep moving on! The experience is one of the keys to getting through a crisis.”
According to Mats, another essential thing is that there must be someone you fully trust to rely on and openly discuss the situation. Those who are the most worried are the ones who have no one to go through these difficult times. The problem must be acknowledged, help must be sought, and everything thought through. Resilience is important. You fall, you stand up, you go on with your team.
That means there must be someone else to go through the crisis. The small-sized and well-balanced team you truly trust and understand can cope with a crisis much better than the solo players. Understanding each other is essential. You must understand the second part and the will to succeed together. The more critical the situation is, the more important are the partners you can truly trust.
For example – does your team have a good skeptic who is serious-minded, strategic, discerning, and one of the best decision-makers? And no, the skeptic is not the same as a pessimist! Every high-performing team needs someone intelligent, logical, fair-minded, objective, and analytical. All these qualities are harbored by the Monitor Evaluator, one team role out of nine by Belbin. Their job is to observe things through facts and logic, make impartial judgments and weigh up the team’s needs and options. While not the most glamorous of roles, the right decisions of a competent Monitor Evaluator – who is seldom wrong – will ensure the continued prosperity of the team. You must understand the second part and the will to succeed together. The more critical the situation is, the more important are the partners you can truly trust.
Here is a neat test for any skeptic.
If your enthusiastic cry of: “I have an idea…” is received with thoughtful nodding, then ten tough questions on how it will work, how much it will cost, and whether it has already been done; they’re doing the required job as a Monitor Evaluator.
“NO! NO! IT WON’T WORK; I TELL YOU; IT WON’T WORK!”
On the other hand, if your suggestion is met with: “NO! NO! IT WON’T WORK; I TELL YOU; IT WON’T WORK!” before you’re through the door, you’re dealing with a pessimist rather than a skeptic. The difference? A Monitor Evaluator builds their skepticism on logic; a pessimist doesn’t.
And now, when we have changed in the contemporary environment, it’s a perfect opportunity to look at the Belbin and Leadfinder cooperation.
Specific examples of success by Belbin
We’ve had a long-running relationship for over two years now. During this time, we have created a working framework that has proved to be efficient and brings actual results. Let’s see in four simple examples how efficient email sales have worked for Belbin:
1. Time can be our most significant friend or the greatest enemy.
For Belbin, effective email marketing helps save time and free more resources to use these valuable assets for other ventures. It takes an awful lot of time to prepare the well-written email that must generate leads. Much easier to let someone else take care of this task and do something else. Rest, for example.
2. Sales costs and sales budget can be controlled very well for Belbin.
When necessary, they can be involved in sales activities and not prepare twelve months in advance. Mats and Belbin now don’t need 24/7 sales activities because all these operations can be adjusted.
3. Many professionals are willing to engage in sales when given to an interested customer.
They can continue the work that Leadfinder has started meaning the cold leads have already been activated. Thanks to that, it’s a lot easier to reach the people that were previously “cold leads.”
4. Someone must look at your approach and ideas from a distance.
Whatever is the topic or whoever is Belbin’s client, Mats says that Leadfinder sees forward and knows how to formulate messages correctly: concisely, politely, and concretely. Previously, there was no structural approach. They go deep in and assemble a message that works.
In addition, the good results are also reflected in the following chart:
In the second half of 2020, we started the work of generating leads. As you can see, the graphic don’t lie, and Belbin’s business has been on a nice growth trend. That clearly shows that cold emailing is the best approach for companies like Belbin as it’s a more focused and specialized.
What did you learn today?
Changes in society and among people still occur from time to time. What matters is how we get through these changes and remain the winners. Trust plays a significant role here because it also creates fruitful cooperation. One that Leadfinder and Belbin have had for some time now and has brought many leads!