IT Lead Generation Case Study – 293 Leads Generated, 41% Average Reply Rate

In this case study, we will share how we managed to generate 239 leads (with a 41% average reply rate) for Purple.ai.

Purple had been in the process of interviewing a few lead generation agencies, but what stood out to them was our unique list building process; And because of this, we were lucky enough to have won the deal with them, and in turn help them find 239 leads, which led to them closing a deal with Smart Communications.

They were an awesome company to partner up with.

Keep reading to see the lead generation strategy we used to get them results.

(If you would like similar results for your business, why not hop on a free 15-minute strategy session with the founder of SalesBread, Jack Reamer?)

Lead generation campaign stats

We almost had 2000 target accounts to go after in our initial list, but we kept working together with Purple over the months to find new profitable segments to target.

Working closely with Bob, we would keep adding to our list because, naturally, a good partnership requires a lot of iterations on lists.

In addition to driving 293 leads, we also helped Bob schedule meetings with these prospects, and this scheduling campaign had a 76% reply rate.

Purple.ai – Who they are and what they do

Purple sells guest Wi-Fi solutions and Map solutions to large venues, such as basketball arenas, restaurant chains, hospitals, large retail, music and entertainment venues.

They are trusted by over 80,000 venues, some including Cleveland Clinic, McDonald’s, the NHS, and Walmart.

Purple helps spaces to thrive by understanding, identifying, and improving guest experiences. They initially started their company in 2012 because they were frustrated with poor guest Wi-Fi solutions and saw a gap in the industry.

Over time, their company evolved into the ultimate tool for businesses to turn their physical venues into intelligent spaces.

Purple helps physical venues thrive by enhancing visitor experiences, optimizing staff efficiency, and driving additional revenue with their hardware-agnostic indoor location services.

Why Purple hired SalesBread

One of Purple’s challenges when they approached SalesBread was that, while they had successfully closed major venues like the American Airlines Arena and McDonald’s through internal campaigns, many of these contracts were won through partnership efforts.

For example, Bob Koch, VP of Partnerships at Purple, began discussions with a company that managed a significant portion of the IT infrastructure for a large venue.

Bob explained that Purple was searching for a lead generation agency skilled in list building, not just to connect them with potential IT firms for partnerships, but to meet two very specific and challenging criteria:

1. Finding IT companies specializing in guest WiFi, WiFi analytics, or captive portal services. Not every managed service provider (MSP) has expertise in these areas, making it crucial to target the right firms.

2. Ensuring that those IT companies serve large venues with high visitor traffic. It wouldn’t be worthwhile for Purple to partner up with an MSP unless their clients operated in large venues where many visitors log into Wi-Fi, as this is essential for a successful partnership.

As a first step, I told Bob that we can set up a paid, risk-free consultation.

In the consult, I would show him exactly how we would build a list of his specifications AND share our lead generation approach. If he wasn’t blown away, we would refund him every dime for the consultation.

I asked for an hour and prepared a strategy that was going to give Purple this exact list.

This was a no-brainer approach, and Bob agreed.

Our strategy for building a list of Purple’s ideal prospects

Step 1: We built a broad prospect list

The first thing we did was build a broad list of prospects that contained about 20,000 potential managed service companies, IT service companies, and potential partnership opportunities with an intentionally broad list.

I just made sure that these companies:

• Were in the United States

• That they had the right size parameters (100 – 1000 employees)

• And they had the right job titles

Some of the titles we were going after were:

• Managing director

• Partner

• CXO, founder, owner

• Director

Again, this list was pretty much c*!p at the start, but it was an important beginning point.

Lead generation tools that we used

We basically used:

• Clutch

• Apollo

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator

• Crunchbase

To build our initial list. Remember, the list was intentionally broad.

(This article shares more helpful lead generation tools you can use.)

Step 2: We did a massive web scraping project

In order to narrow down our list and refine it, we did a massive web scraping project of the 20 000 companies.

After we had our list of companies from Clutch, Apollo, and LinkedIn Sales Nav, we put them in a Google sheet and started scraping.

But first, we needed to verify two things:

Could we see on the company’s website that they worked with one of the following industries:

(We had 29 different kinds of industries that were essential in order for them to get considered for our campaign.)

So, for example, they needed to work with:

• Hospitals

• Hotels

• Venues

• Areas

• Stadiums

• Campuses

• Museums

• Theme parks

• Restaurants

• Casinos

• Enterprise organizations

• Race tracks

• Shopping centers

• Conference venues

• Motels

• Amphitheaters

Step 3: We looked for 2 specific company attributes to qualify each prospect

Purple’s list was not as straightforward as “Find me every manual service provider in the US with 50 or more employees.”

Those MSPs or potential partners had to have 2 specific attributes.

And then we checked to make sure that they offered our essential services.

The 2 specific attributes we were looking for were:

• Did they work with the above industries

And second

• They offered specific services to those 15 industries. For example, they needed to offer captive portal, guest Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi analytics to those industries; otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense.

Then we checked if their website mentioned clients in the above verticals.

We use this information to work backwards.

So, for example, we have ABle.

We knew that ABLe worked with medical institutions, which was on our hit list, and we checked their services page to double check that they deal with wireless networks.

And therefore ABLe was a fit.

And we knew that this would be a great entry point for our client, because this company ticked all the right boxes.

For example, below is a lead that converted from our lead generation efforts.

Note: If a company didn’t match this level of scrutiny they didn’t get approached on our campaign at all.

Why?

Because they were outside Purple’s ICP.

We partnered up with purple for a year, and the only reason why we stopped our engagement is that we are currently working with Purple to build this process for them internally.

We are essentially transitioning from a “Done for You service” to a “Done with You service”.

And we are really proud that they have taken our methods and have learnt to run with it.

Next, we found the right people to reach out to at these companies

Once our list was perfectly refined, we needed to reach out to the right people at these companies.

So we plugged this list of companies into LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and filtered it by the job titles we were after.

Once we had all the right decision makers, we filtered it through Purples 2nd degree network, AND recently posted. This ensured that we would reach out to prospects who actively use LinkedIn.

And the reason we filter through their 2nd degree network is because historically, if someone is in your 2nd degree network, they will be more likely to accept your connection request message.

When this list was perfectly refined, we moved on to the next step in our lead generation strategy.

Write personalized outreach messages based on prospect research

At SalesBread, we research each prospect in order to write them a personalized connection request message. We have a full time personalization expert whose sole job is to research prospects on the list and find something very specific about them to mention in our messaging.

We use the CCQ method, which means that we will either compliment them, mention a commonality, or ask them a question. We don’t sell in our messages, but rather focus on helping prospects solve their pain points.

Below is a video showing how we use the CCQ method to write personalized messages.

This is an example of the level of personalization in Bob’s campaigns:

P.S. Saw your talk at the PEI operating partners forum and appreciated your thoughts on modern cybersecurity essentials.

For each prospect, we visited their website and identified two key details.

One example was Walmart, where the relevant industry is retail. We used job title plurals to make the outreach feel more natural, so instead of writing to “CMOs,” we said “marketing officers” to humanize the message.

Additionally, we included a custom P.S. to show that we did our research, and this in turn builds reciprocity.

This is just one example, but it highlights the depth of our customization. While the messages we sent were relatively short, 60% of them were personalized specifically for each prospect.

And it worked.

We achieved an incredibly high response rate because every message was crafted by hand, not by AI.

While hiring a trained professional for personalization is more expensive than using AI, the level of accuracy and authenticity we achieve simply can’t be replicated by a machine.

Here are some replies we received

Hey Bob, thanks for reaching out. I’d be happy to connect. I’m available tomorrow between 10am – 2pm EST, Friday from 9-11am, and Monday anytime after 10am. Feel free to shoot over an invite. I’ll invite our head of global partnerships, ####, as well. My email is ##### Look forward to connecting!

Hey Bob – Thanks for the invite. I’d love to connect to learn more about a potential partnership

Hi Bob. Do you have time for a call next week? I have Tuesday between 11-12:30 or Wednesday morning between 9-12. If one of those works can you send an invite?

Hope your week has been going well! When you have the chance, may you share some potential dates in March to have an introduction call?

Bob, I am intrigued and would like to understand the nature of the partnership.

Bob – Happy to connect and see if there are synergies.

Lastly, we will follow up and ask for a booked meeting

The last step in our lead gen process is to send follow up messages to these prospects and ask for a meeting.

We keep our CTA simple and easy for the prospects to follow through on.

Below are some low commitment CTA examples that we might use:

• Are you available for a chat?

• How is your availability for a 10 min call this week?

• I’d love to share more on why you may need [PRODUCT] and how it can help [BENEFIT]. How’s {{=day}} next week look for a 15-minute call?

• Are you free for a call this Friday to discuss [MAIN BENEFIT]?

Would you like the same results for your business?

Clients choose SalesBread to get 1 qualified sales lead per day. If you would like the same success as Purple.ai, hop on a free 15-minute strategy session with the CEO of SalesBread, Jack Reamer, below.