TeamSparta's B2B team saw 300% increase in pipeline growth with Relate
TeamSparta's B2B team saw 300% increase in pipeline growth with Relate
TeamSparta's B2B team saw 300% increase in pipeline growth with Relate
TeamSparta's B2B team saw 300% increase in pipeline growth with Relate
Dec 14, 2023
Dec 14, 2023
Dec 14, 2023
Dec 14, 2023
TeamSparta is a Korean edtech startup that provides coding bootcamp to entrepreneurship bootcamp, outsourced development, and B2B corporate training. TeamSparta has been operating profitably for four years since its founding in 2019.
TeamSparta's B2B Corporate Training team adopted Relate CRM in September 2023 when TeamSparta's Outsourced Dev team first adopted Relate and recommended using it for the B2B team as well.
After using Relate, the B2B Corporate Training team was able to achieve consistent and predictable sales growth.
In this case study of TeamSparta's B2B Corporate Training team, we'll share the following.
Changes and results after using Relate - how the B2B Corporate Training team increased large opportunities by over 300% with Relate
Why did they decide to use Relate vs. Salesforce
Results
300% growth in enterprise deal pipeline
Achieved predictability in pipeline growth
Reduced communication cost across sales team
About TeamSparta’s B2B Team
In 2023, the B2B Corporate Training team at TeamSparta grew more than 10 times year-on-year by providing an exceptional customer experience. As they grew faster than they expected, operational challenges in customer-facing roles became apparent.
What was your biggest problem managing sales before using Relate?
The biggest problem we had before using Relate was fragmented customer information and a lack of visibility in our pipeline.
Even though we had great senior sales managers on the team and they were doing really well, we weren't able to see customer information or deal status easily. Also, we weren't able to share know-how or best practices within the team and establish a sales process.
So we created a CRM template to manage sales in Notion and started using it. Then, the Outsourced Dev team at our company adopted Relate first and recommended us to adopt it as well.
What was the decision-making process for adopting Relate (Convincing team members, onboarding, etc.)?
How does Relate compare to other CRMs
vs Enterprise CRM
We were already aware of enterprise CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, but it was just too much for us. I thought it would take too much work to implement, and even if I did that, our team would have a hard time using it.
Especially since some of our team members were relatively new to using software, it is important that the new tool has a low learning curve and is easy to use. Relate was much lighter compared to Salesforce and HubSpot, while it has all the core functionality.
vs Notion
On the flip side, I think we could have stayed with Notion because it was a tool that everyone was familiar with and we were already using the CRM we built with Notion pretty well. However, the problem with Notion is that it gives people so much freedom on how to use it. People end up using it differently than I first intended it as I created the sales template in Notion. It’s just almost impossible to enforce the process.
What I really like about Relate is that it's so simple, and I can tell that the Relate team put a lot of time into studying and applying sales best practices when making the product. You will learn sales best practices - like how to manage leads and how to manage pipelines - just by using Relate.
How I convinced my team
We knew that we could find a better way to collaborate on sales if we adopted Relate, but there was a little pushback on switching the tool because we were doing okay using Notion.
Also, everyone was worried because it takes time to learn a new tool. However, I had already seen the Outsourced Development team using Relate to manage their sales, so I convinced my team that while it might be a bit challenging at first, it would definitely pay off in the long run.
How we got everyone's buy-in using Relate
I thought it was even more important to get everyone on board. Our marketing/SDR uploaded the existing deals and contact lists and set up basic integrations with other tools like Typeform.
The next step was to help my AE(Account Executives) use Relate naturally. So I tried out all the features, set them up, and even took meeting notes and deal updates for them.
If there was a customer update shared in Slack, I would copy it and add it to Relate for my her, take a screenshot, and let her know that I added it to Relate.
After some time, the AE started taking meeting notes in Relate and told me that it’s really convenient and effective to use Relate.
TeamSparta is a Korean edtech startup that provides coding bootcamp to entrepreneurship bootcamp, outsourced development, and B2B corporate training. TeamSparta has been operating profitably for four years since its founding in 2019.
TeamSparta's B2B Corporate Training team adopted Relate CRM in September 2023 when TeamSparta's Outsourced Dev team first adopted Relate and recommended using it for the B2B team as well.
After using Relate, the B2B Corporate Training team was able to achieve consistent and predictable sales growth.
In this case study of TeamSparta's B2B Corporate Training team, we'll share the following.
Changes and results after using Relate - how the B2B Corporate Training team increased large opportunities by over 300% with Relate
Why did they decide to use Relate vs. Salesforce
Results
300% growth in enterprise deal pipeline
Achieved predictability in pipeline growth
Reduced communication cost across sales team
About TeamSparta’s B2B Team
In 2023, the B2B Corporate Training team at TeamSparta grew more than 10 times year-on-year by providing an exceptional customer experience. As they grew faster than they expected, operational challenges in customer-facing roles became apparent.
What was your biggest problem managing sales before using Relate?
The biggest problem we had before using Relate was fragmented customer information and a lack of visibility in our pipeline.
Even though we had great senior sales managers on the team and they were doing really well, we weren't able to see customer information or deal status easily. Also, we weren't able to share know-how or best practices within the team and establish a sales process.
So we created a CRM template to manage sales in Notion and started using it. Then, the Outsourced Dev team at our company adopted Relate first and recommended us to adopt it as well.
What was the decision-making process for adopting Relate (Convincing team members, onboarding, etc.)?
How does Relate compare to other CRMs
vs Enterprise CRM
We were already aware of enterprise CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, but it was just too much for us. I thought it would take too much work to implement, and even if I did that, our team would have a hard time using it.
Especially since some of our team members were relatively new to using software, it is important that the new tool has a low learning curve and is easy to use. Relate was much lighter compared to Salesforce and HubSpot, while it has all the core functionality.
vs Notion
On the flip side, I think we could have stayed with Notion because it was a tool that everyone was familiar with and we were already using the CRM we built with Notion pretty well. However, the problem with Notion is that it gives people so much freedom on how to use it. People end up using it differently than I first intended it as I created the sales template in Notion. It’s just almost impossible to enforce the process.
What I really like about Relate is that it's so simple, and I can tell that the Relate team put a lot of time into studying and applying sales best practices when making the product. You will learn sales best practices - like how to manage leads and how to manage pipelines - just by using Relate.
How I convinced my team
We knew that we could find a better way to collaborate on sales if we adopted Relate, but there was a little pushback on switching the tool because we were doing okay using Notion.
Also, everyone was worried because it takes time to learn a new tool. However, I had already seen the Outsourced Development team using Relate to manage their sales, so I convinced my team that while it might be a bit challenging at first, it would definitely pay off in the long run.
How we got everyone's buy-in using Relate
I thought it was even more important to get everyone on board. Our marketing/SDR uploaded the existing deals and contact lists and set up basic integrations with other tools like Typeform.
The next step was to help my AE(Account Executives) use Relate naturally. So I tried out all the features, set them up, and even took meeting notes and deal updates for them.
If there was a customer update shared in Slack, I would copy it and add it to Relate for my her, take a screenshot, and let her know that I added it to Relate.
After some time, the AE started taking meeting notes in Relate and told me that it’s really convenient and effective to use Relate.
TeamSparta is a Korean edtech startup that provides coding bootcamp to entrepreneurship bootcamp, outsourced development, and B2B corporate training. TeamSparta has been operating profitably for four years since its founding in 2019.
TeamSparta's B2B Corporate Training team adopted Relate CRM in September 2023 when TeamSparta's Outsourced Dev team first adopted Relate and recommended using it for the B2B team as well.
After using Relate, the B2B Corporate Training team was able to achieve consistent and predictable sales growth.
In this case study of TeamSparta's B2B Corporate Training team, we'll share the following.
Changes and results after using Relate - how the B2B Corporate Training team increased large opportunities by over 300% with Relate
Why did they decide to use Relate vs. Salesforce
Results
300% growth in enterprise deal pipeline
Achieved predictability in pipeline growth
Reduced communication cost across sales team
About TeamSparta’s B2B Team
In 2023, the B2B Corporate Training team at TeamSparta grew more than 10 times year-on-year by providing an exceptional customer experience. As they grew faster than they expected, operational challenges in customer-facing roles became apparent.
What was your biggest problem managing sales before using Relate?
The biggest problem we had before using Relate was fragmented customer information and a lack of visibility in our pipeline.
Even though we had great senior sales managers on the team and they were doing really well, we weren't able to see customer information or deal status easily. Also, we weren't able to share know-how or best practices within the team and establish a sales process.
So we created a CRM template to manage sales in Notion and started using it. Then, the Outsourced Dev team at our company adopted Relate first and recommended us to adopt it as well.
What was the decision-making process for adopting Relate (Convincing team members, onboarding, etc.)?
How does Relate compare to other CRMs
vs Enterprise CRM
We were already aware of enterprise CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, but it was just too much for us. I thought it would take too much work to implement, and even if I did that, our team would have a hard time using it.
Especially since some of our team members were relatively new to using software, it is important that the new tool has a low learning curve and is easy to use. Relate was much lighter compared to Salesforce and HubSpot, while it has all the core functionality.
vs Notion
On the flip side, I think we could have stayed with Notion because it was a tool that everyone was familiar with and we were already using the CRM we built with Notion pretty well. However, the problem with Notion is that it gives people so much freedom on how to use it. People end up using it differently than I first intended it as I created the sales template in Notion. It’s just almost impossible to enforce the process.
What I really like about Relate is that it's so simple, and I can tell that the Relate team put a lot of time into studying and applying sales best practices when making the product. You will learn sales best practices - like how to manage leads and how to manage pipelines - just by using Relate.
How I convinced my team
We knew that we could find a better way to collaborate on sales if we adopted Relate, but there was a little pushback on switching the tool because we were doing okay using Notion.
Also, everyone was worried because it takes time to learn a new tool. However, I had already seen the Outsourced Development team using Relate to manage their sales, so I convinced my team that while it might be a bit challenging at first, it would definitely pay off in the long run.
How we got everyone's buy-in using Relate
I thought it was even more important to get everyone on board. Our marketing/SDR uploaded the existing deals and contact lists and set up basic integrations with other tools like Typeform.
The next step was to help my AE(Account Executives) use Relate naturally. So I tried out all the features, set them up, and even took meeting notes and deal updates for them.
If there was a customer update shared in Slack, I would copy it and add it to Relate for my her, take a screenshot, and let her know that I added it to Relate.
After some time, the AE started taking meeting notes in Relate and told me that it’s really convenient and effective to use Relate.
TeamSparta is a Korean edtech startup that provides coding bootcamp to entrepreneurship bootcamp, outsourced development, and B2B corporate training. TeamSparta has been operating profitably for four years since its founding in 2019.
TeamSparta's B2B Corporate Training team adopted Relate CRM in September 2023 when TeamSparta's Outsourced Dev team first adopted Relate and recommended using it for the B2B team as well.
After using Relate, the B2B Corporate Training team was able to achieve consistent and predictable sales growth.
In this case study of TeamSparta's B2B Corporate Training team, we'll share the following.
Changes and results after using Relate - how the B2B Corporate Training team increased large opportunities by over 300% with Relate
Why did they decide to use Relate vs. Salesforce
Results
300% growth in enterprise deal pipeline
Achieved predictability in pipeline growth
Reduced communication cost across sales team
About TeamSparta’s B2B Team
In 2023, the B2B Corporate Training team at TeamSparta grew more than 10 times year-on-year by providing an exceptional customer experience. As they grew faster than they expected, operational challenges in customer-facing roles became apparent.
What was your biggest problem managing sales before using Relate?
The biggest problem we had before using Relate was fragmented customer information and a lack of visibility in our pipeline.
Even though we had great senior sales managers on the team and they were doing really well, we weren't able to see customer information or deal status easily. Also, we weren't able to share know-how or best practices within the team and establish a sales process.
So we created a CRM template to manage sales in Notion and started using it. Then, the Outsourced Dev team at our company adopted Relate first and recommended us to adopt it as well.
What was the decision-making process for adopting Relate (Convincing team members, onboarding, etc.)?
How does Relate compare to other CRMs
vs Enterprise CRM
We were already aware of enterprise CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, but it was just too much for us. I thought it would take too much work to implement, and even if I did that, our team would have a hard time using it.
Especially since some of our team members were relatively new to using software, it is important that the new tool has a low learning curve and is easy to use. Relate was much lighter compared to Salesforce and HubSpot, while it has all the core functionality.
vs Notion
On the flip side, I think we could have stayed with Notion because it was a tool that everyone was familiar with and we were already using the CRM we built with Notion pretty well. However, the problem with Notion is that it gives people so much freedom on how to use it. People end up using it differently than I first intended it as I created the sales template in Notion. It’s just almost impossible to enforce the process.
What I really like about Relate is that it's so simple, and I can tell that the Relate team put a lot of time into studying and applying sales best practices when making the product. You will learn sales best practices - like how to manage leads and how to manage pipelines - just by using Relate.
How I convinced my team
We knew that we could find a better way to collaborate on sales if we adopted Relate, but there was a little pushback on switching the tool because we were doing okay using Notion.
Also, everyone was worried because it takes time to learn a new tool. However, I had already seen the Outsourced Development team using Relate to manage their sales, so I convinced my team that while it might be a bit challenging at first, it would definitely pay off in the long run.
How we got everyone's buy-in using Relate
I thought it was even more important to get everyone on board. Our marketing/SDR uploaded the existing deals and contact lists and set up basic integrations with other tools like Typeform.
The next step was to help my AE(Account Executives) use Relate naturally. So I tried out all the features, set them up, and even took meeting notes and deal updates for them.
If there was a customer update shared in Slack, I would copy it and add it to Relate for my her, take a screenshot, and let her know that I added it to Relate.
After some time, the AE started taking meeting notes in Relate and told me that it’s really convenient and effective to use Relate.
Soon Young Hwang
Co-Founder & Head of Growth @TeamSparta
"If you tell someone to use a new tool because it will be effective, they won't use it. But when I use it first and show them why it’s effective, they will start using it on their own."
Changes and achievements after using Relate
1/ A 3-4x increase in large opportunities every month
We've seen a 3-4x monthly increase in deals that we internally categorize as large opportunities. We started adding these large opportunities to our pipeline consistently.
2/ Predictable sales
I think the biggest change is that we're now able to do predictable sales through Relate. We can now see how many new deals we have in the pipeline, how many we closed this month, how many we lost, etc. without having to ask. So we can start calculating how many leads we need to generate, what our conversion rate should be, and we're able to make predictable sales.
3/ Reduced communication costs
Instead of having to think, "Where do I go to find this information?" I can just come into Relate and look at the meeting notes. Now that everyone is on the same screen, the cost of communication has gone down significantly.
I think Relate has an Apple-like product philosophy.
When I use Relate, it makes me think a lot about how the Relate team really studies and thinks about sales best practices as they build Relate CRM. One example is the Relate Prospect feature.
While other CRMs usually have a linear pipeline, Relate has an "L" shape to the Prospect feature and pipeline. Prospects that are not yet qualified are managed in the Prospect feature, and only qualified sales opportunities are managed in the Pipeline. I realized how much thought went into this.
The left-hand menu is very simple and intuitive. No feature is added without much thought.
Even the default pipeline stages are great that we use it as it is with small customization for our team. I feel like the Relate team has applied sales best practices in every UI/UX and all features, and I can tell they are serious about this business.
Changes and achievements after using Relate
1/ A 3-4x increase in large opportunities every month
We've seen a 3-4x monthly increase in deals that we internally categorize as large opportunities. We started adding these large opportunities to our pipeline consistently.
2/ Predictable sales
I think the biggest change is that we're now able to do predictable sales through Relate. We can now see how many new deals we have in the pipeline, how many we closed this month, how many we lost, etc. without having to ask. So we can start calculating how many leads we need to generate, what our conversion rate should be, and we're able to make predictable sales.
3/ Reduced communication costs
Instead of having to think, "Where do I go to find this information?" I can just come into Relate and look at the meeting notes. Now that everyone is on the same screen, the cost of communication has gone down significantly.
I think Relate has an Apple-like product philosophy.
When I use Relate, it makes me think a lot about how the Relate team really studies and thinks about sales best practices as they build Relate CRM. One example is the Relate Prospect feature.
While other CRMs usually have a linear pipeline, Relate has an "L" shape to the Prospect feature and pipeline. Prospects that are not yet qualified are managed in the Prospect feature, and only qualified sales opportunities are managed in the Pipeline. I realized how much thought went into this.
The left-hand menu is very simple and intuitive. No feature is added without much thought.
Even the default pipeline stages are great that we use it as it is with small customization for our team. I feel like the Relate team has applied sales best practices in every UI/UX and all features, and I can tell they are serious about this business.
Changes and achievements after using Relate
1/ A 3-4x increase in large opportunities every month
We've seen a 3-4x monthly increase in deals that we internally categorize as large opportunities. We started adding these large opportunities to our pipeline consistently.
2/ Predictable sales
I think the biggest change is that we're now able to do predictable sales through Relate. We can now see how many new deals we have in the pipeline, how many we closed this month, how many we lost, etc. without having to ask. So we can start calculating how many leads we need to generate, what our conversion rate should be, and we're able to make predictable sales.
3/ Reduced communication costs
Instead of having to think, "Where do I go to find this information?" I can just come into Relate and look at the meeting notes. Now that everyone is on the same screen, the cost of communication has gone down significantly.
I think Relate has an Apple-like product philosophy.
When I use Relate, it makes me think a lot about how the Relate team really studies and thinks about sales best practices as they build Relate CRM. One example is the Relate Prospect feature.
While other CRMs usually have a linear pipeline, Relate has an "L" shape to the Prospect feature and pipeline. Prospects that are not yet qualified are managed in the Prospect feature, and only qualified sales opportunities are managed in the Pipeline. I realized how much thought went into this.
The left-hand menu is very simple and intuitive. No feature is added without much thought.
Even the default pipeline stages are great that we use it as it is with small customization for our team. I feel like the Relate team has applied sales best practices in every UI/UX and all features, and I can tell they are serious about this business.
Changes and achievements after using Relate
1/ A 3-4x increase in large opportunities every month
We've seen a 3-4x monthly increase in deals that we internally categorize as large opportunities. We started adding these large opportunities to our pipeline consistently.
2/ Predictable sales
I think the biggest change is that we're now able to do predictable sales through Relate. We can now see how many new deals we have in the pipeline, how many we closed this month, how many we lost, etc. without having to ask. So we can start calculating how many leads we need to generate, what our conversion rate should be, and we're able to make predictable sales.
3/ Reduced communication costs
Instead of having to think, "Where do I go to find this information?" I can just come into Relate and look at the meeting notes. Now that everyone is on the same screen, the cost of communication has gone down significantly.
I think Relate has an Apple-like product philosophy.
When I use Relate, it makes me think a lot about how the Relate team really studies and thinks about sales best practices as they build Relate CRM. One example is the Relate Prospect feature.
While other CRMs usually have a linear pipeline, Relate has an "L" shape to the Prospect feature and pipeline. Prospects that are not yet qualified are managed in the Prospect feature, and only qualified sales opportunities are managed in the Pipeline. I realized how much thought went into this.
The left-hand menu is very simple and intuitive. No feature is added without much thought.
Even the default pipeline stages are great that we use it as it is with small customization for our team. I feel like the Relate team has applied sales best practices in every UI/UX and all features, and I can tell they are serious about this business.
Soon Young Hwang
Co-Founder & Head of Growth @TeamSparta
"I think Relate has an Apple-like product philosophy: we'll pick out all the important stuff, and you just use it."
Because Relate CRM itself is a good sales playbook, I think using Relate over other legacy CRMs will be more effective for most early stage teams. Just follow what Relate offers, and that is the best way to manage sales.
Of course, there are CRMs where you have unlimited freedom and can do whatever you want, but I think very few teams can use it well.
Because Relate CRM itself is a good sales playbook, I think using Relate over other legacy CRMs will be more effective for most early stage teams. Just follow what Relate offers, and that is the best way to manage sales.
Of course, there are CRMs where you have unlimited freedom and can do whatever you want, but I think very few teams can use it well.
Because Relate CRM itself is a good sales playbook, I think using Relate over other legacy CRMs will be more effective for most early stage teams. Just follow what Relate offers, and that is the best way to manage sales.
Of course, there are CRMs where you have unlimited freedom and can do whatever you want, but I think very few teams can use it well.
Because Relate CRM itself is a good sales playbook, I think using Relate over other legacy CRMs will be more effective for most early stage teams. Just follow what Relate offers, and that is the best way to manage sales.
Of course, there are CRMs where you have unlimited freedom and can do whatever you want, but I think very few teams can use it well.
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