Toronto-based tech startup, Wingmate is building a new modern customer relationship management to help companies increase their sales and retain customers. Wingmate platform has a lead capture that empowers service staff, sales, and leadership team to snap, track, and act on new business opportunities. This a huge market with an estimated size of $61B according to Precedence Research. The company has had a significant growth year over year and has tripled in size.
We recently caught up with Matt Leuschner, president and CEO to discuss the story, traction, and CRM market.
What was the inspiration behind Wingmate?
The Inspiration Behind Wingmate was to solve the disconnect between Operations & Sales and help companies realize their full potential. Ultimately, we wanted to allow companies to unite their different teams to save time, sell more & communicate better.
My business partner used this initial idea with his drivers for his recycling business to capture leads to generate more business and found great success. We then realized that the individuals who were on the ground and involved in the day-to-day operations understood the business and clients the best, so we thought why not create a rewarding way for them to be incentivized for sending in leads and enable the frontline staff and sales to communicate in real-time.
We built upon that initial idea and continuously added value to our offerings, and here we are today. Offering our Lead generation app, our Simple CRM to manage prospects and existing customers and lastly our outsourced sales team that qualifies and warm the leads in the CRM.
How does Wingmate help companies grow their sales channels?
Wingmate can help grow sales channels in three unique ways. First, our lead capture app allows your field service team, your sales staff, and even owners to capture opportunities they come across every day and get them back into the pipeline for sales and service to follow up with and close. No need for scraps of paper, or incomplete text messages.
Second, our Simple CRM, Opportunities are nothing if they are not followed up on. With a prospecting CRM like Wingmate, we’ve designed a sales first platform to follow up, track and manage those opportunities to drive more sales. The problem today and a huge point of pain for many SMBs, is you have large CRM and ERP systems that are overbuilt, overpriced and underutilized. They are glorified accounting systems that require hours of data entry. For old-school industries, focused on outside sales and field service, Wingmate aims to be the #1 sales enablement tool on the market – most importantly a solution their people can use.
Lastly, our Pipeline Manager Service. A uniquely human element that leverages the power of Wingmate like nothing that has come before it. Imagine spotting a prospect that suits your company. As quick as you would tag a friend, you can have an in-house Wingmate Inside Sales person begin qualifying that lead for you. By the time you return to the office, a tentative meeting could be set up for you to go in and close that prospect. Cold outreach is the heart of any company’s growth and one that many companies struggle to succeed and scale with. At Wingmate we can take care of that nasty cold calling for you allowing your sales staff to close more deals.
Based on your experience, what tips do you have for companies to set-up sales processes?
First and foremost define your message. Your company has a unique value. How can you most effectively convey that to your audience?
Once you have your message, you need to flip the script. What needs or pain does your potential customer have and how can you help? A mistake often made is what is known as feature selling. Listing off all the things your company does in hopes that one of those resonates with the buyer. Do the opposite, ask lots of questions and learn about your prospect so you can then suggest the features that matter.
And you do this with a script. If a sales script is not part of your sales process you are missing out on opportunities. It’s the foundation of your outreach, to be sure you have a cohesive message and that the full value you provide is being presented to the prospect. It’s not as bad as some think. Scripts work for the most famous actors in the world. They will work for your Sales development team.
Now that you are generating leads, you need to track them, follow up on them, and be proactive. This is something that Wingmate was designed to do. To take your sales process to the next level. No need to worry about sloppy notes, missed appointments or forgetting to follow up with a potential client. If a CRM is not part of your sales process, and you are keeping track of things in spreadsheets (or on napkins), it will catch up with you. It’s only a matter of time.
What gets measured gets done. Leverage the technology available to see where you are succeeding and where you are failing and make growth an integral part of your sales process.
The last part, obvious as it may be but bears repeating, Customer Service. A sales process is never complete unless you have a system in place to support your customer. They have put their trust in you and it’s your job to be sure they get the service they expected. It’s good business and the upsell and cross-sell opportunities that come from that are the icing on top.
What was the first version of the product like?
Years ago, the product started very barebones. It was a simple app, only intended to connect garbage truck drivers back to their sales team. Over time, and by listening to our customers, we became the #1 Mobile CRM on the market for Commercial Service Businesses. Now the platform has evolved to where it is customized on a customer-by-customer basis to service the 3 different solutions that we offer.
Wingmate has been growing rapidly as we have seen it. How’s your traction been so far?
We’re taking flight. Our traction so far has been unbelievable and organic. We have steadily been hiring new team members and growing the sales, customer success and development team. In the past year, we have tripled in size and are continuing on that trajectory.
What’s next for Wingmate? Are there exciting partnerships, products or features we can look forward to?
We are releasing new software updates regularly to enhance our app and CRM so our customers can utilize Wingmate to its fullest potential. Recently, we launched our newest service, Wingmate Concierge Club, which entails personalized services, integrations and benefits for our clients. Customers who are enrolled in the club get access to unlimited training and customization of your pipeline along with a dedicated customer success representative to make sure you’re getting the most out of Wingmate.
In the partnership department, we are working on some very exciting and ambitious partnerships that we can wait to share with you and all readers. Stay tuned.
Overall we have a lot of plans in the works that go beyond partnerships and features, such as growing into the EU markets. We recently expanded in the Australian market and are excited to establish our Wingmate brand and watch it take flight.
What is one piece of advice do you have for founders and aspiring entrepreneurs to grow their businesses?
Listen, execute and persist. I suppose this is three in one, but they are very important to building a successful business. Starting with, “Listen” – Listen means, understanding the market, and your customer inside and out. Make decisions and provide real solutions that will benefit their needs, not just ideas you have in your head. What does your customer really need? Don’t guess what you think they want. Next, “Execute” – This one is simple, in a world that is becoming more and more talk, you need to walk. There are plenty of ideas out there, good and bad, but what’s most important is how you bring them to life. Execution of your vision is ultimately where the rubber meets the pavement and your business begins to take flight. Lastly, “Persist” – The pathway to growth, is not a straight line and not for those who give up easily. You have to search for the good days at first, you will have a lot of tough ones. However, if you persist on your journey and vision, and don’t take no for an answer, you will eventually gain enough momentum to where you have a real business you’re proud of.
How can people find out more about Wingmate?
Follow us on Linkedin to keep up to date on what we’re doing next. You can also check out our Website to find out more information. We post blogs weekly which are great resources for businesses and sales teams.
