Interning with the sales team at CRO:NYX Digital has been the peak of remote work for me. CRO:NYX Digital is a HubSpot Growth Agency that focuses on delivering a positive ROI and bottom-line growth for businesses around the world. Not only is the team providing valuable services to companies around the world, but employees are based from different places around the globe (Australia, Canada, Cayman Islands, India, America, Nigeria, Scotland, etc.). For that reason, the fusion of insights, unique cultures, and expertise are leveraged by its amazing culture of diversity.

After being referred to work with the CRO:NYX team, I hopped on a virtual interview with Tanya to share my goals and objectives for the potential internship. During the interview, we spoke about my long-term professional goals, my interest in the company, and previous work experience that enabled me to contribute more value to the organization. One of the funny conversations that we shared was on the similarities and differences between the sales I would be focusing on at CRO:NYX and the sales I learned through selling luxury watches at Movado. My focus would be to solve customer problems by matching their needs with services that would convert them into brand advocates.

During our conversation, I fell in love with the company’s culture, values, and vision. Not only has CRO:NYX focused on leaving a legacy found throughout countless testimonials from customers and case studies, but continuously, the team leaves a social impact by volunteering for local causes such as the Cayman Island’s Cancer Society. I quickly found out why CRO:NYX Digital won the agency of the year award! Though, to be fair, I think that title should be extended past its ‘annual’ label.

On-boarding with the team came easily and the compassion radiated through messages shared on Slack as well as through the one-on-one calls. I quickly got to work on my new mission of sharpening the sales process to, eventually, connect with customers to offer our services. A mixture of my previous work experience both as a Growth Strategist and a Growth Advisor in separate organizations proved invaluable in this new role. Additionally, the management at CRO:NYX encourages continual education and learning so I refreshed on a few certifications from HubSpot including Frictionless Sales, Inbound, Inbound Marketing, Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Sales Enablement, and Digital Marketing. However, I recommend checking out the full library to see which one of these free courses will be most useful to your knowledge bank. In supplement to the course material and previous work experience, meeting with the Channel Account Manager our agency was assigned from HubSpot gave room for real-time sales coaching. During these meetings, we explored prospecting strategies, sharpening our customer profiles, and positioning.

With this knowledge, I felt ready to set out on the internship’s adventure. Starting off, I took inventory to create easily accessible and organized files of current assets our agency should use to nurture a relationship with leads. I did the same with the sales presentation deck and pricing matrix used in the valuation of our services. With these baselines assets in hand, making an official sales flow in HubSpot came next. This way, categorizing leads based on the stage of the buying process became easier and manageable. The timing of this sales pipeline was perfect because the agency started to transition out of exclusively inbound leads to a mixture of outbound and inbound prospects. Our sales flow now includes the following stages: Prospect, Set Up in HubSpot, Send First Email, First Phone Call, Send Follow-up Email, Conduct an Exploratory Call, Send Follow Up Email 2, Qualified to Purchase, Close, and the additional “Went Cold/ Slow Burn”.

Our sales process is transparent; the ten steps should be simple to follow. Prospecting includes identifying potential business partnerships by filtering through inbound candidates and locating outbound leads through opportunities for education. In the evolving world of digital marketing, not everyone has the answers to what it takes for their business to keep up with the changing landscape and technologies. If businesses are not adaptable and fast, their services can become obsolete through other companies engulfing a larger market share due to their leveraging of technology. Additionally, business leaders are not informed of the benefits that working with experts, like CRO:NYX, to strategize and implement growth strategies can have on their billable hours and other priorities. The prospecting stage is designed to aid people who are falling behind and need a hand.

Following our interaction with the business, we create a customer profile in HubSpot. Customer relationship management software is useful for our company, but many times for theirs as well. HubSpot allows easy organization of the relationships built with each partner. More benefits can be seen on our blog.

Sending the first email is where the first impression may be happening! Here, we focus on communicating an entry relationship with the customer by generating awareness of the problems they may be going through.

A first phone call is soon to follow where we reiterate the problems they may be having while offering additional help to the questions they may have developed. During my internship, the company determined a platform for outreach calls that would integrate with HubSpot’s lead management system while creating a division for the sales team to streamline a universal phone number from their personal mobile devices. AirCall also keeps a record of calls, which may be useful for training and optimization to transform sales teams for the better.

After our initial outreach call, we follow up through email by offering digital workshops and helpful resources. During this stage of the sales flow, the customer is considering different options to move forward to address the problem they may be facing.

Many times, when prospects feel as if they are empowered to choose the best path forward for solving their problems, they schedule an exploratory call with our team. Here, we go over challenges, goals, plans, timeline, consequences, implications, budget, and authority figures within their teams.

The email that is sent afterward summarizes the call and includes whether CRO:NYX will be the best option to move forward or if we suggest another company that may be a stronger fit for a special situation. Here, we include the proposal and wait for a confirmation to move forward!

After working with the new partner, our team delights to create surprising moments that will generate advocacy for our company. Their advocacy will transform into inbound leads that start back up on the sales flow. This cycle is magical.

In the end, I’ve truly been able to reflect on how much of an invaluable learning experience interning with CRO: NYX digital has been. I have created, implemented, and used the HubSpot Sales deal flow to streamline the buyer's journey with the agency while maintaining the customer relationship management component organized and timely. I’ve also aided the CEO in creating a complex pricing matrix that offers the company's services in packages while maintaining flexibility for customization. Additionally, I’ve identified and contacted over sixty potential partners using efficient communication techniques including cold calling, emailing, and discovery meetings. Moreover, I’ve constructed several resources for the long-term inventory of the content library, existing clients, and sales presentation. In conclusion, this is all that I have contributed to CRO:NYX's strategic growth by identifying opportunities that led to higher lead generation and business development. I would recommend anyone to apply for this company and work alongside Tanya, she cultivates an unmatched work environment and culture.

~ Vinicius Passos, CRO:NYX Digital Sales Intern, 2021