Client Profile
Jamestown Container Companies (JCC) provides custom and stock corrugated packaging products and shipping supplies. Its locations are in Rochester, Buffalo, Jamestown, Franklinville, and Lyons, NY, and Cleveland, OH.
Business Situation
Ten years ago, when JCC first partnered with Athena SWC, they faced challenges with expanding their client base and maintaining an effective sales pipeline as prospecting is resource intensive. While effective in managing existing relationships, the sales team didn’t have adequate time for the required outbound activities to develop new opportunities. This gap hindered their ability to maintain a steady flow of qualified leads and impacted their overall sales results. This difficulty necessitated the strategic partnership formed with Athena SWC to enhance their business development efforts. A decade later, reflecting back, Larry Hudson, JCC vice president of sales and marketing, still finds incredible value in Athena’s services.
“The value we receive is similar to what it was in the beginning, but may be heightened now,” Larry explained. “It’s so difficult to make contact with potential new clients. It takes a long time. It takes a large number of touches. It takes a while to figure out who you should try to work with, get in touch with them, and actually set appointments. It is more time-consuming and more challenging than ever before. To this day, Athena does a remarkable job accomplishing that for us.”
A Targeted and Focused Approach
Over the past ten years, the long-term relationship between JCC and Athena has strengthened. The two companies have developed a dynamic and long-lasting relationship, adapting to evolving sales strategies and processes.
“We are certainly in lockstep as far as our efforts are concerned, whether marketing or messaging. After this amount of time, we’re very comfortable working with each other. We have almost all of our salespeople engaged in the program in some way, shape, or form,” said Larry.
Athena has been instrumental in providing a consistent, high-quality approach to lead generation, including finding the right types of companies, locating key decision-makers, and setting up sales meetings. This has enabled Jamestown Container’s sales team to focus on converting leads and managing client relationships more effectively.
Process and Division of Labor
Another benefit is the consistency of Athena’s structured approach and processes. Processes and proper training ensure the quality of the work and prevent opportunities from falling off the radar and aging.
“The other valuable part of the relationship is consistency,” explained Larry. “We’ve had a number of people work on our account over the years. We’ve got a relatively new team now, and it just amazes me how well Athena trains its people. The quality of the work, the effort, the approach, the messaging, etc., is consistent year over year, regardless of who we have working with our account. Those are the kinds of things that have helped us see value in the relationship still after ten years of working together.”
Lary noted that what he feels makes Athena’s process model successful compared to other companies he has worked with is the division of labor model – each person has a specific focus, allowing salespeople to focus on closing the sale.
“The success goes back to the separation of work–where Athena thrives; the information gathering during the appointment setting is difficult for even our best prospecting account managers,” explained Larry. “So the way that work is separated between what Athena is responsible for and what we are responsible for works very well for us and our process. It is the only company to date that has approached us that knows where its strengths are and where they begin and end.”
Adapting to Changing Sales Environment
Technology changes quickly, and one of Athena’s strengths is adopting technology to make processes more efficient. Sometimes, this happens behind the scenes, like upgrading call recording software or its marketing automation system, but other times, it directly impacts the customer experience. Investing in Pipedrive CRM has improved the efficiency of tracking business opportunities and provided improved data analysis and reporting.
“We’ve got a few more tools to use together that help us with our partnership, with Pipedrive and other tools that didn’t exist initially. Pipedrive is used as the basis for some of our update meetings. It’s allowed Athena to become more efficient in tracking opportunities and where they stand and to help us focus on getting to the
finish line. It’s been helpful for us to be able to look at those snapshots differently today than the first several years we were working together.”
The CRM allows Athena to track prospects’ progress through the pipeline and reengage with leads that have gone dark. By agreeing to a 60-day follow-up period, Athena has helped Jamestown Container reinitiate contact with potential clients, doubling the efforts to revive stalled opportunities. This approach has provided a valuable safety net, ensuring no opportunity is
left unexplored.
The Results
Long-Term Relationship Delivers Results
JCC’s annual revenue has steadily increased each subsequent year, culminating in over $6.3 million in first-year revenue from 75 closures. Currently, JCC’s active pipeline for opportunities brought in by Athena stands at over $2.3 million.