Werkules founder Kay Simon on telephone sales, the 90-second rule, and why he still likes to pick up the phone in person

You can listen to the full podcast interview here. (German)

How do you approach B2B sales??

Kay Simon has launched "Werkules", a software that enables craft businesses to manage their work processes more efficiently and leanly. For example, the Werkules app can be used to record working hours, schedule assignments, and even loan out tools and vehicles digitally and clearly. Vacation requests and sick leave notifications can also be handled via the app.??

"At the beginning, it was difficult for me to explain what we were doing in the first place,"

recalls Kay Simon. His work as a cold caller in sales has since taught him to introduce his software in less than 90 seconds:?

"We talked a lot about solutions in the beginning. But that doesn't usually work with software," reflects the young entrepreneur: "We learned that it's all about the problem. For this reason, our phone script is now designed around the problem. We try to find out if the customer has the problem that we can solve. If the customer has the problem, we set up a demo appointment."

Kay Simon comes from a family of tradesmen, so it's little surprise that he also ended up in this industry. And yet, he never expected to start his own tech startup in 2021:?

"My father was a tiler and my brother did his civil engineering and then built a big tile company. So I've been on the construction site since I was a little kid, and then I got into the office for the first time when I was 16," says the young entrepreneur, explaining his background.?

He originally developed the software itself for the family business's own use:?

"Werkules actually came into being five years ago. At that time, however, it was not called Werkules," says Kay Simon. In fact, the decision to develop software arose from a specific problem of his own:?

"People on construction sites always say that a lot of money is lost in the office and that they don't work anyway. When I came from the construction site to the office, I realized how much they actually have to do," recalls the young founder. Looking for software that would improve workflow as well as communication between the office and the construction site, he says he didn't come across a suitable solution:?

"We looked at 40 software providers for tradesmen, but found nothing suitable. Then we decided to develop our own software,"

explains the young entrepreneur. The decision to sell it to other craft businesses came much later. Because as it turned out, other businesses were also struggling with similar problems:?

"Craftsmen talk to each other a lot. We realized at some point that other people wanted the software, too."

Getting the company's own software ready for broad distribution, however, took some time:?

"We had the huge challenge of taking software that was really just tailored to us and making it a little more general. From a technical point of view, it's not that easy to make customized software available for mass sales. However, we had relatively many customers from our close environment. Thanks to these friends and acquaintances, we were able to refine many things."??

The founder is particularly proud of the fact that Werkules is currently still 100% self-financed. However, he will probably raise outside capital for the first time this May to support marketing costs.?

As far as selling the software is concerned, he now has a smorgasbord of tricks and experience to draw on:?

For one thing, he advises other salespeople to first ask themselves exactly who they want to target their offering at:?

"In the beginning, we picked out contacts and simply called them. But we just ran into a wall," the young entrepreneur recalls. In the meantime, Werkules has taken a much more structured approach:??

"We asked ourselves who our customer actually is." The precise definition of the target group is important so that he doesn't waste his time calling companies that have no need for the software:??

"In the meantime, we buy our contacts from Creditreform or via other tools," reveals the founder. Instagram is also a helpful tool for locating relevant businesses: "There are craftsmen pages and craftsmen influencers. Mostly, they're just followed by other crafters."??

He also has long since stopped trying to close a deal on the first call:

"We only call to make a demo appointment,"

Kay Simon explains the new strategy. While the demo appointment takes 30 seconds, the sweet spot for the first contact is one and a half minutes:

"The first call must take no more than 90 seconds. Anything over that is bad. Anything less than that, they turn you away."

In addition, Werkules salespeople follow a script of questions to determine the customer's need (and problem):?

"In our demo, there is a separate needs analysis. After all, the customer doesn't even know what he wants. For this reason, we have nine fixed questions to understand how the business is currently operating. Before we go into the actual demo, we draw a conclusion and tell the customer in which area there is room for improvement."

Last but not least, regular exchanges between the salespeople are important to continue learning and optimizing the phone script on a daily basis:?

"In the beginning, we exchanged relatively little. In the meantime, we meet every morning at 8:00 and discuss what went well on the last day, what objections came up and how to deal with them in the future."

Although Kay Simon also used to be reluctant to get on the phone, he now enjoys sales:?

"Sales is demotivating at first because you get rejected a lot. You're also nervous and have a bad feeling about selling something. But if you're really convinced about your product and know that you're helping people with it, then you're not selling anything, you just want to help the customer."?

In addition, he believes direct sales is the best way for founders to practice pitching:?

"If you can't explain your product on the phone, you can't do marketing. That's why sales, even if you don't feel like it at the beginning, is really only recommended."

If you want to learn why Kay Simon sometimes prefers to let his female employees call and what trick he uses to get connected directly to the boss,?You can listen to the full podcast interview here. (German)

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