Sales Development

Story Block Case Study

About Story Block

A tech agency in the deep south, Story Block serves its clients across multiple disciplines, providing expertise in marketing, sales, and web development. They provide access to high-quality, affordable stock media that allows creatives to focus on what they do best: Tell their story. Story Block wants to help creatives to move faster, create more, and realize their artistic visions with unlimited freedom.

David Katz

Marketing Strategist

Industry

Marketing & Advertising

Challenges & Scope

Need: CEO of Story Block Media, Dennis Lomonaco, needed more Qualified Conversations to shore up his marketing agency’s top-of-funnel pipeline. As the founder, he helps companies grow by aligning Sales, Marketing and Operations in the pursuit of measurable growth. He builds custom software and API integrations. Therefore, he needs good research in order to drive good qualified leads. He feels that getting in front of someone and resting a memorable first impression is the most important thing.

Opportunity: Dennis wasn’t looking to book meetings about sales. He wanted to learn what prospective companies do, as a way to strategically position himself and all of his business’ offerings.

Goal: Dennis was looking for CIENCE to open up conversations with 3+ sales people and 1+ marketing person/people. He wanted to learn their marketing technology stack and/or marketing spend when going into a call. He is a contributing writer for Forbes and can spin up a podcast, so he can play out these ideas, as a way to open up a conversation – leading to more calls with the prospect.

Why CIENCE

Both Story Block Media and CIENCE are HubSpot partners, met at the annual Inbound marquee event, and found common ground as data-driven companies fueled by generating predictable revenue sources for their clients (albeit in slightly different spheres).  CIENCE was hired to open up these sales and marketing conversations through its orchestrated outbound principles, built around specialized sales experts. It’s People-as-a-Service, which combines human intelligence, machine learning, expert training, and industry experience for superior research, appointment setting, and sales development. 

_“_Whether it is to help with the leg-work in a project or to help outline strategy or get in amongst the weeds to solve an issue you might have they will be with you every step of the way,” says David Katz, Inbound Marketer/Account Manager, Story Block. 

Results

CIENCE sourced leads and ensured a smooth handoff to Story Block’s sales by running both inbound and outbound campaigns using email and phone scripts, as well as LinkedIn and a bespoke persona-based landing page. Story Block landed an average of 4.7 meetings per month, closing three deals across the pilot. 

“When our business was going through a rough period, when putting tons of time and energy into our marketing was unlikely, it allowed us to execute and oversee a pipeline with qualified leads,” Kats continues. “CIENCE was always on time, highly communicative, and goal-focused!”

At the end of the pilot period, Story Block continued (and still does) with CIENCE Now (the research and data only service) for the purpose of supporting one Story Block’s primary clients, Nola Motorsports, and their contact and lead generation needs. It was a happy ending, as they were able to experiment with messaging, learn the ropes of outbound marketing, schedule (and close) qualified meetings, and find a sales research partner for a client.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many meetings did Story Block book with CIENCE?

Story Block averaged 4.7 qualified meetings per month through their outbound campaign with CIENCE. Across the pilot period, they closed three deals from those conversations.

What outbound channels did CIENCE use for Story Block?

CIENCE ran both inbound and outbound campaigns for Story Block using email, phone scripts, LinkedIn outreach, and a bespoke persona-based landing page. This multi-channel approach was designed to open qualified conversations with sales and marketing decision-makers at target companies.

Why did Story Block choose CIENCE for sales development?

Story Block and CIENCE were both HubSpot partners who met at the annual Inbound event and shared a data-driven approach to generating predictable revenue. CIENCE was selected to open outbound sales and marketing conversations using its People-as-a-Service model, which combines human intelligence, machine learning, and specialized sales expertise.

What happened after Story Block’s outbound pilot with CIENCE ended?

After the pilot concluded, Story Block continued working with CIENCE through the CIENCE Now research and data service. They used this ongoing engagement to support contact and lead generation efforts for one of their primary clients, Nola Motorsports.

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