Maestro Group Coaches REQ to Deliver a Sales Pitch as Great as Everything Else They Deliver

THE CLIENT

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., REQ (formerly RepEquity) is a full-service digital marketing and technology solutions company.

THE CHALLENGE

After nine years of phenomenal growth, REQ had become much more than an online reputation management firm. As they became a full-service organization, not all employees knew the full extent of services offered. REQ needed to focus efforts on training the sales and client service teams on how best to communicate their services and sell their solutions.

THE SOLUTION

Maestro Group’s Proprietary Sales Training

Through the Phoenix Sales Transformation Method, Maestro uses audits, roleplays, workshops, and gap training to transform companies.

THE STORY

REQ (formerly RepEquity) began as an online reputation management firm in 2008. Over its ten-year existence, it has experienced tremendous success. Through more than 4,000 percent growth, three investments, and two successful acquisitions, the company has moved well beyond online reputation management (ORM) and search engine optimization (SEO). It is now a full-service digital marketing company that also provides brand and campaign strategy, advertising, creative services, and website and app development.

While the growth and expanded role was winning REQ awards and prominent customers, it was also leading to some confusion. There was no longer a clear and concise message from across the company as to who they were and what they did. In 2017, REQ decided to focus on how to better sell their services and solutions by having the sales team and client service team on the same page. They also wanted to instill the idea that all employees were salespeople. Employees were representing the company in various external interactions and needed to have a cohesive and consistent message.

So, what does a brand management company do when they need to work on themselves? REQ hired Maestro Group. REQ’s CEO, Tripp Donnelly, likes to say that it’s like learning to drive a stick shift from your dad. Nobody wants to do that. It’s easier to learn from an outside consultant rather than someone within your organization.

Maestro Group conducted an eight-week sales and messaging training in 2017. “We’re a very nice organization that I think is very respectful of each other,” said Avelyn Austin, VP of Business Development and Marketing at REQ. “Sometimes that hurts the amount of feedback that we’re able to give each other to improve ourselves.”

Austin said that the training gave REQ a better understanding of who knew the company’s services really well and who had opportunity for growth. “We also found that everybody presented differently, and there was a different understanding about the services we offered,” she said. Finally, Austin stated that through the surveys and self-reflection that were part of Maestro’s training, REQ decided to invest in treating themselves as one of their own clients and did a deep dive into their own corporate brand strategy. “That deep dive triggered the next evolution of the brand,” said Austin.

Less than a year after their engagement with Maestro Group, RepEquity rebranded itself as REQ. “For our ten-year anniversary,” said Austin, “we are celebrating our growth not only in the services and solutions we provide, but also in the talent and clients that we attract.”

“I recommend Maestro Group to anybody that is creating a new sales or client service team to ensure that messaging is aligned throughout the organization,” said Austin. “I would also recommend them for when you need to reinfuse life into an existing program that may have plateaued.”

Will Fuentes, Managing Partner at Maestro, said that the biggest change he noticed after training REQ was confidence across all parts of the business. “Developers felt that they could accurately speak to the value that REQ delivered to their clients, and not just from a development standpoint.”

“For me,” said Fuentes, “it was my duty to get them to the point where they could deliver a sales pitch as well as they could deliver everything else that they were doing. Their salesmanship just wasn’t as strong as their delivery, and so we needed to get those two things to align.” Since working with Maestro Group, Austin has seen a big increase in confidence from REQ employees. Another change she has noticed has been the greater understanding employees have of the company, and in turn, how invested everyone is in the success of the company. Each team member wants to find a place where they can contribute. “I’ve seen a noticeable increase in hand raising, volunteering, and open communications of what else we can improve on,” said Austin. “I’m proud of the work we did with Maestro Group,” said Austin. “It helped to align us as a company and move us forward as a unified group.”