Hook case study
Hook – Using fractional sales and marketing support to scale faster and find the right full-time sales hire.
How Scalewise fractional leaders enabled Hook to scale quicker and cut the time and risk of hiring a full-time VP of Sales.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
4 days per week to full-time after 4 months
6
Seed
Hook helps b2b SaaS companies grow revenue from their existing customer base. Founded in late 2020, Hook uses data science and predictive machine learning to identify hidden revenue opportunities for every customer. By mapping out churn risks and upsell potential, Hook removes the guesswork from a company’s day-to-day and lets them focus their time on key customers.
Hook Need
Fresh from raising investment, Hook were keen to expand their commercial arm, but lacked the commercial experience to accelerate pipeline growth, optimise processes or hire an effective commercial team.
In particular, they wanted a sales leader with experience of successfully scaling similar companies who could take control of their various sales needs. They knew that finding a permanent sales leader could take 6-9 months (and not be the right fit), but didn’t want to sit still and slow down the scale machine either.
Scalewise Impact
After discussing Hook’s priorities, Scalewise recommended fractional leadership to get the expertise they needed quickly with no risks attached. Hook hadn’t considered a fractional leader before and were initially sceptical of the short time frame to find the right match.
However, with Scalewise helping to outline the skills, background and success criteria they needed, Hook was able to match with two fractional leaders in just four weeks. Munya Hoto joined as a marketing leader for 10 days per month, while Tom Castely joined as a sales leader four days per week, before joining Hook full-time after four months.
The Scalewise fractional leaders had the following impact:
1. Fresh sales approach
Up to speed quickly, Tom was taking customer calls in the first couple of days before setting his sights on the sales process. With a fresh set of eyes, he looked at different personas, value propositions and ways of communicating the product’s value, before rejigging the sales messaging and revising the ICP. As such, he created a new sales approach that derisked the product for Hook customers and led to a new pipeline of prospects.
2. Perfected GTM messaging
Munya helped Hook change their messaging, positioning and GTM strategy to sufficiently loosen the status quo, create urgency around their product and differentiate their solution from competitors. This included tweaking the GTM messaging for the target market, using the right buzzwords and creating the right sentences to resonate with the buyer personas.
3. Full-time hire sales hire
At the start of the process, Hook was hoping that the fractional sales leader might join the team on a full-time basis if they were the right fit (35% of Scalewise fractional leaders join full-time). Four months into the engagement, Hook approached Tom about the full-time VP of Sales role, which he was keen to accept. As a result, Hook managed to vastly reduce the time and risk of hiring a full-time sales leader, knowing that Tom was the right cultural match before putting pen to paper.
“The alternative to using Scalewise is a pretty slow, arduous, and full of risk process. They not only helped us get someone on the ground within weeks, but helped eliminate all the risk of hiring someone permanently.”
Firaas Rashid
Founder and CEO Hook
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