Nominated By:
Garrett Hollander
Why are you nominating this person?
Digest this next sentence well. It alludes to the merit of SalesStaff CEO/CSO David Balzen in deserving the honor of an SLMA Award. French author Saint-Exupery said, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” By inspiring others to long for the endless immensity of team success, Balzen has led SalesStaff to grow from a vision into one of the most formidable Demand Generation companies in the world in merely four years.
SalesStaff has delivered its unique brand of pay-for-performance sales appointment generation and lead generation to over 900 clients worldwide, including brands like Monster.com, Samsung, Paypal, and others. SalesStaff generates over 10,000 sales appointments and 25,000 sales leads annually for their clients resulting in over $2.5 billion in sales opportunities.
As a sales services company, it’s only natural that David drafts aggressive sales growth goals for SalesStaff’s internal sales team… and these are goals that he’s exceeded. Drawing from experience as founder of Demand Generation company InterNeed, Balzen has guided huge revenue growth for SalesStaff; SalesStaff grew 3,833% from 2009 to 2012, resulting in SalesStaff’s ranking of 87th on the 2013 Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies in the USA – 2nd place in the Houston metro area, and 10th in the Business Services vertical. Also, SalesStaff was honored by the Houston Business Journal as one of the Fastest Growing Companies in Houston, ranking 19 on their annual 2013 Houston Fast 100 based on revenue growth from $985K to $4 million over two years.
What stand-out thing have they done?
David Balzen is the quintessential hybrid of Chief Executive, Sales Executive, and Marketing Pro. A powerful combination that has earned awards like the Top 25 Most Influential Inside Sales Professionals from the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals. The achievements that speak loudest though have been wrought within the walls of SalesStaff:
• Under Balzen’s leadership, the company has grown to a staff of 100+ in four years
• Gross revenue has doubled annually since SalesStaff’s inception
• Balzen built an internal sales and marketing system that yields 100 inbound inquiries each week from a variety of marketing sources
• Balzen has built and managed a sales team that began as just two salespeople to a staff of over fifteen salespeople and sales support personnel that book multiple millions in business annually
• Balzen’s sales team realized dramatic increase in sales benchmarks – issuing 200+ proposals a month, up from around 90 this time last year
• The sales team has closed 200+ net new accounts during the past 12 months totaling over $6 million compared to 100 new accounts the year before
These accomplishments are notable, in and of themselves, but the speed and efficiency with which David Balzen has driven revenue into the company is truly remarkable. The numbers tell the story of a consummate entrepreneur and an exceptional sales executive. But the anecdotes you’d hear around the workplace tell a much more human story – that of a trusted leader that inspires others to greatness, not by assigning tasks but rather by stirring in them a longing to be great.
About the Author: Susan Finch
Susan has been a web solutions provider since 1997 and combines it with her years of experience in Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising. In her own company, Susan Finch Solutions (http://www.susanfinch.com) Susan provides training, design, set up, strategies, and graphics for clients online and for print. Susan has been a director for the SLMA since 2008.
