From $600K to $1.8M selling vision systems

One of my clients, for a long time, made vision systems for high-speed manufacturers. I led their operations, and that included the technical sales: trade shows, site visits, email, phone and video calls. I am not naming the client.

Where it started

Sales were about $600,000 a year. Over the next year they grew to about $1.8 million. The year after that, the client closed a $1.3 million rollout project that followed from the same work. The figures are rounded.

What we did

It came down to two things, and neither one was clever.

1. We looked after the customers we already had

We picked out the key customer accounts and made looking after them the first job. Not the newest lead and not the loudest request. The accounts that mattered most got our attention first.

2. We got better at trade shows

The first thing we tried was long, careful emails to the people who would be at the show. Nobody replied.

Then we sent one short email: we will be at our booth on these two days, are you free? That one email booked about 20 meetings at a single show.

At the show, we took a photo of each person's business card and left a voice note about what we had talked about. A system turned the two into a drafted email, ready the next day. We read it, changed what we wanted, and sent it. That let us send follow-ups much faster, and book the next meetings.

What happened

• Sales went from about $600K to about $1.8M in one year.
• One short email booked about 20 meetings at one trade show.
• The following year the client closed a $1.3M rollout project.

What I took from it

Short emails get answered and long ones do not. The customers who matter most should get the first hour, not the last. And a person should read every follow-up before it goes out, so the drafting is fast and the voice stays yours.

That is what the AI Ascend Sales System is built around.