The short version
- AquaFence sells deployable flood protection over long sales cycles with many people involved: building owners, condo boards, building officials and municipalities.
- Ben Liptak, SVP Sales, uses Scalign to know what each buyer cares about before every meeting: their pain points, buying signals and what was promised, pulled from every conversation so far.
- He uses that to tailor every follow-up and presentation to the specific buyer, and he does it faster: follow-up emails in 20 seconds instead of 20 minutes, decks in 10 minutes instead of two hours.
- He estimates Scalign gives him back at least two hours on a meeting-heavy day, and AquaFence plans to give every new sales hire an account on day one.
Selling with a full calendar
Every AquaFence deal runs over several meetings. Ben meets each customer at least twice before a sale, walks buildings on site visits, and runs Q&As with condo associations and building officials. Between meetings, customers send drawings, details and descriptions of their problems.
The market makes every meeting count. After a quiet storm season, buyers can feel less urgency to act.
“For the first time since 2015, no hurricanes made landfall in the US. This is great news, but it can give people a false sense of security and make people complacent instead of proactive.”
Before Scalign, Ben took notes by hand and pieced together what had been said across meetings himself. With dozens of conversations running at once, details slipped.
“Most conversations are generally similar, but each client has key differentiators and needs that I'd lose track of constantly.”
Showing up ready
Scalign is where Ben starts his day. It's open next to his calendar and inbox, so he knows where each deal stands before the first meeting.
“It's the first tab I open daily along with my calendar and email to make sure I am aligned on what I'm doing today.”
He walks into follow-ups already caught up. Months can pass between meetings with the same customer. Scalign keeps the discussion, the pain points and the action items from every meeting, so Ben picks up where he left off.
“A great way for me to have a follow up meeting that we haven't spoke in a month or two and I don't remember what we talked about. Now I do.”
He's fully present in the meeting. With Scalign capturing everything, Ben stopped splitting his attention between the customer and his notes.
“I love not having to take notes. It's so nice to be able to have a conversation and trust that [Scalign] is capturing all the data that I need.”
He thinks about the buyer, beyond the task list. Scalign pulls out what each buyer cares about: their pain points, buying signals and what was promised. That gives Ben room to think about strategy instead of transcribing.
“I didn't have a ton of time to think strategically, pulling the takeaways from a meeting and thinking about what their true problem was and how AquaFence can position ourselves to solve it. I think this [Scalign] does this incredibly well and gives me an opportunity to kind of rise one or two levels above my current role.”
“In a month's time, I've saved myself days of just the admin work. It's like having an executive assistant that can help me manage the admin.”
Getting hours back
On a meeting-heavy day, Ben estimates Scalign saves him at least two hours of admin.
“It saves me at least two hours of a meeting-heavy day. In the old days you'd sit, you'd take notes. To type out an email without [Scalign] is a 20 minute endeavor. And now it's 20 seconds.”
Follow-ups. After each meeting, Ben has the summary, next steps and action items ready, and he acts on them right away.
“I use action items pretty religiously after each [meeting], which has been super helpful.”
Presentations. Ben builds each deck around the buyer in front of him, using what Scalign has pulled from earlier meetings: their pain points, previous discussions and open action items.
“I can create a custom PowerPoint in 10 minutes versus, you know, two hours.”
“Scalign is my go-to for helping me tailor every call or presentation to the specific buyer.”
Keeping colleagues in the loop. Ben used to follow a customer meeting with a second call to walk colleagues through how it went. Now he points them to the summary in Scalign and moves on.
“Just getting the ability to say, hey, you know, go check out what happened and read a summary. We've done that in a couple of projects and it's been great.”
What's next: a team that starts where Ben is
AquaFence is hiring, and Ben plans to give every new seller a Scalign account on day one, alongside their email and CRM.
“As soon as we get somebody on here, they'll need an account because I want to train them and then track how they're doing and how calls are going.”
AquaFence and Scalign: questions
How does AquaFence use Scalign?
Ben Liptak, AquaFence's SVP Sales, uses Scalign to keep a running read on every buyer across meetings: their pain points, buying signals and open promises. He walks into each follow-up knowing where the deal stands and tailors every email and presentation to that buyer.
How much time does Scalign save AquaFence?
Ben estimates at least two hours on a meeting-heavy day. Follow-up emails take about 20 seconds instead of 20 minutes, and custom presentations about 10 minutes instead of two hours.
Does Scalign work for companies that sell physical products?
Yes. AquaFence sells flood protection with long, multi-meeting deals, site visits and many stakeholders, and uses Scalign for every customer meeting.