Learn how within 10 months:
- District M client base jumps from 30 – 214
- Ad impressions increase from 500M a month to 4 billion
- Revenues double in 2014; are set to more than double again for 2015
- Staff in Montreal grows from 6 to nearly 30
For Patrice Marin (above) Co-Founder and VP of Business Development of the Ad tech company District M, the idea of coming to New York from Montreal to join the Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) Digital Tech program last year was daunting.
“I’m from the operations’ side, sales was new to me and I’d never worked in New York,” he explains over a coffee near Madison Square Park in Manhattan. “I really wondered, ‘can I do this?’ I’m a Francophone from Montreal…. The market here is far more competitive than Canada. There are more publishers but also more platforms,” he explains.
District M was scaling successfully in Canada, but for real growth, needed to tap into the US market
As an epicentre for publishing and advertising, New York City was the obvious fit for the company to sell the services of its proprietary software “Boost,” a real-time analytic and monetization product that segments data into user profiles and helps publishers get ads printed on their websites at the highest price possible.
District M focuses on selling all publishers’ “unsold” inventory– the ads not sold by top-tier sales teams.
HOW THE CTA HELPED DISTRICT M GAIN TRACTION
What Patrice didn’t anticipate was how his focussed, consistent work ethic combined with the structure and mentorship of the CTA program would quickly produce results that even surprised him.
The CTA Digital Tech program is run by the Consulate General of Canada in New York, and one of nine in the US — it helps high-growth Canadian tech companies gain market traction in the US, by connecting the companies to investors, potential partners and helping them increase their client base.
A session at the Grind co-working space for CTA arrivals about the New York tech scene
“The CTA helped us in many ways, first of all, as an umbrella when we got here,” says Patrice.
“The CTA private sector experts helped us streamline our pitch making sure our value proposition was concise and to the point. We took the program seriously, sharing our business plan and targets.”
Patrice’s first challenge in New York was to land a big client as quickly as possible, to gain credibility. “Otherwise, we were just a company from Montreal with Canadian clients.”
PATRICE’S SALES STRATEGY: “IT’S A NUMBERS GAME”
Patrice began setting as many as 10 appointments in a day, working from the shared workspace Grind, and using nearby Bryant Park where he often booked appointments at the coffee shops anchoring each corner of the Park, staggering them at 60-90 minute intervals, “like a game of musical chairs,” he laughs.
“New York is unique this way.. It’s the only place in the world you can book this many appointments in a day.”
With a good product and his drive to rack up numbers, Patrice began closing an average five new clients a week. “It’s a number’s game,” says Patrice. “It’s all about perseverance and not taking things personally when people don’t return your calls.”
Patrice Marin working on the run in New York City: sets up more than 10 sales calls a week
“It’s not easy,” he warns. “This requires a lot of structure, focus and not being discouraged when you don’t get a reply. Sometimes I go back 3-4 times to a potential client, trying a different angle each time.”
District M's successful sales strategy, by the numbers
• Outreach to 150-200 people a week on LinkedIn, use groups to start conversations
• Get a 10-20% “Connect” response rate, with email address
• Send 20-40 emails sent a week to start a dialogue; 10 agree to a phone call where Patrice explains how the product works using screen-share
• 25% of these calls lead to in-person sales visit, roughly 10 a week
• 50% of these visits are converted into a sale = 5 new clients a week
Being with the CTA was a key part of what Patrice was able to do for District M. “It really helped that I had to report on a weekly basis, and keep track of what we were doing. I made sure I came up with good results every time we had a review.”
THE RESULTS
In less than ten months, Patrice and the District M team generated so many new clients that the staff at District M headquarters in Montreal jumped from 6 to nearly 30. The company is now working with more than 1000 publishers.
“When we started, we didn’t have much revenue from the US – roughly 80-85% was from Canada. Now our business is 40% from the US, 35% from Canada and the rest from other countries in part thanks to the global footprint of our US partners,” he explains.
“Before coming to New York and the CTA, we were monetizing 500 million ad impressions a month on behalf of our publisher clients. Now it’s more than four billion and our revenues have more than doubled,” says Marin.
District M has also been ranked 16th on the Pixalate Global Seller Trust index, a third party validation company that ranks the top 50 global inventory sellers on the quality of network, inventory, ad performance and engagement rate.
“The entire District M team is responsible for our traction, and I’m grateful to be part of it,” he says.
“This is just the beginning of what we can do.”
Other key sales tips from Patrice
1) Work Hard
“From the moment I arrived in New York, all I did was work and think of ways to accelerate the closing process as much as possible. If it meant working Friday night rather than go out, that’s what I did”
“This dedication and focus allowed us to grow business”
“To quote the film Glengarry Glen Ross: ‘Put that coffee down, ABC: Always be closing”
2) The importance of relationship building
Relationship-building and good service is key to acquiring customers “It’s all about listening and asking questions.. the more you ask, the more you learn.”
“I’ll have a coffee with potential clients and make sure we’re building a relationship. Once we start working together, I’ll be following up every week with them.”
3) Good customer service
District M puts a premium on good customer service to retain clients — their retention rate is currently 95-97%
4) Be nice
“It’s a people business, about making human connections. I want to connect with my clients, but I’m not pushy. I’ve always tried to be a nice guy,” says Patrice, who in college was voted ‘most likely to help a grandmother across the street.’
5) Take advantage of being in New York and the booming Ad Tech business
“You can double your business because the size of the market is so huge, so unique,” he says. “It’s a huge ecosystem, there are so many publishers. You are close to big platforms like Google, Appnexus, AOL , they all have offices here. Ad Tech is booming.”
About District M:
District M is a technology company specialized in digital ad inventory monetization. District M owes its impressive growth to its proprietary Boost product, a unique technology which enables publishers to dynamically expose their inventory to all demand sources and optimize their yield management operation. Our SSP aggregation philosophy allows for a truly unbiased approach to monetizing across platforms and increased competitive bidding.
www.districtm.co
Contact:
Pat Marin – –
About the Canadian Technology Accelerator:
The Consulate General in New York runs three technology accelerators that target high-potential early-stage companies in three sectors selected through a competitive process. The companies receive international business acceleration from partners in the private sector, working closely with Trade Commissioners of the International Business Development section of the Canadian Consulate.
CTA Digital Media: Ad Tech, Data Analytics, FinTech, E-Commerce, SaaS and on-line Content) selected through a competitive process.
CTA Digital Tech Companies
CTA CleanTech: Green chemistry and advanced materials; energy/water data, analysis, management & control; clean energy; clean transportation and mobility, clean web, consumer engagement and smart grid
CTA CleanTech Companies
CTA Health IT: Focussing on patient-centered solutions using health information technology including mobile devices (mHealth) and telemedicine (eHealth).
CTA Health IT Companies
For more information: ctanyc @international.gc.ca
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