In the legacy Managed Services model, CIENCE provided lead generation services to businesses looking for fast growth by offering multi-channel outbound sales specialization. CIENCE combines research with personalized messaging delivered through multiple channels to create a predictable stream of qualified appointments for sales teams. The vendor states that to date, they have delivered more than 10's of million leads to over 2,500 clients in over 225 industries.
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Sparklead
Score 9.4 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Sparklead is a B2B lead generation company with focus on direct outreach strategies. They provide businesses with leads to boost their sales pipeline across all industries and sizes. Sparklead Services: Lead generation goals: provide a lead generation strategy via outbound and inbound marketing deliver qualified prospects to the customer's pipeline assist in expanding into new markets by generating more…
Cience is well suited for providing building blocks when you are starting with very little. They took the time to learn our unique product and weren't hesitant to jump on an account for a less than traditional ICP. If you are looking to outsource sales, just be prepared to be an active voice in the partnership.
Sparklead is well suited for companies like OTH, that are looking to generate leads and engage with key decision-makers. Their expertise in direct outreach is particularly effective in reaching a targeted audience and establishing meaningful connections. Sparklead's services are most appropriate when a company has a clear target market and wants to leverage outreach as a strategic channel. However, if a company's target audience is not receptive to direct communications or if they require a more diverse lead generation approach, Sparklead's focus on outreach might be less suitable.
Sparklead provided us with comprehensive marketing consultancy services to generate leads for our pipeline. As a result, we received detailed market analyses and a plan that addressed the challenges we were facing with qualified leads.
The company conducted extensive research to identify key players, challenges, and opportunities within the Ukrainian market segment.
STEER CLEAR- their company and model are a mess. We had a kickoff call in February with our "team" and by mid-May, none of them were still with the organization. We were never looped in on this turnover and as a result, there was a total diffusion of responsibility. Beware of the "10-20 day onboarding period" ours was more than 30 despite the fact we proactively provided them with a 15+ page playbook detailing everything they needed: 1) Target personas 2) Objections and counters 3) Product info 4) Company history 5) Talk tracks 6) Etc. Every ball that was dropped was on their end and there was a complete lack of ownership and accountability from their leadership team. The only person who took ANY ownership was our CAM, who was let go as part of a massive company-wide layoff. Their whole organization is a mess.
We made numerous coaching asks of their team after hearing in the call recordings that the SDR was deviating from the script completely and had no idea what they were talking about. Their message was, "We help HR leaders retain talent so that they can promote their talent and not lose existing talent"--- the most generic of pitches and not at all related to what we do. They continuously referred to it as a "system" when we are a professional coaching organization. We coached continuously on every biweekly call and gave them suggestions, none of which seemed to get back to the SDR as they continued to repeat the same mistakes and even went far as pushing a prospect to take a meeting when she was in a rush because "I get incentivized from meetings booked over the phone."
Despite our continuous asks, there was no collaboration. Our landing page mockup featured companies that weren't even customers of ours and would've been catastrophic to our brand had it been released. We never saw a mockup of this until the last minute and ended up having to do the entire thing ourselves despite them selling us on the fact that it was something they could handle.
We couldn't find anything where Sparklead could have improved or done things differently based on our experience. They went above and beyond our expectations.
The process outlined was exactly what we were looking for (hand holding before, during and ongoing) and was right on in terms of what we needed for implementation. We were successful in identifying the team from CIENCE who would be dedicated to Manifest and were able to have all levels of both companies involved in the implementation process.
We evaluated a handful of other companies in this industry before signing on with CIENCE. After doing the research, we found them to be a far better company with a much more compelling value and cost. I don't even remember the exact names of the other companies we met with, but I do recall how secretive and dubious their competition was about pricing and how the team resourced their time. The other models honestly did not make sense because they were cheaper but claiming that they would produce more for us with fewer resources and less of our support and collaboration. I have a lot of experience working in this industry in my past, and CIENCE was the only vendor our Executive team trusted after discussing potential contracts with at least 3 other vendors. They have since proven themselves even more, and the transparency, clarity, and collaboration that they sold us on originally have only developed more as we continue to work with them.
We selected Sparklead due to their immediate and proactive engagement in understanding our business model and providing practical strategies. The team's commitment and the scenario they proposed was based on measurable results, what directly left a strong impression on us.
Terrible waste of money. Just starting out we want to use our funds the most effective we can. This had ZERO ROI and was a waste of time.
They ask for a three-month upfront payment and gave us nothing back. While this is the risk we take with no guarantees, you would expect a reputable business to offer something for a performance so poor. A free month to try and make things right by providing a few leads, or some small amount of refund, something. Their response was to tell us they did nothing wrong and they would not even consider anything.
The good reviews from this company are baffling to me. I reviewed them before starting and felt they must be reputable. The truth is the onboarding process took 30 days even though we provided them with everything before it started. They charge for this ramp-up time even though nothing of substance is happening.
Within two weeks of the campaign starting our Cience team had lost over half of its original members due to attrition. 3 out of 5 of their members left the company
The impact of Sparklead on our business objectives has been positive. Since implementing their recommendations and changes, we have observed significant improvements in our lead generation indicators. Our open rate and reply rate for both email and LinkedIn outreach have increased, resulting in a 25% growth in our active prospects pipeline.
