We've Sold $3M Over The Last 2.5 Years With Our Lead Generation Tool
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
Hey! I’m Chris Baden, Co-Founder and CEO of FlowChat.com. We are a B2B sales tool that helps agency owners and solopreneurs generate leads and create automated social media workflows.
Our flagship product specializes in driving leads and sales with direct messages on social media. We are currently on 13 different social media platforms and this works for inbound and outbound sales processes.
For example, we can import leads from FB groups to build a curated lead list. FlowChat can also help automate growing and managing your FB group. I’ll be sharing some really valuable FREE resources in this article with you. Including the scripts we’ve used to collect over $3 Million in organic sales in the last 2.5 years. More on this later!
To kick things off though, I just wanted to thank you for checking out this article! Anyone who knows me well, knows I’m focused on 1 of 3 things at all times: Building a lifelong marriage, world impacting family, and a 9-Figure Tech Company.
I’ve been an entrepreneur employing myself and others for the last 15 years. So if you love creating, building, and solving problems to make this world a better place, then you are my people!!!
And oh boy do I have some stories & resources to share with you today!
Here are some of our numbers with FlowChat.com to start.
In our first month (April 2021) we did just over $35k in sales.
It took us 4 months to have our first $100k month in sales.
In our first partial year in business (2021) we did $527,211 in sales
In our first full year in business (2022) we did $1,429,918 in sales
We continue to average $100k per month and our next target is to consistently do over $250k/month in sales. Our goal is to do over $1m/month consistently within the next 2 years.
While these numbers paint a picture of exciting growth, this journey has been a complete roller coaster! Under the hood there is way more going on, ha. I’ll share some of our biggest mistakes and my takeaways & tools to help you avoid them for your business.
Also, on a fun note, look for the story/video where one of our members gets a FlowChat tattoo. You have to ask yourself, “Why would someone get a tattoo from a software company?” Keep reading to find out!
Do all that is required to serve one customer to where their problem is solved. Then see if you can do it again with a second and third customer. What you’ll notice is patterns emerge.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
There are 2 sides to the backstory of FlowChat. Let me share with you how this all came together.
The first side starts with my long time business partners Sean & Melissa Malone. Before we connected Melissa was operating a successful dental practice and Sean had sold over $100 million worth of products and services in his career. When we joined forces, we accidentally built and sold our first software company. That’s a whole different story. I would be nowhere close to where I am today without them!
While our first run together was awesome and profitable, we also had to survive some pretty dark times. We discovered some real side effects of burnout. Sean shares his story of contemplating driving off the road into a tree. I ended up in a hospital with ulcers and my heart not functioning properly. Fortunately, we grew stronger through that and came out on top!
To the point where after we sold that company (in late 2019) others started asking us, “How did you grow so fast?” Finally, after being asked so many times our curiosity grew too big to ignore. So we decided to do some market research. We interviewed 40 different business owners privately and asked every question possible about their sales process.
What we found was there were 2 consistent pain points that everyone had. No matter the size of their business either.
1) How do I find quality leads to keep feeding my business?
2) How do I do this consistently?
So we put ourselves in their shoes and mixed it with our experience. What was created were sales processes that transformed their business.
One example was a media agency in Canada that hit a cold streak. They hadn’t sold anything in over 3 months. Unfortunately, that brought them to being over 6 figures in debt. After completing one call with them we advised making 2 specific changes to their sales process. 1.5 weeks later we get a call from the owner sounding ecstatic, “Guys we’ve just closed $75,000 in new business, how do I hire you?”
To ensure results, we were closely tracking revenue with the changes we were making. So we could see after 3 months, they went from being 6 figures in debt to doing over 6 figures per month in sales!
This led us down a path of creating and mastering organic lead generation and conversion for agency owners and solopreneurs.
But this brought about one MASSIVE PROBLEM. It was so manual! On paper it was great! We can get qualified booked calls for $40 or less with Lifetime Value Customers (LTV) up to $25k+. The math was irresistible! But the problem was others not wanting to do the manual day to day work required. We had to find a way to make these proven sales processes more automated.
That brings us to the second side of the FlowChat backstory. Enter Bruno Domingues, the magnificent. We met through Facebook via DMs and our setters booked a call with him. Within minutes of the very first call, Bruno starts sharing the “little system” he built that manages organic social media sales processes. Then he asked, “What do you do?” I replied, “Everything you just showed me, but manually with a spreadsheet.” I knew this was going to be the missing fuel to the new rocketship we were building.
For it to work though there was a list of things that needed to be built. To my surprise, Bruno not only built them but did so with lightning speed. To this day we still ask him if he’s a real human and even sleeps. Bruno’s skill and efficiency are second to none! Grateful for you and all you do Bruno!
Over 3 months, it became clear that joining forces would create something special! We just didn’t know how special. First, we replaced our manual systems with this new tech. Then very quickly word of mouth spread and our community requested access immediately. Funny part is we didn’t even have a website or a name for this thing. When you’re solving a real pain point your market struggles with, sales come naturally.
As we quickly approached $200k in revenue the market was telling us they wanted more. So we decided to finally create a name and website.
FlowChat.com was born.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
This is such a fun part of the story! It was such a mess, ha. Plus, we bootstrapped this so we had nothing. That said, it is so important to focus on what you DO have and grow from there. Here’s an example! In the beginning, during our demo calls to import leads from Facebook groups, or likes and comments from posts, you had to follow a crazy process.
Imagine having to explain to a potential customer that you need to press a series of keys to pull up the “back end” of a website, copy and paste code into it, and then do another 5 steps to add it to your software account that didn’t even have a name yet, haha. Here’s a snapshot of what it used to look like compared to now:
Needless to say, having way too many steps always wrecks deal flow. It was never going to work in the beginning! So instead, we offered to do it for the customer as a service!
Don’t miss this part for your business! Providing a “done for you” service solved 2 problems for us. 1. It allowed us to charge more upfront, which helped infuse the business with more cash. 2. It allowed us to work closer with our customers to learn faster what they were needing. Yes! This is NOT scalable. But do the unscalable until you can afford to scale!
I see so many businesses get this backward! They’re so afraid to sell in the beginning or charge what they’re worth. It hurts both the business and the customer. The business doesn’t make enough money, and the customer has a terrible experience. No one wins!
Instead, if the customer commits enough capital upfront, then the business can commit to actually solving the problem. Now both sides win!
So first do all that is required to serve one customer to where their problem is solved. Then see if you can do it again with a second and third customer. What you’ll notice is patterns emerge.
These patterns will give you insight into what your customers need and how you can keep producing that result faster and faster. You’ll get your systems built and be off to the races. Remember, speed to result is one of the best metrics for increasing value for your customers.
I realized nobody cares about how hard I work and “all that I do”. What they care about are the results I can provide them. So I asked myself, “How do I get other people results?”
Describe the process of launching the business.
Create your “Founder’s Membership” and turn your limitations into leverage.
Oh! This part is good. In the very beginning, for our launch, the reality was that we were not ready to bring on 1,000 new customers alone even 100. We had no onboarding process or any idea of what to expect yet. So we turned this limitation into leverage by creating the one and only “Founders Membership”.
Everyone loves to be treated exclusively! We love being on the inside and getting special treatment. The problem is bringing on your first customers is like inviting someone over to your new house. There are boxes everywhere and the place is a mess. It’s hard to feel secure and ask others to trust you when it appears you don’t have your stuff together.
Further, there is so much temptation for business owners to be apologetic and hesitant with bringing on their first customers, and nobody wants to buy from someone like that. We want to buy from someone confident and capable of solving our problems better than we can.
Smart entrepreneurs use this as an opportunity to turn their limitations into leverage. Since we can’t even bring on that many new customers anyway, that means we have way more time to be able to personally connect with them and serve them. This is very valuable and won’t last forever. Therefore urgency is high for those that want to buy now and not miss out!
For example, how cool would it be to have Elon Musk personally show you how to use your new Tesla? If that was offered for the first 20 Tesla orders, how fast do you think people would sign up?
So we apply this concept in the form of creating “Founder’s Memberships” for our launches. Here are some important ingredients to cooking up an irresistible “Founder’s Membership”.
- Exclusive price
- Additional 1 on 1 time with you
- Any other tool or resource that is rare and applicable
This translates in the buyer’s mind as “I’m getting a killer deal and I get access to the right person to finally fix my problem”. This is why your Founder’s Memberships will fly off the shelf!
To share some insider info with you on our Founder’s Membership. We sold it for $1,190. Originally we offered this to our very small group of agency clients. Additionally, we were also doing cold outreach to new prospects. We were honest about being in the early stages and why this “Founder’s Membership” was such a great opportunity. The equivalent of that membership today is sold for $15k or more. To this day we still have some Founding Members at the original price that we continue to honor. We are grateful for them supporting us early on. It was a very exclusive price and they got our 1 on 1 attention in the beginning.
Customers were so happy they couldn’t help but tell others about FlowChat. Meanwhile, because we are working so closely with them, we’re able to design and refine the exact scalable onboarding process that is needed. It’s a win win!
The next launch we did, we sold a “Done with you” group model for $2,970. We sold over 30 of these in our 4th month. This led to our first $100k+ month in sales with FlowChat!
We of course continued to iterate from there. We have one of our pipelines booking calls for only $34 per qualified call! Here’s the metrics for all my numbers people:
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
Running a challenge! If you’re not familiar with a “challenge”, think of it like a 10-day diet challenge. These have been around for decades for a reason. They work! The best ones make the result finally feel attainable. This is accomplished by only doing the essential steps and for only a short period! And when you start to run a challenge for your business you see why it works so successfully. Let me explain.
The best challenges incorporate the full and proper customer journey! This creates the greatest asset to your business, a repeat customer. Here is my simplified view of the customer journey:
Most businesses are so focused on the “cold to sold” part of the customer journey. Just think of the insane amount of make-money ads you see. All the focus is on TAKING people’s money vs.. CREATING solutions that people want to keep using.
You know what’s funny about this?
When you listen to billionaires talk (aka the people that have money) have you heard what they focus on? They spend the majority of their time obsessing over what I call the “Sold to Gold” part. This is the experience your customers have once they “sign up” with you. Billionaires know that if they’re not creating “repeat customers” they don’t have a business. That’s where all the growth and leverage is. Listen to what billionaire and Co-Founder of the hair product company Paul Mitchell say…
"You don't want to be in the selling business. Instead, you want to be in the reorder business, where your product or service is so good, people want to reorder it or reuse it."
~ John Paul DeJoria
So this got our team at FlowChat thinking about how we focus on creating “repeat” customers. We wrote down a list of ideas but kept coming back to the challenge. The reason was it addresses every step of the customer journey. Cold to sold AND sold to gold.
There’s so much I’d love to share with you on what we’ve learned about running a challenge. Breaking it all down here would be way too much info. But I can hook you up! If you’re a Starter Story subscriber, I can give you FREE access to our FlowChat Challenge. Then you can see firsthand what we’re doing rather than listen to me just talk about it.
To personally experience our challenge for inspiration with creating your own, here is a special Starter Story link that will get you access for FREE.
Here’s a quick summary of what we’ll be covering. There are 3 Keys to getting BIG results:
1. Right Leads
We teach and apply our 4Q’s method that helps you nail your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) within 5 mins or less. The 4Qs are a series of 4 yes or no questions that act as a filter. Only your qualified ICP makes it through all the filters.
2. Right Scripts
Words are so powerful! We believe the words we use to communicate with others matter quite a bit. We share our highest converting scripts in this section. One of the foundational principles we apply to all scripts: Treat others the way you want to be treated! Crazy idea right?! This squashes all “salesy” or thoughtless annoying messages. Your whole sales process and the words you use should align with your brand and values. Don’t compromise! Everyone loses if you do.
3. Right Systems
The weight of running a business is soul-crushing. As a business grows the demand only intensifies too. I have a feeling you already know this to be true! Having the “right systems” is like installing an engine in your car. It allows you to just simply push the gas pedal and travel with ease! Likewise, we install an automation engine where your business keeps pressing the revenue-generating gas pedal each day with ease. This makes it easy to be consistent every day. Successful business owners know they cannot control results, but they can control the revenue-generating activities they do each day. The pros find a way to make it as easy as possible to be consistent!
Sidenote: That challenge link above includes additional free resources that you can implement immediately and get results with. My only ask is that you take what you learn and pay it forward to other entrepreneurs. Fair?
That said, want to see some numbers from our initial challenges? Here they are!
You know that awesome feeling you get? When you put your hand in your pocket and discover the money you forgot you had.
That’s what implementing a challenge is like for most businesses. For us, it was roughly another $27k floating around we didn’t know we had. So how much extra money do you think you have floating around in your business?
Get good at solving problems you know and understand very well. The better you deeply know the problem the faster your sales messaging will convert.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
How is it going today?! Well, I can share some updates, and let me start with just showing you!
1) Meet Adam Flores!
A. He helps coaches, consultants, and experts hit $100k in months through building virtual events. He was able to create a 36x return within 30 days by leveraging FlowChat. Essentially FlowChat helped him drive more people to his virtual events with direct messages on social media. For the full story, you can hear his interview on our YouTube channel which covers all the details.
2) We also have our $100k Club Members!
A. The $100k Club must close and collect $100k in DMs using FlowChat. Here are some of our $100k Club earners!
I share these success stories with you because these results communicate more clearly how it’s going. What’s crazy is that we’re still a very young company. Yet momentum and the community continue to pick up speed!
In the near future imagine this… you sign up for FlowChat and automatically:
- Your social media profiles, pages, and groups are analyzed for you bringing you all the ideal customers you’ve been looking for.
- It automatically adds those new qualified leads to your newly automated pipeline.
- Then, once you hit the play button, the pipeline automatically starts nurturing those leads!
Sometimes it’s so hard to know what is about to happen in the coming months and not say anything! We have mapped out the dashboard too that assesses the current value of your social assets. Including the ability to identify missed opportunities that are the low-hanging fruit right in front of you.
Our goal is to create the #1 Social Media Sales Tool in the world! You can follow us in our journey of building this out in our free FB Group, YouTube channel, and Newsletter.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
Here is a lesson I learned early in my entrepreneurial journey that shifted the very trajectory of my entire career. Unfortunately, this lesson was acquired through pain and failure.
I was in my early 20s and just started my first ever sales job AND it was commission only. No base, no training, just good ol’ fashion “feed you to the wolves” and see if you can survive, ha. It was awful. I hated it. And so did about 30+ other people that came and went in the first 6 months I was there. But even though it was terrible and disheartening, I hate losing way more. I decided I was not leaving until I could do so on my terms.
So I just worked all day everyday. I would go to networking events for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then do cold calls and go door to door to businesses in between. From the time I woke up to the time I went to bed. And I was so bad that after working 70+ hours a week at the end of my 2nd month, I still had only made $800 commission. I couldn’t even afford rent.
It was at this moment, I learned the lesson that shifted the trajectory of my career. Initially, I thought this was all so unfair. I was putting in more hours and out working everyone. So why am I still broke?
And this revelation hit me…
“I don’t get paid to work, I get paid to produce results.”
I realized nobody cares about how hard I work and “all that I do”. What they care about are the results I can provide them. So I asked myself, “How do I get other people's results?” My simple brain came up with, “Well, let me just go ask them.” So that’s what I did.
When you focus on serving others by getting them results, you create real value in their life. People never forget that, and very few are willing to serve at that level. When you do the real work, there’s no guesswork, and winning becomes inevitable.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
Of course, I’m biased towards FlowChat. To be fair can you blame me? FlowChat is the one tool that has generated over $ 3 million in sales in 2.5 years.
That said, to provide more value, here is a list of tools I like and what I use them for!
Click up - team & task management, annual, quarterly, monthly, and weekly planning
Miro - wireframing, process creation, customer journey, market research
Loom - love this tool!! SOP creation, support responses
Camtasia - engaging tutorial videos
eCamm - podcast interviews
Streamyard - content and live streams
Lastpass - password sharing
Spark - for multiple email management
Slack - for internal communication and support
Zoom - Meetings, workshops and demos
CleanShot X - screenshots & annotations (they crushed with this product)
EasyPrompter - VSLs and training videos with scripts
Canny - Product Development Roadmap
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
Oh, now you've done it! You just opened Pandora's box over here. Here’s a breakdown of some categorized books, podcasts, and content I love!
BOOKS
VALUES:
Bible
- I typically only miss about 5 days or less a year where I don’t read the bible.
- The reality is if I rely on my wisdom and love to serve my marriage, family, business, and communities I’ll fall apart and gas out soooo fast. I need unconditional love and a source of wisdom that is well beyond my finite abilities to best serve others.
- Despite anyone’s beliefs, I recommend still studying the bible for its time tested principles on leadership, love, sales, marketing, wealth, health, and relationships.
Value Creation Kid
- By Scott Donnell & Lee Benson
- It’s framed as a parenting book, but everyone should read this. It has the best foundational principles for being a human that creates value in the world. 🔥
- He also has an amazing app - Gravy Stack - that I’ve been using with my kids.
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
- By T. Harv Eker
- We all have a money blueprint. Being aware of this, why it's there, and deciding what relationship you want to have with money is huge.
Kingdom Principles
- By Dr. Myles Monroe
- Dr. Myles Monroe has had a huge impact on my life and the values of being a leader, husband, and father. This guy is 🔥.
LEADERSHIP:
The Gap and The Gain
- By Dan Sullivan, Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Think and Grow Rich
- By Napoleon Hill
The Motive
- By Patrick M. Lencioni
STRATEGY:
Your Next Five Moves
- By Patrick Bet David
Choose Your Enemies Wisely
- By Patrick Bet David
10x is Easier Than 2x
- By By Dan Sullivan, Dr. Benjamin Hardy
MARKETING:
Get Different
- By Mike Michalowicz
Play Bigger
- By Christopher Lochhead & Kevin Maney
Niche Down
- By Christopher Lochhead & Heather Clancy
SALES:
How to Master The Art of Selling
- By Tom Hopkins
The Ultimate Sales Machine
- By Chet Holmes
Exactly What To Say
- By Phil M. Jones
SYSTEMS & OPERATIONS:
Traction
- By Gino Wickman
Rocket Fuel
- By Gino Wickman & Mark C. Winters
Buy Back Your Time
- Dan Martell
BRANDING
Building A StoryBrand
- By Donald Miller
Key Person of Influence
- By Kevin Harrington & Daniel Priestley
Pop
- By Sam Horn
PODCASTS
My First Million
- Sam Parr and Shaun Puri
PDB Podcast & Valuetainment
- By Patrick Bet David
The Game
- Alex Hormozi
YOUTUBE CHANNELS
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
I’ll tell you a short story of what I told my 3 year old son when he was starting his first business.
One day I was working from home and suddenly my door got kicked in! 🫨In shock, I turn to look in the doorway only to see my tarzan like son standing in his underwear.
Son: DAD!! I want to get a toy, can we get one?
Me: Heck ya we can get a toy!
Son: Can we go right now?
Me: Sure. But you need money.
Son: How do I get money?
Me: Well you solve problems for other people, then they give you money.
Starting and scaling a business boils down to your ability to solve problems for other people. The most successful people I know are also the most focused people I know. When starting out, your sole focus must be solving one problem that creates clear value in your ideal customer’s life. Then the key is to not stray from that sole focus.
I’ve created the 5P’s method for staying focused! I’ve used it for each of the 4 companies I’ve started that have all made 7 figures or more per year in sales.
#1 - PROBLEM
- Get good at solving problems you know and understand very well. The better you deeply know the problem the faster your sales messaging will convert.
#2 - PRODUCT
- This is your creative idea of how to best solve the problem. It’s typically either a product or service that not only works for you but for others consistently. If it’s not working consistently, don’t market harder, find out why and make it better.
#3 - PITCH
- This “P” could also be called Presentation. Be concise, easy to understand, and whatever you do… DO NOT be boring! Recall your favorite actor in one of your favorite movies. Think about how many times they rehearse their lines. Imagine if they just showed up and read a line. It would be a disaster! Yet as business owners, we think we can just show up and it’s going to work. Prepare and present your pitch with excellence!
#4 - PATH
- This is your marketing and sales process for consistently connecting with new potential buyers. How many new leads are you generating per day? What percentage of those leads move to the next step or convert into a sale? This should all be mapped out and tracked.
#5 - PROFIT
- Congrats! You have customers and revenue! Now continue to iterate. Make the product better, shorten the sales cycle, and scale with more channels to get the good word out!
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
Yes! We are always looking for talented A-Players!!
Sr. and Jr. Developers
- Chrome Extension, PHP, JavaScript, API and Database
Operators
- System development, project implementation, reporting, managing teams & projects
Marketers
- Copywriting, funnels, workflows
Customer Success Representatives
- Responding to support requests, building FAQ database
Video Editors
- Chopping up funny, engaging, and freakin’ awesome videos!
Where can we go to learn more?
More Free Resources:
$3 Million Scripts & Strategies
- This is a 79 page google doc with the scripts and strategies that helped us collect $3 million over the last 2.5 years.
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
