B2B marketing teams have become highly proficient at producing content, whether for lead generation, brand awareness, or sales acceleration.
But sometimes that content misses the mark, and isn’t used by the sales team. And even when the content is relevant, effective, and up to date, it’s of no use if the sales team can’t find or access the right content at the moment they need it.
With a background in business and medical technology sales, Orrin Broberg understood the challenge well. The key to making sales professionals more successful was to make it easy for them to access the exact content they needed, at the moment of truth–when they were face to face with prospects.
That’s the core problem he and Scott Olson set out to solve. Here’s the story of Modus.
The Product
Modus Sales Hub is sales enablement software that helps salespeople have 
better conversations with their prospects and customers, resulting in increased sales and customer engagement. The platform is a tool for sales professionals targeted at large enterprise manufacturing and medical device marketing and sales teams.
The company offers a superior solution to its competitors through white-labeling the solution, plus ready integrations with CMS, CRM, and marketing automation systems. Sales Hub is optimized for global manufacturers with direct and indirect distribution channels.
Modus is a spin-off from a digital media production company servicing the medical device industry. In 2011, their customers came to them asking for a system to deploy and manage rich media to iPads for their sales teams. This was the birth of Modus. The firm was originally called App Data Room.
Orrin Broberg, CEO of Modus, and Scott Olson, the company’s CTO, spun the company out in 2013 with no capital. The two bootstrapped it to 2016 when they found a new financial partner, Sopris Capital.
As Orrin explains, “My role initially was business development and sales. I find myself in that role again as we reach our next growth goal. Luckily, we are targeting manufacturing and transportation, which are doing well during the coronavirus slow-down.”
The Company
Year founded: 2013
Funding rounds: Bootstrapped for the first four years. Raised outside money in 2016. Per Orrin, “We believe in responsible growth vs blitzscaling.”
Current size: 180 customers, 35 employees
The Inspiration
Webbiquity: What inspired you to work on a solution to this particular problem?
Orrin Broberg: I have always pursued ways to help companies and salespeople be successful via technology. This has been my passion for this and my previous companies. My first job out of college was Xerox sales. I loved it!
Xerox taught me a lot about applying a solid process to professional sales skills. Those processes and skills are still relevant today. Technology makes them more efficient and in some cases, more effective.
The Launch
Webbiquity: What were the most effective channels or methods for you to get the word out to prospective customers when you first launched your product?
OB: Walking trade shows where the exhibitors were our target market. This is where you apply all the research you have done on that company and gain the attention of their sales and marketing leadership. We still do this.
The Lessons
Webbiquity: Finish this sentence: “Knowing what I know now, if I were starting over today, what I would do differently is…”
OB: Not trying shortcuts to engage large enterprise buyers, such as using SDRs to generate leads.
The Takeaways
Webbiquity: What’s the most important advice you could offer to an entrepreneur starting out today?
OB: Be passionate about what you are doing because of the benefits it brings to your customers. If you do a good job of building the right kind of business, the money will take care of itself. And hire a good accountant who has done it before.
You can connect with Orrin Broberg on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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This is an inspiration for me. Met him to there headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Twin Cities last 2015. He is very nice and kind!
He is indeed an inspiring individual who’s built a great team and a great tool for sales.