How Maponics’ Founder Learned To Sell To Companies Like Google & CitySearch – With Darrin Clement Maponics
on Aug 24, 2009 - 1:08 PM PSTThe first company he founded failed, but now Darrin Clement is running a multi-million dollar mapping business that he founded and bootstrapped. How did he go from having to close down his previous company to winning so many customers at this one?
The simple answer is he learned to sell. This program will show you how he did that and what YOU can learn from his experience.
The FULL program
Video excerpts
About Darrin Clement
Darrin Clement is the CEO and founder of Maponics, which provides maps and mapping services to 20% of the Fortune 500.
Summary of his journey
- His first big leap into entrepreneurship was launching Optiwave, a fiber optic consulting company. He had few customers and thought that it was because there was no money in consulting. Then he realized that the real problem was that he lacked sales skills.
- He ended up closing the company. We talked in the interview about how entrepreneurs have optimistic personalities which keeps us from accepting when things aren’t going well sometimes. Getting married helped Darrin decide to close Optiwave and it helped explain the closing to his friends.
- Darrin went on to work at Geographic Data Technologies (now Tele-Atlas), a job with I called his “do it yourself MBA,” because he went into it with a determination to fill in the gaps in his business knowledge.
- One day, while jogging, he got the idea for Maponics. He realized that local businesses didn’t have a way to target their customers through direct mail. The local dry cleaner, for example, couldn’t rent the mailing addresses of people who lived within walking distance from him. So Darrin created a mapping company that would allow this kind of targeting.
- Darrin still wasn’t a rock star salesman when he launched Maponics, but he used online ads to sell his service. And the business WAS a service at the time. There was little automation, and orders were personally serviced by phone.
- As a service business, Maponics did about a million dollars in sales and was profitable, but to grow, it needed automation. So he hired Cory Martin, whose work helped roughly double the company’s size.
- Then came failure. Maponics’ automation was going so well that they thought of themselves as application developers. They tried to get investors to fund a map application that they wanted to make, but it’s a good thing they didn’t. When Google opened up its mapping API it made Maponics’ Flash-based idea less appealing.
- After Google came out with its product, Maponics shut down its Flash-based product. It was a low point for the company. (If you’re an entrepreneur or working for one, you really need to listen to this interview. The candid way Darrin talked about his feelings at the low points of his career is not something you’ll see in the popular press. As a result, it’s a perspective most people don’t understand until they experience it for themselves.)
- In every failure are the seeds of a bigger success. The application that Maponics created helped it learn that there was a market for data on neighborhoods. Today, if you’re doing an online search and want to restrict your results to a specific neighborhood, there’s a good chance Maponics is behind your search. The company works with Google, Trulia, infoUSA, Yellow Book USA, CitySearch, and other big online brands.
- How important is Maponics’ Neighborhood Classification? Imagine you wanted to find your new home. Without this service, you’d have to search by city or zip code. Searching by city will give you too many results — including listings in the bad part of town — and zip codes are meaningless because few of us know them and they often cover multiple neighborhoods. For most of us, it’s more natural and helpful to say something like, “I’m looking for a new apartment in SoHo” than to say, “I need to live in 10022.”
- How did Darrin go from having to close down a company (Optiwave) because he lacked sales skills to running Maponics which sells to big, prestigious companies? He told us that he worked on his sales skills, even taking a class at the Sandler Sales Institute. And he hired people to help him out, like Mark Friend, the company’s Director of Sales.
Full program includes
- You’ll learn when closing a company or abandoning a product might be your best move.
- You’ll hear how being driven doesn’t have to mean ignoring your family, and learn how to make them both work.
- You’ll see how Darrin learned to sell and how you can too — even if you’re not a “natural born salesman/woman.”
Suggested comments
- You heard Darrin say how important sales skills were in his business. Do you want to see Mixergy do some in-depth programs on sales?
- What books or training programs do you recommend on sales?
- What’s your most valuable lesson from this program?
My notes on this program were done with the help of Scott Simko’s incredibly detailed and helpful summary of this interview. Scott is doing great work and I hope you check out his site.
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August 24th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Congrats, Darrin!
August 24th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Do you guys do work with him @ YellowBot.com?
August 24th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Started out slow and almost closed it But glad I waited, some minutes were GOLD!
I will surely come back.
Congrts to both Darrin and Andrew.
P.S A highlight reel might be a good idea. You can likely extract highlights (e.g. when he talks about cold-calling google 10+ people, family and kids) just like movie trailers or charlie rose online. That is likely to make more people stick around. Like I mention starts of somewhat slow
August 24th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Just saw the 'Video excerpts' section after posting, doh. But I guess it may something about were they are placed (or my awareness) only saw them once I scrolled to confirm the comment.
Excellent content all around!
August 24th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
No…but definitely know of maponics :-)
August 24th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
You know Daniel, you're pointing to an issue that I've been wrestling with
in my interviews.
I start out slow because I want to give you some backstory and to easy the
interviewee into the conversation, since most of the people I talk to aren't
interviewed often. The problem with that is that it you, the listener, don't
get much action till later in the interview.
I would love to start off each interview with a zinger that makes you think,
“How does Andrew have the nerve to ask that?” And “I wonder what the answer
will be.” But I haven't found away to do that yet and still setup the
interview well and reassure the interviewee. Maybe I'll get there with
experience.
The suggestion you make — offering a highlight reel — is a good one, but I
don't have the time do it and I think asking Paola to do it will add to my
expenses.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Oh, right. There's that too. '-)
August 24th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Agreed, its difficult to strike a balance, especially if it will add costs.
Of the media sites I've seen I enjoy Charlie Rose the most. http://www.charlierose.com/
* They have short stuff on the front page, under 10 mins, in addition to topics, collections.,etc.
* You can get the deeper long interview if you want , but its more buried.
* They also transcribe the interview, which helps getting 'search engine' traffic. I've actually landed on Charlie Rose doing normal web search, so that might pay off eventually.
Charlie is also excellent at engaging the interviewee and asking good questions. You're style is different but I still like it ;), even if this particular one started of slow.
I'll keep coming back for sure.
Good luck with the future of the site
August 24th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
This was a awesome interview to watch – thanks Andrew and Darrin!
August 24th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Great interview, thanks Andrew, Darrin.
As the solo technical founder of a small startup, it's great to hear of the struggles with marketing and sales that other technical founders go through, but I especially like to hear how they have managed to turn it around.
I'd like to learn more in this area, so personally, would love to see more marketing/sales oriented interviews on Mixergy.
August 24th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
This is the best interview I have watched. Being an engineer myself (software), I learned a lot how engineers could still startup and be successful.
I hope you could host more interviews about how engineers start up.
Thanks Andrew for doing this, I really appreciated!
August 25th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Awesome interview! I did not find it slow. I really like the back stories. This interview convinced me that I need to do more cold calling for my start up that offers a new map product to businesses.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:39 am
Wow, that was a great show. This was one of those interviews that I wish had gone on longer. Thanks Darrin & Andrew.
August 27th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Really great interview! It is encouraging and inspiring to hear about the failures as well as what happened during Darrin's successful venture. Also the insights from his experience are very interesting and valuable.
Regarding sales: being an engineer, sales is quite foreign to me. I realize that I need to learn more about it. What would be most valuable to me are some practical tips and exercises in sales training. Taking a sales class like Darrin did may be something I would consider doing at some point. But really, the thought of me doing that never crossed my mind until listening to this interview. Some practical tips and exercises in sales training would absolutely be useful to help get my feet wet in the subject.
September 5th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
The interview went great as always. There were points that hit especially close to home for myself, more-so with obtaining his DIY type MBA education. I find myself caught in between two worlds quite often, designer & developer, however I lacked any real knowledge of running a business. All the codes, laws, policies and sales were daunting so I personally chose to go back to school, and I'd agree with Darrin that every situation is different. I haven't crossed the finish line yet, but I hope I have a similar happy ending in the end.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I've had a paid subscription to Charlie Rose's show on Audible for a few years. I keep listening and learning from him.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Glad you liked it!
September 7th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I need to find a good teacher to interview on sales. Thanks for this comment.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Will do. Thanks.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I'd love to hear how it goes and what challenges you have in sales. It'll help me find appropriate interviews to do for you.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Me too Wyatt. Glad I'm not the only one. I would have kept him on the phone for another hour, but listeners keep asking me for shorter interviews.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
When it comes to sales, there's a belief that you either “have it or you don't.” But that's just not true. Like anything else, it can be learned. Glad Darrin was open about how he learned it and didn't pretend that he was a natural born salesman.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Thanks. Let me know how I can help you get to that success.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I'd say just keep doing what your doing. Hands down this is an awesome source for entrepreneurs, and I've been getting some great information from all your interviews & recommended books… well book so far, i've only read one (“So What”) but I have a couple others on standby!
September 8th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
You bet. I'll keep at it.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:52 am
the question on would we like to see more on sales, for sure i am a salesman and i constantly read
and study and to me its like the I.T. field. if you dont keep learning and evolving your going to end up
a Tandy 386.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Cory Martin is my Grandson in law and for me to understand his job has been almost impossible, so i think i know now more about his work….the interview was great!
September 17th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Cory Martin is my Grandson in law and for me to understand his job has been almost impossible, so i think i know now more about his work….the interview was great!