The Team Helping Companies to Thrive in Uncertainty

We talked to Cory Bray & Hilmon Sorey of ClozeLoop Inc about their consulting engagements and COVID-19.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Cory Bray: We are doing well. We recently moved from San Francisco to Nashville and are loving our new community.

Hilmon Sorey: We are safe and well. It’s been a good time to minimize distraction and focus on goals.  

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded ClozeLoop Inc. 

Hilmon Sorey: About 6 years ago, as fortune would have it, the of us two cynical, systems-oriented people came together with a collective 25 years of experience in sales management and the development of high-performing sales teams to open-source and redefine the concept of sales enablement and B2B selling. 

We had both been frustrated in the past by sales training that didn’t stick, teams that outgrew process, or sales management that lacked support. Ultimately the question was, “What is it about successful salespeople that makes it possible for them to excel consistently?”  

Here’s what we knew: We knew that all of the popular methodologies were created 20-50 years ago (prior to the Internet -much less email, social media, and video), so we deconstructed them all to get to the elemental level. The frameworks resulted provide enough guidance and enough flexibility for salespeople to be effective with today’s buyer while leveraging their natural ability and subject matter expertise. It’s called Triangle Selling. We’ve now worked with over 250 companies and tens of thousands of salespeople to create scalable, repeatable excellence in selling.

How does ClozeLoop Inc innovate? 

Cory Bray: We innovate through client engagements and solving client problems. The ways companies go to market, the marketplace itself, and the buyer are continually evolving. Technology to approach the selling strategy evolves at lightspeed these days. Then you have macroeconomic variables continually at play. We work with companies that range from startup to Fortune 500, and their needs are all different. Startups may have investors with expectations of fast, exponential growth, and scale. More mature companies may be in competitive marketplaces and need to clearly differentiate or move into different markets. It is essential to us that our sales processes, frameworks, and playbooks work “in the wild.” So innovation is ongoing as we solve tough problems for our clients.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Hilmon Sorey: We obviously have a deep concern for the challenges facing the individuals in our client companies. Our business is interesting. When the economy booms, companies are looking at growth, new markets, expansion, and revenue generation. When the economy lulls, companies are looking at new markets, ongoing viability, and revenue generation. Two sides of the same coin. So, while there was an initial panic and a bit of a “wait-and-see” in the market, by May, companies were seeking us out for change management in dealing with creating new messaging and new playbooks for reaching their market, training for remote workforces, and management strategy for how best to optimize the performance of individuals who are no longer in an office. A few of our clients actually had their best-performing quarter ever by being highly adaptable to change.

Cory Bray: ClozeLoop itself has employees around the globe and has worked effectively as a remote-worker organization for years. It allows us to deploy nimbly and effectively around the world.  

How do you deal with stress and anxiety, how do you project yourself and ClozeLoop Inc in the future?

Hilmon Sorey: I don’t know that we really experience stress or anxiety. As sales professionals, you get accustomed to not investing emotionally in outcomes instead of developing a clear understanding of what exists – and identifying what is within your ability to control and what is not.

Cory Bray: Exactly – with commute time to clients and travel time eliminated, we doubled down on writing books we had in development. So, by year-end, we will have released 3 books since February. Productivity is a great cure for uncertainty outside of your control. 

How do you plan to stay in the game?

Cory Bray: We open-source all of our frameworks and the systems that we deploy in consulting engagements. We don’t believe that sales management and training should be mysterious or a black box of licensed content only available to the elite companies. We have a passion for and a commitment to the ability of any company to compete effectively in the marketplace. 

Hilmon Sorey: So, we continue to grow by demonstrating performance in our consulting engagements, making courses accessible to those who prefer a DIY model, and writing books that lead the industry in relevance and practical application. The great thing about our business is you win the game by consistently delivering results. We’re great at that.

Your final thoughts?

Cory Bray: ClozeLoop is committed to making our expertise available to individuals and businesses of all sizes. We believe that economies around the world thrive, create jobs, and create opportunities based upon companies who are able to effectively introduce products and services that solve problems to the marketplace. We have a passion for helping them to do so; however, we can.

Your website?

www.clozeloop.com