The Challenge: Disconnected Rev-Ops Tools
Rep.ai (formerly Service Bell) is a growing seed stage startup. The company provides an AI-powered conversational platform with two main product lines: AI chat and live human interaction chat for website visitors.
When Matt Sterbenz joined Rep.ai as the head of revenue operations, he quickly identified several challenges with their payment and contract management process:
- Legacy Payment Structure: Rep.ai was using one-off Stripe payments with different billing cycles—some quarterly, some monthly, some yearly—creating unpredictable revenue tracking.
- Lack of Deal Documentation: Contracts existed outside of a unified system and documentation on the specifics of each deal often resided in different places.
- Inconsistent Processes: Different documents and processes were used without consistency. For example, the team would occasionally create one-off Google documents as standard SaaS agreements, but this was inconsistent and time-consuming.
- Poor Alignment Across the Team: The lack of a unified tool to manage contracts complicated alignment between GTM teams, customer success, and finance.
- Accommodating Pricing Complexity: While not uncommon, Rep.ai's pricing structure includes platform fees, user-based components, and usage-based elements (for AI minutes, data costs, etc.), making it difficult to represent simply in ad-hoc systems.
"Checking on renewals with our prior system was just kind of like guessing, 'Oh, awesome, they paid us.' It was very, very unpredictable revenue."
The Solution: Salesbricks
Having wrestled with these issues on a daily basis, Matt knew they needed a more professional and organized system. Implementing Salesbricks provided several key solutions:
- Professional Order Forms: Salesbricks enabled Rep.ai to create clear, professional order forms that broke down costs in a structured way, rather than simply sending payment links.
- Flexible Pricing Representation: The "brick" architecture allowed Rep.ai to represent their complex pricing model effectively, accommodating platform fees, user tiers, and usage components.
- Enterprise-Ready Documentation: Salesbricks provided the framework to package MSAs and other necessary documentation in a cohesive, professional manner.
- Streamlined Customer Experience: The platform created a more buttoned-up buying experience that reflected positively on Rep.ai's brand and professionalism.
- Improved Revenue Tracking: The system made it easier to understand payment status and manage renewals, replacing the guesswork of their previous approach.
"It's like having a car versus not having a car. The night and day difference is that Salesbricks actually helps me even have a chance at understanding who owes what and who's paid."
The Impact: Professionalism, Clarity, and Revenue Management
Implementing Salesbricks transformed Rep.ai's approach to customer transactions and revenue management:
- Enhanced Professional Image: Salesbricks digital quoting, invoice and billing system presents an organized, professional image from the start of every customer relationship. From the moment the quote is delivered, to deal closing, to renewals, everything that is presented to the customer is clear and well organized.
- Improved Revenue Visibility: Transitioning from ad-hoc payments to structured contracts has dramatically improved Rep.ai's ability to forecast and track revenue.
- More Time for Selling: With Salesbricks the Rep.ai team has more time to sell and focus on growing the business. Simplifying the rev-ops process removes bottlenecks and saves time.
- Pricing Agility: Managing a sophisticated pricing model that includes platform fees, user tiers, and usage-based components is no longer a headache.
Accelerating Success
For Rep.ai, Salesbricks has become an essential operational tool that facilitates growth and customer relationships. With the support of Salesbricks, Rep.ai has established the infrastructure needed to scale their business professionally while maintaining clear documentation of customer relationships and revenue streams.
