Beautifying B2B sales: Qwilr’s US expansion

Standing out from the crowd can be tough. Qwilr makes it easy to create differentiated, visually compelling sales and marketing collateral, at speed. Sales teams are able to deliver a better, faster buyer experience by combining proposal content, price quotes and sales transactions into a single, mobile-friendly webpage. It’s the ultimate productivity boost for sales and marketing teams, with automation, analytics, code-free design and collaboration capability, all in one platform.

Founded in 2014 by Dylan Baskind and Mark Tanner, Qwilr was an international business from the first day. One of its first customers was in New Zealand, and the viral nature of the product meant very quickly they had new customers from the US and UK to the Netherlands and Germany. Qwilr has a grand mission of liberating the power of the web – bringing the best of the sales process found in e-commerce to business-to-business (B2B) sales. Qwilr also has staff in the Philippines, Ukraine, Greece, United States, and United Kingdom in addition to their home in Australia. From day one, the company has been global, operating with remote work practices and designing a remote sales product for sales teams.

QWILR CO-FOUNDERS (LEFT TO RIGHT) DYLAN BASKIND, MARK TANNER. SOURCE: SUPPLIED.

Last year, Qwilr raised $10.8 million in Series A funding, an investment to boost Qwilr’s international presence in the US and Europe. Part of laying the groundwork for the next phase of international growth was setting up a US subsidiary. Despite several challenges, Adam Ingles, Finance Manager, says that establishing Qwilr formally in the US market has been a game-changer for its employees, customers and suppliers.

QWILR TEAM CELEBRATING THEIR SERIES A RAISE.

Managing foreign exchange volatility is another aspect of running a global business like Qwilr. Particularly at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign exchange rates were unstable, making it incredibly hard for Adam and his team to forecast. Using Airwallex, Qwilr could receive customer payments in USD and start paying suppliers in USD.

Qwilr worked closely with its investors and advisors to smooth the path of international expansion. Adam is emphatic in his advice to other businesses looking to expand internationally. “Do not attempt to do it yourself!” Instead, he believes it is essential to invest in getting the right advice from the right people. 

It's an exciting time for Qwilr as it grows its share in key markets internationally. Tania Clarke joins as the Product Marketing Lead to take Qwilr’s product marketing function to the next stage of maturity. With experience at start-up giants such as SafetyCulture and Atlassian under her belt, Tania is testing new positioning and go-to-market channels. Tania is particularly aware to ensure that messaging to Qwilr’s target market remains consistent and tailored to their operating regions.

Tania’s advice to other businesses looking to expand internationally is to ensure that their feedback is representative of their “best customers”, those that are most willing to pay and support your business. For Qwilr, that looks like seeking input from B2B sales teams in multiple markets and industries.  

An international customer base means being able to invoice in more than one currency becomes important. Qwilr has solved this issue in a cost-effective way with Airwallex's Global Accounts. In addition, Airwallex’s Foreign Currency Accounts enable Qwilr’s sales team to start doing deals in other currencies. Since Qwilr has moved to use Airwallex, it has saved thousands a month on foreign exchange fees.

Managing the organisation’s finances across five countries has required the use of innovative technology solutions. Using Airwallex’s virtual debit cards has meant that Adam has been able to gain better control on the cards, saving time in monitoring and managing expenses. Previously, Adam would be spending hours on the phone with the bank to get corporate cards for their business and then tracking down where expenses came from. Now, he can open up the Airwallex app and sign in to have visibility and control at his fingertips. In addition, different cards for different departments mean that the end-of-month reconciliation is a smoother process.

For other global tech businesses like Qwilr, giving Airwallex a go is virtually risk-free.

Qwilr’s sights are now set on honing their product and target market. Its staff base is growing rapidly to strategically position themselves in the US and Europe. Qwilr is also looking to build new features that meet the market needs and enable it to stand out from its competition. Which is exactly what Qwilr can do for your business.

--

Click here to learn about how Airwallex helped technology businesses like Qwilr empower their teams to hit the ground running with virtual cards while saving thousands on unnecessary FX related fees.