Episode 232: Coaching Sales with Virtual Ride-A-Longs

Can you imagine a future where physical ride-a-longs are a thing of the past, and AI is allowing your Service and Sales Managers to elevate productivity and efficiency to new heights? That future is here already! We welcome Sebastian Jimenez, CEO of Rilla, to To The Point!

Rilla is giving contractors powerful tools and the ability to conduct virtual ride-a-longs, and we had to have Sebastian on to learn more about his journey and how the company has gone from nothing to one of the fastest growing startups in HISTORY. Dive in now!

There’s Nothing Funny About 20MM

Sebastian moved to the U.S. when he was 17, and went to NYU for a business degree. However, he was much more interested in pursuing a career in stand-up comedy. Comedy taught Sebastian how to launch new ideas without fear of failure, and that translated perfectly into the world of business. After graduating, he made the decision to forgo stand-up and jump right into the world of tech.

In 2019, he co-founder Rilla. For the first 3 years, they 0 dollars. However, they eventually found the right product market fit. Starting in roofing, they saw the extreme need for training and growth in the industry. They would eventually meet Dave Geiger and visit Horizon Services, and saw the need in HVAC as well. Before long, Rilla exploded, going from 0 to now around 20MM in ARR in just a few years.

• Sebastian’s story of immigrating to America, stand-up comedy, NYU, and founding Rilla
• Rilla’s journey of humble beginnings to becoming one of the fastest-growing startups in history
• How Rilla works and the variety of tools it enables contractors to utilize
• Handling potential objections to being recorded and the Hawthorne Effect
• Why AI isn’t replacing humans, but rather allowing Service and Sales Managers to use new technology to boost sales and efficiency
• What industry averages look like for sales conversations
• The correlation between time spent in the home, and conversion rate and average ticket
• How Rilla builds immediate trust with the customer
• And more!

Growth, Success, and Beyond

Sebastian’s amazing journey from starting Rilla and sharing cans of beans with his co-founders in a studio apartment to now being CEO of the leading virtual ride-along software for the home improvement industry is one to behold. If anyone understands growth, it’s him! We’re excited to continue to watch Rilla and Sebastian, and expect this technology to be implemented by more and more contractors.

If you’d like to learn more about Rilla, book a demo and tell them we sent you! You can also visit Rilla Labs for insights, the science of sales, and data they’ve published from the millions of hours of sales conversations they’ve recorded.