ByDesign Technologies: Problem Solved for Direct Sales

Jeff Ayscue, CEO and Daryl Wurzbacher, President

In an industry where software selection is as critical to the business success as the products being sold, it's good to be in business with a company whose corporate philosophy is to “never be satisfied with the status quo.” With close to 20 years of business experience, Tampa-based ByDesign Technologies provides an all-encompassing cloud-based, direct sales solution for both MLM and Party Plan companies. With more than $2 Billion in commissions paid and nearly $6 Billion in orders processed, ByDesign stands out as the clear leader in its field. Their robust and thoughtfully designed product roadmap has the level of planning and client involvement that is required to build a successful future.

Designing a solution that enables all your clients to win is not a typical goal for a software company. But for ByDesign, this purpose is woven into the very fabric of their corporate culture. Their clients span all stages from start-ups to billion-dollar companies, each one bringing a unique perspective to the business and what they want to accomplish through customizing their solution. This can lead to many potential challenges for clients on a typical SaaS model. This often causes those with customizations to become an island, not having the benefit of the standard releases of bug fixes and other upgrades without incurring the cost of a developer. In response to this industry-wide dilemma, ByDesign set out and accomplished the goal of future-proofing their clients’ solutions by providing an innovative method that enables customizations and consistent updates at the same time.

“I had two primary software concerns when launching our business. The first was that we had a relatively untested concept and did not know how quickly our business might scale, so we needed to select a decently-priced solution that could still handle rapid growth when called upon.

When incorporated into clients’ ecosystems, the solution touches almost every aspect of the business

ByDesign had a good mix of small and large clients that eased this concern and was competitively priced with others we evaluated. The second was that we did not have a lot of recent party-plan experience in-house, so we needed a solution that had already thought through industry processes and could deliver all the best practices. They are continually improving the product with additional features and are great at sharing the broader roadmap with us, so we have a clear picture of how they view the future of the platform,” says Brian Glasow, of Red Rock Traditions.

ByDesign was founded on the belief that there was a better way to help the direct selling industry grow. “We believe in key two pillars—the best software and the best customer support. The first position we hired was customer support. This is significant because it speaks to the heart of our company. Most people might have hired a salesperson, but we have always understood that customer support is integral to our clients' success” said Jeff Ayscue, CEO of ByDesign Technologies.

One of the most common challenges for companies in the direct selling industry is funding the additional technology costs that are required to manage their business as they grow. With this point-of-pain in mind, the goal was clear - create a solution that would allow clients to manage their technology growing pains without the pain. The result was the first-to-market growth model which enables clients to have their hosting for free in addition to funding their IT needs.

Consumer expectations are changing rapidly and if you look at the Direct Sales space; there's far too much complexity in both the business model and the applications. In this expectation economy that is customer-led and data-driven, there is an ever-increasing appetite for a simple model that will allow consultants to know what to do each day to succeed. Consultants expect the companies they do business with to share the best practices with them to make their success a reality. “Simplifying the consultant and customer experience and creating the tools that will enable the system to tell users what they can do is our focus,” says Daryl Wurzbacher, President of ByDesign Technologies.

When you open the Uber app, it tells you that there is a customer that you have to go and pick up. That is where the direct sales space is headed: improving user experience, making it easier for consultants to succeed in their direct selling business. “The key for direct selling companies is to leverage the same simple experience that people are expecting from Uber and other unfolding opportunities in this sharing economy” continued Wurzbacher.

Forward thinking and client-focused, the company is building for the future. Where is the direct sales industry headed in the next 5, 10 or 20 years? These are the people to ask because they are planning for it today.