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CIENCE Reviews & Provider Details

CIENCE helps companies grow through multi-channel prospecting -- software platform AND done-for-you outsourced SDR-as-a-service. We start with highly accurate data (>140M Contact universe), then provide lead generation and outbound sales processes to produce qualified appointments with our client’s ideal customers--with predictable results. CIENCE, an Inc. 5000 company, is the #8 fastest growing Marketing & Advertising company in the U.S. Our team of highly trained employees have successfully served thousands of clients in more than 263 industries. Ask us how we can help your business grow.

Seller

CIENCE

Discussions

CIENCE Community

Languages Supported

English, Spanish

Services Offered

Lead Generation Services

Overview by

Eric Quanstrom (CMO at CIENCE Technologies - The leading B2B #LeadGeneration, #B2Bmarketing, and #BusinessDevelopment company. )

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CIENCE Reviews (181)

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Verified User in Financial Services

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

9/28/2021

"Dramatically Over Sold What Their Service Would Deliver - Waste of $24k! -"

0/5

Describe the project or task CIENCE helped with:

Update - 11/19/21

Based on my review below, CIENCE extended our agreement for 2 more months and finally listen to me about the issue with their process. Neil Gallagher did everything he could and quite frankly if he was handling from day 1, I do not think the issues that I detailed below would have occurred. The main problem with this engagement was the expectations and what was delivered. However, even after revamping the entire program, the results were still not there. Our market is very hard to crack and they just could not do it, even doing it in a way that was more in line with what we expected. However, they still oversold what the results could be, without knowing enough about our market, but appreciate they fact that they tried to fix the situation, not just stop after our agreement ended.

We hired Cience to handle outbound SDR activities for our established 50-year-old company. Our sales rep Michael was great, everything he said Cience could deliver was what we were looking for - and while he didn't promise and our contract does not specifically state it, he estimated that they would deliver 10-15 scheduled "demos/appointment" with leads that we provide them as well as ones they would source, what we got in almost 4 months was 2. That's right, after 4 months of solicitation, over 3,500 calls, they only set up 2 scheduled meetings for us, a far cry from the 10-15 per month we were expecting.

Why did this happen? Well, the folks at Cience could not tell me. All they could do was point to was their contract and say they delivered the "activities" that are detailed in it and therefore they did what we paid for. And here is the real issue, in Cience's contract there is NO commitment that any results will be delivered. The contract is 100% based on their activities not based on the results of their activities. However, as I pointed out to Ben and Curtis at Cience, while their contract is based on activities, a company like mine does not spend $24k for activities with no results, we paid for those activities producing results - 10-15 scheduled appointments per month, which didn't happen. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you like best about CIENCE?

I can not really point out anything about this engagement that I was happy with. I run a professional sales organization and their SDRs would never make it on my team. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

Everything

1. They pushed us hard to close the deal using the reason they needed the deal signed now was due to getting us into their calendar to start the pilot. Then when we signed, our start date was pushed back 3 weeks as they said they had a new hire that needed to be trained. But I didn't hire them to get their brand new SDR.....

2. During our 4-month pilot, (it was 3 but they added a free month given the lack of results) we had 3 different SDR's work on our account. I listen to more than 50 calls of these 3 SDR's and all of them sounded like they were brand new to sales - they didn't sound like the professional, tenured, career sales professionals that Cience's rep Michale Rouse sold us. They would say the name of our company incorrectly often, lots of stuttering and stammering, not what you would expect from a professional SDR. As a matter of fact, when I asked Cience what was the background of the reps working my account, how long had they been employed by Cience, how long have they worked as an SDR, they could not tell me. You would think that given they are calling leads as a fictitious employee "Alex Johnson" of AGA, representing our brand and image that I would have the right to know who the individual was working for us, they would not provide me this information.

3. Their phone system is horrible - Cience uses a "call drop" dialer that dials a person before the rep is on the line - so this is what every call sounds like......Hello this is John Smith,......Hello,......Hello......Loud Beep, (SDR is now on the line) Hello I am looking to speak to John Smith......but wait, didn't John Smith just answer the phone saying their name? Yes, but the SDR didn't hear it because of their ancient call drop system. This is how EVERY CALL starts off - it sounds horrible!!!

4. We provided them a do not call list and they still called many companies on that list - including a client of ours - who we then told them not to call and 3 days later the SDR called them again.

5. My company has an established sales process and a well-designed playbook that works very well for us - my team is very successful and we hired Cience because I needed to put more demos in my rep's hands. My reps are cradle to grave reps, they cold call, do discovery, scheduled demos, present demos, close sales and manage customers. We handed Cience our playbook that detailed all of our messaging, scripts, pitches, our entire sales process and how to get a demo scheduled in our business. We didn't need them to re-create the wheel. We provide them numerous recordings of our reps on successful cold calls that lead to demos and provided them a document that they could run with. However, for the first 60 days, they basically ignored everything we gave them and tried to take our square peg and fit it in their round hole - it didn't work.

6. But here is the big mistake they made and it makes no sense to me. In our ICP I gave them the 7 titles that we target for our services and said these were the only ones to go after. Well, they didn't listen and decided to target multiple titles that have nothing to do with our services and in 4 months, based on their own reporting, more than 50% of the leads they targeted were "not the right person". Think about that, over 4 months, more than 1/2 of their activities were WASTED because they were soliciting titles that have no bearing on purchasing our solution - crazy. So while Cience says they fulfilled their contract, I do not think they did given that 50% of their activity was totally wasted.

7. To add insult to injury, their Head of Account Management Curits told me that we hired Cience to “teach us something new about our business” and that they “are not an extension of our sales team”. Well, we didn’t engage with Cience to teach us anything, we have been doing this successfully for 50 years. We hired Cience, for their skilled, tenured, seasoned, professional SDR’s to get us scheduled appointments, and that did not happen.

While all of the people at Cience are nice and easy to work with, I wanted to hire our sales rep, Michael, because I thought he was really good. However, that was all smoke and mirrors as they just didn't deliver on what they pitched us they could do and as a professional salesperson, I could never pitch something that I could not deliver.

If you run a seasoned sales organization and you are looking for an SDR solution, I would look elsewhere. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering CIENCE:

As long as you are on top of them and make sure they are doing it the way it should be done - also, depending on your industry and product/service you sell, will also make a difference Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is CIENCE solving and how is that benefiting you?

We didn't solve any problems because they were not able to get us the scheduled demo/appointments that we expected. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Brett H.

Vice President of Sales & Marketing

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/23/2023

"Incredible results with Cience"

4.5/5

What do you like best about CIENCE?

The quality of their data, outreach, and process is incredible. We are talking to the right people and their research data is helping us map our customer universe. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

Likely because of their success and therefore large client portfolio, the customer service can sometimes be spotty (e.g. timely response to questions.) I still would recommend them, but it is something to be aware of Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering CIENCE:

Be very specific when defining the customer profile you want to target. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is CIENCE solving and how is that benefiting you?

Cience is reliably getting the right people on the phone so that we have an opportunity to sell and partner with our Ideal Customer Profile. Their quality leads are generating net new business. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Weston B.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5/9/2023

"Great outbound marketing platform with through backend support"

4.5/5

What do you like best about CIENCE?

Reliable, quick responses, easy to work with team. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

After the initial success of a project sometimes things can go to autopilot. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Consumer Goods

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

10/12/2022

"Trust in the process - Cience may be expensive but they work hard to improve constantly"

3.5/5

What do you like best about CIENCE?

The sales playbook Cience created was successful. They've had consistently impressive cold emailing open rates, and their targeted LinkedIn advertising has worked well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

Unfortunately, the price of Cience is not sustainable for our small business in the long term. At first there were a few communication hiccups and the program took a while to gain steam - but the core member of our team lasted through lots of turn over around her while keeping our account on track. Once we were assigned the right team members at Cience, things were easy from there on out. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering CIENCE:

For a B2B launch, Cience is great at building lofty leads lists, and an engaging playbook. You need to trust in the process,success and ROI will not happen right away. Think of Cience as a new hire that needs time to grow and learn about the company. There will be work on your end needed to make the partnership successful. Overall, if we had a different product or a larger budget - I believe this partnership could continue. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is CIENCE solving and how is that benefiting you?

Cience was brought on to help us build a B2B Sales Outreach Department and program for our traditionally B2C product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Lara M.

Marketing Specialist

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

8/29/2022

"Unbelievable Lead Generation services"

5/5

What do you like best about CIENCE?

They are highly efficient in working with the information we shared with them about our product to adapt it to their pitch and the people they’re targeting. They are very well structured with their strategies, KPIs and overall business plan. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

The reports they send sometimes have had some inaccuracies and the format is PDF which could not be ideal for real-time updates. The only problem I could think of is that it took a little bit of time to finally have a steady pace with the appointments they booked. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering CIENCE:

I would 100% likely recommend CIENCE to anyone who is seeking an outbound lead generation company to boost their sales. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is CIENCE solving and how is that benefiting you?

The prospects they provide are always given in the required criteria that we provided to them, they were always careful to bring to the table exactly the right decision makers or those that directed us to them, and we are thankful for that. We found a lovely team partnership and we are more than willing to share our testimonial with anyone else who needs to hear it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Construction

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

6/27/2022

"RUN AWAY!!! The worst vendor experience of my career."

0/5

What do you like best about CIENCE?

Nothing. This is worst vendor experience I have ever had in my career. Please see the dislike section for details. But if you're short on time, just trust me and do not hire Cience. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

When I vetted Cience, I came across many negative reviews, but ignored them because overall their reviews were positive. This was a HUGE mistake and a HUGE regret. They were a complete mess from day 1. They generate lead lists of companied who were not remotely in our target customer group (we sell software for the building industry and they put together a list of kitchen and mattress stores). To make matters worse, they started an email campaign to this incorrect list and we couldn't get them to stop. They were totally unresponsive, totally clear on next steps, and caused my team and I to follow up with them constantly without ever getting a clear response or clear deliverables. Then, when we requested a refund with ample evidence of how they had entirely failed to deliver on the contract signed, they ignored us. This was the biggest waste of time and money EVER. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering CIENCE:

RUN AWAY. Do not use this company. They are complete mess, completely disorganized, disrespectful, unresponsive, unorganized, and ultimately, very very very bad at the one thing they are supposed to do - generate leads. I cannot say clearly enough how absolutely terrible our experience was. I truly do not understand how these people are in business. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is CIENCE solving and how is that benefiting you?

Cience was supposed to help us run a lead gen campaign for the product we're launching. They delivered ZERO value and ultimately ended up costing us significant waste in terms of time and resources. It was a HUGE mistake. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Computer Software

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

1/31/2023

"Smooth sailing after a few initial hiccups"

3.5/5

What do you like best about CIENCE?

Cience has helped us find a lot of relevant contacts at our target accounts. They have also landed us an average of 1-2 meetings per week and have done a good job writing sales playbooks. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

They are sometimes disorganized, most account managers are assigned to too many accounts which initially caused errors. There is also a high turnover rate and lots of staffing changes - specifically with callers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

David B.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

3/6/2023

"Great experience"

5/5

What do you like best about CIENCE?

They have a flexible and dedicated team. Very pleased with the service provided for the past 4 months. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

Everything was great. Nothing to dislike. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Pharmaceuticals

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

9/19/2022

"Quality Lead Generation"

5/5

What do you like best about CIENCE?

Initially, it took a bit of time to target the "correct" customer for us. We offer a very specialized service, so there was a significant amount of time that my team needed to work with CIENCE to get the message and target audience right. As a result, many "leads" were initially provided to us that were not the right fit and would not be candidates for our services. However, over time that was adjusted in an iterative manner and now the team is producing high-quality leads at a rate of around 1 a week. Each week they also provide the metrics on the outreach and valuable KPIs to demonstrate their efforts. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

CIENCE was not previously familiar with our industry and so the learning curve took a bit longer than I would have liked, Also there was some pressure initially to leverage a calendar access service that is not that good of a fit for our business. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering CIENCE:

The business results are a direct reflection of the time you take to work with the team at CIENCE to ensure the messaging is correct and the target audience is correctly identified. So spend a lot of time on this part and I am confident you will receive a much higher quality product from the team at CIENCE. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is CIENCE solving and how is that benefiting you?

Historically my organization used an internal team for lead generation services and I felt that team didn't have the same bandwidth as an external dedicated team could provide. I had my own experience with third-party lead generation teams and did a bit of market research. CIENCE was very diligent with their outreach to me as a potential client of their services and I was very impressed with that, knowing I would want the same effort applied to gaining new clients that CIENCE was demonstrating in trying to win my business. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Information Technology and Services

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

7/12/2022

"Dramatically Oversold. Look elsewhere for insights."

0.5/5

Describe the project or task CIENCE helped with:

I contracted with CIENCE for two lead generation projects at a cost of roughly $50k and worked with them for 6 months. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you like best about CIENCE?

CIENCE's onboarding process is top-notch. They run a well-oiled onboarding machine. If you don't have an internal marketing department, they provide adequate (though not stellar) campaign landing page and LinkedIn ad creative capabilities. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about CIENCE?

We invested over $100k into our experiment with CIENCE. Every campaign was a failure, and they did not approach the targets they set for these campaigns. Their BDR/outbound sales rep quality was highly variable and overall quite poor, with cringe-inducing call recordings telling the whole story. We had to coach them time and time again to speak to a script, but never made progress. The BDRs would just repeat over and over "Hi I'm calling from company X hoping to set up a meeting with you." Zero qualification in the pre-call research phase and then none on the phone, and so the sales meetings that were set turned out to be poorly qualified. No surprise.

CIENCE promised insights to improve campaigns on the fly, but never delivered. CIENCE promised a live reporting portal over and over, but never delivered anything other than poor weekly pdf reports. Finally, it became clear that both our campaign manager and account manager were in deeply over their heads. They did their best, but as they were dealing with a lot of churn within their own company they just weren't up to the task of providing any insight or recommendations on how to improve campaign results over time. As the client I found myself running our weekly checkpoint meetings in the face of complete silence on the other end of the phone. It was an extremely frustrating experience that we put with for far too long. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering CIENCE:

I lobbied to hire them and was embarrassed by their failure to meet any of the objectives they set. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is CIENCE solving and how is that benefiting you?

We engaged CIENCE for lead generation to add to our hunting capabilities. They carried out several different lead generation campaigns simultaneously covering a variety of different solutions, spanning roughly 8 months. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.