William Ballance

Lavender

Lavender helps you write sales emails that convert, faster. (🏆 #1 on Product Hunt • 🔶 9.9/10 on G2)

Lavender has everything a seller needs to get more replies in less time: email assistance, sentence suggestions, prospect research + email verification, mobile optimization, data-driven team coaching and recommendations, and much more. 

Integrates with Gmail, Outlook 365, Outreach, and Salesloft.
Get started at www.lavender.ai

CEO & Co-Founder

Sorter

🏅Winner - Techstars Startup Weekend (Atlanta 2018)

A marketing platform that combines neuroscience, psychology, and data science to build better communication at scale for brands like Yamaha, Gravity Blankets, and KettleSpace.

Sorter’s internal AI, CATIE( Creative Algorithms for Text and Image Enhancement) blends behavioral sciences with cutting edge data science and natural language processing enabling you to easily apply an objective science to the art of communication. 

We help create better content faster.

Fueling the backend of our platforms for healthcare, marketing, sales, and HR, CATIE analyzes and determines what distinguishes top-performing campaigns from baseline and under-performing content within your audiences.

Sorter (sorter.com): 1:Many Communications
Lavender (trylavender.com): 1:1 Communications

Co-Founder & CEO

Dooly

Strategic Advisor

Alum

Born out of a campaign to help save Sweet Briar College, a historic women's college in Virginia, Alum was a mobile app for alumni social networking and mobile fundraising active at over 200 colleges and high schools.

Founder

My Fun Filter

My Fun Filter was the #1 supplier of custom Snapchat filters on Groupon and LivingSocial in the US and Canada. Acquired.

Springbot

Springbot is a Magento Gold and Shopify partner that delivers a marketing automation and predictive analytics software to eCommerce stores ranging from early stage startups to $100mm global companies.

Springbot's awards include TAG Top 10 Most Innovative Technology Company, TiE Silicon Valley - TiE50 Top Startups 2016, and Atlanta Business Chronicle's Best Places to Work.

SDR & AE - US/UK/Australia

Candle Spas

• Co-founded the first digital e-commerce platform for subscription spa services in Atlanta, New York, and San Francisco. 
• Built our spa network to over 200 locations across three cities in 2 months. 
• Developed relationships with local and national influencers to drive sales and customer acquisition. 
• Spearheaded partnerships and advertising opportunities with nationally known brands including Stylecaster, Mercedes-Benz, Lululemon, Rocksbox, HowAboutWe, and Graze.

Employee #1

Loclly

• First permanent sales hire at a startup regional local services and "daily deal" e-commerce store.
• Grew annual revenue over 6,000% in a year and a half, then launched a new brand (Candle).
• Utilized strategic user acquisition, e-mail marketing, and pricing models to capture an active audience of buyers across multiple brands and verticals.

SDR & AE - US/MX

Pinnacle Fête

Pinnacle Fête began as an event and artist promotion company in the college town of Blacksburg, Virginia, representing nationally known acts including Rhêtorik, Tim Gunter, and Super Dopplar.

Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce

Intern - Lead Hampton Roads

👋 Hey, I'm William. My team and I design technology that combines communication psychology with AI. Want to write better emails faster? We built software for that. 👇

1. Install for free to use our AI Email Assistant at https://install.lavender.ai (for Gmail, Outlook 365, Outreach, and Salesloft)

2. Are you a student or unemployed? We give you Lavender for free until you have a full time job.

3. Want to start a startup one day? I write a lot about our startup journey + happy to help if I can.

4. Want to generate passive pipeline on autopilot? We built Ora, Lavender's new intelligent AI sales agent to help with just that. www.ora.im


--

about me:

👨‍💻 I'm a sales rep turned startup founder. 

🇲🇽🗽🍑 I spent a year and a half remote working in Mexico. We built most of Lavender during this. I'm based in New York but we got our start in Atlanta. 

🎨 🏛 I've been designing software since I was a kid, but went to school to study Government and Economics. 

🌍 I'm passionate about entrepreneurship. I wrote my senior thesis on using micro-finance to encourage entrepreneurship and bottoms-up development of emerging economies.

🦊 I'm most proud of starting a series of campaigns to help save a historic women's college, Sweet Briar, from closing. 

👩‍🎓The school was saved by its alumnae, and this experience led me to leave my job and start my first startup: an alumni social chat and mobile fundraising app. 

🧠 Through that I was introduced to the cognitive sciences, met my co-founders, and pivoted. We built technology for marketers that leveraged personality and decision making science.

💜 COVID happened and we pivoted again, applying our communication psychology research to sales.

🙌 Now Lavender helps thousands of sales people around the world write better emails faster.

👉 Learn more about Lavender at www.lavender.ai and www.ora.im

William M. Ballance

💜 Will Allred

Lavender helps companies get the most pipeline possible from email.

We understand what drives replies. We help you know: what to say and how to say it, based on who you're talking to. We turn this understanding into pipeline via two products: our coach (active in 30k+ inboxes) and our agentic platform, Ora.

The coach is the perfect writing companion for your top accounts.
Ora tees up tailored 1:1 drafts or it can run autonomously.

We build AI that feels like AI.

Set up your first self learning agent in minutes: Ora.Lavender.ai

Co-Founder & COO

LavenderLand

A show where I answer real email questions with the help of some not so real friends.

Watch at https://lavender.ai/land

Host of "Ask Allred" on LavenderLand

Sorter’s internal AI, CATIE( Creative Algorithms for Text and Image Enhancement) blends behavioral sciences with cutting edge data science and natural language processing enabling you to easily apply an objective science to the art of communication. 

We help create better content faster.

Fueling the backend of our platforms for healthcare,  marketing, sales, and HR, CATIE analyzes and determines  what distinguishes top-performing campaigns from baseline and under-performing content within your audiences.

Sorter (sorter.com): 1:Many Communications
Lavender (trylavender.com): 1:1 Communications

TopRight

TopRight is a strategic marketing firm based in Atlanta practicing Transformational Marketing. Our work puts the customer first through TopRight’s 3S Methodology. We help companies; define a Story that motivates customers to care, buy and stay, develop a Strategy that gets the right message to the right customers at the right time, and enable the Systems needed to execute on those winning Strategies.

In my time at TopRight, I have served as support and run several internal, partnership and client projects. Below, I have outlined a few highlights from my time as a Senior Associate and the head of HR at TopRight:

I currently lead all technology-focused initiatives and projects within TopRight. This includes: 
• Helping clients assess the best possible marketing systems. This includes technology sets, the people running those systems and the processes that enable them.
• Currently managing TopRight’s technology partnerships. 
• Running day-to-day execution of our clients' digital marketing needs.

I am also on a TopRight's team of three working on the launch of a client's groundbreaking ICO and future blockchain application that is set to redefine the private equity market. My role on the project is focused on the creation of the client's whitepaper, buzz-creation (aka marketing the launch), and general support. 

As a core member of TopRight’s internal marketing team, I assist in TopRight’s inbound marketing strategy execution including campaign ideation, content creation, influencer outreach, and funnel conversion strategy and tactics.

As part of a larger initiative to improve internal processes, in addition to my role as a Senior Associate, I am serving as the HR Coordinator. This role has required:
• The creation of an employee handbook to help define and shape company culture
• Improved meeting processes
• Improved recruiting processes
• An initiative to improve team dynamics through the better analytical management of skillsets, capacity, and personality.

Senior Associate

As an Associate at TopRight, I served as support and run several internal, partnership and client projects. Below, I have outlined a few highlights from my time as an Associate at TopRight:

• Led a grassroots, multi-channel campaign for a non-profit to support free speech from ideation, through research, to creation.
• Managed the relaunch of the TopRight website. 
• Helped in the brand relaunch of a Marketing Technology Operations Company in ~30 days. Our teams are also currently leading a multi-channel, co-branded campaign.
• Helped multiple clients assess the best possible marketing systems. This included technology sets, the people running those systems and the processes that enabling them.
• Assisted a multi-billion dollar Telco in establishing a partnership alliance program for the software industry.
• Currently leading an initiative to improve internal operations and efficiencies.

Associate

In my time as an Analyst at TopRight, I served as support and run several internal, partnership and client projects. Below, I have outlined a few highlights from my time as an analyst at TopRight:

• On a team of two, my team helped rebrand a supply chain management software company. With a new brand narrative and a revised corporate sales deck, the company saw three consecutive record-breaking quarters of sales growth.
• Helped multiple clients assess the best possible marketing systems. This included technology sets, the people running those systems and the processes that enabling them.
• As a core member of TopRight’s internal marketing team, I assist in TopRight’s inbound marketing strategy execution including campaign ideation, content creation, influencer outreach, and funnel conversion strategy and tactics.

Analyst

YoVo

I was working on Yovo in the background for a while. I learned loads about entrepreneurship working on this project, but ultimately I could never get it off the ground. The idea was simple: 
- resumes are ineffective at screening 
- recruiting calls are filled with human error/bias

Using voice analytics, the plan was to help hiring mangers make smarter decisions by giving an objective look at conversations.

I was able to spin up exciting conversations in the enterprise, but eventually, I decided to focus my time and energy into Sorter.

First Founder Attempt

Healthgrades

Worked with Healthgrades as an initial member of their Elective Provider Solutions team. After building out the initial pipeline for Healthgrades direct sales model. We consulted with heads of marketing for enterprise level specialty practices to help design digital marketing solutions to best utilize Healthgrades.com. 

Tweaking and building upon market insights for our products- we were able to design action oriented campaigns for practices and their physicians. The challenge was not only to create campaigns that would succeed, but to create campaign designs that would sell in a market adverse to change. Through our work we found it was important to help providers:

 1. Make practices and providers more discoverable, 
 2. Increase new patient acquisition, 
 3. Enhance practices and providers' online reputations.

These were the three things we could do most effectively for our clients. 

At Healthgrades, there is a "healthy obsession" with driving a ROI for clients. So by working in concert with our clients, we help maximize their ROI by learning from our current marketing efforts, and making the proper adjustments as needed.

In my tenure there, I was:

•a top revenue producer on my team
•able to uncover optimization strategies not only in product design, but also sales and marketing strategy for both Healthgrades and clients
•built out entirety of the direct sales pipeline
•cultivated relationships with agencies and practices

Healthgrades is backed by Vestar Capital Partners, as is the top site for rating doctors and hospitals. Truly on the cutting edge, it is where America goes to find a doctor.

Manager: Elective Provider Solutions

As a summer sales intern, I served as CEB's first interaction with HR executives. Cold calling on a territory of 100 HR executives, based in firms with annual revenues ranging from 50-750 million dollars, I was able to effectively introduce C-suite executives to CEB's valuable advisory resources. 

As an intern team, we were tasked with helping recruiting with their outreach to prospective employee's. We designed potent marketing material driving the impactful value of one's work at CEB, and the advantages of being a member of CEB's motivated workforce. 

CEB is the leading member-based advisory company. By combining the best practices of thousands of member companies with our advanced research methodologies and human capital analytics, we equip senior leaders and their teams with insight and actionable solutions to transform operations.

CEB offers comprehensive data analysis, research and advisory services that align to executive leadership roles and empower clients to focus efforts, move quickly, and address emerging and recurring business challenges with confidence.

CEB trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CEB).

HR Leadership Council

Northwestern Mutual

After working to attain my North Carolina Life, Health, and Disability Insurance, I worked with potential clients to develop financial solutions to achieve their desired long-term success. 

This is where I learned my love of sales and marketing, as I saw the impact I was able to have by effectively showing the benefits of Northwestern's Life Insurance products. Through this valuable experience, I was able to drive many never would be customers into the sales pipeline at Northwestern.

Financial Representative

Carrboro Capital

As a summer intern, I evaluated small, rapid-growth businesses in North Carolina for acquisition. I would forecast potential risks for the companies and report a pro/con analysis to my senior managers. 

Also as a summer intern, I was tasked with analyzing financial statements for potential acquisitions. My timing when joining Carrboro Capital was especially advantageous, as I witnessed the acquisition of the local retailer Southern Season.

Private Equity Summer Analyst

Kidder Properties

Working for the four employee (including myself) start up Kidder Properties, I was able to effectively work cross-functionally with a litany of responsibilities that wouldn't have otherwise been given to a person of my age and experience. 

In my first summer with Kidder, I assisted in the analysis and acquisition of approximately 50 foreclosure homes. Comparing acquisition costs and renovation costs with the projected income from renting and ultimately selling the home, I was able to produce ROI reports. After openly discussing the tangibles and intangibles of these potential assets with my supervisor and the CEO, we would come up with a judgment for the perspective home. 

In my second summer, my focus shifted to the operational side of the business helping to reduce costs and improve the overall quality of the rental properties we provided. After analyzing the past performances of different purchased assets, I would determine if budget changes needed to be made to improve the long-term quality and therefore profitability of the home. Also in my final summer with Kidder, I helped train and coach a successor to take my place.

Real Estate Acquisitions & Renovation Operations

👋 4 Resources (3 Free):

1. Install our free email coach: install.lavender.ai

2. Sign up for my free email courses levelup.lavender.ai

3. Since you made it this far, use promo code "LavenderLove" to 2x your free trial when you sign up for Lavender

4. Check out the future of Agentic prospecting: Ora.im

Lavender helps sales teams write better emails, faster.
Get started for free at Install.TryLavender.com. 
(Available in Gmail, Outlook 365, Outreach, and SalesLoft.)

Lavender is the ultimate email assistant. As a salesperson, it provides everything you need to quickly write, high quality emails.

Lavender's coaching dashboard gives revenue teams never before had insight into what's working in each reps' inbox.

💙💛 Will Allred

99% of LinkedIn Discourse: Nuked
Em-dash users rejoice

💜 🔮 Will Allred

Cofounder @ Lavender | Cold Email Agents Powered by Deep Research, Reasoning, and Billions of Analyzed Sales Emails

"Outbound is dead during the holidays. We'll launch this in January" Hope my competitors aren't reading this. 😉 Here's how I use data (and my perspective as a buyer) to respond to this predictable seasonable complaint 

1.The Data: Reply Rates
The holidays are not the worst season for getting replies. That would be July. Did you stop emailing then? ;) 

2. More data & perspective 

Holidays are actually an opportunity. Send volumes go down BIGLY during the holiday season. This increases mental bandwidth to evaluate your message.

BUT, this new bandwidth doesn't mean ship spam templates. If you're not getting replies? You're probably not going deep enough to trigger reciprocity during the season of giving.

More depth. More personalization.

Tiz the season for thoughtfulness.

So... do you scale thinly prompted workflows? ship templates? labor over writing 1:1 emails while your family misses you dearly? 

No... you just buy Ora the only AI sales agent that actually writes emails like a human.

Sellers, your competitors' cold emails use psychology to open the doors you can't. Here's 12 principles to help you catch up  (+ 1 bonus)

1) Cognitive overload: 
--> too much, I'm out

2) Heuristic substitution:
--> hard question? what does this say?
--> easy question? what does this look like?

3) Loss aversion
--> Missing out on > What I'll gain
--> Competition is doing X > 69% more X

4) Reciprocity:
--> "They put effort in. I should give back."

5) Cognitive Miser:
--> Mental Shortcuts
--> "Oh, this is a sales email. Skip."

6) Confirmation Bias:
--> "Oh, it's an AISDR. I know what this means."

7) Ambiguity Aversion
--> Unclear = No Action
--> Concrete Understanding = Action

8) Friction Avoidance
--> Big Ask = Little Action
--> Little Ask = More Action

9) The Von Restorff Effect
--> The most different item gets remembered
--> Word choice can make you memorable

10) Attentional Bias
--> We selectively focus on what priority *now*

11) The Mum Effect
--> We don't want bad news shared w/ our boss.

12) Reactance
--> You push, they pull away

BONUS: Power Conservation Theory
--> Status quo maintenance by those in charge

Pop these into the chatgpt modal in your Lavender Email coach. Use them to critique your current emails, brain storm some new ideas. 

Also... thinking this could make a great longer form blog post - should I do it?

Realization from the lil weekly office hours Kellen, Samantha and I run.

GTM Engineers, marketers, sellers... call the role whatever you want.

Folks are just looking to figure out how to create conversation. The principles that create connection are the same. The tools used vary.

You're not "learning clay".

You're learning how to show strangers you understand their world view and might have solutions for them.

If you want to join our Wednesday "masterclass" (2pm EST) - just lemmekno

taplio

The Battle

William M. Ballance

💙💛 Will Allred

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Performance Score💙💛 Will Allred's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

William M. Ballance

💙💛 Will Allred

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}💙💛 Will Allred's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance Score💙💛 Will Allred's LinkedIn Performance