How Iris Telehealth Doubled
Their New Business Sales Pipeline in Just 4 Months with
Tendril Connect Premium
Transforming Telepsychiatry with Tendril
From Sales Frustration to Pipeline Success
Iris Telehealth faced significant challenges with their in-house Sales Development team, leading to disappointing ROI over a 2 year span.
After downsizing and eventually eliminating the team, Iris decided to outsource their lead generation efforts, selecting Tendril.
By using Tendril Connect Premium, Iris onboarded a skilled, nearshore Sales Development Representative (SDR) team, and the results exceeded expectations. In just four months, Iris Telehealth saw a dramatic increase in qualified meetings, including a massive opportunity with a major healthcare system.
The transformation wasn't just about better numbers; it was also about discovering what became possible when the right strategy aligned with the right execution partner. Today, Iris Telehealth operates with the confidence and capability that comes from having a sales development system that actually works.
The Mission: Making Mental Health Care Accessible
Understanding the importance of Iris Telehealth's transformation requires appreciating the critical nature of their mission. As a provider of telepsychiatry services to healthcare organizations across the United States, Iris operates at the intersection of two of healthcare's most pressing challenges: the growing mental health crisis and the shortage of qualified behavioral health providers.
Their approach goes beyond simply providing technology solutions. Iris delivers high-quality psychiatric care through innovative technology platforms while focusing on long-term placement of top-quality behavioral health providers. This comprehensive approach makes mental health services accessible to healthcare organizations that might otherwise struggle to provide adequate psychiatric care to their patients.
The company serves hospitals, health systems, and healthcare organizations that recognize the critical importance of mental health services but lack the internal resources or expertise to deliver them effectively. For these organizations, partnering with Iris means they can offer their patients comprehensive care without the complexity and cost of building internal psychiatric departments.
However, by 2022, despite their clear value proposition and growing market demand for their services, Iris found themselves facing a sales development challenge that threatened to limit their ability to reach the healthcare organizations that needed their services most.
The Challenge: When More Isn't Better
The story of Iris Telehealth's sales challenges began with what seemed like a logical approach to growth: building a substantial in-house sales development team that could systematically identify and engage healthcare organizations across the country. At its peak, this internal team included as many as ten Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) overseen by a dedicated Director of Sales.
On paper, the approach made sense. Healthcare sales requires specialized knowledge, relationship building, and persistent follow-up—all activities that seemed well-suited to an internal team that could develop deep expertise in Iris's offerings and the healthcare market.
The investment was substantial, not just in salaries but in management overhead, training programs, technology, and the opportunity cost of leadership attention required to build and maintain such a team.
However, after more than two years of sustained effort and significant investment, the results were deeply disappointing. The internal team failed to generate sufficient return on investment, falling short of sales targets quarter after quarter. Despite having substantial resources and dedicated leadership, they could not meet the company's growing need for new partnerships with healthcare organizations.
After downsizing attempts that didn't address the underlying issues, Iris made the difficult decision to eliminate the entire sales development team and transfer lead generation responsibilities to the marketing department. This decision provided temporary cost relief but left a critical gap in their growth capabilities.
Enter Tendril: A Comprehensive Solution
The partnership that emerged between Iris Telehealth and Tendril was built around Tendril Connect Premium, a solution that provided additional sales capacity and offered a complete reimagining of how sales development could function for a healthcare services company.
The foundation of the solution combined Tendril's Agent Assisted Dialing platform with dedicated, full-time nearshore Sales Development Representatives. This wasn't your run of the mill staff augmentation; it was a comprehensive approach that addressed both the technology and human elements that successful sales development requires.
Key Components Included:
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Dedicated SDR Resources: Iris was able to select two highly-qualified SDRs fluent in English with neutral accents that had the sales experience they required.
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Advanced Technology Platform: 20 hours of Tendril Connect's Agent Assisted Dialing platform for maximum efficiency
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Seamless Integration: The SDRs quickly integrated into Iris’s team, collaborating seamlessly with the company’s Enterprise Partnership Directors (EPDs) and leveraging Tendril Connect to engage with key decision-makers across the healthcare industry.
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Healthcare Market Focus: Representatives trained specifically for engaging key decision-makers across the healthcare industry
Implementation: Building Excellence Through System and Support
The implementation phase revealed the true differentiator in Tendril's approach: a comprehensive system of training, coaching, and cultural development that addressed the underlying issues that had plagued Iris's internal team.
Intensive Training Foundation
Tendril's dedicated Sales Manager introduced an intensive training program focused on sales fundamentals specifically adapted for healthcare services sales. This wasn't generic sales training but customized preparation that equipped SDRs to engage effectively with healthcare decision-makers from day one.
The training program included:
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Healthcare Industry Specifics: Understanding hospital operations, decision-making processes, and key stakeholder roles
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Objection Handling: Weekly sessions focused on overcoming common challenges faced in real-world healthcare sales scenarios
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Continuous Refinement: Ongoing training that allowed SDRs to adapt their approach based on market feedback and results
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Confidence Building: Systematic preparation that enabled representatives to handle complex conversations with healthcare executives
Dual Coaching Approach
Perhaps most innovative was the coaching structure that combined Tendril's sales management expertise with Iris's industry knowledge and strategic direction. This dual approach ensured that SDRs received both sales methodology coaching and specific guidance on Iris's value proposition and market positioning.
The coaching system included:
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Weekly One-on-One Meetings: Individual sessions with both Tendril's Sales Manager and Iris team members
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Regular Call Reviews: Systematic analysis of actual sales calls with actionable feedback for improvement
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Alignment Assurance: Ongoing communication between Iris's goals and Tendril's execution
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Rapid Development: Week-by-week improvements in performance and capability
Competitive Culture and Technology Integration
Tendril brought a competitive culture and technological sophistication that had been missing from Iris's previous sales development efforts. The SDRs arrived with experience from other successful accounts and a team culture focused on exceeding performance targets.
The technology integration proved seamless, with immediate productivity thanks to the SDRs' existing Salesforce familiarity and smooth transition to Outreach for enhanced automation and efficiency.
The Results: Exceeding Every Expectation
In just four months, the results were dramatic and measurable. Tendril's team of two SDRs more than doubled the number of qualified meetings compared to the output of Iris's internal Enterprise Partnership Director team—a team that was larger and had been working the market longer.
Beyond the volume increases, the quality of opportunities generated exceeded expectations. The SDRs opened significant opportunities that advanced quickly through the sales pipeline, including a major opportunity with a reputable health system from the Midwest, a prospect that represents one of the largest potential partnerships in Iris's history.
This opportunity was particularly significant because:
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Scale Potential: The health system operates a large number of hospitals with substantial mental health service needs
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Strategic Value: Success with this partner could establish Iris as a preferred provider for similar large health systems
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Speed to Impact: The opportunity developed and advanced quickly, demonstrating the effectiveness of the new approach
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Market Validation: Interest from prestigious healthcare organizations validated Iris's value proposition and market positioning
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Financial and Operational Transformation
The partnership delivered substantial improvements in return on investment and operational efficiency:
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Cost Optimization: Iris eliminated the substantial overhead costs associated with maintaining a large in-house SDR team, including salaries, benefits, management costs, and ongoing training expenses.
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Improved ROI: Despite significantly reduced costs, results improved dramatically, creating a much more favorable cost-per-qualified-opportunity ratio.
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Resource Reallocation: The Marketing Director could refocus on core marketing priorities rather than managing sales team challenges, enabling more strategic work on brand development, content marketing, and lead nurturing.
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Management Efficiency: Tendril's US-based Sales Manager handled day-to-day oversight, freeing internal leadership to focus on closing deals and strategic relationships.
The success with Tendril created a proven model for sales development that could scale with Iris's growth ambitions. Rather than facing the challenges of hiring, training, and managing additional internal staff, Iris now had access to a systematic approach that could expand as needed without proportional increases in management complexity.
The efficiency and effectiveness of the new sales development approach created sustainable competitive advantages. While competitors struggled with the same sales development challenges that had previously limited Iris, the partnership with Tendril provided reliable, scalable lead generation that supported aggressive growth strategies.
Looking Forward: Building on Proven Success
The success of the initial partnership has created a platform for continued growth and expansion. Iris now operates with the confidence that comes from having a sales development system that delivers predictable, scalable results.
Future opportunities include expanding outreach to additional healthcare market segments, developing specialized campaigns for different types of healthcare organizations, and potentially leveraging the proven approach to support expansion into new geographic markets or service areas.
The systematic approach and proven results also position Iris to pursue larger strategic partnerships with health systems and healthcare networks that require sustained relationship development and sophisticated sales processes.
For healthcare organizations seeking mental health services, Iris's transformation means access to a partner with the systematic sales and business development capabilities necessary to serve them professionally and reliably. The partnership with Tendril has made Iris a stronger, more capable partner for the healthcare community.
Skip the wait, get right to talking! Contact Tendril at +1 866 740 4470 or visit https://www.tendril.us/request-demo to request a demo and learn how Tendril Connect Premium can double your sales pipeline in just months, not years.