Dan Caffee's Contrarian Approach to Sales Process Enablement Lands Sandy, Utah-based Voze $12 Million in Series A Funding

On the surface, this week's funding announcement from Sandy, Utah-based Voze was fairly straightforward:

"Voze Secures $12 Million in Series A Funding to Supercharge Field Sales Teams in Industrial, Manufacturing, and Construction."

But it was this phrase from the "lede" paragraph —

"... empowering sales professionals in graycollar industries ..."

that really caught my attention, and led me to two separate conversations with Voze CEO and Founder, Dan Caffee.

Caffee said to me that the problem with most Software-as-a-Service sales enablement applications is that they're actually focused on meeting the needs of sales professionals selling SaaS services.

In other words, "It's Bros writing code for Bros," he explained.

And as a result, "It's Bros selling to Bros."

But, he added, as big as that market is for SaaS applications where one tech Bro sells to another, it's nowhere near as large as the traditional, "gray collar" industries, the ones Voze is targeting (as identified on its website), such as

• Commercial Tire Sales,
• Heavy Equipment Sales,
• Heavy Duty Truck Sales, and
• Multi-Line Sales (primarily the Distributor Sales industries).

And that's where he believes that such SaaS-based sales tool companies are missing the boat.

His explanation made sense to me, but I wanted to verify his statement for myself.

So here's what I found.

International Data Corporation reported in June of this year that global SaaS application sales hit nearly $300 billion in 2023 ($298.5 billion to be exact).

However, on a global basis,

• Commercial Tire Sales were projected to hit $34.5 billion in 2024 (according to Cognitive Market Research), while
• Heavy Equipment Sales were projected to hit $200.5 billion in 2023 (according to Allied Market Research, given a 4.4% Compounded Annual Growth Rate {CAGR} from a base of $176.2 billion in 2020), while
• Heavy Duty Truck Sales hit $217 billion in 2023 (according to Verified Market Research).

In total, that's $452 billion in annual sales for these three "gray collar" industries, roughly 50% larger than annual global SaaS application sales.

But here's the kicker:

Precedence Research reported in July 2024 that the global Industrial Distribution Sales marketplace hit $8.06 trillion in revenue in 2023.

Yes ... $8.06 trillion ... as in Trillion with a "T."

In other word, just taking the initial four "gray collar" market segments Voze is targeting today, that's more than $8.71 trillion in annual revenue.

And that doesn't include the annual revenue from such boring market categories as

• Processed Metals, like finished steel and/or aluminum, or
• Chemicals, or
• Petroleum, or
• Paper, or

on and on and on.

To be clear, even though we're not talking about an apples to apples comparison, when I think of $8.71 trillion in annual revs versus $298.5 billion, there's no question about it: I'll take the $8.71 trillion opportunity.

Every.

Single.

Day.

What Makes Voze Unique for "Gray Collar" Sales Pros?

So ... besides being focused on "gray collar" sales pros, what makes Voze unique?

To start with, I'll quote directly from a LinkedIn post Voze shared roughly a month ago (along with a copy of the SMS screengrab that accompanied the post):

"We believe sales tools should be simple, not rocket science.

"We designed Voze to be your sales personal assistant, not another tech headache. It fits right into your daily routine, making your job easier instead of adding complexity.

"With Voze, you can focus on what really matters - building relationships and closing deals.

"No manual required."

Similarly, consider this testimonial video from Jesse Richards, VP of Sales for CMC Tires, a Voze customer:

To be clear, the Voze platform (as stated on its website), is a CRM application (Customer Relationship Management), which means that it competes, at one level, with such CRM behemoths as Salesforce and Hubspot, among others.

To be honest, I've used both of these apps, and they are NOT easy to learn or easy to implement.

That said, Voze claims it "... integrates with over 6,000 other platforms and tools including CRMs, DMSs, ERPs, email syncing and calendars ...."

And this includes tech tools from such companies as

• Hubspot,
• Magento,
• NetSuite,
• Salesforce, and
• Zapier,

just to name a few.

As noted in the funding news release, Origin Ventures (with dual headquarters in Chicago, Illinois and Salt Lake City, Utah) and Houston, Texas-based Mercury led the funding round, "... with participation from previous investors, including AlbumVC (from Lehi, Utah) and Pipeline Capital Partners (based in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Anchorage, Alaska)."

In the release, Caffee is quoted as saying,

"... we are committed to being customer-obsessed.

"This funding allows us to continue listening to our customers, understanding their unique challenges, and providing solutions that truly resonate with them. We're excited to have the continued support of our investors as we work to make Voze the most intuitive and valuable tool for sales professionals."

Since Voze was founded in mid-2022, over 5,000 field sales professionals — "gray collar" guys and gals — now use the Voze platform on a daily basis, which may not sound like a lot.

Yet.

But for now, although it's still early in the game, it appears to me that Caffee's contrarian approach is working for Voze.

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