North America Archives - Gong

Gong gives Reachdesk the gift of alignment during rapid international growth

Hannah Hapin — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 15:05:22 +0000

Gong gives Reachdesk the gift of alignment during rapid international growth Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Small Business North America Software The challenge Without Gong, Reachdesk’s EMEA sales teams couldn’t unearth details about which rep behaviors won deals or why customers made purchases. That led to inefficient sales practices and difficulty aligning CS, account managers, product, and marketing around the customer lifecycle. The outcome Reachdesk now uses Gong to gain valuable insights into rep and customer behaviors so they can keep global teams aligned and focus on efficient sales processes and customer lifecycles. This approach kept the sales team connected throughout a period of rapid growth. Headquarters New York, New York Founded 2018 Employees 500+ Industry Software Development If anyone knows the power of a good gift, it’s Reachdesk. Reachdesk is a global direct mail platform that helps B2B companies build deeper connections with customers through gifting. Reachdesk was listed as one of the fastest-growing software companies by G2 in 2021 and has been an established G2 category leader since. After a record year of growth and a $43M Series B in 2021, Reachdesk grew their global sales team across US and EMEA. It’s an impressive feat, but one primed with risk. Periods of major growth can bring misalignment and poor communication to globally dispersed teams, which often results in inefficient operations across the customer lifecycle. Reachdesk wanted to improve these issues prior to expansion, and was eager to solve them quickly before they became ingrained in the next growth phase. The company decided to use Gong’s Revenue Intelligence Platform to surface customer insights that could bolster alignment, communication, efficiency, and decision-making. Gain efficiency by aligning teams in EMEA and the US Previously, Reachdesk’s global teams lacked alignment and dealt with poor communication about customer-related issues. Today, Gong makes it easy for the EMEA sales team to stay aligned with their global counterparts and share lessons learned across CS, marketing, and product teams around the world, at any point in time. They often do so on the go, using Gong’s mobile app. The sales team relies heavily on Gong’s Call Libraries to bring the most effective tactics and talk tracks to everyone’s attention. Wherever they are, EMEA sales team members can contribute full calls or call snippets to best-practice Call Libraries, sharing their lessons learned for training purposes. Teams anywhere in the world can easily listen to each other’s calls, learn what works, and provide each other with feedback. “Being able to share snippets globally has been a huge benefit of using Gong,” says Alex Olley, Reachdesk’s co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer, “It has helped with my biggest pain point during this growth by getting alignment between the US and the UK teams.” This alignment has resulted in heightened training efficiency, as well as increased collaboration and consistency in messaging across the distributed teams. Spot risks and keep deals on track At one time, Reachdesk found it hard to tap into its customer interactions to determine which deals carried hidden risks. With the adoption of Gong, reps on all its global teams turned to Gong’s Deal Boards to spot warning signs and risks inside deals. Deal Boards give them the full context of a deal’s progression, so they can collaborate with AEs to address those risks and get deals back on track. Deal Boards surface risks that managers and reps would otherwise miss. Olley also wanted to know what top-performing reps did that worked. “I really wanted to solve that problem,” he said, “getting intelligence from all the reps, and particularly the top performers, so I could make sure we pushed the right talk tracks through to the rest of the team.” He wanted to know what their message adherence was like and which winning behaviors the top reps used. With Gong’s ability to analyze customer interactions and highlight what works and what doesn’t, Olley was able to get Reachdesk’s reps singing the same winning tune, wherever they worked. Today, they use Gong’s advanced visibility and smart guidance for ongoing coaching and training initiatives and keeping deal execution moving smoothly. Olley says these same deal insights are “also useful for forecasting.” Gong surfaces reliable information quickly, saving them at least two hours each week on forecasting and pipeline activities. Make data-backed decisions that get customers to say yes While his EMEA sales team grew, Olley also wanted to clarify why customers made purchases so he could base future decisions on that information. Olley says, “There are three things we now look at using Gong’s keyword trackers: customers’ use cases, the challenges they face, and what success looks like for them.” Whenever a deal closes, he gets an alert and listens to the call to further clarify why the customer said yes. This — along with Gong Insights’ analytical abilities — helps Olley and his teams make informed business decisions. Most recently, he used Gong’s initial analysis of customer interactions to update Reachdesk’s messaging and align it with their customers’ stated needs. The revenue teams also use Gong Insights to act on opportunities in the market and map their product roadmap. Gift your entire company a solution it loves Today, Reachdesk uses Gong’s Revenue Intelligence Platform across the entire revenue organization. Olley says, “It’s embedded into a lot of what we do as a company.” Gong supported Reachdesk through a period of rapid growth, while it cemented its sales messaging, designed efficient processes, and aligned its global teams. Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one ComplyAdvantage uses Gong to decrease ramp time by 50% Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Europe/Middle East/Africa Software Leveraging Revenue Intelligence to Drive Conversions and Build a Growth Mindset Small Business Coaching North America Software How Gong Helped Culture Amp Stay Ahead of Market Trends Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Global Software

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Shortening the time to success for new sales reps

Hannah Hapin — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 22:46:42 +0000

Shortening the time to success for new sales reps Coaching Small Business North America Media & Internet The challenge As Glacier Media began to transition to virtual work during a time of uncertainty, they lost all visibility into what their employees were working on. The outcome Glacier Media was able to successfully navigate through a time of change and uncertainty by implementing Gong. Gong’s insights and capabilities allowed the org to train, retain, and coach their sales team with data sourced from the true voice of the customer. Headquarters Vancouver, Canada Founded 1988 Employees 1000+ Industry Media & Publishing For me, Gong is more than just a coaching tool. It represents a significant change in process for Glacier Media and demonstrates our commitment to the virtual sales process. Connor Beaty Regional Digital Sales Manager Some people learn by observing. Others learn by doing. In sales, you learn from both. Learning on the job has always been part of the sales process. Reps need time to understand their product inside and out, which then allows them to develop their approach and learn how to build rapport with clients. Historically, this was called “learning on the road”: hopping on calls with other reps, joining meetings with clients, and developing a sales style over time. However, just because it’s always been that way, doesn’t mean it always has to be… I work in advertising, marketing, and media. The media industry is undergoing a transition from traditional advertising methods to a variety of digital marketing tactics that are far more complex to understand and pitch. This transition has had an incredible impact on salespeople in our industry. Regardless of where companies are in their digital evolution, the transition to a digital space is reshaping how new sales teams get off the ground. Glacier Media is in the midst of such a transformation. A Canadian-based business with long roots in the traditional media space, Glacier has since evolved into a national media house with the largest online local news network in the country, as well as a cutting-edge digital marketing agency. I’ve worked at Glacier Media for several years, starting as a sales rep with no prior industry experience. After a year, I was promoted to a sales management role, and spent the next five years managing various sales teams across the company. The traditional sales model at Glacier Media used to look very similar to other companies in the media industry: reps operated primarily in-person, knocking on doors, shaking hands, and handing out business cards, rate cards, and product samples. When it came to rep coaching, Glacier didn’t have much of a formalized structure in place. Managers would occasionally go out on calls with reps, typically jotting down notes here or there or chatting with reps about client needs and expectations. It worked well enough. When everyone shifted to virtual work, that traditional sales model went by the wayside. Even though we hadn’t needed them before, video calls suddenly became our only lifeline to customers. Management had to change its approach to coaching as well, as there was suddenly less visibility to what employees were working on than in the past. It was a time of great uncertainty and change. A New Tool to Take the Sales Team Digital Despite the upheaval, there was a silver lining. Glacier Media was already in the middle of its transition to digital marketing from traditional advertising product offerings of the past. Now we were moving our sales process from traditional to digital as well. And it was in the midst of this transition that we found a very valuable asset: Gong. The platform surfaced as a new tool to train, retain, and coach our sales representatives. I was fortunate to be one of the first people to review it, and there were a lot of “wow” factors from the start. One thing that really sparked my interest was the number of comparative stats available for every call. I liked that we could compare rep performance to hundreds of thousands of other calls at a glance and use that data to gauge our success as a team. It also had features like the ability to comment on call recordings at precise times, which represented a real evolution in coaching for me. Gong also assuaged our leadership team. With a shift to more virtual sales tactics, there was a lot of concern among management regarding what sales reps were doing with their time. How could we gauge rep activity if the sales force was working remotely 100% of the time? How could we coach and train effectively in this new environment? Gong allowed us to have more visibility into rep actions, and provided striking new ways to elevate them to success. Daniel La Porta, Glacier’s VP of Sales, was also a fan of Gong from the early days. He saw the value that coaching and training would add to the entire company, and we worked together to champion Gong with other internal stakeholders. It was one of the more straightforward deployments I’ve experienced, and it is the easiest platform to update and manager from a Product Manager level, where I now sit. Kickoff and training involved several members of Gong’s team walking reps through the software, how it worked, and how to use it for our specific use case, which stands a part from some of Gong’s other customers. The result? Some people jumped into the platform right away, but not everyone was so eager to try something new. Fostering Adoption for New and Experienced Reps Purchasing licenses for Gong indicated that Glacier Media was serious about investing in a virtual sales process, and confirmed that we were not going to go back to the way things were. Although this was a real positive note and actually a retention factor for me at Glacier, for people who had been doing sales the same way for decades, it was a giant and intimidating leap. We learned that adoption wasn’t really about Gong; it was about what Gong represents: a change in process to virtual sales. To overcome hesitancy and boost adoption, we tried several avenues, including training sessions, contests, incentives, and more. For some users, it clicked right away, and we saw an uptick in adoption as they began to see value in Gong. Eventually, we decided to focus on the people that embraced the platform and all newly hired employees, setting the expectation from the start that Gong is part of their role. Gong has totally changed the way we onboard new employees. Once I add them to the system, they immediately have access to hours of Glacier’s training material, which is important because we offer more than 45 different products and services. Historically, training reps on this large volume of offerings was a big ask for managers and new employees. However, now that we have a training folder within the Gong library, we lean heavily on it to teach new reps about our products. Not only does this resource enable new reps to start from a secure foundation of product information, but it puts time back into managers’ days because reps can access training information independently. During my early days as a sales rep, all I wanted to do was spend more time in sales settings and hear real conversations. I felt like every minute I spent in an actual sales call was worth hundreds outside of that environment. Now our reps have access to more than 2,000 call recordings, so they can hear what works and what doesn’t. I listen to new reps on a call and I think, “Wow, that sounds like me,” or just like a colleague of mine. New reps sound so professional so fast, and they espouse the value of Glacier Media’s products quickly because they can spend hours listening, watching, and putting the pieces together to find success on their own. Becoming a Better Coach I love giving feedback. I use Gong to compare statistics across all sorts of calls and drill down to offer the best feedback possible. One feature I like to highlight is the measurement of patience detected by the number of pregnant pauses between rep and client. I also leave comments at specific moments within a call, then go back to a rep with detailed examples of what they did well and where they can improve. Another great coaching feature is the scorecard. I’ve created three scorecards within the system based on the different types of calls that we conduct: exploratory, presentation, and reporting calls. These scorecards allow managers to rate our reps’ calls objectively based on certain criteria that’s approved by our VP, which provides a level of coaching consistency we’ve never had before at Glacier Media. We also use Gong to spot potential issues. We recently instructed a team member to spend more time in Gong, listening to other reps’ calls and engaging in training materials to help them get back on track. However, we didn’t see much success and weren’t sure if they had taken our direction. I looked in the system, and sure enough, they only had a few hours of activity within the platform over six weeks. This information was really helpful in informing our next steps in the 1:1 with the employee. Finally, I loved the ability to surface moments within sales calls to other areas of the organization. Rather than taking notes during a call and then relaying the relevant information to a colleague, you can insert comments at a specific moment within Gong. You can then tag the desired person in Gong, or copy a link to the relevant segment of the call, eliminating the need to rely on memory and poor translation. This feature makes Gong a valuable asset inside and outside the sales team. The Only Way Forward Is to Adapt If we had to do everything over again, we would spend more time earlier on working with the management team and the reps to introduce Gong, as opposed to focusing most attention on the reps. Adoption only works if everyone truly understands the system in place at all levels of the organization, and we have learned more and more over time that the needs of management and reps are quite different. This learning is something we’ve taken into consideration both with Gong moving forward, as well as other platform adoptions as we continue to add layers to our tech stack. My advice is this: if you receive pushback from your sales team, reinforce the benefits and persevere, trusting that your sales force will adjust over time—and will eventually benefit in spades. Gong filled our pre-existing gap around training and coaching. Today, our top salespeople are those who are leveraging new technologies and upskilling, coaching, and training themselves within Gong. For me, Gong is more than just a coaching tool. It represents a significant change in process for Glacier Media and demonstrates our commitment to the virtual sales process. It’s also a big wake-up call for organizations to not shy away from technology or adopting algorithm-based platforms. Technology is changing all organizations and industries, and sales and marketing are no exception. The tech stack will never get shorter, and if you don’t embrace it, your competitor will. Why not adjust your sales process to make everything work in your favour? Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one SurveyMonkey takes coaching for customer success to the next level Enterprise Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Software How Gong Forecast helps Crayon create accurate and reliable forecasting Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Media & Internet How Gong Forecast is helping Tackle.io shave 40% off forecasting time Small Business Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Software

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Hello, new reality: How WalkMe uses Gong to add visibility around their deals

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 08:40:56 +0000

Hello, new reality: How WalkMe uses Gong to add visibility around their deals Deal Execution Small Business North America Software The challenge WalkMe wanted to get visibility around their deals in the remote-first environment unique to 2020. The outcome Gong provided WalkMe with an additional level of visibility and assurance that the company’s AEs are doing what they’re telling their leadership team and that they’re still providing best practices to customers. Watch video Headquarters San Francisco, CA Founded 2011 Employees 860+ Industry Digital Adoption Software WalkMe was founded in 2011 as a guidance and navigation tool and has since grown rapidly to meet the enormous demand for next-generation digital learning. And then suddenly in 2020 — much of the world was forced into a remote work environment due to a global pandemic — and WalkMe was no exception. Regarding the big shift, Aliisa Rosenthal, VP of Sales at WalkMe admitted that initially she “didn’t feel as looped into the deals” as she normally did. The remedy? “I actually found Gong’s new Deals feature really helpful for that.” “I’m using Gong from a pipeline perspective, primarily using the Deals tab. It’s how I started my morning probably every day for the last week leading up to the end of the quarter— just opening up deals,” shared Aliisa, “Now that we’re remote, Gong has provided me with an additional level of visibility and comfort that my AEs are doing what they’re telling me and that we’re still providing best practices to our customers.” Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one Gong Gives Genesys Sales Managers The Ability to “Ride Shotgun” With Any Deal Enterprise Coaching Deal Execution Global Software How Gong Forecast helps Crayon create accurate and reliable forecasting Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Media & Internet Achieving double-digit lift across the sales pipeline: How Virgin Pulse used Gong to navigate economic uncertainty Enterprise Coaching Strategic Initiatives Global Software

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Hello, new reality: How Gong helps Apptio keep their field sales team engaged

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 08:12:22 +0000

Hello, new reality: How Gong helps Apptio keep their field sales team engaged Coaching Deal Execution Small Business North America Software The challenge With the 2020 global pandemic forcing everyone to work remotely, Apptio sought to keep their field sales team engaged as they adjusted to an inside sales structure. The outcome Gong gave Apptio the ability to coach their teams and to re-circulate best practice to reps in spite of the adjustment to a remote work environment. Watch video Headquarters Bellevue, WA Founded 2007 Employees 1,100+ Website www.apptio.com Industry Cloud-based applications “I think one of the hardest things about having entirely remote sales force is it’s hard to maintain that sense of peer sharing and camaraderie,” admitted Mitchell Matsuo, a Revenue Enablement Consultant at Apptio. Apptio is a software company that is purpose-built to help organizations cut costs, budget faster, and forecast continuously. While it already had a great system in place for remote employees, the global pandemic of 2020 made things more challenging. Apptio’s field sales teams, accustomed to traveling to customer sites, had been forced to truly work remotely. However, Apptio was able to better adjust by leveraging several features in the Gong platform, including comments, snippets, and the activity tab. While the year has certainly been a rollercoaster, Mitchell is glad he has Gong to help out his team. “Gong is hands down the quantum leap in sales enablement. It’s the ability to identify the best practice. It’s the ability to identify room for coaching. And it’s the ability to re-circulate best practice to reps who need it the most.” Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one If You Build It, They Will Come: Why Building a Coaching Culture Leads to a Better Sales Team Enterprise Coaching Global Business Services SurveyMonkey takes coaching for customer success to the next level Enterprise Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Software How Gong Helped Proposify Cut Their Sales Cycle In Half Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Software

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TouchBistro gains next level sales insights with Gong for deals

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 07:44:08 +0000

TouchBistro gains next level sales insights with Gong for deals Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Small Business North America Software The challenge TouchBistro wanted a solution that could help them coach and provide great feedback to enable reps to be better. They were also searching for an AI-driven solution that would help surface trends and other elements in calls. The outcome By using Gong to enhance their sales processes, TouchBistro gained a dramatic lift in their lead-to-opportunity conversion rate and improved their attainment rate for reps. Watch video Headquarters Toronto, ON Founded 2010 Employees 500+ Industry Restaurant Software TouchBistro is an iPad POS and integrated payments solution built for restaurant people, by restaurant people – with every feature designed to meet the unique needs and fast pace of the foodservice industry. Used in more than 100 countries, TouchBistro has powered over 25,000 restaurants worldwide. They were experiencing a “black box of selling” in which they didn’t have any clarity around their sales process — what was working or not, or what they could focus on to optimize messaging. Paul Snelson, TouchBistro’s VP of Sales, wanted to turn things around, and ultimately selected Gong for a “coaching-first approach.” After making the most out of several of Gong’s features, such as trackers, topics, and libraries, what really provided Paul with “next level insights for sales and sales managers” is Gong’s Deal Intelligence. “Deal Intelligence has been completely game-changing for us to be able to get the view of pipeline and activities,” he shares, and is proud to state that TouchBistro has seen “a dramatic lift in our lead to opportunity conversion rate” and “consistent improvement in our attainment rate for all the reps.” Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one How Gong Forecast is helping Tackle.io shave 40% off forecasting time Small Business Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Software Gainsight’s CEO uses Gong to better understand the true market Small Business Coaching Global Software ThoughtSpot Leaves Behind “The Telephone Game” Small Business Coaching North America Software

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Plate IQ shrinks ramp-up time from a year to a few weeks

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 07:21:52 +0000

Plate IQ shrinks ramp-up time from a year to a few weeks Strategic Initiatives Small Business North America Software The challenge Having a complex solution can be a challenge for rep onboarding because they need to be armed with extensive product and industry knowledge. Plate IQ wanted to improve the onboarding process to decrease ramp-up time for new hires in the sales team. The outcome By using Gong, ramp-up time decreased from 6-12 months to just a few weeks. Another unexpected bonus for Plate IQ was that by listening to Gong calls, they were able to uncover that customers wanted a particular feature that wasn’t currently available — which in turn transformed the direction of the product roadmap. Download PDF Headquarters Emeryville, CA Founded 2014 Employees 80+ Industry Restaurant Software Gong reduced the ramp-up time from 6-12 months to a few weeks. Greg Alpatov Director of Sales Plate IQ is restaurant Accounts Payable made easy. Its technology saves customers time and money by managing invoices, vendor payments, and cost reporting. From a year to a few weeks Plate IQ, by its own admission, sells a pretty complex solution. Their powerful technology is not something any account executive could pick up from day one and just comprehend entirely. There’s a lot of product and industry knowledge that needs to be learned and absorbed. In order to fully understand the product and successfully manage a pipeline, Plate IQ salespeople need to appreciate the infrastructure of where its platform lives in the marketplace. This complexity and need for deep product and industry know-how mean longer than average ramp-up time for new salespeople. More often than not, it takes even a very experienced, senior account executive a minimum of 6 months, yet often closer to a year, before they start performing at their optimum level. This six to twelve-month sales rep ramp time was pre-Gong. Everything changed for Plate IQ in the post-Gong world. That’s a game-changer. “I have two reps who are a month on the job (not 6 months, not a year, but a MONTH) and they are already closing mid-market deals … which is insane,” Greg (rightfully) boasted. An exponentially faster call review process The pre-Gong rep process went something like this: STEP ONE: Reps would make notes about competitor mentionsSTEP TWO: Sales managers would manually look at all of the call notesSTEP THREE: In some cases — if the call was recorded — they would listen to the entire call. As Greg shared, the process was “not quite optimal,” but it’s really all they knew. “We could not even fathom a technology like Gong actually existed.” But, it did — and, it does. Enter Gong. “I now have a greater reach. I don’t have to listen to an entire hour-long demo. With Gong, I just listen to the pieces that matter. Or, better yet, I can set up certain triggers for each rep, so I can determine what I need to hear and how they’re handling each call.” But it’s not just the time saved listening to the actual demo, says Greg. Pre-Gong, sales managers would spend a few hours reviewing the call, taking notes, and timestamping everything. Now, the process is 10-20 minutes all in. To recap: Hours and hours of (wasted) time is now 10-20 minutes of specific, relevant time. That’s a heckuva lot of time saved! And in sales, time = money. Not just for sales: Gong also helps product team When Plate IQ originally purchased Gong, it was to help with sales — specifically shorten rep ramp-up time and make them more efficient salespeople. An unforeseen benefit has been other team’s ability to leverage Gong — specifically, the product and engineering teams. Engineers can now quickly and efficiently search in Gong for a particular topic. In the past, they’d have to listen to and transcribe hundreds of calls in hopes they found the information they were looking for. “Thanks to Gong, we have completely pivoted our future product planning approach based on the information that we learned from the platform. We’ve changed our direction because of the rich Gong data we see each and every day.” Case in point: Plate IQ was digging through some Gong data and noticed “expense reporting” — a feature they did not have — was mentioned by buyers “726 times out of 900 calls” (over 80% of the time!). This was not an anomaly. This was not a one-off. This was the real deal. As a result of this rich Gong data, Plate IQ is now building an expense reporting product. “This product is literally going to be the future of our company,” said Greg. A whole lot of winning “Gong is hands down the most valuable piece of technology we’ve ever bought as a company,” says Greg. He continued, “It feels like we are a part of your company — almost like we’re a part of your success — every time Gong wins, it’s almost like we’re winning.” Well, Greg, we plan on doing a lot more winning in the years to come. And, like Plate IQ, we hope our success translates to our customer’s success. Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one How Zenefits increased their win rate using Gong Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Software Sprout Social creates a customer-first culture using Gong Enterprise Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Global Software Glasses on! How Gong enables Drip to “See what’s Going on” and close more deals Small Business Coaching Deal Execution North America

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Intelex enhances onboarding and collaboration to strengthen sales strategy

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 07:15:27 +0000

Intelex enhances onboarding and collaboration to strengthen sales strategy Coaching Deal Execution Small Business North America Software The challenge Intelex wanted to improve their employee retention and onboarding processes. The outcome Bringing in Gong made Intelex’s sales onboarding process a lot easier, and helped level up the skills of existing salespeople. It has also empowered employees to be more collaborative among the different internal teams. Watch video Headquarters Toronto, Canada Founded 1992 Employees 400+ Website www.intelex.com Industry EHS and Quality Software Simplification of the rep onboarding and coaching experience Intelex is the world’s leading environmental, health and safety, and quality management software solution. They brought Gong into the organization several years ago because they wanted to enhance their onboarding process in order to improve the retention of sales reps at the company. Jennifer Boudreau, the Director of Revenue Operations at Intelex shares,”We’ve now got a great collective of calls that people should listen to when they’re new — whether it be prospecting, whether it be qualifying negotiations or presenting.” As time passed, the company has actually expanded the scope of their usage, and are now using it for coaching as well. Whole picture view into the status of deals Additionally, Intelex has started exploring Gong’s Deal Intelligence feature, which have allowed them to get the whole picture of an account. “So now, when we go into an account, we can look at all of the recorded calls. We can look at all the emails in any CRM transaction or activity that’s taken place. People have the whole picture,” Jennifer says, “Now they can work on strategy with different members from different teams as well.” Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one ThoughtSpot Leaves Behind “The Telephone Game” Small Business Coaching North America Software Addepar leaders increase sales efficiency with Gong Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Europe/Middle East/Africa North America Software Unlocking reality: Cognism improves org-wide visibility using Gong Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Europe/Middle East/Africa Software

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How Zenefits increased their win rate using Gong

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 03:13:09 +0000

How Zenefits increased their win rate using Gong Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Small Business North America Software 20% increase in early stage conversion 3-5x higher win rates The challenge Zenefits wasn’t sure why their early stage conversions fell off after the demo stage. They needed better information to help them understand where to focus their efforts so they could improve reps’ early conversion and win rates. The outcome Gong’s customized deal boards helped the leadership team uncover troubled areas on a macro level, and its insights helped the sales team drill down on a micro level to support deals in play. This resulted in increases to win rates and early stage conversions, and a new methodology that has their revenue team running like clockwork. Read the PDF Headquarters San Francisco, CA Founded 2013 Company size 201-500 Industry Enterprise Software & Network Solutions Gong’s deal boards gave us visibility into so many opportunities. Aileen Cowles Director of Sales @ Zenefits Reveal layers of insights Zenefits is a cloud-based SaaS tool for HR teams, with a focus on payroll and insurance. Like most sales orgs, the company’s sales cycle is parsed out in stages. The sales team wanted to dig deeper into their data to uncover opportunities they might be missing at both a macro and a micro level. “We wanted to peel back the onion and find out where we could really improve,” says Director of Sales, Aileen Cowles. She and her team were most focused on the early stages of their sales cycle. The information they uncovered improved their early stage conversion rate and their win rate with just one tool. Macro: Customize dashboards so it’s never “too late” In sales, looking backwards can be educational, but it won’t help you with the deal you already lost. Cowles and her team needed a way to get visibility mid-deal so they could turn insights into action right away. “You’re doing a deal review or you’re at a forecasting meeting, and you end up talking about the woulda, shoulda, coulda,” she says. “It always just seems too late. One of our main areas of focus is finding early indicators and ways to really impact and influence a deal mid-flight.” They used Gong’s deal board to give senior leadership a macro-level view of their pipeline, which resulted in the decision to aim for better conversion rates. The data showed that, despite many opportunities available in stage two, prospects weren’t converting at a reasonable rate. Something was missing. Zenefits was able to tailor Gong’s deal board and deal insights, and focus exclusively on its unique team and company goals. Micro: Solve issues right down to the rep Once this core issue was uncovered using Gong’s deal board, Cowles was able to use deal insights to drill down and understand what impeded conversions. Focusing on one area at a time allowed her to highlight and solve problems as quickly as possible. “We found that having fewer areas of focus helped us align our planning and processes and keep them connected to our goals, even at the rep level,” says Cowles. One point of focus for Zenefits was contact numbers. “As we looked through these segments, we found that our win rates were higher when we engaged with more contacts.” Their win rates weren’t just a little bit higher, but three to five times higher. This knowledge changed everything and helps flip mid-deal question marks into turning points. “Gong serves as a warning tool. We’re able to understand the segment size of who we’re speaking with and how many contacts are involved in the deal,” says Cowles. “That’s how we were able to narrow it down to the micro level.” With this data, the team’s strategic conversations have become more organic. They’re able to ask important questions: How can we build this information into our process? Is every deal multithreaded? “Not only were we able to create opportunities, we could set reps up for success by asking how many people were involved in each deal,” says Cowles. “That was really eye-opening for us.” A holistic view: Use a common language to improve your team Using these tools — on top of their 3-5x higher win rates — Zenefits was also able to increase their early stage conversion by 20%. Having direct access to KPIs in Gong made tracking progress even easier. Using Gong across the company allowed Cowles and her colleagues to implement a standard methodology that made strategizing easier. “We’re now able to have a standard language and methodology across the board so we can work better together when people from different teams talk about deals and forecasting.” This shared knowledge and understanding also resulted in increased team selling, with execs jumping on calls and teammates supporting each other. “Team selling provides a better client experience and increases win rates,” says Cowles. This knowledge also carries over into forecast meetings and one-on-ones. Features like inline editing make a huge difference when teams share data up and down the ladder. “If you do it week over week, it becomes natural,” says Cowles. “My reps rave about it every single time.” Personalized insights provide an incredible level of connection across teams. They can turn “how can we improve” and “what are we missing” into “here are the proven steps to success”. Enabling everyone, from leadership to reps, to access the information they need to hit their targets is why Gong has become Cowles’s favorite tool in her arsenal. “Gong is the third tab I open each day after my email and calendar,” she says. “Two years ago, when I first started using Gong, I was excited to see what it could do. Now I move straight into getting the data and turning it into action.” Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one Gong’s Real Time Customer Feedback Drives Quotient’s Results Enterprise Coaching Strategic Initiatives North America Business Services Hear.com improves high volume sales call effectiveness with Gong Enterprise Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Global Hospitals & Physicians Clinics Learning and transforming: How Gong helps Udemy make critical revenue decisions Enterprise Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Global Education

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How Uberflip uses Gong to create winning outcomes and look to the future

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 03:01:10 +0000

How Uberflip uses Gong to create winning outcomes and look to the future Coaching Deal Execution Small Business North America Software 13% Increase in ACV 20% Increase in Win Rate The challenge Uberflip lacked momentum because they didn’t have data-driven insights on what was really working across the organization. That stopped them from raising their win rates and aligning their teams strategically. The outcome Gong made it possible for Uberflip to focus on the future, recognize risks before they happen, and share valuable insights across the organization so teams can plan appropriately to win more deals. The result? A 20% increase in win rate increase and a 13% increase in ACV. Read the PDF Headquarters Toronto, Canada Founded 2012 Company Size 150+ Industry Enterprise Software & Network Solutions When a rep and I spend one-on-one time talking about what’s already happened with the customer, that’s time when we’re not spending on strategizing a path to close. Ken Edwards Senior Director of Commercial Revenue Learn from reality, then face forward Business growth relies on a balance of critically reviewing what’s already happened then strategizing about what comes next. That’s the equilibrium Uberflip has struck, and they used Gong to help them do it. “There are only so many hours in a day and there’s a real opportunity cost to every minute,” says Ken Edwards, Uberflip’s Senior Director of Commercial Revenue. “We wanted to eliminate the broken telephone from our process. Misalignment between departments, peers, and managers creates silos, and halts collaboration where it’s needed most.” For everything from coaching, to deal execution, to strategic initiatives, Gong’s platform helps Uberflip zero in on future planning, resulting in a 20% increase in win rate increase and a 13% increase in ACV. Use your revenue intelligence crystal ball Forecasting was one of Uberflip’s challenges before Gong, but since leveraging Deal Boards, they’ve been able to surface insights that might otherwise have stayed in the dark. Ken and his team began dynamically separating their deals, giving them the ability to forecast the right number of close and no-close deals. In terms of pipeline health, Gong’s Deal Rollups allow Ken to look at the characteristics of deals — which ones are open, which might swing, and which are stale. This keeps his team’s data clean, allowing him to forecast more accurately and get ahead of potential forecast coverage risks. Drilling further down into deal health, Gong enables Ken and his team to see a deal’s momentum at a glance. Using the context view in Deal Boards, Ken can see how engaged his account execs are during each call, which he then uses to determine the health of deals. “In the contacts view on my Gong Deal Boards, I can go in and see where people are actually participating. That gives me a lot of insight into how often they participate in a deal and how engaged they are.” Furthermore, he can set Deal Warnings to alert him when there’s an incoming risk. “We took our closed deals over the past two years and looked at how long (on average) a closed deal is in each sales stage we have. We set Gong to flag anything that sits outside that average. That way, if there’s a deal in the same stage for too long, the platform fires off a warning so we can get it moving through our pipeline again in a predictable manner.” Stay ahead with Deal Insights In order to improve their win rate, Uberflip leans heavily on Deal Insights to put knowledge into action and get results faster. Deal Insights provide Ken and his team with a macro perspective. Gong’s automated intelligence surfaces major obstacles and makes them visible to the entire sales organization, so everyone can work toward positive outcomes. For example, historically, only 4% of Uberflip sales are single-threaded. Showing that stat to reps brought home just how important it is to get more people from their customer’s side involved in calls. “Seeing a risk ahead of time, understanding where it is, and strategizing on how to get ahead of it helps our win rate,” says Ken. “Sharing these insights visually with the reps really helps us rally around each one. It encourages the behavior we want.” Creating that kind of alignment on what actually works for your customers results in a stable approach and a team-wide growth mindset. Integrating Gong’s Trackers into Salesforce also highlights trends that Ken and his team might not otherwise notice in time. For example, after detecting a negative trend in win rates against a particular competitor, they set up a Tracker that was integrated with Salesforce. They were then able to use information gathered in customer conversations to guard against the competitor via marketing campaigns, messaging, content, and enablement. They turned the trend around. “Without that Gong insight, I don’t think we would have spent the necessary amount of time working to counter that specific competitor,” says Ken. Align teams with your desired future state When everyone is on the same page, they sell better as a team. With the right data at your fingertips, collaboration and coordination are a starting point and wins are the end state. Visibility across your organization also minimizes hand-off friction because everything is available to those involved in each deal: its context, its history, even the words used in customer conversations. Managers can easily spot and course correct for customers’ pain points, which also leads to more educated and focused coaching sessions. It also creates a culture of knowledge sharing that benefits the entire sales organization. When team members across the organization apply themselves with help from Gong, and hit the ground running, the result is an improved customer experience centred around the voice of the customer. That proved itself true for Uberflip, whose win rate exceeded their goal for the last three quarters, and whose most recent two quarters were two of the best ever for net retention. That’s the power of reality-based collaboration. “Gong is the insights engine that allows our staff to spend their time in the right areas, get ahead of problems, and bring in the right resources for customer engagements,” says Ken. “When we think about getting out ahead of risks and realizing opportunities for expansion, it’s an absolute game changer for us.” Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one TIBCO has Mastered the Art of Closing Huge Deals Faster, Thanks to Gong Enterprise Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Software ComplyAdvantage uses Gong to decrease ramp time by 50% Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Europe/Middle East/Africa Software Hello, new reality: How WalkMe uses Gong to add visibility around their deals Small Business Deal Execution North America Software

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How Stansberry Research finally got the info it needed (Hint: Gong)

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 02:51:34 +0000

How Stansberry Research finally got the info it needed (Hint: Gong) Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Enterprise North America Media & Internet The challenge Stansberry was swimming in information, but accessing the right data at the right moment could swing deals in their favor. They needed a platform to do the heavy lifting for them by highlighting opportunities and providing call reports they could use to solidify their deal strategies. The outcome With Gong data, Stansberry teams see what makes a successful call, recognize patterns in their interactions so they can adjust on the fly, and build tools that serve departments across the organization. Since adopting Gong, Stansberry’s success rates have skyrocketed. Watch the video Headquarters Baltimore, MD Founded 1999 Company size 51-200 Employees Industry Publishing The thirst for information from Gong is growing on a regular basis across every department that interacts with customers. Nicholas Giro Managing Director, Sales & Member Services @ Stansberry Research Know more, up your odds Stansberry Research stakes their investment recommendations on understanding data, so they know the value of reliable information better than most. And not just any information, but the right knowledge at the right time. When the organization started using Gong, an influx of analytics helped them make purpose-driven decisions around strategy, coaching, and deal execution. “What we can do with those Gong recordings across departments, across themes, across trackers, and across topics is mind blowing,” says Stansberry Managing Director, Sales & Member Services, Nicholas Giro. Coach with an advanced playbook Even with checklists in place, nothing helps sales reps improve more than having the facts of their calls laid out in front of them. Previously, Giro and his team used random samplings of calls to set a coaching plan, but found that simply reviewing positives and negatives in a few calls didn’t have the impact they wanted. Once they started using Gong, reps were able to track their own performance, eliminating the need for as many one-on-ones with managers. Teammates could also learn from each other’s successes through peer-to-peer and self-coaching. “This tool lets reps verify their own actions,” says Giro. “But more importantly, they can see who’s at the top of the leaderboard and dive into those calls to hear what they do differently.” The additional data also means that leaders can drill into their own calls to solve problems quickly and get campaigns back on track. In one instance, Giro focused on a sales rep who was at the bottom of the leaderboard despite good top-level metrics. He took a snapshot of the rep’s previous two weeks and compared the numbers to the rep’s performance in a similar past campaign. “I quickly showed them the difference in key markers, and the rep went from being offpace to beating his campaign numbers by two or three orders,” says Giro. Gong gave Giro the ability to point to specifics, like the fact that when the rep was under pressure, his talk ratio went from 50% to 80%. “All of that came from a five-minute review that set him back on track,” says Giro. “When we can do that in a quick period of time, we can change the trajectory of an entire campaign.” The more information that’s easily available, and the more digestible that information is, the faster it can be put into action. Turn data into wins In addition to providing retrospective data, Gong also provides information about deal executions in the moment. Using Gong’s automatic insights, the Stansberry team quickly and efficiently sorts through calls to find missing pieces that can help close a deal. Because sales is a moving target, there is no single path to success. That means the more your tech stack helps you adjust your approach with relevant information, the better. “We’re constantly thirsty for information,” says Giro. “We do everything analytically with a purpose to drive benefits back to the end user so their experience is better. That ultimately makes our customer experience better.” Deal insights highlight opportunities to maximize revenue, so every sales rep can become your best rep, and every deal is within reach. “When you layer the analytics pieces that are inside Gong, the trackers we set up and the topics, this platform levels the playing field,” says Giro. Build informed strategies for the future Perhaps the most important thing analytics gives you is a clear path forward. Marketwise Solutions’ VP of Engineering, David Kline, understands that the most helpful tools use the most accurate data. And where better to get data than directly from the source? “This is zero-party data. Customers give you information about themselves directly,” says Kline. “Gong is an invaluable source of customer data that I really can’t get anywhere else.” For Kline, using Gong’s recordings is akin to building an entire system he’d otherwise not have the time or resources to create. “There are a lot of really interesting technical problems that this platform solved for us,” he says. Giro agrees. The data they can now access has elevated his team’s predictive analytics, future sales models, and future re-engagement models. “We believe in getting smarter about how we approach deals by building models we can measure and enrich and extend over time,” he says. “Gong was incredibly attractive because it has so many use cases. It’s a home run having Gong running through the whole ecosystem.” Indeed, the entire Stansberry ecosystem is benefitting, from sales, to marketing, to copywriting. “We’re working on dashboards using the data in Gong, showing it in different ways to different departments, to demonstrate relevant impact. The thirst for information from Gong is growing on a regular basis across every department that interacts with customers,” says Giro. “When we put all these elements together, the sky’s the limit.” Back to All Stories Have questions or want a custom demo? We’re here to help! Click the button below and we’ll be in touch. Request demo Keep exploring stories like this one Business Financing Leader Funding Circle Credits Gong With More Successful Customer Interactions Enterprise Coaching Strategic Initiatives Global Business Financing Hello, new reality: How Gong helps Apptio keep their field sales team engaged Small Business Coaching Deal Execution North America Software How Tray.io’s RevOps team uses Gong to win business Enterprise Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Software

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