Business Services Archives - Gong

Gong for BDRs: How Aircall boosted qualified pipeline by 35% in EMEA

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 01:05:16 +0000

Gong for BDRs: How Aircall boosted qualified pipeline by 35% in EMEA Coaching Deal Execution Small Business Global Business Services 35% increase in qualified pipeline The challenge Aircall’s EMEA team was working in the dark. The team was operating off of reps’ and managers’ hypotheticals and role-play calls, not reality. They needed a way to cut through the opinions and get to the data. The outcome By implementing Gong into their UK&I office, Aircall was able to have immediate access to what was really happening in their calls and pipeline. With this new data backed knowledge, the EMEA team was able to improve their onboarding and coaching while positively impacting the rest of their org. Watch the video Headquarters New York, NY Founded 2014 Company Size 201-500 Industry Telecommunications Pre-Gong, nothing seemed clear. No analysis we did compared to actually being on the phone trying to get better. With Gong, everything is a real-world example and a more complete way of learning and improving. Jack Obertelli BDR Manager UK&I “A phone can (and should) do more than make calls.” That’s from Jack Obertelli of Aircall, a global, cloud-based call centre and phone system solution that integrates with almost any business tool. It interacts with CRM, help desk, and even productivity tools like Slack. As Aircall puts it, the phone can live in — and between — everything you do. By design, Aircall empowers every professional to have richer conversations, thanks to its integrations and ease of use. Jack credits Gong with helping him move from being a Business Development Rep (BDR) to his current role of BDR Manager UK&I. His first job out of university was in a BDR role. “It was very phone-intensive,” he said. “The training was very hands-on. There was no such thing as call transcripts. Call recordings? Not a chance. Lots of learning on the job.” When Jack joined Aircall, Gong was only used by the company’s US-based team, so Jack was still living in a sales world that was dominated by reps’ and managers’ hypotheticals and role-play calls, not reality. Everything changed for the team once Gong came to the UK&I office. “We knew about Gong and were excited to start using it to help our team. As soon as our office got its hands on Gong, we dove right in.” Led by their boss, Sean Hayes (Director of Business Development, EMEA) and supported by Jack’s colleague, Nura Al-Kital (Team Lead BDR, Northern Europe), the Aircall EMEA BDR team was all in. And the results speak for themselves: Since implementing Gong, Aircall has realised a 35% increase in qualified pipeline in EMEA. Aircall also uses Gong for coaching and onboarding, and to help guide its strategic initiatives. How Gong improves Aircall’s coaching and onboarding You know them as the two tenets of any thriving sales organisation. And when they’re executed effectively and efficiently (and backed by data), coaching and onboarding can take a sales team from good to off-the-charts. They save time, lower costs, and ultimately help close more deals faster. Gong for coaching Gong is the ultimate sales coaching platform, empowering teams to “clone their A-players” and transform the entire team into superstars. It’s sales coaching with rocket fuel. Sean Hayes, Aircall’s Director of Business Development, EMEA, loves that Gong just works. It’s now been built into Aircall’s workflow and process. Sean uses Gong in every one of his weekly 1:1 meetings. He’s found a ton of value in the patience metrics in particular. They put a focus on ”talk less and listen/pause/breathe more.” “Generally speaking,” says Sean, “sales reps overestimate their ability to be patient on the phone with buyers. And most BDRs would say they’re good at this skill.” Without Gong, Sean listens to calls and gives them a general rating like “good” or “room for improvement” on the BDRs’ patience skills. But that’s only a feeling. It’s not backed by data. If you have no means of measurement, you have no control. And “no control” isn’t exactly a stellar motto for an effective sales team! Gong gives BDRs and their managers the ability to track and report on call effectiveness, with features like patience scores. Sean had an early win with Gong, when he used it to show a BDR who was “not too keen on patience” that his impatience score (0.2) was tied to his close rates. With Gong’s data insights, this BDR moved his patience score up to 1.4 — a huge improvement. “Every time I go into Gong and see that he’s maintained his patience score,” shares Sean, “I smile. This would not have been possible without Gong.” Jack recalls his “Gong is amazing” moment while working as a BDR at Aircall. It came when he began reviewing recorded demos from top performers. Suddenly, he was able to learn from the best-of-the-best BDRs. “I began to truly understand what top reps were saying and how they were saying it. I gleaned best practices and learned which talk tracks moved deals through the pipeline.” Put another way, Jack began to take ownership of his own skills improvement in sales (self-coaching). He proactively sought out Gong recordings and listened to them like they were game tape, to learn from the top sales professionals. (Did it help propel him into a management role? No doubt.) Since moving into his new role, Jack listens to his reps’ Gong calls to uncovers critical interactions (the good and the not-so-good) that ultimately turn into best practices and coachable moments. “With Gong,” says Jack, “it’s just so easy to access and send a link to a sales rep.” Jack loves being able to comment on calls and rate each call using Gong’s Scorecards. Time-stamped comments that reps leave in the call recordings help Aircall managers cut through the noise and “go straight to what is relevant.” Today, trying to run a coaching session without Gong is, well … not so easy. The team just can’t go back to analysing deals without data. Comments provide them with a blueprint and set the agenda for every call review. Everyone on the team adds comments (praise and constructive criticism) to a pre-selected call. Ultimately, these comments prompt lessons that lift up the entire team. The BDRs love using Gong to kick-start manager-led coaching. They now send calls to Nura Al-Kital, their Team Lead, and ask for feedback at specific points in the call. Paired with Nura’s proactive efforts (like searching out best-practice calls to share with reps), the full spectrum of ‘Gong for Coaching’ is covered. “As our team has grown, I’ve relied heavily on the activity feed to track our reps’ performance — it’s super-easy.” Gong for onboarding The Gong for onboarding platform also means there’s no more call shadowing. Instead, Gong gives new hires a Call Library of curated recordings they can use to onboard faster. Before Aircall implemented Gong, teams relied heavily on a “bank of recorded calls.” While this was more efficient than trying to find time on a rep’s calendar to shadow calls (and hoping for ones they could learn from), it wasn’t as powerful as what Gong offers. With Gong, new hires have curated call recordings where the most relevant sections are tagged with comments. They provide best practices, teachable moments, and the ability to see how both parties respond during a video conference call. This “lens of reality,” as Aircall refers to it, is helpful in understanding what success sounds (and looks) like. The team loves having the ability to regularly update and refresh the Call Library as their market (and messaging) changes and evolves. Nura says Gong helps “normalise the experience” of cold calling. “Cold calling is hard! Everyone makes mistakes. Most calls are rejections — more than 80%! I couldn’t imagine what it would be like training someone without having Gong’s call recordings. I feel like that would be a different world.” Nura loves pulling up a specific Gong call for each part of the onboarding training. Have BDRs who need to learn how to address pricing? Pick some calls in the Gong Call Library. How about objection handling? Gong has it covered. Competitors? Gong. But there’s so much more on offer than coaching and onboarding though. Gong helps Aircall make strategic business decisions Gong has also boosted Aircall’s ability to understand pricing and competitive intelligence. Jack credits Gong with helping Aircall focus more on targeted, strategic calls. “With Gong, we can now quantify the value of every call. It’s no longer ‘spray and pray.’ We can spend more time on each call because we know what works.” Aircall also uses Gong to distill the subtle distinctions between markets — especially international ones. Nura runs a team that is primarily German-speaking. Having calls transcribed in German is incredibly important to the team, and Gong is the only tool her team uses that has this translation capability. Gong means her team can filter German-speaking calls and tweak messaging according to whichever details are the most relevant. Given that certain Aircall features are more popular in particular parts of the world, Gong’s ability to filter by region helps focus her team on winnable deals. And as Sean shared, “the numbers speak for themselves.” After using Gong across northern Europe in the first quarter of 2021, Aircall broke records for the amount of qualified pipeline delivered by the business development function, with a 35% increase! “Working with Gong has made it a lot easier for me to set quantitative benchmarks for what good looks like. If you can’t measure it, you can’t control it. With Gong, we can now measure everything that matters.” Gong’s future at Aircall Gong has made raving fans of the entire Aircall BDR team — both newbies and more experienced reps. “Gong is fully embedded in our workflow,” shares Sean. “It’s so easy to add Gong calls to the Call Library so new BDRs can review them, but we see adoption at all experience levels. As soon as the more tenured BDRs realised the benefits of Gong, they were sold.” Sean has noticed that his team now engages in more “healthy competition,” like who has the longest story told by a customer, for example. (It’s a good thing! It means your reps are drawing intel out of their customers.) And who doesn’t want to manage a team that’s fully engaged and wins more often? It’s clear that Gong has found a home at Aircall; it’s now built right into the culture. And why not? The numbers continue to defy expectations. 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 Sky’s the limit: How corporate traveler uses Gong to refine their customer journey Enterprise Strategic Initiatives Global Hospitality How Gong Forecast is helping Tackle.io shave 40% off forecasting time Small Business Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Software How Gong Helped Zillow Thrive During a Global Pandemic Enterprise Coaching Strategic Initiatives North America Real Estate

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ServiceTitan Gains Higher Close Rates with Gong for Deals

Hannah Hapin — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 20:44:38 +0000

ServiceTitan Gains Higher Close Rates with Gong for Deals Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Enterprise North America Business Services The challenge ServiceTitan’s priorities were to try to win as much new business as possible and develop the members of their team to make sure that they are as good as they can be in their function. The outcome By using Gong’s Deal Intelligence capabilities and scorecards, ServiceTitan was able to improve their new reps’ time to productivity and improve the sales team’s close rates. Watch video Headquarters Glendale, CA Founded 2008 Employees ~1000 Industry Software Platform for Contractors ServiceTitan is the world’s leading all-in-one software for commercial and residential HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and other field service businesses. With Gong brought in as their source of truth for their sales team, ServiceTitan was able to: Enhance coaching between managers and reps Gain intelligence and visibility into the deal lifecycle Improve messaging that maps solutions to pain points through scorecards “I didn’t realize there were so many ways to investigate the way you hold a sales call. I mean it’s kind of a thing: You don’t know what you don’t know,” Billy Stein, the Sales Strategy and Operations Manager at ServiceTitan admits, “I’m constantly finding out that there’s something new that is beneficial to us that we didn’t even know about.” “And Gong is so many tools that are built in to help us take that next step.” 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 Stansberry Research finally got the info it needed (Hint: Gong) Enterprise Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Media & Internet BlueCat Empowers Their Field Team to Understand Their Pipeline Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives North America Business Services Intelex enhances onboarding and collaboration to strengthen sales strategy Small Business Coaching Deal Execution North America Software

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Research, recommendations, and reality: How Gong helped Mintel increase win rates by 34%

Hannah Hapin — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 20:00:17 +0000

Research, recommendations, and reality: How Gong helped Mintel increase win rates by 34% Coaching Deal Execution Enterprise Europe/Middle East/Africa Business Services 34% Increase in win rate The challenge Mintel wanted to further improve their efficiency. With a large portfolio of more than 6,000 clients worldwide, it was hard to detect patterns in calls, which delayed improvements to customer service processes. Mintel needed a single tool that could provide guidance based on data from feedback in client calls. The outcome Since adopting Gong, Mintel has increased its win rates by 34%. They’ve done that by creating a culture of coaching that enables employees to track their own progress and share client feedback with the colleagues who need to hear it most. Gong easily identifies areas for improvement so teams at Mintel can adopt policies that eliminate gaps in client service. The company’s customer care is smoother than ever, which has improved Mintel’s efficiency and its win rates. Read PDF Headquarters London, UK Founded 1972 Company Size 1000-5000 Industry Advertising and Marketing We’ve seen a dramatic increase in our win rates. They’re up by 34% since we brought Gong on board. Josh Morgan Head of Sales Enablement Surface your data to float above the competition As a global leader in market research, Mintel has over 50 years of experience in understanding what consumers want and why. Not surprisingly, its go-to-market teams love data. It’s how they know they’re on the right track when it comes to customer service. Previously, with over 6,000 global clients, data patterns weren’t always easy to spot in calls. That’s why Mintel’s sales and client success teams wanted a more efficient and effective way to deliver customer care based on feedback. “We bring value to our clients, and we do that by tapping into our tools,” says Patricia Avila, Mintel’s Director of Client Success, Mid-Market CPG and Beauty. Her team brought Gong on board to surface numbers they knew would help them succeed by improving their internal and client-facing processes. Create a coaching culture that works If you want to improve your customer experience, start by looking inward. “We’ve now created a coaching culture, and that’s so important to us,” says Josh Morgan, Head of Sales Enablement. Once they brought Gong onboard, Mintel’s teams saw numerous ways to improve their effectiveness with customers. Because Mintel works with clients across many industries, it often rolls out new initiatives. Getting internal teams up to speed can eat away at valuable time, which results in lost or stalled deals. Being able to review calls using Gong means closing the knowledge gap sooner. That’s especially important for enterprise teams that use peer-to-peer examples. “When new initiatives come out, we use our recorded calls to highlight the best-in-class examples,” says Josh. Being able to easily share top-notch recorded calls also made manager-to-rep coaching more effective, especially for those working remotely. “With Gong, they just tag me and I can see exactly what’s happening. It’s almost like being a fly on the wall of calls,” says Patricia. This has been important for new hires as well as more seasoned reps. Not being able to offer in-person feedback or praise can make onboarding difficult. The right tools have shown Mintel’s reps that even when you’re not sharing physical space, support is available. “When they share things in Gong, they can either send me calls where they used too many filler words, or things they’re proud of,” says Patricia. “I love being able to support my team from afar and really feel like I’m with them. I love watching them grow.” Improve your efficiency, improve your win rate Normalizing a culture of continuous feedback did more than streamline coaching for the Mintel team. It also revealed trends that had held the sales team back. Since bringing Gong on board, offering coaching that’s based on real numbers has helped Mintel reach an impressive 34% increase in their win rate. “Gong helped us see a trend that was happening across Mintel. It turns out we didn’t multi-thread enough,” says Josh. (That means their teams didn’t connect with more than one contact at the buyer’s company.) Once they started multi-threading, as recommended by Gong, their teams sold more, faster. It turned out that four contacts is the magic number for multi-threading at Mintel. Since discovering that pattern, there’s a new multi-threading policy in place that’s gotten impressive results. Mintel also conducts pipeline reviews using Gong’s Deal Boards. That enables sales leaders to quickly scan stats and prioritize which deals need help now, based on how sales calls are going. “With these pipeline reviews, we can quickly pull up stats on how much velocity is in the deal and where the deal stands, rather than trawling through lots of opportunities on Salesforce,” says Josh. It’s a highly efficient way to create coaching plans that work. That kind of focus is also visible in the advice Gong regularly and automatically provides to Mintel’s teams. “If deals lag for 15 days or more, or if they’re not multi-threaded, Gong lets us know. That’s helped speed up the work we do,” says Josh. “Efficiency is a really crucial part of how Gong makes us better.” Use the right tools to align everyone On the client success side, communication remains a top priority. Mintel is particularly interested in being able to go back and confirm important pieces of information that came to light during customer calls. Taking notes during conversations with clients while actively listening is tough, particularly in work-from-home environments. “There are so many times when we drill down into our notebooks, and we’ve missed one second of something fantastic a client said,” says Patricia. “The good news is that we now use Gong on every client call.” Because of that, CSMs and their leaders can review a recording any time after a call and hear exactly what the client said. “Gong allows our team to listen in after the fact so we can provide the proper support based on the conversation.” Because call snippets are easily shareable, Mintel can even send parts of a recorded call with a client to confirm their agreement on any project. “There’s no room for errors or miscommunication, and if there’s any doubt on our end, we can quickly ensure that we’re 100% aligned,” says Patricia. “It’s made the work-from-home environment so much easier.” Always look to your metrics Despite having employees scattered around the globe, improving productivity and customer experiences is straightforward these days. Mintel uses trackable metrics that mean the same thing to everyone involved. “We love numbers. They allow us to see whether we’re hitting our marks,” says Patricia. Because those numbers are available at the rep, manager, and executive level, there’s an equal playing field, as everyone has access to the same data. It helps keep everyone on the same page, particularly when it comes to the reasons for launching internal initiatives. Plus, reps can engage in self-coaching in addition to the coaching they receive from their managers. “Instead of me always saying, ‘You could do this better,’ Gong allows them to see that on their own,” says Patricia. “They can see stats on how patient they are, or whether they’re really listening to their client or leading the conversation too often.” Those clear statistics are invaluable when it comes to improving customer calls. If a rep has a high talk ratio, it’s a clear indicator that they need to listen more. If there’s a pattern of poor talk ratios, managers know that further coaching is needed, and they know exactly which reps need it. As a tool, Gong has influenced the Mintel team across the board. From helping them adopt a coaching culture, to drastically improving their win rates, and enabling a more seamless distributed work experience, Gong provides critical data points. “It’s a tool that makes my life easier; one that keeps my team excited and motivated,” says Patricia. Josh says that future plans for Gong include using key-word trackers to keep an eye on competitor mentions during conversations, as well as building a sales framework within Gong. “We’re really excited about what’s happened, and even more so about what’s to come!” 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 Shortening the time to success for new sales reps Small Business Coaching North America Media & Internet simPRO Empowers Hybrid Sales and a Culture of Accountability in a Global Workforce Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Asia-Pacific Software How Gong empowers Clearbit to be more proactive around customer needs Small Business Coaching Deal Execution North America Software

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Gong’s Real Time Customer Feedback Drives Quotient’s Results

Hannah Hapin — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 00:23:59 +0000

Gong’s Real Time Customer Feedback Drives Quotient’s Results Coaching Strategic Initiatives Enterprise North America Business Services The challenge Quotient Technology needed a way to hear the unfiltered voice of its customers and anticipate their needs, especially in an ever-shifting market. The outcome With Gong’s platform, Quotient was able to better understand its customers and in turn drive more visibility regarding revenue strategy and organizational decision-making. Watch recording Headquarters Salt Lake City, UT Founded 1998 Company Size 1000+ Industry Technology, Information and Media With Gong, even in unprecedented times, we can connect customer insights to drive internal change, and grow results. Jess Shuman RVP of Household Sales In order to deliver the best outcomes for your customers, you need the most authentic, accurate understanding of their sentiment all along the way. Giving people what they want means being able to point your services in the right direction from the start, not just constantly course-correcting after the fact. That’s one of the main reasons Quotient Technology uses Gong. Quotient is a leading digital promotions and media technology company, creating cohesive omnichannel brand-building and sales-driving opportunities. Jess Shuman is Quotient’s RVP of Household Sales, and she’s a big believer in Gong’s power. “As we navigate business complexities, we know the context of words and situational perspectives is challenging,” she says. “If you’re not hearing words directly and in real-time, how do you know you’re maximizing strategy?” Finding true north when it comes to your business can make all the difference in delivering the best possible product or service. “Gong is transformative in enabling objectives and growth across industries,” says Shuman. “Gong is your compass.” Here’s how Quotient uses Gong to drive visibility regarding revenue strategy and organizational decision-making. Focus on the customer first Wanting to become your customer’s most trusted partner takes more than coaching—it takes a kind of obsession. For Shuman and her team, that obsession with customer stories, paired with deep listening, turned out to be the key to driving that trust. “To me, the power of Gong is ‘what were they saying to us just two hours ago?’,” says Shuman. When a team is focused on making knowledgeable connections, access to real-time feedback turns information into insights. To that end, Shuman loves features like Gong’s Points of Interest, where users can look at key objections being received from customers. “Can we, as a team, translate these customer stories into why this matters?” asks Shuman. “This creates more of a CDP-type platform with those unified customer insights.” When you have enough insights that your CRM functions more like a CDP, you can set your compass on longer-term relationships, and your team can more easily align insights with company objectives. And Gong allows Shuman and her team to see if the insights they uncover are being integrated, and how their customers are reacting in an ever-shifting market. “I really use Gong almost like I use Google search,” says Shuman. “I’ll search the term, then see what percentage of calls it’s being used in. And then I think, is there a certain client or something product-specific where I truly want to understand how those insights are being incorporated, and how our customers are reacting?” Shuman uses that Points of Interest feature to validate her strategic choices and ensure that reps are always integrating those new insights into their sales calls. “Gamify your customer earning calls and test for understanding with every function that supports their business,” says Shuman. Connect those customer insights across the organization For sellers who want to drive multiple partner success, Shuman found the most critical element is understanding and connecting customer stories. For some departments—like customer support—that comes more naturally. But every team from senior leadership, to product, to deal desk can benefit from the very real impact these customer insights can have on the larger organization. This is where that clear, real-time context and shared vocabulary come in handy. “Is your team able to articulate the ROI implications of your solution? And are we navigating objections or challenges?” asks Shuman. This is what she calls the “Yeah, but.” Being able to track those moments in a sales call and respond with a message built on the back of customer stories gets your intentions across clearly. Having a platform that helps make these connections evident makes onboarding new hires all the more seamless. There’s a firehose of information when you first get started, and longer ramp times lead to fewer effective customer conversations. “Think about the power of equipping a new hire with real-time customer insights into challenges and opportunities,” says Shuman. “I’ve seen it time and time again leveraging Gong with our new hires. It will accelerate their ramp time. And even more importantly than that, they don’t have that exchange of having to ask customers questions that they’ve already addressed.” Similarly, for tenured employees, customer strategy is integral to keeping up with market trends. When you begin to see declines in certain areas of business, it’s time to challenge thinking. And having data to back up those challenges is motivational. Being able to hear verbatim what’s going through a customer’s mind in a dynamic way has the power to set your business on the right course. “I think sometimes we don’t realize that we can take your customer stories and make true internal decisions based on client growth objectives.” Adopt an agility mindset Staying on top of constantly changing markets, with customers who are more discriminating with their budgets than ever, requires an agile mindset. The way things always worked doesn’t cut it, and agility-focused performance teams excel most often at strategy- and people-related practices. “I always use Gong as a pure coaching platform first for giving folks feedback,” says Shuman. “But I also love to think about how it can help drive company strategy and of course, drive results.” Some of Shuman’s tips for leveraging Gong in order to drive those results are: Use economic pulse trackers: Search specific terms and determine what percentage of the time it comes up in conversation and how you can correlate that with outcome Share best practices in the folders: Learning from real successes and improvements helps keep your team on top of trends and the latest techniques Measure effective navigation using the active listening tracker: When you hear “Am I understanding that correctly?” in a call, you know your team is making connections and deeply understanding the customer. Create an execution plan for incremental improvement: When you only set big and bold KPIs you don’t always see the results. Look for incremental improvement and you’ll see movement immediately. By listening, connecting customer stories to our entire organization, and with an agile mindset, we all will navigate these choppy waters and grow revenue during times of instability. And that I am very very confident in using Gong. Jess Shuman | RVP of Household Sales For Quotient, understanding customer stories through building trust and deep listening, connecting those insights to internal strategy, and remaining agile based on the knowledge earned have driven results. Shuman has seen a revenue increase in one of her key growth focus areas, and she’s projecting more great results to come. “Use Gong to connect these insights back and find ways to make incremental changes within that coaching plan for your sellers,” says Shuman. “By doing that we can connect customer stories, drive internal change, and grow results.” 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 Research, recommendations, and reality: How Gong helped Mintel increase win rates by 34% Enterprise Coaching Deal Execution Europe/Middle East/Africa Business Services How Auvik created Its a-team with Gong Small Business Coaching Deal Execution North America Software How Gong Became Diligent’s MVP by Increasing Close Rates by 7.4% Enterprise Coaching Strategic Initiatives Europe/Middle East/Africa North America Software

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Gong for CS? Appen wants it. Loves it. Needs it.

Hannah Hapin — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 18:41:36 +0000

Gong for CS? Appen wants it. Loves it. Needs it. Coaching Deal Execution Small Business Asia-Pacific North America Business Services 4 month reduction of time to onboard a new CSM The challenge Appen’s Customer Success team was looking for a more efficient way to manage their communication with customers. The outcome Enabling Gong has not only allowed the CS Team at Appen to easily access all calls and emails for the entire lifecycle of an account, but has also reduced customer churn. Download the PDF Headquarters Chatswood, AU Founded 1996 Employees 800+ Industry Artificial Intelligence What I noticed, especially from the newer CSMs, was that my time to onboard began to significantly decrease. Our onboarding time was shrinking from six months to five months to four months. Ultimately today, I’m able to onboard a brand new CSM within just over two months down from six months pre-Gong. Vaishali Reed Director of Global Customer Success & Programs Operations “I saw Gong and I loved it immediately.” That’s what Vaishali “Shali” Reed said when we asked her to share her reaction to hearing the word, “Gong.” Shali is the Director of Global Customer Success & Programs Operations at Appen, a publicly-traded company that provides data used for the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence products. The Appen platform collects and labels images, text, speech, audio, video, and other data used to build and continuously improve the world’s most innovative artificial intelligence systems. They are helping create the technology of the future — working on a wide ranging span of projects from autonomous vehicles, chatbots, to ground-breaking robotics. Sounds complicated? It is. Put simply, they give companies the confidence to deploy world-class AI by providing intelligent solutions for all their data-labeling needs. And Shali’s job at Appen covers a lot of ground. She manages a team of customer success managers (CSMs) across SMB, mid-market, enterprise, and strategic accounts as well as a team who run Programs Operations. Her day-to-day is focused on building strategic processes and workflows to facilitate existing user onboarding, identify and implement CSM coaching tools (including Gong — of course!) and optimize Gainsight, Salesforce, and the entire tech stack at Appen. And if that’s not keeping Shali busy enough, she also develops the new hire onboarding and promotion pathways. Her team focuses mostly on adoption and utilization. “We’re the platform experts that onboard users. We ensure users have all of the knowledge they need to be able to launch jobs on the Appen data labeling platform.” Prior to Gong, Shali often engaged in the “fun” game of Telephone. And by fun, we really mean frustrating, inefficient, and often a huge waste of time and effort. Telephone game example: Manager: “How did your customer call go?” CSM: “Great. Here are my four most important takeaways.” “But what if the CSM leaves out that fifth point — and it turns out to be invaluable feedback?” inquires Shali. “There was no way to go back and validate what was actually said in the call.” The “game” ended up being a huge pain point for the CSM team. Gong, the “super-smart, intelligent tool,” changed everything for Shali. “Not only does Gong help me understand what our CSMs are doing but it also eliminates objectivity in the telephone game.” With Gong, Appen can “see the full story, not just the four points the CSM thought were most important.” THE GONG ONBOARDING “TIPPING POINT” 6+ months. That’s how long it took Shali to onboard a new CSM in a LBG (“Life Before Gong”) world. “The first three months for a new CSM were reserved for just learning about AI, learning about data labeling, learning about machine learning, and really getting up to speed with the industry,” said Shali. “The next three months were spent learning the different use cases on the platform.” “The onboarding process was completely inefficient.” And painfully long. A new CSM was not able to ramp up for six full months. Two full quarters. It was impossible for Shali to measure the “ROI” of a new hire. And, even if she could come up a number, the investment in time, effort, resources, and money was already a sunk cost. One of the first things Shali did after deploying Gong was to build the customer success library. She began creating playlists and critical areas to help with the onboarding process. According to Shali, the “Gong Tipping Point” for Appen was about six months after the CS library was up and running. Gong forever changed — and improved — the CSM onboarding program. This fact almost had Shali speechless. “Amazing,” she said. “I can have a fully productive CSM managing a full book of business within their first quarter. That’s unheard of for most really technical companies with a complex platform and product.” FOUR KEY ADVANTAGES GONG OFFERS CUSTOMER SUCCESS TEAMS Gong offers Customer Success leaders like Shali several key advantages: Shared Memory: All calls and emails for the entire lifecycle of the account are recorded and easily searchable. Reduced Churn: Gong’s insights help teams uncover the lead indicators of customer churn — quickly and efficiently get alerted on critical renewals for competitive and market-risk accounts. Drive Upsell Opportunity & Growth: Easily monitor leading indicators of customer growth Voice of Customer: Share the true voice of the customer with the product, product marketing, customer education, and operations teams. Appen is currently taking advantage of all four of the above. 1. Shared Memory Shali’s weekly one-on-one meetings prior to implementing Gong often consisted of her team voicing frustration and confusion. It would not be uncommon for her to hear a team member say, “I’m doing so many things and I don’t know where to focus. I’m trying to take notes via notepad on my laptop. I have a physical notepad (with a piece of paper and pen) as well. I’m trying to take notes — I really am — but I know I’m missing a lot of critical details or discovery questions I could be asking customers.” “Now that Gong is recording all of those calls,” said Shali, “we are able to not only do all of our prep work ahead of time in terms of discovery, but we’re also able to really get on the conversation and truly listen to the customer.” “It’s amazing. CSMs are no longer listening to talk; they are actually listening to LISTEN.” Also pre-Gong, CSMs approached calls with their agenda — a list of questions they “had to get through.” It mattered less what the customer was saying and more that they needed to ask their key questions and capture their answers. That’s not listening to learn. That’s not listening to understand. It’s simply listening so you can talk (again). With Gong’s “infinite memory,” a CSM steps into a call with a rough agenda and asks the customer to let them know where they want to spend a little bit more or less time on various action items. CSMs can now “peel the onion back” where it’s most needed. “Gong has helped Appen take the subjectivity out of conversations,” said Shali. Now, when a CSM asks a manager to listen to a call they think had some risk, an experienced manager can go into the call and pinpoint exactly what the customer said and when. Talk about a coachable moment! Not everyone comprehends the same word or phrase in the same fashion. Tone matters. Context matters. Gong eliminates potential confusion and ambiguity. Shali: “As somebody who has been in a customer success role for 10+ years, I can read between the lines better than my associate CSMs, who are often fresh out of college.” Again, Gong serves up incredible teachable moments. 2. Reduced Churn Today, thanks to Gong, Shali can check on the health of a customer relationship proactively. From a renewal perspective, she can see all communications nested under one account, which helps her sniff out if there are any signs of an account churning, and take appropriate actions to prevent it. “If I don’t see any activity on that opportunity for 45 days and my CSM is telling me there’s no risk associated with that renewal, well, I’m kinda looking at them sideways.” Enter Gong: “Let’s review the data!” Shali says that Gong allows her to hold her team accountable vs. just taking them at their word. 3. Drive Upsell Opportunity and Growth No doubt about it: acquiring new customers is a challenge. That’s why tapping into your existing customer base for expansion is crucial for success. A wise company tracks and makes the most of these opportunities to grow within a single customer account. After all, your existing customers know and trust your product and your sales team. Appen is ahead of the pack. Shali and her team began sharing CSM calls with the Sales team: “Listen to this Gong snippet. It sounds like a great expansion opportunity” or “This snippet suggests a new team that’s potentially interested.” With the CSMs and sales teams working together, they are able to maximize an account’s value. 4. Voice of customer Today, Appen is at the point where different teams are involved with Gong — and the entire ecosystem of Gong users in the company benefit from the customer insights that can be gathered from the product. CSMs are usually the closest people to a customer after the ink on a contract has dried. They are the partners that make or break the bulk of the customer’s journey. Through countless conversations, they are privy to tons of feedback, requests, and use cases that many other parts of an organization are hungry for. But with Gong, the other teams at Appen are not as dependent on Shali’s CSMs to interpret a customer’s reality for a particular account. They can listen to the calls themselves, and focus on what’s important to them. Gong helps share the true voice of the customer with product, product marketing, customer education, and operations teams. They are empowered to review and listen to entire calls (or pull relevant snippets). And if they need to have a follow-up — more in-depth conversation — it’s easy! Shali is excited to continue evangelizing the platform. She is thrilled to see how other teams at Appen will leverage the power of Gong. When we asked Shali if Gong was a “nice to have” tool, she emphatically replied, “NO!” followed by, “Gong is NEED TO HAVE.” We are happy you feel that way, Shali. 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 simPRO Empowers Hybrid Sales and a Culture of Accountability in a Global Workforce Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Asia-Pacific Software Sky’s the limit: How corporate traveler uses Gong to refine their customer journey Enterprise Strategic Initiatives Global Hospitality How Gong Became Diligent’s MVP by Increasing Close Rates by 7.4% Enterprise Coaching Strategic Initiatives Europe/Middle East/Africa North America Software

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BlueCat Empowers Their Field Team to Understand Their Pipeline

Hannah Hapin — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 03:02:30 +0000

BlueCat Empowers Their Field Team to Understand Their Pipeline Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Small Business North America Business Services The challenge BlueCat was experiencing challenges around pipeline management — not understanding why forecasts weren’t accurate. The outcome Using Gong has helped BlueCat understand what the sentiment is with the customer, and whether or not engagement is going up or down. Most importantly, it helps them determine whether they have the right people involved in a deal to ensure success. Watch video Headquarters Toronto, ON Founded 2001 Employees 400+ Industry Adaptive DNS Gong gives us direct visibility into the why. Jason van Ravenswaay Head Of Global Sales Operations BlueCat is the Adaptive DNS company. Their mission is to help the world’s largest organizations thrive on network complexity, from the edge to the core. To do this, BlueCat re-imagined DNS. The result – Adaptive DNS – is a dynamic, open, secure, scalable, and automated resource that supports the most challenging digital transformation initiatives, like adoption of hybrid cloud and rapid application development. Prior to Gong, the challenges that BlueCat was experiencing were really around pipeline management. They had inconsistent results in different regions and really, we didn’t understand the “why.” By using Gong, they’ve improved coaching, gotten visibility into customer engagement, and have easy access to product feedback. Jason van Ravenswaay, the ‎Head Of Global Sales Operations at ‎BlueCat shares, “I think I’m most proud of the fact that we’ve increased communication across departments. We had a sales org that was going and doing what they were supposed to do. We had a product organization that was going and developing what they thought customers want. Gong has really allowed us to understand the value that customers see in our product and where our product could potentially go in the future.” 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 Auvik created Its a-team with Gong Small Business Coaching Deal Execution North America Software simPRO Empowers Hybrid Sales and a Culture of Accountability in a Global Workforce Small Business Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Asia-Pacific Software Plate IQ shrinks ramp-up time from a year to a few weeks Small Business Strategic Initiatives North America Software

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Ascending the peak: How Gong helped new hires at Iron Mountain hit their ramp targets and align revenue teams

Hannah Hapin — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 02:38:45 +0000

Ascending the peak: How Gong helped new hires at Iron Mountain hit their ramp targets and align revenue teams Coaching Deal Execution Strategic Initiatives Enterprise North America Business Services 148% improvement in metric achievement 3 mths reduction in ramp time The challenge Iron Mountain needed to adjust to a fully remote work environment, while properly onboarding new reps and keeping teams aligned and thriving. They also wanted to understand what was happening in sales calls, and more importantly, which actions to take based on their conversational data. The outcome Using Gong, Iron Mountain coached and developed their people, despite most of their teams working from home. An impressive 60% of Iron Mountain’s new reps now hit their two main metrics (double club) within their first five months, versus only 9% of reps pre-Gong, a 148% improvement. They also shaved off 3 months of time for new reps to hit their first metric. Watch video Headquarters Boston, MA Founded 1951 Company size 24,000+ Industry Enterprise information management It’s become an all-too-familiar story: A large organization with a long history of doing business in person is suddenly — and without warning — forced to pivot to an entirely work-from-home, remote company. Iron Mountain, a Boston-based enterprise information management firm, faced the situation like a champ. Like so many others, they didn’t even have time to plan, they just had to move forward. Christine Canfield, their Vice President, SMB, Inside Sales, faced several critical questions initially: How do we manage people remotely? How do we onboard new team members? How do we coach our staff with limited-to-no visibility? “We really needed to evolve the organization… and quickly,” said Christine. Iron Mountain had a basic call review process in place. Christine shared, “there was no way of knowing which calls were ‘good’ and which were ‘not good.’ We didn’t really know which conversational elements were more likely to lead to a win.” Previously, Christine would “walk the floor to listen and provide real-time feedback.” It presented a considerable challenge for the sales team: Forecasting, pipeline management, and coaching were all somewhat ad hoc and unvetted. Gong provided Iron Mountain with the visibility and call insights it was missing. “Gong was what we needed to take things to the next level and really grow and evolve with our customers in a rapidly changing environment,” shared Christine. The payoff is clearly visible in their results. Since implementing Gong, 60% of Iron Mountain’s new reps hit their two main metrics faster a 148% improvement that translates into more sales, sooner. In addition, new hires were able to onboard faster, reducing the time to ramp by 3-months. The Gong-Iron Mountain partnership was born out of an urgent need, and grew quickly thanks to near-immediate results. How the Gong-Iron Mountain relationship began (and quickly grew) Maria McNamara is the Director of Inside Sales at Iron Mountain. When she first joined the team, she asked her personal network for advice on coaching her team effectively. But Maria wanted to understand more than just the “art” of selling. She wanted to learn about the science sides of sales… the data, the insights. Eventually, Maria also needed to replicate the in-office experience as much as possible with a team that was 100% remote. [SPOILER ALERT: Gong provided her with all the science-focused, reality-based data she needed.] “Everyone in my network talked about Gong,” said Maria. And it didn’t take long for Maria to become a “Gong fangirl,” as she put it. Before implementing Gong, Iron Mountain’s new reps participated in “physical ride-alongs,” sitting beside a seasoned rep, headphones on. In a working-from-home world, this wasn’t possible. Additionally, trying to find the right call to listen to had always been a hit or miss exercise. As a result, Maria and her team couldn’t target specific behaviors, and that was something she wanted to correct. With Gong’s Call Library, new reps now access the calls they need to hear — the “best-in-show” calls they should emulate across the sales process. They can also listen to calls that match their speaking style. This gives them an excellent opportunity to engage with more skilled sellers. “Hey, I just listened to your call. Loved it! Super helpful. Can you help me understand how you… ?” From Maria’s perspective, Gong’s ‘trackers’ feature empowers her and other managers to hone in on specific types of calls (discovery, pricing conversations, etc.) to ensure that every rep implements the recommended coaching. It sounds amazing. But adoption at Iron Mountain wasn’t quite smooth sailing from day one. From skeptics to believers New reps were excited that the organization was investing in their development, and those who had used Gong before were all in. Still, the more seasoned reps were… skeptical. The tides turned quickly as the vets learned that Gong helped them improve their skills and recognize when good things happened. The numbers spoke for themselves, and once reps saw those positive metrics (i.e., sales increasing), they got fired up about Gong. Specifically, the reps loved three things: They didn’t need to take notes. They weren’t concerned about missing something important. They could focus on the conversation and active listening. Early wins helped solidify Gong as the must-have solution for the sales team. New sales reps began hitting their quota during ramp phase. Tenured reps who had been struggling, started to have more consistent success thanks to Gong and call coaching. “When we looked at the data,” said Christine, “it became quite clear what reps could do to be more successful. We understood the value of next steps, for example, as a clear indicator of success.” Additionally, Christine and the team were able to prove (again, with data) the importance of talk ratios. “Especially for new reps, there is a feeling that dead space needs to be filled,” shared Christine. “When you are talking more than the customer, you probably aren’t practicing active listening or learning what the customer really needs.” With Gong, calls became more of a strategic consultation instead of a straight sale. Reps started solving customers’ problems rather than suggesting a specific product. Overall, the team overall started “getting better together,” as Christine put it. “Today, during team huddles, managers often share one call and the team evaluates the good and the bad. This helps all the reps in the room learn and it brings them closer together.” Autonomous learning is the new reality Iron Mountain believes strongly in empowering its employees. As the Gong-Iron Mountain partnership grows, the sales team is digging into more ways to take advantage of Gong’s data and insights. Specifically, they are beginning to use Gong alerts to understand deal health. They looked for key indicators that each deal was healthy and likely to close — such as whether pricing was discussed. This type of data helps reps become more autonomous. They can use Gong data to self-coach by detecting where they need to improve their sales process. Christine explains that “As leaders, we are always preaching the importance of ‘owning your development, your career path.’ Gong helps reps understand where they struggle and where they excel… what their sales superpower is.” Maria says Gong has enabled reps to view all trackers across their team and focus on wherever they want to make improvements. If they’re unsure about what to focus on, they can ask for help from a call coach, a manager, or a peer. They’ve even found that reps regularly look at the Gong leaderboard, then listen to the leaders’ calls to glean best practices. Christina Mahurin, the Sales Training Manager at Iron Mountain, said it brilliantly: “I consider Gong to be a personal assistant.” Previously, when she was in a sales rep role, Gong had taken a ton of work off Christina’s plate by helping her track which deals were likely (or unlikely) to close and pointing out opportunities for growth in her conversations. “Gong allows reps to be fully present in all of their sales conversations.” Culture (and coaching) is king at Iron Mountain The culture at Iron Mountain focuses on continuous development and upskilling. Establishing a culture of coaching is a really important aspect of this approach. It’s critical to the success of inside sales. For many of Iron Mountain’s sales reps, this is their first corporate job. “There are so many opportunities for growth and career development,” shares Christine. “We want them to start off on the right track.” “Our main focus is on friendly competition, collaboration, and coaching — and Gong has been effective at reinforcing all three. Without Gong, our coaching culture would not be what it is today.” Interestingly, more people have been onboarded since the company moved to a working-from-home model than when everyone was in the office. Most of the team haven’t even met in person! That can make it more, well… awkward to ask for help. It’s much easier to be humble and ask for support when you’re face to face, and able to read body language. Gong has smoothed the edges on this issue. “Gong has really acted as a vehicle — a tool — for us to continue growing and maintaining the culture we want here at Iron Mountain.” When it comes to coaching with Gong, the Iron Mountain sales leaders are quite methodical. Managers aim to listen to 10 calls per week and provide feedback via comments, such as positive reinforcement and recommendations on how to approach situations differently. They’ve also built in group coaching by listening to calls during team huddles. They’ve even invested in a new role: Call Coaches. These folks are dedicated to building one-on-one relationships with sales reps. They listen to Gong calls throughout the week, then host call coaching sessions where reps are asked to share Gong calls that went well and calls they need help with. Call Coaches leverage Gong’s scorecards feature to manage each rep’s development. The sales process is tailor-built into a company’s scorecard so the coach can score a call, leave notes, and create action items. This enables reps to see where they need to up their game, as well as track their progress over time. Because Gong is engrained into the sales process through scorecards and business reviews, it’s become the new norm, the right way of doing business. “Having Gong data that supports managers and reps during one-on-ones has proven invaluable. While everyone uses Gong slightly differently,” shared Maria, “Gong is 100% part of everyone’s day-to-day routine.” Iron Mountain is living in reality with fully aligned teams Gone are the days of assumptions and guessing and hoping that reps will tune into the “right” call. Thanks to Gong, Iron Mountain’s coaching and training is always reality-based. Nothing runs on subjective opinions. That has switched the conversation from managers saying, “I think you’re talking too much on your calls and should give your customer a chance to speak” to “The Gong data shows that you’re talking more than your customers, and that’s negatively impacting your win rates.” Reps’ ability to see this data and its direct impact has led many of them to shorten their monologues (and close more deals). From her days as a sales rep, Christina remembers having many customer conversations that “felt like everything went smoothly.” But the reality was sometimes quite different from perception. “Gong helps surface areas where sales reps can make real improvements in order to increase their chances of closing deals.” With the help of Gong, Iron Mountain’s teams have also become better aligned. As Christine shared, “Sales and Marketing have always had a good working relationship; however, now that Marketing (and other teams) are also able to provide feedback on Gong calls, the entire organization is better aligned. Maria echoes that sentiment: “Our Marketing, Sales Enablement, and Inside Sales teams around the globe all have collaborator licenses. This cross-team alignment around reality has been critical to Iron Mountain’s success.” Before Gong, if someone from the Marketing team wanted to do a “seat ride,” it would be a two-day event. It involved coordinating people to sit with, searching out the right call to listen in on, and hoping the conversation would be rich and valuable. With Gong, everyone in the organization can find calls that target whatever pain point, product, or solution they’re focused on. Christine also loves how Gong data clarifies why the reps win deals. That data provides credibility and encourages other Iron Mountain teams to align with the insights found during sales calls. If you’ve never been a sales rep, it’s hard to fully appreciate the work and effort that goes into closing a deal. Per Christine, “Gong has created visibility so other teams can truly understand and respect the role sales plays in our organization.” The future of Gong + Iron Mountain “I’m so proud of my team and how they’ve risen to the challenge of selling from home. They’ve really stepped up their game, come together, and helped each other grow. Gong has been integral in facilitating this growth, breaking down barriers in a data-driven manner.” Christine has also been impressed by how useful Gong is when she onboards people remotely. Suffice it to say, Christine is happy with how things are going. Ask her about the future and she’ll tell you that she’s taking Gong’s data-driven customer insights and using them to launch the “next big thing” Iron Mountain offers to customers. Gong’s data will shape every facet of their next launch strategy. Maria also loves the partnership between Gong and Iron Mountain. “It doesn’t feel at all like a typical vendor relationship. The entire Gong team is so responsive, so helpful.” She says it’s exciting working with Gong. “It’s really helped to reinforce collaboration, something that is especially challenging in a remote work environment. With Gong’s help, we’re tackling it brilliantly.” 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 Hello, new reality: How WalkMe uses Gong to add visibility around their deals Small Business Deal Execution North America Software How Maggie Hott of Webflow uses Gong for Work-Life Balance Small Business Coaching North America Software Visibility, Insights, and Outcomes: The Secret Sauce to Sustainable Growth at Kustomer Small Business Coaching Deal Execution North America Software

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If You Build It, They Will Come: Why Building a Coaching Culture Leads to a Better Sales Team

Hannah Hapin — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 21:57:42 +0000

If You Build It, They Will Come: Why Building a Coaching Culture Leads to a Better Sales Team Coaching Enterprise Global Business Services The challenge Pre-Gong, the Director of New Business Sales at Paychex spent an immense amount of time and energy having to meet and coach his teams. The outcome With Gong, he was able to implement processes and utilize Gong’s automatic insights to coach his team with more data and efficiency than ever before. He was also able to use Gong as part of a retention strategy for his employees, providing them with inspiration and examples of a tangible growth trajectory within their career. Headquarters Rochester, NY Founded 1971 Company size 10000+ Industry Accounting Services Instant gratification is a dangerous drug. From using Siri to search for answers or getting same-day deliveries through Instacart, we’ve trained our brains to want everything and want it now. But that’s not how sales works. You have to put in the time to reap the rewards—and be willing to change tactics instantly to fit the changing nature of any market or vertical. I’ve been a sales leader for years, most recently at Paychex. I came to the company nearly eight years ago to lead a direct sales team in Seattle and was soon promoted to Director, covering multiple states. People think of Paychex as a payroll company, but we do so much more than that: 401k, HR, compliance, you name it. We aim to be a full solutions provider to small business owners and have various products to support them from hire to retire. My work used to be face to face, out in the field, taking meetings with referral partners to drive results. And when I was in the office, I prided myself on building a fun, inspirational culture. There were high fives all over the place, fun sales games and from time to time there was even confetti when someone made a big sale. I’d developed a successful career with this approach and planned to stick with it. But when the pandemic hit and prevented my sales reps and me from hitting the road, we had to—forgive me, as no one wants to use this word anymore—pivot. The plan was to “lift and shift” people from field sales to a virtual environment, and it was up to me to nurture this virtual sales team. After this call, I turned to my wife and asked, “How am I going to do this?” I wasn’t a virtual guy, and many of the managers on my new team, like me, had spent their entire careers in field sales. My wife—a sales leader in her respective field—said, “Do what you do, but do it virtually.” As usual, she was right, and I immersed myself in everything virtual, including solutions that would help make the transition easier. We’d demoed Gong a couple of years ago, and it turned out to be the perfect tool for this moment. In my field days, when I would fly out to meet one or two of my teams, I could check in with 20 people max during that week. With Gong, I could touch all my team members—across the country—in a single day if I wanted. I immediately tapped into my team’s pain points in those early days of the shift to this virtual environment. My reps had difficulty keeping clients and prospects on the phone, so in those early days, we focused on opening statements, winning the next 20 seconds and then 20 seconds after that. That experience taught me how I could use Gong to build processes toward a specific goal. Eventually, I would use Gong to highlight great work and build a culture of coaching, and I learned that you don’t have to be in-person to drive culture and engagement and build success. Lead from the Top Down I use Gong on my team to drive activity and quality conversations and boost retention. To sales leaders and executives looking at how to roll out a solution like Gong, you should know: It all comes down to how you set the tone. You have to lead from the top. I can’t believe some leaders tell their teams, “This is what we’re doing, good luck,” and expect that to work. If the person leading the initiative isn’t all in, if they’re not building a process to make the change cultural, if they don’t explain the why or make it fun, it’s never going to go anywhere. I used a few strategies to normalize Gong. First, I held contests along the lines of a prize for the first person to listen to X number of calls or the first person to provide X number of coaching sessions. That made it a fun part of our daily life. I would also mention Gong on national calls: “Here’s what I heard on Gong today,” or “This isn’t something I’m hearing on Gong.” That made the platform part of the conversation. I heard that listening to 10 calls is a good target when starting with Gong, so I set my target to listen to 30 calls weekly. That way, when I set a target for my Leaders, they could see I was setting the pace and in the trenches with them. These steps matter because you’re going to meet some natural resistance. Salespeople and managers will be concerned about micromanagement or having to change how they coach their teams. You have to spend the time on those conversations, explaining the why and what’s in it for them. I’m a big believer in leading with vulnerability, so I got on calls and let myself be recorded. I’d show my reps and sales managers the best way to use the tool, using myself as an example. Some people were also nervous about being recorded, and I’d hear that anxiety in their voices when I listened to calls. When I noticed, I’d pick up the phone and address it immediately. “Hey, I heard your nerves on that call, but you did these two really good things.” That reinforcement, paired with the mentality of “Let’s go, and go again,” ultimately makes people comfortable with the tool. We are all susceptible to common pitfalls, whether we’re new reps or tenured salespeople. New salespeople can be impatient for results. In sales, not everyone is going to tell you you’re pretty. You must learn to deal with rejection, grind through, and trust the process. Some people, who have had to overcome adversity or have experience in sports, have already learned that. But others will go without a sale for a while and get deflated. That’s significant because sales is 99% mental. What I can do with Gong is coach them around gaps they have and introduce them to listening to successful sales calls showing them the way. That teaches a person the necessary skills and shows them that someone else’s success can be their success too—if they only stay the course. On the other hand, tenured reps can become highly successful in a given lane but then get set in their ways. That leaves them vulnerable when it comes time to adjust their strategy as the landscape changes. For those top reps, I listen to their calls and offer prompts that elevate their skillset and explore new avenues. So I might ask them, “Have you thought about the attachment rate for this product?” or “What industries are buying this product in this vertical? Why aren’t we going after those clients?” The point is to teach top reps to look around the corner for future changes. Put in What You Want to Get Out Like anything, you get out of Gong what you put into it. I put in 150%, and I get 150% back. My favorite features include the Deal Board, where I can get into the details of the call and see where a deal might have stalled out by turning each word into searchable data. I can also focus on a specific aspect of calls. I might spend an entire week just listening to openings: the first 30 seconds to a minute. What does a successful opening sound like? I’ve done the same thing with voicemails. Which voicemails get callbacks? I also love the deal insights, which show me various stats. In one instance, I noticed that calls with two contacts had a 50% closing rate. So now, reps must have two contacts on calls. Many companies use Gong for revenue forecasting and seeing trends, but I use it to gain data for targeted training around specific details, such as buying signals and objection handling. We listened to hundreds of calls and identified 20 different keywords as buying signals, which some reps might have blown by in the past. We have also come to rely on Gong for peer learning, which has led to a coaching culture. We do a podcast highlighting our leading reps, and that includes listening to and dissecting their Gong calls. Reps have become better listeners to their own calls in this process. Instead of running over the client on a call, they’re looking to get that fifth-level discovery question. Now, every rep wants to coach one another, and people get excited about listening to one another’s calls. There’s a correlation between the coaching culture we’ve created with Gong and driving better results. Leveling the Playing Field in a Five-Generation Workforce At Paychex, like many companies, we want our employees to stay with us through their careers and into retirement. We are at a unique moment right now: For the first time, we have five generations in the workforce, from Baby Boomers to Zoomers. How do I coach both a 75-year-old and an 18-year-old? Every generation brings something different to the table and needs something different from me. The younger generations want to see the career ahead of them. The salary is great, but they have no reason to stay if you’re not giving them the water to grow. Gong also levels the playing field across those five generations of workers. No matter a sales rep’s age or experience, I can see where they are falling and help them get back up and be ready for next time. I increasingly turn to Gong as part of a retention strategy and a way to get people to think about longevity. Gong allows me to show someone at the start of their career a tangible growth trajectory: an honest review of where they are now and where they could be, listening to others as living proof. I can show a new hire that I sent 24 people to our annual conference this year, compared to the eight people I sent last year. All 24 people broke six figures in our compensation plan, and everyone said Gong helped them get to where they are. I use Gong to develop personal connections, too. When I post content across multiple platforms and channels, I get the most engagement through Gong. And when I hear on a call that a person is frustrated or having a bad day, I can address the issue in real time, rather than waiting for our weekly 1:1. That in-the-moment feedback is critical for reps, and it can make the difference between a top sales team and an underperforming one. It can also be the difference between keeping a good sales rep and saving someone from having a bad run or getting frustrated and wanting to quit. Gong has also had an impact on my work-life balance. Before, I used to gain insights through a multitude of manual processes. There are plenty of platforms out there I could use, but everything is on the user. Gong does everything for me, and the mobile app is a life-changer. I have four kids. Instead of being stuck at a desk pouring over other platforms, I can get one of the kids to football practice, another to tennis and still provide quality, immediate coaching. Getting Back to Basics Over time, my team has evolved into a strategic accounts environment, where we focus on specialty accounts, strategic partnerships, special niches, and other test pilots needed by the company. It’s a lot of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks in different verticals, third-party partnerships, or the specific technology needs of certain industries. Essentially, we operate as a startup within a 50-year-old company, but the basics don’t change: drive activity, have quality conversations, present value, and provide our full solution products and services. With Gong, I can ensure my reps are saying the right thing for that particular vertical, even if it’s new. Professional athletes review film after each game as part of their training. Gong is game film for salespeople. You can tell yourself a story in your mind about what went wrong on a call, but you can’t run from Gong. It means people have to take an honest look at their performance, and that’s how we win. 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 the Customer Success Team at Momentive used Gong to shape high-quality customer conversations Enterprise Coaching Strategic Initiatives North America Software 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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