ServiceSource
ServiceSource delivers out-sourced business-to-business digital sales, renewal and channel management solutions, using a go-to-market model.
About
Who is ServiceSource?
ServiceSource provides outsourced in-house sales, customer success, renewals management and channel management solutions for businesses worldwide.
The brief
Improve sales rep performance, soft skills & sales process
ServiceSource was experiencing a number of challenges in the area of sales. These included: inconsistent feedback from its clients; a lack of defined ways of working; renewal rates below target; and a lack of customer awareness of its additional products and services.
There was no defined way of working with clients. Sales managers and sales representatives had their own unique way of completing quarterly reviews with no consistency.
Renewal rates from clients were below target and clients were not aware of additional products or services.
This was part of a larger project that service source was reviewing as part of their people, process and analytics expansion plans.
Our approach
Holistic sales training including marketing insights
Our Penguin team developed a one-day programme for sales reps with supporting prep and follow-up work, which senior sales managers reviewed and helped embed.
We worked with ServiceSource’s internal teams to design a sales process. We layered this with soft skills training for coherence, while allowing the opportunity for tailored conversations with clients.
We also delivered training on buying personas so that sales reps could better tailor their conversations according to the particular buyer.
Our main findings were:
Sales representatives were not having tailored conversations with clients and relationships were not strong
Knowledge and competency gaps with sales representatives that had moved from admin roles to sales roles
Sales representatives would prioritise clients they had good relationships with and leave more ‘difficult’ clients last
Sales managers were focused on operational responsibilities and not team management responsibilities
What we did
Diagnostics and Findings
We set up focus groups with sales managers and sales representatives to understand the challenges and knowledge gaps. We found the following information:
Sales reps were very busy and had little time to plan or prepare for review calls with clients. Meaning there were no clear measurable outcomes from the review calls – they were seen as an informal ‘chat’ with clients which involved paperwork.
Sales reps and sales managers seemed to know very little about what was taking place in the client’s company.
For example, if the client had just had a hiring phase and had brought on another 150 employees (which could mean additional licenses or an upgrade to a bundled offering) or they had been in the news for a recent merger with another company.
This meant the sales reps and sales managers were missing cross-selling and upselling opportunities, as well as hardware or platform upgrades.
Most sales reps and sales managers knowledge of the marketplace was limited to service source products and insights and they struggled to overcome objections from clients who were looking to move to cheaper products that actually had less functionality.
Our solution
Penguin Learning’s Solution
A one-day programme for sales representatives with supporting prework and post-work that was reviewed and embedded by senior sales managers (the manager of the sales managers). This content included the following:
Communication Fundamentals
Email, telephone and Webex (video conference) etiquette with templates and Service Level Agreement (SLAs) to create consistency across teams and begin developing a ‘sales cadence’ (cycles of communication that increase the likelihood of a renewal being approved) within ServiceSource.
Review Process Designed
Working with internal teams to design a bespoke sales process, layered with soft skills training to create consistency in the process but allow sales reps to have tailored conversations with clients.
Understanding your client
Research activities to understand what changes were taking place at a client’s company to understand what types of conversations to have on the next review. Such as the following example:
‘I saw on LinkedIn that you’ve just opened an additional office in Liverpool – that’s amazing – are you one of the people transferring over? … Great news, that will make the commute easier – how many teams are going with you? …’
Buying Personas
Tailoring conversations specific to buyer personas within the client’s business, such as tailoring a conversation for a data scientist vs. a promoter vs. a trusted advisor.
Competitor Information
Understanding fundamental knowledge of competitor products to help overcome concerns or objections a client may have regarding their current service.
Our performance
As a result of our programme sales reps at ServiceSource have achieved an additional 27.8% increase in their renewal quotas.
Our customer service methodology pilot grew into a formal framework that is used globally across ServiceSource sites.
27.8%
Renewal Quotas
100%
The pilot is now a formal framwork,
used globally across all sites
“Check back for a testimonial soon”
