The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that productiveness decreased by 2.7 p.c within the first quarter of 2023, however hours labored elevated by 3%. With productiveness needing to be prime of thoughts for a lot of organizations making an attempt to do extra with much less, how can gross sales enablement scale what attractiveness prefer to drive productiveness?

Shawnna Sumaoang: Hello and welcome to the Win Win Podcast. I’m your host, Shawnna Sumaoang. Be a part of us as we dive into altering traits within the office and learn how to navigate them efficiently. Right here to debate this matter is Michal Sever, the senior director of product advertising & product training at Nayax. Thanks for becoming a member of Michal! I’d love so that you can inform us about your self, your background, and your position. 

Michal Sever: Hello. It’s wonderful to be right here. Thanks for having me. I’m really working on this wonderful high-tech business for greater than 17 years, practising innovation at wonderful corporations. I used to work at Amdocs, Microsoft, Gentrack, and now at Nayax. Nayax is definitely a FinTech firm, we’re specializing in funds addressing retails from all sizes, segments, and areas. We’re current in additional than 80 international locations. 

Now, publish covid and with self-service on the rise, we’re positioned in a tremendous place to serve our clients finest as we place cashless cost on the heart of our gravity, enabling our clients, the retailers, the retailers, the operators to deal with their enterprise, whereas with out hardwired software program, they will neglect in regards to the hardships of chip funds and simply ensure that with our options they will improve the revenues and scale back their operational bills. 

At Nayax, I’m main the product advertising and training staff. I’ve a tremendous staff and we’re on the core of enterprise right here. We’re really the lacking hyperlink between advertising, market, gross sales, and product, and we’re preserving all the things aligned, tackling challenges as they arrive alongside, since challenges are inevitable. What drives us, Nayax and I, and my staff are studying. We’re studying on a regular basis. We have now a studying ecosystem and coping with difficult conditions, we discover that studying is likely one of the best methods to bridge these gaps. That is what drives me, and my staff, and every day it’s a brand new day right here at Nayax we’re studying loads. That’s me, my position, the corporate I work at. 

SS: Implausible. Effectively, one of many issues that I like about your background is you will have quite a lot of expertise in model advocacy and storytelling. How does that background assist affect your method to product advertising and product training?

MS: I’m very a powerful believer in storytelling. I consider that behind each narrative there are a gazillion tales, nevertheless it actually is dependent upon the individual that you’re telling the story to. Ultimately, the idea of storytelling is knowing the narrative, and behind these narratives are feelings. Our capability as product entrepreneurs and product training leaders is to inform the narrative of our clients or let’s say our prospects or everybody that we wish to ship a narrative to grasp their pains, the challenges of every individual that’s standing in entrance of us. That is our superpower. The storytelling, understanding the narrative, understanding the ache behind every act. As soon as we construct the story round these narratives and pains, I believe it’s a fantastic functionality for every product, marketeer, and product training chief.

SS: What does good product training seem like to you? Possibly stated one other approach, what are your finest practices for creating efficient product teaching programs? 

MS: I believe this fully pertains to the storytelling facet and the emotional narrative, once more, and I’ll clarify. What we do at Nayaz, we’re always making an attempt to study our buyer’s journey. The journey doesn’t should be confronting solely us. The journey can begin wherever and at any time. Our clients have their journey that they’re coping with their companies with their operations and generally even with us. They’ve a really complete day of their lives every day and to ensure that us to create the very best practices and efficient product teaching programs, we have to actually know our clients and to grasp their journeys, let’s say throughout the board. 

As I stated at first, it’s a studying ecosystem. Every day we be taught one thing new about our clients and about their journey. As soon as we understand how our clients are trying and what their journey is, solely then after we know them, we will set our program into motion. That is what we’re always doing and we name this complete framework the engagement cycle. That is our greatest apply. We’re ensuring that we’re participating with our clients in each section of this journey and in each section, and it doesn’t matter whether it is at first of the cycle earlier than he turns into our buyer, and he’s nonetheless within the advertising or pre-sale section, or if he’s transferring on to the order to activation course of after he stated, I do, and he determined, let’s say, to get married to us, or if it’s afterward when he desires to upscale or to get extra educated and perhaps even to upsell or, or to cross-sell. 

In each section of this engagement circle, we have to perceive his drawback, his pains, and his feelings with a purpose to tackle him with the proper messaging, the proper story, and the proper content material, which could be very segmented. From pre-sale by means of activation to development, we all the time must ensure that our clients are joyful. I believe that is just like the baseline or the foundation of finest apply in our area from the underside up and prime down. Maintaining a advertising umbrella additionally provides us air protection to stay prime of thoughts of our clients and prospects, and finally sustaining transparency and data, on a regular basis, data about our clients and sustaining the data throughout the buyer’s area is about us. It’s like a street from us to them and from them to us with a purpose to preserve transparency, data, and understanding of one another. I believe that is the idea of efficient product teaching programs. 

SS: I like that. I believe that’s incredible. Assist me tie that again to what we have been speaking about within the introduction round gross sales productiveness. How can efficient product advertising and training drive gross sales productiveness? 

MS: The premise of gross sales productiveness that’s being affected by our actions, the PMMs actions, first, it actually is dependent upon the great relationship between the gross sales and the advertising groups. Gross sales and advertising should go collectively, particularly to make the PMM work. It has to go hand in hand. We have to dance effectively collectively with a purpose to be efficient and productive. One of many foremost focus areas for advertising and product advertising and particularly is to create profitable and segmented gross sales enablement kits. By enabling gross sales in the proper method and with the proper content material, gross sales may be extra productive, save time, and efficiently drive closed-won alternatives. I’m going again to storytelling and emotion and connections. Product advertising managers are in command of creating the gross sales kits that will probably be pushed by feelings and pushed by relevance by way of the phase vertical and even the particular timeframe throughout the touching level.

So as to construct a productive gross sales equipment that can have an effect on productiveness inside gross sales, all of the collaterals, the presentation, the product guides, and different supplies should equip gross sales in a segmented approach. They should be successfully communicated to the gross sales from throughout the PMM staff. These supplies finally can empower the gross sales representatives to ship fixed and persuasive messages throughout their interactions with the prospects. 

I’ll give two examples. The primary instance in these, let’s say collaterals, that must be constructed is first is making a related worth proposition. One of many foremost focuses throughout the gross sales enablement equipment is to speak a singular worth proposition and advantages of the particular product that the gross sales will wish to take to its prospects. The gross sales groups must articulate the worth place to potential clients as a result of when a buyer understands how a product can resolve their drawback or fulfill their wants, they’re extra more likely to make a purchase order, which signifies that the gross sales course of or the cycle will probably be extra productive.

One other instance is, in fact, the messaging. Product advertising can be sure that the gross sales staff has focused and compelling messages that can resonate with particular buyer segments as a result of every message pertains to one other buyer. There aren’t two clients or two personas inside clients that can comply with the identical method or the identical tone of voice. The message may be created in some ways. Tailor-made messages can allow the gross sales consultant, once more, to attach with the shoppers in a extra deep emotional method or degree with a purpose to drive extra productiveness to their actions. In fact, there’s the outbound perspective as effectively, which signifies that efficient product advertising will help construct a powerful product or a model popularity, establishing the highest of thoughts and belief and credibility throughout the buyer’s domains and naturally all the things that has to do with lead technology all through the whole buyer journey. 

I believe to sum it up finally if product advertising and the gross sales group are working effectively collectively and dancing effectively collectively, as I stated earlier than, there are 4 foremost facets that may be decided as productive and in addition may be measured as a result of it’s actually necessary to measure success on a regular basis. First, I believe by working collectively, we can provide time again to gross sales that they will both use to method extra prospects or they will simply sip a espresso on the seaside, no matter they wish to do extra. No, I’m simply joking. Second, all the things has to do with a greater buyer expertise. If a buyer is joyful and happy and we’re approaching him with related messaging and the related tone of voice, he may buy extra. He may cross-purchase, et cetera. Third, pipeline creation. If we’re delivering the proper messaging and the proper worth proposition in the proper channels, we’d enlarge the pipeline. Final, we carry the next, quicker win charge, messaging, worth proposition, and correct gross sales kits. I believe all of them, whereas working with gross sales, can undoubtedly drive larger productiveness for each departments. 

SS: Now, previous to implementing Highspot, what challenges have been your reps dealing with because it pertains to gross sales productiveness, and the way have you ever been capable of resolve these challenges since implementing Highspot?

MS: Nayax has massively grown within the final couple of years. We additionally skilled a really profitable IPO and our gross sales group grew loads. We grew to become larger than we was once, and it grew to become a bit bit exhausting to handle from afar. Our headquarters is in Israel, and it was actually tough to take care of a single tone of voice for everybody. That was a very enormous problem with a purpose to preserve constant promoting. Now that we serve greater than 80 international locations, simply take into consideration the implications of gross sales equipment creation and the necessity to create so many alternative messaging for various personas in numerous verticals, segments, and international locations and, in fact, languages, however nonetheless maintain one distinctive worth proposition and related model popularity.

It grew to become messy and the necessity to bridge between what headquarters needed to say in regards to the model and its product and the way it was translated to the sector grew to become difficult. We needed to discover some sort of an answer, not just for sustaining one tone of voice but in addition to have like a single supply of fact wherein all of the content material resides, like a content material repository that’s on a regular basis up to date and true to what we’re promoting. What occurred is we noticed lots of people from the gross sales group simply utilizing content material from a few years in the past and never correct content material. We’re working in a really speedy surroundings, all the things right here is microservices, the ICD and we’re on a regular basis persevering with to take a position and develop, and promote. 

We noticed that persons are not using probably the most correct and related and newest content material, and due to this fact not sustaining even the transparency and the data that’s required for patrons. It was an enormous drawback, so we have been really looking for a platform that can resolve all of those conditions, a platform that can preserve a single supply of fact for everyone that can talk in a single voice and finally, most significantly, resolve the content material chaos that we had. I do know that you simply guys name it content material chaos at a Highspot, so we seek for it, after which we discover a Highspot. I believe the remainder is historical past as a result of the issue was solved virtually fully. 

One final thing we additionally needed to seek for a platform that’s fully data-driven. It was actually necessary for us now that we now have such a big gross sales group, to ensure that all of the gross sales are working in the proper route. It’s not a matter of belief, it’s a matter of aligning and having productive gross sales cycles. We seek for a system that first will probably be fully linked to our CRM system, which is in fact Salesforce, and that we’ll have the ability to join between the advertising collaterals or the product advertising collaterals to the alternatives or leads themselves. We additionally needed to avoid wasting time for our consultant. We didn’t need them to seek for the proper content material whereas they’re in a sale alternative whereas they’re on a name, we needed them to avoid wasting time and to search out the collaterals they want swiftly and with out having the headache of messing round. 

SS: Effectively, I’m glad that Highspot may assist. I’d additionally love to grasp, we’ve been on this matter of gross sales productiveness, what’s an instance of an initiative or program that you simply’ve carried out to drive gross sales productiveness, and the way have you ever leveraged Highspot to help this?

MS: By the way in which we name Highspot “Nayax Win”, we modified the identify with a purpose to match our group as a result of we name our gross sales group winners, so we referred to as Highspot ‘Nayax Win’. Which everyone loves. If I’m complicated and saying win as a substitute of Highspot, excuse me, nevertheless it’s burned to my head already. 

Regarding your query, we love the truth that Highspot is embedded into Salesforce you click on on one button after which it opens up and all SDRs and the gross sales group can see the advertising collaterals which might be related to a selected alternative. The truth that it’s simply in entrance of them with the collateral that they should use inside a selected name or inside a selected alternative is basically useful, nevertheless it’s not sufficient. One of many foremost options that we love about Highspot is the power to pitch from throughout the system. We have now created many pitching templates based on particular clients, particular verticals and segments, and naturally, referring to particular merchandise. The truth that you may be in Salesforce, engaged on a selected lead, for instance, for our product, after which seeing simply in entrance of you the related FAQs, continuously requested questions, or objection dealing with, after which the related one web page that may shut the deal.

When you end the dialog with the lead, you inform him I’ll ship an e-mail with all of the related materials, and also you simply click on the pitch button, after which it opens up a display screen the place you’ll be able to both document your self, or you’ll be able to simply ship the collateral by means of to your clients. That’s wonderful. Ultimately, the shopper receives a really good touchdown web page wherein they will see the collaterals, and the abstract of the dialog, and I believe for each methods, for gross sales representatives and in addition the shoppers, it creates a sense as in the event that they’re all engaged on the identical web page. 

For us, the power to attach the CRM to our Highspot or Nayaz win to ease the journey for our clients on one hand and the work of our SDRs was wonderful. We see that it actually drives gross sales productiveness from the timesaving perspective, nevertheless it’s not sufficient. What we’re reaching to see, and I suppose we will discuss it afterward in additional element, however we wish to see the correlation between Highspot utilization and the closed received. I’m positive that there’s a excessive correlation between utilizing the proper messaging and the proper collaterals and proper messaging and it will definitely results in fewer touching factors.

For us, let’s say, a profitable program or to point out full productiveness would be the capability to point out larger numbers within the closed wons that our collaterals which might be pushed into Nayax Win, or Highspot, versus those that didn’t. We will see all of it as a result of Highspot is totally data-driven, so we will see the names of the reps who used it and who didn’t. Due to this fact we will undoubtedly see who’s driving productiveness using Win, and we see the distinction, which is wonderful. We’re solely three months into the method and we already see the distinction between a closed received of reps which might be utilizing Highspot and those that aren’t.

SS: I like that. That’s incredible. Now, you additionally lately hosted your organization gross sales kickoff occasion a couple of months in the past. You talked about that your staff exceeded your KPIs for engagement from the gross sales staff. I’d like to be taught a bit bit extra about that. I do know a few of us are heading into kickoff season midway by means of the 12 months, what have been a few of your finest practices for delivering a fascinating occasion that basically motivated your sellers?

MS: We had a tremendous SKO. Really, at Nayax we don’t name it SKO, we name it Join as a result of our promoting mannequin is oblique and direct. It signifies that we’re promoting loads by means of distributors and companions, so we name it join as a result of we join all of the teams collectively. We had a really profitable SKO in January after three years that we haven’t met one another head to head. It was actually emotional and joyful. It was actually wonderful to fulfill once more after so a few years, however after we introduced everyone collectively, we had quite a lot of content material to ship.

I believe the 2 most participating periods, certainly one of them, by the way in which, was pushed by a Highspot, however one of many two most participating periods that we had was inspiring. The primary one was an expo. We created an exposition of all the things that we promote. As I stated about Nayax, we’re specializing in cost as our heart of gravity, however the cost is definitely a part of an entire resolution that’s based mostly on {hardware} and software program. What we now have first is our built-in level of sale with software program that’s embedded throughout the level of sale. Then we now have the administration suite behind it that may handle all of the operations with our providers, and naturally, all our loyalty and engagement applications for elevated income and recurring clients.

What we’ve executed at SKO, is we introduced quite a lot of our units which might be linked to the retail units themselves, the unattended machines, the retail machines, and we requested our gross sales to play with them and to see the way it works as in the event that they have been shoppers, the operators themselves which might be having the shoppers use their machines. I believe they discovered loads about new options and new features, learn how to use them, which issues happen, and in the event that they happen, and we had the product managers resolve on every resolution and product explaining to the gross sales group as soon as they’re practising and using the machines as if they’re our operators or the shoppers of the operators to allow them to contact it themselves and really feel it themselves. It was a real engagement they usually beloved it. 

The second was really a task play wherein we selected real-life examples of conditions wherein our gross sales consultant wanted to promote one thing to operators and clarify the precious place and the advantages behind our options. We created 10 completely different conditions, which have been very sophisticated, and we had a panel of judges, which was our two CEOs, and our total c-suite. We requested the gross sales consultant to point out how they’re planning to handle the sale. What number of touching factors, which content material do they wish to ship in every touching level, and the way are they planning to handle it? Within the gross sales performs themselves, what we examined was not what they promote or how they promote the particular product, but in addition how they’re promoting by way of gross sales comfortable expertise, which was a mixture of coaching and training.

I believe the mixture of teaching on prime of the coaching on the options themselves was very participating and profitable as a result of they discovered loads with regard to not solely the capabilities of the merchandise but in addition their capabilities as salespeople and gross sales representatives on learn how to leverage their comfortable expertise to raised locations. These two periods have been extremely profitable, however the whole SKO was wonderful and it was a lot enjoyable. I can’t anticipate the following one. Significantly. 

SS: I like that. Now you even have a 92% energetic learner charge in your coaching and training applications in Highspot. How have you ever leveraged Highspot’s coaching and training capabilities to essentially develop participating product training per applications, and the way has this motivated productiveness?

MS: I need to say it wasn’t straightforward and I really feel as if we solely began, however the whole staff was actually engaged. It’s the gross sales staff and the product staff, the product advertising staff, and the advertising staff. We had a hackathon to construct all of the supplies and we actually constructed all of it with a purpose to ensure that we aren’t neglecting any phase, any vertical, any line of enterprise, any geographies. It’s nonetheless a piece in progress. I imply, it’s not finalized in any respect, and we nonetheless have a protracted option to go, however there are some things that we did that have been actually necessary with a purpose to obtain such a excessive rating in a decrease time frame. 

I believe the primary one is to have a gross sales enablement champion that can drive the whole improvement and engagement and will probably be just like the lacking hyperlink between gross sales and product advertising, gross sales, and headquarters. I believe that is undoubtedly one thing that raised the bow for us. As soon as we had our gross sales enablement champ listening to gross sales pitches and A/B testing scripts and reviewing all the things that we’ve executed, it actually leveraged our coaching and training capabilities. This individual from my staff actually bridged the hole, and as soon as she spoke with the gross sales groups, she got here again to us, to the advertising staff on what to repair and what to do higher, and that is how we higher ourselves. I believe it was actually necessary. 

So as to encourage utilization and engagement, everyone used the applications and system we would have liked to package deal it alongside gross sales enablement periods. We have now a staff that we’re managing as if it was a WhatsApp staff inside Microsoft Groups. We’re always sharing info with it. I believe finally, we’re solely at first, we nonetheless have a protracted option to go to ensure that me to really feel that we’re fully bringing within the productiveness from the system, however we’re to start with, we’re already saving time for reps. Let’s say the top sport will probably be to point out the entire correlation between closed received and the utilization of the collaterals, after which we will undoubtedly talk about full productiveness. We nonetheless have a protracted option to go, regardless of the excessive rating that you simply gave us.

SS: Yeah. I like to listen to that although. Effectively, final query for you. What are some key enterprise outcomes that you’ve got been capable of obtain since implementing Highspot, particularly because it pertains to gross sales productiveness? 

MS: Every month we see a rise within the utilization of salespeople throughout the system, and we see a correlation between the utilization and the income from closed received. The primary month that we began using the system, which was March, we have been standing on zero engagement. Now, within the gross sales group, we now have about 100 customers. We have already got 35% of engagement. From this 35% of engagement of energetic customers which might be actively utilizing pitches and our gross sales performs and are visiting the assorted spots every day, we see a rise. I don’t wish to state a quantity as a result of it’s always altering, however we now have a rise in there, let’s say closed-won capabilities.

I will probably be joyful to share the numbers, however solely in a couple of weeks as a result of we’re nonetheless sharpening our analytics there. As I stated earlier than, it’s already starting and we did set up a single supply of fact, which is 100% success. We don’t see individuals utilizing any supplies from their desktops anymore, which signifies that this KPI was 100% achieved. By way of a single supply of fact achieved by way of one tone of voice. This was additionally, in my view, let’s say 90% or 95% achieved. 

We see that everyone is utilizing the messaging that we would like them to make use of. We see a transparent path within the change and the way persons are talking about Nayax in the identical messaging, as I stated at first, the story that we needed them to talk about and to inform, we see it and we hear it throughout the globe from the USA, from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, everyone is using the identical tone of voice, which is wonderful.

We nonetheless have a protracted option to go. There’s a saying, by the way in which, which I like. I out of the blue remembered from Robin Shama that he stated that change is tough at first, messy within the center, and lovely on the finish. I believe finally the adoption of Nayax win or Highspot, it’s all about behavioral change for the salespeople, and from that perspective, from that KPI of a behavioral change, I believe we now have not less than 85% completion as a result of we see the utilization and we see persons are adopting it.

It’s exhausting to undertake a distinct option to make the most of content material and to eat content material, and a distinct option to pitch after 15 or 17 years that you’ve got been pitching in the identical approach out of the blue to have anyone are available in and say, no, do that, try this. It’s exhausting, however we’re on the way in which and we wish to affect the rise in closed received with the system. I consider we’ll get there. I believe the top sport for us will probably be to see an entire correlation between Highspot utilization and closed received. So as to try this, we’ll maintain pushing and it’s not straightforward, however finally, it’ll be beautiful, so we now have endurance. 

SS: I like that. Thanks a lot for sharing your story with us immediately. I admire the time. 

MS: For positive. It was beautiful being right here and thanks for having me. 

SS: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Win Win podcast. Make sure you tune in subsequent time for extra insights on how one can maximize enablement success with Highspot.