A Gallup examine discovered that organizations with excessive worker engagement report a 21% larger profitability charge. So how are you going to unify the rep expertise and drive engagement via enablement?
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 how you can navigate them efficiently.
Right here to debate this subject is Donny Miller, the challenge supervisor for the transform gross sales coaching at American Woodmark. Thanks for becoming a member of us, Donny. I’d love so that you can inform us about your self, your background, and your function.
Donny Miller: Yeah, you guess. Donny Miller, my background is usually in gross sales. I’ve labored with principally transformed constructing supplies. Initially from the West Coast, moved round slightly bit, had totally different roles from promoting via about each totally different channel in our a part of the business discovered my technique to American Woodmark about ten years in the past, I’ve liked it ever since. That most likely says rather a lot about our group being right here for 10 years and I’m excited to be on this podcast
SS: We’re excited to have you ever right here as effectively. As you talked about, you’ve had a number of totally different roles, however the majority of your profession has undoubtedly been within the manufacturing business, and also you’ve held roles in each gross sales and gross sales administration.
And I’d love to grasp, given that have, what are among the distinctive challenges that reps within the manufacturing business face?
DM: Yeah, serious about all my totally different positions, I feel one factor that sort of rings true is complexity in manufacturing. There’s a number of complexity, particularly in constructing supplies and the merchandise that we work with, and never solely are the merchandise complicated, however the gross sales processes will be totally different. They are often totally different within the totally different channels and you’ve got a variety of various kinds of clients that you simply’re promoting to. However, I feel the massive factor in manufacturing is you’ve got a fancy product that goes via a number of totally different phases from when it is available in as an order to when it will get positioned out.
And so being in gross sales and dealing in that, you bought to have a number of totally different solutions. One of many stuff you’re in search of is I do know this isn’t like a job that’s is widespread lately, however you’re in search of an operator generally, like a phone operator the place it’s like, “Hey, what reply can I discover given all of the complexities?”, and discovering that reply very fast generally is a distinctive problem that we face generally.
SS: And the way does having an enablement platform like Highspot assist firms like yours to beat a few of these challenges?
DM: Yeah, I feel actually connecting you to what you need, what you want, and whenever you want it’s how an enablement firm like Highspot might help you. For us, it’s going to a single supply of reality.
We’ve a number of platforms and a number of methods through which our customers probably go into these and many departments that feed the entrance finish of the enterprise in gross sales, proper? We’ve finance, HR, advertising and marketing, customer support, et cetera. To me, enablement helps overcome these complexities that we face and permit us with all of these variations to probably give the person a tailor-made and distinctive expertise.
SS: I really like that. Now, you’ve shared that you simply really see the worth of Highspot at your group extending past conventional sales-centric enablement to extra broadly ship enterprise enablement. I really like that, by the way in which. How does Highspot assist you higher allow the enterprise as a complete?
DM: A few of it’s a mindset, it connects us out of silos. Trying on the complete course of from the entrance finish of the enterprise to present you extra of a tangible instance is you’ll have any person like my present function in coaching on the gross sales aspect. So I’ll be working with advertising and marketing. We could possibly be engaged on an analogous sort of factor throughout a product launch or one thing like that. And so to have one thing that permits us to each collaborate and work in several platforms, one could also be working in Adobe, one could also be working in Microsoft, et cetera. And to have these cloud companies be capable of join and ship in a content material area that’s tailor-made to that particular person person is big.
And I feel one other huge a part of that’s after I consider the entrance finish of the group, I consider like how CRMs work and making it the enterprise, is that the CRM platforms usually are not simply gross sales associated. Gross sales have rather a lot to do with it, but when you concentrate on it, a number of these companies present cloud companies for advertising and marketing, and buyer care companies. And so there’s a number of totally different components.
A whole lot of what your buyer care could possibly be saying and what your gross sales group could possibly be saying could possibly be related, however they is also totally different. And so there’s a number of synergies you will discover there. For me, it’s actually trying on the content material and the educational and the way all of these potential makes use of that Highspot has with being a CMS and an LMS permits us to attach the whole lot to all of the cloud methods that these totally different departments probably use. And that every one sounds complicated, however the finish person getting it in a easy kind is big.
SS: Completely, and delivering that consistency to your purchaser and buyer on the finish of the day is completely important.
That mentioned, what are possibly among the distinctive ways in which totally different groups from gross sales to, as you talked about, buyer care companies, how do they use Highspot at your organization?
DM: That’s really an ideal instance: buyer care and gross sales, Shawnna. I like that as a result of for us, like our gross sales group and our buyer care group, they’re each in search of the operator that I discussed earlier, proper?
They’re each attempting to name in and go, “Oh, I want this reply after I want it, how I want it.” And so for the gross sales group, it’s extra mobile-based. Like our gross sales group is all around the nation, they’re unfold out. And they also’re not centrally positioned they usually’re not all the time at their laptop, so to talk.
So a number of what they’re in search of is a solution ‘mobile-y’, and a number of occasions they’ve an opportunity to prep for that reply or that factor that they’re in search of content-wise or learning-wise. Buyer care is slightly bit totally different when it comes to they’re sitting usually in entrance of a laptop computer, proper? They’ve that desktop expertise, but additionally the tempo through which they want it’s a little bit totally different too, as a result of they, such as you and I are on this podcast reside, could possibly be speaking to any person reside and going, “Hey, I want a solution proper now.” Like, “I want a solution about that complicated, particular a part of the cupboard and I want it proper now.”
So the totally different wants are totally different, however we’re in a position to meet these wants via Highspot in actually connecting these variations right here, or actually, the mediums through which they’re looking out. And probably the content material that they’re in search of, proper? A gross sales rep could be in search of a video on how you can arrange a show whereas somebody in buyer care could be in search of that particular cupboard half for an order that was positioned a few years in the past. So it may be totally different wants for various components of the group.
SS: I really like that Highspot’s in a position to deal with all of these wants throughout the group. To shift gears just a bit bit as a result of I do know {that a} huge purpose you introduced on Highspot was to assist ship studying packages, significantly to a various set of learners throughout a mess of areas. How do you tailor packages for these totally different audiences?
DM: Studying battles that complexity identical to some other half does. And I feel, for us, we actually wanted extra self-paced studying to maximise everybody’s expertise. We’ll have mentor studying and we’ll have occasions the place we spend in teams at conferences and also you’re in a position to maximize that studying whenever you’ve gone via one thing just like the LMS a part of what enablement via Highspot affords.
And I’ll offer you a first-rate instance, Shawnna, of me with Highspot: you go to one thing just like the Spark Convention, and earlier than you go there, you most likely wish to undergo just a few of the educational modules. You most likely don’t wish to are available in not having gone via that, and so it lets you – having gone via a few of that self-paced studying that isn’t classroom-based, however then it’s whenever you come to one thing like Spark – you’re in a position to acquire a lot extra out of your expertise and study and it helps you do extra with no matter it’s you’re doing. It’s related for us, totally different processes, whether or not we’re attempting to promote extra or give a greater.
Buyer expertise, that’s how you can me, we’re in a position to then tailor it to what they want, buyer care, the totally different gross sales channels. And having that self-paced studying after which tailoring it to every group as a result of their gross sales processes will be totally different is basically huge and is how we’re going about it in utilizing the Highspot platform.
SS: I really like to listen to that. Now you talked rather a lot about sort of the complexity of the gross sales course of and the product in your world and the entire audiences clearly that it’s good to assist allow your groups on. And I do know considered one of your prime targets is to simplify the rep expertise. What are among the key ways in which you’ve been in a position to obtain this with a unified enablement platform?
DM: Yeah the very first thing that involves thoughts is I feel it was in like 2020, we have been doing an icebreaker scavenger hunt nearly. And we mainly despatched all people out from the totally different channels and we mentioned, “Hey, go and discover this stuff.” And what we realized rather a lot about ourselves and looking out.
It took a number of time and whatnot. And in order that complexity is basically what we realized, and we realized we have to discover methods to simplify that. And to me, it’s true of simply gross sales usually. It’s an equation of potentialities of the variety of potential solutions that you may come up towards that somebody might ask you.
Similar with the customer support aspect and actually taking a look at, how can we decrease that search. How can we get – possibly, a greater means of claiming it – how can we maximize to the proper reply? How do we discover that appropriate reply as shortly as doable? And so in ways in which we’re utilizing it’s we’ve loaded our content material in there. I feel a number of the search performance that’s inside Highspot permits us to get, actually the aim is a velocity to reply in order that it simplifies their path to what they want. Like I mentioned at first of this operator idea, proper? “Whats up, operator. Are you able to inform me about this”, proper? “I want the reply to that and I want it in the way in which that I want it.”
And that’s actually the place an enablement platform like Highspot takes all these totally different mediums, proper? Whether or not it’s a video or an Excel doc or no matter it’s you’re in search of, after which inside the search perform permits us to get that, tailor it in spots which can be particular for the person, and that basically permits for simplification of the person expertise.
SS: That’s phenomenal. And, it appears to be like like your reps are already responding actually positively to the work that you simply guys are doing to simplify the expertise. I feel you guys have seen a 14% improve in recurring utilization simply within the final couple of months. What are a few of your greatest practices for driving adoption of Highspot throughout the enterprise?
DM: Fascinated about having a nasty system would possibly assist drive that adoption after which present them, Highspot. I feel that helps with that 14% slightly bit. In all seriousness, like the entire scavenger hunt instance is, we went from a number of cloud companies. Should you’re like us, you’ve got a number of storage options, emails, communication platforms web sites, kinds of web sites, CRMs, and kinds of CRMs that you simply’re probably going to start to undertake that stuff.
And I bear in mind at a gross sales assembly lately I requested the query, “How lengthy does it take you to search out–?” And I used to be interrupted really by my counterpart who crammed the spot that I left after I got here into this function. And she or he mentioned, “–earlier than I cease trying?” And again to the identical instance right here.
However in all actuality, we wanted a system change, and extra tangibly how we go about doing that’s taking an method of champion management. I could be the administrator, however I’m not the skilled per se, when it comes to articulating at a peer-to-peer degree, what any person wants and why they would want one thing like this enablement platform.
And so I feel one of many extra tangible issues that we’re doing round adoption is having that peer-to-peer connection. Should you’re a regional gross sales supervisor in a single channel to a regional gross sales supervisor in that very same channel, you’re in a position to articulate and communicate to, “Hey, right here’s how this solved the issue for me”, “right here’s the way it simplified it for me”. And I feel that’s actually a method that we’re seeing adoption. We’ve simply nice folks and nice leaders within the group that see that.
SS: Oh, that’s unbelievable. Past adoption, what are among the key metrics you monitor to find out the affect of your packages, and the way do you leverage Highspot to assist?
DM: Yeah, we’re trying into methods through which it might probably assist affect our gross sales or our enterprise. Perhaps that’s our buyer expertise actually on the finish of the day, how can it assist us promote extra? We’re trying on the velocity of the sale. I actually really feel, are you able to scale back in that complexity within the gross sales course of to much less time and, time is cash. And on prime of that, it’s alternative. And in gross sales, alternative is rather a lot, proper? As a result of that additionally leads again to cash. So, in some methods, I really feel prefer it has a compounding impact with that point. And so a means through which we’re studying or taking a look at this extra tangibly past adoption, is taking a look at somebody who’s new. We’ve, like I mentioned in manufacturing, you’ll have a fancy product the place it takes some time to study that product and change into a seasoned gross sales skilled. And so how can we take that ramp-up time and reduce it in order that they’ve extra alternative from being new to being that seasoned skilled? Actually that’s how we’re taking a look at leveraging Highspot.
SS: That’s unbelievable. Final query for you, Donny: what recommendation would you’ve got for different manufacturing firms which can be contemplating investing in an enablement platform?
DM: Yeah the very first thing that involves thoughts is plan, and it’s good to have a look at what you want. There’s a lot. I’m positive when you’re listening to this, you’re like, “I most likely have a number of complexities in my enterprise” and taking that, and all of the various things that occur in manufacturing: making that product, and going via the entire cycle, all of the departments which can be concerned – like I spoke to earlier – and all of the content material that you’ve got, the ways in which content material is made and taking a look at how all of that impacts the entrance finish of your online business. And to get all of that, it takes a number of planning, and it actually takes you time to get to that time the place you go, okay, what’s our single supply of reality? What’s going to assist us whether or not it’s promote extra, do extra, much less time, extra time, or no matter it’s you’re attempting to work in direction of and to me, Highspot does a extremely good job. The service group does a extremely good job of serving to you propose, however the extra you do this upfront and have a look at your targets. And what it’s good to get out of an enablement program, I feel is simply going that will help you have success with it. The opposite recommendation I might give is simply round taking a look at your CRM cloud companies that you simply hook up with and taking a look at a product that does minimize out complexities.
Having an LMS and a content material administration system, what I’ve seen is, you want each, proper? As a result of for what we work with, it’s good to study it as a brand new worker, however then you definitely additionally have to know, “what’s that, after I want it?”. If my product is complicated and I take care of one thing annually, I want to have the ability to return and discover it, which is the content material administration aspect.
The primary a part of studying it, and going via a path of studying and understanding it’s a part of it. And having these two issues along with among the different capabilities that Highspot permits, and dealing seamlessly along with your front-end answer, like your CRM platform is to me, the recommendation I might give when it comes to taking a look at it’s: plan these issues out and see if there’s success there probably for your online business.
SS: Improbable recommendation, Donnie. Thanks a lot for becoming a member of us in the present day, I actually respect it.
DM: You guess. Thanks, Shawnna.
SS: To our viewers, thanks for listening to this episode of the Win podcast. Make sure you tune in subsequent time for extra insights on how one can maximize enablement success with Highspot.
