Shawnna Sumaoang: Hello, and welcome to the Win Win podcast. I’m your host, Shawnna Sumaoang. Be part of us as we dive into altering tendencies within the office and the right way to navigate them efficiently.

Right here to debate this matter is Kate Shearer, the senior supervisor of gross sales enablement at Antech Diagnostics. Thanks for becoming a member of us, Kate. I’d love so that you can inform us about your self, your background, and your function.

Katherine Shearer: Thanks for having me. My title is Kate Shearer, I’m the senior supervisor of gross sales enablement at Antech Diagnostics. We’re a part of Mars World Integrated. I’ve been within the gross sales business for about six years and within the veterinary business for, about 15—I can’t imagine it’s been that lengthy. I oversee gross sales enablement for Antech Diagnostics and we’re made up of about 250 gross sales professionals throughout six or seven specialised gross sales function sorts and assist with enablement for a whole group of about 400 industrial and gross sales professionals. 

SS: I respect you becoming a member of us, Kate. I do know that Antech Diagnostics has had plenty of momentum during the last yr, together with a latest acquisition. How has this development trajectory influenced your enablement technique?

KS: It has been half and parcel of shaping our enablement technique. Our org has simply rocket launched when it comes to development, new function sorts, and totally different departments which were launched all within the final yr. We’ve got needed to be much more considerate, purposeful, [and] strategic about how we talk, how we use our gross sales instruments, and the way we prepare on them.

We was very wild, wild west. We might roll one thing out and prepare on it, talk it because it was occurring, and we have now to be much more planful now that we’re managing a a lot bigger group. [There’s] a steeper studying curve culturally, simply when it comes to what of us have to be taught new traces of enterprise [and] new merchandise in a brand new setting for them to navigate.

We would have liked to earn belief in a short time—we needed to have a single supply of reality and a constant method that we have been speaking and fascinating with the group. 

SS: In your opinion, Kate, what’s the strategic benefit of an enablement platform when navigating change like an acquisition? 

KS: I believe the primary worth that Highspot had for us throughout our acquisition was [it] streamlined communication and a central supply of reality.

There’s a quote: good communication is the bridge between confusion and readability. Highspot was completely that very early on in our integration and acquisition and it has remained that by way of the interval. We in all probability did our firm a bit of little bit of a disservice as a result of it was really easy.

It was one of many first platforms that we built-in that we received our newly acquired firm logged onto and utilizing. So a large quantity of change administration. We have been ready to make use of the platform to make sure that we had constant, clear communication throughout all ranges of the group. We have been capable of actually cut back confusion and misinformation.

And as we had updates, like very important info, we have been capable of talk these in real-time and have them in a repository the place of us might return and reference them. In the event that they miss that communication when it went out initially, we’re additionally ready to make use of Highspot to watch efficiency and get suggestions.

So we have been capable of see our of us logging on. Are they utilizing their gross sales instruments? Are they going by way of the coaching modules? And we have been capable of perceive who was engaged, who wanted assist, the place of us have been lagging behind. Or, the place we would have liked to reassess as an organization the strategic route we have been going and provide extra help to our gross sales professionals.

SS: And earlier than you had Highspot as your enablement platform, you truly leveraged a unique device. What have been a number of the challenges you confronted that led you to make this variation? 

KS: So earlier than we used Highspot, we did use one other platform. Among the challenges we had within the different platform that we have been utilizing have been primarily round simply ballooning of content material.

We have been like hoarders, we needed to maintain each single factor. That made it very tough to navigate [and] for our group to search out the content material they have been in search of. After which once they did discover it, typically it was outdated or there have been duplicative variations of it, and we weren’t actually certain when it was up to date, or who had made it, [or] who had revealed it.

We additionally didn’t have a suggestions mechanism, so we might get all of those emails and questions; how did they discover one thing, or [to]  tell us one thing expired. Simply very handbook, it was only a file folder the place the whole lot was going, and we have been managing plenty of the help of it simply by way of e-mail and dialog, so it turned fairly inefficient to handle.

SS: Positively, sounds prefer it. How have you ever been capable of overcome these challenges and the way have you ever leveraged Highspot to assist? 

KS: So, Highspot’s search function is so good, it’s simply pretty much as good as Google. I used to be so completely satisfied when our gross sales consultant informed us that pre-sales course of, and it’s very true.

So, very completely satisfied about it. The search function we leverage closely, in addition to the ask a query—the AI function. The extra we feed Highspot, the higher info we’re getting out of it, so we have now good ROI the extra we leverage it. Our firm additionally loves synonyms and acronyms, we want an acronym analyst employed at Antech.

The search function has a perform the place you possibly can enter synonyms and acronyms. So if I’ve a rep that’s looking for DOS or the listing or service listing, it’s going to carry up our 2024 listing of service, which is what I do know they’re in search of. So we use that closely and we additionally use the expiration dates on content material.

Every thing will get a one-year expiration date. If it’s not organically up to date simply by way of our typical industrial course of, we have now a pressure of perform for people to put eyes on it and guarantee that it’s getting checked out [and] reviewed. Usually once we do pull it up and we do must assessment it, it’s getting up to date. So it helps us keep accountable that the content material is efficient, updated, and related for the gross sales group. 

SS: So that you’ve seen excessive adoption statistics throughout the board, together with a powerful 91% recurring utilization, which earned you a nomination within the Highspot Impression Awards final yr. What are a few of your finest practices for driving rep adoption?

KS: We are saying this on a regular basis in so many conferences: if it’s not in Highspot, it’s not actual. It’s a rumor and also you don’t hearken to it. So we actually use Highspot as a central supply of reality for our formal, authorized, and authorised info. We’ve got a weekly gross sales bulletin that we ship out each Monday to our industrial group with all of the updates from the final week, and what’s coming the week forward.

All the call-to-action hyperlinks in that hyperlink out to Highspot. So, it’s highlighting all these communications and once more, utilizing Highspot as that repository to memorialize them, however not for too lengthy. We’ve got that expiration date on there, so any person will not be looking it in 5 years and discovering one thing that I’m going to ship tomorrow.

We’ve additionally used Highspot College to assist prepare a few of our gross sales professionals and rise up to hurry as shortly on the right way to use Highspot, particularly for a few of our new consumers. 

SS: I really like that. And also you additionally started leveraging Highspot for coaching and training final yr, and also you’re already seeing 85% energetic learners. What are a few of your finest practices for growing efficient studying packages and the way does Highspot assist? 

KS: So for Highspot, we had used the coaching and training to assign pre-work forward of our nationwide gross sales assembly. We had a really massive product launch focus at our gross sales assembly and we needed to guarantee that of us got here in with some publicity.

They’d time to permeate on a number of the info we have been going to share and had time to apply. We have been capable of assign out pre-work and likewise empower a number of the managers to see [the] progress of their group on their studying path. Highspot was actually the appropriate time for our acquisition. We had an organization that had a unique sort of diagnostics, in-house diagnostics joined with ours, which is Reference Lab, which is a service-based firm.

Highspot was actually good at bridging the information hole and cross-pollinating throughout these teams. In order we went into that assembly everybody had their bearings on what we have been studying about, and what we have been speaking about, and we have been capable of present up for the primary time as a single unified firm.

We additionally use the video function for reflection and suggestions. We’ve got another concepts and different ways in which we’re excited about incorporating that into our coaching and studying course of sooner or later. 

SS: Thrilling. And I do know one other space of innovation that you simply began to discover within the platform is round AI.

How are you leveraging AI to proceed to scale effectivity amongst your groups? 

KS: I’m such a giant proponent of AI. I’ll promote all my info to anybody who needs it if it makes my life simpler. So Highspot has carried out a fantastic job with that. I really like placing in content material, you possibly can hit the generate description button, and it will get 95%, if no more, correct within the description.

Saves me a lot time. Beforehand, we might both depart them clean or put in a fast blurb about what it’s. And the AI descriptions it’s capable of generate are simply a lot extra useful and a lot extra informative. Particularly as we’re rising so shortly and we have now so many new gross sales professionals approaching.

It helps us enhance the standard of the content material that we’re placing in there. We additionally use the ask questions function for coaching and training. Generally our brains get a bit of drained and we’re like, what ought to this quiz query be? We hit the ‘ask a query’ button for the teaching function for it to provide us some query concepts for the educational modules, so we hack that a bit of bit.

Once we have been at our nationwide gross sales assembly, we did a bit of bit of coaching on Highspot and we shared with the gross sales group the right way to use the AI function to write down an introduction e-mail in a pitch, for instance. And each single room, each time I hit that AI button, the entire room went, “Whoa!”

It was such a excessive, it was so good exhibiting them that. So it created plenty of worth and plenty of stickiness so they may proceed to make use of it of their gross sales course of. It helps me from an administrative standpoint, [and] it helps our gross sales reps transfer a bit of extra effectively. Something that’s AI—it’s turned on, I’m utilizing it, and I find it irresistible. 

SS: Now, as you might have expanded and developed your enablement technique, your group has leveraged analytics and Highspot to measure influence. How are you leveraging scorecards and studies to optimize your efforts?

KS: I really like this query. So we only in the near past launched internally with our industrial advertising and marketing group, what we’re calling the content material high quality program. Outdated habits die arduous. We do nonetheless have plenty of content material in Highspot, however we’re attempting to be extra disciplined about it, particularly as we have now the analytics now.

So we are saying, though we’re holding on to this piece, like reps actually aren’t utilizing it, we will sundown it and nobody’s going to be upset. So with our content material high quality program, we’re utilizing the scorecard to accomplice with our product managers, in addition to our advertising and marketing managers to undergo the information of how that is getting used and the way shoppers are partaking with it. [Then] to make choices round if it may be consolidated into one other gross sales device and if it ought to be sundown, developed, [or] what sort of change must occur with the content material.

The analytics are extraordinarily useful there to go in opposition to a few of our assumptions. Perhaps that one thing’s getting used loads or a bit of, and actually exhibits us the sphere actuality of the way it’s being utilized. We even have a plan to show the gross sales managers how they will use the group scorecards to see how their group is performing and utilizing Highspot.

As a result of broadly, we have now actually excessive adoption, after which we’ll have a couple of pockets the place there are of us who don’t use this closely. We wish to assist managers have visibility into how their group makes use of it and see if they’ve any alternatives to shut a studying hole. Perhaps any person wants extra coaching or teaching, and we’re all there to assist with these issues, too. Simply want to assist make them conscious, and the scorecards are useful for that. 

SS: Wonderful. Thanks for these examples, Kate. Final query for you. Wanting forward, how do you propose to proceed to evolve your enablement technique alongside the momentum of your corporation?

KS: That’s an excellent query. It’s a giant one. So, one of many issues on our pipeline—as we’re taking a look at introducing a extra formal gross sales methodology—we’re additionally going to be assessing Digital Gross sales Rooms a bit of bit nearer. We predict these are going to enrich the route we wish to go strategically from a gross sales course of.

We additionally love the function preview pane in Highspot. We dwell in there, we verify it like as soon as every week, and that really conjures up simply the artwork of the attainable. There’s a great way for us to get some conversations going about how we proceed to evolve our technique and never let it get stale as a result of I believe the place we’re proper now, we’re chugging. We’ve got an excellent system going, however I wish to be in love with folks’s issues and ensure we’re constantly speaking about how we maintain doing good.

SS:  I really like that. And that’s the good option to conclude this podcast. Kate, thanks a lot for becoming a member of us. I actually respect your perception.

KS: Thanks for having me, Shawnna.

SS:  To our viewers. 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.