Analysis from McKinsey discovered that solely 22% of recent companies launched previously ten years have efficiently scaled. So, how are you going to efficiently scale with enablement?
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 traits within the office and methods to navigate them efficiently. Right here to debate this subject is Gracey Cantalupo, chief advertising officer at MentorcliQ, Inc. Thanks for becoming a member of, Gracey! I’d love so that you can inform us about your self, your background, and your function.
Gracey Cantalupo: Thanks a lot for having me, Shawnna. I like this subject and I like serving to different advertising leaders perceive methods to handle their content material, allow their gross sales crew, and in the end assist us all get extra income and assist us scale.
As you mentioned, my title is Gracey Cantalupo. I’ve been in advertising for over 15 years. Some B2C, some B2B, so I’ve had each. I’ve been at startups and I’ve been at giant firms as effectively. I’ve been within the magnificence business, leisure, industrial actual property, and now SaaS, Software program as a Service. All this expertise offers me a really distinctive perspective. I like infusing all of the enjoyable from my B2C days at MTV and Viacom with the results-driven B2B expertise of my SaaS roles. I actually attempt to create a human-to-human method to advertising, in order that it’s efficient and in addition enjoyable as a result of, on the finish of the day, we’re advertising to people.
In my function as CMO at MentorcliQ, we assist make worker mentoring and ERG administration straightforward for enterprise firms. We assist workers at these firms develop their careers, hone their craft, and develop a group at work. We imagine that each worker deserves an ideal mentor to assist them thrive of their profession and to assist them discover group and belonging of their office. I get to infuse all of that enjoyable and helpfulness from my B2C days to assist enterprises make a greater office expertise.
SS: That’s implausible. I like the mission of what you guys are attempting to do there. Now, I wish to focus just a little bit on enablement. Pondering again to if you have been first evaluating enablement platforms, what have been a few of the key causes you chose Highspot, particularly compared to your current resolution and possibly different platforms that you simply evaluated?
GC: Completely. At MentorcliQ, we didn’t have a complete advertising tech stack once I joined. I joined MentorcliQ six years in the past, so I used to be capable of see rather a lot and assist the crew construct out lots of issues. When it turned time for us to search for a gross sales enablement resolution, it actually got here down to 3 issues.
Primary, is that this going to be straightforward for our reps? Nice salespeople are lazy and we wish to be sure it’s as straightforward as potential for them or else they gained’t use it. We additionally needed to verify it was straightforward for prospects and purchasers as effectively. We didn’t wish to must do a password or make them signal into LinkedIn. We needed to make it very easy for them to see our content material.
Subsequent, we needed to verify we may observe what the gross sales crew was utilizing and what the prospects have been taking a look at. Final, however definitely not least, we would have liked some dang model management. I imply, we had some reps that, I swear, should have damaged into an outdated storage unit, scanned outdated ass PDFs of actually unhealthy content material, and we would have liked to make that cease for positive. Making it straightforward, monitoring what’s getting used, and model management have been actually the three issues we have been on the lookout for.
SS: I like that. And I’ve undoubtedly lived via these experiences. Now, if you have been first rolling out Highspot, your gross sales crew was additionally within the midst of almost doubling in measurement. Are you able to inform us just a little bit extra about how implementing Highspot helped you navigate that change whilst you have been additionally scaling?
GC: I began MentorcliQ once more, six years in the past, they have been a couple of years in. They’d an ideal product advertising match they usually have been trying to scale and over time, the gross sales crew grew from founder promoting to actual enterprise B2B SaaS salespeople promoting. They want construction. They’ll’t simply determine it out. They’re used to assets, they’re used to playbooks, they usually’re used to having a course of and a gross sales methodology in place for them to execute flawlessly. We simply didn’t have that.
Consistency ended up being the important thing for us to assist us get these reps onboarded as shortly as potential and Highspot was so nice for that. We have been capable of begin to construct that blueprint of a playbook. Within the first name, you do your discovery, and also you ship this Highspot pitch with this content material. Cool. Within the second name, you do your demo, you ship this follow-up. Okay, the third name, after you do your proposal, you ship this content material.
We actually formulated it out for them and helped them be constant. That was the important thing to having the ability to scale whereas we have been launching this gross sales enablement program, and in addition whereas we have been rising our crew on the similar time.
SS: I like that. That’s implausible. Not solely have been you guys scaling whilst you carried out Highspot, however you additionally had a extremely quick implementation. How did you make sure that you have been capable of each implement shortly and successfully?
GC: That is what we name a compelling occasion, or in our case, a number of compelling occasions. Sensible Hyperlinks, which was a product by Gross sales Navigator, was being sundown and it was imagined to be sundown in January of that yr. We needed to verify there wasn’t an enormous hole for our gross sales reps, and we had offers which may’ve began in This fall, however aren’t going to shut till Q1 or Q2. We needed to verify there was a easy transition there. So an enormous, compelling occasion there.
The second massive, compelling occasion is This fall. For many firms and B2B SaaS, This fall is large, and we didn’t wish to distract our salespeople. These two compelling occasions actually motivated us to maneuver shortly and make it as straightforward as potential for the gross sales people.
SS: Now you’ve already seen some nice outcomes since implementation. I believe you guys are at about 86 p.c recurring utilization of the Highspot platform. What finest practices are you able to share that helped you drive such excessive adoption from the onset?
GC: There are actually two keys for us. Primary, once more, is making it straightforward for reps. Our reps are engaged on offers in numerous phases. They’re getting new offers coming within the door on a regular basis. We simply have to make it straightforward, plug and play. Like I mentioned, nice gross sales reps are sort of lazy so we would have liked to guarantee that this was very straightforward for them.
One of many issues I actually cherished about Highspot is its integration with Salesforce and inside Gmail. It simply made it very easy for the salespeople to make use of it in their very own circulation of labor. I believe I’m really stealing that from the gross sales pitch from Highspot, however that basically resonated with me to get the salespeople to undertake it. It simply wanted to be the place they already have been. I didn’t wish to ship them to a different place. It’s proper there for them and Salesforce, all of the actions in Salesforce, and in addition there’s that plugin for them in Gmail, they will seize a pitch and ship it instantly. So primary is simply to make it straightforward to your reps.
Quantity two, it’s a repeatable, very clear course of. After the primary assembly, ship this pitch. After the second assembly, you get a demo, you add this content material to the identical pitch. That additionally makes it straightforward to your prospects and your purchasers. They’re simply going again to 1 hyperlink and one pitch and that’s the place the magic actually occurs. How do you make it straightforward? It’s a repeatable course of and our prospects really love our Highspot pitches they usually touch upon it on a regular basis as effectively.
SS: On that very observe, one other space the place you guys have seen wonderful adoption is leveraging Highspot to interact patrons, as you mentioned, and also you guys are at an 80 p.c pitch adoption fee. How are your groups extra successfully partaking patrons with Highspot?
GC: They ship it they usually maintain sending the prospects again to the Highspot pitch. I hear our reps on the cellphone, oh yeah, so I’m going so as to add it to the hyperlink I despatched after our first name in order that’ll be there for you if you want it. The proposal shall be proper there. All the things you want is true there. That basically makes it straightforward for the prospect has be tremendous useful.
The opposite factor, I believe, that has been useful for the gross sales crew specifically, is that they get notified anytime anybody engages with a pitch. Perhaps that deal went chilly. Perhaps that deal ghosted us, or they mentioned, oh, it’s budgeting season, I’ll come again to you after we get our funds numbers in This fall. The gross sales reps can see folks partaking with the Highspot pitch and that’s flag for them to achieve out early and see if they are often useful. That has actually helped the salespeople undertake it not solely within the entrance finish of the gross sales course of however utilizing it as a device to do well timed engagement again out to prospects which have gone chilly in the event that they’re partaking with Highspots pitches.
SS: I like that method. Now, your group additionally just lately launched a brand new product for a brand new purchaser kind, so getting your reps on top of things was important to partaking these new patrons. Are you able to inform us the way you have been capable of certify your reps to promote this new product utilizing Highspot?
GC: We acquired an organization referred to as Diversed. That’s our ERG administration platform. We wanted to shortly prepare our reps and ensure they understood what the product did, what the worth proposition is, and what’s the mixed worth proposition of MentorcliQ and ERGs.
Most worker useful resource teams have mentoring occurring organically. Let’s bridge these two issues collectively and provide mentoring to these ERGs in addition to easy administration. For them to know shortly the mixed worth proposition and the way it labored was key.
We did coaching on that and we had our reps get licensed. They really needed to go a check do an interview and talk the worth prop again to sure senior leaders within the firm. This was all tracked in Highspot utilizing all the pitches we constructed for Diversed in addition to all of the content material. To make it simpler for reps, the entire Highspot occasion of ours was constructed with spots, which we sort of consider them not as file folders, however as isles of content material you possibly can stroll down. We’ve got a particular spot for Various, which is our new product. We make it very easy for the reps. They don’t have to hunt round within the product options and capabilities downside options or any of the client tales. Something associated to that new product is in a single singular spot, one content material aisle they get to stroll down. That additionally made it very easy for the reps to shortly go in, seize content material, or create a pitch that’s particular to Diversed and ship that out as effectively.
They didn’t get entry to that content material, although, till they handed the certification, which was a cool a part of it. We had it locked till they handed after which they acquired entry.
SS: I like that. Use that as an incentive to get them to get via that. That’s implausible. Simply shifting gears just a little bit, what metrics or key Highspot to sort of actually optimize lots of these applications you’re operating?
GC: I’ve been in advertising my entire profession. I began as a graphic designer. I labored for plenty of completely different firms, and whether or not it was an actual property firm, a magnificence firm, or actuality TV, MTV, there was by no means sufficient content material. Gross sales groups at all times need extra content material. They’re a bottomless pit of want. They at all times assume their prospect wants this factor and their want is particular. If it really works for them, then everybody ought to have the factor.
This listing is large, proper? There are by no means sufficient assets and there’s by no means sufficient time to supply all the asks that gross sales assume are actually vital. The factor that I like a lot about Highspot is it lets us observe what’s really getting used, what’s really being engaged with by the prospects, and what’s really influencing income. That influenced income metric was a sport changer for us after our first yr of utilizing Highspot.
What we did is we appeared on the affect income report, after which I narrowed it all the way down to, okay, there are 5 key items of content material which might be influencing essentially the most income. It’s our demo spotlight video, it’s our one pager, we’ve acquired a spotlight deck, there’s this one consumer testimonial montage, after which we’ve acquired this one very highly effective mentoring influence report that talks about mentoring and the Fortune 500. It’s these 5. So, don’t F these 5 up was what I got here again with.
It’s like, okay, these must be good. We’re going to evaluation them each quarter. We’re going to verify they’re updated. We’re going to verify these are wonderful as a result of these are what’s driving essentially the most influence. You don’t have to get all the pieces good, however that helps us deal with the highest 5 most impactful items, be sure they’re glitzy, be sure they’re shiny and ensure they’re getting used.
Certain, there are going to be one-off requests or somebody’s going to wish a selected case research for one deal they’re attempting to shut. It gained’t kill these requests, however it does assist you to slim these requests to a really manageable 5 that our crew can deal with. That’s been the sport changer for us, is the deal with the highest 5 and the way that influences income.
SS: Fantastic. Final query for you, Gracey. Simply as a advertising chief, what has been the influence of Highspot in your high enterprise priorities? Do you have got any wins or key outcomes you possibly can share?
GC: I’m a designer at coronary heart. That’s how I began as a graphic designer. I like how versatile the pitches are. I’ve a graphic designer on my crew, so I’m very fortunate in that respect. One of many issues that we’ve been capable of do is not only have a PDF connected to an e-mail that goes to a prospect, however you possibly can design this attractive pitch that has your branding on it, it has your messaging and that’s not simply within the header.
In every part, we will sort of wrap our messaging into the background of the pitch in order that there’s nice context round all the nice content material, sort of like a pleasant contextual hug round all of that nice content material that we produce. That’s been extraordinarily impactful from a branding perspective and set us aside out there.
Generally folks simply open that factor they usually would possibly see that messaging again and again. Perhaps they don’t go to web page 5 and your slide deck the place you want at all times hit on these messaging factors. For me, it’s been wrapping all of that messaging and that worth advert into the precise pitch itself. I really imagine it helps us develop into the seller of selection quicker as a result of we’ve acquired that branding alternative.
So for me, it’s having that model management, having the ability to get throughout that messaging, in addition to the factor we talked about earlier, which is having the ability to observe not content material that I’m in love with, or that the salespeople are in love with, however the content material that really influences the income. These two issues have been essentially the most impactful for us.
SS: I like listening to that. Gracey, thanks a lot for becoming a member of us right now.
GC: Completely. Thanks.
SS: To our viewers. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Win Win podcast. Make sure to tune in subsequent time for extra insights on how one can maximize enablement success with Highspot.
