It’s approaching year-end, and the looming difficult conversation about your underwhelming adjusted forecast is causing quite a bit of stress. Indeed, the “It will be better next quarter” line has become very old and doesn’t bode well for future growth.
Your optimistic good self has smacked you in the face. You hear about an RFP to get into a new market. You are still goosed, as you have to get past the budget-wary CFO who expects unrealistic growth expectations without additional investment. Sound familiar?
Today’s fast-paced advancements in technology are creating endless opportunities for businesses, but the most overplayed phrase is 'digital transformation'. How do you take advantage of this and sell into the new digitally transformed world?
Traditionally, businesses that wanted to scale would simply increase the size of its field sales teams. However this was an expensive option and, from a timing perspective, takes far too long for a salesperson to be productive within the tight timelines you need to drive results.
Companies will rush to offer you low cost 'warm bodies', which translate into unskilled, inexperienced reps who have no knowledge of your product or technology environment
The world is accelerating towards the adoption of new sales models. The fastest growing model is digital inside sales, but it is also the one with way too many 'wannabe' players. These companies will rush to offer you low cost ‘warm bodies'. This usually translates into unskilled, inexperienced reps who have no knowledge of your product or technology environment, nor insights into your business, no best-in-class sales processes, and offer all of the above with archaic pricing models. If you really want a laugh, some of these companies even offer ‘FTE calculators’ online. Just type in a quota number you want to hit, and the calculator will miraculously tell you how many reps you need. Brilliant, right? Not quite.
Bottom line: you need to hit your numbers and you need to do it fast. But where do you start? This is where ServiceSource comes in.
Start with digital
First, in the world of digital sales you have to start with digital. Simply put, if your potential partner is not starting the conversation with the technological capabilities they can provide, they are not the right partner.
One of the main issues issues in driving sales is having the right tools to give you insights to your business. Insights that tell you why you are not driving the right close rates, or have the wrong pricing models, or how you stack up against the competition and industry benchmarks. How can you possibly expect growth without the right data, analytical capacity to interpret the data, or the platform to make it all seamless?
ServiceSource has a commitment to its clients to drive the outcomes they need for their business – not merely selling FTE’s. The company provides a complete solution for the entire “customer journey experience,” encompassing technology, people and processes on a subscription basis. ServiceSource is the undisputed global leader in this space. Leveraging its PRISM and A.I. technologies, it gleans insights for customers and secures more than $9 billion in revenue on their behalf with over 3,000 sales representatives speaking over 45 languages in 170 countries.
Customer success is all about keeping in touch with the customer at every stage of their journey experience. A journey that doesn't just start and end with sales
ServiceSource is an ideal gateway to build a footprint into EMEA and APJ, negating the need to spend resources upfront in order to scale reach internationally.
Mike Naughton, President of ServiceSource for EMEA and APJ regions, firmly believes in building long term client relationships. “Customer success is all about keeping in touch with the customer at every stage of their journey experience. A journey that doesn’t just start and end with sales. A journey from prospect, to engagement, to sales closing, onboarding and driving success, all the way to ultimately retaining and growing the customer. It is an experience that should be rich, seamless and rewarding. Over the course of two decades, ServiceSource has been a pioneer leading the world’s most iconic B2B brands on the path to growth. Our aim is not just revenue retention and generation – we help our clients grow closer to their customers.”
Find, convert, grow and retain
Across multi-disciplinary verticals of Cloud, Software, Hardware, Medical Technology and Industrial IoT, ServiceSource applies a 'Find, Convert, Grow and Retain' methodology to drive business growth for clients. This methodology is the engine that allows it to drive a value proposition of revenue retention, customer success and digital inside sales.
The advent of cloud technology has changed the business playing field completely, and the need for a monolithic distribution network has been removed. Everything is now authenticated in the cloud, and the enterprise world is quickly moving towards subscription-based pricing models.
However, organisations still need to maintain a robust sales function even if the distribution network is no longer a major factor.
The Predictive Relationship Intelligence and Sales Management (PRISM) platform brings the world of science to sales providing the best possible client experience and heling clients to grow
Customer Success and Digital Inside Sales is how businesses can digitally transform and seamlessly make this transition. Accelerating revenue growth, reducing customer acquisition and retention costs and improving the customer journey and lifetime value are also key aspects of that proposition.
Naughton is a firm believer in the power of inside sales to transform. “Today the global spend on B2B business is approximately $260 billion, but only $2 billion of that spend is currently outsourced. Our addressable market is significant, and as a clear market leader we have a very exciting opportunity to help more clients grow their operations and reach whilst at the same time reducing their operating costs.”
ServiceSource prides itself on delivering value and actionable business insights for clients by using the latest technologies, combining data analytics, business intelligence and proven knowledge management platforms with its wealth of inside sales and customer success experience. The company's Predictive Relationship Intelligence and Sales Management (PRISM) platform brings the world of science to sales, enabling its customer success and inside sales teams to provide the best possible client experience and help clients grow.
Naughton believes that “with the onset of machine learning and AI technology, ServiceSource is well placed to continue to grow in the market place and continue to be the leader in outsourced B2B sales.”
Interested in how ServiceSource can help your business quickly scale revenue growth and provide a better customer journey experience? Reach out today