Informatica Project Rightsize Strategy to Revenue Marketing Case Study
Screen shots of video presenter and interviews Business Needs Informatica is a large organization born out of a number of strategic acquisitions. With each of those acquisitions, the company has gained a new set of tools, sales methodologies and product offerings. The growth of Informatica s solution portfolio and the complexity of the team who sells it demanded a level of coordination supported by a repeatable / standardized sales process, with common tools and language to provide focus, and to leverage the efforts of the extended team effectively. This remains critical for managing new business opportunities and imperative for effective account and territory management and planning. Before the start of this sales enablement project Project Right Size - our field sales reps had multiple tools and methods, all used in silos with a specific Sales Team. Although, as a company, Informatica had made a considerable investment over several years in a standard sales methodology with InfoMentis, there was no reinforcement. We also lacked an easy-to-use set of automated tools to drive adoption consistently. Sales Teams viewed using the standards as more work that impeded their ability to just get out there and sell. We knew that if we could just get them to use the tools, they would soon see the benefits of greater efficiency and their quota achievement. To achieve the objective of operational excellence to drive revenue, we had to develop the infrastructure. We, as the Enablement Team, needed different programs to train new hires on the sales process and tools, while continuing to reinforce adoption from existing employees. Problems we needed to address: Zero automation which led to High Effort / Low Value (PPT, Excel, Visio) Difficult to see holes in deals to appropriately allocate resources Too many deals slipped or lost to no decision needed better visibility into when to get out of bad deals Team lacked coordination, inefficient use of time Managers had limited time / tools to coach, and the coaching quality was inconsistent Inconsistent inspection, poor accountability Low adoption / ROI from investments made in methodology (InfoMentis, Top SC) Opportunity for Improvement: Right-sizing Effort to Value Ratio Provide consistency with flexibility automated NEW Opportunity Lifecycle into SFDC Gain insight quickly with a plan to overcome risks Focus on outcomes rather than activities 2 Informatica Case Study l Brandon Hall Winner 2013
Address labor intensiveness Providing collaborative integration and automation (Revegy) integration of tools and the sales process into the CRM system meant that the Sales Reps saw a streamlining of efforts Address individual and team value Shifting focus from mechanics to rich assessment of where we are in the deal and account visual components were key to our success Effectively managing Deal Team communication and impact Managerial inspection of what is expected Leverage the tools, and the information they reveal, to accelerate predictable account development and deal progression Drive adoption and usage of previous investments in InfoMentis and TOP-SC Almost $3 MM cumulative investment to date that had not yielded expected return Overview The Informatica Goal The project was internally named Project Rightsize taking all of our many processes and disparate tools and tailoring them to work for Informatica. Project Rightsize was fundamentally about: 1. Improving FORECAST ACCURACY 2. Increasing the SALES PIPELINE 3. Increasing the DEAL SIZE of those opportunities in the pipeline 4. Improving the CONVERSION/WIN RATE In addition to the above Project, Rightsize needed to support the GTM 3.0 strategy, improve Sales Rep performance and drive deeper account penetration. We started with Opportunity Management the deals. This required us to define ONE process and create automated / integrated tools that worked for us to drive operational excellence and provide something that the field would see value in, rather than just a management tool. We needed to illustrate a win for the Sales Team in order to achieve real adoption. We also knew that the rollout was multi-faceted to overcome the change management issues and our Big Rollout approach was key to success. Opportunity Management, Big Rollout at Sales Kick-Off 2012 Goals: Educate, Excite and Inspire A large population of our field had been trained on concepts around the InfoMentis and/ or Top SC methodology. We needed to re-train / train the entire field and sales support (including marketing) on the new Informatica Sales Process (Opportunity Lifecycle). This was internally designed and owned by key sales stakeholders and aligned our Sales Process to the customer s buying procedures, basing progress on customer verified outcome versus activities by the Sales Reps. We were also introducing the new integrated sales automation tools from Revegy, which we internally branded INsight, as part of our CRM (SFDC) and was essentially a new tool to 95% of our audience. Most importantly, we had to excite the Sales Reps we needed to be sure that they were seeing the value in the tools and really understood the benefits. We brought in Strategy to Revenue to help us make our Sales Kick-Off different and memorable and to ensure that the Sales Team left feeling not just educated, but also inspired and motivated. THE STR SOLUTION We had to touch everyone (new or refresh) with the NEW and Improved Opportunity Lifecycle as it was NEW to everyone at that point, with the exception of the pilot group of approximately 80 people. We had 700 participants at our Sales Kick-Off meeting for the project launch. Participants were across three ballrooms but everyone needed to hear a consistent message, vision, goals and inspiration from the Executive Team, along with interactive exercises to apply the NEW tools to the existing foundation of skills and concepts utilized from our hybrid result of best of the best practices in the industry. To achieve these goals, we hired Strategy to Revenue to bring the technology that would allow us to deliver these consistent messages on-demand, but still have them feel as fresh and exciting as a live presenter. We needed to be sure that our delivery method was engaging and kept the interest of the Sales Reps which was no easy job. Strategy to Revenue designed and developed a 3.5 hour highly interactive, multimedia package called a POWERsession, a high touch experience for Sales, Pre- Sales, Channel Partners and Managers attending the Sales Kick-Off (SKO). The award winning POWERsession offered a different and new approach to motivate, equip and mobilize Global Sales Teams either attending a Sales Kick-Off meeting or dispersed around the world. The POWERsession is a rich content, Flash -driven, sales effectiveness workshop. This POWERsession was led by Informatica Enablement Facilitators who received a complete multimedia toolkit package including: a Flash rich media interactive onscreen presentation; presenter-led video interviews of Informatica Executives and SME s, team activities and exercises, a custom case study developed around Informatica 3 Informatica Case Study l Brandon Hall Winner 2013
Screen shots of sales activities Solutions and a comprehensive INFORMATICA SKO 2012 Leader Guide to help the Informatics Facilitators prepare and run the INFORMATIC SKO 2012 POWERsession. Use < and > arrows to move forward and back, M to see menu and Spacebar to play videos). At the end of the SKO session, the participants were able to understand the: 1. Purpose, key elements and value of Project Rightsize 2. The stages of the Opportunity Lifecycle with the milestones and verifiable outcomes 3. INsight / Revegy tools, activities, and roles to support achievement of the verifiable outcomes 4. Governance rules to support the Opportunity Lifecycle SKO Session Content Overview The high level structure for the SKO session was as follows: Introduction to Project Rightsize What and Why Rightsize Process, Tools, Skills INsight as part of Rightsize Opportunity Management The NEW Informatica Sales Process Why and what it means to you? The Opportunity Lifecycle Key concepts Overview of the stages, milestones, and verifiable outcomes Alignment to the customer buying stage as the deal progresses Stage by stage breakdown Tools / Activities / Roles to support achievement of the verifiable outcomes Best practice Execution Workshop activity based on scenario to support key learning points and best practice Share success stories input from pilot users on outcomes and impacts Governance Guidelines for use of the INsight tools at what stage, for which deals, by whom in the Deal Team Demonstrate the process with the tools (i.e. start an influence map in qualify, continue to build out through discovery, validate with the Coach) Opportunity Reviews Expect what management will inspect Summary and Close Plan for deployment in 2012 4 Informatica Case Study l Brandon Hall Winner 2013
Change Management We had some critics who had experienced failed versions of unified sales methodologies previously - both at Informatica and other companies. So, we had to sell them to be sure that they didn t perceive the rollout as more work. There was also an element of cultural / behavioral change and that s a hard nut to crack. Details below describe what we did to overcome the change management issues. Overall: We spent 15 months conducting deep discovery to understand issues, build requirements, design a new process, evaluate and secure tools, enhance tools to connect process to tools within CRM, conduct pilots, gather feedback and adjust plans. We conducted a soft launch, and built learning assets to be ready for a company-wide announcement and rollout. More specifics: We began the project with our own discovery. We took two months and surveyed the field sales, sales management, pre-sales, across North America, EMEA and APJ. We gathered from each region, what worked and what did not work, in terms of processes, tools, culture and overall behavior. We also uncovered the impact of having disparate and disjoined sales processes. We identified the business issues outlined in the feedback from the field surveys. We presented to sales management to get support to fix it (Jan, 2011). We knew that we had to refine our sales process (multiple processes in reality). We had expertise within our company to create an outcome-based sales process that is aligned to the buyer. Although somewhat innovative in concept, we were certainly leading edge in our approach to make it real and part of our DNA and corporate culture. In order to address the change management issues, we organized a worldwide Field Design Team and spent months designing our overall sales processes for managing opportunities (the Opportunity Lifecycle) it took a long time to gain consensus across the globe, across the various sales roles (Sales, Pre-Sales, Services, Alliances, Marketing) and up and down the management chain. We secured funding for the next phase, which involved designing a formal process and obtaining the tools necessary to reinforce it. We evaluated tools to support us and customized them to work for our unique sales process and our customized SFDC instance. It was critical that we secured a provider who was willing to do as much customization as we needed while we used InfoMentis as our sales methodology, we had made several changes that resulted in a unique solution for Informatica, as it was key that the tools in the field used Informatica s language, steps and processes. We selected Revegy but branded the product as INsight internally. Revegy provided the customizations that we needed, we didn t have to fit our process to their tools, but rather they made sure that their tools were a perfect fit for the way our field would be selling. We felt confident that sales would WANT to use Revegy because it provided them with an entirely new way to visualize their deals. INsight for Opportunity Management (example) A limited pilot was rolled out across the globe representing different roles, verticals and geographies. We had a resounding success and measured and documented this feedback to reinforce the major rollout. (May July) 5 Informatica Case Study l Brandon Hall Winner 2013
We briefed all of our Sales Management Team (July, 2011) on the success, and gained momentum to do a full rollout. Our team received a standing ovation on progress and developed a business case for the additional funding that would be necessary for the company-wide launch, i.e. additional software licenses for 700 users, further customization to software, enablement program and assets to support rollout. Our soft launch of 80 users came purely out of the demand and excitement that we had generated in discussions about the tools. We trained users, provided support, captured feedback, and made adjustments to software in order to prepare for a successful wider rollout. One of the most important discoveries we made during the soft launch was the need to marry process and tools, so during this time we built a playbook / landing page in the Revegy software to help sales score their deals based on outcomes with the customer to drive alignment, progression and minimize risks. Revegy provided a visual roadmap of the deal, and links to the other tools, which provided more details around the deal s people, issues, process for evaluation, competitive landscape, strategy and supporting tactics to drive progress and preference. Part of the plan for rollout included testimonials from those who participated in pilot / soft launch to help overcome any attitude and to drive enthusiasm. The comments were captured on video and in slides to promote and sell the field that this was not just another sales process being force-fed to them so that management could keep tabs on their deals - this tool had obvious benefits. We also leveraged those who took part in the soft launch to be catalysts during the rollout and to help serve as Coaches across the 700 person sales organization. We scheduled multiple briefings with sales management around the globe to educate them on what we were doing and educate them on the process and tools, prior to Sales Kick-Off 2012. We paid special attention to First Line Managers since we knew that they would be critical to driving operational discipline. We planned for a manager-specific program during the rollout to educate and motivate them to drive success. We knew that the momentum and excitement would go up the food chain from there. Measureable Benefits Benefits: Improved Sales Forecast Accuracy and Predictability Increased Win Rate / Conversion Rate Increased Deal Size / Average Selling Price Increased Manager Coaching Time and Effectiveness Increased Engaged Selling Time We are now seeing our desired goal of consistency in inspection by sales management provided by the process / tools embedded within SFDC. Sales Managers and Teams are particularly fond of the Influence Maps, Landing Page, Joint Evaluation Plan and BMANTR (added post-rollout to support requirements of new sales leadership relative to forecast ability). The user base for Revegy (the tools) has surpassed 900, with many more wanting access. 6 Informatica Case Study l Brandon Hall Winner 2013
Feedback from the field It helps me see the holes in my deal, plain and simple. Many new hires continually tell us these are the best, simplest, and most integrated / automated set of tools and processes they have EVER seen. And, they come from companies such as IBM, SAP, CA, Oracle. What a great way to collaborate as a team! We have also experienced many changes in sales management the process, methodology and tools have withstood all the changes and have actually been updated to reflect requirements from new leadership and promoted by them to drive adoption / success. For instance, we have modified a section of tools to incorporate BMANTR to aid in forecasting types of discussions. We have added elements from our Alliances Group and extended this to other customer facing roles as well as the marketing organization. Feedback from Management The results of this initiative can summarized with the word consistency. This applies to how we review deals, what tools we use to view/discuss the deal (at all levels within management and sales team) and the language we use to discuss strategies and tactics. This drives efficiency and effectiveness, allowing virtual/global teams to quickly see potential risks and collaborate on effective actions to overcome. The result is more accurate forecasts due to our increased operational discipline, which results in revenue, period. Julie Rhodes Director of Sales Performance 7 Informatica Case Study l Brandon Hall Winner 2013