Business Problem
VersionOne offers its software development project management tools through a sales organization of now 26 people, including sales representatives, product specialists, sales operations and executives. Early in 2008, VersionOne had several sales challenges which it sought to overcome by implementing CustomerCentric Selling®. For example, the sales organization needed a process for ramping up new sales people quickly to reduce the time from hire to first sale. The sales team sought a common language or way to effectively describe capabilities. Additionally, they needed a best practice to adequately process inbound requests from prospects. VersionOne also wanted to address the following concerns:
· How do we adequately train and coach our existing and new sales force when we are running around growing the business?
· If we are going to grow personnel and sales, we need to codify our best practices and learn how to repeat them and coach them. When are we going to do that?
· Are we saying the right things at the appropriate time in the sales or recruitment process?
· Many of our leads are inbound, so they are either already looking at someone else like us or we are the first on a list – how do we distinguish ourselves and conduct appropriate discussions?
· How well are we tracking our opportunities?
Solving these
combined challenges would directly impact VersionOne’s revenue potential.
The CustomerCentric
Selling® Solution
VersionOne’s sales and marketing team began working with Adam Shapiro, CustomerCentric Selling® (CCS) Business Partner in February of 2008 by building an initial sales-ready messaging kit of scripts, success stories and conversation prompters. Later, they held three CCS workshops, the last in September of 2008, all led by Shapiro. With Adam’s help and the CCS methodology, VersionOne immediately saw positive results.
The sales people were able to arm themselves with messaging tools that they could then utilize throughout each step of the sales process. These tools are especially helpful in knowing how to effectively qualify or disqualify a prospect early in the process. CustomerCentric Selling® was also able to help VersionOne define a common language for how they can discuss opportunities as an organization. Most importantly, the new methodology helped VersionOne create a process for working through opportunities that honors what buyers need in order to make a purchasing decision, while also setting them apart from competitors. The net results of this CustomerCentric Selling® implementation have been remarkable – VersionOne more than doubled its sales in 2008 over 2007.
Richard Fuller, Vice President of Sales for VersionOne states, “Demand
for our products were clearly ahead of our sales capacity prior to
CustomerCentric Selling® (CCS). We
needed a process that recognized the value of consistent messaging, the demands
of a consultative sale and the realization that our buyers are well-educated
and well-informed. With CCS, we
received all of this in a highly effective, repeatable process that helped us
quadruple our sales team in less than one year.”
VersionOne CEO, Robert Holler also credits the hands-on guidance they received throughout their implementation by stating, “Adam is one of the few I have met with truly exceptional insight into sales messaging and the sales process. As we scale, it is beneficial to have someone to turn to for assistance with training and messaging. We subscribe to the CustomerCentric Selling® sales methodology and Adam just happens to be one of the best I have seen at helping teams reach their potential through the associated best practices.”
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“The CustomerCentric Selling® methodology drives a much more collaborative experience between sales and marketing. It definitely gets you 180 degrees away from selling on price and into consulting with customers on solutions to their issues or challenges that match up with the key strengths of our product. The methodology helps you clearly articulate and deliver your value proposition to the customer.”
–Denise Grey, VP of
Marketing for VersionOne
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Customer Closeup
VersionOne is recognized by Agile
practitioners as the leader in Agile project management tools. By
simplifying the process of planning and tracking Agile software projects,
VersionOne helps development teams consistently deliver software faster. Since 2002, companies such as Adobe,
BBC, Siemens, Disney, Dow Chemical, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Sony, 3M and Business
Objects have turned to VersionOne to help provide greater value to their
customers. Today more than 10,000 teams and 70,000 users in 50 countries
use VersionOne’s Agile project management tools to streamline and standardize
their Agile development efforts.
VersionOne offers the most feature-rich, easy-to-use Agile project
management tools available. No other Agile project management tool gives
more visibility into and confidence in the software development process.
Using VersionOne, all project stakeholders – project managers, developers, testers, product owners, customers and software executives - can work together to easily coordinate project plans, priorities and progress.
More information on VersionOne can be found at www.versionone.com
