Case Study: INFORMATION & TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Using LinkedIn® to Find New Prospects, Engage with Existing Clients and Obtain Referrals
About the Customer
Carousel Industries is a top technology integrator, managed services, and cloud solutions provider.
Vertical: Information and Technology Services.
Carousel Industries serves more than 6,000 clients including 35 Fortune 100 companies across various industries such as healthcare, government, retail, manufacturing, education, and public safety, among others.
About the Training
Challenge: Sales reps needed to learn how to find, engage, and connect with IT leaders who seek new solutions to their technology needs.
Solutions: Selling with LinkedIn® Training for Teams.
Results: Their sellers experienced immediate results with more LinkedIn® profile views and more connections, which resulted in 15M dollars in sales pipeline in the first 9 months after the training program was completed.
Overview
Carousel Industries engages IT leaders and business leaders who perform extensive research on technological innovations before engaging a sales rep and who expect personalized communication from sellers. Their sales team was still using traditional selling techniques that did not produce the results their sales leaders expected.
For that reason, Carousel Industries engaged Vengreso to deliver the Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams virtual, instructor-led sales training program to teach their reps how to meet the demands of their modern buyer. Carousel Industries received 12-month access to Vengreso’s On-Demand platform, which includes a 15-week training and coaching program with virtual live instruction, online learning and virtual live coaching sessions designed to change the mindset and the behavior of sales teams to create more sales conversations.
Key Results
Average SSI (Social Selling Index) Score Growth.
Above average or better LinkedIn® acumen of sales reps after training.
Developed skills to make them more effective at their job.
Learned how to connect and engage with prospective buyers and clients.
Practiced skills taught during training to reinforce the lessons.
Received a response from a client or prospect during the 15-week training.
Increase in the number of opportunities that leveraged LinkedIn® during the sales process.
$15M
9 months after the training program was competed.
The Company
For more than 25 years, Carousel Industries has been helping IT and business leaders bring more confidence and clarity to their IT decisions. They help clients drive innovation in their business through integrated solutions across a wide range of technologies and services.
With deep expertise across a vast portfolio of technologies, including security, unified communications and collaboration, data center, networking, managed services, and cloud solutions, Carousel Industries can design, implement, and support solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of each customer. By offering professional and managed services with flexible deployments in the cloud, Carousel ensures customers achieve agility and use technologies in the way most effective for their business.
Carousel’s supercharged Customer Success Obsessed mission goes beyond any one function. It’s a mindset, a mantra, and a company-wide drive to bring extreme technology value to Carousel customers—so they can bring unmatched value to theirs.
The Challenge
The Carousel Industries leadership team acknowledged that their buyers are more likely to conduct independent research and engage sales reps later in the buying process. Carousel’s sellers aim to become trusted resources for their clients. They seek a long-term relationship with their clients to guide them through the technological advancements and prepare them for the future, not just sell them a solution for the present.
For that reason, they needed to update their selling techniques and adopt a modern sales approach to prospecting and engaging with customers. Their account executives and sales associates needed to learn how to connect with prospects earlier in the sales process to provide value and establish a relationship built on trust. The sales leaders recognized that social selling techniques would help sellers find, engage, and connect with modern buyers on digital platforms such as LinkedIn®.
In fact, CSO Insights research indicates that companies with a social selling adoption rate of 76% or greater report a win rate of 61.5%. Companies with less than a 25% adoption rate express a win rate of 41.9%. (CSO Insights)
They also recognized the importance of personalization to stand out from the competition because, according to LinkedIn®, 93% of decision makers say they’re more likely to consider a brand’s products or services if a sales professional provides personalized communications.
Vengreso’s Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams
Module 1:
Module 2:
Module 3:
Be More “Attractive” – Your LinkedIn® Profile Makeover
Module 4:
Module 5:
Module 6:
Best Practices for Learning to Connect (Inbound)
Module 7:
Best Practices for Learning to Connect (Outbound)
Module 8:
Module 9:
Ongoing Coaching:
75% of buyers agree or strongly agree that it’s important for a seller to have an informative LinkedIn® profile, and 60% say that reaching out via LinkedIn® impacts their thought process positively. Source: LinkedIn® 2020 State of Sales Report
The Solution
Carousel Industries invested in the 12-month subscription to Vengreso’s On-Demand platform and the Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams training program for 53 participants comprising C-level Executives, Vice Presidents, Directors, Account Executives, and Sales Associates, among others. The goal of the training was to provide sellers and managers with modern selling skills to increase their pipeline of new business opportunities by equipping them with the skills to find more prospective clients and engage with existing clients to earn more referrals.
The Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams training was delivered through the Vengreso on-demand platform, supplemented by live instruction and live group coaching across the span of 15 weeks. The program is designed for sellers to experience long-term retention of the new techniques through a mix of lecture, practice, and assessment process, which helps sellers recall information after the training is complete.
The training teaches specific techniques sellers can apply immediately to their job, such as trigger events, the PVC Sales MethodologyTM, and a sales cadence, to consistently connect with prospects. It also includes customizable messaging templates to send to prospects for a warm introduction and to existing clients to earn more referrals. Combined, these techniques help sellers fill their pipeline.
The Results
More Views
86% of sellers experienced an increase in LinkedIn®profile views. This trigger event, which is a starting point for conversations, means Carousel Industries sellers gained more exposure with their target audience.
More Connections
69% of sellers received a response from a client or prospect on LinkedIn® as a result of the training. These sellers are focused on turning their online connections into offline sales conversations.
More Conversations
88% of sellers engaged with prospective buyers or clients through LinkedIn®, providing the foundation for more sales conversations. The next step is to take these conversations offline.
Additionally, 33% of sellers booked an appointment during the 15-week training program using the lessons learned in the training program. And, 29% gained a commitment to receive a referral introduction, using the referral introduction techniques taught in the program.
Finally, Carousel Industries attributed one million dollars in sales pipeline in the first six weeks directly to the Selling with LinkedIn® training program.
LinkedIn® is a registered trademark of LinkedIn® Corporation
Future Considerations
On-going Coaching:
The training we delivered across the span of 15 weeks is a proven approach. On-going coaching is imperative to reinforce and support new skills by providing participants an opportunity for continuous learning, confidence building and behavior change.
Selling with Video for Teams – Virtual Bootcamp:
Vengreso’s Selling with Video Virtual training program teaches sellers how to leverage video to create even deeper relationships with prospects and existing customers. The training includes a review of available technology and provides templates to jump start sellers with video messaging.
Learn more about our NEW Selling with Video Virtual Bootcamp.
$15M
9 months after the training program was completed.
