Case Study

Turning Connections into Sales Conversations

Millennium Trust Company® and Above and Beyond Custody® are registered trademarks of Millennium Trust Company, LLC in the United States.

About the Customer

Vertical: Financial Services

Company: Millennium Trust is a leading provider of retirement and institutional services.

Clients: They build longlasting relationships with clients and institutions ranging from Fortune 500 companies to independent Investment Advisors.

About the Training

Challenge: They target a modern buyer who is better informed, expects personalized communication, and connects with sellers later in the buying process.

Solution: Vengreso’s Instructor-Led Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams is delivered through the Vengreso On Demand Learning Platform.

Results: The training provided immediate and lasting results. Sellers generated more LinkedIn® profile views, more connections and more conversations with prospects and existing customers.

Overview

Millennium Trust targets investors, financial advisors, and Fortune 500 companies who are better informed and who have higher expectations for personalized communication than in the past. Their sales team was using selling techniques that didn’t provide personalized communication, preventing them from reaching their full potential. To meet the modern demands of their prospects, Millennium Trust engaged Vengreso to deliver the Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams instructor-led training program. This 15-week training and coaching program includes live instruction, online learning and live coaching sessions designed to change the behavior and the mindset of sales teams of 25 or more reps.

Key Results

18%

Average SSI (Social Selling Index) Score Growth.

95%

Above average or better LinkedIn® acumen of sales reps after training.

95%

Developed skills to make them more effective at their job.

71%

Learned how to connect and engage with prospective buyers and clients.

95%

Practiced skills taught during training to reinforce the lessons.

95%

Received a response from a client or prospect during the 15-week training.

The Company

Established in 2000 in Chicago, Illinois, Millennium Trust began by focusing on unique custody solutions where no one else would or could. Today, the firm is a leading provider of retirement and institutional services with more than $26 billion in assets in over 1 million accounts. They empower clients with trusted expertise, exceptional service and access to a wide range of solutions. Millennium Trust is an ally to clients who are managing corporate retirement assets, running a business or wanting choice beyond traditional assets.

The Challenge

The Internet has fundamentally transformed the selling process. Today, modern buyers perform independent research and connect with sales reps much later in the buying process.

The Millennium Trust leadership team recognized that traditional sales technologies needed to be enhanced in order to continue the company’s growth trajectory. They realized that by leveraging modern technology and communication principles the sales team could operate more efficiently and better serve current customers and potential clients.

To better meet the evolving needs of their target audience, the Millennium Trust sales team needed to learn how to connect with them earlier in the sales process to become a trusted resource. The sales leaders understood that social selling techniques would help connect with modern buyers in the way they communicate.

CSO Insights research found that companies with a social selling adoption rate of 76% or greater reported a win rate of 61.5%. Companies with less than a 25% adoption rate experienced a win rate of only 41.9%.

Additionally, prospects seek personalized messaging from sellers who truly understand their business and their specific pain points. Research by LinkedIn® proves the same, as 93% of decision-makers say they’re more likely to consider a brand’s products or services if a sales professional provides personalized communications.

To differentiate themselves from their competition, Millennium Trust recognized their sales staff could better personalize their messaging. This required changing their sales cadence to address the specific concerns of each prospect, as well as identifying the digital platforms which the prospect prefers to engage in, whether LinkedIn®, email or other channels.

Vengreso’s Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams

The course features one live launch call, six live instruction sessions, six live group coaching, and a live award ceremony over the span of 15 weeks.

Module 1:

Why You Need to Change Your Digital Sales Mindset

Module 2:

Get Off to a Fast Start by Building a Strong Foundation

Module 3:

Be More “Attractive” – Your LinkedIn® Profile Makeover

Module 4:

Learning to Engage by Finding the Right People

Module 5:

Why You Need to Change Your Digital Sales Mindset

Module 6:

Best Practices for Learning to Connect (Inbound)

Module 7:

Best Practices for Learning to Connect (Outbound)

Module 8:

Feeding your Network with Curated Content

Module 9:

Feeding your Network with Created Content

Ongoing Coaching:

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.
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
I commented on a post by a prospect’s CEO, whom I’ve been trying to get in contact with for several months. Because of my comment, we connected on LinkedIn® and have had several follow up conversations about how our firms can work together. Previously, he had been unresponsive to my calls and emails.
Ryan Schneider
SVP, Regional Director
I thought the course was very well designed and well executed. I gained a lot of good insights into how LinkedIn® can help me prospect and build relationships.
– Mick Wangler
Inside Sales Specialist, Retirement Services

The Solution

Millennium Trust invested in Vengreso’s Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams. This training, which won a Gold Stevie Award for Best Sales Training Product of the Year in 2019, is based on the premise that the modern buyer requires a modern seller.

The training was delivered through the Vengreso On Demand platform. The goal of the training was to teach the 28 participants (sales staff and managers) modern selling skills that turn their online LinkedIn® connections into offline sales conversations. The training combines specific techniques sellers can use, such as trigger events, the PVC Sales MethodologyTM, anda sales cadence, to 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 constantly fill their pipeline.

Why do we include live coaching and instruction with an on demand program?

Through our experience of training salespeople on how to leverage digital selling techniques (and we’ve trained over 140,000 sales reps) we’ve proved that training alone is not enough. To achieve success, we need to create behavior change. Only with on-going coaching do participants build confidence and change their behavior, which is why our Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams training program includes individual and team coaching to reinforce key concepts and support new skills taught during the 9 training modules.

The Results

Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams includes on demand training, which is reinforced by learners’ application of the concepts, and then followed by live coaching. This learning process delivered immediate and lasting results for the Millennium Trust sales team. In fact, 95% of end-of-course survey respondents said the training provided an opportunity for them to practice the skills taught during the program. This reinforcement of techniques improved their LinkedIn® acumen, as before the course, only 5% of respondents said they had an above average or better knowledge of LinkedIn®. After the training, 95% felt their LinkedIn® acumen was above average or better. Additionally, the training produced a boost in confidence and behavior change that will lead to future success, indicated by the results sales staff achieved:

More Views

90% of sellers experienced an increase in LinkedIn® profile views. This trigger event, which is a starting point for conversations, means Millennium Trust sellers gained more exposure with their target audience.

More Connections

71% 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

76% 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.

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:
Vengreso’s Selling with Video training program teaches sellers how to leverage video to create even deeper relationships with prospects and existing customers. The training includes a review of sales video technology, effective recording techniques and templates

Learn more about Selling with Video for Teams.

About Vengreso

Vengreso is a sales training firm that believes the modern buyer requires a modern seller. Our digital sales training and coaching helps B2B salespeople create more sales conversations with buyers through an omni-channel digital sales approach.