Case Study: TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDER

Building Trusted Connections

How the B2B Direct sales team at a major telecommunications company is starting more conversations with their ideal customers through digital selling techniques.

About the Customer

Vertical: Telecommunications

Company: They deliver hybrid networking, cloud connectivity and security solutions to businesses.

Team: B2B Direct sales team

Clients: They build long-lasting relationships with enterprise clients in 60 countries.

About the Training

Challenge: The B2B Direct sales team needed to expand existing relationships to engage with more buyers and to develop relationships with new prospects to fill their pipelines.

Solution: Vengreso’s Selling with LinkedIn^® for Teams.

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

Overview

The B2B Direct sales team at a major telecommunications company identified the need to expand their relationships with existing customers and with new prospects to capture more sales wins. To achieve these goals, they recognized the need to transform their selling methods upon realizing that their target buyers now buy differently than in years past. The modern buyer expects a level of personalized communication on digital platforms that their B2B Direct sales team was not delivering. The telecommunications provider selected Vengreso to deliver our Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams sales training. This 15-week blended learning training program includes online content delivery, live instruction and live coaching sessions that resulted in behavior and mindset change for the 108 participants.

Key Results

30%

Average SSI (Social Selling Index) Score Growth.

70%

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

85%

Developed skills to make them more effective at their job.

60%

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

93%

Practiced skills taught during training to reinforce the lessons.

40%

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

The Company

The telecommunications provider is a technology leader delivering hybrid networking, cloud connectivity and security solutions to customers in 60 countries. Their B2B Direct sales team targets enterprise organizations.

Through its extensive global fiber network, they provide secure and reliable services to meet the growing digital demands of businesses and consumers. The telecommunications provider strives to be the trusted connection to the networked world and is focused on delivering technology that enhances the customer experience.

The Challenge

The telecommunications provider noticed that the modern buyer has changed the buying process, performing more independent research, connecting with sales reps later in the decision-making process, and looking for sellers to provide personalized communication.

To succeed, their B2B Direct sales team needed to abandon old-school techniques that no longer produced the desired results, such as cold-calling or knocking on every door in an office park. To reach the modern buyer, they needed to embrace digital selling techniques that created more sales conversations that led to increased pipeline.

In particular, their sellers needed to learn how to engage their existing relationships so that they connected at a higher level with their customers.

They also wanted to reach deeper into client accounts, connecting with all decision makers and potential buyers, including opportunities in different departments of the same organization. However, they didn’t know what type of messaging to use to ask for referrals at scale or what tools to use to do this effectively.

Finally, their sales reps weren’t leveraging digital platforms to engage their target buyers with personalized communication. They needed to connect with prospects in meaningful ways to develop strong relationships from the start.

In a word, the telecommunications provider needed to modernize their selling techniques to meet the demands of the new sales environment.

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%.

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 learned how to optimize my LinkedIn® profile for heightened visibility and to connect with additional contacts in other parts of my customer’s organization.

– B2B Direct Sales

Account Manager

I have been posting a lot since the inception of this training. As a result, I have received 4 leads from past clients reaching out to meet with a member of my sales team. Great stuff!

Dan Tassone

Senior VP of Sales

The Solution

The major telecommunications provider invested in Vengreso’s Selling with LinkedIn® for Teams to learn the digital selling techniques to engage the modern buyer effectively.

This training, which won a Gold Stevie Award for Best Sales Training Product of the Year in 2019, is built on the premise that the modern buyer requires a modern seller.

The goal of the training was to teach the 108 participants from the B2B Direct sales team (two vice presidents, six directors, 29 managers and 71 representatives) modern selling skills to convert their online LinkedIn® connections into sales conversations.

The training combined specific techniques sellers can use to connect with prospects led by our PVC Sales MethodologyTM. It also included trigger events, customizable messaging templates and a sales cadence strategy to engage with prospects for a warm introduction and to existing clients to earn more referrals. Combined, these techniques help sellers keep their pipeline full.

The B2B Direct sales team progressed through the program together with updated leaderboards, discussion forums and six live training and coaching sessions. At the end of the program, there was an awards ceremony that recognized the top performers in different categories and shared individual success stories.

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

The training generated immediate results for the B2B Direct sales team. During the course, 85% of participants developed skills that would make them more effective at their job. Additionally, 69% of participants learned how to prospect using LinkedIn®. As the B2B Direct sales team gained a better understanding of how to use LinkedIn® as a prospecting tool, their results on the platform increased as well. In fact, 60% of participants learned how to connect and engage with prospective buyers and clients. As they develop these relationships, they will lead to more sales conversations and referrals. Participants appreciated that the training was practical. Ninety-three percent of participants said the training helped them practice the skills taught during the program, which is designed to reinforce key concepts. The practice sessions improved their LinkedIn® acumen, as before the course, only 4% of respondents said they had an above average or better knowledge of LinkedIn®. After the training, 70% felt their LinkedIn® acumen was above average or better.

More Views

69% of sellers experienced an increase in LinkedIn® profile views. This trigger event, which is a starting point for conversations, means the B2B Direct sellers gained more exposure with their target audience.

More Connections

64% of sellers engaged or connected with 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

40% of sellers who reached out to clients or prospects through LinkedIn® received a response. 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.