Gong

As HubSpot grew rapidly, it needed a solution that would scale and support its coaching culture. Their current sales and coaching process was not sustainable. With hundreds of salespeople over seven continents, coaching at scale was a huge challenge. HubSpot was trying to solve two big issues: Reduce new rep ramp time and Increase rep productivity. In a pre-Gong world, it was extremely challenging to understand if a new rep was actually learning the material. The same sort of uncertainty existed when it came to new product/feature launches. Salespeople need to get trained quickly, efficiently, and consistently. But it’s tricky to understand how quickly salespeople are adopting the playbooks and sound bites created for new product launches — especially pre-Gong. In fact, there really wasn’t a way to effectively track adoption.

Genesys, a company that sells customer experience and contact center technology, was facing challenges in managing its sales process. The sales managers were operating in a world of “guessing and speculating” about where to spend their time and effort for maximum efficiency. They were scaling rapidly, yet struggling to onboard efficiently. The process of preparing for a call was time-consuming and did not scale. Sales managers were heavily involved in every deal, which spread them thin and did not allow them to deep dive into each deal. The process was more about “following fields in the company’s CRM” and then using one-on-one meetings to “add color” to better understand each deal.

Workato, an Enterprise Automation platform, was in a phase of hypergrowth and was relying heavily on anecdotal data for tracking demand generation. This approach was restricting their visibility into the full sales funnel. The sales team was growing rapidly and was looking for a way to scale the team consistently while providing top-notch training and guidance. The uncertainty of relying on anecdotal data was not sitting well with Bhaskar Roy, Head of Growth and Marketing at Workato, whose marketing team is driven by the number of opportunities it generates. The team was ready for a change and was looking for a solution that could provide them with accurate and reliable data.

Sendoso, a rapidly growing company, was struggling to analyze its retention data. The Customer Success team wanted to understand what was causing churn and what was driving positive retention numbers. The company's annual contracts meant that a customer lifecycle was long, making it difficult to track what happened during that span that led to a renewal or churn. The reasons for sales and churn had also changed over the years due to the company's rapid growth and scaling. The team was also struggling with inefficient and redundant handoffs from the Account Executive (AE) to the Customer Success (CS) team.

Appen’s Customer Success team was struggling with managing their communication with customers. The team was often engaged in the “fun” game of Telephone, which turned out to be frustrating, inefficient, and often a huge waste of time and effort. There was no way to go back and validate what was actually said in the call. This ended up being a huge pain point for the CSM team. Moreover, the onboarding process for a new CSM was painfully long, taking up to six months. The first three months were reserved for just learning about AI, learning about data labeling, learning about machine learning, and really getting up to speed with the industry. The next three months were spent learning the different use cases on the platform.

Drift, a conversational marketing platform, was experiencing hypergrowth. With the expansion of its team, product, and customer base, the potential for redundancies and inefficiencies increased. The leadership team was spending countless hours on phone calls with sales reps and prospects, trying to understand what was and was not working. There was no consistency around pitches or coaching new reps. The lack of clarity was not limited to the Sales Team. Drift’s Product Marketing Manager, Daphne Funston, would hear different issues from the customer when they spoke with the CSM and the product team. The Drift team needed a solution quickly.

With the impact of COVID-19, simPRO needed a way to strengthen and develop their new remote sales process. The company was initially structured along geographic lines, with offices operating as independent units. However, they decided to restructure their business units along functional lines, bringing together colleagues from around the world—regardless of location. The pandemic forced them to put these plans on hold. When the lockdowns persisted, they decided to move forward with the reorganisation and invest in their future. They wanted insight into the remote sales process, including intel about their customers’ needs and their reps’ performance.

EdgePetrol, a UK-based software company that specialises in fuel price optimisation, was facing challenges in meeting their pipeline goals. Their prospect base was so used to the status quo, they didn’t recognize their situation as problematic, or see a need for a solution. With a global pandemic and an off-kilter economy, EdgePetrol needed new ways to build a highly qualified pipeline and communicate its product’s value so it could close big deals. The company was also transitioning from a field sales team to an inside sales team due to the pandemic, which presented its own set of challenges.

Demandbase, a marketing technology company, was aware of the vast marketplace opportunities available but lacked a reliable method to uncover them. They needed a solution grounded in reality that could identify areas for improvement and growth to generate more revenue. The company was also facing the challenge of integrating the functionality of three new companies it had recently absorbed. This required a collaborative approach and the identification of data that could help increase their Average Contract Value (ACV).

Filtered, a UK-based learning technology and content company, was seeking ways to grow its revenue and better coach its sales reps. As the company grew, the need for a Revenue Intelligence tool became apparent. The company wanted to focus on its most important accounts and make the most of its pipeline. In early 2020, the Filtered sales team spent a lot of time sharpening its sales skills and methodologies. They implemented a more deliberate and structured sales framework, began running more internal demos, and started a sales book club. However, they needed something more to take their efforts to the next level.

Mintel, a global leader in market research, was facing a challenge in improving their efficiency. With a large portfolio of over 6,000 clients worldwide, it was difficult for them to detect patterns in calls, which delayed improvements to customer service processes. They needed a single tool that could provide guidance based on data from feedback in client calls. The company was also struggling with getting internal teams up to speed with new initiatives, which often resulted in lost or stalled deals. The lack of a tool to review calls meant that the knowledge gap was not being closed quickly enough.

Corporate Traveler’s customer success (CS) team wanted to invest in efficiency as a way to boost its customer adoption and retention rates. During the pandemic, they started using Gong, and have seen their adoption and retention rates improve dramatically. By streamlining their handover system and focusing on an accurate, trackable voice of the customer, Corporate Traveler has leveled up their CS game.

Rapid7, a cybersecurity firm, was struggling to understand the voice of its customers to win more deals. The majority of its customer interactions were conducted via phone and web meetings, and the leadership team spent a significant amount of time gathering information from these calls to make critical business decisions. However, the information they received was anecdotal and often distorted as it was passed from person to person. This, along with a limited subset of customer interactions, made it nearly impossible to make sound decisions about where to focus their efforts and how to address the market's needs.

Iron Mountain, a Boston-based enterprise information management firm, had to adjust to a fully remote work environment due to the pandemic. This sudden shift posed several challenges, including onboarding new reps, managing people remotely, and keeping teams aligned. They also needed to understand what was happening in sales calls and which actions to take based on their conversational data. Before implementing Gong, Iron Mountain’s new reps participated in “physical ride-alongs,” sitting beside a seasoned rep, headphones on. In a working-from-home world, this wasn’t possible. Additionally, trying to find the right call to listen to had always been a hit or miss exercise. As a result, they couldn’t target specific behaviors, and that was something they wanted to correct.