IBM Improves Pipeline Accuracy and Increases Sales by $1 Billion
The Results
$1B$1Billion Increase in additional revenue contributed to sales methodology
$94Return on investment for every $1 invested
The Challenge
The sales organization at IBM was consistently missing sales and forecasting targets. Sales managers lacked a clear objective way of helping sales professionals qualify opportunities in the pipeline using the correct values such as probability to win, time to close, and value. They also did not have a process for coaching them to win more business. As a result, overconfident sellers gave an inaccurately high projection of sales and managers were unable to identify gaps in the pipeline and act before it was too late. They came to Richardson Sales Performance, previously SPI and Richardson, to teach sales professionals how to accurately assign sales opportunities with the right values, consistently qualify which deals were most relevant to focus on, and ensure sales managers can help sales professionals how to identify gaps in the pipeline and actions to close gaps.
Our Approach
We partnered with IBM to build and implement a sales methodology with a clear framework and guidelines for assigning pipeline values to sales opportunities. This research-based framework for opportunity management helped to reach the key objectives mentioned above by the customer. We implemented a sales management cadence and meeting structure to ensure they were ready to coach to both deals and pipelines. The training was successfully deployed to 40,000 sellers and sales managers globally.
Solutions that made this possible
Reviewing Pipelines
The Sales & Pipeline Management training module teaches your sales managers to more accurately predict revenue and close gaps in their team's pipelines.
Sales Management Process
Collaoborate with Richardson Sales Performance to build a sales management process built upon more than managing expecations & outputs to improve your team's performance.
Consultative Selling Training
This training program teaches a customer-focused approach for planning and executing sales calls. Teams learn to engage customers in needs-based dialogues that build credibility, enable better problem solving, and foster customer openness to uncover critical information needed to position a compelling solution that differentiates your team.
Sales Competency and Skill Assessments
Find clarity on where your team is today and where you need to go with our proprietary sales skill assessments.