Affinitext case study

Having consolidated their position as a leader in the contract management space by winning key customers and developing unrivalled product functionality, Affinitext was poised to achieve their objective of a minimum 100% year-on-year growth over the next two years.

Affinitext were experiencing enviable growth, however, they had no full-time sales staff, which meant they were not growing as fast as they could.

Affinitext’s impressive track record in sales was more to do with market knowledge, domain expertise and strong customer engagement rather than sales skills: some deals were taking too long to close and opportunities were not being followed up appropriately.

The market is moving solidly towards Affinitext’s vision and, in order to maximise this window of opportunity, Affinitext needed to put in place the right people, processes, methodologies and tools to enable them to scale and seize the opportunity in front of them.

• Close deals faster
• Creating/Documenting the necessary information, processes and knowledge to ramp up sales hires quickly without excessive hand-holding
• Identify sales candidates with sales DNA, who could be coached and developed effectively without the risk and cost of hiring a “heavy hitter”.
• Breaking down overall sales objectives into more measurable goals to identify potential areas of improvement and take corrective action early
• Do all of the above with limited experience and virtually no time

Three common problems for emerging IT providers:

1. No resources to hire senior sales professionals
   • £50K – Average tech sales rep base salary in London, two years experience
   • x 1.7 – times base salary is the cost of hiring a new salesperson*
2. Long or failed new sales hires ramp ups
   • 4.1 – months required by SDR to ramp up
   • 6 – months required by more experienced sales professionals to ramp up on average (much longer if there is no on-boarding and a proven sales process in place)
   • 53% – of companies in Europe and the US reported bad hires according to CareerBuilder Survey
   • 27% – of companies say a bad hire costs more than £50,000K British pounds In the US and the UK
   • Only 30% of sales enablement efforts meet expectations (Miller Heiman).
     Having a sales enablement charter is linked to a 27.6% increase in quota attainment (CSO Insights)
   • Over 75% of companies using sales enablement tools indicated that sales increased over the past 12 months (HighSpot)
3. Underperforming salespeople
   • 57% – of sales reps missed their quotas last year according to Forbes

Having identified Affinitext as a company with great growth potential and perfect fit, Rev. Engine reached out cold with no pre-existing relationship in place. Following a successful proof of concept, milestones and deliverables were defined and closely followed in a live engagement plan accessible online. The companies starting working together six weeks later on a short term contract, which was then renewed after three months having exceeded Affinitext’s expectations.

Affinitext opted for the Rev. Engine acceleration package which included a combination of:

• Sales Outsourcing
• Sales and Marketing alignment
• Sales Enablement
• Sales Tech implementation

Rev Engine started selling with Affinitext from day one, which allowed them to understand how sales were made and assess which people, processes and tools were required to build a predictable and sustainable revenue engine. Then, they engaged on a three-month plan to put in place said requirements while continued to execute and fine tune.

Unlike consultants that are all talk and no action and sales outsourcing companies that try to sell without a clear understanding of the market and the proposition, Rev. Engine delivered seasoned ex-Gartner Sales Professionals that focus only on the technology space and have closed millions of dollars in sales revenue. They also offered flexible packages and a money back guarantee.

• • Closed a deal with a major client:
    • 60 days record sales cycle
    • 350K contract
    • Won against much bigger tech provider
    • Gave no discounts, but demonstrated outstanding value
    • Discovered new revenue streams with value-added services
  • Put in place people, processes and tools to speed up ramp up times in 90 days. By selling Affintiext’s solutions from day one, Rev. Engine was able to familiarise themselves with how sales were being made; allowing them to identify exactly what was lacking, what was required and propose a tangible plan to build a predictable and sustainable revenue engine.
  • Implemented the necessary technology to generate leads, increase sales effectiveness, enable salesforce and deliver proposals at the lowest possible cost in less than 3 months.
  • Hired the perfect candidate in 6 weeks:
    • Negotiated down recruitment fees by 30%
    • Hired coachable candidate with two years of sales experience for a fair package
  • Helped the team achieve goals:
    • Hit quarterly revenue target
    • Maintained 100% win rate
    • Reduce the average sales cycle from 180 to 60 days
    • Increased sales activity to 300 activities per week

Having done most of the heavy lifting and put the right people, processes and tools in place, Affinitext and Rev. Engine will continue to work together on a more flexible basis to ensure that new sales hires are successful, we improve our selling skills, fine-tune our processes and tools and expand into new markets with great potential for Affinitext.