A Framework for Enabling Global Sales Teams to Sell
Cloud migration is a complex topic to understand and explain. Whether a customer is contemplating a move to the cloud, or a salesperson is guiding a client through the migration decision-making process, the information exchange is vast and often relies on the expertise of an individual sales rep.
One tech giant had an existing framework that their global field sales team were using to sell cloud migration solutions, but the framework was lacking in two specific areas: data and AI. For example, there was no sales collateral built around how to migrate your analytics workloads, AI workloads, or SQL server workloads to the cloud — so prospects facing these challenges couldn’t immediately see how the tech company’s solution could help them.
When the tech company engaged Prime 8 to help, the goal was to expand the framework to include new tools and documentation centered on data and AI in order to capture more sales in these areas.
A dated framework
“How do you adopt cloud?” This is the big question many of the client’s prospects were facing, and to help answer this question, the company had created a broad cloud adoption framework to help global field sales reps guide a conversation around this topic.
The only problem was that the framework was missing a perspective that customers needed. “Our client relied on the field sellers to fill in the gaps and customize each conversation,” the lead consultant explained. “This created a lot of extra work for the reps, and so many of them wouldn’t even use the framework because it didn’t align with customer needs.”
The company wanted to make it easier for sales reps to provide a more prescriptive cloud adoption framework conversation catered to data and AI-related business challenges. They also wanted to increase the use of their existing framework, which reps were often ignoring because it was too broad to be truly beneficial to the sales conversation.
A fresh take on an old framework
As a first step, Prime 8 Consulting audited the current framework. Prime 8 interviewed multiple subject matter experts across 14 global regions to identify strategic gaps in both the framework, the messaging provided to sales reps and supporting customer-facing materials. With this in hand, Prime 8 devised a plan to enable the global field to successfully sell these solutions.
Prime 8 ultimately delivered a sales enablement solution that included:
Refreshed framework that included the new customer scenarios for data analytics and AI.
Playbooks specific to data analytics and AI. These playbooks included end-to-end process documentation, customer templates, partner templates, and assigned “time zone leads” to help with questions
“Train the Trainer” videos hosted on a partner page
Sales presentation decks catered to specific business problems
Empowering sales reps
The expanded framework, approach and materials made it possible for sales teams to have more effective, in-depth sales conversations with prospects.
As the sales team began implementing the updated cloud adoption framework, they were better able to:
Identify the right customers for migration
Explain the migration process for specific use cases and answer customer questions accurately
Lower the customer’s perceived risk of starting a migration project
Speak more knowledgeably about data and AI as it pertains to cloud migration
The field sales team was especially appreciative of the new video content, which helped both reps and prospects better understand cloud migration for data and AI. With Prime 8’s expertise, sales teams were able to have stronger sales conversations, which directly impacted the organization’s revenue.
Project Snapshot
Industry: Technology company
Location: Global
Company Size: 150,000+ employees
The Problem: Cloud migration sales reps lacked the appropriate resources to have meaningful conversations with prospects around data and AI.
The Method: Prime 8 assessed the existing framework, devised a strategy for expanding it, creating supporting sales enablement materials, and landed the new framework in a variety of formats for field sales reps to use while selling.
The Outcome: The company is able to close new cloud business more quickly and drive revenue with an educated field and a holistic cloud adoption framework that addresses all customer needs.
