For sales and channel leaders, the CRM's introduction, and specifically Salesforce, was revolutionary. Over the last two decades, they waited patiently for an addition to their tech stack to include account mapping. The need to replace the excruciating hours spent doing account mapping by hand was closely seconded by days and sometimes weeks spent waiting for a partner's response regarding the contact information for an account representative. Good news for partners and leaders in the Channel, that tool has arrived.
Why are you still account mapping with Excel?
UserTesting is a customer experience tech company that gives companies a first-person understanding of how their target audience behaves throughout any experience and why. Partnerships are valuable to CX technology companies because business relationships must be established and maintained with key Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), for verticals of partners like e-Commerce, Marketing Technology (MarTech), Translations, Cloud Infrastructure and develop strategies for recruiting, integrations, co-selling and co-marketing.
Kalen Kimm, the Director of System Integrators and Strategic Partners for UserTesting, joined the team early 2020. Through his career, Kalen has witnessed the evolution of the channel on the frontline, and was among the fleet of professionals who carried the weight of this burden.
While sharing an excel spreadsheet of account leads to a partner, the partner asked, "Why are you still using excel?" Then he introduced Kalen to Reveal. Immediately, Kalen understood that Reveal could provide value to him and UserTesting. What he didn't realize was to what degree.
The account multiplier
Reveal shed the layers of excel spreadsheets from Kalen's weekly routine and gave him instant access to the information he once had spent weeks waiting to receive. His conversations with his partners, his account executives, and his C-level executives have all changed drastically. Before using Reveal, he would wait a week or more to hear a response when asking a partner if they had a contact or an account executive assigned to one of his target accounts.
Now, his communications are without lag because they don't involve those questions at all. Because he can immediately view his partners' presence in UserTesting's prospective accounts, he can execute strategies that behoove both him and his partner through common opportunities presented on the platform.
And while it may be perceived that he has gained hours back in his schedule, To Kalen, the actual value isn't only in the time saved. And there's a reason for that. He is no longer pigeon-holed by limited information. The conversations with his partners have changed. Before, he would communicate with a partner about a single account, and the conversation would stay confined to that single account. Now, with the insights provided by Reveal, Kalen's account count multiplies five to seven times by the end of each conversation. This multiplying affect is a result of the information that is at his fingertips. Very easily, Kalen can run a report to view his partners’ presence in all of his current and prospective accounts.
Driving sales strategies and integrations
Beyond the work of his desk, Kalen uses the insight from Reveal to engage his account executives and provide tangible data to support higher-level conversations. His sales team has changed their approach to their territories and their mindset in their own sales strategies. Now, they incorporate Usertestings partners' account executives to hit their targets. The information he can find on Reveal has provided the evidence the company needs to further conversations and decisions about integrations for the C-suite.
The old expression, "When it rains, it pours," comes to mind when we take just a glimpse at what opportunities came to UserTesting once they decided to add a new essential product to their tech stack. It is not only that information was accessible, but that the information provided allowed for further collaboration. As in all cases, it's not what you have, but what you do with what you have that makes it powerful.
In UserTesting’s case, Reveal has provided a multiplying effect. Not only in filling his pipeline but in the conversations he has daily with his colleagues and within his ecosystem.
