ORIGO Education lacked visibility into their deals. They didn’t have the comprehensive data and insights they needed to ensure pipeline consistency and better forecasts. With Salesloft, ORIGO was able to identify critical deal gaps and important coaching moments for their reps, leading to increased win rate, revenue predictability, and a more motivated sales team.
Who is ORIGO Education?
ORIGO Education makes learning mathematics meaningful, enjoyable, and accessible for students and teachers alike. Their approach brings conceptual understanding to the forefront of teaching and learning with a logical, learner-friendly Stepping Stones curriculum that helps students develop deep mathematical understanding.
Challenge: Build Consistency in Prospecting and Forecasting
When Chris Sidor joined ORIGO Education as VP of Sales, the lack of sales technology did not surprise him. The education sales industry is historically built on face-to-face interactions, and still embraces life on the road in prospect and customer meetings.
But without the proper tools to make data accessible and automate the sales process, their team was forced to track everything they did manually – a step that was often skipped. Though they use Salesforce, “you couldn’t find anything in it.” Instead, spreadsheets were the default.
“Data was in spreadsheets all over the place that everyone managed differently. It made management and forecasting impossible.” – Chris Sidor, VP of Sales.
The result was a lack of consistent prospecting, poor pipeline visibility, and haphazard forecasting efforts. The team didn’t have insight into what messaging worked best, which activities they should prioritize, or where to look for new opportunities. In response, they focused solely on hunting big opportunities.
This ‘big game only’ mentality and the industry’s 12-month sales cycle presented unique challenges. According to Chris, “Predicting the business is extremely challenging in this space.” Without a balanced pipeline, one mega sale in jeopardy could have a devastating impact on revenue—with no time to make up for it.
With a mandate to digitally transform the sales organization, Chris set out to find a platform that could streamline prospecting, provide visibility into the pipeline, and increase forecasting accuracy.
“There was no measurement or tracking,” says Sidor. “What was getting us meetings? What was working with customers? And what will we bring in at the end of the year?”
Solution: A Complete Sales Engagement Platform for Total Transformation
Chris knew it was vital to gain buy-in from the team, and introducing multiple tools simultaneously risked overwhelming them. He needed a platform his team could adopt quickly to make an impact on revenue fast.
After testing three vendors, the team unanimously decided that Salesloft was the most user-friendly. They saw a clear and easy 60-day path to get up and running, and they could see how automation and workflows could improve consistency and help them win more deals.
They started setting weekly prospecting goals and were able to test what messaging worked with prospects and customers. Visibility into pipelines let the team understand where deals were stuck, and the user-friendly nature of Salesloft meant the team was motivated to get information into it.
Salesloft also helped the ORIGO sales team gain valuable insights through forecasting, a concept the team had been skeptical of previously. “They felt like they were just doing data entry for senior management rather than understanding how it can make them successful in their role,” Chris explains. ORIGO’s CEO is also enjoying the new forecast visibility, offering the opportunity to have more strategic discussions with Chris.
“We are so much further along because we are able to coach and improve at earlier stages than we were previously,” says Sidor. “We knew reps weren’t growing the pipeline, but now we know what stage they are getting stuck in.”
Result: End-to-End Pipeline Visibility and Revenue Predictability for a Motivated Remote Team
The ORIGO sales organization today looks much different from just one year ago. Cadences helped with more than prospecting; they also allowed the team to get proactive with renewals. Rather than contacting customers one by one, reps could now send “75 to 100 pretty quickly for the first time” and shift this activity from the peak season to the offseason.
“The time savings have been massive,” says Sidor.
With Salesloft in place, Chris was able to build a new volume-based team. Adding a new team focused on selling supplemental products helped create a more balanced pipeline. As a bonus, the new team became Salesloft power users and built a prospecting library, testing and refining cadences. Onboarding these new hires was also easier thanks to Salesloft.
Increased visibility allowed ORIGO to make better decisions and prioritize more effectively. Chris shares, “With Salesloft, I’m able to tell if we need to grow the pipeline and whether we need to focus on the current pipeline or upsells and new opportunities.”
Sharing pipeline and forecasting data with the executive team is straightforward too. “Deals just gives me a really easy snapshot,” says Chris. “It’s super easy to get quick data views for the CEO or before board meetings – what just happened, what’s happening now, and what is next.”
Finally, the new remote world combined with sales that only happen once a year can lead to stagnating morale. Salesloft lets the team see weekly wins that keep them motivated on an ongoing basis.
“With a growing team, a single platform is a must,” Chris explains. “It’s a no-brainer to me. I’d rather invest in one platform than in four or five.”