- ExtensisHR
How ExtensisHR Transformed their Sales Process with Only Salesforce and Qwilr
Location
USA
Industry
Human Resources
Company size
201-500 employees
Takeaway stats:
- Transformed cumbersome 30-40 page slide decks into engaging Qwilr documents
- Eliminated versioning control and off-brand design problems
- Increased selling time, reducing time to prepare proposals from hours to minutes
- Streamlined sales workflows and improved the buyer experience
Every growing organization struggles with scaling sales. With the average sales rep spending only 23% of their time selling, reducing time spent on non-revenue generating tasks can positively impact an organization’s bottom line.
ExtensisHR recognized their inefficiencies and sought a better way. Troubled by sales materials that were difficult to update, lacked brand cohesion, and didn’t integrate with Salesforce, the sales proposal process was cumbersome for the sales rep and less-than-ideal for the customer.
“Sometimes, we’re not even able to get in the room. Our proposal has to be the representation of the salesperson and have all the information a customer needs because our product is complex.”
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
Identifying their sales proposal challenges
Amy DeCicco, Senior Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR, quickly recognized that their approach to creating sales proposals needed adjusting.
“We used to do 30 or 40-page slide decks, which were a beast to produce. Additionally, because our proposals were so long, people would skip straight to pricing without seeing the value we provide. We wanted to make sure they fully understood the value of our offering before getting into the pricing discussion.”
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
Along with the length being an issue, they also had trouble keeping design and messaging consistent:
“Each salesperson had their own version of the pitch deck they liked to use, which made version control almost impossible. It quickly became clear ExtensisHR needed a centralized hub to create their sales proposals and collateral. With extensive sales training, it was paramount for the team to align all their sales assets, so they were able to offer a consistent experience in every meeting. We felt the sales cycle could be shortened and improved by presenting an online, easy-to-access, professional-looking proposal."
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
And her search for a solution began.
Leveraging technology to automate sales proposal creation
In her search, Amy was introduced to Qwilr and knew she had found her solution.
“We invest heavily in training our sales teams and giving them very specific tactics and procedures. The proposals are designed to match those and create a cohesive experience.”
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
With Qwilr, they could offer the experience they were after and radically transform their sales proposals.
Improving brand consistency
Qwilr immediately resolved prior problems with maintaining brand standards and versioning control.
“Everything is consistent now. The design elements, font, color, and copy are consistent across our site and proposals. Before, it was pretty disjointed.”
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
Because of Qwilr’s permission-based access and block library, the potential to use outdated messaging or branding is eliminated.
Expanding content, reducing file sizes
ExtensisHR was also able to expand content, improving the buyer experience and proposal value.
“We had customer testimonials on YouTube that we can now include in our proposals. With PowerPoint, that wasn't a viable option as it disrupted the flow of the presentation, or, if embedded, caused the file size to become too large for distribution.”
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
Since Qwilr proposals are web documents, proposals are easy to share, and file size is a non-issue.
Leveraging Salesforce
The final piece was to streamline the workflow of their sales team. To get high-quality proposals out as quickly as possible, they decided to utilize the Qwilr Salesforce integration.
“It’s basically filling out a couple of fields in Salesforce, a few clicks, and then we have a completed proposal. It’s tremendously fast. Our team loves Qwilr.”
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
Integrating Qwilr with Salesforce is easily accomplished via the Qwilr API, enabling personalized document creation in minutes.
Not only does Qwilr help create proposals fast, but it also saves time and hassle for salespeople, too.
“All our sales reps have to do is fill in 9 fields or so. Then select the template they need in the Qwilr module, and that’s it. They’re done...the last thing salespeople want to do is spend too much time doing data entry.”
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
Transforming sales
To sell any product, you need to communicate the value you bring to a potential customer successfully. Though ExtensisHR had a great close rate once they could directly communicate with a prospect, they struggled with the customer understanding the value they offered and prematurely skipped to pricing. Qwilr resolved all of that. Qwilr’s web-based approach to sales proposals enabled new possibilities, altering how the ExtensisHR team sold. Whereas previously, pricing was part of the initial document, with easy-to-update web proposals and back-end viewing analytics, ExtensisHR could add in pricing information after an initial viewing once they properly established the value of their product.
“Sometimes, we’re not even able to get in the room. Our proposal has to be the representation of the salesperson and have all the information a customer needs because our product is complex.”
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
Qwilr’s table of contents navigation also made it easier for buyers to access sections of the proposal most important to them, quickly and easily. All combined, Qwilr helped ExtensisHR create a better buyer experience and communicate the value of their service more effectively.
The impact of Qwilr and Salesforce
Since implementing Qwilr and integrating it with Salesforce, the ExtensisHR team has streamlined sales proposal creation while improving quality.
- The time the sales team spends on producing proposals has dramatically reduced, from hours to minutes.
- The sales team is better equipped for changes in the market and sudden sales increases.
- Their sales proposals have a refreshed, modern look, always on-brand, and consistent style and message.
- Proposals are sent faster to interested prospects, improving buyer interaction.
- The value of ExtensisHR is communicated more clearly before pricing is presented.
“We’ve been trying to condition the sales team to embrace virtual selling as much as possible, and Qwilr helps with that.”
Amy DeCicco, Sr. Vice President, Marketing at ExtensisHR
Discover how Qwilr sales proposals can help your team save time, stand out, and win more business. Get a personalized demo.
