How Emerson Drove 30% Higher Sales Efficiency

Overview

Emerson, a leading global technology, software, and engineering company, needed a more unified and proactive sales strategy. The sales organization was evolving to better connect with customers in modern virtual selling environments while maintaining the face-to-face proximity traditional customers expect.

They set out to modernize how they sell — and with Salesloft achieved 30% higher sales efficiency.

3 moves Emerson made

1. Started small, then scaled: Piloted a new process with a focused group of "digital sales engineers" before rolling it out to the wider team.
2. Invested in change management: Systematically transitioned the sales team from traditional, intuitive sales methods to sales activities and sales coaching informed by data.
3. Broke out of the sales silo: Extended Salesloft beyond the sales floor to field marketing teams.

The challenge

Emerson identified several opportunities to improve their sales outcomes:

• Fragmented prospecting: Sales teams often relied on single-channel communication without a consistent framework which limited engagement and conversions.

• Disjointed messaging: Different product lines worked in silos, creating a disconnected experience for customers.
• Inefficient processes: Virtual selling exposed gaps in their traditional sales model, and there was no clear way to measure success or track improvements.
• Lack of visibility: Sales activity data was nearly impossible to access. Without it, the team couldn’t identify what was working or where to improve.

Collectively, our aim was to be more proactive in our prospecting. It was missing a degree of an intention, whether that was growing current customer relationships or reaching new audiences.

Previous attempts to address these challenges with homegrown tools and CRM extensions weren't integrated or scalable. Many vendors struggled to make meaningful connections to the CRM environment that helped activate the value. This often led to point to point solutions that were not sustainable.

Why Emerson chose Salesloft

Salesloft didn't just deliver a product, they rolled up their sleeves and became a true extension of our team. This level of dedicated partnership made choosing Salesloft an easy decision.

The dedication of the Salesloft team, from customer success managers and professional services to account reps, was instrumental. Brian treats this collective support as an extension of his own staff, highlighting how "it's been awesome to have that kind of support from Salesloft along the way."

How Emerson drove adoption of Salesloft

The team adopted a strategic approach to rolling out Salesloft, starting with their digital sales engineers — a hybrid role functioning similarly to Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) but with full account ownership. While initial success with this core group was strong, scaling adoption across the wider organization, including field sales engineers and account managers, required a concerted change management effort.

Salesloft's direct involvement in onboarding and training proved invaluable. Instead of solely relying on internal teams, Salesloft worked one-on-one with sellers, guiding them through the new tools and processes. This direct engagement was crucial for overcoming resistance and ensuring buy-in.

Letting Salesloft’s experts talk directly with our team in a collaborative environment has been really powerful in getting the team to fully buy-in.

The implementation of Salesloft also fostered improved alignment between marketing and sales. Michelle Montes noted, "A huge improvement has been the alignment between marketing and sales, because now we truly do all have the same goal we’re working towards." This allows marketing to better support sales goals, leading to more cohesive and effective customer engagement strategies. Now, with teams across the globe using Salesloft, their hard work has begun to pay off.

The results

The impact of the partnership between Salesloft and Emerson is now visible in the metrics:

• Acquisition vs. churn: Not only has there been a strong improvement in customer acquisition but also in the overall ability to retain accounts.
• The "self-cleansing" CRM: By using Salesloft to orchestrate their sales, they can identify inactive contacts and backflush clean data into their CRM. This ensures the data is clean and up to date.
• Increased sales efficiency: The ability to have all necessary tools integrated into a single view has dramatically streamlined daily tasks, as well as the ability to have multiple channels to reach out and communicate with prospects and customers.

• Enhanced visibility: Salesloft has brought much-needed transparency to the sales process. Emerson previously had little to no insight or ability to track sales activities but is now able to establish internal benchmarks and make informed and strategic decisions using sales activity data and insights.
• Marketing use cases: Beyond sales, Emerson's field marketing team now uses Salesloft Cadences to drive awareness and attendance for their events. 

Our regional managers are former sellers. Transitioning them to a world of objective data and coaching is a hard conversation. You have to invest in that change management to ensure the tool actually changes how you sell.

Emerson's experience with Salesloft emphasizes the transformative power of a unified Revenue Orchestration Platform in a manufacturing sales organization. By breaking down silos, driving intentional prospecting, and using data-driven insights, they are not only improving sales efficiency but also forging deeper, more meaningful connections with their customers in an evolving industrial landscape. 

Ready to revolutionize your sales process? Connect with a Salesloft expert today.