BEFORE WALNUT:
‘We weren’t able to effectively articulate the product’s value to less technical buying personas, which hindered the sales process’
The sales team at Semarchy realized that their sales process wasn’t allowing them to demonstrate their product’s value in a scalable way. And because buyers had only a limited exposure to the product, Semarchy’s sales team was wasting their resources on walking through basic features and functions instead of tailoring capabilities to the client’s specific needs.
This influx of inquiries overwhelmed the team, which in turn, created a bottleneck when it came to demoing and an inefficient sales process.
“We weren’t able to effectively articulate the product’s value to less technical buying personas, which hindered the sales process. And this meant that we struggled to engage prospects. That’s when we realized we needed a solution that would not only streamline demos but also help reps showcase value right off the bat and allow them to focus on high-intent leads who already have an understanding of the product.”
AFTER WALNUT:
‘Having these interactive demos is a lot more effective than just putting words on a page’
Upon further evaluation, the team realized that with the right product content, they could not only remove friction from the buying process, but also increase awareness and boost their audience’s understanding of the product’s value. That’s what led them to consider an interactive demo platform.
Once Semarchy started using Walnut, the team was able to address all of the basic and frequently asked questions about the product’s features and benefits. Beyond this, they were also able to showcase the value proposition from the get-go so prospects didn’t need to search for this information on their own.
“We knew that using presentations or eBooks wouldn’t help us show the full picture because our product is so technical and can be complex to understand. With interactive demos, we could now easily meet our customers’ needs in a scalable way.”
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:
‘Through the process of revamping our sales enablement strategy, we were able to also address competitive concerns’
On top of being able to revamp their sales enablement strategy, using interactive demos gave Semarchy an edge and differentiated them from their competitors. This is because many other players in the master data management industry aren’t transparent about what their products look like and how they work.
“In this industry, it’s a little bit more secretive, and most companies don’t even show screenshots of what the actual product looks like. And using interactive demos helped us differentiate ourselves from our competitors.”
HERE’S THE FULL STORY:
‘Our previous product content worked for technical buyers, but it didn’t help us convey value to end users. Not to mention, most of our buyers aren’t excited about reading hundreds of pages of documentation and then having to jump on a call to see what the product really does’
Steven Lin, the product marketing manager at Semarchy, understood that the sales team was struggling to convey the product’s value to less technical stakeholders.
Upon further evaluation, the team realized that the amount of time and tailoring that was necessary made their sales process unscalable. This meant that they weren’t seeing the results they wanted.
In addition, while Semarchy had a product eBook, it catered to a more technical audience and failed to resonate with less technical buyers.
‘The sales team was getting bogged down by our generic sales demos, and given our limited resources, this created a bottleneck that hampered the sales process’
Because the sales team couldn’t convey what the product did and its value, reps were getting bombarded with requests to answer generic questions and provide basic product training.
This combined with the team’s limited resources, created a bottleneck in the demo process, which in turn, made Semarchy’s sales process inefficient.
That’s what caused the Semarchy team to realize that they needed to make a change.
‘We set out to find a solution that would make the process more efficient by enabling the sales team to showcase the product’s value right off the bat and focus on high-intent leads who already have an understanding of the product’
Steven and the rest of the team understood just how critical it was to start offering more effective product content throughout the buying journey.
By using the right product content at scale, the team would be able to remove friction in the buying process, increase awareness, and boost their audience’s understanding of the product.
However, it was clear that content like presentations and eBooks wouldn’t do the job because they couldn’t show the full picture, as the product is very technical and can be complex to understand.
The team needed a solution that would allow reps to surface the product’s value more frequently for prospects so that they don’t need to discover it on their own.
That’s when the team made the switch and started using interactive product demos.
‘Having these demos and walkthroughs is just so much more useful than putting words on a page and assuming buyers will understand how the product works’
Almost immediately after implementing Walnut, Semarchy was now able to offer buyers comprehensive interactive demos tailored to different customer personas and industries.
This allowed the team to transform their sales enablement strategy.
As a result, Steven noticed a substantial increase in engagement, based on much longer interaction times for interactive demos compared to the generic sales demos they were using before.
On top of this, the sales reps were getting a lot less questions about how the product works or the value it brings, with the questions now focusing more on business cases.
This allowed the reps to invest their time and resources on the high-intent opportunities and provide these prospects with a more tailored and in-depth buying experience.
‘By revamping our approach to sales enablement, we now let customers try the product at a pace that works for them. And this has helped us reduce the time to decision’
With buyers able to understand the value from the get-go and sales reps able to have more in-depth sales conversations with high-intent prospects, they have seen a dramatic drop in decision-making time.
This is because their champions have what they need to convince their end users of the value they’ll gain from using the product.
‘Our use cases for Walnut have gone way beyond just sales enablement’
Semarchy has been able to use Walnut to not only revamp their sales enablement strategy, but also for several other business cases:
1. Champion education and enablement— The company has been able to use Walnut to give their champions the product content they need to sell Semarchy’s product internally.
2. Define an educational journey— Semarchy has been able to create an educational journey into the industry and product.
3. Improve the buying experience— The team has been able to use Walnut to remove friction from the buying process and better handle objections from prospects.
4. Demo embed on website— The company used Walnut to embed an interactive demo on their website, which allowed them to offer their website visitors self-guided exploration of the product.
5. Targeted demo creation— Semarchy is able to create specific demos that are personalized for industry-specific needs and common use cases.
‘Using interactive demos allowed us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors’
While Semarchy originally implemented Walnut with the goal of revamping their sales enablement strategy, using an interactive demo platform has also given them a competitive advantage.
According to Steven, in Semarchy’s industry, everyone’s a little bit more secretive when it comes to showing their product. In fact, most companies don’t even offer screenshots of what the actual product looks like. In order to see the product, buyers have to get on a demo call.
By using interactive demos, Semarchy has been able to stand out from the crowd and showcase the product from the very beginning of the sales process.
This not only reduced friction in the buying process, but also drove an increase in the number of high intent buyers that are meeting with the team.
‘For us, Walnut has been a game changer because it gave our reps the tools they needed to showcase the product’s value and gave our brand an edge compared to our competition in the industry’
