“What’s the cost to you to not have a tool like ClearSlide? At the end of the day, the results speak for themselves.”
The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California.
Challenge
- Identifying prospects most likely to purchase
- Focusing sales team on most engaged leads
- Scaling sales rep best practices
Pumping up sales—and the sales team
Phil Horn, Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service, knows that a packed house has a positive ripple effect on all aspects of each game and the success of the franchise. “We create memorable and valuable experiences for more than 17,000 people that fill our building,” he says, and he marshals a team of 50 to make it happen on a nightly basis.
But identifying which sales leads to invest time and energy in was difficult. According to Corporate Sales Manager Trevor Derrett, “I knew there had to be a better way to know whether my customers were actually engaged in what we were trying to sell or if they were just telling me they were.”
Thanks to ClearSlide, there is a better way.
Solution
Instant feedback on lead engagement
ClearSlide has been a complete hit with sales – from the most junior reps through to seasoned veterans. ClearSlide helps reps focus on the most promising leads, saves reps time during the sales cycle, and improves coaching.
“ClearSlide has been instrumental in helping us focus our resources,” says Derrett. “Being able to see that prospects are actually looking at the information they said they are interested in has really helped us speed up the sales cycle.”
Director of Sales, Justin Petkus also extols the time-saving virtues of ClearSlide templates, content management, and live pitch. “A proposal takes a rep, on average, 15 to 30 minutes to build. So when they’re able to go straight to a template and make a few small edits based on a seat location or a customer name, that can save them 90% of that time.” And when it comes to the Live Pitch feature, Petkus measures the time it saves in weeks, turning protracted back-and-forths into right here, right now pitches.
Sales leaders rely on ClearSlide analytics and recordings to help improve staff that may be underperforming. “If one teammate is doubling the amount of live meetings and we can correlate that to the sales success that they are having, it’s a very easy opportunity for us to have a coaching moment with our other sales staff.” Horn is continually reevaluating best practices based on the analytics ClearSlide provides.
- Instantaneous meetings & customer engagement
- Real-time alerts and analytics on content engagement
- Best practice library
- Activity reporting & benchmarking
Result
ClearSlide turns ordinary sales reps into all-stars
The Kings have seen sales reps transform their performance by using customer engagement insights on how prospects are engaging with their content. They leverage ClearSlide to connect with customers faster and more effectively, which improves response rates and enables better meetings. The sales leaders at the Kings rely on ClearSlide analytics to identify and scale best practices across the team, making every rep an MVP.
Petkus says ClearSlide helped him close a six-figure sale when nothing else would work. When a potential customer proved impossible to pin down, Petkus told him all he needed was 30 minutes for an online meeting. “We were able to walk him through our entire premium proposal. We were also able to send over the contractual agreement and walk him through each of the steps. And we were able to close the deal on the spot.”
Horn likes how ClearSlide is leveling the playing field between the veterans and the junior reps on his staff. “I’ve seen ClearSlide be an incredible game changer with our newest reps,” Horn says. “With a tool like ClearSlide our new reps can actually come in from day one, start sending out professional proposals, and engage with a customer in a way that maybe only a veteran rep could know how to do from training and experience.”
The success is clear. Horn says ClearSlide has completely changed his department, energizing his sales team and making them more excited to collaborate. “What we’ve seen is about a 3x increase on closing deals in our pipeline with ClearSlide versus those we close without this great tool. At the end of the day, the results speak for themselves.”
- Deals close 3x faster
- 90% reduction in sales rep time spent on proposals
- Improved on-boarding, coaching, sharing, and training
Company
The oldest—and loudest—team in the NBA
When they first joined the NBA in 1948, the team that would eventually become the Sacramento Kings had already been around for 25 years. Founded as the Rochester (NY) Seagrams in 1923, the organization moved through Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Omaha before reaching their final destination of Sacramento in 1985. Along the way, they’ve won one NBA title, three division titles, and placed 14 players in the basketball hall of fame.
Since owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadive purchased the team in 2013 — securing the team’s future in Sacramento – the Kings have committed to a new philosophy centered around technology, globalization, and using sport as an agent of social good. The team and their faithful fans—the loudest in the NBA according to Guinness—have a new home at Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento starting with the 2016–17 season. The carbon-neutral arena will be the most technologically advanced in the country, providing loyal season ticket holders and NBA enthusiasts a basketball experience like no other.
