Seizing a $1B+ revenue opportunity with SMBs

Targeting SMB segment and strategic partnerships for profitability

As the pace of change accelerates and competition crowds the market, one of the world’s biggest IT brands was keen to find new avenues of growth.

The networking leader recognized that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) were largely underserved and represented a massive growth opportunity. But the company was not yet equipped to serve the millions of potential customers. 

Their sales teams needed an efficient, consistent way to identify the most valuable prospects, understand their unique needs, align those to a large portfolio of products and services, and offer SMBs an outstanding customer experience.

The networking leader also wanted to extend capabilities to its partner network. By providing enhanced training, support and enablement, as well as deeper customer and industry insights, the company could strengthen partner relationships to drive growth and revenues even higher.

The networking leader was a long-time client of Accenture, including work across HR and Finance. It was eager to take advantage of Accenture’s new offering to help transform its global demand strategy. Accenture used a combination of smart technology and expert sales talent to support the company’s growth vision and establish an integrated virtual demand center.

• Accenture overlayed our proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning platforms on the company’s existing technology stack, creating a consolidated, in-depth view of the buyer and the products being purchased by those in different industries.
  
  
• A data-driven lens allows the company to capture customer experiences, analyze sentiment, and gain actionable insights about buyer interest and pain points. The platform automatically generates use cases and next-best actions, helping sellers be more targeted in outreach and maximize efficiency.
  
  
• By analyzing data on customers who had bought other products from them, the platform prompts sellers on tailored product and bundle recommendations. It also prices solutions accordingly, helping sellers create highly specific demand generation activities.
  
  
• The platform captures customer feedback based on the value-message delivered and feeds that to the AI model – helping sharpen recommendations over time. This empowers sellers to upgrade their storytelling and engage in more compelling, meaningful conversations at every point in the customer journey.

Implementing these innovative tools was only part of the transformation. The networking technology leader also needed the right people to make the best use of the new insights. Accenture was ready to deliver, supporting the company with a stellar set of inside sales specialists.

For four years, Accenture has grown the company’s outsourced sales team by 300% and represented more than 6,500 products from the company’s extensive hardware, software, and services portfolio. With proven sales experience, strong technical knowledge, and a deep understanding of the competition, these sellers can better understand customers’ needs and generate valuable sales opportunities.

The company is applying this same formula across its partner ecosystem in more than 70 countries. Accenture helps the company maintain close connections with partners, keeping them up to date on product and service offerings, providing them with insights and sales enablement, and helping them qualify and close more deals.

A valuable difference

By creating excellent experiences for customers, partners and sellers, the networking leader is experiencing extraordinary growth in interactions and revenue.

Salespeople are enabled with nuanced insights and well-qualified leads through a supercharged demand generation engine. AI-driven technology helps them filter a mass of SMB opportunities into a focused and efficient approach to selling. 

The partnership with Accenture has allowed the networking technology leader to shape a better buying experience, lift conversion and response rates, and successfully tap into the massive SMB market opportunity.