How Intapp’s BDR team booked 297 meetings in one month.
#samsales built a custom BDR training program for Intapp’s Client Development Associates. A team that had relied on inbound leads learned to prospect, then beat its pipeline and meetings targets in the first month it was measured.
Intapp at a glance
Company overview
Intapp is a leading global provider of cloud-based software, enabling breakthrough performance for more than 2,200 of the world’s premier professional and financial services firms.
Annual revenue
$289.4 million
Employees
950
What Intapp needed
BDR Basics training and pipeline generation
Company figures as of the engagement.
The problem: a team that only worked inbound
A missing skill set
When Brian Rooney stepped into his new role as VP of Client Development at Intapp, he saw one fundamental skill set missing from his team: strong outbound prospecting.
Intapp had a robust onboarding process, but the training focused on product knowledge. The foundations of email writing, cold calling, building rapport and running an elevated level of discovery were left out.
So, was the team struggling to hit quota and build pipeline? Actually, no. Intapp’s BDR team, the Client Development Associates (CDAs), hit quota on inbound leads alone, shared evenly across the team. That structure gave the CDAs no incentive to prospect, so the outbound skill set never developed.
What Brian saw
Missed opportunities and missed revenue.
Brian set an internal vision for his new team: adjust the structure, align the CDAs with the field, and build true subject matter experts with strong selling foundations.
If we’re already successful with inbounds, think of all the revenue we’re missing by not actively seeking new prospects.
The solution: training built around Intapp
Choosing a partner
Brian knew the team would need outside help. After evaluating several vendors, Intapp was confident #samsales was the right fit.
Finding the budget
The next hurdle: there was no budget for training. Brian presented his case, and to their credit, Intapp leadership agreed that investing in the training meant investing in the lives and careers of their employees. They hoped the CDAs would stay and keep investing themselves in the company too.
We’d heard great things about Sam McKenna and the #samsales team, and they came highly recommended. We did evaluate other vendors, but with Sam’s experience in legal (a vertical we sell to) and the robust strengths in modern selling, we knew #samsales was the way to go.
#samsales came to us with a menu of training options to choose from, but what we ended up with was truly prescriptive. The team was able to analyze our specific needs, team, industry, and create a custom training program for us.
BDR Basics: BDR training across email, social and cold calling
The program
Intapp landed on the #samsales BDR Basics package to teach the CDAs to sell on all three levers: email, social and cold calling.
It introduced a completely new way of selling, and Brian says most of his CDAs were excited for the training.
“They understand these are best practices, and want to get better.”
Training topics
The results: outbound that beat its targets
Putting the training to work
Training pays off when the team uses it and someone measures it. Brian set up a friendly competition: a Special Performance Incentive Fund (SPIF) for February, measuring each CDA and each team on email responses, meetings booked and pipeline generated. In that month, the team:
Discovery calls by month
72% increase
Discovery calls climbed from 173 to 297 a month across four months.
A real prospect reply
Personalized outreach started earning replies like this one.
To: William D.
Subject: Re: ACC + France + Intapp
Hello Will,
Thank you for reaching out in such a personalized way. Which is why I’m responding. 🙂
We started implementing a CLM. How is yours different?
Isabelle
Leadership made the difference
A big part of Intapp’s success was Brian’s own involvement and the leadership presence he showed during both the training and the implementation.
Through my years, I’ve always tried to lead by example: first seller, then manager. I want to make sure that they’re reaching for the right level of performance and expanding their comfort zone.
So, I need to be on the calls to see everything that’s going down. It’s quite a transformation from that standpoint. I think that’s one of the key ways to ensure that we change.
What came next
A team that wants to sell differently
After seeing these results, the CDAs are excited to change the way they sell and build relationships. Growing their foundational skill set gave them in-depth business acumen and more confidence, and it shows in the way they write emails, make cold calls and social sell.
Intapp has since signed on for additional training with #samsales.
I know there’s a different approach to prospecting and to the buyer’s pace. I think Sam and team have a really good handle on the modern buying environment and I wanted to bring a lot of that to the team.
Ready to elevate your team’s sales skills?
#samsales builds sales training around your team, your buyers and your industry. Find out what it could do for your pipeline.