According to the State of Sales Enablement Report, sales managers who coach reps to reinforce desired behaviors deliver a 14 percentage point increase in win rates. So, how can you design and implement coaching programs to boost rep confidence and improve the customer experience?
Shawnna Sumaoang: Hi, and welcome to the Win Win podcast. I’m your host, Shawnna Sumaoang. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully.
Here to discuss this topic is Paige Scott, the Vice President of Customer Success and Revenue Enablement at Reliance Matrix. Thanks for joining us, Paige. I’d love for you to tell us about yourself, your background, and your role.
Paige Scott: Terrific. I’m delighted to be with you today and happy to share anything I can. We’re all in this program together. I am 30 plus years in employee benefits, which are insurance products for employers who provide those benefit options to their employees. And I’m on the insurance carrier side.
It’s been a terrific career in the past. I’ve served in operational roles, account management roles where we’re focused on retaining and growing the business. I was a process engineer, Six Sigma Black Belt, that is really focused on continuous improvement. And at one point, the chief customer officer focused on the customer experience strategies for our company.
And now in my current role, I’m applying a lot of learnings from those experiences. So as you said, our role today at Reliance Matrix is head of customer success team. That’s our account management and service teams, as well as the revenue enablement team, where our objective is all about equipping the distribution organization with the tools, resources, training, and strategies that they need to retain business and sell more of it effectively. So I love this role because it really balances the accountability for customer focus, the customer’s experience, along with retention and growth of those relationships, but serves the critical needs of the organization and alignment with other departments that drive revenue growth as well.
So I live with my family and my dog Maggie here in Nashville, Tennessee, and I love country music and line dancing.
SS: We’re really excited to have you with us Paige. And as you mentioned, one of your key responsibilities is really growing and retaining the customer base. In your opinion, how can enablement help improve the customer experience?
PS: You know, that’s actually there’s a myriad of ways that enablement enhances the customer experience. I’ll give you a simple example on how we’re focusing on it here in our current experience. state, and it’s really around the tools and training. And I think about this, not only with regard to how we’re internally supplying the tools and training and coaching, but also externally.
So our account management teams can better understand their customer needs and preferences, leading to more personalized or relevant interactions. That’s what we’re encouraging. For example, in our business. We’re often working with human resource benefit teams that are outsourcing their work that they used to do themselves to us, the insurance carrier, many of them for the first time.
And these first-time outsourcers of really complicated processes, they need to feel confident in trusting us to take on that work and doing it well on behalf of their employees. So there’s a lot of research and our experience shows that the first time outsourcers They need more education and communication to feel comfortable handing that work off to us.
So our enablement team, we’ve built tools and resources and training to teach our teams how to work best with first time outsourcers. We actually give them a little bit different path. And their experience that is really focused on education and gaining their confidence and providing them with the tools they need to feel empowered.
So in this past year, we implemented the use of the digital room capability to really establish the go-to resource for the clients. And first time outsourcers so that they feel empowered. They know where to go to look for information and find articles literature and research and best practices that we’ve collected and made available to them.
So we are demonstrating our listening and expertise because we’ve provided the support and strategies that ensure that. They continue to receive the assistance and resources that they need to maximize their use of our products and our services for their employees. So it’s kind of a win win both internally and externally.
SS: I couldn’t agree more. And I know rep confidence plays a huge role in delivering great customer experiences. And this is an area that you are really passionate about. What are some of the challenges reps face today that can impact their confidence?
PS: Yeah, sure. Well, this is a complicated business that we’re in.
And the biggest challenge that we face really is keeping up with the pace of change with all the complexities. So not to get you schooled on insurance stuff, but Reliance Matrix, we’re the number one insurer with the most lives that are managed through our absence programs. So in your day-to-day life, you’ve probably hear about things like paid family, medical leaves, FML, et cetera.
These are all like state level programs that provide employees with paid time off for family or medical reasons. And I’ll tell you, this is a huge source of focus and attention across the states. A lot of compliance issues around this. States are making their own policies and practices with regard to how they want.
This to be administered inside in their states where the employees live. And so the pace of change in these state programs is incredible and it’s very complex and difficult to understand and difficult to keep up with, not just for our customers, but even internally for our folks to build and maintain the expertise that they have around these programs.
So we honestly have relied on Highspot, our platform heavily as our go-to resource for knowledge, training, communication internally, as well as pitching that relevant information externally. It’s enabled us to move quicker. Enable people not to have to memorize current rules, regulations, et cetera. They can just go to the resource and find the most up-to-date information in order to answer questions and put that information in the hands of their customers.
And then on top of it, then of course we can. Move quicker and measure our engagement, both internally and externally. So it really has helped us to solve this challenge of trying to keep people up to date. We’re encouraging our reps not to try to memorize everything. They just go consult the tool, go to the resource. We’re keeping it up to date.
SS: We see those too. What are some of your best practices for helping reps overcome these challenges to really boost their confidence and improve the customer experience?
PS: So you know, it’s really important that we straight stay true to our word in terms of consistently, regularly reviewing our content and developing best practices to share to our reps. I mean, if they come to ou platform, our content and find that it’s out of date or not accurate, I’m going to lose them. They’re not going to be happy that they’re not providing the right information to their clients and So we have really prioritized the keeping our content up to date, making it, you know, consumable, small pieces, small bits.
And then we put out best practice videos that if I’m responding to an inquiry, I can go see how someone who’s really good at responding to that inquiry, how they say it, how they answer it. And I can use that to hone in on my own ability to answer to my customers. And then of course. You know, whenever we have content or we’re rolling out something new, it’s not a once and done, we’re planning for putting the content out.
How do we bring people to it? How do we get them practicing it? How can we test on the knowledge? It is something they really need to know. And then You know, focusing in on the coaching elements that are available as well. In the past couple of years, since we implemented the platform, I would say that we’ve spent a lot of time putting content out there, keeping it fresh, learning how people learn and how best to organize it.
But in 2025, one of the things that the team is going to focus on is more around adding a little more gamification. And competition to our approach, because after all, we are working with salespeople and they do like to compete. So we’re going to build some of that competition in to continue to enhance engagement and learning.
SS: Those are some great tips and tricks. Now, I know coaching can be a key lever for improving rep performance, and your coaching programs have evolved a lot recently. Can you tell us what your coaching strategy looks like now and how you leverage Highspot to help support it?
PS: Yeah, sure. Actually, I’ll tell you the good, bad and the ugly, but this was an area of challenging for us a couple of years ago.
I’ll use the example in our sales model. Before we got more focused on this in our model, the sales managers are also. Sellers, they have their own individual sales goals in addition to the goals of their team. So didn’t really set us up for success in terms of motivating or encouraging the sales managers to spend the time with their teams developing because they were so busy, you know, trying to meet their own performance goals.
And while we haven’t changed that model. Entirely, we have changed it a bit so that we have built in approach where we’re recognizing the importance of coaching and the importance of the manager and that role. So we have built an approach where we’re utilizing the capabilities and analytics and high spot to practice.
So we call these our stand and delivers, meaning I need to learn, let’s say a product nuance or something about the way the service is done or administration. And I need to be able to repeat that or inform a customer or potential customer with confidence. You know, I need to know what I’m talking about so I can answer those questions on the spot.
We have picked areas that are most important for our sales reps to be able to exude that confidence and we ask them to practice it. and they practice it. They will film a video and they will do their stand and deliver on the video and the rep will create and submit the video to their manager and the managers are accountable to review and coach and we can see their coaching notes.
We can see who’s doing it and doing it with regularity. So the fun thing is the head of our sales organization, she has So committed to this. This is how she learned as she was growing up as a sales rep. They stand and delivers on demand. People would stop her in the hallway and say, tell me about, you know, X, Y, Z.
This is how she got really good at it. So she really believes in this practice and this approach. And she really appreciates the capability and high spot because it makes it pretty easy to do. So we are constantly reviewing the engagement analytics. It’s to understand the performance of our reps, but also the performance of our managers as coaches. We’ve upped the game that way.
SS: Very cool. How do you go about partnering with frontline managers to get them bought into coaching their teams?
PS: Sure. Again, it was a journey. Uh, some managers were adept. They were already kind of managing their own production and balancing that with the development of their teams.
But many were not. And so we went to work. And we focused on the ROI of Using real life examples and data where certain sales managers had best practices with their teams and they were really producing results. Cause not only was the manager producing results, but they were taking in new individuals, onboarding them and, you know, doing the ride alongs, providing the coaching and we could see in terms of goal attainment.
Which managers were very successful and we actually built those into stories in case studies and we use the real data to bring back to the rest of the organization to prove the value of the role of the coach and the importance of the development of the team. I mean, there was a lot of other best practices that we learned and shared throughout the period too, but the story tells itself in terms of the numbers, honestly, and given how competitive.
Most of the sales folks are, they accepted the invitation to do better, kind of turns into a competition. So it was an easy carrot to dangle because it proved that production increased with a greater focus on practice and coaching for development for the teams.
SS: How are you now with the platform in place, leveraging analytics to understand how managers are coaching and optimizing their effectiveness?
PS: Yep, sure. So there’s a number of things that we look at. We got grounded in the metrics that were most relevant to our goals. So in this area, it was things like employee engagement scores, turnover rates, productivity levels, goal achievement. And we look at adoption metrics and the use of high spot, et cetera.
So it was really getting grounded in what were those key metrics that we should be looking at on a regular basis that helps tell the bigger story. And we’re collecting data from different sources, such as. You know, performance reviews or even employee feedback, the coaching sessions and records that are in the system and that data can provide insights into how managers are performing and how their coaching is impacting their teams or not.
And, you know, it is a source of performance review for the manager themselves that when we’re evaluating our managers performance, it’s not just based on hitting your goals. A lot of those other key metrics are a large part of that. And then finally, I guess we are looking at or listening to the employees to understand their perceptions.
It’s important to understand how they experience our onboarding, whether they’re brand new to selling. Or they’re a very experienced rep coming over. We have different learning paths and we are listening to that and understanding, you know, their feedback about their manager and the level of support that they’re feeling or the training that they’re experiencing in that onboarding program.
And we’re using that feedback regularly for continuous improvement. It’s the constant job, it’s continuously reviewing our content, understanding what works well, what doesn’t, and using those best practices to make our programs better and better.
SS: And you all are also leveraging the integration between Highspot and Salesforce to really help unlock meaningful data and tie your programs to revenue. Can you share more about how you leverage this integration and some of the impact that you’ve been able to uncover?
PS: Yeah, sure. Well, again, this has been a journey in the very beginning. I remember interviewing, you know, some of the folks in the sales organization and the head of sales and they’re like, Oh my God, no, not another system to log into.
I’m like, well, yeah, but there’s a lot that you’re going to learn from the system and how it’s going to add value to the organization. So in the very beginning, it was So important that we integrated with Salesforce. So we had an easy toggle, I should say, between Highspot and Salesforce. And then as we continued building, the centralized content access was a heavy hitter for us because of the integration.
It allows our reps. To access relevant content and materials and sales plays within their workflows. So it’s much more seamless, uh, than having to toggle and go find and search and seek, et cetera. Now we have a long way to go. We still are working on how we make that information more predictive. And, but we’re proud of the work that we’ve done here.
And then honestly, this integration has enhanced the customer. Engagement as well, because it ties our engagements, meetings, et cetera, to business outcomes. It helps surface our best practices and shared knowledge that can improve sales performance. So we’re still in the early stages of tying these analytics together and building out the push and the predictive nature of it.
But we really see the opportunity. So we’re investing full force as enablement team and making that happen.
SS: Paige, as your enablement strategy continues to evolve, how are you incorporating AI into your programs to continue to improve productivity?
PS: Yeah, well, this is something I’m really excited about. We had introduced in 2024, the co-pilot tool AI as a productivity tool to parts of our teams, and now are really rolling out across, but our use in 2024 was.
Probably more limited to just like meeting summaries, to-do lists, assignment of duties afterwards, creation of presentations, improving content, etc. Kind of like your own admin assistant as you’re prepping in your relationships and for your meetings. But in 2025, we are, I’m going to go a lot further with it.
We’re exploring AI and machine learning between Highspot and Salesforce to make recommendations on content. Like I said, pushing and predicting and, you know, really driving at the sales plays and training that’s. Going to enhance our productivity. So I feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface of what AI is going to be capable of helping us to achieve, but it is a major strategy for the enablement team in 2025.
So I’m totally stoked about learning what we’re going to. Be able to do their
SS: Last question. If you could give one piece of advice to someone looking to enhance the business impact of enablement at their organization, what would it be?
PS: Yeah, honestly, it’s don’t try to boil the ocean, start small. Know the business goals, align with the business goals and use the data analytics to measure the effectiveness of the programs and then kind of spread that grow for impact.
Gather feedback from the teams to understand what’s working and how effective it is. Again, underscoring all the time, data-driven decisions, adjustments, improvements continuously. I’ll share an example, and this is so simplistic, but I tell this story all the time. My initial proof point or business case, a really simple one.
I joined the organization a couple of years ago and I was out in one of our sales offices. I was literally walking down the hallway in the sales office. Two sales reps standing in the hallway and I overheard what they were talking about. One of them was trying to find a. presentation that another rep used for a finalist presentation.
So they wanted the deck and they’d been going through files and searching for, I think she said like 30 minutes. Maybe even more. Then she picked up the phone, because she got frustrated, and she finally called that other rep, and lo and behold, incidentally, the rep had stored that deck on their laptop, meaning no one else really had access to it anyway.
So, I was marveled by the fact that one of our top reps spent more than 30 minutes Looking for a piece of content and I asked for the deck reviewed it and I laughed because when I was looking at the deck I realized some of the data elements and even the brand that was on the deck was outdated. It wasn’t even up to date or in compliance. So, bing, lightbulb goes off.
I’m like, oh, Paige could be a hero here because what I need to do is find a good way to manage content and partner with a marketing organization, et cetera, to tell this story. And lo and behold, again, such a simple example. It’s all proven by the metrics. So I sold it by showing the ROI of saving a hundred sales reps in our organizations, 30 minutes a month or more searching for content.
And that’s a heck of a lot of savings that can be put towards production activities. And so again, the platform was easy to sell. Enablement is easy to continuously show the impact, but it’s using the data and telling the stories, but keep it small. Don’t try to boil the ocean. Keep telling measurable stories and everyone catches on and they feel it.
And we are all the heroes when we are able to help reps and the organization to be more effective. efficient in growing a business
SS: Thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate all of your insights and advice. To our audience, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win Win podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize enablement success with Highspot.
