How Vehlo Reduced Ramp Time by 50% with Highspot

Acquisitions Spark New Support Needs

From the start, Vehlo leveraged organizational change as a lever for growth. “Vehlo was built from 17 smaller companies that came together to serve the aftermarket in the automotive space,” explained Donda Daniels, GTM learning and development manager at Vehlo. In just a few years of operation, it evolved into a thriving organization, one that continues to grow through regular acquisitions. These acquisitions considerably strengthened its competitive value, but they also introduced new complexity into its internal operations. “They all came with their own systems, processes, and onboarding,” added Daniels. Silos began to emerge. Existing and acquired teams operated in distinctly different ways, a disconnect that, if allowed to continue, could lead to confusion and inconsistency. 

Consistent execution became Vehlo’s number one priority, and the enablement team soon emerged as the lever for achieving it. As the team saw it, their job was to diagnose and resolve gaps in internal operations. Initially, their goal was to understand where execution gaps appeared and identify how to evolve their programs to address them. “What are the barriers keeping my sellers from attaining their quotas and reaching their goals?” asked Daniels. “Where’s the skill gap or the knowledge gap?” As part of this exploration, the team also looked at the current state of their enablement systems. “Do we need to simplify our systems for sellers?” continued Daniels. “Are [our systems] bogging them down from getting to where they wanted to be?” Their conclusion was simple: The organization had grown, and its enablement arm would need to mature alongside it. It had come time to invest in a sales enablement solution. 

For Vehlo, consistency was an achievable goal. The team already had plans for achieving it through onboarding and ongoing skill development. All it needed was the right tool to operationalize these programs through acquisitions to come.  

Formalized Training Introduces New Consistency

As Vehlo rolled out Highspot, the enablement team positioned it as a familiar, must-have addition to sellers’ workflows. “We branded our instance of Highspot ‘The Garage,’ which is appropriate because we serve automotive shops and dealerships, and all good mechanics keep the right tools in their garage,” shared Daniels. 

The Garage kept Vehlo’s tools — content, guidance, and training — in a clean, high-quality environment that sellers could trust. “We work on keeping the Garage organized and maintained with the intention that sellers find what they need in as few clicks as possible,” added Daniels. As sellers realized they could visit the Garage, find relevant assets, and instantly share them, adoption soared. In short order, content usability rose by 38%. A 31% improvement in buyer engagement followed as sellers felt empowered to surface and share content with buyers. 

The team hit the ground running with Highspot’s training capabilities. Their new programs taught sellers how to use internal tools, land Vehlo’s value proposition, and everything in between. More than that, they checked the box on a key goal: Every seller had the same essential knowledge as the next. “We know we’re delivering consistent training to everybody across the board,” enthused Daniels. Learning experiences also became a place for practice. Using Skill Feedback, the team helped sellers build confidence and put their newly acquired skills to use in a low-risk environment. “We wanted to give sellers space to make content and messaging their own before they’re in an actual selling environment,” noted Daniels. “Using the features in Highspot, we can do the training and then reps are able to make a recording, turn it in, and get feedback.” 

As Vehlo continues to grow, these programs will instill consistency every step of the way. When reps enter the organization — as a new hire or through an acquisition — they are programmatically introduced to the essentials and become productive faster than ever. 

Mature Function Empowers Future Growth Initiatives

The enablement team at Vehlo has operationalized onboarding and ongoing skill training. “Using a platform like Highspot to centralize information, set expectations, and be a single source of truth has been paramount for us to grow at the rate we need and want to,” praised Daniels. In this way, they simplified the acquisition process and ensured that acquired sellers are set up for near-instant success — since implementing Highspot, ramp time has been reduced by 50%. 

The issue of internal consistency resolved, the team turned their attention to honing their programs using Highspot Analytics. “We can connect what we did that impacted sellers positively and what we did that maybe didn’t serve the teams how we thought it would,” explained Daniels. With enablement and business impact data at their disposal, the team plans to stretch beyond the training motion to create a data-backed coaching muscle. “I want to support my leaders and stakeholders with the data available in our platform and show how they can use that to coach their teams,” concluded Daniels. 

Future growth is right around the corner for Vehlo. With a mature enablement function and the right tool at its disposal, it is primed for ongoing evolution — in whatever form it may take.