International companies like Sodexo manage over 400,000 employees across 50+ countries and process thousands of deals annually to hit billion-dollar targets. While big ships may move slowly, Sodexo’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Bruno Vanhaelst doesn’t have time to wait.
He must make his reps more efficient to increase deal velocity, accurately forecast his number, and hit massive revenue goals. No pressure, right? We sat down with Vanhaelst to learn how Sodexo leverages technology to manage high lead volumes, gain more visibility into its sales processes, and differentiate in a highly competitive market.
Maintaining velocity with high lead volume
Sodexo, founded in France in 1966, has become a leader in on-site food services for organizations globally. Sodexo must process thousands of leads to meet its sales targets. And while it might sound like a champagne problem, converting leads to opportunities fast enough can become a deadly bottleneck.
When discussing the pipeline acceleration challenge, Vanhaelst agreed, “Being a $20 billion company that serves customers in 50 different countries, the challenge becomes getting the right velocity and making sure we engage the right prospects to take them across the finish line.”
This challenge isn't unique to Sodexo. Most sales organizations appear to be doing well on the surface while underlying pipeline management issues silently sabotage. In fact, lengthy sales cycles and inaccurate forecasts cost companies so much that Clari coined the term revenue leak to describe revenue that companies earn but do not capture.
Automating pipeline management to increase deal velocity
For Vanhaelst, “it's all about having the right sales process, but the technology allows us to be more professional and more automated in how we engage leads and take them through the funnel.”
By automatically capturing all rep activities and tying them to the right opportunities, Revenue Platforms increase CRM adoption, revealing a more accurate view of the business. Deal velocity increases when revenue-critical employees know where they stand at any given time.
Efficient reps are high-performing reps
Large, distributed sales forces make it difficult for leaders to gain visibility into day-to-day activities and pinpoint areas for improvement. Leaders like Vanhaelst are constantly looking for ways to help their teams focus more on selling than on admin.
According to Vanhaelst, “Seller efficiency is super important right now. So any additional ways that technology brings more efficiency to us is critical.”
Leaders who gain full visibility into their sales process achieve revenue precision, an operating standard that ensures predictable, repeated revenue generation. Vanhaelst gains a complete picture of his team’s activity by using a centralized Revenue Platform—including who reps interact with and how engaged customers and prospects are—ultimately improving how they manage accounts and deals.
Using data to improve relationship-based sales
Veteran sellers may be concerned about technology de-personalizing the sales process, but the opposite is true. Enterprise companies like Sodexo that have a historically relationship-based sales process, increasingly turn to technology to create better customer experiences.
Automation helps (not hinders) customer relationships
Automation helps the Sodexo team focus on what it does best: serving its clients. In Vanhaelst’s experience, selling is “a science much more than an art.” Therefore, he aims to strike a balance between “leveraging technology just enough” without sacrificing that invaluable personal human touch.
For example, Revenue Platforms use AI to flag areas of weakness within accounts, arming sellers with account knowledge that allows them to take action sooner and ultimately provide a better customer experience.
Vanhaelst asserted that while “relationship selling is still essential and we love spending time with our clients, you need a robust process when selling $2 billion worth of business across thousands of deals every year. Because there are so many moving pieces, we need the technology to be able to focus on what really matters.”
Successful GTM starts with predictability
GTM leaders need accurate data when expanding into new markets. A Revenue Platform provides insights into how products and services perform in particular markets, showing leaders how they stack up against their competitors.
Vanhaelst shared how Sodexo is leveraging increased visibility in its GTM strategies. “We're testing Clari in our healthcare division in North America* and the opportunity grid has proven beneficial to extract key data from Salesforce. It gives instant visibility into the health of each relationship.”
Better decisions with precise forecasting
Forecasting can become a nightmare when you throw multiple teams, product lines, geographies, and business segments into the mix. At this stage, spreadsheets and guessing games sabotage strategic growth efforts.
Predictability is non-negotiable for Sodexo. “Revenue precision is absolutely paramount for me, it not only has a huge impact on our success but also on how the investment community looks at us,” said Vanhaelst.
Finally—feel confident calling your number
An AI-powered Revenue Platform provides connected, predictable forecasts that help companies like Sodexo keep all the information they need at their fingertips. Finally feeling more confident calling his number, Vanhaelst explained that he “needs to provide a very clear estimate of where we’ll land, even though it's seven business units across 50 countries. And that's what having a robust process brings.”
It’s possible to feel confident forecasting every part of your business—as long as you have the right processes and tools in place. See how Clari can help you stay on top of your pipeline and prevent revenue leak.
*Clari is local supplier used by Sodexo USA only and the use of the Clari solution shall be understood as strictly limited to this territory