Case Study: How Experian Improved Its Sales Process

Executive: Kelli Stephenson, vice president of sales effectiveness

The Company: Experian provides information, analytical tools, and marketing services to organizations and consumers to help manage the risk and reward of commercial and financial decisions. The company achieves yearly sales in excess of $4 billion, employs 15,500 people worldwide with offices in 38 countries, and supports clients in more than 65 countries.

The Challenge: Experian lacked control over sources of sales information. The company had accumulated multiple sales methodologies and processes, making it difficult to coordinate multinational sales. The company also had a complex product set and a business environment where activities often fell into organizational silos. To continue growing, the company’s sales teams needed global access to standard sales methodologies and processes.

The Selection Criteria: Experian required a solution that would coordinate responses to RFPs, make it easier for groups to collaborate, and encourage knowledge management and sharing between groups.

The Selected Vendor: Experian selected Kadient. Stephenson: "It has a flexible environment that is user-friendly for both sales and administration. Just as importantly, it has support for sales process, as well as content. Because it is a hosted solution, we rolled it out globally, and it has the support for multiple languages that we need to support the entire company."

The Implementation: Because Experian was such a complex environment, it was initially difficult to prioritize and engage the right people in the implementation process. To make matters even more challenging, there was a steady stream of corporate acquisitions and new projects during the implementation. In addition, some groups were reluctant to give up their current way of doing things in favor of the new system. However, the implementation gained traction as success stories began to accumulate.

The Results: As of May 2009, Experian’s Kadient implementation had 600 distinct users logging in, creating 2,400 proposals. Thousands of content records had been downloaded, and the “ramp-up” speed for new groups joining had improved. For groups using the tool, there was an increased selling confidence, which appeared to be leading to greater revenue. In addition, Experian was communicating a more consistent brand message, according to Stephenson.

The Lessons Learned: First, identify the right executive sponsor to overcome reluctance and stovepipes. Second, develop a comprehensive content plan, so that you know what’s going into the system. Third, build out the tools with high-impact examples. Fourth, deploy to a pilot team so other groups will follow suit when they see it’s working. Fifth, measure success in order to present the business case for continuing and expanding the implementation.