Aptean provides industry-specific software for manufacturers and distributors to effectively run and grow their businesses, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
Aptean is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia with offices located in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, and is owned by Vista Equity Partners.
For Aptean, rapid growth and multiple acquisitions emphasized the need for alignment and consistency. Ann Dee Torino, Senior Principal of Sales Enablement, explains: “We have many products and sell into several different verticals. We've expanded to multiple regions with different cultures and languages. From a sales enablement perspective, we needed a consistent approach that could resonate across all areas.”
Externally, advancements in automation, cloud-based software, and supply-chain efficiency represented significant growth opportunities for Aptean.
Aptean’s leaders wanted to refine the selling methods they had been developing for years without abandoning their approach and starting from scratch. Leadership sought to boost new-account acquisition, increase wallet share through improved cross-selling, accelerate SaaS conversions (cloud adoption), and enhance rep competencies such as engaging in thorough discovery, articulating differentiation, and setting effective traps for the competition.
“A big challenge from a net new perspective is that we just weren't in enough dog fights,” explains Sean Nappo, Executive Vice President, Americas. “Deals were taking longer; they were pushing. We just needed more opportunities, and then when we got them, we needed to take advantage more, close more deals and drive toward our targets.”
Aptean partnered with Force Management for a Command of the Message® engagement, initially with 195 members of the North American GTM team. The Europe and Asia-Pacific regions were added in the months ahead, taking the total number of training participants over 400.
Aptean enables sellers with Opportunity Manager®, Force Management’s Salesforce integration, to track Command of the Message application, as well as to frame and inform Opportunity Coaching sessions.
Aptean certified their internal trainer on Command of the Message methodology, which enabled them to deliver training to new hires, new regional rollouts and ongoing reinforcement.
Continuous Learning and reinforcement are delivered to over 250 Aptean revenue team members on Ascender® Plus, the enterprise version of Force Management’s sales acceleration and eLearning platform.
For Aptean, a deciding factor to partner with Force Management was Force’s ability to draft-in to the enterprise selling motion they were building in stages with another training provider. “We used an outside partner to help us, and it was very well done,” says Bob Kocis, President and Chief Operating Officer. “But we realized there were gaps in the methodology. We didn’t use something as mainstream as Force Management, and we still needed to go to the next level.”
"When we met with the Force Management team, we wanted to make sure they understood all the work we had done over the last four years,” said Kocis. “We didn't want to throw that out, because there was a lot of goodness.” The Force team consulted on the practices and initiatives worth keeping and recommended reframing with Command of the Message to help Aptean achieve its revenue goals more quickly.
“It would’ve been a difficult decision for us if we couldn’t make it a continuation of our journey,” explains Kocis. “A rip-and-replace would’ve been difficult, but because we were able to make our work with Force Management the next step in our journey, it was more consumable, and the impact was much higher.”
Nappo adds, “They really took the time to understand our business and the sales methodology we were using, and didn't try to overhaul it. They just tried to make it better and build on top of it−almost like a 2.0 of what we were doing, which was really impressive.”
One year into the partnership with Force Management, Aptean reports:
• 64% increase in Average Deal Size for New Logos
• 27% increase in Average Deal Size for SaaS Conversions
• 15-point decrease in loss percentage
• Shorter Deal Cycles
• 95% of Managers report improved deal reviews with Command of the Message
• Improved forecasting and business predictability
• Faster onboarding
• 400+ team members trained and/or certified
When Kocis and Nappo joined, Aptean had fewer than 50 sellers. Today, there are over 150. Aptean has grown its revenue from $180 million to $800 million in just a few short years.
On the process, Kocis remarks: “The initial workshops where we built our playbooks with the Force team were incredible. Bringing all the disparate teams together, honing in and agreeing on our unique value proposition, the proof points, and other pieces of the playbooks that were necessary to be successful. That exercise, the few weeks that we spent, was so valuable,” says Kocis. “The level of professionalism was second to none.”
Torino describes how her team uses the Salesforce integration: “Our sales managers review deals in Opportunity Manager and then meet with their salespeople or teams to collaborate and provide coaching that moves their deals forward. We surveyed our salespeople, and 95% said deal reviews have improved dramatically since adopting Command of the Message.”
Nappo describes how the partnership ignited measurable change. “We were single-threaded before working with Force Management. We didn’t understand the different parties within the business. Command of the Message gave us two things: One, the sales reps have a defined process for identifying gaps in their deals. And management has a model on what to ask and how to coach that ultimately gives us the best opportunity to close each deal,” says Nappo. “And that ties back to a lower loss percentage, quicker deals, quicker ramp times, and larger deals−because we're expanding within the account base, talking to multiple different stakeholders and asking the right questions.”
Torino adds, “We have feedback from customers saying, ‘Nobody's ever really listened to me before, like you have.’ We're not trying to fit whatever the customer says into our product, what we do, and what we offer. Instead, we're actually listening to them and trying to help them define their business issues so that we can help solve them.”
“It's not just about the methodology,” says Kocis. “It's about bringing the company together, making sure the messaging is crisp and clear, that everything is buttoned up, and everybody across the entire organization is singing off the same sheet of music, right? There is a lot of power in that.”
“Measuring ROI is always difficult, but when it comes to the decision to go with Command of the Message, I wish we had done it one year sooner,” says Kocis.
Reflecting on the journey, Nappo states, “As you grow and scale a company, it's always good to go to an expert. I like bringing in the best people, whether that's folks working for me, with me, or leading alongside me. We wanted a world-class organization that would drive us to be a top-notch player, and that's why we picked Force Management. We had the confidence they would get us to the next level, and they have. And that's why we're going to continue working with them.”
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