The B2B tech marketplace operates at a lightning-fast pace. The companies that stay ahead of the competition do so by maintaining momentum even through internal changes their leaders make to keep up with the times. The question becomes: how can revenue teams adapt and evolve without disrupting the bottom line?

For leaders who own the number, there isn’t time to start over. Keeping the revenue machine running makes seamless sales solutions appealing, enabling organizations to enhance their sales strategies by building upon current frameworks rather than overhauling them entirely.

Aptean saw a 64% increase in average deal size by building on what was working and drafting in new processes and tools to help boost areas in need of improvement. This “draft-in” approach was a cornerstone to the company’s partnership with Force Management. Here are a few examples of how Force Management customized Command of the Message® to meet Aptean where they were, build upon what already existed and level up their revenue team.

Draft-In: Your Enterprise Selling Motion

The problem with many sales training solutions is that they rip out everything you’ve been doing and replace it with a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach. A more effective transformation initiative will leverage your current best practices and tools to create a more sustainable roadmap for success. If you wipe the slate clean with every new initiative, you’ll be left with one-off achievements rather than long-term success. A true sales transformation partner knows to keep your most effective tools and practices and determines the changes that will create the biggest impact, drive adoption and improve alignment throughout your organization.

After adopting and refining their own “Aptean Value Selling”, leadership recognized that gaps in their process were hindering progress. Aptean President and Chief Operating Officer Bob Kocis wanted to reframe their selling motion through Command of the Message. "When we met with Force Management, 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.”

Kocis describes how not discarding their earlier investment was crucial to their decision to partner with Force:

Draft-in: Your Tech Stack and AI Strategy

Small organizations have hundreds of programs and applications in their tech stacks. For large enterprises, it’s not uncommon to use over 1000 applications, and the drive to adopt AI means that number is growing. Having a great sales message and a robust qualification approach isn’t enough; each piece of your selling motion must be integrated with the intertwined tech system that’s uniquely yours. That’s why customization and expertise are so important; your new customer engagement approach must be compatible with your current internal systems.

Aptean adopted the Opportunity Manager® Salesforce application to both monitor compliance with applying the Command of the Message framework and to inform Opportunity Coaching sessions. Since implementation, 95% of managers have reported an improvement in deal reviews. 

But weaving Force’s methodologies into Aptean's infrastructure goes well beyond the CRM. Here, Ann Dee Torino, Senior Principal of Sales Enablement, describes how Aptean has built Command of the Message into their AI-driven sales tools, such as Clari and their AI-Agent, which helps sellers access specific pieces of the Value Framework and move opportunities forward in real-time. 

“We loaded our discovery guides, our framework and proof points into our Command of the Message AI Agent at Aptean,” Torino explains. “Our salespeople can get their needed information quickly and it’s helping them build deeper discovery questions, prep for meetings and drive better call follow-up. It acts as a co-worker sitting next to them, helping guide their day-to-day sales rhythm.” 

Draft-In: Your Onboarding and Talent Development Programs

Advancements in automation, cloud adoption and AI technologies have represented growth opportunities for most tech firms. However, rapid growth and changing marketplace dynamics can quickly render your new hire training program outdated. When onboarding is ineffective, ramp times are prolonged, opportunities get wasted and attrition becomes common.

Aptean knew the challenges growing companies face. It tripled the size of its sales force in five years. By adopting Command of the Message, Aptean leveraged the Value Framework’s power to improve onboarding. The Value Framework isn’t a script; it’s a navigational tool that guides your customer engagement process, product development roadmap, and marketing collateral. For new hires, the Value Framework provides a common language around the value and differentiation that are top-of-mind for your solution’s most influential buying audiences — a guide that helps new team members get up to speed and contribute more quickly.

After training over 400 revenue team members on three different continents, Kocis describes how Command of the Message helped them add headcount, improve manager coaching during deal reviews, and provided sellers with the opportunity to be more successful.

Aptean certified their internal trainer on Command of the Message methodology, enabling them to deliver new hire trainings, new regional rollouts and ongoing reinforcement. Continuous Learning is delivered through coursework and engagement on Ascender Plus, the enterprise version of Force’s sales acceleration and eLearning platform, which helps Aptean’s worldwide teams maintain consistency by reinforcing the customer engagement model.

“I wish we had done Command of the Message one year sooner.”

For Aptean, the draft-in approach resulted in bigger deals, shorter sales cycles, more new logos, a lower loss percentage, and an enhanced onboarding program. They’ve grown from $180 million in revenue to $800 million in just a few short years. 

Using an outside partner to refine the GTM motion is a heavy decision. Still, an expert partner provides value by understanding your business, recognizing where change is needed, and tailoring their solution to ensure significant ROI. Reflecting on Aptean’s journey and success, Kocis stated, “I wish we had done Command of the Message one year sooner.” 

Learn more about how Aptean generated strong results and watch more of the leader interviews here.