Snowflake's approach to account-based sales helps 15% more sales reps hit quota
Snowflake enables organizations to optimize and mobilize their data by uniting siloed data, discovering and securely sharing data, and executing diverse analytic workloads.
Investing in an account-based approach requires reliable data and solid, cross-functional workflows
As the prominence of data within organizations continues to increase, companies that want to stay relevant need to modernize their data strategy. Snowflake has supported companies across segments, industries, and verticals to mobilize their data. And Snowflake is positioned to help enterprises do the same even large, legacy players who've yet to realize the power of their data.
As Snowflake moves upmarket, its sales team knows that it can be difficult to cut through the cacophony that enterprise companies hear daily. Adding to that difficulty, enterprise deal cycles are typically longer and more complex, involving multiple stages and decision makers who have already formed a strong point of view even before speaking to a rep.
"It's on the reps to know what people need before they get to them," says Remington Rawlings, Snowflake's SDR Operations Manager. "You have to share what they're supposed to hear at that stage of the buying process. And technology is the only way they're going to be able to do that."
For Snowflake to meet the needs of enterprise buyers, its sales development team has leaned into account-based selling. For Snowflake to be successful with this strategy, its critical that SDRs have reliable data and solid workflows that enable them to share the right message with the right person at the right time. And all customer-facing teams - especially the marketers running account based campaigns - must synchronize their efforts and tailor messaging as they engage all the decision makers and influencers within each account.
To do this at scale, Snowflake leaders knew they needed to automate the processes to maximize their teams impact and make it easy for reps to act on the data-driven insights.
“It’s a common misconception in sales execution that you can hire more people to produce more pipeline. That’s not the case. We had to invest in our process beforehand so when we hired more people, we had a precise process with the right approach for every rep to get into accounts.”
A single platform for sales execution
Snowflake first partnered with Outreach to enable more efficient prospecting. SDRs quickly saw prospect reply rates increase (today Snowflake averages a 20% prospect reply rate), and the sales team came to rely on Outreach to automate and optimize their approach to building pipeline.
Snowflake continues to choose Outreach as its sales execution platform because of the value it delivers throughout the deal cycle. Outreach frees up reps so they can focus on high-value activities, and teams across the go-to-market use Outreach to synchronize their efforts.
SDRs log in to Outreach each morning and have a clear line of sight into where to focus their efforts. They can see which accounts to prioritize, where they've had the most engagement, and which of their top accounts may need more attention. Meanwhile, account executives and other members of the sales team use Outreach to access data on target accounts so they can track and share which approaches are successful. And with sequences and a series of triggers orchestrating foundational demand-gen programs, the sales team has time to focus on a higher-touch approach with targeted upmarket accounts.
Snowflake's account-based selling approach revolves around the activation of a tailored value message for a strategic target. Sales and marketing leadership align on the strategy and develop messaging, and sequences ensure that their teams can consistently deliver the best message to their contacts. Outreach's real-time insights on sequence performance help Snowflake sales leaders pinpoint areas for improvement and optimize accordingly. The automated workflow ensures the content from the marketing team is encapsulated in the SDR follow-up emails and call talk tracks for a seamless customer experience.
Quickly ramping new reps on the go-to-market motion and existing reps on new messages is essential to Snowflake's strategy. By sharing proven approaches, customizable templates, and sequences, Outreach helps new hires onboard and become effective sellers quickly
Removing friction for reps causes a snowball effect
Outreach has become the central nervous system in Snowflake's larger sales technology stack, powering high-impact prospecting and turning account-based execution into a repeatable and measurable process.
"For salespeople, technology can really help remove friction," Remington says. "With Outreach, we can remove the obstacles that sometimes get in the way of SDRs being able to have equal opportunity in the effectiveness of their prospecting."
Access to the best possible workflows helps reps be more successful and advance their careers at Snowflake. And sales development leaders are leveraging Outreach to templatize and mature how reps go to market in each region. So whether a rep is based in the United States or in Europe, they have what they need to execute high-impact activities and meet their goals.
Just one quarter into their most recent Outreach initiative focused on account-based strategies, Snowflake saw 15% more sales reps meeting their quarterly quota.
“Every improvement we make within Outreach makes it easier for our SDRs to be more productive and hit quota. It’s really causing a snowball effect, and we’re getting increased attainment against higher numbers.”
With deals inching closer to completion faster than ever before, the Snowflake sales team is expecting to wrap up the year with a lot to celebrate.
