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Pelago Optimizes Its Outbound and Sees a $5M Increase in ARR Per Rep
An Invaluable Story Struggling to be Told
Pelago has a simple mission: Providing better access to substance use management. The platform fits seamlessly into a company's benefits package and offers anonymous aid, allowing employees to reduce or eliminate tobacco, alcohol, and opioid use without fear of scrutiny.
Despite real, hard data showing the impact substance misuse can wreak on a company's productivity and bottom line, Pelago is one of the first of its kind. There was little inbound demand, and no roadmaps or industry baselines to help inform their outbound strategy. And while they wisely implemented Salesloft to streamline their efforts, the team itself was spread too thin to monitor and optimize how reps used the platform.
In short? Despite a fantastic mission and product and having the right tools at their disposal, they weren't set up for success. After enlisting the help of RevShoppe, Pelago saw results that can only be described as phenomenal.
"It was feast or famine."
Kevin Donahue, Pelago's Senior Manager of Sales Business Development, describes the situation before working with RevShoppe as untenable. It was "feast or famine," with some reps performing remarkably well while others fell drastically short; Donahue knew issues were compounding but lacked the bandwidth to resolve them.
Despite doubts about enlisting outside help, several ongoing challenges brought Pelago to RevShoppe.
Too much autonomy and not enough data-driven insight. Reps desired autonomy, and the request was too easily granted with leadership spread thin. However, this led to disjointed processes and a mess of inactionable data.
Lack of enablement leading to misuse of the sales execution platform. New reps joined the team without formal training or guidance on Salesloft, leading to bulk email blasts, bounces, blocks, and unsubscribes. RevShoppe’s diagnosis revealed that reps were scheduling just one meeting for every 719 activities.
No repeatable playbook. In sum? The team lacked any repeatable processes or insight into what was working versus what wasn't. Each rep created their own unique outbound strategy, creating chaos in the data and ultimately jeopardizing the integrity of the mission at hand.
The Process
The team approached RevShoppe with a clear north star: Building a foundational playbook to guide their outbound motion.
Following RevShoppe's thorough diagnosis of Pelago's platform usage, several other priorities emerged, namely, establishing uniform messaging practices. This involved better leveraging Salesloft's existing capabilities and sharpening the content of the messaging.
To gain a clearer insight into rep performance and effectiveness, RevShoppe built dashboards within Salesloft to monitor the data that matters most to Donahue and his team. "We care about quality over quantity," he says. "Deliverability and quality of messaging, engagement, responsiveness."
Salesloft has everything needed to create streamlined dashboards and reports on those metrics; with RevShoppe's help, Donahue suddenly had immediate insight into the data he wished to track.
Regarding the actual messaging, RevShoppe coached Donahue and his team on its PROa messaging framework. "Substance use impacts certain industries more than others," Donahue says. Using PROa (Pain, Risk of Inaction, Outcome, Ask), Donahue and his team zeroed in on the value propositions mattering most to at-risk industries. "We continue to rely on the PROa framework to this day."
(A bonus? The framework streamlined sales messaging so much that it increased communication and collaboration with the marketing team, who created collateral specifically supporting the sales team’s efforts.)
The team's messaging no longer felt like mass blasts; it became highly tailored to individuals, companies, and company values. With the optimized reporting in place, it was easy to see what was working and what wasn't.
The Results
Pelago came to RevShoppe hoping for a playbook to use as the foundation for its outbound efforts; a playbook was created, but the collaborating teams also took action to optimize Pelago’s sales execution platform and messaging strategies in real-time throughout the entire engagement.
Not only did Pelago leave the project with a fully baked outbound playbook, but the efforts made over the 90 days immediately resulted in the following:
- A 17% increase in opportunities moved to SAO
- A 38% increase in meetings booked corresponding with a 48% decrease in SDR emails sent
And now? Two quarters since working with RevShoppe and implementing their new playbook, Pelago is witnessing almost unbelievable outbound results:
- 2x meetings per SDR YoY
- 2x Sales Accepted Opportunities per SDR YoY
- $5M increased in ARR added per rep
- SDRs finishing Q1 2023 at 130% of quota
Final Thoughts
When jokingly asked what movie title best encapsulates his team’s work with RevShoppe, Donahue’s answer came easily. “Maybe it’s my Boston showing, but Good Will Hunting,” he replies with an easy laugh. “RevShoppe was the teacher and mentor we needed to help uncover our own greatness.”
As Pelago moves forward in its mission of helping people through what could be the greatest missions of their lives, Donahue looks forward to further building out the RevShoppe playbook, growing his team, and sharpening the messaging skills Pelago reps continue to flex.
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