Oracle Netsuite is a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software company. It was acquired by Oracle in 2016, suddenly moving from a relatively small organization to an extremely large corporation.
All of Oracle Netsuite’s onboarding and sales training was handled manually. Sales reps would use various platforms to record role plays and send them to their managers for individual evaluation and feedback.
This worked well while the company was small, but it couldn’t scale as the company grew. It simply wasn’t possible for managers to deliver enough coaching. As a result, managers were struggling under the workload while sales reps weren’t getting the practice that they needed.
Oracle Netsuite and the larger Oracle organization were already embracing AI, so they looked for a suitable AI-powered training solution. They chose Second Nature for numerous reasons, but its strong security and regulatory compliance stood out.
Oracle Netsuite ran a very targeted Proof-of-Concept with Second Nature AI involving 56 of Oracle Netsuite’s Emerging Sales Reps, before expanding to the rest of the sales team. The test group had to submit two role play recordings to both a human manager and Second Nature’s AI evaluation engine. Before submitting the first recording, each rep had 4-5 practice attempts using Second Nature, and could practice again before the second recording.
The results were immediate, objective, and scalable, allowing decision makers to quantify the impact of Second Nature. Opportunities increased by 32% and sales by volume by 21%, while role play scores rose by 32%. The PoC participants completed 114 role plays between them, which would have required 13.1 work hours per person if managers had handled them manually.
Oracle Netsuite quickly rolled out Second Nature for its SDR business development department and its Emerging Sales department, each of which has over 100 employees. They use Second Nature for onboarding and ongoing training in product, introductory and escalation calls, and to replace managerial evaluation of sales and interview preparation. Second Nature’s scores are used alongside monthly and quarterly sales figures to map KPIs and track sales success. What’s more, Second Nature helps Oracle Netsuite’s sales leaders strengthen their leadership skills.
Second Nature was extremely easy to implement, with intuitive onboarding that prevented any dip in productivity. It wasn’t necessary to carry out an extensive introduction to the tool.
Creating training role plays was very simple. Once Oracle Netsuite’s sales enablement personnel had gathered the information they needed from subject matter experts, they could create a 100% tailored custom role play in hours. The ease of use empowers Oracle Netsuite to adjust sales training on the fly, reacting to changing circumstances within just a day or two.
After introducing Second Nature, Oracle Netsuite saw practice times rise, onboarding times drop, and a significant overall improvement in performance.
Once Second Nature was deployed more widely after the initial POC, the rise in productivity was so pronounced that the executive team noticed the difference and asked what had changed.
Among Oracle Netsuite’s SDRs, Second Nature cut time to first logo by 21% and overall onboarding time by 20%, while boosting the quality of SQL opportunities. Most importantly, the 351 SDRs clocked 2,429 coaching hours during the quarter, which would not have been possible using the old manual system.
For the reps in the Emerging Sales department, results were similarly impressive. The volume of calls remained the same, largely because the quarter included a lot of public holidays when the sales department was closed, but the number of opportunities and logos per month rose from 2.78 to 6.02 and from 0.49 to 1.04 respectively, showing that reps were more efficient after training with Second nature.
When Oracle Netsuite’s sales reps were asked what they thought about Second Nature, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Most of all, they appreciated that it gave them a safe space to make mistakes until they felt confident enough to take real calls.
Some reps practiced multiple times before submitting a role play recording for evaluation. Second Nature made practice fun and engaging, and helped remove the embarrassment of rehearsing in front of managers and colleagues.
Implementing Second Nature raised the bar for sales training in two ways.
First, AI-powered feedback was more objective than human feedback, and that made it more effective. Sometimes managers were afraid to provide the harsher feedback that reps need to improve. Additionally, human bias can appear in unexpected ways. Managers might be inclined to go easy on a rep who’s having a bad day, but that’s not the case with AI coaching.
Secondly, managers were able to direct their time more efficiently to giving extra support to the sales reps who really need it. Managers can look at data from Second Nature and see exactly which individuals are struggling and need more personal attention.
Despite the many benefits of AI feedback, Oracle Netsuite doesn’t intend to hand coaching over to AI entirely. Using both AI-powered feedback and human coaching builds a symbiotic system that hones selling skills efficiently and effectively.
Last but not least, Second Nature helped lighten the burden for Oracle Netsuite’s sales managers, helping them be more productive and efficient and less stressed.
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