It was easy to be the innovative leader when we were the only software company in the Demo Automation Category. Today, there are 30+ software companies who are driving the pace of innovation at lightning speed.
When you think about innovation, it’s obvious to focus on your product: are you creating value and helping your customers do something they haven’t been able to do before—and do it better, faster, and more efficiently? While the product you provide is important, many places focus on the product only, which is one cylinder in an 8-cylinder engine.
When you zoom out, innovation comes in many forms. To establish yourself as an industry leader, you have to consider all the ways you bring value to your prospects and customers. As an innovation leader in the demo automation space for the last ten years, we’ve found eight areas to focus on to become an innovation leader machine! Did we miss anything? We’d welcome your feedback.
1. Industry-leading Product
As we said before, changes in the product do lead to innovation. As the market evolves and your customers’ needs change, your platform must reflect that.
We listen to our customers and others in the space to develop a product roadmap that reflects what they’ll need as the industry changes. We create enterprise-grade software features that provide insights and functionality to drive buyer enablement and demo automation.
2. Insights
Giving customers the insights you’ve gathered about platform usage is a win-win. You build deeper relationships and loyalty while they get resources that will help them achieve their goals and thrive at what they do.
With over 163K demos and over 2 Million demo views, our unique access to massive amounts of data about buyer insights enables our customers to be at the cutting edge of accelerating deal velocity. It gives us the unique opportunity to share tested techniques with our customers. We share industry best practices that we’ve found through our research and experience so our customers can navigate enterprise buying in an overly complex market.
3. Research & Education
Numbers tell a powerful story. In sales, we use data to support everything we do, from making decisions to performance measures. You can also use that data to educate your customers on best practices, providing more value. If you can offer impactful observations to the market you sell into, you can directly impact future trends.
For the fifth year, we’ve released the Sales Engineering Compensation and Workload Report. This report covers the AE:SE ratio, top KPIs, factors that impact burnout, and so much more. Combining this research and knowledge of the space, we created the first academy in the industry that provides information on demo automation and buyer enablement. These assets give customers actionable insights they can use to transform their organization.
Come see how easy buying can be.
4. World Class Events
Bringing people together to share ideas is always a great way to be a force of change. Events offer a fantastic chance for connection and discussion. While hosting these events takes a lot of work, the benefits are nearly endless.
Not only do we host DEMOFEST, the largest virtual demo automation event, but we also host multiple in-person events every year around the globe. During the event, 4,000+ registrants and 1,000+ attendees watched “live.” Even though the event was virtual, attendees could chat, answer polls, and ask questions directly to the speaker as they presented. Best of all, these interactions were captured along with the recordings which attendees can review any time.
5. Trusted by Global Leaders
Repeat business is good for any organization, but it’s essential when those customers are industry titans in their own right. Connecting with those kinds of companies builds your brand and gives you additional credibility.
15 of the 30 largest software companies in the world use Consensus, some with over 10K+ users. We’ve created a relationship with them that drives innovation not only in our industry but in their industries as well.
6. Integrations & Partners
Integrations are powerful drivers of innovation because they allow two separate platforms to work together. To truly enable your customers, you must ensure that things work smoothly throughout their entire experience.
We’ve listened to our customers about what integrations would be the most helpful for them. We have integrations for some of the biggest apps: Salesforce, Outlook, Gmail, Salesloft, Outreach, Marketo, Eloqua Gong, 2Win, Seismic, and more. We plan to continue adding to this list to make Consensus a fully integrated solution for your entire sales process.
7. Enterprise Level Trust & Security
Trust has to be earned for sales, and nothing builds more trust than protecting sensitive data. Security is everything today, so if you want to be a big innovator in your space, you have to have your ducks in a row.
At Consensus, we provide SOC2, GDPR compliance, and the most enterprise-hardened solution in the world of demo automation. We work with companies around the globe and strive to provide a safe experience for them and their customers. It takes dedication, but we ensure we give them the best experience.
8. Thought leadership
Providing thought leadership to the community you sell to is an incredible way to become a leading innovator. It builds trust between you and your audience, establishes you as a credible source, and gives you a mechanism for steering the conversation on industry trends.
We took this idea as far as it could go. We literally wrote the book on buyer enablement. But we didn’t stop there. We have created a world-class resource center with over 550 blogs that come not only from us but also from collaboration with other thought leaders in the space. Our content comes in several formats, including webinars, customer stories, worksheets, white papers, and guides.
Become an Innovation Leader
To drive innovation in your space, you can’t focus on your product alone. If you want your organization to lead the pack, aim to address each of the eight areas we discussed in this blog. Don’t expect to tackle them all at once, but with commitment and diligence, you can become a force for change and a leading voice in your industry.
If you want to learn more about how Consensus became an innovator, you can browse our extensive resource center, view a webinar, or even watch your own demo on demand.
