PA Consulting leverages deep insights with LinkedIn Sales Navigator
SUCCESS STORY
London-based PA Consulting offers end-to-end innovation through its global network of consultants. Without a dedicated sales department, it is up to each consultant to develop and nurture connections with clients. When PA decided to improve their sales strategy to meet today’s digital business challenges, they turned to LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
THE CHALLENGE
Building relationships that color in the white space
Global innovation and transformation consultancy PA Consulting offers end-to end innovation through their global team of consultants, strategists, innovators, designers, digital experts, scientists, engineers and technologists.
Clive Barton, leading PA’s sales transformation programme, shares how PA is in the process of retooling its approach to client relationship building. “As part of our growth plan, we’re encouraging people to think about the people that they should know, understand their challenges, and see how our capabilities can help.”
This relationship building doesn’t simply extend to identifying new clients. For PA, it is also vital to bolster their existing relationships. “When we talk about whitespace at PA,” explains Barton, “We’re talking about offering more to our existing accounts. We now have more capabilities and can assist clients with more complex challenges and opportunities.”
THE SOLUTION
Access to exclusive information and insights
LinkedIn Sales Navigator provided PA with the insights and data they needed to adapt their sales strategy to the current digital business environment: “Sales Navigator has given us access to information and insights about organizations we wouldn’t ordinarily have access to,” explains Alexander Low, Managing Consultant. “Considering all the movement that resulted from the Great Reshuffle, we now get real-time insights into where people are moving within organizations.”
Clive was impressed by the depth of data Sales Navigator provided. “We’re able to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to see the kind of posts that clients are posting, what they’re interested in, the conversations that they engage in and use these as a mechanism for us to start a conversation that can lead to a relationship.”
Sales Navigator enables PA to be more present in clients’ lives. “We’re leveraging these insights and developing an authentic understanding of our clients’ narratives – what they’re thinking, feeling, doing,” Alexander shares. “And we’re able to bring that to our organization in a very simple, seamless, straightforward way.”
THE RESULTS
An empowered workforce
PA’s team of Partners and Managing Consultants have leveraged Sales Navigator to help identify multiple introduction points across their portfolio of clients in the first 12 months.
Sales Navigator has helped the firm net some impressive results, according to Low. “One such example, we were able to connect with the Chief Executive of one of the largest consumer brands on the planet, all stemming from a comment that was surfaced by Sales Navigator and backed up by a Partner engaging in conversation with that person.”
A robust update to PA’s CRM has made Sales Navigator an invaluable part of their tech stack. “It fits really well with the way that we run our sales technologies,” says Barton.
Warm introductions made easy
The TeamLink feature in Sales Navigator has extended PA’s reach by enabling warm introductions. “At scale, TeamLink is one of the most powerful features Sales Navigator offers,” says Low.
Sales Navigator also helps maintain those first-degree connections, even through career changes. “It’s beneficial to see where former colleagues are now working, often in some of our target organizations.”
Low goes on to explain that their targets can be categorized in one of three ways: “The people that we know that we talk to every day, the people that we want to get to know, and the people that we should be aware of, such as those in the C-suite.” This full spectrum of connections enables several paths to making organic introductions.
A solution that drives behavior
Barton has seen how users within the organization have adapted to the Sales Navigator strategy and offers this insight: “Our sales strategy was changing, which meant that the behaviors and activities that we wanted from our people were changing. This created a demand for a tool like LinkedIn Sales Navigator.” Changing behavior to drive demand, rather than simply driving adoption of technology for its own sake, is central to PA’s philosophy.
Sales Navigator offers information and insights about organizations that PA wouldn’t normally have access to: “Syncing LinkedIn with our CRM, gives us the opportunity for our CRM to be as up to date as it can be” Low explains. “One of the most powerful assets we are now leveraging is relationships. Sales are built on relationships. By bringing insights from Sales Navigator into our CRM, we can uncover where those relationships are through Teamlink and Teamlink Extend. As it stands currently, we’re just shy of a million unique introductions.”
Those who typically operate in more technical spaces are discovering the ease with which they can make new connections. “Rather than having to set up a meeting, our people can make those same introductions and inroads via Sales Navigator.”
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ABOUT PA CONSULTING
PA Consulting consists of over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. They have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defense and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.
INDUSTRY
Business, Consulting, and Services
No. OF EMPLOYEES:
4,000
HEADQUARTERS
London, UK
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