How DFIN Increased Learning Engagement by 14%

Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN) is the leading provider of financial regulatory and compliance software. DFIN supplies regulatory filing and deal solutions to public and private companies, mutual funds, and other regulated investment firms, supporting every stage of business and investment lifecycles. However, with a large, widely distributed team and a manual training program, DFIN struggled to effectively educate its sellers throughout the customer journey. With Highspot, the organization found a way to streamline its efforts and unite its team, improving sales productivity and ultimately driving significant revenue for the company as a whole.

Limited Efficacy from Fragmented Sales Team

DFIN provides financial software solutions to clients in a number of sectors across the globe. To support its broad customer base, DFIN has a large sales team spread throughout a number of markets, but without a centralized process for onboarding and education, training was a challenge. “I was traveling to conduct onboarding in person, and sometimes it was four to six reps, sometimes it was only two to three,” said Kelly Mullins, director of sales enablement at DFIN. “We service about 250 sales reps, so I was constantly gone and on the road.” 

Due to the travel, the process was time-consuming and inefficient. It also lacked a method for measuring the effectiveness of the training and therefore team success. DFIN needed a more dynamic solution that not only simplified the program, but gave added visibility into the results.

Unifying Efforts Through a Centralized Tool

After implementing Highspot, DFIN gained a more robust, unified solution to equip, train, and coach the team and track their overall progress. One of the first initiatives where the team began to see immediate improvements was in migrating its onboarding program to Highspot. “What we ended up doing with Highspot was put all of our onboarding into the Training and Coaching platform,” explained Mullins. “Not only were we able to add all of our existing material to one online location, we were able to add in the demos and evaluate how the reps are using it.” Having all training resources in a centralized location allowed for increased visibility into the learning process, ensuring the success of the training.  

With the success of the onboarding program, the team was also able to easily convert existing training content into the new solution and quickly began to scale its ongoing training programs. “We’ve added our SCORM packaging into Highspot and the process went seamlessly,” said Mullins. “Since then, we’ve been able to launch our first set of a quote-to-cash training for our sales reps, giving them the ability to learn right there in the platform, which has been fantastic.” As a result, DFIN saw a 14% increase in active learners in the platform. 

And with an impressive 90% content findability in the platform, the team also embraces more dynamic methods for utilizing content, thereby bridging the gap from learning to action. “We’ve been really utilizing the Remix and Edit piece of Highspot,” said Mullins. “It’s been great because it is so quick and easy for reps to open a pitch deck, remix what they need, edit it on the fly, and get it out there for their client quickly.”

Strong Teams Drive Strong Results

In Highspot, DFIN found a multi-use solution capable of uniting its training programs, enhancing its content and engagement efforts, and driving the bottom line for the business. With a more flexible solution, DFIN was able to further engage reps and achieve an 84% recurring usage rate of the platform. “Our reps obviously keep coming back to Highspot because they’re able to get content out to their clients, but they’re also able to see whether or not their clients are looking at the email,” explained Mullins. “Ultimately, they’re able to see if their efforts are fruitful.” 

With added insight, reps were able to tailor their efforts and drive more impactful conversations with customers which have led to significant impact for the business.