How Lifetouch reduced sales cycles by 85%

Back-to-school season means school photos, sports photography, and senior pictures—everything Lifetouch does best. Every photo starts with a sale, one that brings the Lifetouch brand into schools and lands beautiful photography on fridges and in wallets across North America. But Lifetouch’s reps operate in a unique environment: There are a finite number of schools they can sell to, each also targeted by competing photography providers. To win, reps needed an edge. In Highspot, they found one. 

Growth goals spark enablement investment

Lifetouch operates in a constrained market. “For our business, we have a defined set of leads,” began Alyssa Sigafus, sales enablement marketing manager at Lifetouch. “There are only so many schools in the U.S. and Canada.” 

As such, growth is less about casting a wider net and more about targeting known leads efficiently. “The real challenge isn’t necessarily generating leads,” explained Sigafus. “It’s consistently attracting the right ones and moving them to close quickly.” Lifetouch’s reps knew which schools to target—they just didn’t have the tools to reach them effectively.

To win more—and win faster—reps needed to deliver differentiated experiences and capture real-time engagement data. “My focus is on driving growth and equipping our sales team to win,” added Sigafus. “This means arming sellers with the right tools and messaging, then using data to fine-tune our approach.” Better engagement tactics, stronger data, and more insight: Lifetouch had defined the criteria for its next tool. Now, it just needed to find it. 

As Lifetouch evaluated solutions, Highspot stood out. “We’re focused on creating templates and content that helps reps identify what leads are interested in, so they can move them quickly through the sales cycle,” continued Sigafus. Digital Rooms, in particular, caught its attention. To give reps a competitive advantage in every engagement, Lifetouch chose Highspot. 

Digital Rooms accelerate deal velocity

As Lifetouch’s go-to-market teams rolled out Highspot, Digital Rooms became the cornerstone of their strategy. To introduce the new feature to reps, they created a structured program that built confidence week after week. “When we first implemented this to our entire sales team, we met with them every single week for an hour,” explained Sigafus. 

Initially, weekly training sessions focused on the basics. Gradually, the team introduced more advanced concepts. “We built in steps, starting at pitching, then moving to the higher levels like video recording and really personalized approaches, and ending with Digital Rooms as the crown jewel,” added Sigafus. 

This step-by-step strategy worked: Lifetouch’s reps see the value, with 93% of its sales team adopting Digital Rooms. It’s all the result of new engagement data, which has given reps the insight to move deals forward. “Some of our reps share a Digital Room before a presentation with a customer,” shared Sigafus. “They’ll look at the content being viewed and tailor their presentation to what the customer has been looking at.”

With data at their disposal, reps act more strategically and approach buyers better. “The insights have let us focus reps on the opportunities that matter the most, turning data into faster pipeline growth and higher conversions,” enthused Sigafus. With Digital Rooms, Lifetouch has reimagined how reps go to market, resulting in a 19% increase in buyer engagement.

Sales cycle continues to shorten

At Lifetouch, the results speak for themselves. Reps have become power users, creating over 2,600 Digital Rooms and driving over 111,000 external views. “Using Digital Rooms has scaled our outreach, driving higher engagement and faster pipeline movement,” explained Sigafus. 

Even more impressive is how those viewing patterns have impacted buyer behavior and sales cycle time. “The number one thing that has been most exciting is seeing the sales cycle shorten,” added Sigafus. “Cut in half is the most common we’ve seen, but there have been times where the sales cycle has gone down to 48 hours from start to finish.” 

On average, Lifetouch has reduced sales cycle time by 85%—an improvement that coincides with its strategic Digital Room roll out. “I’ve watched it on my own ride-alongs,” concluded Sigafus. “Reps send the Digital Room, and it goes from ‘we’re talking about this’ to ‘we’ve got a contract in your hand.’”