How Elsevier lands 45% larger deals using Gong across its NOAM sales team

No one understands deep market changes like a 145-year-old company. Just ask the people at Elsevier. Long a powerhouse in the publishing world, Elsevier now specializes in data tools that empower health researchers and clinicians to achieve better outcomes.

Internally, Elsevier also uses solutions that help its employees — notably, its sales reps — achieve more. In fact, when Elsevier’s 120 North American sales reps and its managers started using the Gong Revenue Intelligence Platform to manage their deals, they became incredibly productive. Reps boosted their average deal velocity by 35% and increased the size of their deals by 45% when managers are involved.

Tim McGee is Elsevier’s VP Global Sales Operations, where he equips his teams with the tools they need to do their jobs efficiently. 

“Gong has become an essential part of our go-to-market operation.” —Tim McGee, VP Global Sales Operations, Elsevier

Here’s how Tim and his team use revenue intelligence to get double-digit results.

“The impact Gong has had on our rep productivity is enormous,” says Tim. “We’re able to close deals 35% faster today because of it.”

Gong has boosted Elsevier’s productivity and deal velocity simultaneously, through workflow efficiencies.

The sales team Tim supports is more efficient now that their reps are using key insights identified by Gong’s Call Spotlight to shape how they tackle deals. They can easily clarify pain points, outcomes, and next steps, and create effective offers faster to keep deals moving.

The managers on the sales team also use Gong to quickly understand key data about their reps’ deals, including risk factors that might jeopardize those deals.

“Gong has enabled managers and reps to be closer to our deals, which ultimately results in their being more effective in closing those deals, driving win rates, and closing larger deals. Ultimately, they attain sharper conversion rates.”  —Tim McGee, VP Global Sales Operations, Elsevier

Sales managers no longer have to ask for updates about deals — they’re empowered to go right into Gong’s Deal Board and immediately understand what’s happening. They can share key information with relevant people at Elsevier and remove the barrier of asking reps for deal updates. Pairing that with reading Gong AI-generated summaries instead of listening to dozens of phone calls means significant time savings. 

That time saved enables managers to do what they do best — coach reps to move the right deals forward, quickly. Plus, with Gong’s insights, managers know exactly who needs coaching, when, and why. It’s all added up to a 35% improvement in deal velocity.

Tim says that Gong AI plays a major role in giving Elsevier faster and more accurate updates on deals. Reps are also closing larger deals thanks to better coaching from their managers, stemming from Gong AI.

“When managers get involved in a customer engagement within Gong, we see a 45% increase in the deal size.”  —Tim McGee, VP Global Sales Operations, Elsevier

(With results like that, it’s not surprising that Tim’s managers have a 95% engagement rate with the platform!)

The feature managers will use the most is Ask Anything, where they can input any question — say, “Is this deal going to close?” — and immediately get a reliable response from Gong AI. Managers can use Ask Anything and Gong’s Deal Board to get insights into customer interactions, and “identify the yellow lights,” as Tim puts it. That is, they’re spotting risks that can affect any deal, whether it’s for a new buyer or a renewal. Managers use this information to guide deals back on track and focus reps’ efforts where they’ll be most effective. It’s made for a “cleaner and more active pipeline,” according to Tim.

“The biggest impact Gong has had on our business is removing the subjectivity of the voice of the customer.” —Tim McGee, VP Global Sales Operations, Elsevier

That statement is explained by two enhancements across the team:

Elsevier now uses the voice of the customer to build new products and enhance existing ones stemming from customer feedback shared across teams via Gong. 

“We have more than 200 global users outside the sales team. The inputs they get from Gong inform product decisions and help us build our commercial strategies and market to our customers more effectively.” —Tim McGee, VP Global Sales Operations, Elsevier

Access to the voice of the customer has also heightened organizational effectiveness around account handoffs. No one drops the ball when a customer moves from sales to customer success. It’s easy for everyone to get fully briefed on the history of a deal, account, or contact — and in a fraction of the time it used to take.

“Gong’s AI is powerful, accurate, and frankly, a game changer.” —Tim McGee, VP Global Sales Operations, Elsevier

Elsevier’s team has expanded their use of Gong from conversion rates and deal size to its entire ecosystem. “It’s fully integrated into the way that we work at Elsevier.”

The company is getting the most out of Gong, and will continue to make improvements on top of its 35% boost in deal velocity and 45% increase in deal values. Gong is Elsevier’s key partner in bringing efficiency to the forefront of its global sales team’s workflows and ensuring the success of its go-to-market initiatives. The end result is greater success — and higher revenue — at Elsevier.