The future of Fintech: Nasdaq uses Gong to make bullish bets

Sitting at the intersection of technology and financial markets, Nasdaq is in a league all its own. 

It’s one of the three most-followed stock market indices in the United States, with more than 5,000 employees distributed across the globe, and more than 4,000 of the world’s most innovative companies listed on its exchange. But its corporate services are lesser known to the public. Those services focus on helping more than 10,000 companies with investor relations and environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks.

“Historically, Nasdaq was much more of a product company,” said Jeff Thomas, EVP of Nasdaq’s Corporate Platforms Group. “We’re transitioning into a more customer-centric company that better understands our clients’ challenges and can serve their needs.”

To achieve a more customer-centric culture and drive growth, Nasdaq needed a solution that would both improve organizational effectiveness and surface customer insights quickly. With Gong’s proprietary AI, the team leveraged customer interactions to create more predictable pipeline strategies and ultimately close more deals across their varied product portfolio.

Jeff Thomas and Chris Cordani, VP of Sales, led the strategic shift to better-informed, customer-focused decisions.

Before adopting Gong, their teams relied on opinionated and partial data in the CRM, and often made assumptions that negatively affected their business decisions. 

“Before Gong, we relied on what our reps told us. It was like a game of telephone. Reps would repeat what they thought they heard from a customer, and they would write notes in our CRM. Today, we identify sound bites and share them across the team, making sure everybody’s on the same page and able to optimize for exactly what customers ask for. That helps us with our business efficiency.” ~ Jeff Thomas

Gong’s ability to understand customer interactions means it captures accurate information, surfaces insights gleaned from that information, and makes it accessible to everyone. The revenue team understands what works and the product team innovates with customers’ needs first. 

“You’ve got the client success team. You’ve got the new sales team. You’ve got the product team. Who’s at the center? The client. Now you’ve got technology like Gong stitching it all together, resulting in more informed decision making.” -Chris Cordani

The ability to share Gong’s insights has had a profound influence on business decisions and growth. “It’s really helped the customer voice become paramount in our decision making,” said Cordani. “We have thousands of different clients around the world with different needs. Gong helps us figure out which features and benefits are really going to drive increased client stickiness and expansion of opportunity.”

In an economic downturn, a new emphasis on both informed decision making and productivity have taken center stage. Nasdaq now uses Gong’s Smart Trackers so leaders get specific, real-time alerts about trends in their most important strategic initiatives, a far cry from the previously inefficient requests to join calls. And managers now have a consistent way to give reps feedback.

“Gong is a powerful solution that helps me develop my team to be more successful in a challenging market.” -Chris Cordani 

Without accurate data, forecasting for a global team was a high-stakes chore. Gong’s AI engine now captures Nasdaq’s customer interaction data. Then, based on the industry’s most comprehensive dataset of sales interactions, Gong analyzes Nasdaq’s data and provides insights so the team can craft more accurate forecasts. That’s a critical capability in today’s fluctuating market. “Gong gives me more confidence in the forecast we put forward on a monthly and quarterly basis,” said Thomas. “Gong gives me that peace of mind.”

A confident, data-backed forecast helps internal stakeholders take action using Gong’s smart guidance, and having Gong automatically update customer insights in real time makes all the difference. “As someone leading a global business with sellers around the world, Gong helps me control the message we put into the market and the value we create for our clients in an effective way,” said Thomas.

As a platform, Gong brings layers of value to Nasdaq.

Since it adopted Gong, Nasdaq has ramped its inter- and intra-team alignment by sharing critical insights across global teams — from the revenue organization to product development. Those teams now have access to the AI-backed data insights they need to make purpose-driven decisions, forecast accurately, and coach and train reps to close deals faster. 

This improvement in their teams’ efficiency has resulted in stronger revenue growth. “Gong has really changed the way we run our sales team,” says Thomas. “It helps us understand what works and where we can improve, and really helps our reps level-up faster.”

As they continue their customer-centric journey, Nasdaq is focused on delivering better solutions to clients. “We’re able to challenge ourselves to be better partners and to write a better future for everyone,” said Cordani.