{"id":39686,"date":"2023-06-21T08:12:53","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T15:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gong.io\/?post_type=patterns-case-study&p=39686"},"modified":"2025-02-05T10:44:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T18:44:18","slug":"learning-and-transforming-how-gong-helps-udemy-make-critical-revenue-decisions","status":"publish","type":"patterns-case-study","link":"https:\/\/www.gong.io\/case-studies\/learning-and-transforming-how-gong-helps-udemy-make-critical-revenue-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning and transforming: How Gong helps Udemy make critical revenue decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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The Challenge<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/block-title>\n\n

\n\nPrior to Gong, Udemy was faced with the difficulty of trying to form, understand, and track its strategic initiatives without any formalized system in place.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Outcome<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/block-title>\n\n

\n\nWhen Udemy implemented Gong, it instantly helped the team make informed decisions about strategic initiatives, so they could link enablement projects to their business goals.\n<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/block-case-study-hero-content>\n\n\n\n

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Headquarters<\/p>\n

San Francisco, CA<\/p><\/div>\n

Founded<\/p>\n

2010<\/p><\/div>\n

employees<\/p>\n

5000+<\/p><\/div>\n

industry<\/p>\n

Education<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/block-case-study-hero-facts>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/block-case-study-hero>\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n\n44+ million. Per day.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nThat\u2019s the number of learners Udemy<\/a> serves daily as the world’s largest online learning marketplace.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nEric Stoddard, Head of Global Sales and Customer Success Enablement at Udemy, is tasked with driving change through informed decision making, using a programmatic approach. The biggest historical challenge? Understanding whether his team’s strategic initiatives actually drive the business forward and create change, as intended.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\n\u201cBefore we had Gong, that was tricky to measure with confidence.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nWhen Udemy implemented Gong, it instantly helped the team make informed decisions about strategic initiatives, so they could link enablement projects to their business goals. Nearly overnight, Eric and his team gained confidence in their initiatives.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nMost companies have a hard time assessing whether their strategic initiatives are working. Here\u2019s how Udemy figured it out\u2026\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Move from uncertainty to total clarity <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/block-title>\n\n

\n\nNo matter the organization, new hires need to get up to speed as quickly as possible. The faster they learn the product, the sales methodology, and best practices, the faster they generate revenue.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nBefore using Gong, Udemy’s new reps learned by listening to live customer conversations while sitting next to a veteran … in a cubicle. Hours (and hours) evaporated without an opportunity to really<\/em> show them how the best performers talk to customers, and what customers say across a sales cycle, at scale. \n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nBack then, Udemy also struggled to understand what was happening during customer conversations. Too often, the \u201csqueaky wheel got the grease.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\n\u201cWe used to focus our resources on whoever screamed the loudest, not necessarily what the data showed.\u201d<\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nGong changed that. It gives Eric the insights he needs to train his new reps efficiently and monitor their selling skills, as well as gain insights into which customers really<\/em> needed attention. \n<\/p>\n\n

\n\n\u201cI don’t know how I used to do my job before Gong,\u201d shared Eric. \u201cGong brings deep customer understanding, clarity, and insight into my world.\u201d<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Turn instant visibility into revenue growth with Gong\u2019s AI<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/block-title>\n\n

\n\nToday, Eric knows which reps struggle to get up to speed, and which deals are actually a priority. He spends his limited resources on the right reps<\/em> and the right customers<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nThat\u2019s all thanks to Gong. The platform\u2019s AI allows Eric to dive deeper into understanding what his new hires learn and the value they provide to customers.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\n\u201cIf they\u2019re not helping our customers drive change within their businesses, we pivot,\u201d says Eric.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nGong captures and harnesses the voice of the customer and gives Udemy insights into trends that happen at an account level. \u201cWhat separates Gong are the insights I can grab from customer interactions at scale. Our teams can turn those insights into actions that improve pipeline management, drive successful outcomes for our key initiatives, and help us make better revenue decisions.\u201d    <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nGong has the largest data set of customer interactions in the industry. Gong\u2019s AI engine as analyzed over 1 billion customer calls and tens of billions of emails, bringing value to the data by understanding what is really happening within customer interactions and identifying revenue risks and opportunities with unrivaled accuracy and relevance.. \n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nEric particularly loves Smart Trackers<\/a> which allow customers like him to quickly and easily train Gong\u2019s AI to identify concepts and topics specific to their business. Smart trackers mean Udemy can take immediate action as soon as Gong surfaces trends. Those actions lead to stronger revenue growth.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nGong\u2019s \u201cInitiative\u201d board is also a favorite of Eric\u2019s. \u201cIf you’re not taking advantage of this board, you’re really missing out.\u201d <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nThe Initiative board gives Eric instant visibility into how all his initiatives are being adopted. He can see who participates in an initiative \u2014 and who doesn\u2019t \u2014 by team. That also means he spots trends over time.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nAll these capabilities enable Eric and his team to assess and adjust their coaching and training strategies\u2026 and inevitably, win more often<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nTip: Leadership can subscribe to Deal Boards to get a weekly update email, rather than rely upon Eric for their enablement data. They can quickly see how initiatives stack up. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Udemy hits a winning streak with Gong<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/block-title>\n\n

\n\nGong has helped Eric\u2019s team \u2014 and Udemy in general \u2014 make great strides in several aspects of its revenue operation:\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nDeal execution and forecasting<\/strong>: Managing your pipeline is no easy task. Gong gives Udemy insights about each deal by immediately (and automatically) surfacing risks in Deal Boards using proprietary & patented AI models. Managers use those Deal Boards to understand relevant risks so they keep deals on track and have more accurate forecasts each quarter.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nSales productivity<\/strong>: Gong has become Udemy\u2019s central repository for new skills training. Eric makes sure his new hires listen to a curated set of calls so they get exposure to different sales-related approaches that work<\/em>. From there, the new hires can take what they heard from top-performing reps and make it their own<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nBusiness alignment<\/strong>: Gong has helped Udemy align its sales, marketing, and enablement motions. \u201cWe now operate as one cohesive team,\u201d boasts Eric. In particular, it can be challenging to understand what the competition\u2019s up to and where they show up. Gong data highlights this competitive information for managers when it happens on calls, and also allows sales reps to pressure test competitive messaging. \n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nSmart guidance<\/strong>: With Gong, managers can quickly and efficiently coach and provide feedback on many calls … not just the ones they attend live. \u201cWe fill out scorecards to track whether a rep is progressing on a particular skill,\u201d said Eric. Gong has been a powerful AI platform to <\/strong>elevate coaching<\/em><\/strong> within the organization.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A new (and sane) way to operate<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/block-title>\n\n

\n\nThat\u2019s a pretty exhaustive list, but it\u2019s not the end of changes Gong has brought to Udemy.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nSharing lessons learned and asking for feedback; picking up tactics you may not have thought of; leveraging Gong\u2019s call analysis and metrics to improve a skill. There\u2019s a constant (and virtuous!) cycle for all of it now happening at Udemy. \n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nEveryone<\/em> wins. Eric and his managers, reps, the rest of the revenue team, leadership, and Udemy customers.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nUnderstandably, Eric could not be happier. \n<\/p>\n\n

\n\n\u201cI truly feel those who don\u2019t leverage technology like Gong will be left behind. Gong brings us sanity because we can see the data behind our actions.<\/strong> Gong is confidence. Gong is insight. Gong is the ability to truly<\/em> understand what\u2019s going on inside customer conversations.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\nDon’t get left behind<\/strong>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>

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