#8 How Avanto Is Rethinking Sales Enablement: A Conversation with Zime

AI-powered sales enablement for complex product and services sales teams

Sales and People Operations Executives at global SaaS and consulting firms
Avanto
Oct 8, 2025
9:58

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Key takeaways from this call

  • Avanto’s sales motion spans both SaaS products and consulting services, requiring tailored enablement for hunters and farmers.
  • Current tech stack includes Salesforce, LinkedIn Navigator, Pardot, Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, and Lucia—leading to tool sprawl and adoption fatigue.
  • Key initiatives: driving expansion in 30+ strategic accounts (farming) and structured new logo acquisition (hunting).
  • AI/data sales are prioritized and incentivized, but reps struggle to differentiate beyond generic AI-first messaging.
  • Playbooks and LMS failed to drive adoption; documentation is time-consuming and quickly outdated.
  • Leaders want to codify top-performer behaviors, improve proactive discovery, and drive consistent execution across regions and teams.
  • Zime stands out by rapidly building a dynamic, AI-powered 'sales brain' tailored to Avanto’s best practices—delivering actionable insights, automating CRM updates, and surfacing coaching gaps.
  • Zime’s approach accelerates playbook creation (from months to days), drives high rep adoption, and ties directly to revenue impact and productivity gains.
  • A pilot is planned: Zime will build a custom playbook using top rep calls, with a flexible POC structure across multiple sales teams.
Persona: About Client

Avanto: Complex Sales, Global Reach, Dual Motion

Who is Avanto?

Avanto operates globally with 3,000+ staff, selling both SaaS products (25% of revenue) and consulting/services (75%).

Sales Structure

* Distributed sales teams with hunters and farmers, often playing dual roles.

* Buyers are Fortune 500 and global enterprises.

Operator Perspective

“Sometimes I already get questions from the sales team: should I post this update on Teams? Chatter? Email? There’s too much tool clutter.”

  • Global SaaS and consulting business with 3,000+ employees
  • Sales teams segmented into hunters (new logos) and farmers (account expansion)
  • Complex portfolio: Salesforce AppExchange SaaS, AWS-based products, custom consulting
  • Clients in 180+ countries, selling to major enterprises
Initiative

Driving Expansion & New Logo Growth—With Consistency

Two Parallel Priorities

* 'AccountMax' initiative: rigorous, process-driven expansion in ~33 strategic accounts (farming).

* New logo acquisition: shift from word-of-mouth to structured outbound campaigns.

Why Now?

* Flattening early-stage win rates and forecast inaccuracy are raising alarms.

* Leadership is incentivizing AI/data sales over services to align with market demand.

  • Expand share of wallet in large existing accounts
  • Run structured outbound for new logo growth
  • Improve forecast hygiene and Salesforce activity tracking
  • Drive AI/data product sales through commission plan changes
Nuances

What Makes Avanto’s Sales Motion Unique

Dual Roles, High Complexity

* Many sellers handle both farming and hunting.

* Sales cycles span SaaS and custom services—each with distinct challenges.

AI as Identity

* Avanto is pushing to be seen as an AI-first firm, but technical credibility and differentiation are hard to scale.

Tool Overload

* Teams use Salesforce, LinkedIn Navigator, Pardot, Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, Lucia, and more—creating adoption fatigue.

  • Sellers span SaaS and services, often in the same portfolio
  • AI/data/GenAI are core to company positioning
  • Sales process documentation is burdensome and often ignored
  • Clutter of tools leads to confusion and inconsistent adoption
Lack of Nuance to Customer Problems

Where Current Approaches Fall Short

Playbooks & LMS: Not Enough

* Playbooks and LMS systems are too generic, slow to build, and quickly outdated.

* 'It will take us 3-6 months to just build this job and document them. By then, it's already outdated.'

Activity Metrics ≠ Behavior Change

* Tracking Salesforce activity doesn’t guarantee reps are doing the right things—especially for AI/data sales.

* Incentives alone don’t drive enablement.

  • Playbooks are static and lack real-world nuance
  • LMS adoption is low; reps resist documentation
  • Incentives drive motivation but not enablement
  • Reps struggle to differentiate in AI-first sales
Impact

The Business Impact: Missed Revenue & Adoption

What’s at Stake

* Inconsistent execution leads to missed expansion, lost deals, and inaccurate forecasts.

* Top-performer behaviors remain tribal knowledge, not institutionalized.

Operator Pain

'We need reps to proactively discover new use cases in accounts—not just react.'

  • Early-stage win rates are dropping; revenue is flattening
  • Forecasts are unreliable due to inconsistent behaviors
  • Expansion (farming) and cross-selling are underperforming
  • Top rep behaviors are not codified or shared at scale
Current Ways Are Failing

Why Current Tools & Processes Aren’t Working

Fragmented Stack, Low Adoption

* Multiple point solutions create confusion and resistance.

* Playbooks and training are slow, manual, and quickly obsolete.

Data Silos

* Insights are trapped in calls, emails, and CRM notes—rarely synthesized into actionable coaching.

  • Sales teams overwhelmed by tool clutter
  • Documentation and process rigor create friction for reps
  • Coaching and feedback are inconsistent across teams
  • Insights from calls and CRM are not leveraged in real time
Wishlist

What Avanto Wants in a Solution

The Wishlist

* Codify top-performer 'chops' and make them actionable for all reps.

* Enable proactive discovery and multi-threading in farming accounts.

* Reduce tool clutter and drive real adoption—no more generic playbooks.

Operator Quote

“If we could just learn from every won deal and give that to reps...”

  • Rapid, dynamic playbook creation based on real calls and outcomes
  • Automated CRM updates and follow-ups for reps
  • Threaded deal context across multiple calls
  • Actionable coaching for managers and reps in their flow of work
Picked Zime

Why Zime? Rapid Enablement, Real Adoption, Revenue Impact

Why Zime Resonates

* Zime builds a custom 'sales brain' by analyzing top rep calls, playbooks, and CRM data—codifying winning behaviors in days, not months.

* AI-powered insights surface rep-level gaps, automate CRM updates, and provide just-in-time coaching in Teams (not yet another tool).

* Demonstrated revenue impact: productivity gains of $2,000/rep/month, 10-20% higher win rates, and fast rep adoption.

* Flexible, low-risk POC model: Zime will build a custom playbook for Avanto using top rep calls—no commitment required.

  • Dynamic AI playbook built in 7 days from real Avanto data
  • Automated insights and coaching in the sales rep’s workflow
  • Proven outcomes: higher win rates, faster onboarding, and productivity gains
  • Simple pricing ($99/rep/month); pilot and POC available before full rollout

Schedule a Zime pilot with your top sales teams to experience rapid enablement in action.