Growth spurred by 130 percent retention and accelerated overseas momentum
Seismic, the recognized leader in sales and marketing enablement, announced that the company exited 2018 with a run rate in excess of $100 million. Strong customer satisfaction and success with the product played a major factor in continued growth, with Seismic also reporting 130 percent customer retention to end 2018.
“Crossing $100 million in revenue is a significant moment in any software company’s history. Being the first sales enablement technology provider to do so also makes it a significant moment for the industry at large,” said Doug Winter, Seismic co-founder and CEO. “For us at Seismic, it is a direct result of the sustained success our incredible customers have had in establishing and growing sales enablement programs at their respective companies, and our team’s ability to be a consistent and crucial partner in their efforts.”
Following December’s $100 million Series E investment which valued the company at more than $1 billion, Seismic today revealed that it plans on growing headcount by more than 300 in 2019, with the majority of new hires allocated to product, engineering and customer success teams. Overseas expansion will be a major focus for Seismic in the new year. Seismic recently opened an office in Melbourne, now its second office in Australia, which will accommodate forecasted hiring plans focused largely on customer support for both the expanding local customer base and those with international implementations.
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Seismic has also seen rapid customer growth in Europe and today also announced the appointment of Kevin O’Regan as vice president of sales, EMEA. An enterprise software veteran with experience in scaling EMEA teams for Aprimo, Infor, and Sprinklr, which serves large enterprise brands such as Amazon, Cisco, and P&G, and where O’Regan grew headcount from one to more than 200 in less than four years. O’Regan will oversee Seismic’s go to market efforts across all of EMEA and will be based in the company’s London office.
“We have seen outstanding initial success in Europe through the efforts of the Seismic team in our London office, and 2019 is the year that we double down investments in EMEA,” said Winter. “Having Kevin join the team will be a boon for our goals in Europe, and we are thrilled to have him onboard.”
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Market maturity, customer recognition help maintain rapid growth
Sales enablement saw an explosion in interest across a wide array of industries in 2018. Data from LinkedIn indicates that between 2016 and 2018, there was a 235 percent increase in professionals with “sales enablement” in their job titles. Additionally, numerous major analyst reports were published touting the growth of the space and the major vendors within it. Examples include The Aragon Research Globe™ for Sales Engagement Platforms 2019 and The Forrester Wave™: Sales Enablement Automation Systems, Q3 2018. The latter found that 54 percent of companies are in the process of implementing a sales enablement automation tool and an additional 19 percent planning or considering doing so within the next 12-18 months. Both reports named Seismic a Leader in their respective evaluations, with the Wave stating that Seismic is an ideal fit for enterprises that seek a “best-in-class solution” and received the top score in both the Current Offering and Strategy categories.
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That increase in interest and awareness of sales enablement was reflected within Seismic’s customer base. Attendance at Seismic’s annual customer conference, Seismic Shift, more than doubled in 2018 to eclipse 500, and numerous Seismic customers won major industry awards for their sales enablement efforts, including:
- Illumina–SiriusDecisions ROI Award for Best Content Strategy
- Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney—Gramercy Financial Marketing Strategy Award for Best Content Personalization Strategy
- Dataxu–IT World Awards for Best Technology Deployment
- Guggenheim Investments–Gramercy Financial Content Marketing Award for Best Content Marketing Strategy
“Guggenheim has a rich tradition of providing exceptional service to individual clients and institutions in the financial marketplace.” said Douglas Mangini, Head of Intermediary Distribution. “Innovative and intelligent tools like Seismic make that process exponentially more streamlined and powerful.”
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“Our customers are the ones leading the way in making sales enablement the cornerstone sales and marketing practice in the 21st century. With the team and resources we now have in place, I am more excited than ever about the opportunity ahead of us to support them in their success,” said Winter. “We have only scratched the surface when it comes to the benefits that are generated from aligning sales and marketing to drive revenue, and 2019 is the year we bring those benefits worldwide.”
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