IDC had 500 sales professionals, a CRM nobody fully trusted and leaders who couldn't see which deals were real.
Here's how one pilot team in Singapore became a standard that spread across Asia Pacific and North America, and why it's still running.
IDC is a global market intelligence company with roughly $500M in revenue. Its sales organisation had talent, ambition and a full pipeline.
What it didn't have was a pipeline anyone could believe. Reps entered deals when they had to. Managers reviewed what was entered. Leaders looked at the numbers and couldn't tell which deals were real.
The CRM had become a reporting chore, not a place where the truth lived.
We didn't launch a global programme. We started with one pilot team in Singapore.
With the managers, we installed one clear standard for what counts as a real deal:
Managers held that standard in every pipeline review, every week. It wasn't a workshop. It was a new habit, built in the room with real deals.
When the pilot worked, it travelled: Australia, China, Malaysia, India, then North America. IDC's own Salesforce team built the method straight into their CRM.
Adoption reached 100 percent. Not because anyone mandated it, but because the standard made honest data the easiest path.
Bookings grew 15 percent. Leaders could finally see which deals were real, and managers could coach the ones that weren't.
Most importantly, the standard stuck. The managers own it. That's why IDC Asia Pacific remains a long term client.
“This project has been a resounding success for our company globally. It is now part of our culture.”
Eva Au · Managing Director · IDC Asia Pacific
Software didn't fix IDC's pipeline. A standard did, held by managers every week. The CRM simply recorded the truth once the truth was being asked for.
Read the full guide: why your sales forecast is always wrong, and how to fix it →
By giving managers one clear standard for what counts as a real deal, and having them hold it in every weekly pipeline review. Honest data entry became the easiest path, so adoption followed without a mandate.
Bookings grew 15 percent after the pipeline standard was installed across the sales organisation.
With one pilot team in Singapore. It then spread to Australia, China, Malaysia, India and North America.
No. IDC kept Salesforce. Their Salesforce team built the method into the existing CRM. The change was in how managers ran pipeline reviews.
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Next case study: Pacnet (Telstra): one pipeline standard across six countries