How Exterro Scaled Sales Training Across 130+ Reps and Cut Ramp Time by 12 Months with Avarra

Overview

With a growing global go-to-market team of 130+ reps, Exterro faced a familiar challenge for enterprise organizations: how to scale high-quality sales training with limited enablement resources without sacrificing consistency or performance.

Challenge: Scaling High-Quality Sales Training Without Visibility or Headcount

Exterro’s sales enablement function was operating with a single owner responsible for training a large and growing revenue organization.

This created two major challenges:

1. Training didn’t scale. With only one enablement leader supporting 130+ reps, it was difficult to consistently deliver training programs across onboarding, discovery, objection handling, and ongoing development.
2. No visibility into skill gaps. There was no clear way to assess how well reps were actually performing in critical conversations.

“I wasn’t sure where the gaps were,”
said Nicole Mott, Director of Sales Enablement at Exterro.
“How well can they run discovery? How well can they handle objections?”

The biggest issue surfaced in discovery. Reps relied heavily on closed-ended questions, limiting their ability to uncover meaningful insights and move deals forward.

Traditional training methods (manual role-plays and basic simulators) fell short. They lacked realism, required heavy manager involvement, and delayed feedback loops.

Solution: AI Simulations That Deliver Real-Time Coaching at Scale

Exterro implemented Avarra to create a scalable, simulation-driven training system that mirrored real customer conversations and delivered immediate feedback.

Key capabilities that stood out:

• Realistic AI simulations. Unlike other tools, Avarra’s avatars felt natural and conversational, eliminating the friction that made earlier solutions ineffective.
• Immediate coaching and feedback. Reps received instant, actionable feedback after every simulation, removing the dependency on manager-led coaching cycles.
• Ease of use and speed to deploy. The team was fully up and running in just two weeks, with simulations built, assigned, and tracked centrally.

“It was easy to build SIMs, assign them, and track performance,” Mott said. “That simplicity made a huge difference.”

To drive adoption, Exterro launched Avarra with a contest, resulting in 95% participation and strong positive feedback across the team.

Results: Faster Ramp, Stronger Selling Skills, and Scalable Enablement

Exterro saw meaningful improvements across skill development, ramp time, and organizational efficiency:

• ~30% improvement in core selling skills. Reps significantly improved in discovery and objection handling through repeated, realistic practice.
• Ramp time reduced from 18 months to 6 months. A 12-month reduction in ramp time dramatically accelerated time-to-productivity.
• Scalable enablement without additional headcount. Avarra eliminated the need to hire additional trainers or rely on overloaded sales leaders for coaching.

“The biggest ROI is that we don’t need as many trainers,” Mott said.

Beyond the headline metrics, Avarra fundamentally changed how Exterro approaches enablement.

Instead of relying on periodic coaching and delayed feedback, reps now practice continuously, receive immediate guidance, and build skills faster.

Managers are no longer bottlenecks. Enablement is no longer constrained by headcount.

“I use Avarra for everything, from practicing conversations to certifying sales plays,” Mott said. 

The result is a system where training scales with the business, not against it.

Future Outlook: Building a Fully Scalable, AI-Driven Enablement Engine

Exterro continues to expand its use of Avarra across onboarding, certification, and ongoing skill development.

The long-term vision is clear: a fully scalable, AI-driven enablement system that delivers consistent, high-quality training across the entire revenue organization without adding complexity or cost.

“The biggest reason I would recommend Avarra is it allows you to scale programs faster without additional headcount.”