Drift — Vendr Case Study

Introduction

Drift is a conversational marketing and conversational sales platform that helps companies make business buying more frictionless, more enjoyable, and more human. The Boston-based startup founded in 2015 has rapidly grown to over 600 employees serving more than 50,000 clients to drive revenue, increase customer lifetime value (CLV), and align customer experiences.

The Challenge

In the early days of Drift, David and other key executives were the main contacts handling SaaS relationships. In many cases, stakeholders were handling pricing discussions for software purchases. This approach led to unnecessary friction between stakeholders and suppliers, as well as the potential for conflicts of interest. 

As headcount and complexity increased, the volume of contracts began to take a toll on the company’s stack organization and spend efficiency. As David explains,

“We spent a lot of time managing vendor relationships, trying to optimize contracts, and not always getting the best results.”

David and the team needed a way to relieve stakeholders from negotiating responsibilities and gain visibility into procurement.

The Solution

Encouraged by recommendations from other companies in their network, Drift signed on with Vendr in May of 2019. David was cautiously optimistic, unsure whether Vendr could deliver on the impressive savings promises it had made. But the results soon began to speak for themselves. 

One early success story helped demonstrate the value in the procurement partnership. Vendr helped negotiate a renewal for the business management tool Envision, yielding savings of over 35% compared to the previous contract. “We gave Vendr a shot, and they delivered on it,” David says. “They saved us a bunch of time and a lot of money.” 

Implementing Vendr has allowed Drift to implement a formal procurement process without investing internal resources. The solution scales as the company grows. 

Because implementation for Vendr includes help from an assigned buying expert, Drift enjoyed immediate opportunities for context and savings. “Getting started with Vendr was super easy,” explains David. “Introducing the CSM to our team internally — including business stakeholders, legal, and security — was seamless. He was able to pick up contracts right away and get running almost out of the gate.”

‍The shift toward outsourced negotiation creates more time for everyone. David says,

“One of the biggest benefits of Vendr is knowing that our employees can focus on more important matters in the business instead of spending extra time negotiating SaaS contracts.”

The Result

Partnering with Vendr has given David and his colleagues independence in the SaaS negotiation process. 

Using negotiation-as-a-service has removed the tension that arises in negotiations between suppliers and Drift’s internal contacts. The shift to outsourced negotiation allows Drift to maintain productive relationships regardless of the outcome. ”Business leaders have more time to focus on high-impact tasks and not become distracted by managing vendor relationships,” says David.

Partnering with Vendr has allowed Drift to buy software like an enterprise company throughout its growth journey. “Vendr has effectively allowed us to use a centralized person on our team running procurement. Even though we're a small company, we had a single point of contact,” says David. Having an extension of procurement in their corner has allowed Drift to get good results and consistent performance. “We have confidence in every software tool we’ve purchased or renewed.”

The financial benefits have been remarkable. Working with Vendr buyers on over 177 software purchases, Drift has realized over $1.6M in savings. They’ve added SaaS solutions such as Gong, 6sense, and Gainsight to their stack, all negotiated through Vendr buyers for the best pricing and terms. 

Vendr has enabled Drift to benefit from a full-time procurement service without investing in an in-house procurement team. The time saved by having Vendr buyers handle negotiations has allowed David to focus attention on another important investment: supporting the team members that enable Drift’s success.