Our associate consultant made a routine sales call with a long term client in Finland, who is employed as a sales director of an international company working in the metal industry.
The consultant was told that the company’s product offering had changed dramatically. In addition to the old traditional products they offered, they had a range of completely new products such as energy saving solutions. So the sales team were now challenged to sell entire product solutions which also include new and improved types of services.
The organisation’s objective in today’s competitive market is to differentiate themselves from the competition with pioneering products and complete solutions.
The Challenge
The challenge for the sales director was to refocus the sales staff. How to get veteran (and experienced) sales people, who are used to selling traditional products, excited about selling new and more complicated products and services.
An additional challenge was the change in the client segment. Where the old clients were small or medium sized construction companies, the new client segment includes professionals such as architects and designers.
The sales team now had a huge challenge to understand and communicate with the new clients and apply the new products to their needs as well as closing the deal! (This sounds like one for those DS’s!)
The Need
A human resource tool was needed to help the sales director communicate the new sales process, which had been adjusted to fit the new product range, to the local sales managers and sales people.
The tool required, needed to assist the sales person to identify and utilise their personal strengths, and to understand their development areas in each stage of the sales process – this is where a DISC assessment comes in. The objective for the sales director was to create a development plan to take into account the new ways of selling the new products and services to the new client segment.
The Change
The sales director’s vision of the change needed was:
- From old thinking to a new approach
- From reactive selling to proactive selling
- From old products to new products
- From existing clients to new clients.
The Tool
The sales process was defined stage by stage and each sales team member was mapped on the Extended DISC® Profile “Diamond”. Each stage concentrates on selling the new products and services to the new client segment.
The main elements of the report are:
- Cover page with colours and logo of The Metal Company
- The Sales Process on the “Diamond” compared to the flexibility zones
- Job templates of key behavioural competencies of each sales stage vs natural behavioural style
- Personal Development Plan
The Process
The required behavioural competencies were identified and added using Report Designer in the FinxS online assessment system. The competencies when then scored so the sales members could identify their personal development areas in each stage of the sales process.
The End Result
The organisation has already grown their market share by 5% in a competitive market despite the fact that the process is a relatively new initiative. Training of the new products and services is the key to the increasing growth.
Some of the sales people decided to take up new challenges in their careers and a few accepted a retirement package. During the process, the majority of the sales team were able to adapt to the proactive selling technique and continue their hard work with new products and with working with new clients.
