Embedding a Consultative Sales Culture

Impact Evaluation

Performance Issue

An electronics equipment distributor dealing in a market with increased consolidation and competition among products, sought to differentiate its products and emerge as a market leader. Areas of issue included:

• Establishing consistent customer service
• Developing deep consultative relationships with current customer base
• Being known as a supply chain management leader

Performance Solution

To start, during an inside sales meeting, almost 600 sales and marketing representatives were trained in a customized one-day version of Wilson Learning’s Inbound Sales Excellence (ISE). Pillars stand as a base of Performance and Value-Based Culture of Excellence including: Integrity, Customer Service, Accountability, Teamwork and Innovation. Other goals included:

• Profitable Growth: To become the preferred distribution partner for their customers and suppliers.
• Operational Excellence: To continuously improve each customer’s experience while increasing employee productivity.
• People Development: To attract, develop and engage the best employees in the industry.

The client began reinforcing the importance of the training initiative immediately by pre-selecting internal advocates to be present at each class. They wanted this investment to be more than a single training event; they wanted their employees to walk away with a new way of conducting business that had staying power and was easy to use and apply. In addition, the management worked with a Wilson Learning partner to develop job aid cards so the terminology and key learning were in front of employees at all times. Within the first year, ultra-conservatively, a Return on Investment of 3.1 to 1 based on margin alone was found.

Survey Question: Which of the following skills do you regularly use? (Select all that apply)

Results

• Each rep on average, accounted over $200,000 to a single sale resulting from skills learned in ISE
• 94% of managers reported that their team members are using skills and business tools related to ISE frequently
• A major skill that most reps and managers reported was an increase in use of credibility and trust with customers

Conclusion

Prior to the completion of the first phase of the implementation, the client and partner of Wilson Learning started designing the second phase of the sales training for the Electronics Marketing Americas division. In the near future, all groups are scheduled to attend a mix of selling and negotiations course to help build upon their base skill set taught in ISE.

For the future, this client foresees a rise in the adoption rate of the methodologies taught in the ISE course. Reinforcement materials and continuous management support will help achieve this goal. The Director of People Development has planned to hold quarterly meetings featuring a case study from the field that illustrates how that team successfully used ISE. These quarterly case study sessions will further support how important ISE is to not only the company but how the management believes this initiative will help enhance the performance of the team to help serve customers.

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