Our passion is creating highly effective sales and marketing strategies for SMEs and then helping them achieve their vision.

Transcription

1 Our passion is creating highly effective sales and marketing strategies for SMEs and then helping them achieve their vision BROCHURE

2 index Welcome to our business What we do What s your issue? What s on offer? Sales and Marketing Strategy Understanding The Voice of the Customer Sales Process Design Sales Training and Support Contact details 2

3 Welcome to our business We specialise in helping small to medium sized businesses achieve profitable sales growth and our track record of success is second to none. Highly innovative, we achieve results through a combination of teaching and consultancy, but above all by encouraging learning by doing and getting your team to adopt best practice across every aspect of the sales and marketing function. Richard Harrison has over 35 years experience of sales improvement working across a broad range of industry sectors, having started his sales career with the Mars Group. He has extensive experience of managing sales & marketing teams and has held senior board positions with a number of large well known businesses. In 2001 he joined an international firm of lean consultants and in 2010 achieved a long held ambition to start his own consultancy dedicated to helping SMEs grow their sales profitability. In 2009 Richard co-authored Staying Lean which won the coveted Shingo Research prize and in addition has written several publications on performance improvement in sales using proven Lean principles. Richard is a qualified NLP Master Practitioner. Richard Harrison, Director The Sales Transformation Partnership Ltd 3

4 what we do Our business offering is highly integrated and is divided into two key parts: Pre Sales Performance improvement activity Post Sales Performance improvement activity Depending upon your specific needs which we would identify and agree with you at the diagnostic stage, this might range from creating a simple sales plan designed to help your team generate more new enquiries to redesigning your current quotation process or defining a clear route to market for your new or existing products. 4

5 Unlike many other sales performance improvement companies, we also like to get out into your market place and meet your actual customers. Where appropriate, we can undertake specialist Voice of the Customer programmes designed to gain true insight, as opposed to just information, about what your customers really value from you as a supplier. We also measure, from the customer s perspective, how you are performing versus your nearest competitors and also the very best in class often outside your own market sector/segment. This insight is often invaluable in being able to help you and your team align your sales or business strategy more closely to the specific needs of your customer than your major competitors are achieving and will inform new product development as well as strategy and structure. Training is a key part of sales success and we are in the unique position of being able to offer specialist NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) training, which is now widely used in performance improvement in sport. From basic sales training to more advance training for Sales and Key Account Management, we can help you improve performance. 5

6 What s your issue? In order to improve performance in sales and marketing in your own business, you will need at some stage to face reality around one or more of the following four questions, which are crucial in a proactive sales organisation: 1. How capable are we as a business in terms of generating new enquiries of the right type i.e. what we can deliver on time and in full at the right level of quality and make money doing it? 2. How capable are we as a business in converting these new enquiries of the right type into actual sales? 3. How capable are we as a business in terms of our ability to maximise sales of our other existing product offerings with existing customers? 4. How capable are we as a business in terms of retaining customers of the right type e.g. can we grow with them, can they pay their bills on time and do we like dealing with them? Being able to achieve real clarity around the effectiveness of each phase of your current sales and marketing process is a basic requirement for an SME targeting profitable sales growth. Any weakness within the phases will result in painful and potentially damaging symptoms of waste everything from low levels of enquiries to delayed quotations to poor or weak relationships they can all have a detrimental effect on the bottom line. It is also true that every activity undertaken in improving sales performance has an associated cost and so having real clarity around the effectiveness of your current sales process at every step, is a basic requirement of a sustainable, profitable business. 6

7 In a typical sales process there will always be waste and waste equals cost. If you can reduce your cost of sales, whilst at the same time driving sales growth, you will start to make major contributions to the bottom line. In an SME, it doesn t take long to achieve a substantial impact on the bottom line! 7

8 Success factors for affecting change in sales performance Have a look at the chart below and think about your own business. Have you currently got in place all the things that you need to help improve sales or are there some factors which might be missing currently and which may be preventing the behavioural change you desire for your own team to improve sales performance? Where are the gaps in your own organisation? 8

9 What s on offer? We offer an integrated range of specialist solutions designed to help you transform your sales performance. All the offerings are tailored to meet the specific needs of your business and always commence with a diagnostic followed by a detailed proposal. 9

10 Our approach We always start every new assignment with a face to face meeting in order to gain a really in-depth understanding of your specific needs as well as developing a good working relationship based on trust and integrity from the start. Having gained a good understanding of your requirements, we will then submit a detailed proposal for your consideration including complete transparency of costs. Once final agreement on the recommended approach is confirmed, we discuss and agree who should be involved, agree timings and venue and then we are free to start the process. Depending upon your specific circumstances, part funded government support is sometimes available for these interventions and we will discuss these options with you during our initial meeting. 10

11 Sales and Marketing Strategy This programme is designed for SMEs who have real ambitions to grow and wish they could do more, but recognise that they don t currently have the sales skills and experience need to achieve their goal. A typical profile for this type of business might include: Minimal expertise or experience in sales within the organisation No clear vision as to where they want to take the business No sales and marketing plan to help them achieve their vision No clear idea as to where business will come from No clear idea of how to get the product/service offering to market Generally reactive, as opposed to proactive, approach to sales No clear roles and responsibilities in sales and marketing No measures and targets in sales 11

12 Every company that has ambitions to grow will need a sales and marketing plan. Without a plan it will be impossible to achieve focus and direction. A strategy always starts with a vision as to where the business wants to get to and by when. In a small business, having a short term strategy over a 6 18 month period is essential. We look at the current state of sales within a business, agree the financial targets you would like to achieve over the period through a rigorous process and then create a detailed sales and marketing plan to help you achieve it. We would then work with you and the team to develop a small number of specific measures aligned to your sales and marketing strategy and designed to drive appropriate behaviour. This would be about developing a series of good habits, in pursuit of profitable sales growth. Would you tell me please which way I go from here said Alice to the cat. that depends a great deal on where you want to get to said the cat I don t much care said Alice Then it doesn t matter which way you go said the cat Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 12

13 How it will help... This specialist short term programme is incredibly cost effective for your organisation and also benefits from follow up support and reviews to ensure that there is a proper skills transfer. Along the way we offer advice and support from everything from sales training to sales force structure and incentive programme always aligned to your business strategy Outputs... The output is a highly effective sales and marketing plan with precision focus. We don t do the job for you, but work closely with you and the team to help make it happen. Benefits... A clear focused plan of action with identified routes to market A clear set of measures and targets aligned to your sales strategy A proactive focus Clear roles and responsibilities to make the plan work Increased sales Profitable growth Richard was a pleasure to work with, and tactfully helped us to focus on the key issues whilst allowing us to get things off our chests! His ability to understand our business and the kinds of people we are helped to establish a level of trust from the start, so that we could make the most of our time together and come up with a detailed sales plan in a short space of time. Barbara Moinet, Director Kitchen Garden Preserves 13

14 Understanding the Voice of the Customer Many organisations have a perception about what their key customers value and look for from them as suppliers. In reality, very few actually know and end up missing out on potential sales opportunities. Typical symptoms where a business does not have a true understanding of the Voice of their Customer might include: Declining sales from key accounts Problems actually retaining key accounts Struggling relationships with key accounts Strategies misaligned to market requirements Having to push products as opposed to the market pulling Low levels of innovation success with new product introductions 14

15 Our well proven approach to gaining you real insight, as opposed to information, is to use a highly structured face to face interview process and go out into the market place to talk direct with your customers. The insight which the customer provides will inform you as to what they really value and look for from a supplier like you. They will also tell you how you are currently performing versus their expectations measured against the criteria they value, as well as your key competitors and the very best in class. Often the best in class turns out to be in a totally different sector to the one you currently operate in, but the learning is immense. Depending upon the requirements of your organisation, we can design a Voice of the Customer programme around your business and budget tailored to your specific needs. 15

16 How it will help... If you want to get closer to your specific accounts, help develop closer working relationships at key levels within the organisation, inform strategy, inform new product development and grow sales profitably, then this programme is for you. Outputs... A detailed Continuous Improvement Plan with prioritised projects for you to feed back to and work with your key customers on. Benefits... Clarity around what the customers really value and look for from you as a supplier in your sector/segment Clarity around your performance versus expectations versus competition versus best in class, measured against the key criteria that your customer values and how and what to improve Closer working relationships with key influencers to the buying decision Provides real information to inform strategy, relationships, new product development Profitable sales growth We have completed two major projects with Richard, using customer perception analysis with the aim of transforming our key account management effectiveness. In both of these projects Richard s approach has allowed us to really get under the skin of our customer needs, better understand the dynamics of our Key Account relationships and, most importantly deliver actionable outcomes which are really adding value to our business. Ronnie Leggett, Sales & Marketing Director Macphie of Glenbavie 16

17 Sales Process Design The importance of efficient processes in sales and marketing is equally as important as any other business process and understanding how they work, and importantly why sometimes they don t work, is a key aspect of a proactive sales function. Every process is built up as a series of phases of activity and within each phase are steps of activity. Each phase has a beginning and an end. The end of one phase should be the start of the next phase if the process is working effectively. Typical symptoms you might expect to see in an organisation with an ineffective sales and marketing process would include one or more of the following problems: Problems associated with generating sufficient new enquiries of the right type Problems associated with converting enquiries into sales Problems associated with maximising sales of existing products to existing customers Problems associated with retaining customers and getting repeat business Extended turnaround times on requests for quotations Backlogs and delays Errors & Rework No clear picture around the size of the order hopper (pipeline) No clear measures and targets Uncertainties around roles and responsibilities 17

18 Sales process design Throughout the process there should be clarity at each phase around Roles & Responsibilities, Measures & targets and the time taken from input to output 18

19 There are five key phases in a proactive sales process and each one of the phases needs to be operating at 100% efficiency in order to win business and help the organisation grow. By way of example, having an effective sales hopper at the front end of the process will focus on the need to ensure a constant stream of new enquiries of the right type being generated for the business. Two key learning points here: Turnover will be directly affected by the number of initial enquiries generated Turnover will be directly affected by your conversion rate success at each phase of the filter process 19

20 How it will help... In many companies, lack of an effective sales and marketing process is the root cause of poor or failing sales performance and this product will help you resolve the issue through redesign of the failing phase/s or missing steps. We use a variety of specialist mapping techniques to help you and the team visualise the process issues in the current state. The rigorous process we follow will identify the root cause of the key issues (current state) and then help you design an improved future state with quality standards built into each phase of the process. Outputs... A sales and marketing process which is in control and where accountability and performance can be effectively measured at every phase. Benefits... Reductions in time taken to process (waiting and delays) Resource cost savings Reduction in errors Improved quality of throughput and output Increased accountability Increased focus Increased capacity Increased sales 20

21 Sales training and support Every business and organisation needs customers to grow their sales. You can have the best product or service in your market, but if you can t get it to market and in front of the right customers, your business will not grow. Sales skills training is often the most neglected training area within a business but also one which conversely can have the most positive impact. Symptoms of poor or ineffectual sales skills might include: Poor conversion rates from enquiries to sales Not being fully conversant with information about your product Assuming that the customer has not done their research Being unable to maximise sales of other existing products to customers High turnover of customers Sales only ever achieved on price discount Poor or developing rapport and building relationships with customers We offer a wide range of specialist sales training support from basic selling skills through to more advanced training and mentoring for senior roles including Owner Managers, Sales Directors, Sales Managers, Key Account Managers and other customer facing roles. Importantly, we tailor the course to your own specific needs and budget. The one thing we don t do, is to just do classroom training. Our experience over many years indicates that by far the best results are obtained through a Learning by doing programme of work, where practical application is tried following classroom tuition and real insight and learning is then understood and applied. 21

22 Using NLP in Sales Training We are extremely proud of the fact that, unlike the vast majority of sales training providers, we are qualified to offer specialist (NLP) Neuro-Linguistic Programming training to sales and marketing personnel. NLP is now used widely by sports scientists and coaches to help athletes overcome self doubt and maximise their own capabilities encouraging them to push their performances to new levels. Using a series of specialist tools and techniques, it is quite possible for individuals to eradicate limiting beliefs and negative beliefs about themselves and their ability and replace with a positive can do attitude towards sales. 22

23 How it will help... Working closely with you and your team, we will be able to devise a training programme specifically tailored to help individuals realise their full potential and capability. This specialist training will help instil confidence and self belief within those individuals and we have achieved some quite remarkable results in a very short period of time. We achieve this through a learning by doing programme which can have an immediate positive impact for the individual and results in marked changes in behaviour and approach. Outputs... Bespoke training plans for individuals combining a combination of classroom training/fieldwork/mentoring resulting in improved self confidence and belief. Benefits... Improved self confidence and self belief Improved job satisfaction Improved relationships with key accounts Better decision making Improved sales performance Improved sales capabilities and personal growth Richard opened our eyes to how marketing, done properly, could take our business to a whole new level but more than this, he inspired our office team to make it happen, gave them the tools and the skills to do so and our sales took an immediate turn for the better. David Thomson, Managing Director Thomson Engineering Ltd 23

24 Get in touch If you would like to discuss any of our product offerings detailed in this brochure, please don t hesitate to contact us and we will be delighted to help. You can us : office@stpartnership.co.uk Or visit our web site: Public Courses We will be running a small number of specialist sales master class awareness raising sessions around the country in Please call for details. Publications Publications by Richard Harrison are available in pdf format from the website. Books Staying Lean Thriving Not Just Surviving, which was awarded the coveted Shingo Prize for Research in 2009, can be ordered direct from and is also now available for Amazon Kindle. A new book which addresses the application of Lean in Sales & Marketing is to be published shortly. 24