Client
One of the nation’s leading EHS compliance training companies.
The Client’s Problem
While the client had some unique market opportunities for its EHS compliance training tools and custom solutions, they realized business would be more profitable if they focused on their core competency of EHS training products rather than sales. Their idea was to look toward an outsourced sales company to build long-term profitable relationships for them.
The Marketplace
The market had two significant competitors focusing on print ads and trade shows, and cold-calling was unheard of in the industry. Additionally, some markets that presented sales challenges, such as the military, were virtually ignored by the competition.
The Sales Partnerships Solution
- We evaluated the past sales activities of our client and spoke with their current/potential customers. This proved that their strategy for sales needed to drastically change to gain better market saturation.
- Sales Partnerships evaluated the sales process of the client’s competitors to look for vulnerabilities and lessons that could be adapted to help their sales processes.
- Sales Partnerships identified a specific sales process to close sales while penetrating the untapped markets. The process identified the use of the client’s existing products and referenced known accounts to build immediate credibility. Initial sales were tactical in nature to lead to larger volume enterprise-wide sales. Cold calling, building of a referral network, and permission email marketing opened the doors to huge volumes of new business.
- This sales strategy fundamentally turned away from how things were originally done. Rather than talk about the “box” (the pre-packaged product), we began talking to the EHS managers and their department members who may need the training their selves. This identified what we needed to be presented, and who to present it to in order to close the deals. It also helped identify future product lines for development and close the more lucrative custom contracts.
- Sales Partnerships built the programs necessary to sustain and continuously grow the success of the program over a period of three years.
Results
Sales Partnerships created a sales program that resulted in doubling the client’s current customer base in the first three years, while fundamentally helping the company to re-structure its approach and fulfillment of sales.
Long-term results include having the company selected as a primary EHS training partner for organizations ranging from Weyerhaeuser to 3M, to the US military and USPS. The total sales volume across seven years drastically increased with thousands of customers acquired (including virtually every company in the Fortune 2000).
