Case studies

I keep putting off doing the selling

In the past, this manufacturing company had been ahead of many of its competitors, manufacturing their products to new and recognised quality and environmental standards well before other manufacturers. They enjoyed this competitive advantage for several years before their competitors started to catch up.

In addition to this, an increasing number of suppliers to their market began to cut prices to win new business and finding profitable work became harder.

The Managing Director was unhappy and finding it difficult to respond. He had already devised a number of effective ways to generate new business and re-brand the offering but found he just kept putting off getting out and doing the selling.

A programme of sales coaching was developed to tackle three areas:

• Getting started and approaches to take
• Tried and tested sales tools and techniques
• Building confidence so that selling is comfortable and enjoyable

With the aim of providing a clear starting point for all selling situations, the programme was scheduled to coincide with a round of important sales visits and concluded with a follow-up session to capture the lessons learned.

These sales visits have now taken place, the MD feels far more enthusiastic, prepared and confident about them and is no longer putting off calling, visiting and selling to prospective customers.

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