Case Study:
A family firm, in the food processing business, came to us when they were undecided about future expansion. They had a substantial customer base but appreciated that up until then they had been merely taking orders, rather than selling. They wanted to take their business to the next level, although they suspected that their current sales and marketing processes wouldn’t be sufficiently robust.
Our initial step was to identify what they wanted to achieve in their expansion stop once understood, we helped them to map their sales and marketing processes. This identified a gap, which we suggested might be filled by setting up a small telesales unit.
Over the next few weeks we sat in at their sales meetings, spent time in the field with their sales team and had one to one meetings with key staff, we reported back to the owners.
Since the owners had shared their personal and business aspirations at great length, we were able to follow up with a summary of what was already working and what might be done to build on this, in terms of an effective future-proof sales and marketing process. We helped them to map this out.
Once we had agreed success measures, we then worked alongside the client to help to bring about and embed the necessary changes. This led to an increase in turnover of over 20% within a year of their implementation.
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The People Dimension:We established a new performance management framework (job descriptions, performance appraisal and monitoring procedures); worked with the sales team to determine targets (sales teams will set higher targets themselves, than any that might be imposed of them) and also helped the client to set up a new tele-sales unit, supporting them through and documenting, the complete recruitment process. In this process, since the owners didn’t want a reputation for employing “pushy” salespeople, we were very specific in determining the “person specifications” for their tele-sales team and recruited those who shared similar values.
As a vital overlay, since this was a family run business, we facilitated a number of meetings with family members, to help them gain a better understanding of each other and their importance within the business. This enabled enabled them to appreciate the impact that their personal relationships have on their business relationships and the approach they might take to satisfy both personal and business agendas. The client later referred to this as being the most important element of the project, providing the seeds for the future sustainability of the business.
Our Credentials:In terms of John’s own experience, this was quite closely related to a period in the late 80s, when he successfully set up his own tele-sales unit from scratch as a distribution channel for imported medical dressings to hospitals in the UK. His recruitment experience had been gained some 10 years previously, as a member of the management team, at what was a former subsidiary of the Arthur D Little Corporation in Scotland.
Regarding his marketing experience, subsequent to this, John was one of the founders in implementing an initiative supported by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Department of Trade and Industry and Warwick University Business School, studying the effective transfer of marketing knowledge to owners of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK.
