Manufacturing Industry

A major industrial manufacturer had grown substantially through a combination of business growth and acquisitions, and their sales force had increased dramatically in size as well. Because of the number of newer salespeople and their diverse experience levels, the sales managers were encountering some motivation and management issues.

Sales Training Needs Assessment

After consulting with the President of the firm and his senior-level management team, Peak Selling identified some common sales management issues to work on.  Two areas identified were time management for salespeople and building successful sales teams. Peak Selling was asked to work 1-on-1 with the sales managers, and sent each of them a survey to assess the specific challenges that each manager was encountering with his or her sales team. Typical responses included comments such as "…one of my best sellers is spending all his selling time on his key accounts and not enough time on prospecting” and "…some of my experienced sellers think that their performance is better than it actually is.”

Sales Training Solution 

Peak Selling designed a series of 1-on-1 sales coaching sessions with each sales manager. Each sales management session was divided into two parts. Part 1 taught some advanced skills on how to build an effective sales team, and was taught to every sales manager. Part 2 was customized for each manager, and addressed the specific challenges faced by that individual manager. For example, one sales manager used our conversation to improve her ability to vary her management style with each person on her sales team.  Collectively, the material presented to the sales managers used many key concepts from these Peak Selling sales training programs:  Key Account Management, Team Selling, Sales Prospecting and Business Development, Time Management for Sales,  and Coaching for Sales Success.

Due to increased competition within the United States and from overseas firms, sales had plateaued and market share had declined.  Management needed to introduce a line of new athletic shoes, and felt that the sales force had to upgrade their selling skills to support the new marketing and promotional campaign.

Sales Training Needs Assessment

New management had been brought in as a result of the decline in market share.  Although the sales force had strong customer relationships with current clients, management did not feel that they had the necessary selling skills to be successful "hunters" for new business. In particular, management wanted them to become better at closing and handling objections.

Sales Training Solution

Peak Selling was selected to design and teach a customized sales training program to address all of the needs identified above.  A combination of our Essential Selling Skills and Selling on Value workshops provided the training content.  During the workshop each salesperson had an opportunity to apply the skills to an actual new customer situation. 

A major international chemical manufacturer headquartered in Europe wanted to implement a team selling approach with their key accounts in the United States.

Sales Training Needs Assessment 

Upper management had become dissatisfied with a lack of sales growth and client attrition with their key accounts and felt it was due to three interrelated problems. First, the sales force for two major divisions shared responsibility and geographies for most of their key accounts, yet sales personnel were not communicating with one another and no synergy existed at the customer interface. Second, the manufacturing and technical staff were not being utilized to support the sales effort ("I wasn't hired to sell."). In some cases, the manufacturing or technical personnel were working at cross-purposes with the sales force ("We can't do what you want for that customer, because..."). Third, there was poor communication and a lack of trust between headquarters in Europe and the U.S. operation.

Sales Training Solution 

Peak Selling designed a customized  workshop that addressed the communication and team issues with key accounts. A combination of our Key Account Management and Team Selling workshops provided most of the teaching content. In addition to classroom training on key concepts, we used outdoor orienteering and low ropes activities so that the various cross-functional groups could work together as teams during the event. The entire organization learned how to form and sustain successful key account teams and increased the level of trust between departments. The session was rated so successful that it was repeated throughout the entire organization.

A major electronics components manufacturer was hurting from the competition in a declining market and needed to upgrade negotiation skills to sell more competitively.

Sales Training Needs Assessment

From the purchasing side and the selling side, this manufacturer was getting squeezed in a declining market and sought ways to conduct smarter and more productive negotiations.

Sales Training Solution

Peak Selling designed a customized workshop based on our Sales Negotiation Skills workshop.  Peak Selling worked extensively with management and the workshop participants to identify needs and currencies of exchange which helped them discover that they had more to offer than just a low price.

Additional training materials for managers available through our Coaching Kits product line, specifically the Giving and Getting Concessions when Negotiating kit.  

A mid-sized specialty chemical manufacturer wanted their sales force to learn to sell on value in order to extract a better profit margin.

Sales Training Needs Assessment 

The prior sales management team had not effectively segmented and targeted the right customers, and had encouraged the sales force to go after the "quick win" resulting in a majority of price only buyers. The new management team realized that the prior approach had created three related problems. First, the current customer mix was poor and offered few opportunities for revenue and profit growth. Second, profit margins were not commensurate with the high value specialty chemical line offered by the firm. Third, the sales force had not learned techniques to sell on value, nor been encouraged to do so.

Sales Training Solution 

Peak selling designed two complementary workshops to build mastery among the entire sales and support organization to sell on value. The initial workshop titled Selling on Value  taught the fundamentals of value selling, such as how to prepare a specific value proposition for a specific customer. The second workshop, titled Key Account Management, focused on more sophisticated skills of value selling, such as how to gain access to the higher level decision makers and present your value proposition in a compelling way. Results measured after the training documented a five-fold growth in profits.

Additional training materials available through our Coaching Kit product line, specifically the Selling on Value Not Price kit. 

A large chemical manufacturer needed to upgrade the capabilities of the sales force to become more proficient at prospecting and business development.

Sales Training Needs Assessment

A new chemical plant had recently come online but the timing was bad because demand had softened due to the economy, resulting in excess plant capacity. The existing sales force had been predominantly responsible for servicing existing accounts and the prior plant capacity had been fully utilized for many years. As a result, the ability and desire of the sales force to bring in new business had atrophied. The company needed to teach the sales force how to prospect for new business, as well as sharpen their abilities to grow existing accounts.

Sales Training Solution 

Peak Selling designed a customized workshop for them based on our Sales Prospecting and Business Development workshop. Their sales professionals developed a process to identify and capitalize on the best sales opportunities, and learned the skills to advance these opportunities through the various stages of the prospecting pipeline. The client initially committed to teach the entire senior-level sales force but expanded the effort to include all sales personnel as well as the sales management team.