Adding Value to the Marketing and Sales Process
Deliver Value and Inventive Opportunity by Utilizing Problem Solving Capabilities: Enhancing Innovation, Creativity and Value Series for Marketing and Sales
We were in the midst of a recession. It was bad.
The recession hit the automotive, forestry, steel, construction and manufacturing industries and the opportunities did not look good. These industries made up a large amount of our existing business. Some of the company’s product lines were getting squeezed to as low as 5% gross profits. My technical product line offered our company much higher gross profits, but had to be a utilized as a problem solver to receive this value.
I just started a new job with the responsibility for marketing and sales of a specific line of industrial products working with a number of customers, branches, fabrication and service departments, mangers, salespeople and customer service. Our company had a very large product range and it was challenging for the sales people to get an opportunity to focus on all the products within the sales processes.
One of the first things that I did was to get out of the office into the field and make some joint sales calls with the salespeople and get some personal hands on experience and information as to what was happening in our industry. It seems that all I heard was … can you give me that product at a better price. Our customers were not differentiated our products from other products. Our salespeople were being squeezed from both ends. Our company required higher gross profits to stay in business and the customers were looking for a reduction in cost to help them stay in business and keep their jobs. Everything seemed to get down to price, price and price. The recession, economic conditions and the strong focus on price was not conducive in providing opportunities within the sales calls. We had to focus on promoting our service, quality and product uniqueness, leading to problem solving solutions that offered greater value for our customers. The goal was to offer the customer value that exceeded the price paid for our products and services. That is what I wanted to do and the specific products that I represented offered the features and benefits to accomplish this goal.
Listed below are a few of the challenges and the problem solving solutions that were implemented towards a successful increase in sales and profits – offering value through-out the sales process.
The Challenges
- How can we provide support for the sales force and increase gross profits? How can we increase sales and market share? What challenges do we have to meet in integrating my product lines into new and existing customers?
- What synergies can we activate that enhances value for all parties?
- How can we differentiate ourselves?
The Solutions We Implemented
- Sales Support – Enhanced product knowledge and demonstrated the benefits and value our products could provide our customers and salespeople in reaching their sales targets. Implemented product, technical and sales product training for the inside customer service department in the branches and the outside salespeople. Appointed and trained branch product customer service specialist to work with our customers to maximize customer opportunities and customer experience. Our marketing and sales department worked together developing strategy and implementing solutions. We completed SWOT and marketing analysis. Established and prioritized target markets. Detailed a business plan and focused on a list of accounts for the individual salespeople and branches to grow the business. Followed-up on all parts of the plan and made myself readily available as a resource to be utilized by all parties. Along with accepting the responsibility for the overall regional product sales and marketing, I accepted the personal responsibility for the developing and increasing our business with the original equipment manufacturers (OEM), where specific product knowledge and product application skills were required.
- Added value throughout the organization by creating a culture of pro-active change and synergy that supported all parties. Held meetings with suppliers to let them know the planned changes in our organization and asked for their input and participation. Differentiated ourselves from our competitors. The product line that I represented was unique among our main competitors. The competitors matched up pretty well to our overall line of company products except they did not offer a similar product line. There was a high cost of entry which acted as a barrier for any competitor who wanted to sell and service a similar product line. Traditionally the products that I represented were not included in system contracts for a number of reasons. We marketed these products to be included in system contracts, where they were feasible along with our other lines. If our company lost a contract and we were shut-out of a customer or potential customers our line of unique products allowed us an opportunity to meet with potential customers and clients and to increase our business. These meetings and sales calls helped built relationships that lead to new business opportunities. Utilizing the value of uniqueness as a lever for differentiation, resulted in a pull-through effect on the other lines adding value throughout the sales process and producing a win/win for our clients and organization.
Perry Woodworth, Technical Writer and Researcher
Inventive Opportunity – Enhancing Innovation, Creativity and Value. Are You Missing an Inventive Opportunity?
