Sales Culture Change Leads to Breakthrough Revenue Growth

OVERVIEW

A major global chemicals company wanted to shift their sales culture, develop a competitive edge, deliver more value to their customers, and provide a consistent sales approach and common language for managers to coach.

OBJECTIVES

• Grow revenue and market share
• Win competitive business by delivering client value instead of relying on rebates and discounts
• Equip sales managers to coach effectively
• Create a consistent, effective sales approach and language

CHALLENGES

This segment of the business also realized that its strategy of winning through discounts, which is common in the industry, was not sustainable. Marketing, Sales and Customer Service needed an effective method to build stronger relationships, uncover customers’ deeper business needs and goals, and then align their solutions to meet them. 

SOLUTIONS

The organization partnered with Integrity Solutions on a comprehensive and strategic change management initiative focused on elevating and sustaining performance with all client-facing teams. The solution included:

• A foundation of Integrity Selling® for over 500 salespeople
• Coaching for sales managers to help them elevate the performance of their teams
• Sustainment activities including micro-learning, meeting discussion outlines, and other resources for all salespeople and leaders via the Integrity Selling® Elevate digital platform
• Team coaching clinics to further support manager’s leadership development
• Custom video-based programs targeting specific goals around managing difficult supply chain challenges and integrating data to create better customer outcomes.
• Delivery of Integrity Communication® and Integrity Service® programs to ensure a consistent approach, language, and alignment across the organization.

IMPACT

In just one year after implementing Integrity programs, the various sales regions have reported revenue growth rates ranging from 112 to 140%. Several product lines and teams have had their best year ever, even in the midst of pandemic travel restrictions, supply chain challenges, and business interruptions.

Hundreds of examples of individual sales, sales increases, and service recoveries have been attributed to Integrity principles. By applying the Integrity processes, mindset, and skills sales reps are having more value-based conversations with customers resulting in more closed deals, including with those customers who had previously said no. The concepts have proven useful to both tenured and new sales reps as well as sales managers.

While the organization credits the partnership with Integrity Solutions with much of this success, the Integrity team supporting them equally credits the skilled internal team who launched it.  They used proven change management practices, including needs analysis, collaboration, communication, holding people accountable to change and celebrating success. They involved leaders at all levels and ensured those leaders communicated expectations and instructions.

The partnership with Integrity Solutions has also impacted the sales culture beyond skills development. Sales leaders now have a consistent sales process and language to coach their teams, and models from the programs have helped improve internal alignment, collaboration and partnerships across all functional areas. In many graduation speeches, employees have expressed their gratitude for the company’s investment in their development.

RESULTS

More value-based conversations with customers

More closed deals

Consistent sales process and language to coach teams

Leaders involved at all levels

TESTIMONIALS

“We as a company needed to be customer-focused and by working with our partners at Integrity Solutions, we were able to accomplish this. Their methods are proven, and the consistent approach really brought confidence to our sales team and built stronger customer relationships during some really tough business conditions.” – Sales & Marketing Excellence Manager

“I have taken many training courses over my almost 35 years working in the agricultural solutions industry. I can honestly say that Integrity Solutions has made the biggest impact on how I am working and challenged me to find ways to continue improving my daily ways of working. I am a true believer, as is our organization, in the Integrity programs.”

–  Director, Commercial Excellence