Sales Coaching Initiative Delivers Year-Over-Year Net Profit Increase of 168% for Abrasion Resistant Solutions Manufacturer

This successful manufacturer of industrial equipment, in business for over 30 years, holds more than 90% share of its primary market.

After reaching a growth plateau, it was seeking opportunites for sales improvement to grow sales and profits by an additional 50%. Since capturing greater market share was not a viable strategy for significant growth, a new approach was required.

The manufacturer faced the threat of multiple competitors, and their primary hurdle was an uninspired sales force with little direction, poor interface with Operations, and no accountability systems.

While experienced and knowledgeable, the sales force lacked understanding of the concept of capturing their unique economic value. They had, over the years, commoditized themselves in spite of their distinct advantages against their competitors.

The manufacturer's reputation in its primary market was strong, and customers recognized their technical superiority versus that of their competition. Neither the manufacturer nor its customers, however, understood the quantifiable economic value being created.

This manufacturer traditionally used a cost-plus pricing strategy, and being competitive historically meant setting prices as low as possible to beat the competition. Their pricing strategy contributed to superior sourcing and efficient manufacturing practices, but put significant accountability for sales on Operations and Sourcing.

Brand superiority and operational efficiency created a significant potential profit spread that could be captured through cultural change and skills building in the sales force.

Following a comprehensive situational diagnosis, Scott Trunkett recommended, developed, and facilitated the execution of a four-pronged market-driven sales strategy. The strategy objectives were to capture greater economic value through margin enhancement, close more deals faster through reduced sales cycles, and to launch new products into primary markets to enhance share of customer.

1. Culture Transformation to Value-Orientation

• Establish a clear mission
• Sales training and coaching
• Pricing Strategy
• Optimization of opportunity-to-close processes
• Repurposing of proposals from scope-and-price to quantifiable economic value orientation

2. Sales and Operations Integration

• Sales reporting
• Regular sales conference calls
• Joint sales best practices sessions
• Competitive analyses
• Joint product development sessions

3. Accountability and Reward Systems

• Sales call planning
• Quarterly sales meetings and territory business reviews w/ Leadership Team
• Restructure and align compensation programs

4. Team Building

• Facilitated Peer-to-Peer coaching sessions
• Joint sales development of case studies and testimonials
• Assignment of Product Managers and Product Teams

This combination of project initiatives generated immediate and measurable results.

• Gross sales for 5 of 6 months following project launch exceeded sales levels of any prior month in Clients history.



• Average gross margins increased by 12% compared to the same period during the previous year.



• Return on Sales (ROS) more than doubled, and Year-over-Year sales improved by nearly 30%.



• Net profit nearly tripled versus the same period the previous year.