Evolve Resource
Sales Training Case Study – Chemical Sales
Chemicals are price-competitive commodities that are hard to differentiate and almost every customer already has a supplier! Download this case study to learn how we helped one small player in the chemicals market, book more appointments, get more referrals and achieve record-high sales numbers!
In December 2016, we began working with a chemical company with the goal of helping them increase their sales. Selling chemicals may seem easy, but think again. Chemicals are a price-competitive commodity. They’re also hard to differentiate and almost every customer already has a supplier. It makes breaking into new accounts very challenging. Also, our client was a small player in the market, which can create the perception that they are unable to handle larger accounts.
The sales team is made up of young guys, which makes older clients presume some “whippersnapper” can’t know much about chemicals. However, this is untrue as their sales guys have a decade of experience in the business.
So, in January, we went to work. We looked at a variety of places we needed to improve and created an order of what we needed to tackle. Firstly, we created baseline levels of activity each week and started tracking that activity every week. It included calls, emails, proposals, and meetings held each week. In addition, we re-vamped the proposals to be more effective, and easier to summarize. Also, we focused more on differentiators in the company, product, and service.
We broke the market into small accounts, good accounts, and dream accounts, and then we started to map activities to each segment. Small accounts received the least amount of time.
Tackling Sales Processes and Training
We started by training the team to use our exclusive #1 Closing Technique method to improve their closing rate, before we even employed any other training. We developed new sales questions that went beyond just asking how much product they use. We got into service, their business goals, their issues, and then, finally, their perceptions of pricing.
In addition, we implemented over half of the 9 Secrets to Sales Mastery in the first four months and immediately saw more quality meetings, more referrals, and a better closing rate.
We customized a strategy on the big dream accounts and started taking small steps towards our goals every single week. We re-scripted their cold call approach so that people actually listened, which resulted in representatives booking more appointments. We also learned about personality profiles, risk adversity, and buying styles to see how that was affecting every sales situation.
Lastly, we developed a series of value-added services, like seminars, manufacturer tours, production line reviews, and social events.
Impressive Revenue Results from Our Sales Training Methods
There were countless other activities we added, learned, and refined over the first five months of 2022. Some of the results included record high months for overall sales in December, January, February, March, and April. Additionally, we boasted 2.8 times the number of new client signings in 2017.
We saw an increase in proposals out with a current average weekly output of 7.6 per week. We also increased cold calls from nearly zero to almost 28 cold contacts per week.
Our weekly sales appointments jumped from an average of four to over 8.2 meetings per week. As well, we increased the pipeline value of potential sales by over $800,000 annually. There were also many soft benefits of our Evolve Closing Technique, one of them being that tracking sales and personal performance motivated our employees to become competitive! We framed the mindset for the prospect and sales guys alike, which built confidence within our team.
Seeing our positive results motivated us to believe that we could compete with anyone in the market, and gave us the ambition to now break into an international market.
The Step-By-Step Sales Training Action Guide
- We conducted broad market research and identified all their competitors.
- Evaluated their current sales process and identified the areas needing improvement.
- Compiled a list of action items for the sales training ahead.
- Created weekly baselines for calls, emails, proposals, and meetings held.
- Implemented a new sales activity tracking system and reviewed weekly.
- Developed new sales questions that helped better understand their market’s needs.
- Re-vamped proposals to make them more effective, and focused more on differentiators in the company, product, and service.
- Reinvented their sales script, which improved their cold-calling approach.
- Broke the market into manageable sections, identifying and labeling small accounts, good accounts, and dream accounts. We then we started to map activities to each segment.
- Created a series of value-added services, like seminars, manufacturer tours, production line reviews, and social events.
The Results: A Breakdown of the Outcomes
- More quality meetings, more referrals, and a better closing rate.
- Representatives booked more appointments
- Record high months for overall sales in December, January, February, March, and April.
- An increase in proposals out with weekly output of 7.6 per week.
- An increase in cold calls from nearly zero to almost 28 cold contacts per week.
