Sales Blueprint were engaged pre-deal to identify the potential room for improvement in our sales operation. Although they agreed that we were doing well on the installation side of our business they did make some sensible and practicable recommendations for our service sales function, which I asked them to help implement post investment. This work involved helping us better frame our propositions in this area and to make the most of them through increased sales skills and a redesigned sales process. The results have been very impressive. Not only did the sales team exceed its targets that year but it has gone from strength to strength since, continuing to over perform and contributing significantly to the increase in revenues from £13.5m to over £16m. This in turn led to increased shareholder value that we have just crystallised through a very successful trade sale. I would recommend anyone looking to improve their overall sales approach and, particularly its impact on the top line to speak to them today.
Colin McElhone, Managing Director, Omega Red Group
Following investment from LDC, I was recruited as Interim Sales Director of 1st The Exchange to revitalise sales, to grow the business and to develop their sales and account management people and processes. Sales Blueprint were retained to lead the Transformation Programme as they had a proven track record with the new investors. I have been in new business Sales and Account Management for 20+ years and was extremely pleased with the calibre of Sales Blueprint people and the easy to use, quick to grasp tools and super pragmatic approach. Key issues were identified very quickly eg. the volume of new appointments secured fell well short of our target meaning that we had no chance of hitting the monthly sales revenue even if we hit our target conversion rate; the average order value from our converted appointments fell well short of our monthly revenues target as we were focussing on the wrong segment of our customer base. Working closely together, we quickly assessed skills and made decisions on the sales team competencies which we then worked through in the Performance, Training & Development phase of the Programme. Sales Management now has a much better grasp of the key measures that underpin success and have the tools necessary to ensure focus is in the right place at all times.
Jan Iceton, interim Sales Director, 1st The Exchange Software
Having been introduced to Sales Blueprint by our investors ECI, and having run a selection process in which a number of potential sales coaching providers were considered, we engaged them to improve the overall effectiveness of our sales force whilst at the same time re-focussing our efforts into new parts of our market and introducing more rigour to both our sales approach and its management.
Overall I have to say that I am delighted with the results so far and expect to continue to reap the rewards for many months to come. We have doubled the level of activity of our sales people, and our longer serving members of the team have gained a new enthusiasm.
Their approach was to properly understand the issues we faced in relation to what we were trying to achieve before making a series of recommendations that fitted perfectly with the rest of the business improvements we were making. The really key factor in our selection of Sales Blueprint was their focus on sales and the sales process, and their willingness to tell it how it is at all levels. There are so few experts in sales – an area often misconstrued with marketing and other activities. Our issues were in the core sales function, and in Sales Blueprint we found true expertise and wise advice on how to improve it- essential support for a busy management team with far too many things to focus on at once. Sales Blueprint has imparted a lasting, practical sales process and system to our business. It is a robust system that gives directors and investors confidence that our sales strategy and activity is the right one, and it produces the essential reference documents that demonstrate the value of a sales operation that is truly in control and whose structure and actions are based on considered judgement, a key matter giving comfort and adding value in the due diligence for any future sale of the business.
We now have the correct tools and processes to maximise our most significant accounts (and have already won considerable additional business as a result) whilst being able to ensure the overall level of consistent sales activity necessary to drive our required growth. Their inspirational style has engendered genuine buy-in from the whole sales team, which coupled with the vastly improvement sales management approach leads me to believe that we have created the platform to build an even more successful future for Taylor moving forward.
I would recommend them to anyone looking to achieve improved sales results in the near future.
Dr. David Gillett, Sales & Marketing Director, Taylor Ltd
We were introduced to Sales Blueprint via our investors ECI Partners and from the first meeting they were keen to understand what we at EDM were trying to achieve sales-wise. Following a piece of targeted and very insightful diagnostic work they recommended and subsequently implemented a programme of sales improvements. This was specifically designed to address our two key sales issues; increasing the levels of the right types of sales activity to build a solid pipeline and improving our ability to sell the real breadth and depth of the EDM offering more effectively.
The feedback from the sales team and more importantly, the results have been impressive. Overall sales activity is up, we are now seeking out and winning larger pieces of business using the tools and processes they helped us develop and sales are now on budget having been someway behind prior to Sales Blueprint's input. We have since discussed with them how we raise our game still further over the coming year, now that the base line is set and expect to ensure that any new recruits enjoy the benefits of their input once onboard.
I would recommend any business looking to improve their sales position and really make the most of the available opportunities to speak to Sales Blueprint today. I just wish we'd met them earlier!
Peter Smith, Chief Executive, The EDM Group
As a small technology company selling to the global automotive industry, largely through reseller indirect sales channels we have altered our sales approach following Sales Blueprint's input. Our issue in selling into this difficult market has always been turning the initial excitement from a demonstration into real revenue. I am pleased to report, however, that we now have a much better grasp on what our products really deliver for prospects and customers and, therefore how to position and ultimately sell them far more effectively. We also understand far better, the importance of selling much more widely within our target accounts. As a result, we are working with our resellers using the tools Sales Blueprint helped us develop to greatly improve our forecasting process and to enable them to close the exciting prospects we have always had in our pipeline more quickly.
I would recommend any technology business facing similar challenges to contact Graeme at Sales Blueprint as early in the sales development process as possible.
Dr. David S Belford, Executive Chairman, Icona Solutions Ltd
Following a management buy-out in 2002 Mining Communications, which has been publishing the 'voice of the mining industry' since 1835, has undergone significant change in order to meet the challenges of today's publishing world. To help us make the most of the opportunities represented by these changes we engaged Sales Blueprint, via our investors to 'sharpen up' our telephone-based sales operation and help us develop the tools, disciplines and structure that we knew would be necessary for sustainable success. After close on 30 years in publishing, I have often found sales training to be lacking, particularly for advertising sales staff and I was not initially convinced that Sales Blueprint, who are not dedicated to ad sales, would be massively different.
I am pleased to say that they, who have an obvious passion for what they do - took my team and simply made them better at what they did. They unearthed their flaws and built on their strengths while bolstering the whole sales proposition. They're good at extracting the best from the individuals and a team. And they will identify those who will make it on a team and those who won't.
As a result I am pleased to say we now have the sales team in place, properly equipped and managed to enable us to build on our key revenue streams and help our worldwide customer base optimise their marketing spend. We are now looking at ways of continuing our relationship with Sales Blueprint to improve the sales operation still further"
Rob Barrowman, Managing Director, Mining Communications Ltd.
We were introduced to Sales Blueprint by our investors Lyceum Capital with the aim of reviewing our sales and marketing effort and developing our plan to grow organic, local sales revenues. After having spent a short time with the sales and operational teams they made a series of sensible, practicable recommendations about the way forward and how we should tackle it. Although some of these were more radical than we had expected we were convinced of their validity and embarked on a plan working with them and their associates to deliver the changes required. Several months into this plan we have seen a significant increase in local sales, indeed we have won a 6 figure multi-year contract already and how have the people and platform in place to continue to drive growth for the future. We plan to continue to work with them to further refine and hone our approach but overall we have found their input valuable, incisive and most of all, it delivers.
Greg Beech, Chief Executive Officer, UK Drainage Network Limited
We were introduced to Sales Blueprint by our investors August Equity at a time when needed to improve the sales structure and to refocus our efforts on the new business opportunities that we knew were out there following our MBO. They started by understanding the marketplace we operate in and our sales approach to it, before going on to make a series of very sensible, and above all practical, recommendations about how to improve the quantity of sales activity and how to ensure that the value-based selling techniques we needed were underpinned by the core Rixonway strengths. Once agreed they set about working with our sales people and their sales management to fully implement the recommendations and indeed stayed on the case through a difficult time until we were able to start to see the fruits of our labours and recruit a new Sales Director.
We are now enjoying record sales at a time when many of our competitors are struggling and continue to go from strength to strength. We always knew the opportunities were there and
Sales Blueprint helped us prepare for and access them profitably. I would certainly recommend them to other organisations facing similar challenges and looking to make the most of a growing but far from easy market."
Paul Rose, Chief Executive, Rixonway Kitchens
We were introduced to Sales Blueprint by our investors August Equity at a time when needed to improve the sales structure and to refocus our efforts on the new business opportunities that we knew were out there following our MBO. They started by understanding the marketplace we operate in and our sales approach to it, before going on to make a series of very sensible, and above all practical, recommendations about how to improve the quantity of sales activity and how to ensure that the value-based selling techniques we needed were underpinned by the core Rixonway strengths. Once agreed they set about working with our sales people and their sales management to fully implement the recommendations and indeed stayed on the case through a difficult time until we were able to start to see the fruits of our labours and recruit a new Sales Director.
We are now enjoying record sales at a time when many of our competitors are struggling and continue to go from strength to strength. We always knew the opportunities were there and
Sales Blueprint helped us prepare for and access them profitably. I would certainly recommend them to other organisations facing similar challenges and looking to make the most of a growing but far from easy market."
Jason Warde, UK Sales Director, 4Projects
Following a review of our sales operation Sales Blueprint made a series of well thought out, sensible and above all practical recommendations aimed at helping us improve the way we planned and managed sales activity, particularly for new business and also how we positioned and sold the value of Trustmarque to our customer base. These coincided with my own plans to re-engineer many of the sales operations core processes and together we developed an improvement programme over a three month period that would help us get the best possible start to meeting the significant sales challenges of our new financial year.
Following the implementation of this plan I am delighted to report that we are currently on target for the first quarter of the new year, sales and core sales activity are up, the number of new customers is higher than it has ever been and we now have a sales team bought into a new way of working with the sales tools and processes necessary to manage the activity that drives the result, rather than the result itself. We are starting to measure much more meaningful sales KPI's and can begin to take corrective action if required before any gaps in the sales activity become corresponding gaps in the revenue line.
Despite knowing where we wanted to get to, Sales Blueprint helped us map out the most effective and fastest route to get there and worked with myself and the team to ensure that we made it and that we have the ability to continue to refine the new ways of working for the future. I am therefore very confident in our ability to build on and ultimately sustain the sales improvements we have enjoyed so far.
I would recommend them to any sales organisation seeking significant change and growth from its sales operation whilst keeping it delivering today's top line in today's market.
Tim Dickens, Sales & Marketing Director, Trustmarque Solutions
As part of Hire Strategies dedication to working with the best business coaches to improve the overall quality of our customer delivery, I engaged Sales Blueprint earlier this year. The aim was to increase our overall sales pipeline and improve the size and type of deal that we were able to win from it.
After only a handful of sessions together I realised that the techniques they employ not only work, but work perhaps even more effectively than they appreciate! In our short time together we have significantly increased the value of our pipeline whilst at the same time qualifying out many prospects that no longer fit with our 'ideal opportunity'. In addition our clients tell us that they can see a real difference in our ability to get to the heart of their issues, often helping them to think about their business in much greater breadth and depth,which in turn of course means we can help them achieve their own outcomes that much more effectively.
We are now working together on the next phase of our sales development to ensure we continue to make the most of the opportunities available in the market.
Peter Gold, Managing Director, Hire Strategies Ltd
We were introduced to Sales Blueprint via our investors Aberdeen Murray Johnstone and I found their clear sales focus coupled with a flexible and non-prescriptive approach refreshing. At TMI Foods we were looking for significant growth this year and needed to ensure that our entire sales operation was performing at the level required to outperform the market. Through a combination of consulting, sales tool development, coaching and a very hands-on approach from Sales Blueprint we have seen sales recover from a slow start to the year to the stage where we now confidently expect to achieve this year's sales targets. We are focussing hard on those opportunities we expect to provide the best return, we've got a firm grip of the activity required to achieve what we need and have even got used to saying no to business that doesn't meet these needs!
I would recommend any business looking to improve their sales position and really make the most of the available opportunities to speak to Sales Blueprint today. They offer real value in terms of results delivered.
David Abbott, Managing Director, TMI Foods Ltd.
We were first introduced to Sales Blueprint back in November 2003 when we were about to embark on a new phase of planned growth for the business. As a private sector healthcare business we at Affinity face some unusual challenges in our plans for revenue growth, not the least of which is the fact that our primary customer, the NHS is also our main competitor! Sales Blueprint began by helping us understand what the outstanding staff at Affinity really did for all of our customers, not just the patients we treated. This helped us move to a more solution-focussed approach based on helping the various levels of contact within the NHS see the real value of what we could do to help them deliver against the high standards of service that the NHS now demands.
Since February when we last worked with Sales Blueprint, the number of requests for our services from the NHS has increased noticeably, with record numbers being achieved on 5 occasions!
As Affinity moves into its next phase of exciting growth I am now looking at ways in which we can continue to involve Sales Blueprint in the business and help us grow even further.
John Ward, Director, Affinity Healthcare
