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Reference Stories
Small Midwest Manufacturer of Tables, Chairs and Risers
High-Impact Telephone Sales
Consulting
Marketing
Affected business description:
The client is a small Midwest manufacturer of tables, chairs and risers serving convention centers, churches, VFW’s and similar establishments. The business had a long history dating back to the 19th century.
Traditionally, the client had marketed their products via catalogs and a small, direct sales force.
Business problem or business opportunity:
As the business market changed, catalogs became too expensive and did not produce the revenue the business needed. The company began to mail infrequently and did not maintain customer records in a format which facilitated easy customer management.
Why did this problem happen?
Like many established firms, the client did not alter their marketing and sales philosophy as the needs of their buyers’ changed. Individual buyers began shifting more often and institutional memory was lost during these shifts.
The cost of field sales grew every year, and many of the important buyers joined buying groups or were consolidated into entities which deployed centralized purchasing.
Product reliability was questioned as additional choices on materials became readily available, further complicating the sales process.
What did the client want?
The client wanted a sales mechanism that was less costly than field sales but more responsive than cataloging.
What did Business Performance Group’s product provide?
Business Performance Group suggested the organization consider deploying a telephone sales initiative.
Telephone selling offered the following advantages:
- Cost
- A typical catalog cost $ 1.35 in the mail;
- A conversation with a decision maker costs $ 17.00 on the telephone;
- A field sales call could exceed $ 350.00.
- Breadth
- A typical field sales representative would see 3 to 5 customers or prospects per day;
- A telephone salesperson could talk to 12 to 15 decision makers per day.
- Organization
- The business had office space for telephone salespeople;
- Labor was readily available.With the help of Business Performance Group’s recruiting services, the organization placed three salespeople on the telephone. They were housed at Business Performance Group for the first 60 days so that training and coaching could be provided.
End result:
By the end of the fourth month, the organization had a one-month record in sales. By the sixth month, the organization began adding additional personnel to its production facility.