Sales Training Success: CustomerCentric Selling® helps transform and improve the way Descartes sells and connects with its customers.

Business Problem
In order to respond to the needs of targeted organizations, and to differentiate itself from its competitors in ways that enhanced the Descartes capabilities, newly appointed VP of Sales for then Cube Route which later was acquired by Descartes, Bill Green entered into discussions with CustomerCentric Selling® Business Partner, Chris Kavanagh. Green recognized that it would be necessary to enhance the sales process in place and institute a sales methodology capable of providing the foundational elements necessary for expansive sales growth.

According to Green, the following challenges were identified soon after his arrival at Descartes:

• To ensure that the incumbent sales team was provided the appropriate tools required to meet their targets and attract sales professionals to the US markets underserved by the organization.
• To analyze the sales pipeline for qualified opportunities and begin to forecast revenue.
• To target vertical markets with companies significantly larger on average than the current customer base.
• To be sensitive to the cost of sales pressures and maximize the use of technical expertise available within the organization. 

The CustomerCentric Selling® Solution
Within days of the company's initial CustomerCentric Selling® sales training workshop, these results were realized:

• The pipeline was re-graded to reflect the new methodology to better recognize and manage opportunities resulting in more accurate forecasting.
• The sales team's individual talents were determined and matched to the best selling responsibility for each individual.
• The Inside and Regional Sales teams began to make use of the Refocus Meeting strategy resulting in two significant opportunities being re-engaged after lying dormant for over ninety days.
• Active opportunities were contacted in order to further qualify as Goal Shared and satisfying a metric of 25% of Active suspects moving to the next prospect milestone, which satisfied a CustomerCentric Selling® core concept of No Goal, No Prospect.
• CustomerCentric Selling® deliverables, such as SDP's for the targeted conversation list, were underway with scheduled release within two weeks.
• Commitment was won from Sales Operations to complete the configuration of Descartes' sales automation software to reflect the new Descartes sales process.

"The entire organization is behind the core concepts of CustomerCentric Selling® because it has changed the way we sell. We are now able to assist our clients and prospects in their associating business value with our capabilities."

--Bill Green, VP of Sales for Descartes (formerly Cube Route)

 

More information on Descartes can be found at www.descartes.com.

For any questions about this client, please contact Chris Kavanagh at ckavanagh@customercentric.com  

Benefits to Descartes:

• Improved client interaction based on aligning value with needs
• Single process with a common set of tools and templates to guide sales
• Revenue forecasting accuracy improved by over 30%