“The financial benefits of SBR Consulting’s programme were very clear to us. We were selecting our opportunities better. We were managing our pipeline more efficiently. Our conversion rates had clearly improved and overall the cost of sales were reducing. We were winning more for less.”
– Matt Bythell, Head of Marketing
ARUP IS A GLOBAL ENGINEERING FIRM OF DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS, PLANNERS AND BUSINESS CONSULTANTS PROVIDING A DIVERSE RANGE OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TO CLIENTS AROUND THE WORLD.
Like many firms in the engineering and technical arena, the culture is based very much around scope and compliance. Arup are involved in most major construction projects around the world from New York Metro, Sydney Harbour Opera House to Beijing Olympics. With increasing competition, and the current cost cutting climate, it has become essential to build on the relationships the technical experts have by winning further business and proving the true value expected.
WHAT DID THE CLIENT WANT TO ACHIEVE?
Many of Arup’s professionals still see the word “sales” in a negative light, aligning it with the wrong end of the sales profession, and so are potentially not as proactive as they could be. This ultimately leaves the business development to just a few individuals.
WHAT ISSUES WERE THEY FACING?
The issue therefore, has been to find a way to harness the strong reputation Arup has, alongside the relationships that are constantly being built and ensure continued growth in winning the right business. This can be achieved by making business development and relationship management a core part of each person’s role.
THE RESULTS
There are countless examples of projects from £20,000 to £500,000+ that have been won by Arup consultants at different grades, all based on a much more proactive mindset and skill level at consultative selling. There is now a cross company culture around the importance of sales and Arup consultants have developed a conscious competency around sales methodology and skills.
Arup now have sales pipelines that are being maintained, and forecasting is therefore much more accurate within the individual practices.
Overall there has been a large increase in sales activity across all consulting grades.
SBR’S APPROACH
The strategy has been to introduce a company-wide structured approach to business development. Sales training is an essential part of this process. SBR Consulting were chosen as the preferred provider for sales training for three main reasons:
The SBR model of Consult, Create and Embed was carried out and 2 programmes have been created: High Performance Sales Habits Programmes for Consultants & a Customer Relationship Management programme with leaders across the sectors.
