Mapping the technical expert’s knowledge to a customer-centric selling process
2 min read
The dilemma Reply was having
Reply’s enterprise architecture is a technical and complex sale. The buyers are knowledgeable in the technical arena, meaning the best person to sell to them is the technical expert, as opposed to a more junior or even skilled salesperson. They didn’t know if they should hire more experienced salespeople or train their senior technical managers to become more proactive in business development.
By choosing the second option the issue goes beyond just developing sales skills and confidence, it also includes cultivating an effective use of their time. Sales training had been provided in the past but not been bought into by the sales team or senior leadership. They needed a new sales process that worked for their business, understand the buyer and utilise the technical expert’s great strength in the sales cycle.
The return on investment
After working with SBR, there has been a considerable mind shift in the technical team around their responsibility for business development and a 300% increase in meetings booked. The team had more confidence in their meetings using SBR’s Q.U.I.S. methodology and an additional £3million was added to the pipeline within the first 3 weeks of the programme.
+300%
increase in meetings booked
£3million
of pipeline added
SBR’s strategy to execution
It was essential that SBR truly understood the whole picture at Reply: the environment they were working in and what needed to be improved. The programme involved 7 key stakeholders, all of who are client-facing technical experts. SBR spent time onsite meeting and shadowing each person, researching the current processes. A bespoke programme was then created to support their buying process, mapped to their customer journey, and benchmarking the success of the landmark deals.
“The level of skill and experience shown by SBR has contributed to the success of this programme. Their commitment to helping us achieve our goals came through very strongly.
They adapted to the challenging environment that the Reply technology team had. SBR made them understand how to step outside their comfort zone. This course has cancelled the apathy felt by the team at the beginning and has given everyone a fresh perspective. Roll on the next sessions!”
Lucia Andreucetti Commercial Manager
About Reply
Reply designs and implements innovative solutions in the areas of digital services, technology and consulting. They have a diverse global client list from the Ministry of Defence to Marks & Spencer.
