The company employs 27,000 people in 26 countries.
Syngroup was approached by the Italian arm of the business where our client had concerns about the performance of its sales organisation. Sales had been stagnating for some time and our client felt that the sales process was outdated and ineffective. In addition the sales organisation structure was no longer fit for purpose.

• Increase turnover through better interaction with the existing sales network
• Replace passive sales behaviour with proactive engagement
• Equip the sales team with the tools and methods to achieve higher margin on sales
• Introduce order and discipline to the sales management process

Our approach targeted 3 separate areas:

1. The initial task involved a redesign of the sales management process. It was crucial to keep the sales team engaged and open to change, therefore a ‘workshop’ approach was adopted. This allowed sales representatives to share challenges they were experiencing on a daily basis. Taking their specific challenges into consideration and combining them with ‘best-practices’ that we knew were tried and tested, enabled us to develop a process that met all the requirements.
   In addition, ‘leading’ KPIs were introduced to take control of ‘inputs’ versus focussing exclusively on output. For example, the business started to measure the number of meetings that sales were attending rather than focussing purely on sales achieved.
   Weekly sales performance calls were also added to the process. These involved area managers and the executive committee.
2. We recognised that changing the mindset of the sales team would be challenging and to increase certainty of success, we engaged a coach /facilitator who specialised in this type of challenge. Through this process alignment and trust were both strengthened. The coach also focussed on developing important soft skills to improve interaction. The aim was to transition sales from ‘Product push’ to ‘Solution pull’
3. As the new process came into use, we accompanied sales staff to client meetings. In advance of each meeting , we spent time with individuals, ensuring they were well prepared, that they had the most up to date sale collateral with them and were familiar with any new products. In addition, we helped them to think about their objectives for the meeting and what would be a good outcome.

• Process design
• Coaching
• Facilitation