Business Problem
General Kinematics (GK) is a manufacturer of capital equipment for the global mining, foundry and material reclamation industries. Their customers were shifting their buying from engineering to corporate purchasing who were trying to commoditize their highly engineered, custom solutions. General Kinematics’ value was lost in transition.
Sales Challenge
GK’s sales team consists of highly regarded engineers but whose sales skills depended on a very technical sales approach. Naturally they developed customer relationships with engineers and focused on machine operation and engineering superiority. They were unfamiliar with having a conversation with upper management.
Solution
GK wanted to implement a defined and repeatable process that enabled the sales team to be comfortable and credible in an executive meeting. Pretium developed a customized edition of their value assessment methodology. The training focused on a new approach to shaping the customer’s opportunity and how to translate their product superiority into financial gains for the customer.
Results
The most immediate improvement was the ability to conduct the critical First Meeting with a customer executive: define the opportunity, timeframe, and goals upfront with all the decision makers. We now are able to work with the customer to develop a business case that meets customer’s need for technical and financial performance. Now, our final bids offer a clearly defined payback backed by key assumptions and that is based on sound business principals.