Case Study - A recent experience as an Interim Sales Director

Since early April I have been working with Company X…as an Interim Sales Director. This was a new service offering to my business and has been greatly received. 

This role is still ongoing and has entailed 2 days a week of my time over a 6-month period. To date I have fulfilled 5 months of the project and here are some key highlights from this alternative working experience.

Why was there a need for an Interim Sales Director? The Managing Director was concerned that his team of 9 telesales executives (all working from home) needed help and direction during lockdown. The Managing Director had his own time constraints and challenges and decided to employ external assistance.

Examination of the Sales Process – I looked at 3 key areas of the sales process:

1.  A review of the data, how it was presented and used

2.  Setting of targets, incentives, commissions, and bonuses

3.  Training needs analysis – this identified the need for sales training which was essentially the “launch” task

Sales Training headlines

·       “how to get around the gatekeeper”

·       “how to close a sale”

·       follow up strategies, tips, and techniques

·       alternative sales strategies and opportunities

·       coaching all the above to embed sales delivery as a cultural fit to the organisational needs

·       moulding the sales staff… specifically shaping their emotional intelligence to further sales opportunities, enable them to deal with setbacks and engage with the customer 

Managing Director Involvement – CRITICAL. Important to arrange a weekly review with the Managing Director to give and receive progress feedback, ensuring that cultural alignment with the business needs are strictly adhered to.

Obstacles encountered – this service was delivered during lockdown when all sales staff were working from home. This created a need for focus, better discipline, adherence to process and accountability from each sales executive. These were identified by the Managing Director as the primary areas of concern in the initial brief and an area which I paid a great deal of attention to from a procedural perspective.

Outcomes – in the past 5 months Company X has reported the following:

·       Sales conversions increased by 16%

·       …of which 11% resulted from upselling (previously upsell accounted for 3% of sales)

·       During the same period, there has been a retention of 93% of existing clients (previously this was 81%) and represents a significant area of improvement

Conclusions – the above project has been both rewarding, beneficial and endearing for both parties.

For Company X benefits are clear to see as they have seen a rise in revenue of 16% during this period which reflects enhanced seasonal growth. Simultaneously enhanced development of relationships with existing clients has been central to this success, which was an additional and bonus feature of the project.

From my point of view – identifying a solid sales process, forging strong relations with the Managing Director, providing sales training, and reviewing individual’s emotional intelligence needs have truly augmented the project experience.

I am now seeking similar challenges with other businesses in need of a review of their sales function whose Managing Directors’ or business owners are time challenged and in need of further help and clearer direction.

If this is something you are seeking please contact Gary Morgan on 020 8337 5937 or send a DM hear on LinkedIN.