Sales Training Success: CustomerCentric Selling® Helps Graebel Relocation Achieve Record Sales Performance
Key Player
COO
Goal and Current Situation
Graebel, a worldwide full-service relocation and moving company, faced many sales challenges throughout 2009. During the economic down-turn too often sellers were in react mode spending great deal of time responding to blind RFP’s and/or working on opportunities with buyer requirements already wired by competitors that got in first. Sellers were inconsistent about how to initiate opportunities at executive levels. The focus was on selling offerings at lower manager levels rather than understanding and discussing business outcomes executives wanted to achieve. A high percentage of opportunities in the pipeline were unqualified, because sellers were more concerned with quantity rather than quality and made qualify/disqualify decisions independently. As a result, the overall win rate was 12% although 8.7 out 10 RFPs reached best and final presentation stages. They needed to improve sales performance and implement a sales process to help guide sellers through the sell cycle.
Capabilities Needed
During the fourth quarter of 2009, the Graebel Companies’ chief operating officer, Tim Callahan, held an onsite CustomerCentric Selling® Workshop for their sales and sales management team. As part of learning the CCS® process the most significant takeaways were:
- When asked to respond to RFP’s when they had not spoken with members of the buying committee Graebel sellers would request access to Key Players in exchange for the time that would have to be spent in creating a response to the proposal.
- When making calls as “Column B” (requirements already established) sellers now had a structured way to change the requirements and to gain access to Key Players.
- Sellers would target executive titles by leading with business issues, when prospecting for new opportunities.
- Proactive prospecting calls at high executive levels would allow salespeople to participate in developing buyer requirements by asking a series of questions.
- After making calls, sellers would document answers to standard debriefing questions in buyer correspondence that their managers review to assess and grade progress against standard milestones.
- Salespeople are evaluated on 5 different skill sets based upon pipeline data allowing manager coaching to be more effective in developing their staff.
“We are very pleased with the dramatic improvement in our business development performance through using the CustomerCentric Selling® (CCS™) methodology. The proof is in the many impressive results that we have witnessed and continue to see since implementing CCS™ in our organization.”
–Tim Callahan,
COO,
Graebel
CustomerCentric Selling® provided Graebel with the capabilities they needed to achieve their goals. Over the last 12 months, Graebel has added 330% more new corporate customers year over year. Their win rate on opportunities has doubled to 24% while the qualified pipeline has grown by 300%. The company has produced 24% year over year growth in its global full-service relocation business and 11% overall growth in a challenging economic environment.
Results:
- Doubled win rate to 24%
- Qualified pipeline growth by 300%
- Understanding of how to access key players and target executive titles, when prospecting at higher levels
- Optimized sales performance through a single sales process that provides a means through which salespeople can be evaluated and monitored by management
- 330% growth in new corporate customers over the prior year
- 24% growth in sales year over year and 11% overall growth
Customer Close-up
Because Graebel is a wholly owned private company, no other company in its industry can mirror its unique service delivery model. Graebel manages every service aspect of relocation from door-to-door worldwide. The Graebel fully integrated services are possible, because it owns a third-party relocation and move management companies, van line, forwarding operation, nationwide U.S. moving and storage centers, as well as a commercial workplace services division. This unprecedented integration means clients deal with a single source for all global employee and workplace needs.
Graebel delivers many more advantages, including:
- Time efficiency and cost-savings for clients resulting from its a one-of-a-kind in the industry service structure devoid of redundancies and inefficiencies
- Ability to set and measure benchmarks for high quality performance and holds every employee, contractor and supplier accountable
- Unparalleled, individualized service that customers state they will use again
- 24/7 Web-based real-time business reporting and tools for corporate clients and their relocating employees
- Unbiased selection, management and measurement of its workforce and suppliers worldwide
For more information, visit https://www.graebel.com/
All trademarks and rights are owned by the respective companies.
About CustomerCentric Selling®
CustomerCentric Selling® (CCS®) is a proven methodology for predictably improving revenue growth and sales performance. Founded in 2002, CCS® helps clients worldwide to implement repeatable, auditable and scalable sales processes that, when combined with Sales Ready Messaging®, guides marketing and sales to have meaningful conversations with customers and prospects. This results in winning high-value deals, retaining and growing client relationships and improving the predictability and accuracy of sales forecasts.
CustomerCentric Selling® is regularly named to the Top Sales Training Companies list. Clients such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Business Objects, Rockwell Automation, EMC and Raytheon have deployed CCS® worldwide. For more information, visit www.customercentric.com or call Jill Perez at +1.800.993.1228, ext 706.