Case studies

MSM - Software specialists step into selling.

Background
MSM Software Ltd provides software design, development and support to its clients. The company's growth plans meant it was looking at new ways to generate the leads and win the business needed to meet its new targets. Key to achieving this was to get the operations team to make use of their operational relationships with clients to gently but effectively raise their awareness of other services and additional work MSM could provide in order to win more work and generate referrals.

Objectives
This sales coaching and training programme needed to enable 9 members of the operations & technical teams to effectively identify opportunities for up-selling and selling follow-on services by giving them the confidence and skills to have broader conversations with their clients about their wider needs and how MSM could help them.

Actions
Ann combined a workshop for the group of 9 with one to one coaching before and afterwards. The group became much more aware of MSM's up-selling and follow-on opportunities, learnt how to recognise when and where these could be of value to their customer and the conversational style questions they could ask to find out more. They recognised that selling was just an extension of the problem solving and advising they already did in their operational roles.

Results
These are probably best summed up by quotes from the participants themselves:

"We won the new order it because we showed we understood their needs and could meet them"

"I saw selling before as a 'big bang' that I couldn't relate to. I now see it as an ongoing, relationship-building process I am comfortable with"

"I have asked more open questions and in future think this will identify more opportunities"

"I am working on not leading them down my path anymore"

"I have started asking questions and offering suggestions. I now want to extend my reach to beyond what we already do and probe beyond that"

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