Client

The client is one of the largest sales brokers for nationally branded food and agricultural items. This firm employs a core sales team with regional offices located throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Challenge

The client recognized the need to build an infrastructure to support its growth; they employed the services of Advanced Management Services, Inc. (AMS) to accomplish their goals. During the partnership with AMS this organization was able to create corporate process to support daily sales activity and stabilize their performance. Additionally, the company needed to assess and develop the core sales team to align with a “solutions selling” environment.

Solution

AMS created a baseline assessment to gather data about the organization’s operations and sales support capacity. This assessment tool was used in various ways and with different levels of the organization to define gaps associated with the people, process, and technology that was driving the organization. The results of the assessment were stratified to create a report for management that illustrated the gaps in performance. Additionally, AMS gathered data from like-size firms, industry standards, and expectations from the company’s core manufacturers. This external data set was then synthesized with the internal goals to create a multi-dimensional view of the organization’s core ability to perform against best practice. Once AMS was able to define the gaps in the organization’s key operating standards, the team set out to create new processes that would help them accomplish heightened proficiency. Once the business model was complete, AMS developed a change strategy that included internal communication documents to ease the minds of the sales force, created competency maps for internal and external training, and designed a baseline technology road map to help the company select the right vendor to install a CRM program. The training was customized around the AMS Bridge Selling methodology and was fully integrated with the company’s strategic goals. AMS extended their engagement to assist with the implementation of the new business model via a shared workforce team model. This allowed the company to benefit from consultation and direction while guiding most of the work internally.

The AMS team designed a dynamic solution for the sales and service infrastructure by implementing a comprehensive approach:

• Baseline Assessment: They developed an assessment tool to collect data on the organization’s operations and sales support capacity. This tool helped identify gaps in people, processes, and technology that were crucial for the organization’s functioning.
• Performance Gaps: The collected data was analyzed to create a stratified report for management, highlighting the performance gaps. This allowed for a clear understanding of areas needing improvement.
• External Benchmarking: AMS compared the organization’s data with that from similar-sized firms, industry standards, and expectations from core manufacturers. This benchmarking provided a multi-dimensional view of the organization’s performance against best practices.
• Process Improvement: With the gaps identified, AMS designed new processes to enhance proficiency and align with the organization’s strategic goals. This included developing a change strategy, creating competency maps for training, and a technology roadmap for CRM implementation.

Benefits

This organization recognized a remarkable 40% growth rate and an increase in market share of over 15%. The firm was also awarded two-multimillion-dollar representation accounts based on their ability to manage the infrastructure required for such high-profile brands. The organization prospered and grew to a point it was recognized by larger companies that eventually resulted in a sale of the company allowing ownership and staff to benefit from stock options and rewards that were always part of the strategic plan. The result was a significant improvement in the organization’s growth rate and market share, demonstrating the effectiveness of AMS’s dynamic solution.