The role of the sales leader at a Steelcase Dealership has never been more critical and complex than it is right now.
The traditional product sales approach that has worked for the past thirty years in the contract furniture industry is yielding smaller margins than ever.
Corporate Real Estate firms, PM firms, and A&D firms are focused on owning strategic real estate and space conversations and working to minimize the value creation opportunity for all downstream businesses, including furniture manufacturers and dealers.
Steelcase is increasing the number of categories and product offerings in an effort to own and be able to deliver on the “space matters” value proposition – which adds detail-complexity to specification and order entry and dynamic-complexity to the sales process.
There are more and more specialized roles required to sell, specify, order, manage, and install the whole solution offer. The development of sales people to effectively delegate, leverage company assets, and lead a coordinated team effort is a critical role shift that requires vision and performance coaching.
In order to move out of the commoditized furniture market, space needs to matter, and the dealer needs to be the one to make it matter. The majority of Steelcase dealers are executing a 30-year-old product-based sales model and relying on A&D partners to make the case that space matters. This approach yields a 20 – 35%-win rate at increasingly smaller margins.
Implementing a solution-based sales framework and creating a high-performing sales team to execute it is a complex organizational development challenge.
Meeting this challenge takes a leader who has the mindset, skill set, tools and discipline to:
Call between the instructor and dealer principal to align on Sales Leader Performance Expectations and current sales system effectiveness
Call between the instructor and the sales leader participant to discuss program objectives and current job role challenges
Introduction and Assessment
Critical Role Outcomes Exercise
Use of Time Exercise – Building the Case for Sales Management
Organizational Development 101 – levers that a leader needs to pull to bring about changes
The business of the sales organization – The relationship between revenue, margin, and compensation
The Necessity of the Right Sales Process and tools for complex, team-based solutions sales vs transactional sales
Best practices in CRM adoption and use
Sales Management Cadence: Annual, Quarterly, Monthly, Semimonthly responsibilities of a sales leader
Tools and Skills Needed for Each Responsibility
Management 201 – Setting Expectations, Coaching, Providing Feedback, Recognition, and Rewards
Prioritizing and Managing Your Time
Building the Case for Change
Personal Vision and Quarterly Action Plan – Commitments and Accountability Partnerships
Monthly 90-minute group calls for participants to discuss challenges and share best practices in using the tools provided in training
Monthly 30-minute individual calls between the consultant and each participant to provide 1:1 coaching support to remove roadblocks and encourage implementation
(C) 2016 Huron Associates