Secrets of Selling to Procurement
The Challenge
The B2B sales team at Canon were facing an increasing trend of being referrred to procurement either during, or after, the sales process.
Nicola Johnson, People Development Managerfor Canon highlighted that their sales teams were dealing increasingly with Procurement, both with customers and potential customers.
They wanted strategies on how to deal with them more effectively, particularly given many Procurement professionals have been formally trained in Negotiation.
The Solution
8 training modules, rolled out over a 6 week period. These were delivered across 3 Face-to-Face days, supplemented with further virtual sessions.
The 8 modules were the ‘go-to’ learning events, separated by 1-2 weeks to give the sales team a chance to bring the learning to life back to work. The programme built the team’s knowledge and skills of how procurement works and included a session joined by a real Procurement Director.
Procurement Director Interview
The live interview session had the objective to ask an experienced Procurement Director as many tough questions as possible, to gain valuable insight into how to sell, negotiate and build relationships with Procurement. These built towards the final ‘Work Based Simulation’ session where they were given a scenario created specifically for them.
Manager Learning
There were also 3 Manager sessions, to ensure the right level of coaching support throughout the journey. A Coaching Kit Bag was created especially for the Managers to help them embed the learning.
Blended Learning
In between sessions there were Blended Learning resources such as bespoke trainer Video Boosts, 60-90 minute Coaching Video Calls, Podcasts and Quick Win assignments. This easy to absorb, ‘little and often’ learning pathway has been Natural Training’s ‘secret sauce’ since 2005!
The Result
The team attending the course were mostly senior Key Account Managers with years of experience. They quickly identified and associated with the trainer’s experience making the course content credible,’hitting home’ and resonating well.
The team had renewed knowledge, confidence and energy about dealing with Procurement departments.
It demystified the world of procurement and the team immediately started using the tools to change their relationship with existing clients and open up new ones with prospective customers.
It gives methodology and insights on how to approach and win people from procurement & different stakeholders to ultimately influence the tender.
We mapped out a prospect into a BITE model and successfully secured an additional £50k revenue onto the deal.
Manageable, frequent interactive sessions, delivered and facilitated by an enthusiastic, experienced sales professional
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