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Wow - 25 years young today. On April 1, 1996, after many years in the printing industry, I fleshed out an idea to create a consulting business where I would travel the world providing sales and service development programs for a range of fascinating companies.
We began with a single client to today having a global network collaborating with world-class clients such as Liebherr, Multivac, Muller Martini, Buhler, BOBST, and MAN.
It has been a fantastic journey and one that I can truly say, even with the COVID-19 nightmare, has been a pleasure.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary let me share with you some observations.
In covering many industries across the globe and working with many cultures, it has been extremely interesting seeing the differences between how world-class companies approach the business of machine building, machine sales, machine service and services marketing. The difference between Best in Class and Average in Class is extraordinary - the companies that develop their people and get the processes right are the Best in Class by far.
The greatest changes in global markets have been trending towards doing “more with much less” and because of the rise of technological automation, a profound loss of time. Twenty-five years ago, a long lunch with customers was common. Spending social time with clients was almost mandatory. But in the last five years I haven’t come across one client who has time. No person that we engage with has only one job. Industries have automated and multi-tasked themselves to an extreme level.
25 years ago, when I started the business, the internet was just becoming a thing. Pagers were dominant, while cell phones in everyone’s hand were just beginning to appear. My first regular communication tool was a fax machine. Today we are WhatsApp messaging, WeChat chatting and Zoom meeting. We have shrunk, shortened, and summarised our communication to the absolute minimum. Surely negotiating a program or deal with emojis isn’t far off.
The way we cultivate client relationships has also changed. The days of cold calling a client without an appointment are most certainly long gone. Even the days of calling by phone without a pre-scheduled appointment are gone. The opportunity for face-to-face meetings in our post-COVID world are also becoming scarce.
On the sales side, Pre-COVID, the way we communicate had already evolved with technology (texts instead of phone calls is now normal). Post- COVID has produced another dramatic disruption. Virtual meetings, virtual exhibitions, virtual demonstrations and so on. We will see the sales-process and sales activities in general forever altered as a result of COVID19.
To this day, I am still surprised when dealing with new clients that Customer Relationship Management (CRM), data driven sales relationships and interaction is still only coming. Applying tools like Salesforce in 2021 in business is a must, not a want to.
One thing that has not changed in our sales development programs in the last 25 years is our push for same three principles:
Change everything. As a salesperson don’t ever be 100% satisfied. Always challenge yourself, challenge your company, challenge your customer. Challenge the way you communicate, negotiate and conduct business.
Business first, technology second. For many of our highly technically driven clients this is a wild concept. What are the business challenges of the customer? How does our solution manage or reduce their business pain? How can we consolidate an endless list of features and benefits to manage a customer’s business issues?
Action not words. This is one of our great passions. Today more than ever, when no one has time, how can you prove your point? How do you get your solution through the clutter of the customer’s day? Always assume the customer is not listening. What can you do to dynamically get an idea or message across in today’s very noisy world?
On the service side, 25 years ago, having a structured and focussed services marketing strategy was not even a thought. The concept of focussing on marketing services was not in front of mind for many businesses. Today services marketing, the idea of maximising revenues from an installed base, is a management priority for most businesses. There is a huge gap between those companies that have focused on services marketing and those that have only just started the journey.
For me services marketing is about getting everything right, starting with:
Does the business have the right service products?
Does the entire organisation have an “all in” thinking about services marketing?
Is the pricing right?
Is the promotion appropriate?
And, where most services marketing succeeds of fails – Are the processes in place correct?
Looking back at the various clients we have developed programs with over the last 25 years, I have to say it has been a pleasure to work with some incredible people. Many have great vision and a lot of passion (my favourite aspect of any person we deal with). By far the best managers that we have worked with are those whose organizations have an inclusive culture. We have seen most of our clients work hard to pull down the silos between their different operations. This is not easy to do, but the most successful clients we see are those that have worked hard on sales and service cooperation.
Looking ahead, I’m not sure that I have another 25 years in the tank. But I certainly have a lot of energy, loads of ideas and importantly, great passion to travel the world again to work with new industries and new clients, alongside our long-established clients, to help them build their service and sales skills in their global operations.
So, excuse me for a moment while I open a bottle of Dom Perignon with my partner Liana and celebrate the first 25 years of this fantastic journey.
Good selling and good services marketing.
Tony Kenney
CEO
Catalyst Global
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