We work with an agricultural services company servicing growers of commodities such as wheat and canola with offices in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.
When we commenced with the business, there was a desire to rapidly reverse the declining revenue performance of the business in preparation for the 22/23 harvest season.
As is the case with all new engagements, Structured Sales commenced by performing a time management audit with the sales team, to determine how the team was spending its effort. This enabled Structured Sales to analyse and learn about the team prior to making any recommendations for change.
During our continuing engagement, we have worked with the business to implement:
- effective and transparent time management strategies, auditable on demand;
- A recurring One-On-One meeting schedule for each team members to ensure individuals were upskilled and coached at their own pace;
- A clear definition of a new business and account management client in order to emphasise the focus on new business (with time management strategies to ensure this was executed);
- A locked-down grower portfolio management scheme for each sales team members, with clearly defined client responsibilities;
- An incentive scheme for the team to encourage the onboarding of new business along with efforts to reward the stabilisation and revenues of existing accounts;
- A sales meeting agenda format which brough focus to what was important for the business, along with standardised weekly reporting templates to ensure transparently consistent reporting on the activities of portfolio holders;
- Assistance with the embedment of the weekly reporting templates into existing company software infrastructure;
- A pre planning template for the appropriate preparation of major account management and new business external meetings, including coaching on client approaches including professional communications strategies;
- The restructure of the team based on the skills and natural personalities of team members, including the recruitment of three additional senior sales resources with another on the way;
- The upskilling of an existing member of staff to a Western Australian sales management position; and
- The handover of all implemented management components of the changes to the new National Sales Manager.
Outcomes of this engagement include:
- The stabilisation of existing revenues with clearly defined roles and responsibilities via portfolio management and new business benchmarking;
- A year-on-year lift in revenue performance of the business by 50% within the first six months of engagement;
- A stabilised team, following a period of high staff turnover across Australia;
- Mechanisms by which the future growth of the business is assured through statistical benchmarking and performance reporting;
- A growing team in Victoria and the re-establishment of a South Australian presence, pushing towards the business becoming a national leader in quality revenue growth outcomes for Australian farmers.
