“Value based selling became so close to my heart, that when I sold my home, I rewrote my broker’s advertisement to reflect value also”.
The CEO’s question to us
How to regain our market position in the top segment, where we can leverage our specialised capabilities. Regain in this way our market share and improve the results of the company.
Background
This European headquartered, global shipping company had many years of track record in shipping large and complex cargo. They served exclusively the premium segment of the market with their highly specialised vehicles. But as time went by, other transportation companies started to focus on the higher segment of the market and pitched for such cargo at a lower price. The company found itself competing in a commoditising market, with many other players, often on price.
The challenge as we saw it
- Re-design the entire commercial (and operational) process, and move from a product to value focus: put ‘value for clients’ at the centre of the offering, making the value tangible for clients.
- Ensure the delivery of the value promised, across divisions, departments and hierarchy.
- Transform the ways of working and the key processes, build (new) capabilities and tweak the culture to focus on the must-win target cargo, and deliver projects successfully and efficiently.
What we did
- We inspired the key people during a session in their yearly commercial meeting, to move out of the commodity trap, and made them see that there is way to break out of the current downwards spiral of commoditisation.
- We helped the commercial department look at their activities from a different “paradigm”: from product to customer value.
- Through customer interviews and feedback, internal discussions and workshops, and the in-depth analysis of the many bids, we helped realising that the real pain for clients is in the role the transportation plays in the overall project (planning, cost and reliability) for the client.
- We translated this into a sharpened positioning, go-to-market and bid approach.
- We realised this in a very practical approach: sitting in the bid processes, supporting sales managers in their daily activities and coaching management on a different way of working.
What the client got out of it
- A re-invigorated commercial approach, that contributed concretely to winning several large bids.
- A consistent go-to-market approach translated into internal processes to deliver on it.
- A breakthrough on recurring themes as commercial sharpness and collaboration.
- A language and approach to deal with commercial and operational issues.
- A higher confidence in the future outlook of the company and its unique offering.