Case Studies

Selling Value In A Commodity Industry

The leading foodservice packaging and consumer aluminum product manufacturing division of $30 billion Alcoa Inc. with 3700 employees the primary business base is in the US but also operates in Spain, Mexico, and Canada. This division provides a full line of baking, catering, deli, produce, meats, supermarket takeout, and vending product packaging applications.

Challenges

Quick competitive response shortened and reduced the impact of premium pricing on new product innovations and introductions Majority of the sales team had fallen into the order taker mode and were busy fending off competitive pressure to reduce pricing

Approach

Completed a sales diagnostic including process, competency assessment, customer interviews, and competitor analysis Developed sales and marketing strategies to move behaviors from commodity based mind set and positioning to consultative high value sale with customers Created and delivered sales training to communicate new process and positioning in a two day workshop event for the entire salesforce Provided follow-up consulting to help support reinforcement and performance management

Results

New sales process and positioning changed the dialogue with customers and focuses on value added Salesforce focuses on improving customer’s business and becoming a trusted adviser Premium pricing on new products had greater staying power and customer insights provided fuel for RFP’s innovation pipeline

Download file