Since our engagement, Pebble has grown significantly year-on-year.  During 2010 the company delivered a strong performance against budget, increasing revenue by 23% and profit by 50%. 

These results demonstrate the importance of not just focusing on increasing new sales but also the value to be drawn from continued review of sales process aligned to how customers buy.

Background

Pebble specialise in smart accountancy software that help schools and other organisations save time and money.  From trips to textbooks, their school fund manager software makes keeping track of voluntary income simplicity itself, while school fund finder is a great way to make sense of the numerous grants and free equipment available to schools.

As well as software, Pebble also provide a dedicated team of people who know the products inside out in order to offer all the advice and support required.

The Challenge

Back in 2009, the Pebble Management Team, despite having an enviable bank of satisfied customers, recognised the need to re-evaluate the way they approached the development of their products and how they positioned themselves in the market.  Competition in the marketplace was increasing and the current ways of working were not delivering the required results.  

Understanding the business and landscape

Richard Lane (of durhamlane) having demonstrated an understanding of the current situation, was initially contracted to undertake a Sales Process Review and a series of follow-on sales training workshops.  

The Sales Process Review provided a rapid and highly effective audit of the sales environment and illustrated the opportunities that existed for Pebble to significantly grow their business.  Recommendations varied from:

• Re-engineering and simplifying the sales process,
• Refining and improving the contracting and renewals process,
• Up skilling the enthusiastic sales team to help them to perform at a higher level using solution sales techniques.

Following the presentation of the review findings a personalised sales development programme was developed and delivered.  This led to instant improvements in confidence, motivation and resulted in a rapid increase of pro-active sales conversations with customers.  Conversations with renewed purpose.

Positivity and momentum were quickly built through both the report recommendations and the subsequent sales training.

Refining processes and Selling at a Higher Level

Following successful delivery of phase one, the Management Team recognised the value to be delivered by investing in the on-going development of their sales staff through regular team and one-to-one coaching.   This was coupled with a continuous loop of process improvements that brought benefits to staff and customers alike.

Richard’s input has been felt across all activities associated with Sales, Marketing and Customer Service.  We are credited with having helped build a sales performance culture, made possible by focusing on key primary sales levers:

• Developing more sales opportunities,
• Increasing the value of each opportunity,
• Closing more effectively,
• Reducing the sales cycle lead time.

Our monthly sales coaching and mentoring session is designed to monitor performance, drive activity and motivate the growing sales team.  We support recruitment, business development focus, and offer guidance regarding the on-going sales strategy.

Results

Since our engagement, Pebble has grown significantly year-on-year.  During 2010 the company delivered a strong performance against budget, increasing revenue by 23% and profit by 50%.  These results demonstrate the importance of not just focusing on increasing new sales but also the value to be drawn from continued review of sales process aligned to how customers buy.  
Pebble’s commitment to staff development and customer satisfaction continues to deliver solid returns in the form of a motivated workforce who perform at their highest level whilst benefitting from a sales process framework guaranteed to deliver positive results and industry leading customer retention renewal rates of 98%.