Client Stories > Demonstrating Sales Negotiations ROI in a Highly Competitive Market

Demonstrating Sales Negotiations ROI in a Highly Competitive Market

Demonstrating Sales Negotiations ROI Transportation Industry

Demonstrating a Return on Sales Negotiations for a Transportation Company

Client Case Study

Situation — Demonstrating Sales Negotiations ROI

With over $5 billion in annual revenues, Ryder is a world leader in supply chain and transportation management solutions.  The company’s 30,000 employees work with clients in three primarily business segments:

  1. Fleet Leasing and Maintenance
  2. Dedicated Contract Carriage
  3. Supply Chain Services.

The company completed a multi-year restructuring program that resulted in a more streamlined approach to every facet of its business.

Complications

Operating in a highly competitive market, the company’s organizational focus after the restructuring was growing top line sales, growing margin (particularly on national deals) and increasing customer retention.

A formal Negotiation Needs Analysis identified the following issues that impact Ryder’s ability to achieve their business goals:

  • More sophisticated buyers
  • Incomplete analysis and preparation for deals
  • Tendency to “shoot from the hip” rather than use a fact-based approach
  • A large “inventory” of legacy deals where value had been given away
  • No definition of a “Great Deal” for Ryder
  • Little autonomy by the field in closing deals
  • A good sales process in place but no formal organizational negotiation process
  • Cross-functional areas acting independently, each with its own goals and objectives (often at odds with achieving a “Great Deal” for Ryder)
  • Lack of training and process implementation and reinforcement

Approach

In order to address these key issues, we recommended to Ryder that rather than just run a series of training events, it implement a cross-functional, organization-wide Negotiation Solution which included sales negotiation training, sales coaching, and consulting.

Focusing on the “big picture” business results that Ryder was looking to achieve, the Ryder negotiation strategy was developed by gathering key representatives from the Executive Team, Sales Management, National Account Sales, Legal, Pricing, Human Resources, Finance and Marketing. The first step was to identify and agree on what measurable results would signify a successful initiative, and then develop the key actions to produce those results that included:

Approach (cont.)

  1. Strategic Sales Clarity
    Defining a common goal or organizational negotiation strategy linked to the company’s sales strategy
  2. Process
    Agreeing on a common negotiation process integrated with the sales process including:

    • A SWOT form for every deal over $500K
    • Collaboration meetings with Legal, Pricing, Credit, Lease Finance, and appropriate Senior Management will be held for every deal over $1,000,000 prior to an offer being submitted
    • Negotiation process language being incorporated in the scorecards of each Managing Director of Sales, Regional Director of Sales, Director of National Accounts, and Director of Business Development
    • Completing a Consequences of No Agreement “gap” analysis of value propositions before reacting to competitive pricing
    • Incorporating the methodology of Multiple Equal Offers in every proposal
    • Including Fuel and insurance in at least 1 MEO for every deal
    • Not agreeing to concessions but, rather, trading for something of greater or equal value
  3. Performance Coaching and Skill Building
    Skill development combined with coaching process implementation
  4. Impact and Accountability
    Measuring results and continuously improving

Results — Demonstrating Sales Negotiations ROI
In twelve months:

  • $13.4M in incremental revenue
  • $3.2M in incremental incremental operating profit
  • 109% increased average closing ratio
  • 17% margin improvement
  • 271.5% return on investment

Related Information

We wanted our Channel Managers to get sales strategies and tools that would increase partner revenue and strengthen partner relationships. LSA Global’s ability to quickly understand our business and to bring experienced and proven resources to the table created credibility with both the executive and sales team.

We look forward to continuing our sales partnership with them.

Chip Whitman
Channel Excellence Manager

Thermo Fisher

LSA Global demonstrated excellent expertise in sales and sales leadership, spent the time required to make sure the objectives were clear, and showed flexibility in shaping and sustaining everything that they did.

They “MEDRADized” the session to meet our unique needs, looked beyond the obvious, and got the key points across in a way that made sense.  Thank you!

Doug Stantial
North America Sales Training Manager

Originally, we launched a RFP to partner with a sales training provider to improve the sales skills of our global distributor network.

LSA Global challenged our thinking by suggesting we focus on the systemic sales strategy, culture, and talent factors that create sales success before we invested in the more symptomatic needs of sales skills and knowledge.

LSA Global identified the critical strategic actions to improve overall sales performance and then designed and delivered world class business sales training across the globe to help increase revenue and margin.

I’m so happy we took a more strategic approach to sales performance with LSA.  Thank you for making this fit our culture.

Kim Benson
Director Human Resources

Trimble

The sales negotiations training program was awesome. The facilitator was excellent. We are immediately able to see the relevance and apply it to our specific. The preparation and energy was very apparent. The facilitator did a great job keeping everyone engaged and focused on what mattered most to our success.

I am very pleased with the results and like the very relevant and applicable sales negotiations tools. Great job!

Jack Lord
Vice President of Sales

Blackhawk Network

We selected LSA over a handful of other experts to assist with a key sales leadership imperative. LSA added value every step of the way throughout the entire engagement. Their customized approach to sales presentation training exceeded expectations, and we are excited about global implementation across our offices in more than 100 countries.

LSA’s unique Strategy-to-Results approach is an added game changer.  I recommend them to anyone looking to get high quality results when it matters most.

Eric Mugele
Executive Director Global Learning

Grant Thornton

We engaged with LSA Global to help our sales team identify opportunities to accelerate our commitment to sales excellence. The facilitator’s shared passion for our goals created a foundation for sales skill adoption, as did LSA’s keen understanding of our unique business environment.

This insight allowed LSA to deliver customized and impactful business sales training workshops which were adapted to reflect our specific business dynamics and provided our employees with the sales models and tools to leverage on every call with customers.

Grant Clarke
Director Client Delivery

Service Source

From beginning to end, LSA was as invested in making sure the program succeeded as we were. They not only met the needs of our sales organization, but they helped us meet our very tight launch deadline.

The consultant operated with the sense of urgency necessary to ensure that we were ready to roll the business sales training program in a way that made sense.

Without their dedication and sales expertise we would not have been able to launch the program with the success that we did. Thank you LSA for being a valued business partner!

Erin Surprise
PHR, Manager - L & D

LSA Global’s sales negotiation training and assessment process provided the sales negotiation tools and practices that have significantly enhanced our negotiations process. Their facilitators understood our business, its challenges, and framed the learning in a way that we understood.

I am very happy with the value we have received and would highly recommend LSA to others looking to improve their sales negotiations results.

Jeff Bizzack
President

Service Source

LSA Global has been a great partner in helping us move toward being “the leading developer of talent in the service performance management industry.”

I have engaged LSA to help develop best-in-class programs in the areas of: Executive On-boarding, Manager Training, Sales Training and Coaching, Employee Engagement, and Instructional Design.

They have consistently met or exceeded my (very) high expectations and are always responsive to my needs to increase performance, engagement, customer satisfaction, and sales growth.

Mike Normant
Senior Director, Training & Development

Service Source

We selected LSA Global over several other sales experts based upon their ability to clarify and align our sales strategy, their expertise in identifying the critical sales scenarios necessary to meet our growth targets, and their willingness to stand behind the results with targeted sales management training and coaching and a pay-for-performance guarantee.

They have become an integral part of my sales team as we rapidly scale. I would recommend them to any sales  leader looking for a true partner.

Anthony Lanham
SVP, Sales North America

Jumio-Logo-LSAGlobal

LSA’s introduction and continuous reinforcement of the MEDRAD objectives, vision, and mission were very impressive. The majority now understands and is openly able to verbalize these key items.

LSA did a wonderful job introducing the importance of sales coaching and reinforcement and was able to keep everyone focused.

Cindy Steffen
National Manager, Telesales

We recently hired LSA Global to help take our sales team to the next level. Specifically we focused on targeting the ideal client, differentiating our solutions, getting more qualified leads, and closing a higher percentage of our pipeline through a proven referral selling methodology.

So far, the results from the business sales training have been great. We were pleasantly surprised with the results-oriented approach and thoughtful follow-through plan to ensure that the new sales practices “stick.”

We look forward to a long-term relationship, and I would recommend LSA to anyone looking to increase the effectiveness of their sales force.

Patrick Arnold
President

Filice

We originally engaged with LSA Global to help our subcontract administrators and buyers develop better negotiations skills. As manufacturers of satellites, we have many sole source companies to procure the required parts.

Our teams must be able to interact effectively with international companies. This environment uniquely challenges our team in their ability to create equitable contracts, while preserving and strengthening our supplier relationships.

LSA Global not only provided our team with the skills to negotiate effectively and consistently, but we further expanded our relationship to include consulting around our negotiations’ process, measurement of our negotiations, and one-on-one coaching for our team members. We are very pleased with the result of our partnership with LSA Global.

Vivian Mackintosh
Vice President of Materiel

Space Systems Loral

LSA is an excellent sales and leadership outsource partner! They listen to our needs, are responsive, and work at a pace that keeps up with our rapid speed.

We have found LSA to bring strategic, innovative, and practical solutions to meet our business priorities by partnering effectively with our key staff. I consider them to be an important external extension of our team.

Thank you!

Wendy Chinn
Sr. Director, Global Sales Enablement

ServiceSource has relied on LSA Global’s expertise for a variety of core initiatives, from strategy design and implementation, to business sales skills, to sales coaching. We recently engaged LSA Global to create a competency matrix for our inside sales team that will serve as our roadmap for employee on-boarding, development, succession planning, and retention.

This critical project had a tight timeline with high visibility. LSA Global completed the deliverable ahead of schedule and surpassed our expectations.

PMO and Outside Sales Operations
Senior Vice President

Service Source

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