Client Stories > Sales Negotiations ROI of 500%+ in the Financial Services Industry

Sales Negotiations ROI of 500%+ in the Financial Services Industry

500%+ Return on Sales Negotiations Investment in the Financial Services Industry

Client Case Study

Situation

As the leading provider of business information for credit, marketing and purchasing decisions worldwide, D&B helps customers gain access to the world’s largest and highest quality global commercial business information. D&B Denmark, a strategic partner of D&B, is responsible for approx $6.3 Million in annual revenues.

D&B Denmark helps their customers perform a range of business analyses primarily through three products & services: Risk Management Solutions to mitigate credit risk, increase cash flow and drive increased profitability; Sales & Marketing Solutions to increase revenue from new and existing customers; and Supply Management Solutions to generate ongoing savings through supplier consolidation, and to protect their businesses from supply chain disruption and serious financial, operational and regulatory risk. Our engagement with D&B Denmark centered on their sales organization to include account managers and account specialists.

Complications

We conducted a negotiation needs analysis designed to map the internal negotiation structure within D&B Denmark and to capture both internal and external issues surrounding negotiation. It included D&B sales personnel, sales management, and sales account managers.

Because the goal of the analysis was to determine if—and, if so, why—a Sales Negotiation Initiative was needed, the line of questioning included market conditions, sales process implementation, value proposition effectiveness, competition, consequences of no agreement, trades, the company’s internal conditions, training implementation, and coaching precedents.

When the needs analysis was complete, the following key sales negotiation issues were identified:

  • Negotiation skill sets varied greatly among team members
  • Irrational behavior by the company’s competitors
  • More sophisticated buyers
  • Insufficient analysis or preparation for deals
  • A history of giving away value
  • Lack of confidence in negotiations
  • Various negotiation approaches used in each country
  • No integrated and standardized negotiation process

Approach

In order to address these issues, we recommended a comprehensive Negotiation Solution rather than a series of isolated training events with four key steps:

  1. Defining a common organizational negotiation strategy linked to the company’s sales strategy
  2. Agreeing on a common negotiation process integrated with the sales process including:
  3. Coaching and measuring both strategy use and process implementation including:
    • Delivery of our Strategic Negotiation Solution to D&B Denmark with a highly customized 2-day negotiations workshop. The participants in the workshop included sales management, relationship managers, and specialists. Each brought a live deal into the workshop to practice the process and advance their deal.
    • Since many deals were set to resign, or close for the first time by year-end, we agreed each participant would further their specific deal, including follow up coaching calls, using the process to gain a more successful contractual end result.
  4. Measuring leading and lagging indicators including incremental revenue, retention, time to close, new skill and process adoption, trades vs. concessions, and incorporation of  multiple equal offers in proposals.

Results
In four months:

  • $349,000 increase in incremental revenue
  • 581% return on investment

Related Information

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

LSA custom designed and delivered the best sales training session that I have ever attended. They focused on our industry, our customers, and our competitors. The materials and facilitators were world class. They were passionate about helping our global sales force understand the fundamentals necessary to be successful and not leave money on the table. I recommend them to any sales force looking to drive profitable revenue and beat the competition.

Carl Dickenson
Sales

Cutera

LSA Global’s negotiation training assessment and workshop provided 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 from this program, and would highly recommend LSA to others looking to improve their sales negotiations results.

Jeff Bizzack
President

Service Source

In an effort to establish a solid foundation of consultative selling skills for our client-facing teams that can be built on over time, we engaged with LSA Global. By understanding our business and our markets, LSA Global was able to develop and deliver the relevant skills, tools and processes that have established the foundation for our future success. We are very satisfied with our decision.”

Kevin Wiley
Chief Operating Officer

Nelnet

We engaged with LSA Global to deliver a sales territory planning and management workshop. LSA Global had a unique ability to quickly understand our business and needs. This keen understanding allowed for tailoring of content that was specific and impactful, which created a new awareness of how one’s role and how and with whom one spends their time, can directly influence sales success. Their facilitators were well prepared and ingrained themselves to become one of us. We’ve come to see LSA Global as a partner.

Pratiksha Patel
Assistant Vice President Talent

L'Oreal

LSA is an excellent training outsource partner! They listen to our needs, are responsive and work at a pace that keeps up with ours. We have found LSA to bring strategic and innovative solutions to meet our business problems by partnering effectively with our staff. I consider them to be an external extension of our team.

Wendy Chinn
Sr. Director, Global Sales Enablement

The sales strategy and goal setting session was right on target. It was a very valuable process that I highly recommend to any sales team.

Phil Rosenberg
Senior Vice President of Sales

LSA was instrumental in making our worldwide sales meeting a success. They saved me a ton of time by recommending ‘best in class’ vendors to meet our business objectives. Whenever I’m in a pinch, I can count on LSA’s dynamic team of sales trainers and consultants to really go the extra mile. They truly understand the meaning of customer delight.

Amy Walker
Manager

Seagate

For the past 5 years LSA has consistently delivered top notch value to Seagate’s Corporate University Program. The level of facilitator involvement and continuous program evolution has kept the sales negotiation training content and lessons engaging and relevant. We look forward to working with LSA in the future.

Geoff Purnell
Sales Executive, Seagate Data Recovery Services

Seagate

The introduction and continuous reinforcement of the MEDRAD objectives, vision, and mission was very impressive. By the end of the session, a large majority of the audience understood and was openly able to verbalize these items. LSA did a wonderful job introducing the importance of sales coaching and reinforcement and was able to keep the groups focused.

Cindy Steffen
National Manager, Telesales

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 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

LSA is a great and high quality training and consulting resource. In less than a week turnaround time, they were able to design and deliver a ‘best in class’ inside sales solution to meet my team’s unique needs. They met my high expectations and were very responsive to my specific objectives.

Olivia Flach
Americas Retail Sales

Sandisk

LSA’s customized Effective Presentation Skills program has helped me elevate my presentation skills to the next level. I now have a much greater self-awareness of my presentation skills and can leverage off of my strengths while working to improve upon other areas. I would definitely recommend this solution to anyone for whom business presentations are an integral part of their job.

Jim Elliott
Senior Marketing Manager

Samsung

The sales negotiations training program was awesome. The facilitator was excellent. We are immediately able to see the relevance and apply it to specific needs at Blackhawk. The preparation and energy was very apparent. The facilitator did a great job keeping the class engaged for the entire day 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 wanted our Channel Managers to get 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 partnership with them.

Chip Whitman
Channel Excellence Manager

Thermo Fisher

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