Challenge

Management consulting firm, Maetrics, serves the life sciences industry—in particular, pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotech manufacturing companies. The company helps its clients navigate FDA regulations and solve compliance, quality, engineering, and technology challenges.

Echoing a challenge familiar to many consulting firms, Vice President and General Manager Terry Spartz says, “We’re always busy serving our current clients and find very little time to look for new ones and prospect for new opportunities.”

Maetrics relied on a small sales force of former consultants to identify and secure new business. The typical six-to-12 month sales cycle required a sustained outbound sales process on behalf of the team. The highly regulated nature of the business, with its legal ramifications behind complying with FDA regulations, made for a complex sale and a relationship-driven business.

To meet its new business development and growth goals, the company needed to strengthen its sales process.

Solution

When Spartz and his team sought a firm to help them improve their sales process, they turned to Cosine.

Find a Training Partner That Understands Your Business

Spartz was especially attracted by the Cosine’s strength in the professional services sector. “A lot of other [sales training] companies tend to be generalists. I find that Cosine’s knowledge of professional services makes them very effective at understanding our needs and then helping us in a more focused way,” says Spartz.

Create a Shared Sales Process

Maetrics found they had greater success when the sales team was staffed by former industry consultants, as opposed to traditional salespeople. What they needed in order to boost success was a strong, shared sales process – one that would engage both the sales team and the management team.

The company decided to adopt the Cosine Selling^SM methodology to drive their sales process. To begin, Cosine’s Rainmaker Assessment provided insight into the strengths and capabilities of the existing sales team. These results helped pinpoint the areas that needed improvement so the program could be tailored to this team’s specific needs.

Deliver Custom Training to Sales and Management Teams

A two-day in-person Cosine Selling training session was held that used action-learning – including role plays and case studies – to develop sales skills and knowledge. The program was customized based on the results of the Rainmaker Assessment and extensive interviews with leaders and participants. For example, one element of the training focused on helping the team to skillfully ask questions to understand what was of value to the prospect. Once they understood that, they would be able to articulate the impact of the company’s solution.

“We went through it as an entire group including our management team,” reports Spartz, “everybody was very positive about the experience and felt like they gained some very good insight into how to sell in terms of more effectively selling a value proposition.”

Extend the Learning to Improve Results

Following the in-person training, a series of monthly lunchtime reinforcement webinars were held. These sessions, which focused on specific topics such as Leading Rainmaking Conversations, Overcoming Objections, and Nurturing Long Term Leads, gave participants a chance to share and gain feedback on their experiences using the techniques and approaches they had been introduced to during the training. Spartz says, “These lunch sessions were a good way for us to reinforce the training.”

Results

As a result of the training program, Maetrics met their objectives and increased the number of clients on its roster.  Within 10 months, the company increased the number of active clients by nearly one-third and significantly increased their penetration of existing accounts, with a corresponding increase in revenue.

Moreover, the company’s sales force and management team now have greater clarity around its sales process. “Because we changed our internal sales process to match the Cosine Selling methodology,” says Spartz, “we have the added benefit of all speaking the same language and understanding what we need to do as we bring an opportunity through the selling process.”

Highlights

Client: Maetrics
Industry: Management Consulting
Services: Sales Performance Improvement Assessment, Sales Training