Sales success in a social economy, as well as Jamaica’s highly competitive market, demands a new approach to the sales process; from prospecting through to closing the sale and beyond.
One company that recognised this is Hawkeye, Jamaica’s leading electronic security service provider. In recent years the company has embarked on a programme to transform its approach to sales and customer service.
“The old way of doing things was about being responsive to customer enquiries for service. This approach may have worked in the early years of this business, but we have recognised that serving the 21st century customer requires a shift,” said Twitty Ann Thomas, general manager — group sales, marketing & customer service.
The economic crisis, coupled with the Internet enabling everyone to have access to as much information as they can consume, has pushed sales professionals to adopt a new, modern approach to selling. “The impact of social media and consumers having easy access to information via the Internet, coupled with lower disposable incomes, means that we have to take a more proactive and consultative approach to selling our services,” declared Thomas. “We have worked with Hulaine Strategic Services to redefine and implement our sales strategy to focus on a value-and solutions-based approach. The results have been phenomenal. Within three months individual sales representatives were meeting and exceeding targets and the business recorded double-digit improvements powered by both new customer acquisition and increased revenue from existing customers.”
The success achieved by Hawkeye, is available to other sales-oriented enterprises. A new sales training programme, “The New Sales Fundamentals” presented by Hulaine, is a course designed to equip Jamaican sales professionals with the practical, relevant strategies for the new sales context. The course leader is Beverley Thompson, the sales guru behind Hulaine.
“I will share key insights about what drives the sales process in this new reviews-based sales economy, provide practical strategies for effective customer-centric methods, and reveal how to climb the professional ladder with high-demand skills for success,” she revealed. “Today’s consumers are socially connected, reliant on digital content, and more educated about the real value of their purchases than ever before. Participants will learn how to influence them, close the sale, and meet targets.”
Thompson spent the last decade of her career implementing and transforming sales teams at Columbus Communications (FLOW) and Digicel. While with Columbus as director, consumer sales and retail services, she was responsible for FLOW’s retail and sales operations and transformed the retail division from service-only stores to sales-driven locations, with strong focus on the total customer experience. She conceptualised the idea of a service-based sales culture and grew retail’s sales contribution by 30 per cent. This led to her winning the prestigious Stevie award in sales and customer service in February 2015 — the only recipient in the Caribbean to have won awards in the categories of Sales Leadership and Retail Coaching Programme of the Year.
Recognising a gap in the market — that there is a need for a new approach to selling and fuelling up the enterprises revenue engine — Thompson departed her corporate role in 2015 to set up Hulaine. She describes her firm as a consulting practice that is passionate about helping small and large enterprises transform sales culture, strategy, processes, and competences.
“Our mission is to help businesses navigate critical components of the sales organisation to build a sustainable revenue engine. Our philosophy is that results, value creation, relationships, and an investment in our customer’s journey are the cornerstones for success,” said Thompson.
The one-day seminar “The New Sales Fundamentals” will be held at JAMPRO on December 6 starting at 8:30 am.
For more information, visit www.hulaine.com or on Facebook.com/HulaineSales
