Improved Sales Strategy Generates Growth for Global Climate Action Solution Provider

This European-based client, a global leader in the climate action industry, was experiencing exponential growth in its Americas division.  Recognising the need to ensure the organisation was positioned to continue to sustain this growth trajectory, the client needed to develop a sales structure built on market potential and distribute sales team management and functions to continue to capitalise on the nimble nature that spurred original growth.  To accomplish this, the client needed to start on the ground floor, establishing and prioritising prospects, and redistributing accounts based on their likelihood to buy.  In establishing the baseline, the sales technology stack could be evaluated and evolved to support growth requirements, including the incorporation of management dashboards and governance mechanisms to ensure that the data was incorporated and leveraged throughout the sales cycle.

Revitalising a sales team to optimise new market potential

To address these issues, Protiviti Digital built a robust sales strategy that identified market potential in new and existing accounts, distributing them across a redesigned sales organisation, optimised in pods, using improved data capabilities and a laser-like focus to pursue new targets.

Working with the client’s CFO, we assembled a cross-functional team specialising in market analysis, complex business buyer behavior, sales technology stacks, and operational efficiency. The team embarked on a comprehensive journey that began with an in-depth market analysis to identify untapped opportunities and customer segments. Our objectives included combining technology and data to form an automated sales backbone that would enable opportunity identification while creating a sales desk structure built on accountability and focus. Key activities included:

• Target segmentation: Identify and categorise potential customers based on various factors such as industry type, size, geographical location, and sustainability goals. This enabled more targeted and effective sales approaches.
• Top of funnel engagement strategies: Including recommendations to leverage technology as part of demand generation and opportunity identification.
• Customer potential analysis: Developed insights into existing accounts, isolating strategic and high-potential opportunities for targeted pursuits.  Additionally, trigger points and leading indicators were created to provide sales prompts to support market capture.
• Operation model development: Using data and engagement strategies identified in the project, the team developed a roadmap that incorporated a new organisation model aligned to selling pods for industry or strategic accounts that provided greater management support and visibility.  This was underpinned by extensive data and technology recommendations, staged in sprints, which addressed core functional requirements in their existing CRM system.  

The outcome was a modular strategy that prioritised developing core capabilities around a trusted data platform, a defined organisational structure, and operational strategy to apply data to prioritise prospects and customers with highest probability to buy. Additional foundational and enabling components introduced more synergies with demand generation efforts to drive opportunity into the newly developed sales pods for faster conversion and expansion.

New sales strategy delivers results

Within months, the restructured sales strategy began generating concrete results for this client:

• Operational scalability: Optimisation of the sales tech stack, specifically the CRM and lead routing systems, streamlined internal processes, reducing time spent on administrative tasks by 30 percent, allowing the sales team to focus more on strategic selling activities.
• Increased sales efficiency: The alignment of sales strategies with customer needs led to a 25 percent improvement in lead conversion rates within six months.
• Customer retention: Enhanced customer engagement through customised solutions improved client retention rates by 15 percent year-over-year.

Through meticulous planning and expert execution of a tailored sales strategy, this client built a robust sales network, overcame substantial market challenges, and positioned itself strategically for sustained growth in an increasingly competitive industry landscape.