“Now we’re the ones with the ball, we’re the ones who carry it over the line, and it’s the other guys who are looking confused about why they didn’t win the game.”
For much of my career we had been in an order-taking mode. We’d always had great customers who wanted to grow with us. As fast as we wanted to grow, they would place business with us. That changed sometime in the last five years. Now the impetus was on us to be actively selling rather than just taking orders.
Just a few weeks ago Sales Concepts caused us to take a fresh look at how we were about to make a major presentation. Instead of having the customer come in and sit through a huge presentation about who we are, what we do, and all the things we could do for them, we simply helped them discover what we’ve done for them in the past—and this, in turn, helped them understand why they should choose us—even though we were at a premium compared to our competition. It ended up becoming the largest contract in our company’s history.
Before Sales Concepts, what we used to do... we’d be in a game and we’d carry the ball down the field and then it’d be fourth and inches—just a little bit away from taking the ball over the line—and either the clock would run out, or we’d watch someone else take the ball away from us. We’d fumble at the last second and we’d sit there looking at each other and say “well how the heck did that happen?” We’d put forth all this time and effort and have nothing to show for it. Sales Concepts helped us understand how, in a lot of cases, we were helping the other guy get the ball without even knowing it. That’s changed. Now we’re the ones with the ball, we’re the ones who carry it over the line, and it’s the other guys who are looking confused about why they didn’t win the game.
Brad Ohlemacher, Executive Vice President, Co-Owner
Elyria Manufacturing Corp
www.elyriamfg.com
65 employees
Since 1925