Project Overview
Betco is an established commercial chemical manufacturer of over 60 years but in recent years had begun facing the challenge of big box retailers entering the space via e-commerce, which was changing the way their distributors functioned. Betco found themselves in a position where they had to digitally transform themselves to better enable their distributor partners to sell the Betco chemical and equipment line more effectively as their sales teams began to take on new lines of products such as paper, furniture, tools, computers, etc.
As the distributors were changing and merging into larger entities they took on many more sales team members who were not trained on the commercial chemical sales, and did not have the support they needed to effectively sell Betco line.The other problem was that Betco’s internal regional sales team was being spread too thin trying to support these larger distributors nationwide.
In developing a solution, I was able identify two key areas that needed to be addressed. First, the volatility in the industry specifically in sales meant that distributors were constantly hiring new salespeople with no industry experience. There were also sales team members that were 15-20 year veterans who did not want to change their sales habits.
I guided our development partner to build the tools with these insights specifically in mind. For new sales teams we created an easy to follow step-by-step method to help navigate the sales process successfully. This development accelerated sales capability for new sales members.
My Responsibilities
- Developed and presented insights, roadmaps, product prototypes for each tool and led the outside team to develop the full applications
- Managed the development of marketing, product positioning, presentations, and sales tools for the launch of each iBet product
- Performed market research and facilitated workshops with sales leadership and partners to gather insights on the ideal scenario for performing the Inspection, Estimation, and Proposal process. Developed the prototypes for each tool and led the outside team to develop the full applications
- Led testing, coordinated demos, and developed a team of evangelists and trainers within the regional sales team to help to influence the rest of the sales and distributors teams
- Conducted walkthroughs and interviews to gain a deeper understanding for how these established salespeople typically only sold product lines they are familiar with
Results
- The development of the iBet Suite allowed Betco to scale their personalized sales strategy which allowed Betco to compete with these larger competitors and expand their footprint internationally.
- In addition to the 5 web apps we built, I also developed a training curriculum to build depth of knowledge in each of the product lines that aligned with the sales method we were creating. This development increased our experienced sales teams portfolio and they were able to earn more with their existing customers.
- Betco was able to develop partnerships with larger distributors who were looking for a technical advantage to expand their sales capability.
- These tools made Betco regional manager 3x more efficient in the sales process allowing them to focus on larger proposals and developing distributor relationships.
- Betco's distributor partners were able to activate their sales teams 80% faster by utilizing these sales tools for system led on-the-job training.
