"Our customers and staff were happier than ever." The GoalIncrease closing rates and sales process efficiency. Our client, an International brand and leading manufacturer of high-end consumer products, was looking for ways to improve closing rates and efficiency in the sales process. Because of narrow timelines from product launches to peak periods of consumer spending, they wanted to equip sales teams with the best tools to meet their goals.As a product maker, they held no retail outlets themselves but could send training materials and programs into authorized retail locations. The ApproachFocus on the customer only. We got to know the brand through its customers. With significant data on hand, we understood why this brand was so wildly popular with some market segments.Once we understood the brand and its position, we reviewed the sales training guides from a few key retail partners. What we found was an aggressive strategy that provided a lot of information and pressure on the customer, but that also excluded the customer from the decision-making process. The tactic was to assume the customer was making a purchase, and this was leading to high rates of walk-offs and returns.This client, and their partners, needed to see the customer as a person first. The JourneyShifting the team away from "me" and "we" to "they." Our program led brand and sales reps through exercises and conversations that clearly illustrated how individual motivations factor into closing rates, decision-making and satisfaction.We helped each person understand how to build rapport and identify customer needs quickly. We also showed teams how to link features to customer motivations and needs, and how to include storytelling in their process.We worked with sales managers and leaders to define performance measurement and monitoring so that sales team members were appropriately supported in their growth. The OutcomeSatisfied customers spend more and return less. Our initial program roll-out reached one National retail partner and all of the Brand’s field reps. Within one year, the program was adopted as the standard this brand expected from all authorized partners.Reports from retail partners showed lower rates of customer returns and higher customer satisfaction rates. The sales cycle had abbreviated less than expected on a national scale, but with higher average transaction values, all stakeholders were pleased with the outcomes of the program. About Client Privacy Some people have noticed that Know Good Consulting doesn't name clients in our case studies. This is very intentional.We don't name clients in our stories because helping a business to do better means acknowledging that a business could do better, and that some things might not be working as well as they should. That's a hard conversation for most people to have in private, and it's so much harder when your challenges are being shared all over the internet and in board rooms across the globe.