Case Study

 

ATCOM Business Technology Solutions

“If you’re struggling with your sales team’s performance, you’ve got to pick a sales process. This is not the fancy stuff, this is fundamentals. If you look at any great team, they’ve mastered the fundamentals.”

David Finch, Owner of ATCOM and long-time user of IMPACT Selling®

FROM SUCCESSFUL SALESPERSON TO SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNER

ATCOM owner David Finch has built a thriving sales culture around the principles of IMPACT Selling. What is now a core piece of his organization’s success, started with a chance meeting some 30 years ago.

David began his career at ATCOM as a successful salesperson. Still, he was frustrated that he couldn’t find consistency: some sales went well, while others didn’t.

He met Bill Brooks, a former college football coach, who was training salespeople in the IMPACT Selling process in the office park where David worked.

“I went through the IMPACT class and realized I was making some fundamental errors. I was skipping steps in the sales process, I was selling too early.”

By applying the steps of IMPACT, David increased his sales fivefold. At this point, he knew everyone in the company needed to be trained in IMPACT. To sell the idea to the president of the company, he followed the sales process he’d learned. It worked. 

 

INTENTIONALLY BUILDING A SALES CULTURE AROUND IMPACT SELLING

Now the owner of ATCOM, David instills the fundamentals of IMPACT and stresses the importance of intentionally building a sales culture.

“A sales process is like a game plan, and a good team is confident with their game plan.”

David’s number one job is to make ATCOM’s sales team confident with their game plan. All new sales hires at ATCOM are sent to IMPACT training (what David refers to as “bootcamp”) and all sales managers receive Sales Management training.

“It’s important to instill the fundamentals and establish a set of expectations. If you don’t deliberately pick a culture you want to create, your sales team will create their own culture.”

OUTSELLING THE COMPETITION WITH A SIX-STEP PROCESS

ATCOM’s sales team only spends time with highly qualified opportunities. Unqualified proposals are one of ATCOM’s “intolerables.”

IMPACT’s approach allows ATCOM’s sales team to focus on the front-end of the sale: Investigating, meeting the buyer and determining buyer style, and probing. David says if you get those right, the rest will take care of itself. 

 

“If you truly qualify a deal, then you never lose on price. Our win rate is higher than our competition, mainly because we qualify. We don’t throw mud at the wall and hope it sticks.”

Sales reps come to every meeting with their manager with the right information about an opportunity. This keeps conversations efficient, and improves forecasting accuracy. It also makes the fundamentals of the process a habit when sales reps are in the field with prospects and clients. 

 

“Our sales managers are asking questions about IMPACT every time they meet with salespeople. Every coaching session is an opportunity to instill the sales culture you’re trying to create with your company.”

David’s been using IMPACT Selling for 30 years—from his early days as a salesperson, to today, as the owner of his business and chief champion of the sales process his sales team uses.

Simple, straightforward, and effective, the six-step process now forms the fundamentals that ATCOM’s sales team relies on for its success.

Contact The Brooks Group