About Foxleigh

CASE STUDY

In 2021 I was introduced to Robert. Robert was the Sales Director for a wholesale business in the UK selling health food products to shops and chains up and down the country. I was introduced to him by his boss, the Managing Director who had called me for advice and support. 

Robert was enthusiastic, he had spent many years learning to sell, was well known by his customers and was well liked. In fact Robert was incredibly proud of being well liked, but that was also the business problem. 

He ran a team of telesales representatives and sales representatives who sold products to customers in both independent health food shops and small chains, and Robert took personal responsibility for selling to the large chains. 

The problem, and the reason that the Managing Director wanted help was that costs were increasing significantly and Robert and the team were struggling to increase prices and to win new business. 

Robert spoke to me and was very open. He was aware that he needed to improve his skills and was becoming exhausted because he was working so hard to manage the team and his customers. 

The wonderful thing about working with Robert was that he was so open to development and learning. 

I started by teaching the team to negotiate. I ran a series of events with the sales representatives and with Robert to establish the basics of negotiation and provide them with tactics and skills that are designed to help them to maintain their close relationships but also to build greater respect from their customers and secure improved pricing and terms. 

I used the Foxleigh communication and planning models to establish a process that the team could use to communicate price increases to customers and reduce the level of tension and conflict. This was important for the business in order to build a basis to be profitable long term and help them with their vision to be a trusted employer for their staff. 

Finally, together with Robert and his boss, we worked on a meetings excellence process and tools that became the structure for delivering excellent meetings consistently via the telesales team. 

It set out the expectations, the key messages and the ways of working that helped everyone to feel empowered and to be clear about how they could make an impact, feel valued by the business and deliver wonderful service and sales experiences for their customers.  

Since working with Foxleigh the business has been transformed. 

The business is more strategic in it’s approach to sales, making proactive choices about which lines to sell and which to focus on. 

They have recruited people aligned to their vision for excellence and embedded the sales process and models into normal ways of working

Robert is confident, he leads a team of empowered sales people and the business has delivered excellent growth for the first time in years as well as being able to launch innovative new services and solutions. 

Previously they were overwhelmed by difficult customers who dictated terms, ways of communicating and presented barriers to doing business. 

Today these customers are no longer difficult. They are better understood and Robert and his team have strong relationships built on mutual respect. 

Foxleigh Commercial Performance offers three areas of focus