In this interview with Richard we talk about a machine company. I ask Richard: How did they introduce you? How did you acquire them as a customer? He responds that Dakota Machine came through a MEP (Manufacturing Extension Partnership). Richard had discovered them when they came to a workshop he owned. He followed up with a follow-up consultation for them and closed them on four projects in his HMA system.
Instead of charging their one-time consulting fee, Richard decided on the ‘pay-as-you-go plan’ because they liked the idea that they could stop using Richard after completing step 1 if they weren’t happy with the results.
The next question I asked Richard was, “How much did you charge for these projects?” Richard: These are between $ 3,000 and $ 4,000 per step. In response, I asked, “What were some of your challenges?”
Richard says, “Here we had a company that had a salesperson who made cold calls. They specialized in smaller machine parts. The salesperson had gotten lists of leads and was making calls. The salesperson who made calls was an advantage. open, willing to change, and even make changes if necessary. We already developed a good USP to help. “
Many times in manufacturing one of the biggest problems, problems, and gaps in the marketplace is getting the product finished and delivered on time. This is what they refer to as a “delivery time”. It determined that in step one (the USP) they could guarantee delivery time or shipping was free. That became the new script for the salesperson.
Another thing we found that the salesperson wasn’t doing is that they weren’t rating prospects very well. I was talking to manufacturers who would never need or want the specialty machine parts that Dakota Machine offered. The seller was wasting a lot of time. In Step 2 of Richard’s System he says: When you have a PVU, you start training salespeople on what they should ask prospects to determine if they want to spend more time with that prospect.
As a result, conversion rates skyrocketed 20-30% in just 60 days. As a result, we now have this small machine shop company with greater capacity, and they are adding a second and third shift.
