KeTech is a leading communications systems company in the transport sector. Over the past few years the company has been following a high growth strategy, incorporating both organic growth and acquisition. The company consists of several divisions, the largest, KeTech Systems Division, specialises in passenger information and monitoring systems for the rail, underground and bus segments.
The company recognised that there was a major, multimillion pound problem approaching in its sales revenues. Its sales targets included substantial growth year on year. However, its two major on-going projects were coming to an end at the same time. The historical rate of order intake was only one third of that necessary to fill this hole and also achieve the growth targets. Urgent action was needed.
Working closely with the Divisional Managing Director and the sales team, Qi3 undertook a complete review of the sales organisation, lead generation, market opportunities and the skill sets of team members.
As a result, a number of changes were made in the Division’s sales organisation:
- The sales organisation was split into a field sales and applications groups
- One senior member was appointed Divisional Sales Director with responsibility for order closure and a dedicated field sales team was appointed under her
- The other senior member was appointed Group Applications Manager with a small dedicated team and responsibility for preparation of system proposals, including integration of products from other KeTech group companies
- Market opportunities were prioritised, with the emphasis on large opportunities in segments and customers where KeTech was already strong in order to increase success rates
- A “new lead generation” process was introduced to identify, very early, opportunities where KeTech was a strong contender, so that it could influence the customers ideas and establish itself as a leading contender
As a result of these changes and the excellent work by the KeTech staff, the order intake rose fourfold over the next 12 months, enabling the gap in the sales revenues to be filled and substantially exceeded.