FMT Consultants - Sales Distinction of the Year

Company: FMT Consultants, Carlsbad, CA USA
Entry Submitted By: ValueSelling Associates, Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Company Description: ValueSelling Associates equips B2B sales professionals to compete on value, not price, using a time-tested methodology with proven results. Our expert Associates create custom sales improvement training delivered globally in over 16 languages. With ValueSelling sales professionals get the tools, skills and processes to effectively qualify, advance and close more sales with higher margins.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Distinction Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Distinction of the Year - Computer Services

Nomination Title: Creating a Complete Revenue Funnel Management Solution

Tell the story about what this nominated organization achieved since the beginning of July 2017 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

FMT Consultants, a technology and services provider, was historically focused on the Southern California market. But to achieve exponential growth goals, the executive team decided a journey of expansion, optimization and standardization across eight distinct practices within the business was required.

A Pathway to Sales Transformation

In mid-2017, FMT’s sales organization, led by Darren Stordahl, VP of Sales & Marketing, devised a winning strategy to expand services offerings and penetrate new markets, that involved:

-a common language for the entire organization to streamline the sales and consulting process
-a foundational methodology that could scale as the company grew
-a process to accelerate prospecting efforts to more aggressively build the pipeline

The best way to achieve transformation: ValueSelling.

Across Divisions

Chad Sanderson of ValueSelling Associates worked with the executive team to closely tie FMT’s business objectives to the learning initiative with metrics to demonstrate the return on investment with a phased implementation of the ValueSelling Framework® and Vortex Prospecting™.

The program was launched in October 2017. As part of the initiative, FMT focused on upskilling the sales team, decreasing time-to-revenue for new hires, and ensuring the sales, marketing and consulting teams leveraged the ValueSelling Framework® consistently.

Organization-wide Commitment

FMT ran up against typical challenges after the workshops were held: driving executive buy-in, managing turnover across the teams, and capturing measurable results. To drive adoption, Darren and his regional sales managers created a consistent cadence of reinforcement by incorporating the ValueSelling Framework into internal systems, weekly meetings and one-on-one discussions with team members.

As Darren Stordahl said, “There’s compliance, and then there’s pretend compliance, and then there is commitment.” FMT was committed.

In April 2018, FMT completed the acquisition of Red Sky Consulting, a Salesforce practice, and immediately transitioned the newly absorbed sales staff from Sandler to ValueSelling. By using a common sales methodology throughout the entire sales organization, cross-team communication soared and a consistent sales motion was established.

In July 2018, FMT started the second phase of its sales transformation—an acceleration of prospecting efforts and true value-based selling from the buyer’s perspective—by implementing Vortex Prospecting™, which plugs seamlessly into the ValueSelling Framework and drives top-of-funnel activity and rigorous qualification.

Reaping the Results

FMT began seeing results within the first 90 days after training, including:

-the most committed sales rep achieving 190% of quota in the quarter after training
-a 50% increase in sales effectiveness and time-to-revenue by onboarding new employees faster, from a historical 180 days to 90 days

The management team, including Eric Casazza, CEO; Darren Stordahl, VP of Sales & Marketing; and Don Litzenberg, Sales Manager, were united in driving adoption of ValueSelling, increasing accountability and creating a complete revenue funnel management solution. FMT has been in business for the past 24 years, and the company wildly surpassed targets in 2018 by implementing both frameworks and integrating them into the DNA of the company.

-2018 annual sales results: +36% YoY
-Q4 2018 sales results: +127% YoY
-2018 marked the best month (December), the best quarter (Q4) and the best year in FMT’s sales organization

Darrell adds, “The right catalyst and the right coach can make amazing things happen!”

At the same time, the sales organization increased average opportunity sizes by 20% across the multiple practice areas by transitioning from organic sales to a value-based sales approach. The cost-of-sale remained remarkably constant as FMT was able to improve the efficiency and productivity of the sales organization without adding headcount. The increase in opportunity value and confidence in delivery helped improve team performance and morale.

Value Realization as the Differentiator

FMT Consultants is implementing a new CRM and embedding ValueSelling processes and stages into the sales system. FMT’s CRM focuses on customer engagement, going beyond a completed transaction to post-go-live value realization. In fact, value realization has become a competitive differentiator and allows the entire FMT organization to move forward in a client-centric direction.