Customer benefit in focus when Estrella trains its salespeople

The new sales manual has become something the sales organization can fall back on

Interview with Patrik Stockelid, Sales Director at Estrella

Estrella has increased both in sales and profits over the past five years. In 2020, the company was named the winner of the Grocery Gala as Supplier of the Year. We spoke to Patrik Stockelid, Sales Director at Estrella.

What are you particularly satisfied with in your sales development work?

– We have a good sales organization and we are constantly working on development. We believe in promoting best practice and getting the groups to work towards common goals. We do not have internal competitions at an individual level, it is all about the group. We win or lose as a team.

Customer benefit in focus

– We also have a very strong core of values, where an important guiding principle is customer benefit. This means that we place a lot of focus on adding value to our customers. We can do this by being prestige-free and trying to find ways of working that benefit the whole in the long term, instead of chasing short-term volumes.

“Something we fall back on”

– Internally, we have probably always been good at being creative and leading sales teams, but we needed to document and package best practice – to make it a “handbook” for new and existing employees. Together with Mindit, we are therefore now working on our “Way of selling”. This has meant that we can fine-tune the way we work based on what we see works best, and at the same time get more people to dare to develop. It is also excellent support in onboarding new employees, and something we can fall back on in new situations or scenarios.

What has the work on Way of Selling entailed?

– We have identified and are working structured with four different meeting types – this allows us to delve into how we best prepare, implement and follow up on sales work. Based on customer benefit, we now have a structure for how we can best help customers with different needs. We have become very meticulous with details that can make a big difference in the end.

Do you have any tips for other managers in a similar role to yours?

– I think it is important to really understand the needs of customers and have the attitude of wanting to help them in the best way possible. Nothing is so good that it can't be better, and we are continuously working to train our staff. Training can provide energy and inspiration in fairly simple ways, but what we are seeing now with Mindit is that it also has a clear effect.

First to be named Sales Leader of the Month with Mindit - how does it feel?

– Haha, flattering, always nice to get confirmation that we're doing a good job.