Growth doesn't happen by chance — it is built CHIEF'S LETTER
The entire sales force worked together to create a common image
Tripled turnover in the last 10 years
Interview with Martin Lundbergh, Sales Manager at Expandia
Big congratulations to Martin Lundbergh at Expandia Moduler who will be the Sales Manager of the Month with Mindit in December 2022! Martin has been Sales Manager at the company for almost ten years and during that time the success has been great with good growth and good margins every single year. Over the past year, Mindit has been part of their journey and helped develop and train the sales force.
Expandia – a strong entrepreneurial culture that lives on
“It has been a fantastic journey! Expandia was started in 1989 by Kjell Sköld and even though we have grown and become large, we have retained much of the entrepreneurial spirit in the company. We have even formalized what we call the Expandia spirit to preserve and encourage what has made us so successful so far. Among other things, this means customer focus, long-term relationships, sustainable business and personal drive. It brings new employees with it immediately.”
Needed to become more active and outreach in sales
"Historically, we have had many customers in the public sector and a little fewer from the private sector. But two years ago we developed a business plan with the goal of bringing in new customers. Our opportunity to take the initiative then lay mostly in the private sector. This means more active outreach and there we needed to strengthen the skills of our sales people. To some extent, it was a learning experience, as many were used to a more reactive process in the public sector."
Why sales training?
"It had been a long time since we had training for the entire sales force. Then we thought it was a good time when society was on its way back after Corona. Many salespeople needed to learn how to work with the private sector and then become more actively outreach. The entire sales force worked together to set a common image of who we are and how we perform as a team. This led to a good anchoring and good conditions for success with the development work."
Already seeing changed working methods and routines
“We are not done yet, but we are already seeing changed working methods and routines in different situations. We are moving ourselves forward step by step: The salespeople have worked well together during the training and exchanged experiences and knowledge with each other. The goal has not been to change who we are – but that we can move a little at a time and add new tools. This will yield results over time.”
Increased self-confidence among salespeople inspires trust
"Many salespeople have realized how much they can do – it has become a testament to how much we already can do – it has strengthened self-confidence. I think it is extremely important for a salesperson to feel successful when entering into new sales dialogues – it instills confidence in the customer."
Martin's tip: Take the time to prepare well for a training course
If you want to further train your employees, you should spend time on the preparations: Appoint a reference group and make sure that the training company gets to know your organization properly. It takes some time, but it is worth it to create motivation and a good foundation for learning and development.
Does the sales trainer live what they teach?
– It has been interesting to see if Mindit lives what they preach! For example, in the sales work and contact regarding conversations, follow-ups and reconciliations with us. But so far I am impressed, and we are very satisfied with Mindit's efforts to develop and train our salespeople.
Senior and younger salespeople complement each other
– The sales organization consists of 13 employees, including two regional managers and Martin as sales manager. Part of the management work in sales involves distributing leads evenly between teams and salespeople, but also putting together sales teams where the salespeople can complement each other with different skills. We have both more senior salespeople with great skills, and younger, hungry salespeople with a lot of energy. Together, it makes a good whole and a rewarding exchange of skills.
Teamwork in sales work more important than individual outcomes
– We always strive to work long-term. Our salespeople themselves are involved in setting the goals for next year. This creates participation and commitment. Then it is less important which salesperson gets the most business in a given year. We are careful to look at the effort and work a salesperson puts in, not just the sales figures; individual contracts have such a big impact on the whole that we cannot just look at results in numbers and quantity.
Unpretentious sellers enable knowledge sharing
– Haha, although we don't have any salespeople! Yes, we have salespeople, but that's how it can sound sometimes; our salespeople have a broad role with both outreach sales, consulting and project management in implementation. All salespeople have the same formal title, but within a team we try to get a good mix of salespeople with different skills. Then they can complement each other within the same project. Basically, we are very prestige-free and that provides good conditions for sharing experiences and best practices.