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Sales Leadership is the
Key to Creating Value
by Advantage Partner Mike Castling
Since 1925, Dunn-Edwards Corporation has been a leading Southwest paint manufacturer and retailer. Highly successful, the company is now shifting to a frontline, performance-based approach that will help the sales team create more value for its customers.
Seeking the Next Level
Dunn-Edwards’ primary market—professional paint contractors—was changing. Add increased competition. Mix in the final ingredient, a new President ready to build on the success of the family-run business, and you have a formula for action.
Gary Jones, Director of Training, explains, “We wanted to shift our sales management philosophy and focus more on regional and district accountability for results. We wanted to tighten up, capitalize on our reputation for highest quality and service, maximize market share from existing business, and get a fresh focus that would give us a kick-start in telling our value story more aggressively to customers.”
The company’s formalized vision clarified the road ahead. President Mike Rose provided personal commitment and involvement. Adding momentum was the annual sales meeting, where sales guru Huthwaite President Neil Rackham and leadership icon John Wooden addressed the 350-person national sales team.
The next priority was developing the sales management team. The company had presented managers with new expectations. The Symphony and The Conductor (from Advantage alliance partner The Real Learning Company) provided the leadership development concepts and on-the-job tools to help sales managers execute the new strategy.
Focusing on Accountability
Since the sales team had been so successful, accountability had not been a priority in recent years. With the shift to a more aggressive, value-driven sales approach, accountability became more important. “The most important thing for managers to relearn in the leadership development programs was how to hold people accountable,” notes Jones. “The interactive format and really unique tools of Symphony and Conductor were very effective ways to help people understand how to articulate expectations clearly and give relevant and meaningful feedback—then hold sales reps accountable for results.”
Embracing the Sales Shift
Sales managers for the six-state outside sales force who went through Symphony and Conductor learned the keys to directing a high-performance sales team. Dunn-Edwards also streamlined the sales reporting hierarchy, strengthened direct reporting lines, and introduced a compensation strategy for sales managers and reps that directly linked to increased market share and profitability. How is the leadership team reacting to these changes and the sales shift they represent?
“Developing leaders first is very important,” says Jones. “We are explaining the changes we’re making are simply better ways for people to do their jobs and be successful. Everyone was committed to our new direction after the Symphony and Conductor training. I can see how people are already thinking and acting differently. The new sales management process is definitely off to the right start.”
Helping managers communicate the changes to the sales team, develop new goal-setting processes and coaching skills to direct performance effectively, and support their people were just the first steps.
President Rose explains, “This is an exciting time for everyone at Dunn-Edwards. We are very definitely shifting focus, grounded by a very clear vision and building on our continuing legacy of premium products and service. We’re on the move as an organization and aspire to achieve even higher levels of performance. These programs will enable us to create even greater value for our customers.”
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