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Case Study
Cogent
Fostering a Consultative Sales Ethos with an Eye on Business Growth
Learn more about how Cogent was able to drive itself toward a 340% growth target with Pareto’s expert assistance.
Cogent are a market-leading supporter of dairy farmers across the UK and 40 other nations worldwide, providing a unique and reliable means of breeding cows through its diverse portfolio of bovine genetics. From their laboratory in Cheshire, they continue to aid the modern farming industry through technological innovation and a comprehensive approach to fertility management, offering genomic testing and mating programmes to ensure gender accuracy, promote healthier and easier births, and reduce stress in farmers’ cows.
Requirements
- Internal and field-based sales teams needed to develop an understanding of consultative sales techniques
- All training had to be specific to Cogent’s operating model and customer persona
- Need to drive business growth and maintain market leadershi
Results
- Delivery of bespoke sales excellence course that enhanced upselling and cross-selling within key accounts
- All training designed around Cogent’s unique customer base, with time spent auditing field sales executives
- Pareto training helped Cogent’s sales teams to reach a 340% market share
- Comprehensive, contextually-relevant delivery of product knowledge training
- 60 salespeople total received comprehensive sales training, with catch-up cohorts for new partners
The Need to Develop A Consultative Sales Approach
When Cogent first began its partnership with Pareto’s expert training providers, they were fielding a sales team of 54, split across five regions—with employees spread across the North, South, and Northern Ireland, as well as their international and internal salespeople.
Given Cogent’s leadership of the bovine genetics market and their unique customer demographic made up of family-based farming businesses, they were facing the issue of their sales teams thinking as salespeople, rather than as consultants that could assist and manage their key accounts towards business growth.
Alongside this, the organisation believed that by encouraging its staff to embrace a consultative sales approach with deep product knowledge and a pinpoint focus on excellent customer service at its foundation, they would be able to recognise opportunities to cross-sell Cogent’s other products and the services of its genetic consultants.
The 2-day audit stage conducted by David was welcomed by the business and the management team… Without the dedication of Pareto, I feel that the training would not have been as successful.
The training has been such a success that we’re continuing our relationship into 2023 and beyond, and see the sales excellence course as a fundamental part of all new starters’ training plans.
The Solution
Pareto assigned an account manager Athene Carr and dedicated training expert David Warley to deliver a comprehensive audit and training solution, suited to the complex requirements that Cogent came to us with.
Following virtual and face-to-face meetings with the senior leadership team in which the training schedule was planned, a two-day consultation took place. This audit allowed our expert consultants to understand how Cogent’s CRM was woven into their daily ways of working, and how crucial in-depth product knowledge was to their tech-forward industry.
This helped the training provider to understand the vital perspectives of internal stakeholders and customers, with one day spent auditing internal processes and a second day spent on the road, understanding the day-to-day responsibilities of Cogent’s field sales executives and the expectations of their customers, the dairy farmers that rely on the company’s genetics expertise to ensure their own business success.
In short, we aimed to get straight to the human element of this customer-centric industry.
The time spent auditing these methodologies and understanding the way their salespeople maintain customer relationships helped Pareto to ensure that all training was designed according to what good looked like from Cogent’s perspective. Everything from the course content to the scenarios, resources, and language used by the training providers were contextualised to the specific needs of the organisation’s salespeople and the customers they serve.
As a result of this preparatory phase, six cohorts of sales staff and business development managers received training via a two-day sales programme, with 60 staff receiving bespoke, tailored coaching and instruction in consultative sales excellence.
This B2B sales training course helped to revitalise the mindset of their internal and field sales teams, with an interactive approach allowing even those who had been with Cogent for over a decade to gain insights into enhancing sales techniques and strengthening customer relationships.
How Pareto Is Assisting Cogent in Achieving B2B Sales Excellence
Pareto’s training intervention has enabled Cogent’s salespeople to increase the organisation’s ability to cross-sell products and services to key accounts, resulting in a larger market presence on each ledger. This has since enabled the organisation to achieve its goal of a 340% market share, whilst improving internal relationships, engagement, and collaboration between teams.
Cogent continues its relationship with Pareto into 2023, with the company’s senior leadership choosing to continue to upskill their teams through our specialist learning and development programmes. With an eLearning and micro-learning project in the pipeline, Pareto seeks to offer the resources and interactive experiences which Cogent needs to maintain its continued market leadership.