breaking the sales plateau

 

problem statement

After two years of steady on plan growth, sales had flattened. The company believed it had a sales effectiveness problem. We were introduced by a member of the board to undertake a review of the sales process, and provide an understanding from the customer perspective.

 

our hypothesis

The technical advantage was real but customers struggled to translate it into productivity in the drug discovery process. Our principal hypothesis was that the company was on the cusp between an existing early adopter customer base and a potential mainstream market. The company's value proposition and sales process, we believed, was still focused on the early adopter community.

findings

Customers found the value proposition over complex and the configuration of the equipment did not match their working habits. The product range was complex, the price point was too high, and aggressive competition was undermining a clear technical advantage.

impact on strategy

The company re-directed their product development efforts onto a lower cost 'personal' platform, directly accessible by an individual scientist rather than being shared by a work group. The sales process was refocused onto large account management whilst simultaneously the company developed a 'user' community program. A major R&D effort into knowledge products, previously a core part of the intended offering, was discontinued.