In this interview with Richard we discuss a Machine Company. I ask Richard: How were you introduced? How did you get them as a client? He responds that, Dakota Machine came through an MEP (Manufacturing Extension Partnership). Richard had discovered them when they came to a workshop he had. He followed up with a complimentary consultation for them and closed them on four projects of his HMA System.
Rather than charging his consulting fee all at once, Richard decided the ‘pay as you go plan’ because they liked the idea that they could stop using Richard after step 1 was complete if they were not happy with the results.
The next question I asked Richard was: “How much did you charge on these projects? ” Richard: These are between $3,000 and $4,000 a step. In response I asked him, “What were some of their challenges?”
Richard says: “Here we had a company that had a salesman making cold calls. They specialized in smaller machine parts. The salesman had gotten lead lists and was making calls. The salesman making calls was an asset. He was open, willing to change, and even make changes if needed. We already developed a good USP as well to help.”
Many times in manufacturing, one of the biggest issues, problems and voids in the market, is getting the product finished and delivered on time. This is what they refer to as ‘lead time’. He determined that in step one (the USP) they could guarantee lead-time or the shipping was free. That became the new script for the salesman.
Another thing we found that the salesman was not doing, is that he was not qualifying prospects very well. He was talking to manufacturers that would never need or want the specialized machine parts that Dakota Machine offered. The salesman was wasting a lot of time. In step 2 of Richard’s System it says: When you have a USP, you begin to train salespeople on what they should be asking prospects for to determine if they want to spend more time on that lead.
As a result of this the conversion rates shot up 20% to 30%, just in 60 days. As a result we have now this little machine shop company at greater capacity, and they are bringing on a second and third shift.