Server Technology

Headquartered in Reno Nevada, Server Technology helps companies reduce their downtime and improve data center power management by designing, manufacturing, and selling power distribution products.

In February 2008, when Server Technology approached KeyRoad Enterprises, Server Technology’s goal was to ensure that the company met its $50 million in revenue for its fiscal year 2008.

In its then current situation, Server Technology felt it had some obstacles to overcome if it wanted to achieve its revenue goals. Some of the expressed concerns were:

The company did not have a disciplined sales engagement process it could depend on. Sales people were engaging in product-centric conversations with limited or no diagnosing of business goals. Sales people did not have effective prospecting and other sales tools, limiting its ability to secure new clients. There was no consistent way to grade their pipeline across all its operations.

Having gone through some similar sales training in the past, the senior management wanted to ease the delivery of new skills and allow adoption to take hold within the sales organization. Server Technology decided to train its entire sales, marketing, and sales support staff, including its senior management, in two phases using CustomerCentric Selling® as its building block.

Working with KeyRoad Enterprises and its president, Philippe Lavie, Server Technology implemented:

• In Phase One:
  • Methodology foundation, core concepts, and a common vocabulary for discussing and assessing opportunities across its worldwide operations.
  • Prospecting techniques and business development tools.
  • Development and usage of conversational guides to properly diagnose a prospect situation prior to prescribing any solutions, while collecting financial metrics to help the prospect justify a possible purchase.
• In Phase Two:
  • A review of Phase One learning
  • Techniques to access key players and decision makers
  • A roadmap to manage the buying process without controlling individuals
  • How to prepare a cost vs. benefit analysis that a prospect can own and trust
  • How to effectively negotiate a deal without discounting
  • How to set-up competitive traps as well as prepare the prospect/client for additional up selling

To-date, Server Technology has been able to achieve the following results:

1. Maintaining margins through improved negotiating skills
2. More intuitive sales methodology resulting in more success stories and referrals
3. Learning how to identify the customers goals and objectives
4. Standardizing the sales methodology and messaging throughout the organization which has distinguished Server Technology from the competition
5. The sales focus has moved from product functionally to customer solution selling

Graham Leonard, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, was pleased with the results: “We have moved away from selling on features and products to paying more attention to the customers’ needs we can identify through more intelligent conversations. We now have the necessary tools and skills to gain access to the business users and decision makers outside the IT shop. I am very happy with the results achieved by this training program and how the team has adopted these processes.”

Server Technology Director of Sales Michele Ruiz stated: “the sales team has learned to distinguish themselves from other sales reps by asking questions and listening. By listening instead of talking our sales team is able to identify the customer’s objective and develop a solution that will help their customer be successful.”

For more information about Server Technology, please visit www.servertech.com. For more information about KeyRoad Enterprises, please visit: www.keyroad.com.

Addendum:
In July 2010, happy with its past results with the implementation of KeyRoad services based on the CustomerCentric Selling® processes, Server Technology extended its contract with KeyRoad to further trained its new hires (since last training took place), its technical support staff, and some of its marketing resources to ensure continuous deployment of the CCS® methodology and processes across the company.