The BT Transcomm Story

The challenge

BT Transcomm is an innovative product and service business, developing machine to machine (M2M) based solutions offering secure wireless data and telematics. They were acquired by BT plc in 2004, and decided to extend their portfolio into new markets. They saw that vehicle tracking was a significant growth area, both for security and to enable companies to automate activities such as vehicle expenses, logistics, and records required to satisfy duty of care legislation. The first service that BT Transcomm developed was called Trackit. The primary route to market for Trackit was BT Retail whose salesforce already covered BT Transcomm’s target markets. However, as a small business unit BT Transcomm needed to increase visibility of its product in the channel and give the BT Retail salesforce the confidence to sell the solution. They knew that enabling the channel, which had little experience of the technology, would not be easy.

Action

BT Transcomm had developed some marketing materials to support the product launch but these were not aimed at the channel and did not help salespeople to sell the solution; there was increasing concern about their ability to communicate with the large number of salespeople in BT Retail. Mobilising the BT Retail salesforce was vital to achieving the projected sales targets. When the BT Transcomm team were introduced to Solutions for Sales they recognised that the Sales Guide would fill the key gap in their launch strategy, and after discussing the process they appreciated that an external input could help to ensure that the Sales Guide focused on the key selling messages and customer benefits and avoided the bland marketing messages that don’t help salespeople. They were also satisfied that Solutions for Sales could meet the challenging timescales and ensure that the resulting Sales Guide was available in time for the channel launch.

Results

The Solutions for Sales workshop approach provided an effective process to identify the key information required to help the channel salespeople sell the solution. It was then distilled into a concise and readable document. The resulting Sales Guide enabled a salesperson unfamiliar with the solution to take it to the stage of a qualified prospect before introducing the client to BT Transcomm. This helps BT Transcomm concentrate their limited resources on developing proposals and closing sales. “We knew that enabling the sales channel was vital to the success of Trackit but without the Sales Guide we would not have been able to communicate the key information to the salespeople” according to Kevin McNulty CEO of BT Transcomm. “We thought we might be able to produce our own type of sales handbook but realised during the workshop process that we were too close to the project and wouldn’t have had the objectivity to select the right information. The Solutions for Sales process was very effective and although it was a significant expenditure it has proved to be extremely good value for money”. The Sales Guide was acknowledged as the key document in the launch process and one that ensured it was a success. The Trackit project is now being used as a platform for further developments in the vehicle M2M space.

"The Solutions for Sales process was very effective and although it was a significant expenditure it has proved to be extremely good value for money."

Kevin McNulty, CEO, BT Transcomm.

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