The Polatis Story
The challenge
The development programme for Polatis' ground-breaking new optical switch module was nearing completion. CEO Dave Lewis knew that the performance of the innovative technology incorporated into the switch module, although way in advance of any other competitive offering on the market, would not be enough alone to sell the product. Polatis had to find a way to effectively capture, document and communicate the business benefits of the outstanding performance offered by the switch. It would be important also to express these customer benefits in terms that key investors could understand. “The performance benefits offered by our technology cannot be questioned”, said Dave. “It is, after all, the main reason I joined the company. But we needed to explain, in words that business people could buy into, how this new approach to optical switching would transform the commercial and operational aspects of running an optical transmission network.”
Action
Dave knew of the Strategic Sales Program from his previous role as Executive Vice President in charge of transmission products at telecom systems supplier Marconi. There the program had been successfully applied to a number of product lines – including DWDM/photonics -to create Sales Guides for Marconi’s worldwide salesforce and distribution partners.
Results
After some preliminary discussions, Polatis ordered a Sales Guide and Solution Brochure for the optical switch module. “Having Solutions for Sales come in and challenge us on how we communicated the business benefits of our technology was exactly what we needed,” commented Dave. “The experience was a real eye-opener for the team. Besides having the Solution Brochure ready to hand out to customers, we also now had an agreement and real focus within the management team on what was really important.” A year later Polatis is way ahead of its original business plan, having secured orders in the US six months ahead of schedule. By selling the benefits of the technology, Polatis found new application areas for the product. The investors are happy, the customers are delighted and Polatis is going from strength to strength. The bottom line – the Strategic Sales Program from Solutions for Sales has helped Polatis reach more customers and increase revenue ahead of the business plan.
"At a crucial time when Polatis was about to enter a new market, the Strategic Sales Program helped us to refine and clarify our business propositions. It enabled both the management team and our salespeople to communicate the benefits of our technology more successfully. The result has been an improved focus, a better level of engagement with the customer, and accelerated market and business development.”
Dave Lewis, CEO, Polatis
The Strategic Sales Program is only available from Solutions for Sales Ltd.
For more information please email or call +44 (0)1702 586742.