When Tim Feeheley stepped in as President of JanPak Inc. in 2002, he recognized large-scale problems that infiltrated the company, a $200 million, super-regional distributor of janitorial and packaging supplies that does business in 20 states. With a lack of cooperation among general managers and a lack of consistency in working with supplier partners, “We lacked a common platform for communication,” he said.
JanPak dedicated 2003 and 2004 to addressing those issues by building the company’s culture and infrastructure and defining its purpose within the industry and among its customers, which Feeheley said had to happen before the company could learn how to grow.
“We had to create a commonality of infrastructure before we energized the sales force to get new business,” he said.
Feeheley engaged The Performance Group and President Jim Lobaito to ignite the engine of JanPak’s sales force and build a structure for future growth.
“It was a realistic, honest, and maybe even brutal assessment at times, and maybe we needed that,” Feeheley said.
Lobaito worked with Feeheley and JanPak’s Vice President of sales Michael Conrad to create a framework for open discussion with their sales team, which they could then turn around to produce a “playbook” for how the company generates sales. He further provided a critical assessment of the company’s sales processes and individual skill sets within its sales force, and forced the company’s sales professionals and leaders to develop a commonality and purpose for their day-to-day efforts.
“He took it down from an art to a science,” Feeheley said. It all resided up there in people’s heads, and he forced us to put it on paper and talk about it.”
The Performance Group, located in Urbandale, Iowa, works with companies throughout the country in a similar capacity; helping them to solve problems and initiate staff development processes so they can achieve their full potential. “Our only objective is to empower our clients to achieve their ambitious growth objectives,” Lobaito said. “One key to their growth is increasing the effectiveness of the sales force.”
The Performance Group utilizes detailed analysis, individualized coaching and group learning experiences to enable problem solving and staff development. Its custom-designed programs include:
• Hire the Best. How to find salespeople that can sell and will.
• Sales Force Audit. The audit identifies the gap between expectation and execution and shows why you are getting the results you are getting.
• Next Step Selling. A professional development program designed to eliminate the barriers that are preventing salespeople from performing up to their potential.
• Value Realization Workshops. How to avoid the commodity trap and get paid for your value.
At JanPak, Lobaito allowed Feeheley to see that the company’s general managers, sales managers and sales force didn’t often speak the same language, and lacked consistency in identifying and securing prospective customers. The result has been annual growth in excess of 20 percent in each of the past three years. Feeheley said JanPak likely would have achieved that same growth without Lobaito’s assistance, but in far less time. Feeheley said it would otherwise have taken an additional two to three years to get the company to where it is today.
“The industry in which we operate has noticed the change in our company,” he said. “We were once thought to be a somewhat disjointed, unwieldy business, and now the marketplace, which is customers, competitors and suppliers, view us as a focused, industry-leading organization.”
Lobaito added, “What people notice is their commitment to their associates. Equipping them with the right support and training enables them to better service their customers. That is where it starts; the commitment to your people.”
To learn more about The Performance Group, including a schedule of upcoming educational events, visit its Web site, www.pmgllc.net, or call (515)262-9509.