The Center for Industrial Marketing helps professionalize sales processes to create a more company-wide customer focus
ABB is a leading technology company in electrification and automation, with sites in over 100 countries and around 105,000 members of staff. ABB has been striving to advance innovation and accelerate the transformation of industry for over 130 years by focusing on solutions that help make the future more sustainable and resource-efficient.
Watch ABB's Success Story
The challenge
Rising competitive pressure and the complexity of its service portfolio make it a challenge for ABB to work together with customers. The firm recognized that a holistic sales approach was essential, with sales being identified as a key factor for managing global and national key accounts as well as small customers effectively and efficiently. ABB has been working with us for many years specifically to make its sales processes more professional.
The solution
We determined the areas of action together with the ABB management team in order to tailor the empowerment program to the company. The goal was to achieve standardized customer management across company divisions and national borders. A strong basis was provided in the form of established concepts, such as the St. Gallen KAM concept, value selling and sales excellence. The employees were empowered through management workshops held every six months along with in-house training sessions and various other workshops. ABB also established an in-house training program: the ABB University.
The result
ABB is now in a better position to deal with dynamic market conditions, identify evolving customer needs at an earlier stage and bridge the gap to its customers. Closer alignment with customers has made the sales team and the organization as a whole much more customer-centric. The ABB University enables the company to invest in its employees, making it easier to add value for customers in the long term. Ideas for new services are pitched regularly in internal meetings and workshops with customers to sharpen ABB’s competitive edge. The quality of interactions with customers and the level of customer loyalty have both improved, since the sales teams are now better able to understand and address customer needs.
For us, sales excellence is a key driver for initiating sales activities across all divisions. A coherent management concept has provided the basis for us to manage and inspire our customers on an individual basis.
Max Wüthrich
Former Head of Account Management & Customer Segments ABB