Chatham Financial

Client: Chatham Financial
Industry: Financial Advisory, Technology
Services: Assessments, Sales Training, Sales Coach Training
 

Challenge

Founded in 1991, Chatham is a financial advisory and technology company specializing in the debt and derivative markets serving the investment and risk management needs of its clients.

While Chatham was growing, the management team realized that without more people to shoulder the load of bringing in new clients and expanding existing ones, growth would slow. They needed to embrace business development training for their technical experts to get to the next stage of growth.

Solutions

Chatham engaged RAIN Group to help build business development skills and drive revenue growth. RAIN Group:

• Analyzed the team with the Rainmaker Assessment to identify  selling strengths and potential. The assessment provided insight into the work styles and selling motivations of the team to determine skill-development needs.
• Developed and implemented a customized RAIN Selling training program, keeping in mind that this group is not naturally inclined to sales and that sales is not their only job: they both sell and deliver the work.
• Rolled out a Train the Trainer program for Chatham leaders to deliver the training successfully on their own. This included a detailed instructor guide, facilitator coaching, and access to RAIN Group's library of online learning programs.
• Designed a year-long advanced sales curriculum consisting of a series of one-day workshops followed by coaching support for high-potential sellers. The topics were designed specifically around the areas of greatest potential impact for Chatham. Each workshop included extensive practice in one or two topics, such as articulating impact to create urgency and telling convincing stories (Insight Selling).

Results

Since Chatham began working with RAIN Group, they've seen a significant impact on their sales results across the board, including:

• On track to achieve 200% of sales targets
• Average deal size increased over 180% due to identifying additional opportunities on the front end and selling a broader solution set
• Shortened sales cycle from 150 to 81 days with much stronger opportunity qualification
• Used the RAIN approach to quick-start product management by identifying the value proposition, key benefits, and value to the client during the development process
• Sharp uptick in $500K+ opportunities as the sales team is more adept at managing the process and resources for success