Kamstrup
Kamstrup, a global manufacturer of energy and water metering solutions, is beating water loss with smart technology. The company’s water metering division, based in Atlanta, GA provides intelligent water networks that empower utilities to identify leaks, track consumption volumes, and reduce water consumption without sacrificing comfort or economic growth. Today, Kamstrup’s flowIQ®, a smart water metering system, reflects design genius that reduces utility operational costs, water leaks, and carbon footprint.
Results at a glance
- Higher win rates with larger utilities
- More rigorous assessment of opportunities to identify, advance, and close, faster
- Poised for leadership in the US, which represents 50% of the water metering market
The Challenge
When you’re selling a product, the natural tendency is to talk about the product features. It was evident to Kamstrup’s leadership team that the sales conversation centered around the technical benefits of water meters rather than the progress for utilities. Staying true to its mission, “Progress for Others,” meant adopting a consultative selling model, one focused on the customer’s perspective.
Kamstrup decided to look for a sales methodology that was scalable, logical, and practical.
- SCALABLE: Whether speaking with a utility that had two employees or millions of metering points, the methodology had to apply.
- LOGICAL: All customer-facing team members had to quickly understand and adopt it.
- PRACTICAL: Instead of training that made people merely feel good, it had to be concrete and easy to use on a daily basis.
Business issues
- Drive expansion in the US water metering market
- Move sales conversations from technical features to customer value
- Adopt one scalable methodology across sales, marketing and product teams in 25 countries
It’s easy to promise value. But it’s difficult to know what the value to the customer is unless those who sell the products and those who design and develop the products are on the same page. When you actually want to deliver value, it’s important your organization is connected.
The Solution
Conducting wide-scale immersion
Kamstrup leadership decided that all 200 sales, marketing, and product management team members, representing 25 countries around the globe, would participate in the ValueSelling Framework® workshop.
In addition, the sales engineers developed account plans for their top accounts, and Kamstrup’s CRM system integrated ValueSelling language and process. The lead ValueSelling Associate worked closely with product managers and marketing teams to communicate Kamstrup’s differentiators within the framework, so that sales enablement tools augment overall team efforts.
This fully inclusive approach would enable the sales and product development teams to both understand the customer’s business issues and problems, and devise a solution.
Improving profitability through value-based conversations
The ValueSelling team customized the training materials and developed tailored case studies designed to:
- Transform the sales team into business advisors, who drive conversations based on the value the customer receives
- Install a more rigorous assessment of opportunities so the sales team spends their time identifying, advancing, and closing on the most promising customers
- Align the product management and marketing collateral to underline the value of the Kamstrup solutions to clients
The Results
Today, this common framework among all countries makes it easier to share insights, easier to get new hires up to speed, and easier for the average sales person to perform much better. So everyone benefits and Kamstrup is well-positioned to achieve its growth targets.
With the ValueSelling Framework, Kamstrup found a pragmatic concept that puts the customer at the center, letting them uncover the value of new technology. Already, Kamstrup sees higher win rates with larger utilities.
Given the daunting challenge of water scarcity, urbanization, and an aging infrastructure in America, what’s more patriotic than maximizing and conserving America’s water resources?
