Francis Catering Equipment Ltd has seen new business soar from under £200k to over £1.2m within the past 18 months with £400k live quotes and 18% conversion rate from suspects into prospects. Aardvark Marketing Consultants and Heart of England Sandler Training Centre collaborated on a sales and marketing program that has totally changed how Francis Catering approach new business and look for new clients.
Chris Hutchinson, Managing Director of Aardvark Marketing created a multi-touch marketing programme to feed a regular flow of good quality leads to the sales team. Chris explained, “Our objective was to generate £1m of new business sales per annum over a 5 year period. Using a mix of communication channels, and rigorous measurement we have exceeded our targets. This type of marketing needs careful development and implementation, but can be a highly cost-effective and enduring way to grow a business.”
Nigel Dunand, Managing Director of The Heart of England Sandler Training joined forces with Chris and commented “The beauty of the combination of sales and marketing means that once a lead has come into the sales pipeline the sales people know exactly what to do with it to quickly qualify or disqualify that suspect. Sandler Training installs proven systems and processes into the business by reinforcement training from the top down. To make a real difference a business has to want to change and be open to learning a new way of working.”
Francis Catering Equipment Ltd, established in 1973 is an innovative company which employs a large team of skilled craftsmen, making it one of the largest Design Houses in the West Midlands. They design, manufacture, install and maintain commercial kitchens for a variety of sectors including bars, restaurants, schools, hospitals and local authorities. “I can’t believe how much the sales generator programme has changed the nature and values of our activities,” said Neil Humphries, Managing Director of Francis Catering. “For the first time we have a process to deliver the quality and quantity of leads we need to hit our growth targets, not to mention the high returns on investment!”
To download the full case study, please click HERE