MacDermid Inc., a leading worldwide manufacturer of specialty chemical processes for the metal and plastic finishing industries, faced a tough market in 2000. As the dot-com bubble burst and Y2K had the nation in a panic, much of the manufacturing in one of MacDermid's primary market segments – plating printed circuit boards – moved to China.

 “By the time things stabilized, our business had declined by half,” said Mike Siegmund, president of MacDermid's Advanced Surface Finishing division. “In order to survive, we knew we needed to make some changes and learn how to sell to a much smaller market. We couldn't count on market growth as we had done in the past. We needed to learn how to take market share.”

 Though MacDermid's salespeople were strong technicians and good at solving complex technical problems, they had difficulty building multi-level relationships with customers and closing deals – especially big deals. Historically, MacDermid salespeople have been very independent, deciding on their own which deals to pursue and being judged solely on the revenue produced. There was no culture of teamwork, target accounts, or management-directed sales at the company.

“We had lost the 'culture of sales' that led to our success back in the 60s and 70s,” said Gary St. Pierre, vice president of human resources. “When you focus on sales, the sales force is put in the driver's seat and they are able to get whatever they need to meet customer needs. And we all know that if you meet customer needs, while meeting your own guidelines for solid business deals, you will succeed. Somehow we had lost this focus and in 2001, we recommitted ourselves to rebuilding this culture of sales and good business decisions in the organization.”

MacDermid began by putting its salespeople and managers through extensive training programs to ensure that the right people were on the team and that they had the necessary selling skills to be successful. This training included basic selling skills, presentation skills, in-depth financial training, understanding buyer behavior and motivation, and workshops in negotiation and conflict management.

The result of the training was a team of more confident, skilled salespeople, but the organization still lacked a methodology to attack the bigger accounts.

“Our salespeople were more confident, but they were still following the old model of one salesperson selling to one customer,” St. Pierre said. “We still needed help going after the really big accounts. Rather than selling to one shop owner or purchasing agent, we wanted our guys to be able to sell to large companies with multiple locations and several decision makers.”

The Complex Sale provided MacDermid with the methodology, software, and management training they needed to go after – and win – the big accounts. In addition to its R.A.D.A.R.® methodology, The Complex Sale was able to help MacDermid create a compensation plan that aligned with the programs and encouraged team members to help each other close the big deals.

The plan worked. In 2006, a flat year in the electronics and metal finishing markets, MacDermid increased its sales by 15%. With The Complex Sale's help, MacDermid was able to capture market share from major competitors, sell higher-up both politically and strategically in customer organizations, and address higher-level political, strategic, and financial pains for its customers.

“We have closed several very big accounts worth millions of dollars,” said St. Pierre. “Our target account team members have seen checks for $10K, $20K, $30K and more due to their successful contributions on these sales teams. Now that so many substantial checks are being shared among all team members who help land the big accounts, a real sales culture has been established. Salespeople now realize that they are no longer limited to the resources available in their own region. When they need help, whether it's another salesperson, regional manager, technical service resource, or product manager, they can easily get it. In fact, because the new team-based compensation system has proven to be so lucrative, we often end up with more volunteers than we need for a particular role on the team."

“R.A.D.A.R.® has been an incredibly successful tool,” said Siegmund. “It brought structure to our organization and helped us achieve our goals in an extremely competitive environment. Now, we're selling to large companies with multiple locations because we learned how to uncover and address their enterprise-level pains. In the past, we believed one person could do it all alone – the legendary super salesman – but this wasn't realistic. The new R.A.D.A.R. ® methodology has totally changed the way we work, and the business we win is stronger and better overall as a result. We are positioned higher in the organization, our relationships are stronger, and our solutions are recognized as providing more value.”

Today, MacDermid continues to train all of its salespeople on The Complex Sale's R.A.D.A.R.® methodology and managers participate in the Coaching the Complex Sale workshop so that they can better coach the process. The company also utilizes ongoing R.A.D.A.R.® reinforcement and reviews, as well as the GPS R.A.D.A.R.® On-Demand collaborative software, which provides real-time account information to the entire sales and service team.

“The service we have received from The Complex Sale has been excellent,” said St. Pierre. “Their products are very well organized with great support software, workbooks, and top-notch training consultants who have spent their entire careers in real-world sales roles. We've used other training firms that use teachers from academia, or hired-gun trainers who believe they can effectively teach whatever the topic du jour happens to be. It rarely works. The TCS consultants are true experts in sales methodologies, and they've been able to collaborate with our president and regional managers to customize each of their programs to meet our specific market challenges. Our sales force loves these guys. They really understand our business and definitely add value every time we use them. We no longer get the typical moaning and groaning that you tend to hear whenever you announce the next sales training session. Our guys really welcome the TCS consultants back as value-added resources to our sales team. They haven't sold us anything so far that hasn't been met with great acceptance in our group.”

MacDermid, Inc. (NYSE: MRD) is a leading worldwide manufacturer of specialty chemical processes for the metal and plastic finishing, electronics, and graphic arts industries with operating facilities in 20 countries.