What’s drawing a huge company like UPS to make such a transformation? Research across multiple industries in 2003 by McKinsey & Company indicated that accomplishing the transition is challenging a full 75 percent of companies who say they provide solutions don’t seem to be realizing a significant increase in return on sales. However, the small percentage of companies that are beginning to “crack the code” are experiencing gains of an extra 3 to 7 percent return on sales from
improved margins, longer and more lucrative contracts and relationships, and access to markets they had previously been unable to penetrate. And with the right approach, the return can likely be even higher the promise of which is motivating many companies to pursue a solutions approach to key markets. Our experiences over the past 15 years support McKinsey’s suggestion that a solutions salesperson may be able to earn even higher premiums than the 3 to 7 percent incremental
return on sales reported. But here is the caveat consistently attaining these levels of improvement requires significantly more than simply training or retooling the sales force.