Case Study Series

NYK Logistics Americas, Inc.

CASE PROFILE
Company Name: NYK Logistics Americas, Inc. Industry: Transportation Employees: 48,000+ Warehouse & Office Locations: 398 Key Challenges: No formal sales process Poor forecasting Poor visibility into opportunities No clear way to measure results Solution: Strategic Selling Conceptual Selling Strategic Selling Coaching Conceptual Selling Coaching Large Account Management Process Sales Access ManagerSM Interviewed: Jim Craig, sr. vice president of sales and marketing Bill Hoffman, Miller Heiman sales consultant
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About NYK Logistics

NYK Logistics Americas is recognized as one of the leading logistics providers, delivering fully integrated logistics solutions tailored to the needs of its customers. Its diverse range of logistics services include surface transportation, warehousing and distribution, freight forwarding, international network solutions, supply chain consulting, and IT solutions. NYK Logistics is a part of NYK Group, which was founded in 1885. Since then, NYK has become one of the worlds leading shipping companies. NYK group has more than 48,000 employees around the world and offers an extensive suite of various transportation and logistics services. When NYK started its logistics solution business, revenues from this new venture were only US $80 million. Today, as part of the US$28 billion NYK group, NYK Logistics revenues have grown to more than US$4 billion, including the contribution of its sister company, Yusen Air & Sea Service.

2009 Miller Heiman, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.millerheiman.com

Miller Heiman Case Study Series

The Problem
While the new division seemed healthy overall, there were improvements that needed to be pursued in order to grow the business further. We had no way of predicting future revenue results from current customer pursuit activities, said Jim Craig, senior vice president of sales and marketing for NYK Logistics. When our CEO wanted a forecast for coming months, I would send an email to my regional sales vice presidents, and they would send an email out to their account managers. Then they would compile their responses and guess what the next 30-60 days might bring. Craig describes his only way for forecasting as nothing more than a consolidated guess. In addition to Craigs forecasting challenge, he lacked any visibility into the opportunities his salespeople were pursuing. The quality, viability and challenge each opportunity represented was always dependent on the single opinion of the always optimistic salesperson.

was ready to make some changes. Proctor, who worked with Miller Heiman in previous roles, brought in Miller Heiman sales consultant Bill Hoffman to diagnose the companys issues. They had no structure and discipline, Hoffman said. Each salesperson had his or her own process, operating autonomously with their own books of business. But after only two meetings, Craig felt confident that Miller Heiman was the right choice for his team. I thought, if Bill Hoffman could use Miller Heiman methods and philosophy (and I eventually became fully aware and appreciative that he was indeed using Miller Heiman processes on me) to convince me to make a substantial financial commitment, I knew it was powerful stuff, Craig said. Our quick decision to move forward was a testament to the Miller Heiman methodologies effectiveness, Bills skills, and our clear need for something to address our obvious gaps.

The Solution
To them, every opportunity was a huge deal for NYK Logistics, and a sure thing if we would only put 100 percent of our resources, time and energy behind supporting this pursuit, Craig said. Every opportunity looked the same. Craig was concerned when he realized that valuable time and finite resources were continually focused on modest opportunities with unlikely success. Meanwhile, better opportunities with high win potential would go without leadership engagement, IS support, or process alignment, because their respective salespeople were not the squeaky wheels. According to Craig, his company had no formal process in place before working with Miller Heiman. It was clear to Hoffman that NYK Logistics was in need of a process that gave leadership better visibility into each salespersons funnel and allowed them to accurately evaluate opportunities in order to properly allocate resources. In addition, salespeople were in need of a structured plan that ensured they were getting all necessary information from their clients. With these key objectives in mind, Bill prescribed Miller Heimans three core methodologies: Strategic Selling, Conceptual Selling, and Large Account Management ProcessSM (LAMP ).

The Results
According to Craig, leadership at NYK Logistics enjoyed improved visibility and understanding of opportunities in pursuit within just weeks of implementation. They even saw a few immediate wins when the opportunities they worked on during the training programs were closed based on breakthroughs uncovered during the classroom work.

The Decision
With the entry of a new vice president of business development, David Proctor, it was clear that NYK Logistics

2009 Miller Heiman, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.millerheiman.com

NYK Logistics Americas, Inc.

Within four to six months, they saw the individuals who embraced the concepts start to win faster and more often. After six months, they were able to start quantifying improvements in sales cycle length and win ratio by comparing data. Within a year, the average monthly

the expectations and requirements of forecasting, when you know full well that youre really just taking a shot in the dark. According to Craig, the companys salespeople developed a sense of pride as they evolved as business development professionals. They all began to speak the same language, and use the same tools and concepts, making them a stronger team. Hoffman also considers himself a winner in his engagement

revenue had doubled. The real excitement began to grow when we could accurately forecast future revenue results from looking at what was in process, Craig said. Hoffman also noticed that the company started to see impressive quick results. They began avoiding a lot of wasted motion in their sales, Hoffman said. They began selling more efficiently, avoiding the unnecessary tasks that previously slowed them down. A specific example of the impact made by adopting Miller Heiman is the story of two average-performing salespeople who began to embrace the Miller Heiman process, saw a dramatic increase in their performance, and are now consistent top ten producers. The only thing that changed was their training and new commitment to the process. Overall, Craig says he now works with a more focused and determined sales force that speaks a common language and uses a common process. Our sales leaders are able to manage their teams by focusing on the deals that really matter and coaching to make salespeople more effective and productive, Craig said. We can now assign precious resources and investment to those deals that are most compelling based on quality and true position in the sales funnel. In addition to organizational results, Craig also experienced various personal wins. My number one win is confidence that what is happening today will have a predictable impact tomorrow, Craig said. I cant describe the angst that came with having

with NYK logistics. For him, its the satisfaction of having an impact on the organization and individual salespeople. Occasionally a sales rep will call me to talk about a deal he or she is working on and ask for my input, Hoffman said. Im always happy to help them out and even happier to realize that they continue to value the process and my coaching.

The Long Haul

Since implementing Miller Heimans processes in 2006, NYK Logistics has continued to embrace the methodologies as key factors to their success. Today, they continue to train all new hires in Strategic Selling and Conceptual Selling and select salespeople in LAMP. They have also broadened the impact by adding Miller Heiman processes to another NYK company in the U.S., and are currently introducing Miller Heiman processes to NYK groups in Asia and South America. Theyve also implemented Strategic Selling Coaching and Conceptual Selling Coaching and are currently using Sales Access ManagerSM Team Edition.

2009 Miller Heiman, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.millerheiman.com