Drilling Down to the Core Through Expert Oil and Gas Sales Training
Nowhere do we find a more complicated and diverse supply chain than in the oil and gas industry. The finished product rarely comes from a single company or source. Indeed, the fuel that makes it into your car, for example, is not the result of a single company finding the oil in the ground, pumping it, shipping it in their pipelines, refining it into gasoline in their refineries, and selling it in their own gas stations.
For sales training to have the greatest impact in oil and gas, the sales trainer must clearly understand where your product or service fits in the process. The oil and gas industry and all its byproducts fit into four main segments, and only a few companies are diversified enough to reach into all four:
- Upstream – The process of getting oil and/or gas out of the ground. It is sometimes referred to as exploration and production. This sector also includes related services such as production, rig operations, machinery sales and rentals, and extraction equipment and supplies.
- Midstream – These operations mostly focus on transportation and storage, and involve pipelines, supertankers, rail cars, and other gathering and transmission systems.
- Downstream – This is the refining process that turns the natural resource into products like gasoline, plastic, motor oils, lubricants, plastics, electronics, metals and others. Downstream operators also play key roles in other sectors, influencing supply and demand in industries as diverse as agriculture and medical equipment.
- Product Development and Service – This sector includes a wide range of companies that provide the labor necessary for innovation, operations and support services. This can include a design and engineering firm, a food service company, maintenance and repair crews—even safety consultants and medical personnel.
HOW GAME FACE CAN HELP
Learn to develop new relationships – The largest firms in the oil and gas sector are wide ranging and diverse, while other companies pinpoint a niche segment. Usually loyal to existing relationships, tenured companies can be difficult to sell to, especially if it is unclear who their vendors are, or who their competition is. Game Face trains salespeople in ways to break through where relationships may be entrenched and the desire for a new supplier is low.
How to master customer meetings – Less talking and more listening is key to understanding a project and the results stakeholders expect. But first, the prospect has to be willing to open up. We teach specific techniques that build trust and transparency—critical elements of a successful sale. As you learn more about the company and its market segment, you can more easily determine how to introduce the solutions your company brings.
How to negotiate a win-win – Nuances are apparent in every deal. Since the most successful contracts are as close as possible to a win-win situation for each party, Game Face trains salespeople in the oil and gas field on how negotiations are conversations with commitments. How to make and obtain them skillfully sets Game Face-trained salespeople apart.
CLIENT SUCCESSES
Over a 10-year period, Game Face has worked with ESCO Corporation, a designer and manufacturer of innovative products that make companies in the oil and gas world more productive and safe. In business for over a century, ESCO taps Game Face to train their dealer network of dozens of companies in how to provide the right solutions for their customers using ESCO products. We help them articulate what they know but may not be able to say—that ESCO solutions are superior to competitors’ despite these same dealers representing a number of other suppliers. Though ESCO’s competitors are Fortune 500 brands, we are able to show their internal sales staff and dealer network how their sales techniques differentiate them in a crowded industry, while convincingly voicing superiority in value and service.
“Rob Cornilles is a remarkable person, leader and contributor! His track record of delivering quality results inspires confidence, and how he goes about achieving those results inspires trust. I greatly admire and value Rob and his insights.”
Stephen M.R. Covey
The New York Times & #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Speed of Trust, and co-author of Smart Trust