OFFICE SOLUTIONS PROVIDER FINDS NEW WAY
TO PROSPECT IN CHICAGO LOOP

—Chicago Sales Team Finds Solution to Downtown Security Woes; Tripling Their Cold-Calling Results in 2 Days —

Powell, OH, April 29, 2004—Sometimes it pays to break tradition and find another way. That’s what the Gordon Flesch Company sales leadership was forced to do in downtown Chicago, where traditional ‘foot’ prospecting for sales appointments is entirely inhibited by stringent security measures.

The Gordon Flesch Company (http://www.gflesch.com) is a privately held Office Solutions Provider with sales offices throughout the Midwest. They provide document management solutions to businesses through a direct sales force in 16 sales offices.

“In the last few years, more and more businesses that have a footprint inside of the Chicago loop have security measures in place at the front door,’ said Jeff Hardesty, President of JDH Group, Inc. “And that means the only way a sales rep can get in front of a business prospect is by using the telephone as a prospecting tool. Fact is the majority of sales people across the country don’t know how to do that effectively and routinely.”

Hardesty says the average prospecting conversation conversion ratio is in the range of 10-15 percent, which means a lot of work for a very low return.

Gordon Flesch Company sales leadership decided on a Pilot Program in their downtown Chicago office. “I’m used to new clients sending me to their biggest challenge,” said Hardesty. “After all, I guarantee the results so the risk is on me. They figure, ‘Prove it there first’. And that’s fair.”

The X2 Sales System™ and the Initiator® training process trains to one objective; improving sales individuals Conversation-to-appointment ratio to 51%+. This is accomplished through a 3-Phase 6-week Process encompassing 4 distinct Learning Platforms; CBT, WBT, customized Desktop Software simulation and Instructor facilitation.

“Jeff very quickly was able to integrate previous information into his talk track and solution,” said Michael Hartzel, Branch manager in Chicago. “The X2 pre-training learning applications set the tone for the work required in the Boot Camp.

Jeff had good advice and ‘Ping-Pong' is a great concept. The X2 system training is unique…more real-world, specific, simple…common sense.” The results of the 2-Day Boot Camp were a competency improvement of 340% enabling a 44% Conversation-to-appointment ratio.

The training ROI was estimated to be 480% based off all the new ‘Top-down’ appointments set and the teams current performance numbers. “Targeting two prospects to sit down with, speaking to both of them over the telephone and having the skill-set to consistently set at least 1 new appointment sure makes everything else in the sales process a lot easier,” continued Hardesty. “And when you shift from a ‘Bottom up’ prospecting approach to a ‘Top-down’ approach, closing ratios and average revenue per sale go up and sales cycles go down.”

Nancy Feys, sales manager for the downtown office stated, “I loved the X2 Initiator™ training tool and the support that we will all be able to go back to.” The training tool she refers to is a software tool that’s customized and resides on the sales reps computer. It acts as a competency coach after Hardesty leaves town. The time Jeff spent with all members of my team was great as well as the time he spent with me,” Feys continued. “This training is unique. Typical sales training is lectures and manuals. The X2 was great because it was all ‘hands-on' and live. It keeps the attention and excitement going. That's the best 2 days I have ever spent in any sales training.”


About JDH Group, Inc.
JDH Group, Inc. was founded in 2004 with the mission of increasing performance for
direct sales organizations. The X2 Sales System™ trains to one objective; improving
sales individuals Conversation-to-appointment ratio. This allows sales people to spend
less time to achieve the necessary number of ‘Top-down’ business appointments to
assure their monthly success.

They offer a no-risk Pilot program for companies to evaluate the results. Corporate
universities and trainers are then certified to the Process and adopt the X2 system into
their current Learning Management System. Customization via web technology and
ongoing support by JDH Group enables sales leadership and corporate trainers to adapt
the system over time to maintain high conversation conversion ratios and maximum
revenue results.


JDH Group is a privately held company and can be found on the web @
http://www.convertmoresales.com
Jeff Hardesty, developer of the X2 Sales System™ offers a complimentary analysis of
your sales organization performance metrics @
http://www.convertmoresales.com/roi_survey.html