Inter Primo Sales Academy: Dialogue and customer value

The Inter Primo group has just formed a sales training programme for all sales staff in all Primo companies. The new Inter Primo Sales Academy will focus primarily on streamlining sales tools and the approach to customer dialogue in the company – with the ultimate goal of increasing the value customers experience when dealing with Primo.

CEO Claus Tønnesen: “When I came to Primo in 2012, it became clear to me that it would be a good idea to streamline the way we handle our sales. We have a lot of remarkably skilled people in Primo, but we need to make it easier for customers to enter into dialogue with us, and we need to apply the same approach to sales and customer dialogue across the Primo organization. So we decided to set up a sales training programme in the organization – the Inter Primo Sales Academy.”

Jim Nilsson of Primo in Sweden was tasked with setting up the first training programmes in the new Academy.  So far, several training sessions have been held, mainly in Sweden, but sessions are being scheduled for all sales staff in the entire Primo organization.

“We wish to make certain that our customers are met by a professional sales staff applying the same sales tools across the organization,” says Jim Nilsson, managing director of Primo in Sweden and Norway. “Our customers will get better value from working with us, if we have a common mentality and a common approach to customer dialogue. That is, of course, the ultimate goal.”

It’s all about dialogue

New training tools and a new approach to customer dialogue lie at the heart of the training programme, which will be for all Primo sales staff – from business area managers to sales representatives.

“It is important that we all have the same mind-set when it comes to sales and customer contact in Primo,” says Jim Nilsson. “Not just sales reps, but everyone involved in customer contact, including Primo’s management level. So getting everyone updated on skills and knowledge is essential for us.”

Continuous development

But the job is not done with just a six-day training course, no matter how intensive.

“This is just the beginning,” Jim Nilsson says. “We need to constantly monitor and evaluate our sales effort. The Inter Primo Sales Academy is just one of the ways we intend to put new focus on how we deal with our customers – and how it connects to other functions in our company, such as marketing, production and logistics.”

All in all, some 40 sales staff and business area managers will undergo the new Inter Primo Sales Academy programme.