How Redcentric Is Empowering Lasting Behavioural Change With SCOTSMAN® 

Introduction 

Founded in 1997, Redcentric is a Harrogate-based managed IT services provider with more than 1000 customers, including public sector and healthcare organisations. Across 11 locations and a network of UK datacentres, it employs more than 500 staff to deliver innovative and reliable managed IT services that empower organisations to succeed in today’s digital landscape. 

Redcentric works with a variety of organisations to meet their challenges head-on, from organisational agility and smarter working to IT transformation and business continuity. Its communications, cloud and networks solutions are underpinned by cybersecurity and professional services. As a result, Redcentric works with a host of leading names, including Heathrow, Pret a Manger, Channel 4, and King’s College Hospital. 

Redcentric first engaged Advance to embed the SCOTSMAN® methodology from scratch in 2022, going on to work closely in partnership to coach and proactively review deals with the Sales teams from then on. We sat down with Alex Kingham, Head of Enterprise Account Management, to uncover Redcentric’s SCOTSMAN® journey to date, as well as his advice for similar IT companies looking for a stronger, more reliable sales pipeline. 

Choosing SCOTSMAN® over other methodologies 

Under the leadership of incoming Group Sales and Marketing Director, Kieran Brady, two years ago the Redcentric Sales function began to search for a sales methodology to embed. Alex had been at Redcentric for six years at that point, progressing from the new business sales team into enterprise account management. He now manages a team of six account directors, focused on retaining and growing Redcentric’s biggest spenders and logos in the commercial sector. 

He remembers the decision-making process: “Before we brought in Advance, I hadn’t used SCOTSMAN®, but I was aware of it as one of the oldest and most established selling methodologies on the market. We arrived at SCOTSMAN® against competitors for a number of reasons. It also helped that the Advance team were local to our Harrogate headquarters and were really engaging face to face from the get-go, which, from a training and upskilling perspective, was incredibly valuable.” 

Bringing “order to the chaos”

The Enterprise team’s experience is broad. It is one of – if not the – most experienced sales teams in the company, with a diverse range of skillsets, backgrounds, and product sales knowledge from merging Redcentric staff with those brought on board during Redcentric’s recent acquisitions. 

When Advance started to work with Redcentric, there was a real need for a common language in sales, Alex says. “There were a lot of individuals on the team, particularly younger colleagues who hadn’t had any formal sales training. As well as putting the foundations in place – a fundamental sales process we can all follow – SCOTSMAN® instantly got us talking the same language, regardless of how complex the deal or how different one customer might be from another. 

“It’s followed through into our successes as a sales team: the day to day sales tasks and processes we all follow, and our time management. One of the things that’s had the biggest impact for us has been learning what losing a deal looks like, and then, once you know that, losing it quickly. We no longer waste time and resources on working a deal we can’t win, and SCOTSMAN® shows us the shortcomings, knowledge gaps and challenges – our ‘showstoppers’.” 

As well as bringing clarity to what’s winnable and focusing the sales team’s time, it’s also – in Alex’s words – “shed some light on the dark” in counteracting the natural optimism of most sellers. “All salespeople are optimists. They want to go after every opportunity, hunt down every possibility. They think they can win every deal under the sun, right? But that’s not reality. Embedding that behavioural shift has been crucial for us at Redcentric.” 

An ongoing partnership 

Once SCOTSMAN® and Commitment Selling had been delivered through initial training, the sales management team decided to implement regular interventions and coaching to align the teams and ensure the methodology would be correctly applied in the longer term. Every six months, the Advance team runs a two-day refresher course, fine-tuning topics from the last round of training and with the benefit of experience on the ground.

“You can learn a lot, but also forget a lot, in six months. Having that reengagement support and guidance from the Advance Team has been pivotal,” Alex says.

As well as regular refresher training, the Advance team sit on Tuesday morning ‘hot seat calls’ where one or two salespeople can pitch a deal to the rest of the team, embedding SCOTSMAN® in assessing what actions need to take place next and if there are any showstoppers. The rest of the team can chip in with tactics to try or drill into the scoring criteria, acting as an open, supportive panel to help colleagues win more business through SCOTSMAN® best practice.

“From a managerial perspective, these Tuesday sessions create accountability. There’s a lot going on in the business – it’s constant. Sometimes people take their eye off the ball. This stops that drag. It also reaffirms our common language as a sales team around how we plan and execute winning strategies,” Alex adds.

Tangible impact on the wider business 

SCOTSMAN® and Commitment Selling transform sales productivity, which in turn transforms forecasting and strategic decision-making in the organisation. “The gift of a much more refined sales forecast has enabled the rest of the business to flow much more smoothly. Sales is the gateway into the business for our customers.

“Now that we forecast based on what we know is winnable, robustly qualifying deals with SCOTSMAN®, the business can much more effectively plan and accommodate the workload from successful sales. Ultimately, that plays into a more efficient, resilient organisation and a successful customer journey leading to contract renewals and extension conversations,” Alex adds.

Having been part of the leadership team that brought SCOTSMAN® and Advance into Redcentric, what would Alex’s advice be to similar companies? “Embrace it. Make SCOTSMAN® a constant feature of every meeting, every question, every sales conversation. Nothing should be immune from SCOTSMAN®. I’ve heard a few salespeople say ‘it doesn’t work for this or that’ but I now know that SCOTSMAN® works for whatever you’re trying to sell. We’ve seen it. So embrace it fully – don’t be half-hearted or you won’t see the full benefits – and learn together, support each other.”

Bringing the seller closer to the customer 

By scoring against the actions the customer is taking – not just what the sales team has or hasn’t done on the account – SCOTSMAN® and Commitment Selling get you closer to your customer. 

That shift has been crucial for the Redcentric team, as Alex elaborates: “We sell best of breed technologies underpinned by the best of the best in the industry. But technology is one thing; a business focus and outcome is another. What SCOTSMAN® has done is to get us thinking ‘we can sell Cisco LAN switches, we can sell a managed Microsoft Cloud platform’ – but what does that do for your business? That’s the real difference. Whereas before we were selling technologies, now we’re selling outcomes.” 

With rising sales figures and a strong pipeline, it’s clear that Advance and SCOTSMAN® are making a real difference at Redcentric. As Alex reiterates: “I’ve absolutely loved embracing SCOTSMAN®. The sales team can be quite fiery, boisterous characters, as anyone with a sales function will know. They all learn in different ways. But what Advance did, and continue to do for us, is adopt their teaching and coaching styles to suit us exactly. 

“The ongoing advice and support in reviewing deals and coaching our team to success has been exceptional. I would recommend any sales leader to engage Advance because it will propel every element of your sales – your processes, team members, your pipeline – forward several-fold.” 

About Advance and SCOTSMAN® 

Founded in 2002, Advance is a training and consulting business and owner of SCOTSMAN®.

For many sales teams, SCOTSMAN® has become the most important planning tool for winning political deals and a valuable time management tool for salespeople, increasing selling time and win rates.

Hear why Redcentric and other sector leaders love Advance’s training and enablement model – book a call.