Newell Rubbermaid
Company: Newell Rubbermaid, Atlanta, GA
Company Description: Newell Rubbermaid is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products. We touch millions of people every day where they live, work and play. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., we’ve built a strong portfolio of brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Calphalon, Levolor, and many others.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year
Nomination Title: Building World-Class Sales Capabilities at Newell Rubbermaid
Tell the story about your organization's sales training and/or coaching program since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
Newell Rubbermaid has been transforming to a global company of brands that
matter and great people, known for best-in-class results. Our sales function
is critical to achieving that vision. In mid-2009, we launched our Sales
Excellence Initiative to create a world-class sales organization. The first
step was defining our vision for the sales function, linking to the company
business strategy and vision.
With this vision, we identified strategies to get there, and initiated 14
projects to implement the strategies. Our focus since then has been
developing our people and organization:
1-The Sales Blueprint provides detailed descriptions of the capabilities for
world-class sales. With over 1500 sales people across 6 continents, the
blueprint is critical in establishing a common understanding. We developed an
extensive assessment with descriptions of sales capabilities from basic to
world-class. In Q2-2010, our leadership teams completed the first assessment
and defined action plans to improve their focus areas. New global skill-
building programs are being designed to address common themes.
2-The Sales Careers include detailed job responsibilities for each role and
skill definitions at basic, intermediate and advanced levels. Based on the
blueprint, these materials describe the responsibilities by role and the
required skills for world-class performance. We developed a skill assessment
for employees to identify development areas. In Q4-2010, Sales Leaders
completed skill assessments for each employee and identified robust
development plans for the priority skills that were below target. The skill
assessments are completed annually to measure our progress and continually
develop our employees.
3-Global Sales Excellence Educational Programs
• For sales associates globally, regular AudioCasts focus on the
blueprint capabilities, including illustrations of the capability in action.
In a recent survey, 90% of respondents indicate the topics are useful and
relevant.
• Sales Excellence 101 teaches employees how to manage customer
relationships through practice selling sessions, and facilitated discussions.
About 700 have been trained to-date, with ratings of 5.31 for job impact and
5.26 for business results (scale of 1-6.)
• For mid-level managers, Sales Excellence 201 focuses on applying
shopper and consumer insights to improve the overall category and exploring
specific value opportunities where our brands can drive profitable growth with
our customers. This two-day workshop is highly interactive, using a learning
map in place of traditional materials. Nearly 400 have been trained, with
ratings of 5.46 for job impact and 5.23 for business results.
• Our Strategic Sales Leadership program for sales leaders has a multi-
phased curriculum with real-time workshops to improve our sales strategic
planning processes and content-rich classes to enhance sales strategy skills.
The content includes developing sales strategies that complement our brand
strategies and strategic plans aligned with our customers’ strategic plans.
Sales leaders are now more involved in the strategic planning process, the
quality of input has improved, and we are more globally inclusive.
Our business results indicate that this work is making an impact. Our core
sales growth through Q3 was up 4.6% over 2009, and Q3 alone was up 5.7%.
Operating Income was up $25MM and earnings/share was up 10.5%.
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
http://www.sellingpower.com/magazine/article.php?i=1319&ia=9190&nr=1
http://www.bnet.com/blog/salesmachine/newell-rubbermaid-interview-with-a-sales-manager-superstar/12858?pg=2
Atlanta Business to Business Magazine – Nov/Dec 2010 Cover – “Newell
Rubbermaid’s Extreme Makeover” (pdf attachment)
http://thestevies.com/SASCS11Attachments/NewellRubbermaid/NewellRubbermaidExtremeMakeover.pdf
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated sales organization:
Paul G. Boitmann, President - Global Sales Operations
Paul Boitmann joined Newell Rubbermaid in 2001 as President of The Home Depot
Division, bringing 18+ years of sales, marketing, worldwide recruiting and
sales training experience. In this role, Paul assembled and led a field sales
team averaging double-digit annual sales growth for four consecutive years.
In 2005, Paul was promoted to President, Sales Operations, North America, and
in 2007 to President, Sales Operations and Global Walmart, expanding his sales
leadership across all businesses and geographies.
He is credited with implementing operations and sales processes disciplines,
which have led to significant sales, profitability gains and sales synergies
across the organization.