Business24.05.2011

Bytes acquires majority stake in TSPI to drive sales growth

TSPI, founded by CEO Geoff Garrett, has an exceptional track record in boosting companies’ sales strategies with its Salestracker solution. Bytes has taken the opportunity of the acquisition to invest heavily in Salestracker, which has been used extensively to boost sales, initially at Bytes Systems Integration, and then elsewhere in the Bytes group. It will also be used in Altron and in the rest of the market.

TSPI stands for “Think Sales Performance Improvement”, and arose from the renowned Think Corporation.
“We provide sales performance improvement solutions for companies where sales are business-to-business,” says Garrett, who retains the balance of the shares in his company. “We work closely with our clients to address sales performance issues, ensure sales people meet and then exceed their targets, and identify and fulfil cross- and up-selling opportunities.”

Bytes, in particular, and Altron as a whole, has many opportunities to sell a deeper set of solutions to its thousands of customers. Cross- and upselling is one of Bytes CEO Rob Abraham’s key strategies to drive top- and bottom-line performance.

“We were introduced to Geoff and his team through Bytes Systems Integration MD Rob Griggs,” says Abraham. “TSPI had a powerful impact on our performance in the first year, so we were very keen on the one hand to gain access to the company’s intellectual property, and to ensure we could drive sales performance across Bytes and Altron.”

Typical issues that impact sales and that TSPI can address include:

• Underperformance on the top line – sales people are not making target;
• No sales process;
• Insufficient differentiation;
• Competitors are winning more often;
• Lack of accountability;
• Busy sales people, but input does not match effort;
• Incorrectly aligned sales teams;
• Lack of timeous visibility into the sales pipeline; and
• Poor planning

“These are just some of the reasons sales teams underperform,” says Garrett. “We address all of these and more, and we proved it at Bytes Systems Integration. We helped boost the top line and took underperforming sales people through to exceptional performance.”

TSPI has an exceptional track record of success, with clients including Modena, the No 1 Autodesk solution provider; PC-Ware; Dovetail Business Solutions – the leader in logistics solutions;, Netsurit; Mint Management Technologies; iSolve; the National Empowerment Fund; and Microsoft Dynamics South Africa.

“We implemented Salestracker across 12 business units,” says Griggs. “We were able to right-size our sales teams; identify and execute on the upside; improve sales management; enhance cross-selling; constantly enhance our forecasting; and positively impact our customers’ perception of us.”
TSPI does this through a process-based engagement model based on the TSPI BluePrint. It also implements a tool to help with visibly using the in-built process configured to each customer’s business. The process analyses underlying symptoms and faults, and produces remedial strategies, leading to success and growth.

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