TIW: Partner Profile

In 1917, Texas Iron Works (known now as TIW) began operations as a general oilfield repair facility. Before long, Drillers would come by and say, "If I had a tool that would do this it would really help." As more and more requests came in for new tool innovations, it started a vital way for doing business at TIW: listen to the customer and do everything possible to meet their needs.

For almost a century now, TIW has been a leader in introducing new tools and technologies to the industry with hundreds of patents under the TIW name.

Today, TIW is still led by the original founding family, and they continue the proud tradition as a leader in providing custom-engineered drilling and completion solutions for the global oil & gas industry.

The Challenge

Despite TIW's strong and long-held customer focus, they were facing a challenge that many companies are experiencing in today's tough, fast-paced sales environment: helping their sales team adjust from product selling to a customer-first sales process. They also had just implemented a CRM system to help manage customers and pipeline, and their sales leadership team needed helped getting everyone onboard.

How did this challenge manifest?

  • Lack of goals, structure, support system, and transparency
  • Plenty of short-term opportunities but no focus on long-term pipeline
  • Not enough customer outreach

The Solution

Lloyd French, the TIW sales manager, heard of Baker through a consultant/friend who highly recommended the BCI approach. Working together, Baker and TIW developed a 16-week training cadence and rev-gen play, which included:

  • Consultative Selling Skills two-day workshop for the sales team, followed by mini-modules to reinforce their class experience.
  • Ultimate Sales Coach training for sales manager
  • Build Master Sales Team Meeting discipline into their cadence
  • Activities and discussion focused on pipeline and forecasting
  • CRM initial training and plan for ongoing adoption

Lloyd says that the training went beyond just introducing new practices: "our trainer had her work cut out for her. Some members of our team were 'old school' and resistant to change; we needed someone to really get through to them, if any of these new ways were going to stick.

And the training wasn't just for my team. - it also worked for me personally. Week over week, the trainer turned over more and more of the work to me, so I got to learn and practice being a leader with my guys, helping them improve as much as possible and being able to support and coach them when they need it."

The Results

As Lloyd puts it, "Baker delivered a best-in-class coaching and training solution, which has turned around our organization, structure, and practices. This process totally changed the mindset of our sales people. Even our most senior guys say they got something out of it, and it made them better at what they do."

TIW is seeing these results play out in many ways:

  • The sales people go into meetings with a plan and strategy to approach the customer, rather than just getting to know customers randomly.
  • They're also seeing more customers, which means they are gaining even more confidence. As Lloyd says, "Not only do they meet with more customers, but they want to meet with more customers!"
  • Their organization now has a real process, methodology, and accountability for everyone - and that means they can see what's going on day-to-day and for months to come.

One of the biggest results has come as their team has adopted CRM.

Lloyd explains, "Before this, we couldn't tell you what was going on, what to look for. But now that we're using CRM - and using it fully - we have a dashboard that has the pulse of our company.

I thought it was going to be a nightmare to get our team to buy in. But we've had zero issues with the team entering their opportunities, and it's because they learned not only how to use CRM, but why to use it and how it makes their lives easier - particularly by giving them more time to do their job!

Using our CRM and the practices we learned from Baker, we hold a weekly dashboard and "state of sales" presentation to our leadership. There isn't a more transparent department, and other departments are looking to follow our path of transparency and communication."

Since TIW adopted their new sales process, the oil & gas industry has hit a downturn. But TIW's new process and customer focus is helping them keep their relationships strong, and they know they'll be able to hit the ground running when the industry swings upward again.

Clearly, TIW is on a path to greater success over the long term. When asked if he would recommend Baker to others, Lloyd said this:

"I don't think you can ever invest in your people enough. If you take the time to coach and train your people, you will see results; and, on the other hand, if you're not training and building up your sales force, you're impeding your growth!

Attitude is everything, and Baker's training really changed the attitude of our sales force. Their sales training will help lift the mentality of your team to be successful."