This month in our 4 Questions interview, we spoke to Andy Murphy, Commercial Director at Hanson UK. A year on from our first interview with Andy, we discussed how Hanson UK have since developed their approach to prospecting using the Barbour ABI platform and how his team utilises our wider services.
What was Hanson’s approach to pipeline growth before Barbour ABI?
Hanson has had a relationship with Barbour ABI for a long time. So the best way to answer that question is to look at what’s changed over the last couple of years because we had quite a dormant approach to pipeline management previously. The sales team focused on the customers we already had and we didn’t do a lot of prospecting, so one of my tasks as Commercial Director has been to reinvigorate that activity.
Not many of our people used to use Barbour ABI, but we’ve really upped our game in terms of that engagement now. We’ve now got a robust way of measuring and monitoring how much prospecting our team is doing, which your metrics help us to do. We incentivise our sales team and it’s in their objectives to make sure we interact with Barbour ABI in a coherent way. Beforehand we didn’t have a structured approach, and now we do.
Why did you believe Barbour ABI was the right product for your business?
When I joined the business, we did some horizon scanning and we looked at the different providers, we found the quality of Barbour ABI’s platform and the way your team engaged with us when we wanted to put a training programme in place was impressive. That was proper key account management from our perspective so we were pleased with that.
The way the information is delivered on the new platform is intuitive and easy to use, as well as easier to use than other
The way the information is delivered on the new platform is intuitive and easy to use, as well as easier to use than other providers. It wasn’t just the technology, but it was the way the account was handled that stood out. As a customer, we get good value and good quality account management. The team are really helpful and out of the 150 or so users of the system, the vast majority are really happy. Of course you always get a group that don’t engage fully, but we are working on that. The people who use the system really appreciate it.
How does the intelligence from Barbour ABI assist your strategic thinking and go-to-market approach?
We have clear objectives in terms of what we’re trying to do as a business: the kind of clients, projects, products and services that we’re looking to sell more of to increase our market share. The cement and concrete market is very buoyant at the moment, so what we’re not trying to do is sell more because we’re sold out. What we’re trying to do is optimise those sales in terms of profitability, attracting reliable customers. The quality and granularity of the data that’s provided on projects from Barbour ABI helps us to focus in on those areas of the market and segments of the industry that we’re most interested in. It helps us not to waste our time. Each team member has their own search they’ve designed that fits specifically with their area of responsibility, so it helps us not to be busy fools.
We have clear objectives in terms of what we’re trying to do as a business: the kind of clients, projects, products and services that we’re looking to sell more of to increase our market share. The cement and concrete market is very buoyant at the moment, so what we’re not trying to do is sell more because we’re sold out. What we’re trying to do is optimise those sales in terms of profitability, attracting reliable customers. The quality and granularity of the data that’s provided on projects from Barbour ABI helps us to focus in on those areas of the market and segments of the industry that we’re most interested in. It helps us not to waste our time. Each team member has their own search they’ve designed that fits specifically with their area of responsibility, so it helps us not to be busy fools.
What advice would you give to a company considering utilising Barbour ABI?
I would strongly recommend they do it because absolutely it adds value. The cost per user is eminently reasonable. I’d also encourage anyone engaging with you to understand the depth and breadth of services that are available. It isn’t just the app and searches, you have a research capability and a number of our team have got good relationships with your people who will find information on our behalf. What we do is leverage the fact you’ve got a lot of people in your resource bank that we utilise and become part of our team. It wasn’t news to me because I was aware of it in other companies I’d worked in, but I think it’s grown in strength. At Hanson, we’re really happy with that because we have a finite resource so we leverage the capabilities of Barbour ABI to great effect. So it’s not just putting details in to get a search and projects landing in your inbox on a daily or weekly basis, although that is interesting. But when you’re clear about what you want, Barbour ABI are able to help you to get to where you want to be in a useful way.
