I am working on putting together a training presentation explaining to our sales staff how to market the fact we are ISO 9001:2000 certified to our customers - explaining to the customer the advantanges of giving the business to and ISO certified company...(service, transporation) ...
Every time I start - I keep explaining the standard - which is not my intent - needs some ideas to get started - anybody every put anything like this together?

I did something kind of similar, but my main focus was explaining to them how to correctly say that we where certified... what was our scope, plants that where involved in that scope, and trying to explain that ISO doesn´t certify anybody... it´s the CB that does that job...

In reference to your question, I would suggest searching here looking for presentations to Upper Mangement on the benefits of certification... since the benefits are essencially the same (give or take a few).

I did something kind of similar, but my main focus was explaining to them how to correctly say that we where certified... what was our scope, plants that where involved in that scope, and trying to explain that ISO doesn´t certify anybody... it´s the CB that does that job...


Yes you don't want the sales staff running around telling prospects and customers that "our products are good enough to be certified to ISO 9000".

I am working on putting together a training presentation explaining to our sales staff how to market the fact we are ISO 9001:2000 certified to our customers - explaining to the customer the advantanges of giving the business to and ISO certified company...(service, transporation) ...
Every time I start - I keep explaining the standard - which is not my intent - needs some ideas to get started - anybody every put anything like this together?

It's good to see you back here! :bigwave:

OK, just a little Devil's Advocacy here. I am not saying there's anything wrong with the concept, I'm not poking fun, etc. Just offering a slightly different idea to ponder.

Is marketing the ISO certification the most salient marketing point for your salespeople? It seems that people either know what it is, or they don't. Too, is it possible to hurt you? Saying, one little thing goes wrong, and the customer throws the ISO thing back in your face?

What about maybe training on the direct benefits the customer will gain by it (reduced defects, better records, CAPA, etc.)

Do you think there's some merit with that, or am I missing your purpose?

Your thoughts.

Thanks for the welcome back - had not been very active for while - the company I worked for was purchased by a much larger company and they ended up offering me a position - started with them in Feb - have implemented ISO 9001:2000 and have 20 of 150 facilities certifed and am currently integrating RC14001 in with the system - my previous experience has all been ISO related (although I have some practical experience in Safety, OSHA regulations, DOT rerquirements, Hazardous Materials etc - it is proving to be somewhat of a challenge - most the aspects and impacts, hazards and risks assessments as I have not done them before - Back to your post - I agree with you 100% - unfortunately - in a company this size things dont progress quite as fast as my patience level would like (HA) -concentrated on the initial round for ISO but want to get something moving in the rest of the facilities so as they are folded in they are ready - I dont want new sales reps coming on board and not understanding the basics so I want to put some introductory information together which includes how to use it as a marketing advantage....(Some days my mind is heading in too many directions at once - and that is a dangerous thing!)

Gotcha! Good idea! Do you have anything put together yet? If you do, maybe you can post, and get some feedback that way.

Sorry for being a cynic on this but do sales know what ISO 9001 really is in the first place? Sure, they know it open new doors to sales for them but in my experience they are often some of the most difficult people to get to conform. e.g. "the answer is yes, what did you want?" rather than our preferred "what do you want/need? now let me see if we can do that for you".

I am working on putting together a training presentation explaining to our sales staff how to market the fact we are ISO 9001:2000 certified to our customers - explaining to the customer the advantanges of giving the business to and ISO certified company...(service, transporation) ...
Every time I start - I keep explaining the standard - which is not my intent - needs some ideas to get started - anybody every put anything like this together?

I think the best you can do is explain the whole concept to sales people, and let them do with it what they will, because that's what they're going to do anyway. The job of sales/marketing people is to sell things, and they will use whatever leverage they can find to make the sale. Because of saturation, I don't think that ISO registration is a particularly big selling point. There are potential customers who demand it, so being registered makes gets your foot in that door, but the customers who don't demand it are unlikely to be influenced by it.

If ISO9K is not what I want, why bother to sell me the idea?

By the way, there are thousands of certified companies bribe their way through , well at least in India & China as I know.

I think the best you can do is explain the whole concept to sales people, and let them do with it what they will, because that's what they're going to do anyway.How true... That is exactly what usually happens, and you would probably have to resort to gene manipulation to change that fact. :rolleyes:. That said, however, there is absolutly nothing wrong with educating the sales staff. As Jim says: Explain the concept. Because of saturation, I don't think that ISO registration is a particularly big selling point.Once again, I agree. ISO 9001 does not exactly promote sales these days. It is more like a de facto std requirement: You are more or less supposed to have it without gaining any extra points for having it. If you don't, you may find yourself out of the running before the race has even started.

/Claes

By the way, there are thousands of certified companies bribe their way through , well at least in India & China as I know.What proof or objective evidence you have of that? Or is it just hearsay?

Besides explaing the main principle of ISO 9001 and trying to put their lingo right, I've provided all of our sales reps with our business management system (BMS) manual.

It's a trifold A4 sized leaflet full of colors, explains structure of our BMS, policies, scope, etc. It's a funky little thing (my external auditor asked for a copy to show as reference internally :tg: ), and I tell the sales reps to send it along with the certificate if customers ask for our certificate.

Our registrar provided us with an entire packet of information, including camera ready artwork, Marketing/Advertising guidelines, and ordering information for more materials.

I'd check with your registrar - they might have something prepared.

We have our ISO status on our business cards, letterhead, web site and catalogs. The customers get the point. Besides that, our new and existing customers survey us for fitness for use, which is when we "sell it".

All of our employees are ISO trained as far as their role in the system. I don't really see ISO as a selling point.

Thanks for the welcome back - had not been very active for while - the company I worked for was purchased by a much larger company and they ended up offering me a position - started with them in Feb - have implemented ISO 9001:2000 and have 20 of 150 facilities certifed and am currently integrating RC14001 in with the system - my previous experience has all been ISO related (although I have some practical experience in Safety, OSHA regulations, DOT rerquirements, Hazardous Materials etc - it is proving to be somewhat of a challenge - most the aspects and impacts, hazards and risks assessments as I have not done them before - Back to your post - I agree with you 100% - unfortunately - in a company this size things dont progress quite as fast as my patience level would like (HA) -concentrated on the initial round for ISO but want to get something moving in the rest of the facilities so as they are folded in they are ready - I dont want new sales reps coming on board and not understanding the basics so I want to put some introductory information together which includes how to use it as a marketing advantage....(Some days my mind is heading in too many directions at once - and that is a dangerous thing!)

To the original posters query....

I think he would agree that it is not a cheap sales tool. I think we would all agree on that!:agree1:

However, when you are hiring new sales people, they are not like us for the most part. They don't have a clue what ISO is, and probably don't care. Although, they will care to the point they can speak intelligently to their customers and possibly gain sales.

I'm thinking an: ISO is/ is not might be a productive slide/handout to accurately let people know the limitations/ reality being expressed in these posts.

What do ya'll think??

I like that idea!

Thanks!

However, when you are hiring new sales people, they are not like us for the most part. They don't have a clue what ISO is, and probably don't care. Although, they will care to the point they can speak intelligently to their customers and possibly gain sales.

They should be conversant, but the need to converse about it won't come up much. They should know things they might be asked in passing, such as who the registrar is, how long the company's been registered, etc.

I'm thinking an: ISO is/ is not might be a productive slide/handout to accurately let people know the limitations/ reality being expressed in these posts.

You said (quite accurately) that sales people "are not like us..." Part of what makes them not like us is that they can incorporate fantasy into their sales strategies. If you tell them about limitations, or any sort of anything that might make a sale more difficult, their eyes glaze over and they have to be rebooted. The same applies more or less to dealing with reality, because they have their own, and it's not like ours.

You made some good points, Jim. Thanks.

As someone with a role that includes Sales & Marketing (S & M :mg: ) - not to mention that the product is ISO 9001 and assessment & certification by a fantastic certification body :bigwave: I feel the need to step in.

They should be conversant, but the need to converse about it won't come up much. They should know things they might be asked in passing, such as who the registrar is, how long the company's been registered, etc. The only reason for ISO 9001 to come onto the salesperson's radar is if it gives a competitive edge. As has been mentioned if the market is saturated then it probably won't even come up. They may get asked about it and it would be handy for them to have some information to hand about what registration they have.

Perhaps you could put together a leaflet explaining how the company is registered, by who and for how long etc. Beware the marketers or work with them to make sure your leaflet is in the house style and do concentrate on the positives - Sales is an exercise in putting across the positive aspects of what you do. :D


You said (quite accurately) that sales people "are not like us..." Part of what makes them not like us is that they can incorporate fantasy into their sales strategies. Now, you're not bitter are you, Jim. Not been missold anything recently?

If you tell them about limitations, or any sort of anything that might make a sale more difficult, their eyes glaze over and they have to be rebooted. The same applies more or less to dealing with reality, because they have their own, and it's not like ours. As someone from the "other side" I can confirm there are a range of different grasps on reality - I obviously put myself on the "realist" end of the spectrum. :lol:

Perhaps there are others who bend the truth to suit the pitch but I can't possibly comment. :notme:

There is an element of change of attitude that covers could pick up on, though. IF we can emphasize some more of the positives then we, as a profession, won't be seen as the "guys and gals that say NO!"

That was easy at my old plant because ISO was what got their foot in most doors. We had it on our web site and on our business card that our QMS had been registered as being compliant to the ISO 9001-2000 standard.

I like Martin's idea of giving them a 'funky little thing' to use and to send along with the certificate to customers.

I've also noted success where sales/marketing people were given 'boilerplate' kind of stuff that they could just cut & paste into their proposals, etc, but it definitely should be catchy, marketing/sales-oriented boilerplate (ie, oriented towards the benefits for the customer of using your particular firm) rather than technically accurate but oh-so-dry-dull-as-ditchwater blurb

It has the dual advantages of helping them speed along their work (getting the sales) while providing them with accurate wording to use. Yes, of course they're going to 'do their own thing', so why not make it as easy and foolproof as possible for them to get it right?

Thanks to all for your advice - I ended up doing a power point presentation giving a very very basic overview of what is ISO - why are we doing it? Can we market it....Use of Logos - how customers can access a copy of our certificate and website addresses for additional informtion. This should get the ball rolling...

Most companies use 9001 certification as amarketing tool almost as if to say "you should buy from us because we're ISO9001 certified". I prefer a different and in my opinion more accurate approach. Your customers want quality (presumably) and you have a system in place to guarantee they get quality. The certification is evidence that you've got a good/working/effective system. So the certification should give customers confidence in your quality system rather than being the be all and end all.

Quality Manuals are mostly written just for the purpose of certification. But it wouldn't take much to go through it and rewrite it to get rid of the stiff bureacratic type language and replace it with marketing language. You've now got the basis of a Quality Brochure. You think of all (or most) of the requirements and convert them into sales benefit messages. So human resources ends up that you have quality people who are well trained and motivated (awareness clause) to making the customer happy. You don't want a long document so you can bullet a lot of points. Just look at brochures for other things (eg software) and then follow the same format where iso9001 clause becomes "features" of your service eg customer testimonials = customer satisfaction. You could end up with a document/brochure which would support your sales efforts.

Most companies use 9001 certification as amarketing tool almost as if to say "you should buy from us because we're ISO9001 certified". I prefer a different and in my opinion more accurate approach. Your customers want quality (presumably) and you have a system in place to guarantee they get quality. The certification is evidence that you've got a good/working/effective system. So the certification should give customers confidence in your quality system rather than being the be all and end all.

Quality Manuals are mostly written just for the purpose of certification. But it wouldn't take much to go through it and rewrite it to get rid of the stiff bureacratic type language and replace it with marketing language. You've now got the basis of a Quality Brochure. You think of all (or most) of the requirements and convert them into sales benefit messages. So human resources ends up that you have quality people who are well trained and motivated (awareness clause) to making the customer happy. You don't want a long document so you can bullet a lot of points. Just look at brochures for other things (eg software) and then follow the same format where iso9001 clause becomes "features" of your service eg customer testimonials = customer satisfaction. You could end up with a document/brochure which would support your sales efforts.

I have seen lots of companies do this - I would love to but I am nervous about having it audited - afraid I will leave something out - think I am going to try it..

C Emmons

It shouldn't be audited since it wouldn't be a (controlled) System document, you still have your Quality Manual. The purpose of this document is not to fully define and describe your system, it's just examples to show the customer how seriously you treat the matter of quality.

If you get a brochure for a pc or software will it leave something out? Of course it will. It's purpose is just to create awareness. If you want the full details you have a spec sheet or user manual. Same goes for your QMS. A brochure makes customer aware of what you do and if full details are required then you have the QM.