Business News
St Ives Announces New Market Focused Sales Force
Tuesday 23. September 2008 - St Ives plc, the UKs largest provider of print and added value services, has capitalised on the success of its Group Sales approach, through the launch of a new market focused sales force.
Sales directors with relevant market and industry experience will support the companys existing divisional sales structure. Individually focused on selling into St Ives key commercial markets, this team will be managed by Ian Ogden, group commercial sales director, reporting to Simon Ward, CEO commercial division.
Ian Ogden, group commercial sales director, St Ives comments, This approach will enable us to better qualify and maximise new and existing business opportunities, continue to understand our customers requirements and utilise the specific market knowledge and experience our sales directors have. Each sales director has an understanding of the group offering, yet can specifically tailor print and associated services to meet the needs of their customers market place, whether that be in the public sector, retail, music or any of the other markets that we service.”
Enabling a more strategic and partner based approach to print buying and customer service, the benefits of the new sales force include significantly improved buying power from one internally sourced supplier, increased print quality and brand control, and streamlined procurement planning and communication.
“As our customers business models change, so must our own. Understanding our customers, their business issues and objectives has always been crucial to St Ives, and the implementation of our market focused sales force reflects this commitment,” says Simon Ward, CEO commercial division. “This is the next stage in developing our approach as a strategic partner to our customers, enabling them to utilise our wide product and service portfolio to better meet their sales and marketing objectives.”
St Ives solutions portfolio offers customers a wide range of added value services in addition to its print capabilities. These include a forward thinking team, who provide a range of consultancy services and intelligence to customers, DNA – its online management system, a creative thinking team that works with agencies, as well as logistics and fulfilment services, and a print management arm.
Among a host of other new initiatives, is the recent appointment of a group-wide strategic marketing specialist. Natalie Somerville, who has a background in Strategic Marketing Communications and spent 10 years working with Camelot, now provides St Ives customers with a marketing consultancy service, designed to help better align their marketing strategies with that of their broader business objectives.