The company is a leading wholesale distributor of petroleum products, supplying a broad range of fuel and lubricants to commercial, industrial, and retail customers. Over the past five years, it has grown rapidly through a series of acquisitions, expanding its geographic footprint and product portfolio.
However, recent shifts in the energy market — including volatile pricing, tightening margins, and increased competitive pressure — have challenged the company’s ability to sustain organic growth. Volume declines and gross profit erosion across legacy businesses exposed inconsistencies in how the sales organization identified, pursued, and measured growth opportunities.
Recognizing the need for a more disciplined and data-driven commercial approach, leadership sought to redefine how the sales team goes to market — aligning strategy, structure, and performance management to drive profitable, sustainable growth.
The engagement was designed to improve the overall effectiveness of the sales team, while creating consistency in approach across the various regions and verticals. The focus was designed around increasing sales rep utilization, improving active selling capabilities, and designing a compensation structure that is aligned with the business objectives.
Key changes included:
- Developing a call frequency matrix to ensure reps focus their attention on critical customers
- Redesigning the commission structure to better align with the overall business objectives
- Developing and installing sales focused dashboards to enable managers to effectively address variances within their teams
- Driving Salesforce compliance and leveraging it to increase activities and conversion
The Results
Not only were volume and gross profit increased as a result of the engagement, but consistency and standardization have become evident across the network of acquisitions.
Specific results included:
- 8.4% increase in Volume
- 8.5% increase in Gross Profit
- 30% decrease in Sales Rep Cost per Gallon Sold
