Company: Sherwin-Williams Company, Cleveland, OH
Company Description: With annual revenues of nearly $8 billion, The Sherwin-Williams Company is a world leader in the manufacture, development and sales of coatings and related products. The Paint Stores Group represents 62% of the company’s sales. The Paint Stores Group sells Sherwin-Williams® branded products exclusively through 3,226 company-owned and operated stores and by 1900, of our 3100, total sales reps.
Nomination Category: Sales Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year

Nomination Title: Sherwin Williams- Sales Excellence Training

Tell the story about your organization's sales training and/or coaching program since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Based on the current economic conditions Sherwin-Williams recognized that the
only way to succeed was by taking business from the competition.; In an effort
to educate our rep force we developed the following two training programs.
;
1) Succeeding in a Challenging Environment – This training focused on the
successful implementation of a rep’s business plan and developing sales
opportunities within their market. Through activities and discussion reps
understood where they are currently spending time and how to re-allocate their
time to areas that provided the best return on investment (sales). Also,; reps
identified market segments that offered the greatest sales opportunities and
created realistic and measurable plans to capture those sales.

2) “Leveraging Technology to Grow Market Share” - The objective of this
training was to teach our reps how to fully utilize the web-based lead
generation programs we have to find, track and sell projects and bids.
Sessions would be organized at local computer labs where reps spend up to 8
hours learning and using these programs. Basic skills such as how to search
for projects, create lead lists for their contractors and search
specifications were discussed. Also, reps learned how to use the Internet to
gather customer intelligence on their Opportunity Accounts (accounts that buy
mostly from our competitors) and find new business opportunities. Through this
training, we have uncovered more than 20 websites directly related to our
business where we have found customers that do not purchase from Sherwin-
Williams. We have added these links to our internal Lead Generation web page
for easy access by our sales teams.;;

Year to date sales results show that the training is having an impact. Sales
to Opportunity Accounts have increased to more than $343 million. This
represents a $125 million or 57.5% gain over 2008. New account sales have
surpassed $295 million in 2009 which is a $142 million or 93.4% gain. More
than 143, 000 new accounts have been opened over the past two years.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated sales organization:

Steve Oberfeld is the President and General Manager of the Sherwin-Williams
Paint Stores Group. During his tenure as President, he has led the Company’s
growth in many of its largest architectural and industrial and marine
markets.; During his twenty five years with the company, Steve has held
several positions of increasing responsibility in sales and marketing as well
as being the President & General Manager of the Southwestern Division of the
Paint Stores Group. Steve earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from
the University of Minnesota.