SKF

As the world’s largest bearing manufacturer, SKF takes care of anything that rotates. A windmill? SKF. Ferrari’s formula 1 wheels? SKF. Your long lost skateboard? Probably SKF.] With 17,000 distributor locations encompassing 130 countries, they employ 44,000 people active in 108 manufacturing units. How’s that for crunching numbers? All in all, SKF is one of the largest companies originating from Sweden and among the largest public companies in the world.

Challenge

The permanent challenge SKF faces, is that every year part of their sales is non-recurring, requiring them to always search for new opportunities in the market. LinkedIn Sales Navigator offered a solution. However, adoption did not come naturally. As Berny stated: “We were using Sales Navigator basic functionality and found it difficult to fully utilize the tool and making it a part of daily work and routine.”

Furthermore, their customer journey changed over the past years. Clients’ decision processes shifted increasingly to the online environment, where information is widely available and a decision is often already made before a point of personal contact. Impression management and online presence are now more important than ever, so starting with The Linq Group, it was key for them to build their online network with decision makers to be first in line when it matters.

“Innovative service to bring sales teams to a professional level of social presence and interaction, and key to enhance lead generation and support business development.”

Berny Boom, Channel Manager

Solution

With a well-formulated challenge, SKF looked for a solution. Their Channel manager contacted The Linq Group in an early stage to gain more information about increasing the social presence of the Benelux sales team. The Linq Group offered the solution to help transform their LinkedIn prospects into leads and take time off their hands by managing the first communication and the inbox of the Linkers, via LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Linq Group also offered webinars and training to ensure effective adoption. Starting a conversation is one thing, but implementing the right follow up in a timely fashion can be a dealmaker or breaker. The Linq Group helped with managing the LinkedIn activities of the Linkers during weekly coaching calls to talk-through the open opportunities.

Results

The Linq Group developed a new way of working for SKF and opened doors for creating new business opportunities. The impact The Linq Group made was substantial and left a positive mark within SKF’s dynamic sales teams.