Case Studies


Industry:	Capital Equipment I Manufacturing I Distribution
Demographics:	110 employees I 5 offices in US I North America
Projects:	Custom Training I Interim Management I Market Diversification I ERP I OD I Management Training I Soft Skills I Hybrid Workforce Implementation I Remote Selling and Service

Since 1960 Belmont Equipment & Technologies has been a pioneer in the EDM Industry. With seven locations, Belmont serves all of North America with complete EDM application solutions, manufacturing, capital equipment and consumables for everything EDM.

We started with Belmont in 2005 and continue to work with them today. For nearly two decades, we’ve worked on several projects directly with the ownership, leadership and employees company-wide. We consider ourselves blessed to have Belmont as a long-term partner.

Projects Included

Custom Sales Training
Management Training
Soft Skills Training
Company Image Development
Proposal Response Package Refinement
GTM refinement and Diversification Strategies
Coaching
Sourcing and Selection of Staff
Sales Management
ERP implementation
Sales Representative Business/Territory Plan Development
Marketing Strategy Development
LinkedIn Strategy Development
Project Management and Engineering Department Training
Company-wide Communications Program Development
Strategic Planning
Hybrid salesforce Management

Results

Custom training manuals and reinforcement documentation and tools for; outside sales, inside sales, customer service, capital equipment sales departments.
Custom sales tool development including state-of-the-art “Belmont Tools” Kiosk for sales presentations.
Company wide training initiatives for; soft-skills training, “Belmont Book Club”, EI, etc.
Strategic development of the market diversification plan into other sectors beyond automotive such as; aerospace, medical, power generation, etc.
Move from customer site technical sales meetings to fully remote, to hybrid.
ASP increase 72% of top-tier Territory Sales Managers.

Testimonials

I first met Brian about seventeen years ago. My brother, Bob, suggested I sit in on a meeting with someone coming in to discuss sales methods and training. In his words, he was afraid we would become “that company” that was really good in their time but time had passed them by. While I believe we were good at that time I could also see what he was talking about.

I was a little reluctant because I felt relationship selling was by far the best way to go. It had worked for me for many years and it seemed to be working for most of our existing sales force. I could almost guess the replies to these statements. Things like: we needed to offer more than a relationship because it could cost a customer if someone developed a better relationship or we had to offer benefits, knowledge and benefits competitors were not offering. After meeting with Brian, I gave in and agreed to give it a shot for a month and no more. We had a Sales Manager at the time and he was totally opposed to bringing Brian’s team in. I believe his statement at the time was that “there was nothing they could try or do that he hadn’t already tried or done”. Within that first month, Brian’s methods began to show improvement in our sales results and the sales force began to listen, learning more than they ever had. That helped make a believer out of me. Bob said we should try it for six months to see if things continued to improve. Well, that was many years ago and Brian is still here. We had to make a choice fifteen years ago, when the Sales Manager had made the statement that “he goes or I go”. It wasn’t an easy decision but it was obvious that Brian’s methods were bringing us the results we wnated and our Sales Manager was of “that company” mentality.

Today, we are a second generation company, working toward our third. Brian has been an important part of that continuation and is like a member of the family. Our sales staff is recognized as being one of the best in the industry. We have had occasions where we have had reason to let salespeople. It seems like every one of them found a job almost immediately. As soon as someone found out that they had been at Belmont, it was the highest referral anyone could give: Wow!!! This guy worked for Belmont and he’s available?! Even some of our worst were better than their best. Brian rejuvenated our sales department many years ago and we didn’t even know they needed it until he had done it.

Brian has worked with virtually every department in our company. He holds planning sessions with people in accounting, engineering, manufacturing, and, of course, sales. He is as devoted to us as we are to him. Brian is a great team player if ever there was one.

Larry Ianitelli - CEO

I met Brian in 2005 at a National Tooling and Machine Association dinner meeting. Brian was the guest of one of our board members who introduced us. After talking sales with Brian at this event, I felt it may be a good idea to have him come into our company and do a presentation for myself and my brother, Larry.

Being a legacy company that our father started in 1958, I was concerned that though we were well known in our specific industry segment, we could not rest on how good we were but how good we need to be to survive. I did not want to be known as the company that was “good in their day”. We needed to listen outside the company, which was control that was difficult for my brother to give up.
After Brian’s presentation, we agreed to hire his company to analyze our salespeople and our sales process. This process took about five weeks and afterward a synopsis of their findings were presented to us. We were impressed with the detail and time taken during this process. They went on calls with our sales team, they interviewed not just sales personnel but also the supporting departments to analyze the interaction, and where the gaps may be that we were not seeing.

After Brian gave us the findings, we had a choice to take that information and act on it ourselves or hire Brian to take the next step of implementation. Even though we had a Sales Manager at the time, who was not a fan of Brian, we agreed to hand the training over. This was met with a mixed reaction. While younger salespeople gravitated to it, the older sales personnel bucked it and had a wait and see attitude. It did not take long for the younger ones to get results. In fact, they were challenging the sales numbers of the established sales group. The sales manager’s ego did not like the accolades going to Brian from the younger sales group and gave us an ultimatum, one of them had to go. Brian and I have worked together for the last 17 years, so we know the answer to that ultimatum.

We considered bringing on a sales manager, but we did not think it could come close to the connection Brian developed with our sales group but also us as owners. The biggest compliment to Brian is the old guard sales people eventually did embrace Brian’s sales training techniques and it has made them even more successful. Today our question to the customer is “what can we do to help you with your bottlenecks” (and then provide solutions) versus what we asked pre-Brian “did you see the game last night” (which does not help the customer). Today, our competition is constantly trying emulate our sales process but fortunately, they don’t have Brian to lead it.

We have the greatest respect for Brian, not only as a businessman but also a family man and a friend.

Bob Ianitelli – President/COO

His guidance, leadership, and friendship are PRICELESS

He has mentored me to achieve amazing professional goals without losing sight of the most important part of my life as a wife and mother. His guidance, leadership, and friendship are PRICELESS!!

Brian is a Full Service Mentor

Over the years, Brian has not only mentored the sales team, but also our Department Managers throughout the corporation developing personal goals, department goals, leadership skills, and execution.

A Great Motivator

He has been a great motivator for me, my team, and our organization’s management team. Outside of the impressive sales increase, there is an abundance of projects and initiatives that Brian has successfully led I would like to highlight some of them that ultimately changed my life both professionally and personally.

Learned How to Grow Territory

During the time I work with Brian, he challenged me, showed me how to sell and how to win in almost any circumstance. Brian helped me grow my sales territory (Chicago) from nothing to a $1,000,000+ book of business.

The Summit Solutions is not a one-fits-all process

Is the Summit Solutions a one-fits-all process that will lead to selling more? No, there are plenty of national programs with regional support that will sell you on that. I will tell you from my experience, they are outdated, not personalized, and don’t work. They typically also only focus on the sales department. Brian’s method is to work with the whole organization, while stressing the importance of creating a company culture that people want to be a part of.

As the VP Sales Manager, I was initially skeptical

As the VP Sales Manager, I was initially skeptical and guarded as to why we had to bring in an outside sales expert. I perceived this as an insult to my abilities and the performance of our team. Today I can honestly say that the association, teachings, and concepts Brian presented were the BEST thing to happen to our Company, myself, and our team.

When we started with Summit Learning Solutions we had 62 employees

When we started with Summit Learning Solutions we had 62 employees mostly serving the state of Michigan. Now, we have nearly 200 employees serving 17 states; and we’re still growing consistently. Moreover, when we started with Summit we sold about 3-5 Million a year in new business; now we sell 13 Million a year in new business.

They sourced and hired our first-ever sales team

They sourced and hired our first-ever sales team and created the sales and marketing plan to start the process. They designed our sales team’s compensation plans, trained them on appropriate sales methodology, and lead our overall strategy. Candidly, we thought they were way too optimistic in their sales projections. It turns out they undersold the possibilities. The program was very successful, very fast.

We are a better, healthier, and the more performance-driven company

We are a better, healthier, and the more performance-driven company now thanks to Brian’s training and support. Most importantly, it’s more profitable.