Indomitable saleswomen in Danish tech company undauntedly selling despite the COVID-19 crisis

Sales exceeding the March 2020 budget would be almost miraculous for many businesses. Even so, this is precisely what 11 PALOMAT® saleswomen have just achieved. They are sales reps for the technology company located on the Danish island of Nykøbing Mors, and they have cracked the code for worldwide sales in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.

Every day PALOMAT® is landing new orders. Throughout March 2020, the company’s sales department entered into orders for supplying different models of the Danish pallet magazine PALOMAT®. The buyers came from manufacturing industries in Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Italy, Sweden, the UK, France, Spain and Belarus. The sales process is conducted in close dialogue with PALOMAT’s local dealers. This means that they achieved PALOMAT‘s ambitious sales targets for March that were set long before the world had ever heard of COVID-19.

The team managed to do so despite PALOMAT® having lost the opportunity to connect with new customers and dealers at the LogiMAT exhibition in Stuttgart, which was cancelled at the last minute. PALOMAT® had otherwise planned to present its innovative new PALOMAT® AMR there. This pallet magazine fully automates the pallet handling process together with a mobile robot from the Danish manufacturer Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR).

PALOMAT® made up for the cancelled exhibition by making its own virtual exhibition. Company employees simply contacted current and prospective new dealers who would have attended LogiMAT and other logistics events under normal circumstances.

“In these times of limited freedom of movement, our company has an enormous strength of being accustomed to using the phone as an important selling tool already. The members of our team speak six different languages between them, and we manage to get out the message of improved work environments and optimised pallet handling to whomever we call. For example, we just entered into an agreement with a new dealer in Germany, who ordered five PALOMATs within seven days.”

• Majbritt Svane, Area Manager, PALOMAT®.

Although media coverage of COVID-19 gives the impression of a world more or less paralysed by illness and lockdowns, the sales reps generally experience getting responses to their calls and emails. This includes from places like the United States, Vietnam, Mexico, Malaysia and, for that matter, Denmark.

PALOMAT® has existed since 1992 and has attained a position as the leading manufacturer in its field with a total production output of more than 12,000 pallet magazines.

Schnapps for Sweden and Italy

The team of saleswomen at PALOMAT® have experienced how the crisis stimulates their creativity:

“We can’t rely on how we ‘usually’ do things. This prompted us to develop a concept of virtual product presentations to new dealers using Microsoft Teams, instead of visiting and training them face to face in how to install and use our pallet magazines.”  

• Majbritt Svane, PALOMAT®.

Each week, PALOMAT® has launched new activities targeting dealers to make sure they get the PALOMAT® message. They can actively use these advertising campaigns for their customers — with the goal of constantly closing orders and generating prospective new sales.

“In many instances, we’ve also helped out by sending the advertising campaign for our dealers to their end customers. We help them generate sales in the process.” 

• Annette Nykjær Andersen, Marketing Coordinator, PALOMAT®.

One of PALOMAT’s successful measures was an Easter advertising campaign where dealers round the world were offered schnapps and chocolate. It turned out that many dealers saw this as a welcome opportunity to offer their end customers an ‘exotic Danish aquavit’, to generate even more interest PALOMAT®.

As PALOMAT’s Area Manager, Majbritt Svane is keenly focused on generating energy and maintaining an encouraging atmosphere and strong team spirit. Employees work in shifts from home, whereas they usually sit together in an office landscape in Nykøbing Mors with two male technicians who also support the marketing.

“You have to keep up your spirits, so we have pep meetings with each other every morning and again in the afternoon via Microsoft Team, where we recap how the day has gone honestly and straightforwardly. This affords an opportunity to give one another some encouraging, non-infectious pats on our digital backs and provide constructive insight into markets and opportunities.” 

• Majbritt Svane, PALOMAT®.

Published May 2020.