While many sales teams live for the end-of-quarter close, in some industries a sale takes years to land. In this episode of Entre Directores Comerciales (in Spanish), Víctor Manuel Rodríguez, Director at Weir Minerals for Southern Europe and North Africa, explains how a long sales cycle is managed in mining and how to keep a team motivated when results are nowhere in sight.
What a long sales cycle looks like in mining
Weir Minerals manufactures equipment for mineral processing, above all pumps, and according to Rodríguez the business is in spare parts, because the machines wear out so fast. A typical project starts with a request for quotation sent to a shortlist of suppliers; if you win, you supply, commission and then aim for a four- or five-year maintenance contract.
But many years can pass before that request arrives: from the discovery of a deposit onward there are feasibility studies, permits and even changes of government. Processes of 10 to 12 years are normal, he says. In Europe, getting a mining permit is almost impossible, so activity is concentrated in countries such as Chile, Peru, Canada or Australia.
Following a project one step at a time
The first step is knowing the project exists, thanks to partners who share information and to the company's own sales network, and finding out which company will run it and which engineering firm is in charge.
After that, every phase demands something: during the pre-feasibility study, for example, you have to give the client the cost of the equipment, its operation and its maintenance. The big risk is disappearing at one of those steps: if whoever is running the project loses sight of you, you're out, and getting back in is much harder.
You don't climb the staircase in one jump, you have to go step by step. Those steps are identified, and at every moment you have to do something so that my company stays alive until the very end and has the chance to win the project.
The KPI that matters: a quality pipeline
Rodríguez describes himself as an old-school salesperson. With a normal conversion rate of 5 to 10%, he knows that out of ten opportunities he'll win one, and out of twenty, probably two.
Every Friday, a committee reviews new projects and decides whether to keep investing in them based on technical feasibility, resources, margin and risk. If there are three, four or five good projects that day, he's relaxed; if the meeting is canceled because there are none, he gets very nervous.
For me, the most important thing in a business is that it generates a good pipeline of opportunities. I need my team to generate quality opportunities and follow them up. After that, it's up to the company, with its products and services, to bring value to the client, whether we win or not.
How to keep the team engaged
The sales office also handles day-to-day spare parts and equipment upgrades, which bring small daily wins. The challenge, according to Rodríguez, is getting the team to look up every now and then and remember that they're also working long term, on projects they can't neglect.
With 100 to 200 people in 23 countries, his routine is very concrete: half an hour every Monday with each regional manager, and an international trip twice a month to visit offices, have dinner with the teams and meet clients. He also believes in growing teams from the bottom up: the territory manager for Spain and Portugal joined as an intern ten years ago.
Competing when the client looks at total cost
Friction with the client comes at the end, when you're up against two other top-tier manufacturers who will be aggressive on price because they want the spare parts business too. His main competitors are Scandinavian, now joined by increasingly serious Chinese manufacturers. Not even the finish line is guaranteed: Rodríguez describes a €6 million project in Morocco where the client insists Weir has won and the Chinese contractor says it hasn't.
His argument is total cost of ownership: a machine with better technology uses fewer spare parts, less electricity and less water, and the numbers add up when the client thinks long term. That's why, in an industry with very few companies, Weir manages its key accounts globally, with senior sponsors for each one.
