Business Value for Sales STAR CEO Participants 

Deecal
Deecal, which was established in 1996 and now employs 35 people, has enjoyed tremendous success over the past few years on the back of successful sales of its innovative solutions and it now boosts some 200 customers, many of which are household names.

''I think that the Sales STAR programme works because it is aimed at the CEOs and I feel that you're guaranteed to have more success if you approach sales from the CEO down, rather than from up from the sales department," Des Cahill CEO Deecal.

Netsure
Netsure Telecom is a company that provides capacity management and optimisation for large telcos.  Netsure currently employs 18 staff, is a leading provider of a product suite that leverages network inventory and appropriate financial data to optimise network investment.

"Sales STAR was highly practical because everyone involved has been involved in selling solutions at the coalface and so they had seen the ups and downs of how to sell in this arena.  We're a small company who needed to get more credibility with larger customers," Barry Murphy CEO Netsure.

Duolog
Duolog has offices in Dublin, Galway, Budapest and India.  It is a leading supplier of intellectual property, verification and design services in software and integrated circuit technologies.

"Attending Sales STAR showed us our weaknesses in the sales team and also highlighted inefficiencies in dealing with customers, partners and even engineers.  We're now intending to rectify these inefficiencies by hiring a new person and we've also realigned our sales process so that we know exactly where we are with an individual account," Ray Bulger CEO Duolog.

ERGO
Ergo, an IT services company was established by managing director John Purdy in 1992.  The company, which employs 120 people and has revenues of around €22 million, initially began by providing IT services and support to its customers.

"Sales STAR course was driven by people who have experienced what it's like to run a business themselves so it was led by people who have struggled with guiding a business to success and so there was a lot to be learnt from their experiences."

"I would also say that doing the course brings you into contact with others who are in a similar position to you so there's commonality and a sense of comfort in learning that other successful business people are still engaged in learning better ways to do business," John Purdy CEO ERGO.

Smith Detection
Cork-based Smith Detection Ireland has recently had to re-think its selling procedures following a takeover of the company.  The firm, which was founded in 1977 as Farran Technology, was a primary supplier of leading-edge millimetre-wave subsystems to major systems integrators.

"Selling systems is very different from selling components.  They tend to take longer and are usually more complex so I thought that it was important to get some guidance on how to manage this.  Although Sales STAR is primarily aimed at software firms, the type of selling involved is similar to that which we were planning to do so it was a good fit for us." Tony McEnroe CEO Smith Detection Cork.

Back to: Sales STAR 2007