Building Husqvarna’s #NoMatterWhat Sales Culture

#NoMatterWhat has been contagious resulting in new customers, new distribution, and record bookings and goals across many of the teams. Husqvarna North America is a #NoMatterWhat company!

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John Castillo | Husqvarna Executive Vice President and Head of N. America Sales

Client

Husqvarna

A  Swedish manufacturer of outdoor power products transforms their culture and sales growth.

OVERVIEW

Husqvarna is the leading producer of outdoor power products, watering products and power tools based out of Stockholm, Sweden. As a USD 5B+ organization with over 14,000 team members, with a 330 years old legacy, they were dealing with the challenge of how to grow under rapid change. Enter #NoMatterWhat. Sterling took them through the highly customized and personalized #NoMatterWhat experience.

Today (6+ mo later) as an organization, they are not only more connected and higher performing than ever, they’re hitting record bookings and changing their core to live and breathe #NoMatterWhat.

AUDIENCE

Husqvarna North America Sales team and supporting roles

200+ SALES TEAM

CHALLENGE

To grow while confronting rapid, relentless and accelerating change.

THE PROBLEM:

Husqvarna leadership reached out to Sterling for how to grow while confronting rapid, relentless and accelerating change

  • Supply chain disruption impacting customer deliveries and relationships

  • Pandemic fallout and changing workplace conditions and customer interaction points

  • Pricing increases impacting margins and customers 

  • Variable demand that changes seasonally

  • Leadership and team transitioning negatively affecting culture 

  • Competitive threats to market share

Here’s the process we walked through, together…

01 | PRE-KEYNOTE ALIGNMENT:

Getting grounded in the client’s needs, wants and goals.

  • Background research to understand the company legacy, culture and performance

  • Interviews with leadership and team members to pinpoint challenges, impact and industry / company specific language used.

02 | BUILDING THE #NOMATTERWHAT KEYNOTE:

Creating the buzz.

  • Husqvarna #NoMatterWhat sales team video spreading the word and inspiration

  • A signed copy of Hunting Discomfort for all attendees 

  • #NoMatterWhat t-shirts for channel leaders 

03 | THE #NOMATTERWHAT HYPE:

Bringing the event to life.

  • 60 minute keynote

  • Highly contextualized (customized) keynote tailored to the sales team’s challenges

  • Emphasis on Husqvarna mission, vision and values as necessary components of hitting #NoMatterWhats

04 | LEVERAGING THE #NOMATTERWHAT ON-SITE:

Full commitment on-site.

  • All channel sales leaders created #NoMatterWhat commitments that were shared across the organization

  • Sharing of both professional and personal #NoMatterWhats to build connection, camaraderie and community 

  • “When you know and share what’s truly important to you, it starts to build a team and genuine relationships with people. We started performing at a much different [higher] caliber.”

05 | POST-KEYNOTE #NOMATTERWHAT SALES CULTURE:

The transformation inside of their organization following the keynote.

  • Husqvarna US Sales no longer creates sales goals, they create #NoMatterWhats 

    • Annual, quarterly and more granular within teams

  • Every time a challenge arises, assessment on what sales #NoMatterWhat it is impacting and how to achieve that goal regardless of those challenges

  • Continued inquiry and work to align Husqvarna sales goals with customer goals 

  • Every decision is driven back to a #NoMatterWhat commitment 

    • Questions drive what to do and what support is needed

  • Organizational activity has been traded for accountability. Busy ≠ results. 

  • Every new sales hire is given the book Hunting Discomfort as a foundation for the Husqvarna sales culture 

  • Team members embrace obstacles, problems and shortfalls in an enduring effort to grow.

  • Continued conversation about team members #NoMatterWhats 

  • Sharing #NoMatterWhats has become contagious within the culture

    • Wins: celebrating the win together

    • Misses: discussing, sharing and interrogating why a #NoMatterWhat was not achieved

06 | THE IMPACT AFTER 90 DAYS:

Impact overtime.

  • Record booking season across key segments Husqvarna leadership was looking to grow

  • Huge momentum and energy going into the 2023 selling season

  • Goals and commitments are more in line with results

  • Key goals are achieved #NoMatterWhat (while maintaining mission, vision and value integrity). 

  • Husqvarna Sales Culture is more connected, higher energy and higher-performing

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