Modernizes Sales and Marketing Approach

A Delmar^®Success Story

Buy Affinis. Buy American.^TM

Affinis^® is proud to present a premium assortment of commercial food service products including SaniServ^® (soft serve/smoothie/ frozen beverage machines) and SECOSelect^® (premium serving counters and holding cabinets). Our product families are made entirely in the USA and provide the highest quality products in each of their respective niches.

Your best bet for everything under the cherry, in the frosted glass, and above the cone.

SaniServ^® makes high quality soft serve, frozen yogurt, frozen beverage, and shake machines. SaniServ^® machines are easier to operate, have fewer parts to clean, and offer the broadest range of options available on the market.

Thousands of fast food chains, restaurants, schools, hospitals, concert venues, amusement parks, country clubs and the world’s largest stadiums rely on SaniServ^® every day.

Test Our Metal.^®

SECOSelect^® builds rugged, high quality equipment designed to handle the rigors of restaurants, commercial kitchens, schools, hospitals, and organizations of all kinds.

SECOSelect's^® energy efficient heated holding cabinets and serving lines have some of the lowest operating costs in the food service industry. They use less energy, they are made with stronger materials, and they will last longer. SECOSelect^® works closely with design consultants, food service representatives, institutional customers, and kitchen managers to make sure the equipment functions perfectly in any food service environment, at any time, in any situation.

Industry

Original manufacturer of premium foodservice equipment

Company Size

Mid-Market

(25-200 employees)

United States

451 E. County Line Rd.
P.O. Box 1089,
Mooresville, IN 46158

THE OPPORTUNITY

A number of years ago, Affinis^® began experiencing declining top-line revenue. At the time, the economy was in a slump and the sales team would point to the economic downturn as the reason for not reaching company revenue goals.

As they doubled down on their efforts, Affinis^® invested heavily in industry trade shows. While their sales team would come home with a number of leads, they could never attribute a single dollar of revenue to their investment.

“Everyone was working hard, but something wasn’t right” said Affinis^® President Bob McAfee. “We would go and present our solutions and then not hear anything for 2-3 months only to learn that our prospects had purchased from a competitor. What’s worse, we didn’t know why. We didn’t have the sales systems or processes in place to tell us what was working or what wasn’t. Sales was a gaping black hole for our organization. It didn’t take us long to figure out that we had a disconnect with our market.”

Bob was far from satisfied with simply blaming the economy for declining sales. He needed accountability in the sales process. He needed a strategy that would start eliminating the “black hole.”

As he began to evaluate his options to combat declining sales, he contemplated adding additional sales people – the traditional strategy to growing sales. However, that approach adds considerable expense to an organization. In addition, they were in need of modernizing their sales approach and not perpetuating their older way of doing things.

Bob also considered sponsoring additional trade shows. However, with the inability to tie revenue back to the marketing expense, they actually made the decision to back out of several events they had planned to attend. So, he set out to search for a more effective way to lower his customer acquisition cost per revenue dollar.

THE ANSWER

About this time, Bob was introduced by a trusted advisor to Delmar^®, a growth agency focused on helping organizations think differently about growing revenue. After an introductory meeting, Delmar^® invested in learning about Affinis’^® unique business situation, opportunities, and challenges. Following that meeting, Delmar^® sketched out a strategy centered around completely modernizing Affinis’^® approach to sales. In addition, Delmar^® was highly confident that they could shrink Affinis’^® “black hole” and help reconnect them to the market.

The strategy that Delmar^® proposed included standardizing their sales processes, aligning marketing efforts with sales initiatives, implementing HubSpot’s CRM, Sales, Marketing Growth Stack, and closely measuring the impact of these efforts every step of the way.

Bob was hesitant at first, “I talked with a number of other companies attempting to implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and heard the horror stories they experienced along the way. However, because of Delmar’s^® reputation and their genuine dedication to our success, I committed to working with them to modernize the way Affinis^® goes to market.”

THEN

CRM

The first step to eliminating the “black hole” was adding the systems needed to see how a prospect’s relationship grew over time and learn more about what initiatives actually moved the revenue needle. To accomplish this, Delmar^® recommended and implemented HubSpot CRM. HubSpot CRM gave Affinis^® the ability to begin seeing how a prospect’s journey with Affinis^® develops over time and measure the impact. Bob shared, “The entire process was very enlightening.”

Standardized Sales Process

Next, Delmar^® worked closely with Affinis’s^® Sales Team to develop a customized sales process to fit their complex go-to-market model. This gave Affinis’s^® entire leadership team an up-to-the-minute dashboard of their entire sales funnel. Affinis^® began managing the pipeline with a philosophy of “never leaving an opportunity behind.” Deals that would have previously slipped through the cracks began turning into revenue.

New Approach, Battle Tested

Not long after HubSpot’s CRM was implemented and the sales process had been standardized, the perfect opportunity to test the newly minted sales machine presented itself. Bob decided to attend one of the industry’s largest trade shows (and most costly). The entire team worked tirelessly to flip the traditional trade show approach on its head. Delmar^® implemented a highly targeted campaign, starting months before the event, focused on scheduling high-value meetings at the trade show.

By the time Affinis^® arrived at the event, 84 high-value appointments had already been pre-scheduled. According to Bob, “Our trade show booth was so ridiculously busy that our entire team didn’t have one free second for the duration of the entire event. Now, looking in the rearview mirror, we can unequivocally track back a 10x return on investment from attending this event. A significant milestone on many fronts for us.”

Helping the Entire Distribution Channel Ecosystem Grow

Affinis^® has always relied heavily on their distribution network to drive sales. Now, for the first time, Affinis^® is able to help give back to the distribution network. “Since we are working hard to grow, we are starting to generate opportunities from our new efforts. We are grateful to take those opportunities that come directly to us and partner with our distribution partners to seal the win. We are truly beginning to partner and win with our distribution network in a way that we were never capable of doing in the past,” shares Bob.

Refining Our Message

A significant challenge Affinis^® faced in the past by being disconnected from their marketplace was crafting a message that would differentiate them from their competition. Since Affinis^® is so much more tightly plugged into their marketplace, Delmar^® has been helping craft highly focused messaging that is helping raise awareness of Affinis’s^® brands and differentiating their solutions from the competition.

SECOSelect-School-Foodservice-Solutions-Mockup-Original-copy

NOW

Affinis's^® Journey Continues

Our trade show booth was so ridiculously busy that our entire team didn’t have one free second for the duration of the entire event. Now, looking in the rearview mirror, we can unequivocally track back a 10x return on investment from attending this event. A significant milestone on many fronts for us.

BOB MCAFEE

Affinis® President

RESULTS

This journey began with Bob having a revolutionary idea that broke the traditional mold of growing revenue. The only reason success was possible on this journey was that he was willing to think differently, challenge old-school thinking, and commit to changing the paradigm. Since Delmar^® embarked with Affinis^® on this growth journey, Affinis’s^® sales pipeline has grown 11.75x to $15 Million.

Furthermore, the number of contacts that Affinis^® works with on a regular basis has increased 13x. Revenue was on a record setting pace until the world was challenged with COVID-19. While revenue was undoubtedly impacted, Affinis^® is powering through in ways that just weren’t possible in the past.

If you are committed to modernizing the way you grow, Bob offers the following advice. “It’s a lot of work, it takes time, and you have to be prepared to change the way you think and do things. You have to be committed, period. And let me tell you, it’s worth it. For Affinis^®, it is fortuitous that we began this sales modernization effort when we did – given today’s circumstances – it’s impossible to sell the old way in today’s world.”

“If your organization is focused on growth, you should start working with Delmar today. I’m confident that they will roll up their sleeves, help you develop a strategy and work with you in the trenches (like they continue to work with us) until you have modernized the way your organization goes to market.”

Bob McAfee

Affinis® President

Today, the “black hole” that Affinis^® struggled with so mightily in the past is nearly gone. When they attend an event, launch a marketing campaign, or execute a selling initiative, they are able to see, in real-time, the impact to pipeline and overall revenue. This knowledge helps guide future initiatives, which themselves can be measured and improved. In other words, it’s a virtuous cycle of growth.

A final piece of advice from Bob – “If your organization is focused on growth, you should start working with Delmar^® today. I’m confident that they will roll up their sleeves, help you develop a strategy and work with you in the trenches (like they continue to work with us) until you have modernized the way your organization goes to market.”

2023 NAFEM Convention

NAFEM, located in Orlando, FL, attracts qualified foodservice equipment and supplies buyers and is a powerful marketing opportunity for exhibitors.

Affinis^® has seen a lot of success in past years, and now they have had the opportunity to showcase their product at the esteemed NAFEM convention. It is an excellent opportunity to gain further recognition and acquire potential customers.

Check out the gallery below of the 2023 NAFEM convention and see how Delmar’s^® signage for Affinis^® brought the products to life and helped them make a more powerful statement.