How Sunset Industrial Parts grew sales by 30%
When James Stratmann took over the family business, he inherited a capable team and a disorganized sales process. Here's how he fixed it and what happened to revenue when he did.
About Sunset Industrial Parts
Sunset Industrial Parts is a power transmission parts and hose distributor with over 25 years of history, representing the finest manufacturers in the industry and carrying one of the largest local inventories in their market. They serve industrial businesses that depend on reliable parts and fast service to keep their operations running.
James Stratmann brought an unusual background to the role of President and CEO. A former collegiate rower at Syracuse who went on to manage sales teams at ADP and Oracle, James had a sharp eye for sales process, which made it all the more shocking when he took over the family business in 2014 and saw how disorganized things were.
The challenge
Two problems stood out immediately when James took over.
The first was time. James was personally spending up to two hours every day building sales routes for his team, manually cross-referencing spreadsheets and Google Maps to figure out which customers and prospects were near each other and in what order to visit them. Each rep had five to ten regions to cover, and without any shared system, everyone was tracking their own accounts in separate programs. There was no reliable way to prioritize accounts or build routes that reflected how the team should actually be spending their time.
The second was visibility. At the end of each day, James spent another hour manually logging sales activity from his reps' notepads, documents, and computers into spreadsheets, and there was a constant risk of losing important information in the process. Every rep had their own approach to note-taking and deal tracking, which made it nearly impossible for James to gauge team performance, forecast accurately, or coach new hires on where to improve.
Three hours of James's day going to planning and reporting. No reliable system for the team. And a business that wasn't growing the way it should.
“Before Badger, we were losing 2 hours a day to territory planning and reporting results. Now our routes take 5 minutes and directly link to activity. Badger has certainly improved productivity.”
How Badger Maps helped
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Route planning from 2 hours to 5 minutes
Learn more about route planningWith every customer and prospect visible on an interactive map, the guesswork came out of route planning entirely. James could see exactly which accounts were near each other, filter by priority level and account status, and build the team's daily routes in minutes using the Lasso tool. What had taken two hours every day now takes five minutes for the entire team, and he no longer had to switch between spreadsheets, Google Maps, or any other program.
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8 hours of selling time back per rep per week
Learn more about Badger for sales repsThe time saved on planning didn't just make James's day easier. It gave every rep significantly more time in front of customers. With optimized routes and no manual planning overhead, reps gained back eight hours of selling time per week. That time went directly into more customer visits and more closed deals.
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Accountability without the overhead
Learn more about data collectionReps now log visit notes directly in Badger after every customer and prospect meeting — once, from the field, in real time. Those check-ins automatically generate a report that goes straight to James, giving him a clear picture of what's happening across every rep and every account without anyone having to compile it manually. Tracking team performance, identifying where to coach, and monitoring new hires became straightforward rather than a daily scramble.
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One system. Full visibility. No guesswork.
Learn more about sales mappingWith all customer data in one place and routes built around account priority and proximity, James and his team could finally make consistent, informed decisions about where to spend their time. The best customers always got the attention they deserved. New accounts didn't slip through the cracks. And James could spend his time growing the business instead of managing the process.
The results
- 30% increase in sales
- 30% increase in selling efficiency
- 8 hours of additional selling time per rep per week
“My new sales hire tried Badger and said, 'This is the best tool I've ever used. I can't believe everyone in sales isn't using it.'”
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