Orica: selling complex mining solutions on customer value

The challenge

Orica’s commercial offer extended well beyond the supply of explosives. Its combination of blasting technology, digital tools and technical expertise could influence fragmentation, downstream mining efficiency, productivity and safety, as Orica explained in its June 2019 presentation on mining innovation (Orica).

The sales challenge was to translate that technical capability into a clear commercial reason to buy. Procurement teams could focus on acquisition price, competitive tenders and contract terms, while the wider operational benefits were less visible in the purchasing discussion.

Orica had invested in traditional sales training, but found it too generic for the realities of selling complex solutions in a procurement-led environment. The business needed an approach grounded in its own customers, technical offer and commercial pressures, rather than another general course in selling techniques.

Working on real customer opportunities

Pricing Insight’s Customer Value Discovery program made live customer situations the centre of the learning process. Participants prepared by selecting a key account or customer segment and considering the outcomes that customer wanted to achieve, the problems it needed to solve and the risks it wanted to avoid.

The Jakarta workshop took place on 30–31 July 2019. Teams worked on specific customer accounts, combining Customer Value Canvas exercises with a review of pricing capability and practical improvement priorities.

The India workshops followed in Udaipur on 15–16 November and Raipur on 20–21 November 2019. Their documented commercial challenges included procurement negotiations, competitive price pressure, reverse auctions, tendering and difficulty making the value of technical solutions visible to customers.

This gave the workshops immediate relevance. Participants were not simply discussing how value-based selling should work; they were applying it to the conversations, objections and commercial decisions they faced in their own markets.

Making customer value specific

The Customer Value Canvas helped teams distinguish value in use from value at risk. They examined the benefits customers sought from the solution, the way it was delivered and supported, and the consequences of supply disruption, product failure or unavailable technical expertise.

For mining customers, the discussions included production continuity, blast outcomes, operating efficiency, security of supply, safety and problem-solving support. Teams considered the importance of each value driver and assessed how Orica’s offer compared with alternatives.

The aim was not to assume that every technical advantage deserved a premium. It was to identify which differences mattered to a particular customer, what evidence was needed and how those differences could be expressed in the customer’s own operating and commercial terms.

Connecting value discovery with sales and negotiation

The program connected value discovery with a structured approach to presenting the customer’s problem, the proposed solution and the reasons for choosing it. The Raipur workshop report captured customer-value canvases and pitch-development work, alongside priorities for improving marketing, sales and negotiation capability.

The recommendations also addressed preparation for demanding procurement conversations. These included clearer account planning, communication tailored to different decision-makers, and rehearsal of situations such as contract renewals, tenders and requests for additional services.

Customer validation was an important next step. Teams were advised to test their assumptions through customer discussions, refine the value canvases and use the resulting evidence to improve proposals, negotiation strategies and pricing decisions.

The learning was supported by written workshop reports and practical tools, rather than ending with the classroom session. Following the Udaipur workshop, Orica’s India management requested fortnightly review calls to discuss actions and channel questions back to Pricing Insight.

The outcome

The program helped Orica’s teams compete more effectively against alternative suppliers and negotiate with demanding procurement teams. It gave them a more practical way to explain why a sophisticated solution could represent better value than a lower purchase price.

Pricing Insight’s contribution was to connect education with the realities of Orica’s market. The workshops produced customer-specific value analysis, structured sales arguments and documented action priorities, giving the teams a shared method for moving conversations beyond product features and price alone.

To build your team’s ability to discover, communicate and defend customer value, contact Pricing Insight.

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By Ron Wood, Pricing Insight. Photography: Orica blasting solutions and on-site services.