Sales Transformation at Scale: RS Group’s Journey to Strategic Selling Excellence

Client: RS Group

Discovery ADR Group and RS Group plc have worked in strategic partnership for nine years to transform RS’s global commercial sales function. The goal: shift from a transactional, price-led sales approach to a consultative, customer-centric, value-led model. Faced with declining revenues and margins, RS required urgent, systemic change, but sought a partner to deliver transformation differently.

Discovery’s first step was to define what great looked like at every level of the sales organisation. Through rigorous behavioural benchmarking and the design of bespoke Talent Centres, Discovery assessed over 270 sales professionals and leaders, providing individual feedback and targeted development planning. These diagnostics enabled precision investment in leadership programmes and coaching to develop commercially sharp, strategically agile sales leaders.

For the wider sales teams, Discovery designed and facilitated immersive, experiential programmes aimed at building commercial acumen, strategic thinking, and high-impact customer engagement. These initiatives addressed deep-rooted capability gaps that were undermining performance, such as poor forecasting, low-margin deals, and inconsistent sales conversion.

The outcomes were transformational. Within 18 months, RS saw a return to double-digit growth, sustained over the next four years. Margins improved, sales performance stabilised, and employee engagement scores hit their highest levels on record. RS continues to embed Discovery’s Talent Centre model as a strategic tool, repeating it every 12 to18 months to ensure ongoing capability development and high-performance culture.

Discovery ADR Group’s role has been pivotal in enabling RS to futureproof its sales organisation and deliver sustained, measurable transformation.