Selling excess steel across world markets
Steel company
- $12.1MOf excess inventory sold every year
- 34%Of the buyers the agents found were not in the company’s CRM
Summary
A steel company used Bourne to build agents that sell its excess inventory. They find buyers in the markets that still need steel, reach out and negotiate the deals.
Problem
The company runs continuous steel production and exports around the world. Production cannot easily slow down, but demand is hard to predict and moves across markets from one week to the next.
When demand drops, the extra steel has nowhere to go. It waits in containers for weeks before it ships, tying up cash and space until a buyer turns up.
Solution
The company used Bourne to build agents that sell excess supply on their own. When demand drops and inventory builds up, the agents find buyers in the markets that still need steel, reach out to them over email, WhatsApp and online portals, and negotiate the deals. As demand moves between markets from week to week, the agents move with it.
Sales reps stay in the loop. When an opportunity involves an account a rep already owns, the agent notifies the rep and shows them the outreach plan before anything is sent.
| Work | Before | With Bourne |
|---|---|---|
| Excess inventory | Waits in containers for weeks until a buyer turns up. | Sold by agents to the markets that still need steel. |
| Finding buyers | Limited to accounts already in the CRM. | 34% of buyers found are new to the company. |
| Rep involvement | Reps work every lead by hand. | Reps see the outreach plan for their accounts before anything is sent. |
Impact
The agents sell $12.1M of excess inventory a year that would otherwise have waited in containers for weeks to be shipped, and it sells closer to list price than before.
34% of the buyers the agents found were not in the company’s CRM. These are new relationships the company would not otherwise have reached, and it can sell to them in high-demand seasons too.
