SiteOne Case Study: Sales Communication Skills With DiSC Sales Training

Meet Our Client: SiteOne Landscape Supply

SiteOne Landscape Supply serves landscape and maintenance contractors, golf courses, and municipalities across the United States and Canada. As the nation’s largest and only national wholesale distributor of landscape and irrigation supplies, SiteOne offers more than 90,000 products through nearly 600 branches across 45 states and five provinces, supported by approximately 8,000 industry experts.

In Colorado, a 13 person sales team led by an area sales manager set out to strengthen sales communication skills so the team could move beyond quoting and bidding and build more durable customer relationships.

The Challenge: Moving Beyond Transactional Selling

Taylor Linville, a SiteOne Landscape Supply area sales manager, has been with the company for 13 years. He stepped into the role after serving in sales, plus branch manager, business development manager, and area business manager positions. As he got to know his new team, he recognized an opportunity to level up the sales approach and create a more consistent sales process anchored in strong sales communication skills.

As Linville explains, the area sales manager role was designed to fill a gap. In the past, not every geography had a leader managing sales directly. Instead, operations leaders and salespeople carried the load without a consistent sales management rhythm.

The result was a sales motion that could lean transactional. Quick deals, limited personalization, and minimal relationship building. Linville wanted to help his team connect with customers in a way that positioned them as trusted advisors rather than order takers.

He saw a familiar pattern. The team often jumped straight to quoting, bidding, and talking about products. When the phone rings, answer it and fulfill the request. It is common, it is easy, and it can be risky. If the phone stops ringing, growth slows. Linville needed a customer focused selling shift that would improve conversations, create differentiation, and strengthen long term account value.

Discovery: Why DiSC Sales Fit the Moment

During SiteOne’s annual Leadership Academy, area leaders complete DiSC 360 assessments to better understand blind spots, recognize behavioral and leadership styles, and adapt for clearer conversations. Based on the assessment results, leaders are paired with a coach.

For Linville, that coach was revenueify’s Bob Lobascio. Through coaching, Linville received guidance, support, and practical feedback on how to improve communication and leadership effectiveness.

When Linville moved into a role with deeper sales responsibility, Lobascio connected the dots between leadership communication and sales execution. Linville already respected the team and their depth in sales and sales management. Once DiSC entered the conversation as a structured way to improve sales conversations, Linville wanted to learn more about Everything DiSC for Sales and how disc sales training could help his team adapt to customers more consistently.

The Solution: Customer Focused Selling Approach and Sales Communication Skills Training

To help SiteOne elevate performance, revenueify built a tailored training program centered on a customer focused selling approach and measurable improvements in sales communication skills. The training emphasized the behaviors that help salespeople earn trust, create better conversations, and guide customers toward outcomes.

Key capabilities the team developed through training included:

 

• • Establishing credibility and trust early in the conversation

• • Using active listening to create interest and uncover what matters most

• • Handling objections in a way that keeps momentum and preserves relationships

• • Positioning offerings at the right time and in the right way to improve win rates

• • Leading outcome based discussions that connect decisions to ROI

• • Closing efficiently without pushing customers into a decision

Linville started with commissioned salespeople first, then expanded the program as the team evolved. Eventually, he wanted every direct report to complete training, including inside sales and sales support. The goal was consistent. Give every team member a DiSC Sales Profile, build baseline sales communication skills, and create a shared language for adapting to customers.

To support that effort, the team aligned training with real customer conversations, using communication-skills training and a structured DiSC sales framework so sellers could recognize communication preferences and adjust in real time.

As SiteOne continues to expand and acquire companies, Linville’s vision is for the same customer focused selling behaviors to spread across the organization, creating a consistent customer experience and a consistent way of selling.

What Changed: Adapting Communication Styles in Real Conversations

The biggest takeaway for the team was learning how to recognize and adapt to different behavioral styles. Whether calling on a new customer or a long term account, they became more intentional about matching communication and performance preferences. That is where sales communication skills became practical, repeatable, and measurable.

Linville described it as a game changer in presentation style, customer approach, and selling effort. One simple example was the time check question, now used with customers and internally: Did I catch you at a good time?

The team also shared concrete wins. One salesperson noticed a customer with steadiness or conscientiousness tendencies and intentionally slowed the pace, focused on details, and improved clarity. The ability to adapt the conversation created better alignment and helped win business that might have been missed with a faster, more product heavy approach. This is where disc sales training connects directly to outcomes because it improves how sellers communicate, not just what they say.

Results: Noticeable ROI and Sales Execution that Fits SiteOne

Linville was direct about the investment. From a financial perspective, he sees the training as a clear win. The team pursued and closed business that he attributes to improved selling conversations and better customer alignment driven by stronger sales communication skills.

He also emphasized the difference in how the program was delivered. This was not generic sales training. It was sales for SiteOne. The trainers invested time to understand SiteOne’s customers, goals, and sales realities so the coaching and tools matched the field.

If you want to build similar capability in your team, explore sales communication skills training and how a DiSC sales foundation can strengthen your customer focused selling execution.

Upcoming Sales Communication Skills Training Programs