Summary

• An Post, Ireland’s national postal service provider, needed to change its business culture to grow retail sales by using a conversational sales approach
• Prosell designed the Customer Plus transformation programme based on training to develop the skills, e-learning to reinforce and extend this, and Procoach™ to drive the change in behaviours in the workplace
• An Post saw significant sales growth in a range of products with double digit growth in some exceptional offices
• Recognised by Corporate Reputations as having the best overall reputation of Irish organisations.

Company background

An Post provides a wide range of services in the Republic of Ireland, including postal, telecommunications, retail and financial services.

The challenge

An Post needed to change the culture of their retail network from one of processing customer transactions to one of growing retail sales through the development of a conversational sales approach in the An Post retail network (the Customer Plus programme). A key driver in the need to change was liberalisation at the end of 2011 and the highly competitive nature of the markets An Post was competing in, such as telecommunications and financial services.

The solution

Prosell designed and implemented the transformation programme, in particular:

• Development of the programme content in partnership with An Post.
• Training branch managers and contractors in 300 Post Offices in the conversational sales approach and developing their skills in coaching, so that they could introduce it to their staff
• Supporting the implementation of the programme through on-site visits to assist in implementation of the sales and coaching approaches through local Procoach™ accredited trainers and coaches
• Training a number of internal support personnel to Procoach™ standard so that An Post would have internal resources to support the programme
• Development of an e-learning programme to facilitate the introduction of Customer Plus to 800 offices
• Advising on the key requirements for success and championing support and involvement at the highest levels

Results

The programme has been very successful. Sales of certain products have grown; for example, in the first half of 2011, sales of one tracked product grew by up to 16% when compared with the same period the previous year.

“We have seen offices achieve significant sales growth in a range of products with double digit growth across a range of products in some exceptional offices. We have also seen a large number of offices recognise the benefits of the programme and engage in conversational selling at a reasonable level.”

Ken Murphy, An Post Retail Performance Manager

The impact on employees and managers is also significant:

“We have seen considerable behavioural change at the counter in company and contract post offices around the country. We have also seen managers increase the extent and improve the nature of their coaching interactions with staff.”

Diarmuid O'Conghalie, An Post

In 2011, Corporate Reputations recognised An Post as having the best overall reputation out of 119 Irish organisations.

What An Post says about Prosell

“We have found Prosell to be very professional in their approach, responsive and adaptable to our needs and proactive in supporting and developing the programme. Changing culture in an organisation such as An Post takes time but since we commenced the programme in August 2009 we have seen a significant shift in culture. Offices are becoming more focused on achieving sales targets, products and services are being proactively introduced to customers (when it is beneficial for the customer), and we have succeeded in getting staff in a number of offices to engage with customers outside the counter.”

Ken Murphy, An Post Retail Performance Manager

What Prosell says about An Post

“An Post recognised the need to change the way they do business, yet maintain the fantastic relationships their people have with customers. Ken has driven and supported the Customer Plus programme across the retail network, and has developed the Performance Leader Team to create a sustainable solution for the business. A suite of training solutions was created and developed to meet the differing needs and geographical spread of the business. Through our local trainers and coaches we have seen validated buy-in by branches with great results, both in terms of the planned cultural and behavioural changes, as well as the return on investment.”

Mark BW McDermott, An Post Account Manager