Clients
We’ve worked with some of the world’s leading organisations over the last 30 years, helping them improve their sales and customer service.
Our training and coaching programmes, delivered in a variety of languages across the world, have helped businesses in diverse sectors, from financial services, automotive and IT, to telecommunications and retail.
Here is a selection of some of the businesses we have worked with, along with testimonials and case studies.
If you’d like to talk about improving the performance of your sales and customer service, please do get in touch.
Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB International
Summary
- LloydsTSB International, Expatriate Banking, needed to change its business culture to grow sales and customer service levels at a global level
- The solution developed a defined call structure and conversational sales approach
- Positive changes in behaviour and organisational culture were embedded
- Significant sales growth in a range of products and services up to 30% was achieved
Company background
LloydsTSB International provides a wide range of services to expatriate customers around the globe, including banking, investments, wealth management, taxation and other financial services.
The challenge
Lloyds TSB International Expatriate Banking Services identified the need to differentiate themselves from the competition, add value to their proposition and engage with customers by:
- Increasing sales revenues from their existing global customer base
- Improving customer NPS results
- Developing internal processes for sales briefings
- Creating a sales process and internal brand for calls/meetings Training managers and sales teams on the required skills and behaviours
The solution
Prosell designed and implemented the PERFECT programme globally, which included:
- Development of the PERFECT Call and Brief models, programme delivery and content
- A blended solution, “Managing the Performer” programme for the managers and team leaders to drive sales skills, behaviours and performance in seven business units
- Created the “Sales through Service” programme for sales teams to experience the PERFECT Call methods through practical client scenario based workshops
- Observed and developed managers and team leaders through workplace observations to ensure behaviours and skills were embedded through Procoach accredited coaches
- Advising on the key requirements for success and championing support and involvement at the highest levels
We also trained an internal Procoach™ Professional team so that they can continue to train and annually re-certify Procoaches, undertake future PERFECT programmes, maintain standards and develop management capability and reduce external costs.
Results
There has been significant sales growth – up to 30% – in a range of products and services
An independent survey conducted in October 2011 also showed that the desired behavioural changes and coaching skills from managers and team leaders are well established:
- Questioning and listening skills – up by 56%
- Engaging team in achieving changes – up by 134%
- Use of Procoach™ approach to drive change – up by 151%
- Seeking teams views and ideas – up by 79%
- Defining specific improvements – up by 51%
- Quality of constructive feedback given – up by 49%
- Clarity of roles and responsibilities – up by 57%
What Lloyds TSB International say about Prosell
“We started working in partnership with Prosell back in early 2011 to develop the PERFECT sales programme across our Expatriate Banking offices around the globe. The goal was a two-pronged approach working with both managers and staff together to embed best practice coaching skills & developing sales agents to perform their jobs better.”
“My experience of working with Prosell is that they are the ultimate in professionalism, and a company very prepared to be flexible with the ever changing needs of the business. I cannot fault their support and advice in meeting our objectives, nor their patience and dependability.”
“There is a sharp increase in the focus on professionalism by the managers of the business, and the willingness to put coaching into practice. There has been a marked improvement in the sales performance of many of the staff. They have greeted the training with a huge amount of enthusiasm, which I put partly down to the excellent training delivery of Prosell.”
“Most importantly the culture of the organisation is starting to change to one of a more professional and structured approach.”
Alastair Ramsay, Expatriate Banking Learning & Development Manager
Lloyds TSB International
“We started working in partnership with Prosell back in early 2011 to develop the PERFECT sales programme across our Expatriate Banking offices around the globe. The goal was a two-pronged approach working with both managers and staff together to embed best practice coaching skills & developing sales agents to perform their jobs better.
My experience of working with Prosell is that they are the ultimate in professionalism, and a company very prepared to be flexible with the ever changing needs of the business. I cannot fault their support and advice in meeting our objectives, nor their patience and dependability.
There is a sharp increase in the focus on professionalism by the managers of the business, and the willingness to put coaching into practice. There has been a marked improvement in the sales performance of many of the staff. They have greeted the training with a huge amount of enthusiasm, which I put partly down to the excellent training delivery of Prosell.
Most importantly the culture of the organisation is starting to change to one of a more professional and structured approach.”
Alastair Ramsay, Expatriate Banking Learning & Development Manager
Lloydspharmacy
Lloydspharmacy
Summary
- The need for sustainable retail change, with a shift to conversational selling
- 4,350 people trained in four months
- Retail sales and net promoter scores have risen
- Improved motivation and engagement
- Very positive feedback – 98.4% excellent and good
- Prosell the partner of choice, due to the sustainability of our solution, our track record and our understanding of the business requirements
Company background
Lloydspharmacy is a UK retail pharmacist with 1,650 owned branches throughout the UK. It has three product areas: dispensary, advisory and health services, and over the counter medicines.
What Lloydspharmacy says about Prosell
“It is so refreshing, as an HR professional, to work with a company that is as committed to sustainability and return on investment as we are in the HR leadership team. Working with Prosell has been a highly supportive and appropriately challenging partnership which has brought significant expertise to the success of this programme.”
Barbara Sutherland
Head of Capability
The challenge
Since deregulation some years ago, competition has become intense, particularly from supermarkets. Lloydspharmacy’s brand image was not as clearly defined as it should be, thereby not giving enough brand clarity to customers.
In store, staff were friendly to customers, but retail standards were inconsistent, and, in some cases, poor. Some staff thought it wrong, as health professionals, to sell to customers, not realising that when done properly, a sales conversation enhances customer service. With thousands of product lines, there was not sufficient product knowledge, which also needed to be addressed alongside conversational selling skills.
The solution
The HR team consulted operations teams and senior management across the organisation, as well as its commercial and professional clinical standards partner. The result was a brief to three organisations, with Prosell selected as the partner of choice.
The reasons why Lloydspharmacy selected Prosell included:
- We were the only company that talked about the sustainability of the change that was being put in place. We advised the coaching supervisors to deliver that change
- We recognised the challenges that need to be addressed and that it was a programme of change, not a training delivery programme
- We have done this successfully before in a similar environment in the Post Office in the UK
Coaching of supervisors had not been part of the original brief, but Lloydspharmacy fully appreciated the benefits this would bring, not least the embedding of the new behaviours and the sustainability of the change.
The programme was called +ONE and was developed based on 4 Ss:
- Standards – challenging existing standards and coaching the link between standards and sales
- Sales – product pushes, link sales and delivering value-add natural customer conversations
- Service – coaching the connection between sales and service and the impact on the customer
- Sustainability – change for the long term
The programme is supported by the +ONE best practice videos and microsite and has involved 10,500 participants. Over just four months, Prosell ran over 100 workshops for more than 1,700 store supervisors and took 48 operational support managers through our five-day Procoach training programme.
Results
Two other major initiatives were introduced concurrently with +ONE, so it is not possible to isolate the impact of +ONE. However, the performance improvement is strong:
- Sales is a common language in the business
- The Net Promoter Score has risen
- Strong financial results – especially in product and link sales. For example OTC sales have grown by a desirable 3%
- Improved motivation and engagement
- Feedback has been very positive – 98.4% rated the workshops as excellent and good.
- High levels of awareness of +ONE
- The programme is owned by the business, not seen as an HR initiative
The next phase of the programme is now being rolled out, with further development for pharmacy managers and area managers, to reinforce the leadership, capability and commercial requirements of their roles.
Lloydspharmacy
“It is so refreshing, as an HR professional, to work with a company that is as committed to sustainability and return on investment as we are in the HR leadership team. Working with Prosell has been a highly supportive and appropriately challenging partnership which has brought significant expertise to the success of this programme.”
Barbara Sutherland, Head of Capability
An Post
An Post
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
An Post
“Prosell has worked with An Post over the last 2-3 years in promoting conversational approaches to staff coaching and over-the-counter sales. Prosell has always been very professional in its dealings with An Post, and has brought considerable expertise, experience and energy to the transformation project we have been engaged in. I would have no hesitation in recommending Prosell to prospective clients.
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.
The effect of the Customer Plus programme (designed in conjunction with Prosell and delivered with their engagement) cannot be captured in a couple of sentences. However, comparison with control groups has shown that those offices who engaged with the programme have experienced improved sales growth as a direct and verifiable result of the programme. Offices engaged in the programme frequently experience double digit growth in transactions levels.”
Diarmuid O’Conghalie, An Post
“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 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, Retail Performance Manager
Travelex
Travelex
Company Background
Travelex is best known for supplying foreign exchange currency at airports and tourist location but they also offer a wide range of travel and financial products such as travel insurance and phone cards.
The Challenge
Travelex wanted to transition from a foreign exchange company that happened to be in retail to a retail company that happened to be in foreign exchange.
Matt McCarthy, Travelex’s Retail Director for Australasia and Japan said:
”We really need a culture of being customer-centric. Customer service is the key thing that will underpin our success; if our customer service is strong and we care about our customers we will be market leaders.
We needed a program that our sales consultants could implement when they are dealing with our customers so that we can deliver what they want. This programme is designed to make our people experts in dealing with our customers and their foreign exchange needs”.
The Solution
The program was designed to improve the results of the retail operation by entrenching the responsibility for planning and supporting performance improvement into the local managers and to build ownership for delivering the required level of performance at the store level.
The solution had two elements:
- A training course was developed for the sales consultants, based on Prosell’s Conversational Selling Model, and delivered via the internet using a hosted learning management system which needed no technology implementation other than access to a PC with a browser.
The course was designed to enhance the quality of service that customers experience when they visit Travelex stores and encompassed a blend of text, audio and video to create a rich learning environment.
The learning management system tracked and reported on the progress of every program participant and automatically delivered certificates to everyone that passed the final assessment test. - To ensure that managers were equipped to support the development of the sales consultants and their selling skills, Prosell’s Licence to Coach methodology was used. Licence to Coach rewards managers for achieving improved results from their team rather than attending training courses.
The Outcome
Following the launch of the program the monthly run rate of both revenue and add-on product sales improved. As a result of Licence of Coach, the managers are now much more engaged in the performance of the stores and the development of their people and accept that performance improvement is a key and central element of their role.
Hertz
Hertz
Company Background
Market leader Hertz recently consolidated eight European markets into one location through the establishment of the Hertz Financial Centre at Swords Co. Dublin. This centralisation of service within Europe meant that there was a focus on the recruitment and development of staff tasked with managing a large volume of customer queries and accounting issues.
The Challenge
At operational level within the HEFC, best practice performance standards were still in their infancy, leading to a lack of consistency across different markets.
Quantitative performance indicators were in place to track performance – including files closed and calls taken per day – but team members had little clarification of the quality expectations relating to their work processes.
The Solution
Prosell partnered with local provider DBS Training to deliver the Procoach® programme.
The Procoach® solution was a direct response to the requirement for standardised performance management by Team Leaders. All Team Leaders needed to be able to affect their team members’ results on a daily basis – through processes put in place within the call centre environment.
Why Hertz chose Procoach®
- Procoach® delivers tangible results which are aligned with individual and business needs
- Procoach® completely matched the culture of the business in terms of time invested in the learning process
- A pragmatic coaching model, tuned to call centre and service environments
- Delivers coaching at the point of need – in a way that suits the individual
- Allows clients to track return on training investment throughout the programme
- Implementation integrates with – and enhances – existing systems
Implementation
Prosell set about programme development and a “Licence to Coach” Programme was designed and approved. This was designed to deliver both coaching consistency and business impact.
The coaching programme was attended by 29 Team Leaders and the basic elements of the programme implemented were as follows –
- Each Team Leader was accredited based on a live coaching assessment
- Team Leader and Co-ordinator responsibilities were clarified, and their work was further supported by Time Management and Delegation training
- Key Performance Indicators – particularly qualitative standards – were put in place for each section within Hertz European Financial Centre
Results
A key component of Procoach® performance improvement programmes is the tracking of performance in relation to key targets. The following results indicate the scale of improvement achieved –
- Average performance increased by 39% over the two weeks
- Statistical analysis carried out in the German Call Centres demonstrated a 16.5% increase in online availability
- Spanish and Italian agents’ standards were measured over a three-month period, and they accomplished a 25% increase in performance based on average files closed per hour
Post Office
Post Office
Company Background
With around 16,000 branches across the UK, the Post Office® is the largest retailer in Europe. The Post Office® serves 29.2 million customers every week, with a permanent staff of approximately 13,500 employees. An additional 67,000 people deliver Post Office® services, employed by franchise partners such as multiple and independent retailers.
The Challenge
Research showed that the Post Office® is one of the UK’s most trusted brands. The survey revealed that 70% of respondents felt that customer-service levels at the Post Office® were ahead of organisations such as Tesco and BT, while 88% felt that compared to other institutions, the Post Office® was an important part of the local community.
In order to deepen its relationship with its unique client-base and also secure a viable commercial future, the Post Office® under Chief Executive David Mills set out to gain just one extra penny from each of the 42 million customer visits every week – and identified expanding into the financial services market as the way to achieve that.
Solution
To help implement this strategy, the Post Office® chose Prosell as its strategic training and performance-improvement partner to help develop and implement the people strategy and tactics to achieve their goal.
Prosell’s heritage of successfully working with blue-chip organisations in sales and service environments, made it the natural choice for an organisation with more outlets than all the UK’s banks and building societies combined. Together, the Post Office® and Prosell developed the +1 sales and marketing programme to help staff deliver that one extra penny per transaction.
Implementation
Prosell knew that a “hard sell” approach would not appeal to the Post Office’s customer base nor be suitable for the counter staff, therefore a ‘conversational-selling’ model was introduced that built upon the excellent standard of customer service already
in place.
9,000 counter staff in the +1 programme were trained in conversational selling techniques. Workshops were used to introduce the products and their benefits, helping employees role-play situations they would encounter on the job. Sessions identified the aspects of selling that work best for the Post Office® and ways of instilling these qualities into the company’s new strategic direction.
Senior management buy-in was crucial. The top 70 executives from across the organisation attended a session while those in the wider Post Office® network were reached via bespoke sales training videos, self-learning CDs, financial product information
sheets and the +1 Selling Guide.
A further round of workshops for 5,000 more employees is currently underway along with support tools for line managers and an eLearning solution for the entire network to propagate the selling models effectively.
Results
An initial test phase compared the sales performance of 100 Post Office® branches taking part in the +1 development programme, against a pool of 100 which did not.
Within three months, the branches participating in the programme out-performed the control group by 5% – and sale values had risen by 16.7%. What’s more, 95% of workshop attendees agreed that the sales coaching programme provided a
‘positive experience’.
The hands-on management style which the coaching programme has encouraged is also thought to have contributed to the increased number of employees who say they are ‘enjoying their role’ from 63% to 71% in the space of a year.
Learning Points
The +1 people development programme has instilled a whole new way of doing things at the Post Office®, comments Jonathan Hewett, Head of Sales at Post Office® Ltd.
“It has helped smooth the transition into financial services, and was a major part of our preparations for the launch of our personal loan, the first Post Office® branded financial service product.”
An underlying message – “It’s not the knowing, it’s the doing” – is implicit within the Post Office® now. Jonathan Hewitt comments:
“This has enabled us to turn this philosophy into practice, by communicating to our front line colleagues what’s being done to support them in delivering increased sales. By gaining valuable input from the bottom up it has ensured our 16,000 outlets have bought into our vision, excelling in the provision of financial products.”
Post Office Ltd
“We choose to work with Prosell because of their pragmatic approach to our problem of transforming our organisation’s culture of transactional order taking into a conversational approach to selling. They understood the environment in which we operated and the diverse attitudes of our staff and agents to selling.
Prosell worked closely with us and adapted their Procoach Coaching model to meet the needs of our branch managers and Post Masters. We were impressed with the added value of transferring the learning. This was a key feature of the programme to achieve sustainability beyond the initial injection of Prosell resources. In partnership we also devised a practical sales model based around conversational selling.
The programme delivered a 17% improvement in transaction value and meant a £10 million revenue forecast for The Post Office. Previous attempts to grow revenue had failed to deliver anything close to this magnitude and the legacy of the programme still delivers success to this day as the sales culture of the Post Office has changed beyond recognition.”
Eric Logan, National Sales Support Manager, Post Office Ltd.
Dell
Dell
Summary
Dell briefed Prosell to develop a programme to enable their small business sales teams to improve their ability to pursue all sales opportunities and exceed performance targets. Prosell devised a coaching programme with a set of follow-up reviews,.directed at team leaders, with the aim of introducing behavioural changes that would deliver measurable improvements in sales conversion rate, average order value and productivity. The programme delivered:
- Average customer order values improved by 36%
- Productivity (average talk time) went from 2.5 hours per day to 3.5 hours – an improvement of 40%
- Average conversion rates increased from 18% to 26%
Company Background
Dell has built a global reputation for product quality, innovative marketing and responsive customer service, but recognised that the potential of their small business sales teams was not being fully realised.
The Challenge
Dell and Prosell established that team leaders:
- Had not received formal training support to assist them in their role
- Lacked awareness of commercial practices prevailing outside this Major Global Computer Company
- Perceived the sales role to be one of managing customer orders rather than proactively pursuing all sales opportunities
Dell wanted the project to help sales staff and exceed performance targets and maintain improvements in the longer term. They needed a solution that catered for individual development needs but had minimal impact on the time team leaders spent away from the sales floor. Sales staff needed to regard the focus of their conversations with the customer as a means of encouraging customers to buy, rather than simply the provision of information.
The Solution
Working closely with Dell, Prosell devised a coaching programme with a set of follow-up reviews. The programme was directed at team leaders, and the aim was to introduce behavioural changes that would deliver measurable improvements in sales conversion rate, average order value and productivity.
The programme was developed to encourage good practice using direct, on-the-job experience to encourage genuine skill development. Dell was determined to capitalise on their training investment and gave Prosell a clear brief to link the programme to overall business objectives:
- Increased average order values
- Improved sales staff productivity
- Increased sales conversion rates
Coaching was provided to help with:
- Analysis of performance data
- Definition of critical skill deficiencies
- Identification of ways to improve the key skills of staff
- Development of an effective sales model
The programme was focused on the development of critical skills within the organisation in the short term, and delivery of measurable and sustainable commercial improvements in the longer term. In addition, a call quality monitoring system was installed and all team leaders trained in its use. This system included call quality templates that supported the desired behaviour change.
The Outcome
A large sample of the sales force was observed & recorded prior and post implementation with the following results:
- Average customer order values improved by 36%
- Productivity (average talk time) went from 2.5 hours per day to 3.5 hours – an improvement of 40%
- Average conversion rates increased from 18% to 26%
BT
BT Global Services
“We conducted a formal ROI report into the Sales Managers Development Programme that Prosell delivered for us. This was a programme designed to build coaching competency in first line sale managers.
We found that the ROI was in excess of 200%. This report was audited by the ROI Institute.
In terms of business impact, I should say that with the SMDP coaching programme, we achieved a drop in voluntary attrition from approximately 19% to below 12%. In the sales field this is very significant.”
David Vachell, Learning and Development Manager, BT Global Services
GE Money
GE Money
“In terms of cultural change, this has been massive over the last 18 months. This has been achieved through a number of key initiatives and strategic changes on what and how we sell. The implementation of Prosell was a key driver in terms of driving the cultural change to become more results focused and sales driven as people are bought into our vision and feel valued in terms of the coaching and development they know receive.
Performance has improved 500%, (ROI 4:1). The Prosell model was certainly a crucial element amongst a number of changes implemented over last 18 months. In terms of staff feedback, we have moved from 63% of staff feeling valued and supported by direct manager to 100% (over last 5 quarter surveys).”
Sarah McMann, Sales Director, GE Money
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi
The Background
In the 1990’s Mitsubishi moved from the specialist car market into the mainstream, with launches of hatchback and saloon models. It soon became apparent that there was a change needed in sales approaches. In addition, the Sales Director was frustrated with the traditional incentive programs being used to try and drive dealer performance.
“We spend millions each year on running high profile incentive programs, but I end up taking the same dealers on the trip each year and the same ones stay at the bottom of the list, with no change in their results.”
The Challenge
The training being offered by the manufacturer was aimed at sales staff and was delivered at a central location. When these people went back to their dealerships it was obvious that they were much more influenced by their peers and managers than by the training they had received. This being the case, we needed to make this influence much more beneficial and to show improvement in dealer results.
The Program
Prosell changed the process from central, general training to dealer specific performance improvement programs. Each of the dealers in the program received a detailed analysis of their sales effectiveness and their ability to improve sales – from dealer principle down. The program focused on the ability of managers and senior sales people to train and coach their people in line with new models, competition and the challenge of technology – buyers using the internet to choose the vehicle;
As one dealer principle put it – “I used to get 30 to 40 visitors to my showroom each weekend – about 25% of which were serious buyers. Now my showroom is a ghost town and I get 30 to 40 emails with the make, model and spec already chosen, asking for my best price. I know this email has gone to 10 other dealers as well. My sales people struggle to know how to change their sales behavior to deal with this.”
We changed the sales process and the way in which the relationship with the customer was sold. In addition, we put in place a coaching program for sales managers that enabled them to continue the development of their people. Finally, we gave Dealer Principals the tools to measure and manage the sales effectiveness needed.
The Results
Over a 6 month period, we evidenced a 38% increase in overall sales volumes and 8% increase in sales margins.
Yell
Yell
Company Background
Yell is a leading international directories business operating in the classified advertising market through printed, online and phone media in the UK and the US. Yell touches the lives of millions of businesses and consumers every day. In the UK, its famous Yellow Pages directories are used 1.2 billion times a year and more than a million advertisements are published in them from every business sector.
The Challenge
Yell has committed considerable resources to develop both new services and back office systems to ensure the organisation is customer-centric and remains at the forefront of its industry.
To guarantee the success of this organisation-wide approach and to minimise any disruption to customers, Yell decided to further invest in the customer service skills of its people to ensure service levels were as high as possible.
The challenge was to find a solution that developed the inherent skills of front line managers so that organisational objectives and best practice ideas could be effectively coached to customer-facing teams and sustained and enhanced by their line managers. Yell chose Prosell as its strategic performance improvement partner as its Procoach® service was completely flexible, offering a tailored solution for all of Yell’s development needs.
The Solution
To ensure performance objectives were achieved and sustained over time, the key task was to develop a cultural shift within the business which was achieved using a three step approach.
The first step was to develop the telephone skills of the frontline customer service team. Secondly, customer service managers were coached using Procoach® Licence to Coach, in order to develop consistency in their approach and ensure the successful execution of coaching to the customer service team. Finally, Yell’s internal training team completed the Procoach® Professional programme. This was so Yell could be self-sufficient in running internal Procoach® Licence to Coach programmes, including the accreditation of managers who successfully completed the programme.
Implementation
Procoach® Professional was the last stage of the three development programmes developed by Prosell. The Procoach® Professional programme consisted of six accredited training personnel all required to deliver Licence to Coach programmes, accreditation and ongoing audits of successful licensed coaches throughout the business. Procoach® Professional trainers are audited every nine to twelve months to ensure continued adherence to best practice and impact on overall results.
Results
Jan Lovett, Senior Customer Service Manager at Yell, said:
“As a result of Procoach® Professional, we now have a centre of excellence for helping us to deliver a quality service throughout Yell customer service teams.”
Jan added:
“Procoach® programmes remain the customer service ‘house style’. They suit our business, the service remains flexible yet it is as relevant now as it was when we first started the programme in 2003. We have fully embraced the Procoach® concept and, as a result, we expect to experience the long-term benefits throughout our service teams.”
Yell
“As a result of Procoach Professional, we now have a centre of excellence for helping us to deliver a quality service throughout Yell customer service teams.
Procoach programmes remain the customer service ‘house style’. They suit our business, the service remains flexible yet it is as relevant now as it was when we first started the programme a few years ago. We have fully embraced the Procoach concept and, as a result, we expect to experience the long-term benefits throughout our service teams.”
Jan Lovett, Senior Customer Service Manager
News International
News Limited
Summary
- No market growth opportunity – market in decline – so adopted strategy to build market share
- Prosell developed a training and ProcoachTM workplace coaching programme to develop and embed sales skills
- Advertising sales grew by 12% (the overall market declined by 13%)
- Average sales order value grew by 16.5%
- Conversion rates improved by 21%
Company background
News Limited, part of News Corporation, is one of Australia’s largest media conglomerate companies, employing more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,000 journalists and operates over 100 newspaper and magazine titles across Australia.
The challenge
Against the backdrop of the financial crisis, classified advertising revenues had fallen by 13% across the newspaper industry, with no sign of improvement.
In a stagnant market, News Limited realised that it had to realign its strategy to focus on market share instead of growth.
The solution
Prosell was brought in to put in place practices to help achieve these goals and consistently improve performance, including:
- Create sales execution models for inbound classified and outbound features and campaigns;
- Develop training course that would help Advertising Sales Consultants improve skills;
- Give managers and supervisors the skills to coach and develop their staff;
- implement a rigour in the management team that would report, measure and consistently improve results; and
- Embed this into the business so it became part of the company culture
In order for News Limited to place itself ahead of its competition, they needed to become more proactive and diligent in the way they approached the market. Skills and attitudes first needed to be changed.
Prosell took managers and supervisors through a customised Procoach™ programme, which combined workshops, tools and templates, followed by four months of support. This gave them the capability to coach well and genuinely change the behaviours of their people.
Changes in both behaviour and results were monitored and people were accredited with reaching the correct levels of skill and results in the workplace.
To ensure that this superior performance was embedded within News Limited, the skills and standards implemented became part of:
- Induction programs
- Targets and quality measures
- Performance Reviews
- Management Reporting
Results
Through a realignment of strategy and a focus on management and sales effectiveness, News Limited successfully achieved a:
- 12% increase in overall revenue (against an industry decline of 13% over the same 12 month period);
- 16.5% increase in dollars per ad; and
- 21% increase in measured conversion rates (enquires to bookings)
News Limited was able to achieve successful economic performance within a contracting market because of their willingness to realign strategic objectives and implement competitive tactics that won market share.
Prosell expects to work on a clear return on investment proposition. News Limited was able to achieve a return on their investment within four months of the twelve month program.
Ricoh
Ricoh
Summary
- Our brief was to transform Ricoh sales teams from contract negotiators to advisors
- Sales teams needed to engage with customers much earlier and sell a value proposition
- Prosell’s programme brought the value proposition to life, in terms of the market, the customer and the sales person, so as to differentiate Ricoh at all levels
- Our programme also enabled the sales teams to develop value proposition based account planning
- The results are strong, with Ricoh seeing uplift in both the number of major opportunities created and the number of major, full service document management contracts won
Company background
Ricoh is a document management company, which sells a full document management capability to its target markets. These target markets include major corporations, government bodies, educational institutions and small to medium enterprise throughout Australia.
Not only is this a fiercely competitive market, but it is also a very dynamic one. Like many industries, technology has dramatically changed the services offered to the customer and the role of the sales person has changed from contract negotiator for a range of office equipment to that of an advisor on how best to use the technology to drive efficiencies in productivity and reductions in waste, cost, complexity and environmental impacts.
The challenge
In order to win and maintain major business, the national sales force needed to understand the ever increasing range of product features and support services Ricoh could offer. The sales team then needed to be able to engage with the key contacts within our clients’ organisation in order to influence their buying decisions.
In the past, most office equipment companies only engaged with their market during the contract renewal cycle, hoping to win a competitive bidding process. Ricoh knew they needed to engage with clients well before this process, to influence their thinking on how they might use a complete, managed document service to drive productivity gains and cost savings. This meant they had to understand Ricoh’s overall value proposition (not just a list of services) and then make the approach to the customer on a more value added consultative basis, not just a pitch based on price.
The solution
A training programme was designed by Prosell, which involved bringing together all of the product and services groups and developing the articulation of the Ricoh value proposition in its three components:
- The generic value proposition (what our strengths mean in the market)
- The customised value proposition (how to position the VP with specific types of contact and industries)
- The sales person as the value proposition (how you differentiate through your capabilities, knowledge and behaviour)
This training programme was then rolled out to the national sales team and its management. This included the planning and account strategies that would allow the sales person to both understand and plan how to weave this value proposition into the entire sales cycle, from initial approach to the implementation of an improved document management environment.
Results
The primary measures set for the programme were number of significant corporate opportunities identified (ability to approach and engage) and the number of corporate managed document services contracts won (ability to present the Value Proposition and differentiate from the competition).
Ricoh also supported the sales teams with other initiatives, which enhanced their knowledge of the services the company offered and provided a greater focus on key clients. Not only did the number of opportunities increase, but in the 12 months since the programme was implemented, Ricoh has won a number of significant contracts with some of Australia’s largest businesses.
What Ricoh says about Prosell
Peter Jarvis, Ricoh National Sales Manager, commented:
‘With a range of services and capabilities that allow us to compete at the complex, corporate level of document management, we needed to make sure all our sales people transitioned from selling office equipment contracts to genuinely adding value and differentiating our offering, through their ability to engage with senior management and sell our managed document services and a full service offering to the corporate market.
“We therefore needed to work with a company that was able to design a program tailored for us that properly explained our value proposition and educated our sales people to use it effectively. I was very pleased with both the course design and Prosell’s ability to provide facilitators who connected with our sales team. Prosell’s facilitation helped them articulate our value proposition through the entire sales cycle, from who we contacted and the message we wanted to deliver, right through to presenting our proposition and winning key business. Prosell had the experience to understand how to do this and also how to make sure the training gave the sales teams the tools to implement effectively.
“We have seen uplift in both the number of major opportunities created and the number of major, full service document management contracts won.”
Ricoh
“With a range of services and capabilities that allow us to compete at the complex, corporate level of document management, we needed to make sure all our sales people transitioned from selling office equipment contracts to genuinely adding value and differentiating our offering, through their ability to engage with senior management and sell our managed document services and a full service offering to the corporate market.
We therefore needed to work with a company that was able to design a program tailored for us that properly explained our value proposition and educated our sales people to use it effectively. I was very pleased with both the course design and Prosell’s ability to provide facilitators who connected with our sales team. Prosell’s facilitation helped them articulate our value proposition through the entire sales cycle, from who we contacted and the message we wanted to deliver, right through to presenting our proposition and winning key business. Prosell had the experience to understand how to do this and also how to make sure the training gave the sales teams the tools to implement effectively.
We have seen uplift in both the number of major opportunities created and the number of major, full service document management contracts won.”
Peter Jarvis, National Sales Manager
RAC
Rac
Company Background
Well known to motorists across the UK, the RAC provides a detailed inspection service for anyone considering the purchase of used cars via motor dealer networks. Despite market research and soundings, all of which confirmed the very strong appeal of this service to customers (85% attractiveness), the RAC were experiencing a poor response to promotional initiatives – resulting in low sales.
The Challenge
Prosell set out to define and address the problem. Our research identified the fact that dealership salespeople and managers had failed to grasp the sales potential and the added value benefits of the service. A combination of issues and perceptions on the part of many sales personnel had effectively limited promotion of the service to customers.
Solution
Prosell’s solution was designed to improve understanding, address negative issues and provide a positive and sustainable sales solution that would support the RAC.
“This has been a phenomenal success – a true example of using a specialist training company to solve difficult sales problems.”
Personnel Director, RAC
Why RAC chose Procoach®
Procoach® – from Prosell is designed to deliver visible and sustainable performance improvement by addressing the methods and systems used to coach staff.
Procoach® is particularly suitable for sales and service teams as it:
- focuses on delivering tangible results which are closely aligned with individual and business needs
- applies a pragmatic coaching model tuned to the dynamic nature of call centres and sales and service environments
- delivers coaching at the point of need – in a way that suits the individual
- allows clients to track ROI throughout the programme
Implementation
Overall project implementation involved three key phases.
The first was a Research Phase –
- Customer research targeted recent used car buyers
- Mystery shopping was conducted to assess the real sales situation
- Sales interviews were used to explore and examine issues and problems
This was followed by a tailored programme development phase –
- A bespoke training and coaching programme for dealer sales and after-sales was designed
- A ‘Best Practice’ standards profile was created
Finally, training workshops were implemented and a programme of evaluation (using “before-and-after” measures) was undertaken, using “Mystery Shopper” live action filming and assessment.
Results
The programme delivered measurable improvements in sales performance clearly illustrated in the “before-and-after” ratings:
- Product offered to consumers – up 188%
- Essential sales points covered – up 128%
- Positive customer outcomes – up 110 %
The pilot programme was such a success that it was selected to be rolled out across the network – with over 100 sales people already having been through the programme in its initial phase.
Telewest Broadband
Virgin Media (Telewest Broadband)
Summary
Telewest Broadband, now part of Virgin Media, appointed Prosell to introduce a conversational selling culture into their service teams to improve “save” rates.
- Matching behaviours to objections – up 38%
- Closing – up 30%
- Probing for needs – up 29%
- Handling objections – up 31%
Most importantly – save rates increased by 47% compared with the control group of managers that did not take part in the programme.
This 47% increase in save rates far exceeded the 15% programme target set by Telewest Broadband.
About Telewest Broadband
Telewest Broadband provided TV, broadband and telephone services in the UK, before being acquired by Virgin Group to form Virgin Media with Virgin Mobile, thus launching the first quadruple play service in the UK.
The challenge
The market is highly competitive, with high customer attrition/churn rates. Telewest Broadband identified that forming longer and more profitable relationships with customers would be a cornerstone to its goal of growing the customer base.
The Customer Relations Executives (CREs) were the ideal team to directly market the benefits of staying with Telewest Broadband. However, the team worked in a customer service environment and did not have much selling expertise.
The solution
Prosell undertook a training needs’ analysis, identified the skill gaps and designed a programme that combined best practice sales training with workplace coaching. We used our Conversational Selling methodology that allowed the CREs to have natural conversations with customers that developed rapport, identified needs and opportunities and closed the sale without either party feeling it was a “hard” sale.
Our TNA also identified that the customer relations’ managers did not have the necessary skills or expertise to performance coach their teams. Prosell’s solution was to put the managers through the Procoach® Licence to Coach programme, which developed the managers as coaches so they would be able to reinforce and sustain the skills and behaviours being learned by their teams.
The Results
There was a significant and sustained shift in behaviour across the department, reinforced and enhanced by coaching from their managers. The managers themselves also improved their performance.
Behaviour used | Percentage increase observed behaviour post training |
---|---|
Matching benefits to objections | 38% |
Use of positive inclusive language | 35% |
Handling objections | 31% |
Closing | 30% |
Probing for needs | 29% |
Acknowledging the customer | 26% |
Picking up on customers’’ feelings | 17% |
Signalling actions/intent | 16% |
Voice tone | 13% |
Overall the programme delivered an uplift of 47% in save rates.
This was 100% attributable to the Prosell Procoach™ programme, as the control group of managers and teams did not achieve any uplift during this period.
EDS
EDS
Company Background
Employees at the Request Management Centre for EDS in County Durham are responsible for ensuring that clients’ end user help desk business needs are executed in a timely and professional way. Calls range from a simple application software problem, to far more complex hardware queries.
Each team within the EDS Request Management Centre (RMC) works to specific performance criteria. Performance measures are expressed in a Service Level Agreement for each client, with the central performance criteria based on the average speed of
answer.
In order that these performance standards are maintained and sustained, team leaders are required to optimise their team’s performance through coaching. They must also deal with management reporting and troubleshooting, and respond to client requests for change in a very dynamic environment.
The Challenge
EDS needed to improve and sustain their agents’ performance against target, by increasing their team leaders’ capabilities as effective coaches.
EDS were also committed to ensure that RMC Team Leaders have the necessary skills and processes to sustain a high level of performance in line with business goals through the application of effective and consistent coaching methods.
The Solution
An 8-week Procoach® programme was implemented within EDS during 2002.This involved 10 Team Leaders and 10 RMC call handlers. Team Leaders completed a 5-day development programme, enabling them to fully understand “best practise” coaching techniques, and how to use these effectively to increase staff efficiency in the RMC. RMC agents were then exposed to 10 days of hands-on, focused personal coaching from a Prosell coach. By modifying the client’s existing coaching and development tools, coaching was delivered to agents to align behaviours to business objectives.
Why EDS chose Procoach®
EDS were determined to capitalise on their training investment and selected Procoach® with a clear brief to link the programme to overall business objectives – specified as follows:
- Measurable increase in productivity
- Measurable improvement in customer satisfaction
- Quantifiable improvement in service delivery
Implementation
Prosell identified the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that would enable EDS to measure the consistency of Team Leader coaching throughout the RMC, and track performance change and business success. A minimum 5% improvement was agreed in relation to key KPIs linked to productivity and service delivery.
With commitment gained through Procoach® awareness workshops, Team Leader and agent development took place simultaneously, giving Team Leaders the opportunity to observe live coaching sessions taking place on the floor. These sessions were driven and facilitated by Prosell coaches.
The programme was then implemented over a 3-month period, and culminated in successful accreditation of EDS Team Leaders. Procoach® Professional accreditation meant that these managers were equipped and ”licensed“ to deliver Procoach® programmes internally, effectively auditing team leader adherence to best practice coaching in the workplace.
Results
Key Performance Area | Change following ProCoach® |
---|---|
Wrap up time | Reduced by 25% |
First time fix achieved | Improved by 42.8% |
Average call length | Reduced by 12% |
Call quality | Improved by 10% |
Performance improvements
- An increase in the motivation of staff now being managed in a more inclusive and focused manner
- Increases in Customer Satisfaction Indices were achieved through calls with more structure and empathy
- Service calls in general were being processed more efficiently
- Team efficiency increased as individuals were encouraged to take ownership of the working ethic and direction
- Team Leader time management improved through more effective delegation
O2
O2 Network
Company Background
02 is a leading provider of mobile communications services with 100% ownership of mobile network operators in three countries – the UK, Germany and Ireland – as well as a leading mobile internet portal.
02 has developed a strong presence in high-value markets through the provision of mobile data and internet services.
The Challenge
The 02 channel help-desk known within the business as ”The Dimensions Support Bureau”, deals with retailers, dealers, distributors and stockists of O2 (UK) products and services. The role of the help-desk is to provide a centre of excellence to O2 UK trading partners, by imparting accurate and timely information on O2 UK’s portfolio of products.
The team structure consists of help-desk advisors, managed by a team of supervisors, who in turn report to a departmental manager, responsible for the overall performance of the department. Primarily, the role of the help desk advisor appeals to those aged between 16 – 24 and in many cases, the role is often this group’s first serious employment since leaving education. 02 recognised that although it was vital that their brand promise to customers was delivered consistently, it was important that the aspirations of this young group were met by providing an environment that was fun, rewarding, yet challenging. Furthermore, those advisors who displayed a desire for more responsibility needed to be easily identified and fast-tracked as potential promotion candidates.
Solution
02 in partnership with its strategic coaching partner Prosell, decided to implement a Procoach programme that would equip managers and supervisors with the necessary skills and behaviours to performance coach the help-desk advisor team. Procoach techniques were employed to help managers and supervisors deal with what they perceived as ‘uncomfortable’ people issues: such as attendance and timekeeping.
These issues, if dealt with incorrectly, would adversely affect the innate levels of motivation and willingness already established in the help-desk advisor team.
Implementation
Procoach was implemented to the managers of the help desk team. While some theoretical classroom learning was used, the majority of the time spent, used real-life on-the-job experiences, to ensure the transfer of learning was immediate.
By using real-life experiences, managers were able to receive immediate feedback and encouragement from both the coach and the coachee on how successful the intervention had been. Furthermore, questioning techniques were employed to ask the coach and coachee what had been learnt from the experience and what if anything, could have been done differently.
Having a coach on hand also provided some managers with the ‘courage’ to deal with difficult ‘people’ situations. Additionally, the help-desk agents benefited from receiving first-hand coaching in the presence of a Procoach expert, ensuring that a positive outcome was always achieved.
To ensure that the skills and behaviours were embedded amongst the management team, these individuals were required to complete a rigorous accreditation process and were frequently observed during surprise audits carried out by Prosell.
Results
During the programme, eight managers and supervisors passed the Procoach accreditation process. Stuart Flower, Manager of the Dimensions Support Bureau comments: “For every participant on the programme, there has been a noticeable and positive change in behaviour. This has contributed to an inclusive yet robust working environment.”
He further comments: “My supervisors now appreciate the need for a varied coaching approach, instead of delegating using just the ‘tell’ approach. We encourage effective questioning by our supervisors which manifests in an open-dialogue with advisors, making them feel involved in the decision making process. He concludes: “Procoach has also given my supervisors the confidence to address ‘people’ issues and feel comfortable, delivering performance feedback.”
As a result of implementingProcoach, O2 has seen a 53% improvement in their managers coaching effectiveness. This was evidenced by measurable behaviour changes during the programme.
O2 – Train the Trainer
Company Background
O2 UK Customer Service is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telefonica O2 UK Ltd. The cornerstone of O2’s strategy going forward is to attract and retain high-value customers by giving them the best possible experience, and putting them ‘at the heart of everything we do’.
This will be achieved through, among other things, further improvements in service quality, the launch of innovative new services and loyalty programmes, significant investment in customer service and CRM, and continued development of the O2 brand.
The Challenge
As with many training departments, Learning and Development was seen as the place to go for courses – a tick in the box activity. Typical measures of success were the number of people that had been trained by the department and good results on end of course critiques. However, it was ultimately realised that this was not good enough.
O2 had some ambitious goals to achieve through their Learning and Development team.
These were to:
- Raise the profile of Learning and Development as a revenue generating business unit as opposed to a support function. Cost centre to profit centre.
- Deliver a return on investment and not just a return on expectation, back into O2
- Achieve consistency through each discipline of training design and delivery
- Attract a nationally recognised qualification. Edexcel was selected as the preferred Awarding Body.
- Create a team of trainers that would empower O2 with the capability to maintain the ongoing development of their own Learning and Development internal resource
The Solution
The programme included the development of core trainer disciplines in training design and delivery, with a ‘stretch opportunity’ for high performing individuals to further develop skills in training consulting.
As an Approved Test Centre for Edexcel, Prosell provides programmes that attract BTEC qualifications, the Trainer Development Programme being one of them.
The programme was integrated into O2’s overall framework for consultant development and provided a support process for their personal development objectives as well as a structure for maintaining consistency and measurement.
These included:
- Entry and exit gates for each stage.
- Interim on the job activity, with sign off required for each element of the course.
- Internal assessors annually accredited.
Implementation
The programme was completed in 15 days spread over 5 months and included the delivery of 3 core Trainer development programmes: Consult, Design, Deliver.
This culminated in the accreditation of high performing individuals who were now empowered to cascade the Design and Deliver programmes back into the business.
O2 invited the training community to ‘interview’ in order to be on the pilot programme. The response was favourable and 6 participants were selected, having met a minimum requirement.
These participants attended both the Design and Deliver programmes and demonstrated the standards required to achieve a BTEC Advanced Award which is a Level 3 qualification.
Following this, the chosen ‘enablers’ progressed to complete the Consult stage of the programme and demonstrated the standards required to achieve a BTEC Professional Award which is a Level 4 qualification.
As enablers, these individuals have the responsibility for:
- Cascading the two programmes, Design and Deliver internally
- Managing the ongoing quality of training delivery in O2
- Evaluating learning transfer in order to show the Return on Learning Investment
- Preparing trainers for BTEC accreditation. (Prosell to verify and award accreditation)
The Results
These results were provided by the client, post delivery, and represent a comparison of results over 5 months.
- Induction period – reduced by 12%
- Call quality – increased by 6%
- First time resolution – increased by 10%
- Call efficiency – increased by 13%
If you would like to discuss your in-house customer services train the trainer programme, please get in touch.
O2
“For every participant on the programme, there has been a noticeable and positive change in behaviour. This has contributed to an inclusive yet robust working environment. My supervisors now appreciate the need for a varied coaching approach, instead of delegating using just the ‘tell’ approach. We encourage effective questioning by our supervisors which manifests in an open-dialogue with advisors, making them feel involved in the decision making process. Procoach has also given my supervisors the confidence to address ‘people’ issues and feel comfortable, delivering performance feedback.”
Stuart Flower, Dimensions Support Bureau Manager
HBOS Plc
Halifax
Company Background
As part of the Halifax Group of companies, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd is a name respected by the general public and within the insurance industry. From their head office in Halifax – and regional offices – they offer a series of award-winning protection policies.
The Challenge
Halifax wanted to increase their sales effectiveness with each customer by ensuring that current and future customer requirements are known and properly catered for. In contact with the customer, it is important to explore their requirements in three interlinked product areas – offering appropriate solutions for each. At the outset of the project, agents were only dealing with one or two of the products on each customer call. Customer service agents were hesitant when asked to locate and secure additional business for the company in the third area.
The Solution
Initially, analysis of the prevailing situation was needed. Prosell’s analysis included observing service agents at work to assess their individual strengths and weaknesses. It was also vital to establish a practical sales structure and behaviours that would offer a basis for coaching on “best practice”.
Initial observations showed that agents were typically good at building rapport with customers and that they demonstrated a high level of empathy. Agents typically found it difficult to look at customer requirements from the customer’s perspective – rather than their own. They therefore assessed product prices based on their own experience rather than a customer view.
As a result, the agents’ sales approach often lacked conviction and typically evaporated at the first sign of resistance or doubt. Also, despite a good level of shared commitment and team focus, there was scope for assessment and ongoing development of the sales team members by their managers.
Why Halifax chose Procoach®
Prosell recommended a course of action to improve the situation and meet the longer term objectives of the organisation. This solution embraced the development needs of the individual, as well as the need to minimise disruption in the workplace.
A programme of coaching sessions was required to achieve the performance standards set, together with the necessary improvement in agent effectiveness. This coaching was developed to cover basic sales and communication skills, as well as the sales structure that would ensure a level of consistency across the team. Training of the Team Leaders in coaching skills was also essential to ensure that the improvement in agent performance, achieved through the training, was sustained in the long term.
Implementation
A qualified Prosell coach carried out coaching within the agents’ workplace, and each agent received around four hours of one-on-one coaching during this phase. Personal coaching plans were devised to support ongoing development. Halifax Team Leaders were also observed, and were encouraged to become involved in the coaching to support their own coaching skills development.
Results
Two weeks after the training and coaching of the agents, evaluation of the changes in performance was completed. The data captured was broken down into specific behavioural areas. Whilst the initial rapport building remained the same (it had been scored at a relatively high level during the initial analysis) there was very marked improvement in –
- Agent clarification of current arrangements 36% increase
- Leading with specific product proposal 60% increase
- Response to customer buying signals 21% increase
- Summarising and closing for business 30% increase
Total Sales by Product – after ProCoach® Programme
- Halifax Product 1 Up by 66%
- Halifax Product 2 Up by 69%
- Halifax Product 3 Up by 49%
Key Performance Indicators
- Close Rate Increased by 64%
- Average Sales Increased by 46%
- Total Sales Increased by 35%
Monsanto
Monsanto
Company background
Monsanto produces leading seed brands in large-acre crops like corn, cotton, and oilseeds (soybeans and canola), as well as small-acre crops like vegetables. Monsanto also produces leading in-the-seed trait technologies for farmers that are aimed at protecting their yield, supporting their on-farm efficiency and reducing their on-farm costs.
Monsanto invested more than $980 million last fiscal year researching new tools for farmers. The annual research-and-development (R&D) budget is targeted at roughly 9% to 10% of sales.
In addition to the seeds and traits business, they also manufacture the world’s best-selling herbicide, Roundup®, and other herbicides used by farmers, consumers and lawn-and-garden professionals.
The business is structured in two segments:
- Seeds and Traits
The Seeds and Traits segment consists of the company’s global seeds and traits business, and genetic technology platforms – including biotechnology, breeding and genomics.
- Crop Protection
The Crop Protection segment consists primarily of agricultural and industrial, turf and ornamental herbicide products.
The challenge
Monsanto operates in highly competitive market in Eastern and Central Europe. Its competitors employ larger sales forces but on a contractual bases. Monsanto wants to differentiate and build on its strengths through the quality of its people. The company recognized that it needs to establish long-term profitable relationships with its existing customers as well also acquiring new customers. This should come about as a result of achieving a “trusted advisor” status with farmers.
The sales approach in this area consists of a push and pull element. In this market, sales representatives visit famers as well as the distributor companies. Then the farmers buy their products of choice from the distributors.
The sales teams were heterogeneous in terms of age and experience. Some teams were full of freshman whereas others have people with over 10 years’ experience. The sales people did not consistently follow a commonly agreed sales process. As long as they were on target it was up to individuals to define what good performance looks like.
The key objective was to impact on sales performance through these “push and pull” teams The company had also identified coaching as a key skill for managerial success and wanted all Sales Area Managers to have a common approach to effective coaching based performance management.
The solution
To assist with the required changes in approach Monsanto chose Prosell as its strategic performance-improvement partner. A detailed field visit based analysis was done which confirmed the need to create sales standards that capture the essential steps and process to be followed by the sales teams. A team of Prosell and Monsanto experts created a set of clear sales standards. This was followed by a series of sales training held by internal and external trainers to familiarise sales staff with sales process they are expected to follow.
The analysis also revealed that managers followed very different styles in terms of giving performance feedback and coaching to their sales reps. Hence we created and customized the Procoach Performance Coaching Programme to teach managers how to coach effectively and thereby sustain the behavioural and skill shift that was achieved as a result of the sales training held as part of the programme.
Implementation
The programme was initially implemented in four countries, namely Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and in a second step to Turkey as well.
The programme consisted of 4 phases:
- The initial phase of sales process design with a project team
The programme goals were defined and the first phase of measurement of managerial skills was conducted.
- Training phase for sales representatives
A train-the-trainer programme was implemented for 8 sales reps and District Sales Managers to prepare them for the role of internal sales trainers. These trainers then trained 80 sales representatives in the region under the supervision and support of Prosell trainers.
- Training and coaching phase for the District Sales Managers
Managers from the four markets have attended the Procoach programme in order to adopt and learn a consistent way of regularly coaching their people in terms of the learned skills and processes. This was a mixture of workshop and field based interventions which afforded the managers the chance to practice and then apply the learning with “live support” in the workplace.
- Audit and Measurement
On an ongoing basis, the key managerial skills including the Procoach performance coaching skills which the program was aiming to impact upon were measured in conjunction with the achievement of sales results.
Results
Romania and Ukraine, which are relatively new and growing markets for Monsanto, saw an over 100% increase in sales in the following year after the programme. Management attributed minimum 20% of this growth directly to the Sales Efficiency Programme conducted by Prosell. The sales growth was approximately 10% in Hungary where the market is very mature and Monsanto has been present for a very long time.
The survey measuring key managerial behaviours which was conducted prior and after the project showed the following results:
My manager regularly gives me motivating feedback:
28 % up in Ukraine; 16.7% up in Romania, 9.2% up in Hungary.
My manager and I regularly review what impact his/her feedback has on my work:
35, 1 up in Ukraine; 18.1 percent increase in Romania; 18.2 % up in Hungary.
My role is regularly discussed with me regarding skills, knowledge and attitude needed to achieve the results:
20.3 % up in Ukraine; 18.5 % up in Romania; 28.3 % up in Hungary.
Learning points
Based on the results and reception of this programme it can be observed clearly that the existence and consistence of agreed sales standards and process is a key driver for sales effectiveness.
Another key learning point is that the existence of the sales standards, training and regular effective managerial performance coaching will have long lasting results as opposed to the impact of two one-off class room training events.
Henselite
Henselite
The Brief
Henselite’s world-wide reputation has been built on supplying quality products. Although being the leader in its field Henselite’s senior management felt that in order to safeguard that position and continue it’s growth in the face of increased competitor activity, the current management and sales practices needed to change.
Prosell established that Henselite, faced with aggressive competition, required a sales team that was effective and capable of developing new markets. They needed support from their management structure and processes capable of developing and supporting the sales team in that endeavour.
The Solution
Prosell’s aim was to update the current management culture and redefine the sales process for both the external and internal sales teams. At Prosell we strongly believe that unsupported training does not bring people to a point of sustained competence. Therefore the first step was to update and fine tune the interaction between management and their sales people from one of confrontation (albeit somewhat benign) to one of positive coaching and support. The main issue was the language used within the interaction. Henselite’s management went through Prosell’s ‘Licence to Coach Program’. This program is designed to close the gap between management practices that have not kept pace with today’s increasingly better educated and independent employee.
The second stage was to introduce a ‘Licence to Sell’ program to both internal and external sales people. This program aimed to improve the way in which sales people thought about why their clients actually bought their products. If employees are becoming better educated and independent the same must be said of clients in general. Therefore a more considered approach must be adopted when approaching clients.
Measurable and Sustainable Results
The results achieved were substantial. The following changes occured:
- The management structure was updated from one of autocratic style to one of coaching and support
- Sales process was redefined to a more efficient identification of needs process
- Communication throughout the organisation was improved
“We asked Prosell to evaluate our current go to market strategies. As a result of the diagnosis Prosell completed on our business, we not only had a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of our sales strategies. But through Prosell’s recommendations and implementation strategies, we had a clear pathway forward. We are very happy with the results.”
Mark Hensel, Managing Director
Henselite
“We asked Prosell to evaluate our current go to market strategies. As a result of the diagnosis Prosell completed on our business, we not only had a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of our sales strategies. But through Prosell’s recommendations and implementation strategies, we had a clear pathway forward. We are very happy with the results.”
Mark Hensel, Managing Director
Ice Design
Ice Design
Company Background
Ice Design is a leading force in women’s fashion in Australia. Taking inspiration from the world’s main fashion centres, such as New York, London and Paris, they aim to get the ‘in thing’ to you fast. ICE Design has over 60 stores in 5 states and are still expanding, with many of their stores in shopping malls where they compete directly with national chains and independent retailers.
The Challenge
Peter Fullbrook, MD of Prosell Australia recalled, “ICE wanted to improve overall sales performance. They recognise that this performance was directly related to the skills and attitude of their customer facing staff. This was a difficult challenge for them, because many of the staff are temporary or part time, some are holiday workers. This meant the challenge was to achieve consistency of sales and customer service from a constantly changing workforce.”
The Solution
Prosell implemented its Licence to Coach program for regional and store managers. This gave the management the skills to regularly coach all staff and to ensure their customers were dealt with in a uniform way. It also ensured all staff were coached on their ability to maximise every transaction. The key to this program was the way that Prosell stayed with the ICE management team over months and then years, to the point where their coaching was of a high standard and it became embedded in the business and happened regularly in all stores.
The Outcome
Over a two month period ICE saw a measurable improvement in the staff that were being coached and this translated to results in four key areas:
- Increase in store revenue (averaged at 14%)
- Increase in multi-sell achieved (68% increase)
- Improvement in mystery shopping scores
- Improved management effectiveness, measured by feedback
The Customer Experience
Jodie Gleason, National Sales Manager commented,
“with 60 plus stores, training and development is key to our business success and Prosell have a unique formula to deliver development to all our team members in a positive and well-coached way. We’ve achieved real financial results by implementing the Prosell coaching process, not only in the average number of items sold to each customer, but also an increase in the value of each transaction.”
Ice Design
“With 60 plus stores, training and development is key to our business success and Prosell have a unique formula to deliver development to all our team members in a positive and well-coached way. We’ve achieved real financial results by implementing the Prosell coaching process, not only in the average number of items sold to each customer, but also an increase in the value of each transaction.”
Jodie Gleason, National Sales Manager
Trading Post
Trading Post
Company Background
Trading Post offers classified and display advertising throughout Australia. Up until 2001 the titles in each state were separately owned and 95% of revenue came from print advertising. Since its acquisition by Sensis, a division of Australia’s dominant telecoms company Telstra, it has become a national business and has expanded its sales operation to include outbound telesales and asking its field salesforce to sell online advertising and longer term campaigns.
The Challenge
John Brand, the General Manager of Trading Post said, “we had a range of challenges that implied more than just sales and product training. We introduced web advertising, a range of specialist features and were facing very price aggressive competition. Our display sales team needed to be more effective, as well as take new products into different markets.”
Solution
Peter Fullbrook, MD of Prosell Australia recalls, “it was clear from the start that Trading Post was interested in improved performance, not just training courses and as a result gave us a brief based on very clear business objectives. It was not a difficult decision for them to select Prosell’s coaching service – Procoach
® Direct, as we were the only solution that set clear result objectives and showed a step by step process to achieve those objectives.”
Implementation
Prosell put in place the tools and tracking devices to manage a sales coaching programme. This programme was supported by workshops and sharing of best practice amongst the sales team.
Barry Sanders, General Manager Sales, said, “Our salespeople were delighted that they had support from knowledgeable coaches. It helped them to improve their individual revenues and of course, their commission”
Results
The graph shows the percentage increase in sales in the three revenue streams that the coaching focused on. Barry Sanders, notes; “they (Prosell) are very results orientated and they demand of us, as clients, that we do measure them. Use them, they get results.”
Key Results
- Growth in Display Advertising increased by 100%
- Growth in Professional Advertising increased by almost 100%
- Growth in Classified Advertising increased by over 40%
Learning Points
“Prosell’s approach allows us to get very close to our clients business and make a clear impact, as well as advise on better approaches for maximum return”
Jonathan Lowe Business Development Manager
Ecotricity
Henselite
“I have struggled in the past to find quality coaching capability and so have been greatly impressed by the overall quality and effectiveness of Prosell – and in particular the application of Procoach®.
I have employed Prosell training at both npower and recently at Ecotricity. They have worked on a number of projects covering customer service, call centre telesales and events training.
I can report tangible results; delivering increased performance and important cultural change within the organisation.
A key quality is their approach to projects – and often in sensitive situations they are able to engage at all levels – winning the support within the organisation at management level – and also delivering the enthusiasm and positive outcomes from those directly involved in the programmes.
I would certainly recommend Prosell – and I would say the tougher the challenge the more valuable they will be.”
Chris Wintle, Sales & Marketing Director, Ecotricity