Sales Culture Programme for a Global Insurer – Case Study
What the issue was
Our role was in designing the learning programme which would bring about the desired transformation from a cultural, attitudinal, and skills perspective. The organisation designed the structure and product strategy to combine with the learning journey.
Over a 3 year period, our client completed a programme of change to bring about a fully integrated Sales Culture throughout Europe. Historically the business development culture was based on technical knowledge in positioning itself as a technical specialist. However, sales were declining and so MPI was asked to come in and help create a culture where they could successfully complete sales.
How we solved this
Their Challenge:
- Drive to create a consultative sales culture from a technical sales background
- Develop a programme for delivery across European cultures which embeds previous sales training
- Create a film supported embedding programmes that can be used in Meetings, Coaching sessions or as a self paced learning tool
- Encourage a culture of continued individual and business development
Consult – Create – Support
Consult:
- The initial discussion highlighted the issues the business faced where the sales team and their managers were technically focused rather than sales focused.
- Our brief was to create a sales culture within the business.
- Detailed analysis and alignment of competencies to identify training requirements
- Detailed stakeholder consultation to identify additional requirements and confirm priorities
Create:
- A series of sales programmes were designed to highlight the sales culture for the future and develop the skills needed in the sales team
- The business created a selection of new processes and information-gathering tools to support the sales team.
- Sales management processes and tools were designed to support the managers in developing their people through performance management and coaching meetings
- A sales management programme was designed to develop the manager’s skills and behaviours
- A series of short impactful films based around the business sales cycle was designed to support the managers in continuing to develop their people in the necessary skills.
- A Manager’s Guide and support materials for use in meetings and coaching situations
- A selection of self-help tools for the salesperson to use to self develop themselves
- Upload the film and supporting materials onto the business Sales Portal for them to access at all times and keep up to date with their process.
Support:
- Initially, the managers were developed through the sales management programme with supportive post-event coaching
- This provided sales managers with the tools that were created and how to use those tools when working with their people
- The sales teams all attended a series of sales programmes to support their development
- Each individual salesperson received personal coaching and were assessed on their skills from the programme
- The use of the film and training materials for the manager to use in monthly meetings as well as individual training helped to embed the sales training
- MPI provided a flexible and adaptable approach to support cost challenges whilst maintaining quality of training assets
- We provided ongoing stakeholder engagement and management to support sales managers throughout
Outcomes
The project delivered the following in results after the 2nd year:
- The business exceeded profit by 20% after implementation of the programme
- Won 5 out of 6 large bids throughout Europe after implementation of the programme
The transformation was sustained and enhanced through the development of a Digital Portal through which the European team accessed MPI designed toolkits. The toolkits were built containing bespoke learning films, learning bites and exercise materials for the local Management Teams to run refresher seminars in country/branches and also to coach the skills into action in the field.
