Client Case Study for Presence and Presentation Skills: Bedfordshire County Council

Challenge:

Bedfordshire County Council was undergoing a significant period of transformation and upheaval as it split into two unitary authorities. As many of the senior management were interviewing for new roles, Archimedes were asked to support many of the senior team in enhancing their presence and presentation skills to help them maximise their potential.

Solution:

 Archimedes worked with many of the senior team on 121 coaching programmes where we ran a series of two hour sessions with the individual concerned with the relevant specialists from our team. We also and ran several "clinics" where senior managers were able to book two hour slots with the relevant expert from the Archimedes team of a BBC presenter, business expert and voice coach.

Outcome:

• 100% of the delegates said they had benefitted significantly from the sessions
• Many of the senior managers went on to interview/ present successfully and secure jobs of their choice either internally or externally.
• One delegate went from being seriously concerned about her ability to stand up and present at interviews, to the extent of being physically unwell, to managing to enhance her capability and confidence such that she landed an assistant chief executive job.

Anni Hartley-Walder Head of Organisational development Bedfordshire County Council

Client case study for Sales Effectiveness: Norwich Union

Challenge:
Insurance company, Norwich Union, wanted to bring a sharper sales focus to the organization, they wanted to build their sales capability to a world class level such that it was a key element of competitive advantage for them. They wanted to establish a common language and way of doing things that brought some consistency to very different approaches previously used in each of the regions.

Solution:
We put in place a programme that worked on all levels of selling, at meeting, deal and relationship management. This included Miller Heiman's Conceptual and Strategic Selling Programmes and the Large Account Management Programme. We first ran a pilot programme with the senior management to enable them to buy into the programme and to get their feedback and input into the rollout programme we designed. We then rolled out these programmes to 400 people at all levels in the business.

Outcome:
The programme was well received by the delegates including one who said "During my 23 years with the company this has been by far the best "Sales" training."
The programme was very successful in building the business. It was integrated with the Norwich Union bid management system and drove a strike rate from 30% to 87% in the space of a year, strengthened the size and depth of their new business funnel and helped in closing £150m of brand new business.

Phil Bayles (Director of Trading) said that the programme had helped achieve "a quantum leap forward from last year" and "a much greater sophistication in identifying and winning bids".

Client Case Study for sales effectiveness: Symbian

Challenge:

• Symbian, the multi-national software company that provide the operating system for 80% of the world's mobile phones was a relatively new start up company and they wanted to
• Improve the sophistication of sales teams' selling skills to enable them to multi-billion pound investment decisions to the handset manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola
• To enable the sales team to analyse, understand and communicate the requirements of complex sales situations
• To build the softer, inter-personal skills of a sales team with a predominantly technical background

Solution:

• Archimedes designed and ran a 4 module training programme for the sales team that addressed each of the key areas and ran over a 12 month period.
• Each module contained a mix of theory, exercises and hands-on applications, role plays/ video feedback and case studies based on live/ current examples.
• The skill modules included core sales communication and negotiation skills and presentation skills
• The programme included sales training using Miller Heiman's Strategic Selling, which enabled the team to create a core methodology to underpin their sales operation.
• Modules were supported by 1 to 1 coaching support and consolidation sessions.

Outcome:

• Sales cycle times reduced by 75% enabling this client to bring opportunities to fruition much more quickly and efficiently
• 71% of the post course feedback from delegates rated the programme as very good or excellent
• Andy Brannan VP Sales said "The reaction to the programme has been universally positive…" "we made strides forward" and a "demonstrable improvement in internal communication"
• Subsequently to this programme Symbian also went on to adopt Miller Heiman's Large Account Management Programme as the methodology to support their core corporate strategy of customer intimacy, with Andy Brannan saying,

"Over the last 10 years Symbian's sales methodology, using strategic selling and large account management has evolved into a highly sophisticated and focussed methodology which is key to the achievement of our corporate objectives"
Andy Brannan EVP Sales and Customer Engineering.

Client Case Study for Sales & communication Skills: Medion

Challenge :
Medion, a multinational electrical manufacturer, wanted to build the selling skills of key members of their sales team from more of an administrative approach to a pro-active business building team.

Solution:
Designed and ran a group coaching based training programme for sales staff that focused developing core sales skills around customer engagement, communication and influencing. The programme was a mix of content discussion groups, activity, external tasks to go away and complete followed by consolidation discussion at the beginning of the next session.

Outcome:

• By the end of the programme delegates demonstrated account penetration that had improved by 208%.
• The team's buyers gave unsolicited feedback that the sales staff had become far more confidant, efficient and hence a lot easier to work with.
• Critical customer relationships, even with "difficult" buyers were transformed, with positive feedback from the buyers themselves.
• Internally too the feedback from senior colleagues was very positive, particularly concerning proactive internal contributions.

Louise Roberts; Medion Sales manager:

"I would honestly say I'm tackling my job as a whole new person. Before the training I considered leaving as I didn't feel I was suited to my position, but now I realize that I just needed some direction from Patricia to help me reach my goals. I enjoyed it as well which is always good"