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Why sales training is not always the answer

Why sales training is not always the answer

A prospective client called me recently with a bit of a conundrum.

Most of his Business Development Managers had missed their targets at the end of the first quarter of 2017 and yet they had all been through an expensively provided 5-day Residential Sales Training Course from an Internationally recognised Sales Training Company. Too often Sales Training for BDM’s in the General Insurance Sector is non- sector specific, it often focuses on general sales techniques, and generic sales skills, without understanding the true complexities of B2B selling in our quirky but beloved Insurance sector.

Sales Training courses major on the theoretical, and without real life instances, scenarios, and working with experienced Insurance Professionals, people will not gain value or their own self development, or impact your bottom line.
General Insurance Sales people do not learn by training alone, it is only where a robust coaching system has been wrapped around specific classroom learning that drives true results.
Did you know that 65% of Sales people who receive proactive and pragmatic coaching have better qualified pipelines, and deliver 35% higher win/conversion ratios than those who attend classroom training alone?
If you want to understand how implementing a simple, cost effective, pragmatic industry specific coaching programme could improve your Sales and Business Development results then please contact Kate@intelihubconsulting.com.

Author Kate Mutter-Bowen

Customer Advocacy – “The Real Differentiator”

Customer Advocacy – “The Real Differentiator”

Our existing customers at InteliHub know that “Customer Advocacy” is something we’re really passionate about. For us it’s one of the cornerstones of any successful business & a real differentiator between the best businesses & the rest. Being privileged to work with a range of “fast growth” businesses both within & outside the Insurance market we see some common themes in those that are outperforming the rest:
  • A real “Clarity of Strategy & Business Planning” to bring it alive is a “cornerstone”.
  • A focus on developing & investing in talent underpins creating a great customer experience.
  • A continuous focus on innovation & driving & embedding change keeps you ahead of the competition.
  • Investing in developing & differentiating their proposition keeps them relevant to their evolving customer needs.
  • Using customer insight, data, & intelligence smartly is an increased & growing focus.
Blending these together in a way which drives & enhances Customer Advocacy & Experience consistently seems to be “pivotal” to outperforming the competition & a theme that sets the “best performers” apart from the rest. Those businesses that focus on their Customer experience & Customer Advocacy & get it right get some really “tangible” business benefits in return. Typically:
  • They attract customers to them.
  • They gain more referrals.
  • They achieve higher average spend per customer.
  • Through constantly looking for ways to evolve & improve their proposition, they tend to be more innovative & faster paced.
  • Great people want to work in businesses that are focused on creating a great customer experience, so they find it easier to “attract the best talent”.
  • Their businesses attract higher valuations when they choose to sell or restructure them.
Looking at the list above, as both a business owner & a customer myself, that feels like a good investment to me … Talk to us if you are interested in knowing more about our approach to helping businesses enhance their customer experience & customer advocacy. Author Derek Findlayson
The relevance of coaching in a data driven world

The relevance of coaching in a data driven world

I am working with a client at the moment, whose business is leading edge in that it is data driven. His view is that Agile businesses who ‘learn fast or ‘fail quickly’ have the edge in this market, but his concerns lay in his employees’ business skills and business practices are not keeping pace with the technological advancements around them.

The number one challenge for his business was not only to change and develop faster than his competitors but to create systemic change within his organisation.
In the last few years, his business has made step changes to engage with an ever-changing technological environment, moving from hierarchies to flatter structures, from command and control to employee engagement and leadership. Yet, still his people were not where he needed them to be. He decided to engage us as external coaches to coach his internal staff & leaders.

Our aim to work in partnership to embed a coaching culture, overlaid with KPI’s & data efficiency, to develop their business and staff for strong business growth – – ‘This is how we do it’.

Talk to us if you are interested in knowing more about embedding coaching programmes for cultural change.

Author Kate Mutter-Bowen

The Power of Effective Delegation when Developing Talent in your Team

The Power of Effective Delegation when Developing Talent in your Team

I have been working with a team, who are highly engaged, brimming with ideas, but are frustrated by the lack of opportunities given to them to develop their ideas and career. They pointed to their Leader as being the key reason for this.
It made me look back at my own career and consider the most effective Leaders that I have worked with and for. It was those that took time to consider which aspects of their role could be delegated and had thought through the projects that would develop me the most. Some of which, quite simply took me out of my comfort zone.

The key with these Leaders, was that they saw delegation as not simply passing the responsibility for a task or project to someone else with little or no guidance as to how they should set about achieving a successful conclusion. They set about delegating to me with clear thought process, structured guidelines, and regularly checked in with me to see how I was doing.

They were fearless in their delegation, never abdicating responsibility, but recognising that good performance in the task reflected well on both of us.

Speak to us today if you are interested in a fresh approach to engaging & developing your people proposition.

Author Kate Mutter-Bowen

Old world to new world – “The Customer Journey” – what a difference

Old world to new world – “The Customer Journey” – what a difference

Old World or is it …

In what other industry would you regularly find examples where the contact between a client & their supplier (in this case a broker or an insurer) might be as infrequent as every 12 months – None I’d venture to suggest!! but incredibly even in today’s world that is the reality of some customer relationships particularly those loyal & highly profitable customers who never have the unfortunate experience of having a claim.
But times are certainly changing ….

New World …

We are fortunate enough to work with some great fast growth, customer focused businesses & what often sets them apart from the competition is their total focus on the customer & in particular the customer journey. Those that get it really right:

  • Grasp ever opportunity they can to interact with their clients or their prospective clients
  • Understand & engage with their customers at each stage of their customer journey
  • Are obsessive about gathering data & insight about their customers at each stage of the customer journey
  • Continually look for ways to enhance their customer experience

It won’t come as any surprise to most of you that these businesses tend to be the one’s that:

  • Are growing faster
  • Are more profitable
  • Pull customers & people (talent) to them
  • Invest in multi channels marketing
  • Are really successful at increasing customer spend through relevant & targeted cross & up sale
  • Are top scorers when it comes to customer & staff advocac

As a customer myself “new world” certainly hits the mark for me …

Speak to us today if your interested in a fresh approach to developing your & enhancing your Customer Journey.

Author Derek Findlayson