The sales force plays a pivotal role in the success of any business. It is imperative that an organization has a clear strategy in place for how they are going to grow the business in a profitable manner. It is also vital that the right people are in place for turning this strategy into a viable reality.
Our client is a world-leading supplier of aerospace fasteners and consumables, and a full-service provider of inventory management solutions for the commercial, business jet, and military markets. In challenging market conditions and a competitive environment, our client wanted to be able to identify high potential sales people, to make more data driven decisions and have a robust means of facilitating development discussions.
Over a period of 8 weeks hfi assessed 49 members of the client’s EMEA sales team, including the VP Sales and Directors of the German/Czech, French and UK sales teams. Sales people completed their assessments online, in their native language, and received individual feedback on their results from the client’s HR team. hfi analysed the results and provided the client with insights into individual and team strengths and limitations within each country for discussion with the VP and individual Sales Directors. Themes running across the teams were a lack of competitive drive and the consistent determination in overcoming challenges and achieving targets. Many individuals also appeared slow to engage customers in conversation about the merits of the company or its wider products and services. Recommendations were given for training and development.
The client has initiated development initially in the form of a Leadership Sales Team Workshop for the VP Sales and European Sales Directors to encourage them to work more closely together as a team and create a high performance sales management group. A one day workshop was designed by hfi and held in the client’s European HQ facilitated by hfi. The workshop included developing a strongly proactive, supportive culture; reviewing team dynamics and developing self-awareness as well as exploring the challenges of working as a ‘remote’ team. Feedback was very positive with the VP commenting that “a client could feel the positive vibes of the team”. He noticed everybody was smiling and motivated and said he could feel “they are a real TEAM”.
hfi has also run a two day workshop for both the UK and French Sales Team to improve their team working, influencing and negotiating skills, with plans in place to do the same in Germany.
The workshops were extremely well received with participants commenting:
- “The mix of real work based scenarios and theory made this one of the most beneficial training sessions I have attended. You helped us break barriers in team and build a trusting environment to move forward with. Really good material and engaging coaches.”
- “Will take away a lot from this workshop. Will change the way I prepare for customer visits, listen more, and take better notes. A great 2 days.”
- “Brilliant workshop. I learnt lots of new things that I will be putting into action in the workplace. Could not recommend the course highly enough!!”
At hfi we design and deliver tailored assessment and development solutions for sales personnel in organizationsorganisations around the world. These include sales team audits and sales team workshops. We also have a new online talent platform called PeopleFactors. PeopleFactors benchmarks leadership potential. It is very easy to use, cuts time and is cost effective. PeopleFactors is being used by Talent Acquisition, L&D and HRBPs in local companies and global multinationals, to support their talent decisions.
For more information contact us today!
