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11 May 2010 New white paper - 'Trust Flutters'
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O2 Sales Academy
The Business Situation
Early in 2003, the business sales management team of UK mobile telecoms company ‘O2’ challenged themselves to overcome their customers’ price-driven mindset. At that time O2 was competing in the UK, Irish and German mobile communications industries. Their business sales team sold O2’s products and services to UK businesses and corporates, facing intense competition between four leading companies: their own, O2; Vodafone; T-Mobile and Orange plus a range of smaller companies with differing business models such and 3 and Virgin.
O2 knew it needed to build a sales organisation capable of being seen as a source of value by the customer, and hence able to sell on value, rather than features or price.
O2’s Mia Nicoll, Head of Sales Development and responsible for the Academy initiative, explained why Imparta was chosen from 16 service providers: “O2 UK’s strategy is simply to deliver the best customer experience. Our business sales teams are wholly focused on creating value for our customers. Their skill and behaviour is becoming more critical as we focus on delivering customer value. We selected Imparta because they have the technologies, flexibility, creativity and client-focused approach to make the Academy concept a reality. We were looking for a partner who was as committed to our vision as we were. We are really pleased with how the partnership is working”.
The O2 Sales Academy Objectives
The O2 Sales Academy is a multi-year skill development programme, originally provided to everyone in the direct business to business sales force, and associated sales support and customer-facing staff. Subsequently the success of the Academy led to it being extended to cover those in other sales roles such as indirect Channel Managers supporting strategic relationships, right through to telephone based account managers.
The objectives of the O2 Sales Academy are to:
- Increase revenue and profitability;
- Change behaviours through an holistic approach to building sales effectiveness;
- Differentiate O2 by creating value through sales;
- Build deeper, more strategic client relationships;
- Be recognised as world class in sales approach, customer service and sales training.
The O2 Sales Academy
Communications with senior and second line managers ensured they fully understood, contributed to and bought in to the goals of the Academy and their roles in it. Online and physical communications also went to all members of the business sales teams who were to be the first O2 community brought into the Sales Academy.
The Academy lifecycle was planned to build in phases that link to levels of competence attained by participants:
The first phase focused on ensuring the sales force understood why their behaviours needed to change, and then in the core value selling process being adopted by O2.
The second phase ensured that all salespeople and managers were applying their new value selling skills. An extensive coaching programme was central to achieving this. Also, the core value-selling programme was extended beyond the sales force to desk-based sales and telephone sales teams.
The third phase supported each salesperson in maximising their sales performance through further targeted training, support and coaching. Each individual received their own learning plan aimed at bringing all their competencies up to at least ‘good performance level’ by the end of the phase.
The fourth phase is experienced by top performers who have excelled at core sales skills and are ready to augment those with a further set of competencies to bring them to genuine ‘trusted advisor’ status.
Customised programmes were developed to reflect the needs and market realities of each of the different sales groups within O2 business sales. A ‘foundations’ programme was created for salespeople who are either at an early stage in their careers or need development in ground level sales skills. Salespeople were selected for the programme based on a pre-test or their manager’s recommendation.
Each programme was delivered in three stages – activities taking place before the start of a workshop; an interactive workshop; and post workshop activities, including coaching, online support and the use of application tools.
Communication and reinforcing O2’s proprietary framework for best practices and behaviour for the sales organisation is now a core activity of the O2 Sales Academy.
Accreditation
Accreditation plays a key role in maintaining the momentum of the Academy. It provides the sales force with clear direction as to required behaviour changes, as well as motivation. Accreditation follows phases of the Academy, moving through the first level (Bronze) of gaining knowledge, the second level (Silver) of demonstrating improvement in competencies; Gold level, where sales skills excellence has been demonstrated via significant improvement in sales performance while also meeting broader metrics such as customer satisfaction. A small percentage of Gold performance are invited to apply to reach Platinum level where they are involved for a set period in talent building activities for both others and themselves.
Measurement
Consistent, regular and thorough measurement is central to building and maintaining management confidence in the Academy, as well as demonstrating the holistic nature of the project. Measurements have been based on the Kirkpatrick scale, and are all reported to the O2 Sales Management team on a monthly basis. In 2006 alone, across approximately 150 programmes delivered, an average satisfaction rating of 92% was achieved, and an average attendance of 96%.
The detailed competency measurement at an individual level have enabled O2 to make specific correlations between improvements in a salesperson’s knowledge and skills with actual sales performance and other aspects of quantifiable business impact.
O2 maintains a total figure for revenue directly attributed to the adoption and use of the sales methodology, plus individual figures for the value of sales opportunities generated by specific Academy ‘campaigns’ as they occur.
The Future
The Academy is widely regarded as an enormous success in O2. Regular reports of business wins being attributed to the training and coaching underpin the Academy’s reputation.
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