Commercial Interiors Furniture
Sales Success Case Study
The Brief And Our Approach
The Longley Sales Academy was selected by a global furniture, storage and seating manufacturer to partner with Global Leadership, Human Resources and Learning and Development. The goal of this partnership was to create an Industry Benchmark Sales Training Academy to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
The purpose of the sales training academy was to equip the global sales community with the skills, attitude and behaviours to dominate the marketplace in selling a high value, high quality product in a traditionally price sensitive industry.
A five-step development approach was taken in partnership with the in-house training department to deliver in line with the aforementioned brief:
1/ Assessment: Accurately measure all Leadership, Sales and Account Management personnel to objectively identify skills, knowledge and behavioural gaps that were limiting performance.
2/ Design: Design training interventions on global and local levels sequencing delivery of modules based on the priority gaps and the client’s strategic focus.
3/ Roll-out: Longley Sales Academy trainers deliver the training workshops in UK, Australia, Switzerland and Germany. Train the trainer programme to facilitate local delivery by in-house client trainer team.
4/ Protect the investment: A coach the coach programme was rolled out to all sales leaders and managers to ensure all new skills, tools and behaviours were coached into the business.
5/ Create a legacy: Put in place an annual training programme to sustain and build on the common language of sales. Local ‘nudge and improve’ workshops to take individual teams to the next level. E-learning reinforcement modules to keep the learning alive and track improvement.
Outcomes And Success Factors
The close partnership the Longley Sales Academy built at all levels within the clients business resulted in achieving and sustaining a number of positive outcomes:
- A consistent ‘language of sales’ across the business on a team, country and global basis.
- A sustainable ‘coaching culture’ between the sales, management and leadership teams that fostered collaborative working and a high-performance mindset.
- Support of the in-house trainer teams to deliver world-class sales training programmes at speed to support the strategic imperatives of the business.
These outcomes firmly positioned this business as one of the most recognisable and successful office furniture companies in the world.