How it works: The result
Attrition rates have fallen, wrong hires have been quickly identified, performance has improved with staff reaching targets more quickly, managers have become more involved and high potential has been identified and fast-tracked more effectively.
The Academy’s main programmes are revised every six months and the Academy is now supported by a Learning Resource Centre.
Tiger Teams
The Tiger Team project was undertaken for one of the UK’s largest insurance companies and was a programme designed to address branch office problems quickly and efficiently.
The Tiger Teams comprised of virtual teams whose members had shown exceptional abilities in various aspects of branch management.
Existing branch managers could request the assistance of the Tiger Team or, if the problems were of a significant nature, would have a team appointed to assist in the rapid rectification of whatever the issues were.
The training offered to Tiger Team members concentrated on three areas:
1.Consultative skills
2.Communication
3.Coaching
Although the team members were skilled in their own fields, it was considered that they may not always be met with “open arms”. Therefore the team had to quickly develop skills of diplomacy and facilitation in order to create an environment of co-operation.
Once they had established whatever changes were necessary, the Tiger Team were required to leave the branch with having installed a development programme that had been ‘bought into’ rather than ‘imposed’ in order for the improvements to be sustainable.
The training for the Tiger Teams involved a considerably large element of role play as the skills being taught were behavioural.
Summary and observations
We (PTS) received anecdotal evidence of early successes in the branches that had requested help as well as those where it had been imposed.
The programme would have benefited from a more structured approach to the measures of success but there was no provision for this in the contract. By understanding the reasons for the success, more could have made to fuel the momentum and the material would also have been 
valuable for motivational and recognition purposes.
How it works: The problem
The idea of a Training Academy was born out of efforts to turn around the performance of one typical company-wide sales training programme, where:
- Induction training was patchy and boring
- Product training was a sea of facts and figures reinforced with an end-of-session test
- Paperwork was “covered” but with no rigor
Sales training was a five-day course ending with a test
- New recruits were sent to the regions to be further “developed” by managers
How it works: The solution
The solution uses PTS’s principles of hands-on, client-centred training with follow-up monitoring and measurement. The Sales Academy is a 26-week programme that includes training, follow-up, monitoring, reporting, development, fast tracking and (in a small number of cases) removal.
- We make product training more application-oriented, including demonstrations.
- A home study workbook is written to ensure complete understanding of the sales documentation. Delegates are asked to read business scenarios and produce quotations and proposals, supported by completed documentation.
- The initial five-day activity-based sales training programme gives delegates a structure to their selling, and practical and effective tools to increase the accuracy of forecasting and qualification.
- Live telephone calls to potential customers provide diarised appointments immediately after basic training. Delegates set their own test each day and the end-of-course test is replaced with an end-of course video.
- Tutorial staff provide individual reports to identify stars for fast tracking, those likely to graduate and those who might have a problem graduating.
- Delegates return every six weeks to report on how they have applied themselves, their activity levels and their results. Follow-up sessions build on previous training with more demanding sales situations.
- The process culminates in a graduation presentation or, for those not yet ready, an extended programme of support.
