Telefónica Increased B2B Win Rate by 19%

The Aim

Telefónica O2 UK is a leading provider of mobile, broadband and integrated communications services, and a leading player in the business telecommunications market. This market has matured rapidly, and the sales process now creates as much differentiation as the product itself. O2 has invested significantly in creating a world-class Sales Academy to shift the sales model from transactional to consultative. Imparta was selected from 16 providers, based on its technology, flexibility, creativity and client-focused approach to making the Sales Academy a reality. The Academy has rolled out to other Telefónica country operations, helping to align the Telefónica salesforce across the regions. The objectives of the Academy were to:

• Enhance individual productivity through increased capability
• Differentiate from the competition through consistency of standards and behaviours
• Simply deliver the best customer experience

The Solution

The Telefónica O2 Business Sales Academy is a major, multi-year strategic initiative aimed at improving and sustaining sales skills and performance. The Academy featured an accreditation scheme – Bronze to Platinum – to motivate and reward salespeople in their learning. O2 at the time of writing had one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the industry. Over 750 salespeople in 19 countries have participated in the Business Sales Academy, and local Academies were launched in the UK, Germany, Czech Republic, and Ireland. The Academy has won multiple training industry awards.

• Assessment across the salesforce to understand skills and training needs and to track improvement – analysis showed that the salespeople who improved most in core selling competencies outperformed those who made the least improvement by 40%.
• Continued support, ensuring knowledge and improvement is sustained through a tiered accreditation process.
• Core Creating Client Value (CCV) sales programmes for all sales personnel – establishing common language and frame of reference across all regions.
• Marketing and propositions teams also trained in sales methodology to help improve product launch performance.
• Delivery style is split between workshops, e-learning, simulation and real-world learning.
• Management supported with one-to-one coaching and sales management training.
• Measurement of competencies, coaching (quality and quantity) and business impact, to drive continuous improvement.
• The Academy provides a strong framework for other interventions, for example, launch campaigns, product training, and skills in negotiating with Procurement.