Increasing rapport and sales

Part of being a skilled technical specialist is as much to do with their communication techniques as their knowledge.

Whether cross-selling services when working on-site or delving into their client needs to discover hidden opportunities or problem solve, these ‘soft skills’ help consultants find solutions that keep the client loyal.

Excelian realised this. As an award-winning technology consultancy, specialising in the Finance Sector, the company needed to address the skills gap between the technology expertise and the way their consultants were relating to clients.

When it came to communication skills of consultants, their clients’ feedback was low, marked at around 5 out of 10.

Pretty unremarkable.

Could training push those non-committal marks higher?

Bring on Frankie, stage right; Cass Business School, stage left

Working in partnership with Cass Business School and the Executive team at Excelian, I devised a regular half day programme, ‘Developing Insights’, covering three main areas:

All Staff:

A series of workshops comprised of:

1.  pinpointing and defining needs through rapport building and questioning skills.
2. adapting virtual and face to face communication across cultures.
3. creating flexible communication styles to get the best out of diverse teams and individuals.
4. mastering the language of influence.

Graduates as new starters:

The new starters were given extra workshops as part of their induction. These were run in close conjunction with their current induction programme to complement it. These workshops included:

1. building self-confidence techniques and skills for self-motivation.
2. ways to achieve greater professional credibility.
3. skills to build rapport and trust within the company and with clients.
4. developing presence.
5. targeted questioning techniques.

Client feedback speaks:

Remember how the clients were rating the communication skills of Excelian’s consultants at around 5 out of 10? By the time Cass and I finished the programme, 2 years later, the consultants were hitting 9’s and 10’s. Clients were remarking that their professionalism was either ‘excellent’ or ‘outstanding’.

Revenue shouts:

The feedback was viewed internally as one of the key contributors in the continued growth of the company, with an increase in revenue of 30%.

Here’s what people said:

“Excellent workshop and useful tips and tricks on how to deal with and communicate with different types of people.”
K. Jarasova

“I think this was a very interesting and engaging class which will surely be beneficial for the rest of the graduate training programme as well as for my career.”
G. Brincat

“Absolutely fantastic! Must be repeated every year!”
A. Vara

“Frankie has rapidly developed a deep understanding of the culture at Excelian. Her sessions are fun and active, receiving great feedback from the participants every time.”
T. Marshall, People & Development Manager, Financial Services