Device Frame

THE PROBLEM

 

Billigence has enjoyed huge success in the data analytics and data visualisation space in the 10 years since its founding. However, a disproportionate amount of new business was still coming through the door courtesy of its number 1 deal maker, the charismatic, hard driving CEO and co-founder, Jana Kapr.

 

With consultants in 4 continents, the opportunity for market growth was huge: not just by expanding their reach into new businesses and even new industries, but also by landing higher value contracts with their many existing clients.

If only they had the confidence and the skillset to go beyond the technical and start developing deep relationships with C-Suite prospects. It was this realisation that led Jana and her team to contact Craig Johns, the Speakers Institute Corporate CEO.

CO-CREATING THE IDEAL SOLUTION

 

From our first conversation it was clear that the usual selling skills training wouldn’t work – they were already beyond that. Their consultants were selling quite well, but they needed the contract size and the average scope of work to be way more ambitious.

 

Time for some deep discovery. We had some very open conversations with their key leadership team, including the CEO, VP Europe and Sales Directors from Australia and UK, to understand not only the differing worlds they moved in, but what, in their view, was holding people back.

 

The result: a unique 3 half-day program created jointly by Speakers Institute Corporate and Billigence, designed to:

 

  • Develop the clarity, the structure and the mindset to command the attention of C-Suite prospects
  • To navigate the sometimes unpredictable waters of large account marketing
  • To go beyond any textbook approach to truly deepen the relationships within client companies.


As promising as it all sounded, was it going to work for a team of consultants who were already masters of their technical world?

GOING LIVE WITH A PILOT PROGRAM

 

With participants from England, Central Europe, Singapore and Australia, we started at 4:00pm sharp, Sydney time. Within the first 30 minutes, everybody knew, including Jana, that their approach to landing big deals was about to receive a major upgrade.

 

By 4:45pm they were already presenting in small breakout rooms (the first of 5 such sessions over the whole program), then receiving personalised feedback from a specialist coach. Finding real clarity of message, structuring a key presentation like it was a TED talk, presenting on screen with non-verbal intelligence…

But then the ultimate prize in relationship selling: how do you go deep? Like, really deep. In small teams we workshopped questions that would have the prospect opening up on what was really hurting them, or dreaming of what could be possible.

 

And still, there was no letting up…a truly new approach to negotiation, establishing new internal beliefs, handling tough questions like a pro, reading others’ body language, and the grand finale – the formal pitch for the big contract.
We’re not talking about one-way lectures here. Tight content sessions were peppered with high interaction, often with open mic discussions or even live, on-the-spot coaching of difficult to master techniques; then frequent trips to the breakout rooms where in small groups we workshop ideas or practise the techniques with focused individual feedback.

 

That’s how we do it: multiple facilitators, many different styles, everyone included, all learning styles catered for.

AND THE VERDICT….

 

Turns out they had decided half way through the second of the 3 sessions – this will become a part of Billigence Learning and Development program, with zero changes needed.

 

Why? The co-created program shifted their whole approach to selling, or in the words of Michael Kapr, the co-founder and CTO,

 

It blurred the line between consultants and salespeople - this was a great revelation for me

 

Clarity, confidence, certainty and engagement in communication were the stated aims, and these were achieved way above their expectations. And as a bonus, the level of interaction made the event an ideal team building exercise, where employees from different regions of the world felt more connected and closer together than they ever have. This was gold.

 

But for us as a team of facilitators, to hear the participants describe on Day 1 the blocks and difficulties they had with C-suite level marketing, and then to watch their individual breakthroughs over the 3 sessions, was beyond gratifying.

 

It truly is why we do what we do.

SPEAK WITH OUR TEAM