The Issue at Hand

Pinched by rapidly accelerating government regulation, a large business-to-business firm sought to make a strategic change in how it developed new business. Executives were going to have to boost their sales and business development skills outside their core practice areas while building confidence among the firm's junior people at engaging senior-level clients so they could develop long-term relationships. Rather than beginning by pitching an array of offerings in an early encounter, both groups needed to take time to understand their clients deeply and holistically before proposing a solution to a client need, especially when the solution would entail a bundle of offerings.

Historically, firm employees would often pitch on an ad hoc basis, with technical as well as client relationship management people engaging potential clients in piecemeal conversations. Often without knowing, colleagues were having similar conversations with others in the client organization. And while the firm’s employees knew their offerings very well and were good at talking technical details with a customer’s technical people, they were weak at speaking with senior-level executives, fearing that they had little value to add as strategic business advisors. In short, the firm lacked the organizational capability to do solution-selling to the top level.

A Ticking Clock
In an attempt to resolve these issues, the firm wanted a radical course delivered in all its major markets within the U.S.-- beginning in less than one month. Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE) speedily mobilized a team to work with the firm’s leaders and learning professionals, designing a program to bring together small groups of executives, each with a complementary set of client experience and technical expertise, to target high-potential prospects. Each set of participants, it was agreed, would go through a six-month cycle beginning with independent pre-work, two days of face-to-face learning, and finally team-based follow-up with an assigned coach.

The two-day, real-time learning initiative was focused on two outcomes: to help participants learn how to examine and assess potential client needs; and to make each team more effective at gaining access to and interacting with senior-level executives. Thus sessions were designed to help individuals build and work within teams, giving them an opportunity to examine their own style and personality as well as that of their colleagues and clients. The program further provided a platform for each team to develop both short-term action items and long-term stretch goals.

Through making participants more effective at gaining access to and interacting with senior executives, the program enabled these participants to understand and propose solutions to a specific prospective client’s key business challenges. They came to appreciate the value they themselves could bring to executive-level dialogue, bolstering their confidence and helping them find a place at the table.

Co-pilots
To execute this design, each program leveraged an external B2B sales expert to co-lead face-to-face sessions along with a coach who had worked with C-level (e.g., CEO, CFO, CLO, COO) executives. The pair led their teams through the two-day part of the program, which also featured an interactive session with a subject matter expert from the target client’s industry. During that session, each team developed in-depth analysis of the target’s needs and an action plan for pursuing specific goals in the target company. By design, coaches continued to work with their teams to help them execute their plan even after the face-to-face program.

Before the national launch of this immersive learning intervention, Duke CE organized a comprehensive pilot involving 11 teams, and the lead designers--learning professionals from the firm and Duke CE--reconvened to iron out wrinkles. With each subsequent iteration, Duke CE continued to solicit feedback from the coaches and perfect its process.

Good Vibrations
In the first six months, 18 programs were delivered across the U.S. Using participant evaluations and feedback, suggestions from coaches, and observations made by the design team, Duke CE incorporated a series of new ideas into the second phase, which comprised another 12 deliveries.

And yes, results showed on the bottom line: teams saw revenue grow by nearly 20%, reporting greater confidence and cohesion as well as better understanding of their individual and collective strengths. Participants cited an improved ability to establish rapport and credibility with prospective clients, to learn from client interactions, and to develop higher-quality plans and strategies.

Did education make the difference, or would the firm’s growth have happened anyway? Ultimately, while several factors surely contributed to its success during a volatile time of sweeping regulatory change, this program did much to develop organizational capabilities that improved the firm’s competitive standing. To put it another way, their clients were better served.

In the end, then, objective and subjective measures agree: when executive education is driven by attention to business outcomes, and when program design focuses with laser-like intensity on customizing to this end, everybody wins.