Creating a customer centric high-performance global sales team

Case Study

Lamb Weston logo

Creating a Customer Centric
High-Performance Global Sales Team

The Challenge

The Europe, Middle East and African (EMEA) sales teams of Lamb Weston Meijer were approaching customer situations with a legacy transactional mindset.

The client envisioned a sales team that had meaningful customer relationships based on an intimate understanding of their customers’ business challenges and opportunities.

The team needed a logical, disciplined approach that allowed global customers to be served and supported in a consistent manner. The solution needed to adapt to the language and cultural aspects of global and regional teams.

The Solution

CL Network customized and delivered the “Sales Team Transformation” solution for the Lamb Weston EMEA teams. The journey started with the “Strategic Impact Selling Skills” workshops. Team development continued with “Communicating with Confidence” and “Art of Negotiation” sessions. Support teams such as Marketing, Customer Service and Finance participated in “Building Customer Centric Teams”.  This workshop provided insight about Strategic Impact Selling and how support teams are imperative to building a customer centric high-performance sales organization.

A decade later Lamb Weston has embraced the “Strategic Impact Selling Skills” approach for their global business.  CL Network continues to deliver the workshops throughout the world.  An internal trainer network has been established to provide day to day support and mini module refreshers regionally.  The key activities within the “Strategic Impact Selling Skills” have been embedded into the SalesForce CRM tool. Virtual training support has been added to help teams and their leaders navigate the new selling challenges presented due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Customized leadership development to support corporate values

Case Study

Gordon Food Service-logos

Customized Leadership Development
to Support Corporate Values

The Challenge

The Ontario Division of Gordon Food Service expressed a desire to elevate the leadership skills of their operations, transportation and administrative leadership teams. 

Key deliverables for this training were to improve communication, lead in a consistent manner, increase employee engagement, reduce health and safety incidents and align the teams to work collaboratively for their customers. 

All training needed to support and emphasize the company’s “Cornerstone Values”.

The Solution

Working with the senior leadership team, CL Network developed a leadership development curriculum that achieved all of the key deliverables. The leadership curriculum included: Foundations of Leadership, Leading Effective Meetings, Communicating with Confidence, Coaching for Performance and Influencing to Achieve Results. Each workshop was designed with a balance of theory and exercises. Participants focused on how to apply the new skills into their day-to-day responsibilities.

All of the workshops were customized to reflect the unique challenges and opportunities associated in the distribution environment. To ensure alignment to the curriculum the senior leadership team evaluated each workshop and helped shape the final modules. Knowledge was cascaded and supported by each leadership level ensuring that their teams were modeling the new skills and ensuring adoption.

The Gordon Food Service – Ontario leadership curriculum has been delivered for five years. The Ontario division has developed a pipeline of strategically prepared leaders who have assumed new responsibilities within this division and throughout the Gordons Food Service Canada operations.

Shifting from Conflict to Collaboration

Case Study

DNV GL logo

Shifting from Conflict to Collaboration –
"Putting all the Pieces Together"

The Challenge

DNV-GL had piloted a new support system for customers that transitioned from multi point contacts to a centralized account representation model. The system received positive feedback and support from the Aeronautic and Automotive channels. 

As DNV-GL rolled out the new model to additional channels the outcomes were not as positive. Internal teams were resisting change and not adapting. A lack of effective communication and service created customer frustration and increased troubleshooting for the sales team.

The senior leadership team expressed a desire to leverage the general session of the annual conference to shift the mindset from conflict to collaboration. How might the DNV-GL operations and sales teams increase customer satisfaction levels by working as a cohesive, customer centric organization?

The Solution

CL Network recommended a customized keynote – “Putting all the Pieces Together”.

This interactive session challenged multi-disciplinary teams to work collaboratively to build a puzzle within a limited amount of time. All teams faced the identical challenge, no picture was provided to guide the building of the puzzle.

When the puzzles were completed the DNV-GL team was challenged to reflect on why they would tackle a collaboration workshop using a puzzle exercise. This was an opportunity for honest discussion about how teams are linked together like the pieces of the puzzle. What was the strategy to build the puzzle? What happened when certain pieces didn’t “fit” or were missed completely? When challenges occurred why did some teams assume “negative intent” such as switching pieces or deliberate sabotage? As the teams explored the puzzle exercise, discussion moved towards instinctive team dynamics. Why do teams automatically become competitive and how does a competitive mindset impact your actions, decision making and team results?  What happens to customer satisfaction if we don’t deliver the completed puzzle every day? 

Teams were asked to brainstorm ideas on how to collaborate more effectively to increase customer satisfaction. Each team presented their top 3 solutions with tactics on how to implement the ideas immediately.

Each team was asked to sign their puzzle and place it in the frame that was provided. The puzzles were distributed to regional offices and departments as a visual reminder of the Annual Conference and the importance of collaboration.

Challenging Limiting Beliefs To Seize Future Opportunities

Case Study

NHL-Alumni-logo-crop

Challenging Limiting Beliefs To Seize Future Opportunities

The Challenge

The NHL Alumni Association’s mission is to help better the lives of all former NHL players. The organization provides critical support as players transition into their post-playing careers.

The challenge, create a curriculum of workshops that provided alumni with the skills and confidence to seize post-playing opportunities.

These workshops needed to create a safe and fun learning environment which allowed alumni to challenge their limiting beliefs and explore their potential.

The Solution

CL Network partnered with the NHLAA to design a series of workshops to help alumni uncover their hidden skills and natural abilities. The initial “Communicating with Confidence” workshop was launched in 2011 and for the past decade assisted hundreds of alumni elevating their communication and public speaking skills.

Additional workshops offered included:

  • “Communicating with Stories” – leveraging storytelling to share experiences and engage audiences.
  • “Coaching Beyond the Boards” – exploring a structured coaching process to improve communication, build trust and help players elevate performance. Several alumni leveraged this workshop to pursue coaching career opportunities.
  • “Art of Negotiation” – providing alumni the knowledge and strategies to negotiate effectively.
  • “Personal Branding, The Power of You” – a personal exploration on what makes you unique by uncovering personal strengths, values, passions and transferable skills that can guide future career choices.

Group size never exceeded 15 participants. Alumni appreciated the opportunity to engage with other alumni in a safe learning environment and develop new connections which continued post training.