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Helping our Insurance Clients Win, Grow and Manage Clients

Helping our insurance clients win, grow and manage clients

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Page 1: Helping our insurance clients win, grow and manage clients

Helping our Insurance ClientsWin, Grow and Manage Clients

Page 2: Helping our insurance clients win, grow and manage clients

www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

MERCURI INTERNATIONAL IN THE INSURANCE SECTOR

Capabilities, capacity and contribution to your business

A Mercuri International Solution Overview Page 1 (2)

The story

Mercuri International have been leading the changing world of sales performance improvement for over 50 years. In particular we have worked closely with insurers from Allianz to Zurich and have strong experience in both life and non-life and across channels including direct B2B, global accounts, agents and independents.

Scope

The focus of Mercuri International’s work is to help organisations and individuals “win, grow and manage clients”. The five main areas of sales expertise that Mercuri International brings to this sector are:

• Customer-centric selling: Skills and techniques that deliver both significant, sustainable business growth and sound management of commercial, reputational and regulatory risk and achieve “fair customer outcomes”. We work on both winning anew business and growing existing income.

• Sales Team Leadership: We work with first line, regional and senior sales leaders to instil the key skills and disciplines of effective sales leadership in this demanding and dynamic environment.

• Relationship Management: Our work with relationship managers ranges from private clients, through SMEs to global accounts. Our models have been developed in partnership with The University of St Gallen, SAMA and market leaders in other sectors from HP, through Philips and Novartis to Siemens.

• Relationship-based negotiating: We developed an extremely powerful programme for financial professionals that has proved itself in challenging situations in insurance as well as other parts of the financial sector.

• Standing in the customer’s shoes : This highly interactive session has been immensely well received. It gives client facing professionals hands-on experience of running a business through 7 years of change and challenge.

While Mercuri has strong capabilities in other areas these five are the ones we see as core for the financial and professional services sector.

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

Way of working

The key elements of Mercuri’ International’s work are:

• Diagnosis: Track record and tools for diagnosing the current sales situation.

• Design: Creating robust, effective blended learning.

• Delivery: High quality training delivery and project management.

• Deployment: Ensuring implantation by providing resources and ongoing support and measuring RoI.

• Durability: Change management, embedding in Business As Usual.

Activities

We work across the sector in fields that include:

• Actuarial

• Agencies

• Asset management

• Casualty

• Claims

• Employee benefits

• Financial Institutions

• Intermediaries

• Liability

• Life assurance

• Pensions

• Personal lines

• Property

• Protection

• Reinsurance

• Risk consulting

• Underwriting

Levels

Our programmes are designed to work at three levels:

• Professional: Ensuring the core skills are in place to grow the business and manage commercial reputational and regulatory risks.

• High-Performance : Enable more experienced people to take their capabilities to the next level to drive outstanding competitive advantage.

• Master-classes: Helping the very best get even better and adapt to future changes.

Proven track record

Our clients identify high levels of satisfaction and RoI as shown in the following pages.

These opinions are validated by the awards and recognition we receive.

.

To keep up to date with trends and practical ideas on client-centric business growth please visit http://client-centric-financial-selling.com

Page 4: Helping our insurance clients win, grow and manage clients

www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC FINANCIAL SELLING

Developing people to professionally and ethically win and grow customers

A Mercuri International Solution Overview Page 1 (3)

The Challenge

A key issue facing market leaders, aspiring businesses and boutiques is how to achieve growth while managing commercial, reputational and regulatory risk. Market share, share of wallet, volumes and margins are all very important but they must be achieved in a context of “fair customer outcomes”. Although many businesses have had to focus more on technical, risk and regulatory training over recent years, individuals often say “we know this already”, while at the same time demonstrating that they have not achieved mastery. And all too often pressure of time and the culture of the business mean that the disciplines of sales management seen in some other sectors are less visible, making sustainable change all the more difficult.

The Mercuri Solution

Customer-Centric Selling will enable your people to move from a product-centred transactional approach to value-based consultative selling, driven by the customer’s requirements.

Diagnosis

Effective diagnosis requires a clear understanding of the areas for improvement. Our ways of working include:

• Interviews with managers, front-line staff and subject matter experts to analyses processes and practices.

• Observed sales meetings (where appropriate).

• Mercuri’s Online Competence BenchmarkTM to assess the current capability of your people and compares them to ‘best in class’.

• SCAN self-assessment surveys to measure ‘before and after’ ability and confidence to measure the effectiveness and impact of development.

Customer-Centric Selling will enable your people to move from a product-centred transactional approach to value-based consultative selling, driven by the customer’s requirements.

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 [email protected]

Design

We work with you to customise your solution using our proven concepts. This ensures that the solution works and can be implemented. The level of customisation varies from editing a case study to integrating your sales processes and models. The emphasis of the content will depend on your situation but we focus on key sales stages in a logical sequence:

• Selecting the right opportunities to ensure the most profitable ones, with the best chance of winning, are pursued.

• Planning and time management to optimise efficiency.

• Understanding buyer motivation and what makes customers choose between different providers.

• Engaging with the customer – building rapport, getting the meeting off to a good start, positioning of the sales person and their organisation.

• Understanding the customer and qualifying their requirements.

• Forming and proposing a compelling and relevant solution.

• Handling price and other relevant commercial aspects.

• Addressing concerns and objections.

• Getting commitment from the customer to move forward and keeping the initiative through to engagement.

Delivery

We use a blended learning approach to achieve learning objectives and outcomes. Multi-media components are used to introduce and reinforce concepts. This means that face to face workshops are used for experiential competence reinforcement. Our flexible structures means workshops can run from 1 to 5 days to suit your operational needs. Our principle formats are:

• Selling to Customer Needs: Facilitator led skills development with punchy concepts reinforced by frequent practice.

• IMPACTTM projects: Focussing skills onto specific market-driven events e.g. campaigns, market entry, product introduction.

• Raising the Bar: “Learning by doing” simulation which challenges participants to demonstrate their new skills in a competitive team selling event.

Our international sector facilitation team is hand-picked to ensure relevant experience and likely cultural fit.

Deployment

Implementation is key to success and RoI. It needs to be designed in from the beginning. Our approaches include:

• Coaching: Can be face-to-face, online or over the phone. Ideally we will engage with your coaches and sales leader so that they do the coaching but we can and do coach direct where appropriate.

• Online learning. Standard or bespoke content delivered through your or our Learning Management System.

• Playbooks and toolkits. Detailed selling guides on your or our intranet or paper-based. Tools include objection banks, checklists, video shorts, aide-memoires.

• Measurement. Follow up surveys or interviews to measure changes understanding, behaviour and result.

Durability

Development in customer-centric selling will only be successful if there is a sustained change in behaviour; if the processes become an embedded part of “Business As Usual”; and if there is measurable change in result.

Implementation needs to be designed in from the beginning

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 [email protected]

In practice this means that senior management needs to lead the change and, monitor the changes in activity and result, support first-line leaders in making the change happen. Often the KPIs will need to realign with the changed behaviours. Some processes and management practices may need to change. Mercuri International do not wish to create long –term dependency so the business needs to take ownership of the changes. However we do not walk away from projects once the delivery stage is complete and will want to work with you through deployment into durability. What does a durable customer-centric selling programme result in? Here are a few examples:

• Major European Life Insurer trained 2/3rds of its UK team. The results were compared against the 1/3rd control group by measuring year-on-year income growth. In a very successful year and supported by strong marketing campaigns, the control group achieved 25% growth. But the trained group achieved 102% growth in year-on-year income.

• A group of 41 employee benefits consultant directors received 2+2 days’ training followed by three months’ tele-mentoring.

The firm’s actuaries identified £1.92Mn of incremental income in the first three months that they attributed directly to the training.

• We trained over 500 trade & receivable finance bankers in 24 countries.

The training was measured as reaching 92% of its objectives.

There were 158 concrete examples of RoI such as:

“Since the training I have specifically used the summarizing that is crucial to validate understanding of the meeting and obtaining the customers buy-in and commitment to next steps.

A recent meeting has resulted in winning a guarantee portfolio business worth approx.$75K”

• A project with the wealth management team of a bank in central Europe saw the following effect:

The two largest branches saw result against demanding targets of 213% and 156% respectively.

Across all branches results against target ranged from 90%-275% for standard accounts and 100%-203% for HNW accounts.

To keep up to date with trends and practical ideas on client-centric selling please visit http://client-centric-financial-selling.com

Page 7: Helping our insurance clients win, grow and manage clients

www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

SALES LEADERSHIP

Building capability to multiply sales performance

A Mercuri International Solution Overview Page 1 (3)

The Challenge

Leading a sales team in the financial sector is neither simple nor easy. But it is important. As well as the challenges faced by sales leaders in other sectors, there are issues of risk, exposure, capital utilization and regulation to face. Then there is the relentless pressure on time!

The Mercuri Solution

Mercuri International has been developing sales managers around the world for over fifty years. The financial sector team has applied this broad-based expertise to the specific needs of sales leadership in the financial sector. Our solutions recognize the difficult balance to be struck between achieving sustainable growth and achieving a customer-centric approach that ensures “fair customer outcomes”. Many of the sales management approaches that work in other sectors need to be refined and adapted for the financial world.

Diagnosis

Effective diagnosis requires a clear understanding of the areas for improvement. Our diagnostic approaches include:

• Mercuri’s Online Competence BenchmarkTM to assess the current capability of your people and compares them to ‘best in class’.

• SCAN self-assessment surveys to measure ‘before and after’ ability and confidence to measure the effectiveness and impact of development.

• Interviews with first-line and senior sales leaders.

Design

We work with you to customise your solution using our powerful, proven sales management concepts. This ensures that the solution works and can be implemented. The level of customisation varies from editing a case study to integrating your sales processes and models. The emphasis of the content will depend on your situation but we focus on the key elements of sales leadership:

Leading a sales team in the financial sector is neither simple nor easy. But it is important.

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

Managing the “black box” of sales through a sales “plumbing diagram” that enables managers to map the “critical few” elements that will turn the business plan into a sales result. Focus on the inter-relationship between the result, the activities and the competence of the team. This RAC approach is based on the recognition that “you cannot manage the result itself. What you manage are the activities that underpin the result”.

In practice this means concentrating on three aspects of activities:

• Quantity: “Are we doing enough?...”

• Direction: “… of the right things with the right people?...”

• Quality: “… in the right way?”

Once we have established the RAC concept, we help sales managers apply motivation to their teams.

“Motivation is not something you do to people.

It is working with them so they increase their willingness to perform”. We then apply these concepts in three key areas of performance management:

• One-to-ones: adapting style depending on the individual situation.

• Joint customer visits: Getting the balance right between being the “super sales-person” and observation / coaching.

• Sales team meetings: making them relevant, efficient and effective.

Delivery

Programmes usually centre on a 2-3 day workshop with pre and post work delivered either through your or our Learning Management System.

The workshop is highly interactive and makes use of a very stimulating case study through which participants apply each concept to a varied team of five sales people. At the end of the workshop participants rehearse a presentation launching their chosen topic from the programme to their team. Short awareness sessions can be delivered to senior sales managers. “The Sales Strategy Forum” typically runs over a six hour period face-to-face but shorter virtual sessions can be delivered.

Deployment

Implementation is key to success and RoI. It needs to be designed in from the beginning. Our approaches include: Sales management playbooks: Tools to help sales managers put the learning into practice e.g. joint visit observation checklists, one-to-one preparation templates. Also white papers and other resources to act as reminders and instant “top ups”. Coaching: Face-to-face or virtual; individual or small group.

Durability

It is only sustaining the changed disciplines and practices that RoI will be achieved. The new sales management behaviours need to become part of Business as Usual. This often means applying new KPIs for sales managers e.g. Monthly one-to-ones held with all team members; accuracy of pipeline forecasts. It also requires the engagement and ongoing commitment of senior management. Mercuri International is aware of the risk of creating long –term dependency so the business needs to take ownership of the changes.

“You cannot manage the result itself. What you manage are the activities that underpin the result”

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

However we do not walk away from projects once the delivery stage is complete and will want to work with you through deployment into durability. What does a durable sales leadership programme result in? Here are a few examples:

• The sales management team of the wealth management division of a middle-eastern bank applied just one technique from Sales Team Leadership. They introduced and rigorously pursued weekly one-to-one coaching with each team member. Here are the results they reported:

• Loans booked in 3 months following training equal to previous 5 months’ volumes.

• Pipeline up from $200mn to $550mn.

• Fee income for quarter up by $750,000.

• “The account managers often used to visit customers without sharing the details with heads of teams. With weekly 1 to 1s, we can identify problems early on, even small ones that could have turned big in the long run. We coach them in identifying opportunities…Now we’re able to plan better and have improved our sales performance.” VP Private Banking

• We worked with the branch managers of a foreign-owned bank equipping them to support and coach an asset-gathering campaign. The parent bank set demanding targets but the results exceeded expectation:

• The two largest branches saw result against plan on investment sales of 213% and 156% respectively.

• These two branches brought in $33Million of new assets in the four month period.

• Across all branches the number of new accounts opened ranged from 90% to 275% of stretch targets for standard accounts and 100% to 203% of target for high net worth accounts.

To keep up to date with trends and

practical ideas on sales leadership please visit http://client-centric-financial-selling.com

Page 10: Helping our insurance clients win, grow and manage clients

www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Growing and managing customer relationships from individual customers through to strategic account management

A Mercuri International Solution Overview Page 1 (3)

The Challenge

Existing customer relationships are an extremely valuable asset. While new business acquisition is an important part of most business growth strategies, developing existing relationships is a critical success factor. It is not just a question of seizing opportunities but of managing risk. This is a hot topic for many of Mercuri’s customers across the sector from global market leaders to local niche players.

The Mercuri Solution

Our relationship management solutions will enable your people to apply the principles of effective, pro-active Relationship Management. They will adopt a well -planned and structured approach which will allow them to maximise the return from each relationship from individual customers to complex corporate entities. Our solutions cover two aspects of relationship management. They address the operational aspect - what relationship manager and teams do. They also address the corporate aspect – how the business organizes itself to manage customer relationships.

Our expertise and capabilities built on three foundations:

• The experience of our consultants.

• Project work with leading practitioners in this demanding field – from KPMG to Siemens.

• Associations with thought leaders such as the University of St Gallen and The Strategic Account Management Association.

Diagnosis

Effective diagnosis requires a clear understanding of the areas for improvement. Our diagnostic approaches include:

• Fit For KAM – a challenging diagnostic to assess the business’s readiness for key account management.

Mercuri solutions cover both the operational and corporate aspects of relationship management

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

• MI-CARE an online survey to measure customer attitudes to the business (if you have existing customer opinion data we will help analyse and draw conclusions from existing data).

• Interviews with managers, relationship managers and subject matter experts to analyses processes and practices.

• Mercuri’s Online Competence BenchmarkTM to assess the current capability of your people and compares them to ‘best in class’.

• SCAN self-assessment surveys to measure ‘before and after’ ability and confidence to measure the effectiveness and impact of development.

• Observed customer meetings (where appropriate).

Design

We work with you to customise your solution using our proven concepts. This ensures that the solution works and can be implemented. The level of customisation varies from editing a case study to integrating your sales processes and models. The emphasis of the content will depend on your situation but we focus on the five dimensions of relationship management identified in the Mercuri/St. Gallen model:

• Strategies: Selecting the right relationships to focus on. Understanding the customer – their world, their business environment, their specific situation and issues. Setting multi-level objectives and forming an account strategy.

• Solutions: Analysing the customer’s requirements, historic usage, future requirements and the competitive landscape. Using tools such as heat maps and white-space analysis to identify opportunities. Cross selling. Managing complex decision-making processes. Working with a wide cross section of people.

• People: Forming and managing multi-disciplinary customer teams. Building trust and understanding the externally and internally.

• Managing: Organising resources to achieve the best result with and for the customer. Forming and executing account plans.

• Measurement: Techniques for measuring both the below the line and above the line relationship.

Delivery

We offer a number of delivery options depending on the requirement.

• One day senior management workshop. “Fit for KAM?” helps the business define key account management in your context.

Plus review trends and best practices based on Mercuri International’s extensive experience with market leaders and niche players in the sector and beyond. Define the potential and the pitfalls.

There is an opportunity to take a deeper dive into one selected dimension of KAM.

• Private customers: Two or three day module focussed on relationship management of private customers.

This covers: the five dimensions of relationship management including.

Setting relationship goals and strategies, Managing product lifecycles, Cross selling, Understanding the psychological aspects of the relationship, Working as a customer team, Reading and improving the relationship. SME Relationship Management: Two or three day module covering the five dimensions for SMEs.

Setting account objectives and strategies, moving from occasional transaction to strategic partnership; managing the risks of under and over-serving.

The five dimensions of relationship management:

1. Strategies 2. Solutions 3. People 4. Managing 5. Measurement

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

Value propositions and product/relationship lifecycles.

Cross selling; leading virtual customer teams; organising account management; measuring the strength of relationship and securing rebuy.

• Key or Strategic Account Management: These three day workshops can be delivered to account managers or account teams focussing on specific accounts.

We follow the five dimensions working on strategies for complex accounts; optimising the value proposition and using white space analysis; forming and leading virtual teams; creating and executing account plans.

Techniques to measure strength of relationship.

Deployment

Implementation is key to success and RoI. It needs to be designed in from the beginning. Our approaches include:

• Resource library: Comprehensive account management library available as a single e-book or drip-fed over a period. Tools include selection calculators, white space analyses, checklists, video shorts, aides-memoires.

• Coaching: Particularly effective when applied to specific relationships. Can be face-to-face, online or over the phone.

• Online learning: Standard or bespoke content delivered through your or our LMS.

• Measurement: Follow up surveys or interviews to measure changes.

Durability

One of the biggest challenges in effective relationship management is maintaining the momentum. Learning needs to be embedded in business as usual if sustainable, measurable RoI is to be achieved. This means ensuring the “corporate” and “operational” aspects of relationship management are aligned.

Mercuri International works with you to ensure practices become part of daily business life. The impact our customers have achieved with our relationship management programmes include:

• “We had high expectations when we commissioned this work but the account management competence benchmarking worked far more smoothly and has given us far greater insights than any of us had expected!” Head of Corporates, Top 10 Global Insurance Co

• “Working with Mercuri International specifically on scoping out a key account management process and redefining our structure has proved invaluable in propelling our business model forward in terms of increased sales productivity. The projects have had a measurable impact on the business result” Head of Sales European Financial Institution

• "When I was a pensions consultant I went on a Mercuri International course on relationship management. The live case study I focused on was an intermediary which was then generating ~£1m a year. I applied what I learned on that course and (with a lot of hard work) we saw the £1m a year grow into £24m a year over the next 3 years. I have no doubt that the Mercuri course was instrumental in helping me achieve this”

Head of Specialist Sales ideas in this field please visit

To keep up to date with the trends and practical ideas on relationship management please visit http://client-centric-financial-selling.com

Page 13: Helping our insurance clients win, grow and manage clients

www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

RELATIONSHIP-BASED NEGOTIATING

21st Century approaches to negotiating to build business relationships and increase value

A Mercuri International Solution Overview Page 1 (3)

The Challenge

We see several issues when it comes to negotiating in this sector.

• Negotiations often swing between aggression and surrender.

• The stakes are getting higher. A number of customers have recognised that significant business value is being “left on the table”.

• Most people learn to negotiate informally. Few have had formal development.

• Negotiations need to reflect relationship strategies and take into account the bigger picture.

The Mercuri Solution

We have developed a very effective blended solution that includes a workshop, coaching, a detailed playbook and video resources. While most negotiation workshops focus on the final bargaining stages and what goes on in the negotiating room, our approach recognises that success if often down to reading the relationship, holding pre-deal discussions and preparing efficiently and effectively.

The keys to the successes we have achieved with our customers are:

• Good diagnosis of the real gaps between what’s happening today and the desired situation. This includes co-building the business case.

• Making the workshop and in particular the case studies very specific to the business.

• Engaging with leaders early on to ensure their commitment during delivery and deployment.

While most negotiation workshops focus only on the final bargaining stages and what goes on in the negotiating room, our approach recognises that success is often down to reading the relationship, holding pre-deal discussions and preparing efficiently and effectively.

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

Diagnosis

Effective diagnosis requires a clear understanding of the areas for improvement.

Our diagnostic approaches include:

• Mercuri’s Online Competence BenchmarkTM to assess the current negotiating capability of your people and compares them to ‘best in class’.

Our library of negotiating capabilities make this a very fast and effective tool.

• SCAN self-assessment surveys to measure ‘before and after’ ability and confidence to measure the effectiveness and impact of development.

• Interviews with first-line and senior sales leaders. This has proved vital in identifying the real negotiating issues in the business, agreeing priorities, ensuring engagement and designing case studies.

Design

The structure of Relationship-based Negotiating is:

• Establish goals: Be clear about the current relationship and where you are looking to take it. Avoids “winning the battle and losing the war”.

• Create context: A powerful toolkit to assess the situation using 21st century negotiating concepts. Then make sure that effective and open pre-negotiation discussions take place.

• Form the offer: Work on variables to identify “cost to us value to them”. Agree on entry and exit points. Prepare for the negotiation.

• Bargain and tactics: Learn to identify and counter the most frequently encountered tactics. Use tactics in the right way. Bargain in a way that increases values and minimises concessions.

• Move forward: handle the end game and the vital post-negotiation phase.

Because we are working from a proven programme design, the design phase for Relationship-based Negotiating is usually limited to:

• Confirm what’s in and what’s out.

• Adapt terminology and tools to the business.

• Create business-specific case studies.

Delivery

• Usually delivered as a 2 day face to face workshop 1 and 3 day options are available.

• Group size 8-16 with 2 trainers.

Can be delivered to groups of 24 with addition of 2 observer /coaches (often drawn from the business).

• Major focus on live practice sessions using business-specific case studies.

• Ensure application by frequent action planning sessions.

Deployment

Implementation is key to success and RoI. It needs to be designed in from the beginning. Our approaches include: Negotiation playbook and toolkit. Rich resources include checklists, templates, white papers, video-shorts, aide-memoire, coaching tools.

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

Coaching: Coaching can be done by the Mercuri team but it is better if coaching is done by managers within the business. They can be supported by virtual or face to face coach-the coach sessions.

Durability

Negotiation training will only deliver sustained RoI if there is a sustained change in behaviour; if the processes become an embedded part of “Business As Usual” there will be measurable change in result. In practice this means that senior management needs to lead the change and monitor the changes. Often the KPIs will need to realign with the changed behaviours. Some processes and management practices may need to change. For example one large insurer built in a rule that any negotiation above a certain value needed to use the preparation template we developed and needed the involvement of the unit head in a pre-defined preparation process. Mercuri International is aware of the risk of creating long –term dependency so the business needs to take ownership of the changes. However we do not walk away from projects once the delivery stage is complete and will want to work with you through deployment into durability. What does a durable relationship-based negotiating programme result in? Here are a few examples from one banking group:

• 99% of all participants would recommend to a colleague.

• 95% described content as highly relevant or relevant.

• The 18% who said they were not confident negotiating on behalf of their firm dropped to only 3%, three months after the training.

• Before the training over 70% said they found it difficult to read the other side’s ploys. This dropped to under 30%.

• Over 100 examples of positive changes in behaviour after 3 months.

• Over 50 examples of RoI after 3 months e.g.

• >£1m reduced exposure from one customer.

• >2% margin improvement for another.

• Refinanced and increase income by £132k with another.

Participants have said:

• “My preparation is much more geared to negotiation. I listen more in meetings giving time for the customer to express themselves. I look for positive outcomes rather than just brick-walling with barriers.” Bank Relationship Manager

• “I better understand the power in negotiations and appreciate the customer objectives better than previously. Additionally I approach negotiations with several options where possible as opposed to one.” Senior Risk Manager

And their leaders have said

• “I am really delighted with the response to this programme. Without doubt it is the most appropriate and effective programme we have delivered” Strategy Director

• “Excellent!” Head of Professional Services Sector

Keep up to date with trends and practical ideas on relationship-based negotiating http://client-centric-financial-selling.com

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

STANDING IN THE CUSTOMER’S SHOES

A dynamic approach to build a client-centric mind set

A Mercuri International Solution Overview Page 1 (3)

The Challenge

It is hard to see things through the customer’s eyes. When we deliver this programme to professionals we ask “how many of you have run your own business?” It is unusual to see even one hand raised. As financial institutions work to achieve “fair customer outcomes” and to be client centric it is critically important that relationship managers develop an awareness of what it’s like to run a business as one of their customers.

The Mercuri Solution

This event is all about learning by feeling and doing, not from reading and listening. It is highly interactive and every single participant who has experienced this event in the last three years would definitely recommend it to a colleague.

Standing in the Customer’s shoes will enable your people to understand and experience the realities of leading a business.

They will improve their business and financial acumen and gain a deep understanding of the overall business impact of financial decisions. They will gain confidence in discussing these subjects with customers and prospects in a challenging way which differentiates them from the competition.

Diagnosis

Effective diagnosis requires a clear understanding of the areas for improvement. The main way diagnosis works for Standing in the Customer’s Shoes is via a SCAN self-assessment survey to measure ‘before and after’ ability and confidence to measure the effectiveness and impact of development.

Other diagnostic tools may be applicable. These might include:

• Interviews with managers, front-line staff and subject matter experts to analyses processes and practices.

• Mercuri’s Online Competence BenchmarkTM to assess the current capability of your people and compare them to ‘best in class’.

• Observed sales meetings (where appropriate).

Standing in the Customer’s shoes will enable your people to understand and experience the realitie s of leading a business.

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www.mercuri.co.uk For more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

Design

The programme is a table top business simulation using a ‘game board’ to develop knowledge of key concepts such as market share, profitability, return on capital employed, cash flow, cost of capital, return on investments, product life cycle and production efficiency.

It will be designed to challenge your people to make the right decisions at the right time to achieve the required return.

If they are too conservative they lose market share and go into decline. If they are too aggressive they run out of funding.

We will encourage strategic thinking to deliver sustainable success. In some situations we have designed the event as a stand-alone 2 days but often we are asked to add in other elements. These have included:

• Input on strategy and change management from Dr. Robert Davies Visiting Senior Lecturer, Cass Business School.

• “The leader’s eye view” – a presentation and Q&A from senior leaders ranging from a SME owner manager to a FTSE100 CFO.

• “So what do I do now?” – taking the new awareness and adding in practical tools such as question banks and skills.

Delivery

The group being developed is sub-divided into smaller groups which take on the identity of capital-intensive companies competing for customers in a highly competitive, rapidly changing marketplace. Individual participants take on the role of the management team comprised of finance, production, marketing and corporate intelligence. The simulation is flexible and multiple trading periods are compressed to run over 2 or 3 days.

They will learn to work collaboratively to make the strategic and operational decision required to run their

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business. They will be required to review and present their performance to replicate how real business work with funders and professional advisers. The event is facilitated by our team which is handpicked based on relevant experience and cultural fit so that you can be confident you are working with our best.

Deployment

Implementation is key to success and RoI. It needs to be designed in from the beginning. Our approaches for Standing in the Customer’s Shoes include:

• During the workshop: Participants complete a workbook which becomes a permanent reference document.

• Follow up webinars: A few weeks after the event the participants gather online to share experiences, identify any barriers to implementation and reform their action plans. These can include input on complementary topics.

• Toolkits: Tools include checklists, question banks, aide memoires, and video-shorts.

• Measurement: Follow up surveys or interviews to measure changes understanding, behaviour and result.

Durability

We asked a recent group of corporate relationship managers to describe the impact that the learning had had on their business lives three months after the events they had attended. Here are some of the things they said:

• “I now know what it feels like to run a business.

The owners/directors need to wear so many hats and juggle all the aspects of the business. So it has taught me to empathize with my customers and try and think of ways we can help carry the burden of running a business”

Implementation needs to be designed in from the beginning

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• I have “a better understanding of the multitude of

challenges our customers face on a daily basis. (I now see) the importance of really drilling down on these challenges through meetings, e-mails and phone calls to really understand their business, particularly their trade cycle.”

• “I am now… pushing the customer to give more in depth information; not always accepting the first answer from the customer; asking the right questions to truly understand the customer’s future plans.”

In addition to these anecdotal responses we have gathered harder measurement data:

• 13% improvement in “relationship with my

customers”.

• 21% improvement in agreeing new business with customers.

• 24% improvement in understanding how the customer’s business works.

• 52% improvement in ability to create joint business plans with customers.

To keep up to date with trends and practical ideas on client-centric selling please visit http://client-centric-financial-selling.com

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www.mercuri.co.ukFor more information contact: Tel: +44 (0) 330 9000 800 Option 3 or [email protected]

It’s our pleasure to work with you

We are proud to help our financial and professional services clients to win, grow and manage their clients. The impact is seen in improved customer outcomes,

increased margins, volume and share of wallet. All this is done in a way that manages commercial, reputational and regulatory risks.

Mercuri International is the world’s largest business performance consultancy, with local offices in over 50 countries.

We have more than 50 years’ experience helping companies implement strategies and achieve powerful results.