Commercial Skills for Technical People

Business need

A fast-growing American IT firm approached Cegos to help it roll out a sales course for technical staff outside the States. As the course needed to be delivered in 12 countries across two continents – including Russia and South Africa – differences in culture, business practice and language needed to be addressed. The purpose of the Commercial Skills for Technical People course was to enhance the commercial awareness and skills of technical staff – enabling them to take part in high-level meetings with customers, where they would be able to influence the decision makers within potential client organisations.

Solution

Cegos has bases around the globe, and decades of experience of delivering training on the worldwide stage. Using this experience and their highly trained international consultants, they were able to devise a two-day course that was used in all 12 countries. Each course was tailored to the needs of particular countries on a case-by-case basis, including translation services when required. Cegos was able to handle the complex logistics of delivering training to a diverse audience within a compacted timeframe, making it possible for the IT business to develop a consistent approach to commercial training for its technical staff around the globe.

Commercial Skills for Technical People

The course itself was developed in direct response to the client’s needs, and was highly interactive and practical. Technical staff were shown the importance of the role they could potentially play in sales, and put it into practice with a 15-minute presentation to camera.

Benefits

Cegos’ experience of delivering global training with local expertise allowed the client to train hundreds of people, regardless of language, culture or geographical differences. It linked with a wider training programme already deployed for sales staff, allowing vital technical teams to undergo personal development and play an enhanced and valuable role within the organisation. Anecdotal evidence so far shows that the training has had tangible effects – the presence of commercially skilled technical staff in meetings with potential customers has helped to close deals more quickly and effectively. Their contribution has been perceived as substantiating the work of their sales colleagues – leading to better business performance, and better team work across the company.

The initial Commercial Skills for Technical People programme is being constantly expanded to accommodate new staff in this fast growing business, and consistent positive feedback from delegates, combined with real results, means that they are considering evolving the course even further in the future.