Testimonials

Extracts of an interview with James Scott, General Manager,
Harvey Norman Property Group on 28 June 2007.

What were the issues impacting the Harvey Norman Property Group?

“There was dysfunction within the Property Group with regards to communication of the various sub-departments that work within the Group.”

Why did you select Bill Carson?

“Well he’d previously done some work with another department of Harvey Norman, and having spoken with his client, he was highly recommended and so subsequently I met with Bill, felt very comfortable with what he’d achieved with other clients both within Harvey Norman and outside of Harvey Norman and he seemed quite experienced in the area.

How did Bill approach your Team?

“He was very engaging. He had empathy, and certainly came across to the staff as having a level of trust and respect and I think with that trust subsequently enabled them to open up and be a bit more forthright with their views and opinions.”

What was the outcome of Bill’s approach?

“Well, the outcome was that, as a result of Bill’s candour and conduct he enabled them to be open and frank. It enabled the Group to put forward their concerns. Bill addressed those concerns relevant to the interaction of the departments, and instigated that they get together and talk through these issues and achieve resolution.”

How did this change impact on the performance of the business?

“It’s been fairly compelling. There is recognition of people’s actions impacting on outcomes for the business. Ultimately with the sub-departments now working harmoniously together, we found ourselves to be more efficient, more effective and also more satisfied in the way we go about our business.”

Are your Team now happier to come to work?

“Yes, they are. That’s the big one for me. My goal is for people to enjoy coming to work and have fun and go home satisfied.”

And you achieved that?

“Absolutely.”

Are you able to quantify the difference in profitability that Bill’s methods have achieved?

“I won’t talk on dollars but from the percentage perspective I’d estimate probably 15% - 20%.

Increase in revenue you mean?

“In productivity and efficiency.”

That’s fantastic. In what period of time?

In about 100 days.

Where to from here? Could Bill further enhance the performance of your Department or the Group?

Yes, with regards to the Department I work with, my goal is, whilst we’ve had a 15 to 20% increase, I’d like to try and get to 100. So I see that Bill can assist with enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of our Group only by conducting more sessions with us within the next year.”

With that type of success, what valuable advice can you give to someone who is considering working with Bill Carson in the same kind of entity?

"Don’t just have one session, have a series of sessions over a year. Keep reminding your staff about what was achieved at the earlier sessions and how you’re going to go forward and keep it top of mind and you can only keep it top of mind by continually having reinforcement sessions. This way you’ll get impressive results."

Ian Hush
Executive Head of Sales and Distribution
Orrcon Operations Pty Ltd
27 May 2007

The Need for Sales Force Development

Late in 2004, the Managing Director and Executive Manager Sales for Orrcon had come to the conclusion that investment in equipment and process alone would not continue to deliver the stellar growth experienced in the previous three years since Orrcon was conceived. We would also need to heavily invest in people, particularly our sales people, if we were going to continue to “punch above our weight” in a steel market dominated by two multinationals and an increasing insurgence of imports. From this realisation the concept of an Orrcon Sales Academy was born.

I had experienced the “normal” scenario of sales training in my past career, i.e. employ a trainer and “dip the sheep” and send them back into the field with supposed new skills and vigour. Little planning as to what the required results of the training (other than more sales at higher margin), and little if no follow up to check if the training had been adopted and more importantly retained. This is where the concept of an Academy came into play. This will be a planned and ongoing effort to deliver multi-level training to match the changing requirements of our market.

Why did we go to Perform Solutions?

Just like interviewing a potential sales representative for a position in the company, we developed a Position Description for a “Dean of Studies” for our Academy. The successful candidate would need to gain an understanding of our business both from the vital angle of culture and the level of sales competence we exhibited at the time. He would then craft a series of training modules and help to deliver them. We advertised amongst our network and narrowed the field down to two providers. After some extensive interviewing, Bill Carson and his Perform Solutions consultancy was chosen for three reasons:

It was obvious that Bill fit our culture perfectly. He was not a career consultant, in fact he had worked as a Metallurgist in diverse industrial organisations
Bill obviously had an Entrepreneurial streak whilst being grounded in the requirement for achievement of the business imperatives of profitable growth
Bill had a style about him that we thought would achieve results for our organisation. This has proved to be true as he will not accept less than total commitment from his students when it comes to application of the training.

Results achieved to Date

After conducting the very essential diagnostic of where Orrcon sat as far as exhibited sales skill, and spending time to understand the market dynamics in which our business operated, Bill and the Perform Solutions Team developed a number of training modules that were tailored to the different positions and levels in our Sales Force. He delivered programmes that dealt with Internal Sales function and skills, External Sales modules including the separate skills of Acquisition and Retention of customers as well as advanced negotiation techniques, and a vital Sales Management module concerning mentoring and coaching sales teams to success.

The training couldn’t have come at a better time. Over the past two years, the Australian Steel Industry has gone through some of the toughest competitive threats from cheap Chinese imports, coupled with continued industry consolidation and the further degradation of the Manufacturing industry. The skills learnt by our Sales Force have enabled us to continue double digit growth against this industry background and form a solid platform for future advanced training programmes.

The Future

Orrcon has retained the services of Perform Solutions as we contemplate the next stage of our training requirements. Sales Management and leadership are a key to this, whilst, like so many companies, we grapple with a much more mobile workforce in the 21st Century with the accompanying need to train and retrain. We must retain the important platform of skills that Perform Solutions have helped Orrcon develop over the past two years, and look to a more whole of business philosophy in the coming couple of years.

We believe we have developed the right combination of training and application of training with Perform Solutions that will see Orrcon move to the next level of Sales and indeed business performance.

Perform Solutions International Pty Ltd
Bill Carson
Email:
0433 348 318

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