case studies

Moorhouse Insurance - sales performance development

Moorhouse Group Ltd logo JaywingDMG training increases productivity at Moorhouse by 56%

Brief

Moorhouse Group Ltd provides a wide range of business insurance policies which includes professional and public liability, single and fleet vehicle insurances, legal protection and retail. In a challenging economic climate and with competition for business insurance intensifying, Moorhouse has ambitious plans for growth and is pro-active in identifying areas of improvement to ensure higher levels of insurance sales in their main sales centre based in Caerphilly, South Wales.

Moorhouse chooses to have an independent analysis of sales performance with a particular focus on agent capability. This information was to provide the basis of workshops designed to improve lead generation and sales conversion in the business and to continue with building a training culture into Moorhouse.

Approach

Our team of experienced training consultants will often recommend to an organisation that a training needs analysis is carried out. As a result, rather than generic off-the-shelf courses, bespoke training is designed to ensure the training delivered addresses real business issues. The team carried out the majority of this training needs analysis on-site using a variety of approaches. These included meeting with the Managing Director Sian Pryce, along with the board of directors and management team, live and recorded call listening, observing the management of the sales centre operation and speaking to a variety of agents at all levels.

There was also an opportunity for our team to review some of the new starter induction training material in place and observe some of this training being delivered. The team was keen to ensure that the analysis included departments other than sales, such as customer service, broker to broker, credit control and accounting to ensure a view of the entire business.

The main focus of this analytical approach was to identify training needs to improve agent capability. With experience in call centre management and operations our team was also able to provide additional recommendations. These recommendations were key to embedding improved call centre management principles to improve performance day to day. On making the necessary improvements recommended by the team the business reported an increase in productivity of 56%.

There were three recommendations for training following the training needs analysis:

1. Sales Training

The first was a sales training course which covered the skills required at every stage of the sales process. This two-day course was aimed at those involved in directly selling insurance policies to new and existing clients. The most popular element of this training, as indicated by post-course evaluation, was communication skills such as questioning techniques, handling objections and assertiveness techniques. These were also the main areas that the training needs analysis revealed as being key areas for improvement.

The training included a short period where delegates were given the opportunity to take live calls whilst putting skills learned into practice and receiving one to one feedback. At the end of the training, they also compiled development plans to allow their managers to embed their learning into the operational environment.

2. Workshops

The second training recommendation was to host a number of workshops for areas outside of sales to help them discover ways in which those departments could generate more leads for the business. The three-hour workshop encouraged discussion, allowed delegates to come up with ideas and concluded with action plans being developed to ensure the ideas were taken forward into the business. These action plans have been the driver for the business establishing working groups to turn these ideas into business processes.

3. One to One Coaching

The key to an effective training intervention is successful follow-up in the operational environment. Our training consultants held one-to-one coaching sessions in the three months following the training events, focussing on lead generation and sales skills. Agents benefitted from tips and techniques to help them further improve their performance.

Almost 100 agents attended one or both of the workshops within one month of the contract agreement, followed by one-to-one coaching sessions.

Deliverables

Training Needs Analysis completed using a variety of methods and approaches
Bespoke sales training course designed and ready for first delivery within timescales agreed
Three lively training courses delivered to all agents - interactive and fun to ensure agent 'buy-in'
Two lead generation workshops delivered to create opportunity for lead generation culture to be embedded and ideas to generate more leads taken forward
Individual action plans created and handed back to managers to embed learning into business
Delegates given high quality workbook to support learning and refer back to after the training event
Training material handed over to business to allow material to be included in new hire induction programme

Results

Identified additional operational and cultural changes leading to 56% increase in productivity
Positive feedback received from those attending the course
Business signed up to a longer term relationship with JaywingDMG Training following the success of the work carried out

Testimonial

Sian Pryce, Managing Director of Moorhouse Group Ltd commented:

"The energetic training style and interactive content ensured that team members of all levels felt comfortable and confident. JaywingDMG took a holistic view of our business, not just from a training angle. They shared some useful recommendations on how we could improve productivity across the operation, increasing the number of calls handled by 56% overall. We were particularly impressed with how easily the trainers integrated into our organisation with no disruption or 'hand holding', in spite of the short project timescales."