Boosting sales results in the Financial Services Industry

The first ever implementation of the program material was in the Financial Services industry carried out by Dr Judy Proudfoot and others as a scientific controlled study. The study was subsequently published in a peer reviewed academic journal. Legal and General Assurance Co. kindly sponsored the program, but it was not conducted within their organisation.

The Challenge

A major British insurance company, which had recently been acquired by a competitive, results oriented organisation had imposed large-scale changes and substantial numbers of employees were quitting. Sales agents from four Divisions in South-East England were invited to attend the program, particularly those deemed by their managers or themselves to be experiencing stress in their jobs.

The Solution

One hundred and sixty-six employees took part in the study and they were randomly assigned to the ‘initial’ training group or a control group for comparison purposes. The program was implemented as a series of short weekly workshops, over seven weeks.

Before the program, seventy one percent reported not reaching their sales or earnings targets and experiencing work-related stress. Job satisfaction,  psychological strain and professional self-esteem were also measured before and after the program.

The results

The main results achieved were;

•  20% growth in the number of salespeople ‘on target’
•  66% reduction in staff turnover
•  27% improvement in ability to cope well with pressure

There were also significant improvements in professional self-esteem, job satisfaction and intention to quit. All results were calculated in comparison to the control group who had not participated in the program.