Creating a competitive, adaptable
approach to selling

Anne Clews, TetraMap UK, Interviews Gabriele Galassi, Global Organisational Development Manager – BBC Worldwide

What are your current L&D Challenges?

BBC Worldwide has offices and/or commercial activities in all major markets in the world. I focus most of my development initiatives on our sales division, which works across a broad variety of business lines.

Our challenge is to be able to create a global approach to sales that is competitive, adaptable, that respects values and our brand and delivers a return for BBC. For this reason, we work very hard to deliver training that equips our staff with the right tools, skills and awareness to operate in the ever-changing media landscape.

Why did you decide to use TetraMap as a tool of choice?

We were looking for something easy and adaptable to include in our sales curriculum. The aim of our programme is to improve negotiation skills. We wanted to give our sales team the skills to be able to recognise who is in front of them and adapt their pitch to the different styles.

We needed a tool which would engage learners globally and TetraMap’s “simplicity of the concepts and language” makes it easy to get the message across even when English is not the first language. People readily get on board with TetraMap as it does not label but celebrates the positive nature of the behaviour.

What have been your major successes?

So far we have delivered our negotiation skills programme in London, Miami, New York, Asia and Australia to over 150 people. TetraMap fits perfectly with our consultative selling approach and gives our sales staff the ability to put themselves in the shoes of the customer. The focus shifts from me to us and they are better equipped to deal with difficult situations and positively negotiate the sale to a close. On-going client relationships are stronger as we truly value the customer’s perspective and see that difference is a positive advantage rather than a point of conflict.

What have you noticed as a facilitator?

I am always observing the behaviours in the room and how the Elemental preferences play out, whether in their style of presentation or how individuals approach a task. This is what makes the learning come alive and memorable. On a personal level, I am mindful of my own preference and make a conscious effort to flex my facilitation style so I engage all the Elements. I always encourage participants to be aware of all 4 Elements and in particular their lowest preference. TetraMap is a lifelong learning tool which adds tremendous value not just within the workplace but also outside with friends and family.

So, what’s next for TetraMap and BBC Worldwide?

The success of TetraMap is spreading throughout the organisation and we have been asked to deliver a number of team workshops, mostly with leadership teams. The model has been a great tool to help create cohesion and shared accountability and we now offer TetraMap as part of a suite of developmental tools alongside MBTI and Hogan.

Moving forward we will be running an in-house certification programme for our training team so we are able to meet on-going demand within the organisation.

We are pleased to announce that Gabriele will be presenting at our Certified Facilitator Development workshop on 1st November 2016. Numbers are limited Register here to reserve a place.