Case Study: Medtronic Pain Therapies

Introduction

Energize Learning designed and developed a unique programme from techniques learned over many years’ experience in the retail sector, working face to face with real people in real situations. Energize were asked to deliver a training workshop to a multi-national team from Medtronic, one of the world’s leading medical technology companies.  Medtronic were exhibiting at an international medical conference in Barcelona and, although they had considerable previous conference and exhibition experience, they recognised the importance of maximising the number of new leads.

The objectives of the training were:  

To demonstrate tried and tested tools and techniques for engaging prospective customers as they passed by or approached the conference stand
To focus on the importance of attitude as the key to maintaining motivation whilst manning the stand throughout the conference
To create a team atmosphere among all personnel who were not all familiar with one another, being based in different European offices
To ensure that sufficient information was collected from prospective customers  
To enable effective follow-up action to be taken after the conference 

Preparation and delivery of the programme

As part of the process, Energize had numerous discussions with people at various levels within the company, in order to gain a full understanding of the team’s performance and perception of previous conferences and to learn about Medtronic’s products and services as well as its culture.
The results of these discussions shaped the way in which Energize designed the programme for the training session, and ensured that it fully reflected specific Medtronic terminology and nuances.  Time was also spent on securing the buy-in and commitment of Medtronic’s senior managers, to ensure that they were fully aware of the content and had a chance to contribute their input, as well as appreciating their role in encouraging and supporting the programme.

The programme was delivered on-site to the 20 Medtronic delegates shortly before the start of the conference, following a general team briefing. This minimised time spent away from the conference and enabled the team immediately to put their new found skills and capabilities into practice on the stand.

There were two parts to the programme: a two hour core interactive training session to provide the team with the skills, knowledge and confidence to enable staff to engage naturally in conversation with customers,  followed by “Life on the front line”, where the members of the Energize team joined and worked alongside Medtronic staff and management on the stand itself, providing hands-on coaching to ensure that the team had fully mastered the skills and techniques taught in the core session.

Outcome and results

300 new contacts were made, which equated to a 600% increase in the number achieved from the previous conference.

The core session was well received, with lots of positive feedback from the participants.  

A rota had already been drawn up, with a minimum of 4 people manning the stand at all times during the conference.  A team leader was designated for each time slot.  Following the core session, it was agreed that the team leader would hold a short briefing and debriefing session with their team members when starting and finishing their session on the exhibition stand, in order to set targets, review performance and keep the team motivated and enthusiastic.  

The “Life on the front line” session proved to be an enormous success.  The Energize team members spent two hours on the stand with Medtronic personnel immediately after the core session, and a further three hours with the teams manning the stand the following morning.  The Energize team showed how the techniques taught worked in practice, and helped to engage in conversation with conference delegates coming on to or passing by the stand.  

The impact of the programme was powerful.  Certain team members who had initially appeared somewhat sceptical of the simplicity of the techniques coached, found to their amazement and delight that they really did work!  Prospective customers did not feel that they were being given “the hard sell”, with the result that the team found that they could effortlessly engage them in conversation, using the tools and props available on the stand.  As the numbers of contact lead forms collected increased, so did the confidence and enthusiasm of the team on the stand.  
Records of the numbers of leads collected by each team during their session on the stand were collated and a chart was drawn up to engender a sense of competition among the teams manning the stand.  

The feedback from both management and staff was extremely positive, as outlined below.  Medtronic plans to continue to work with Energize to roll out the programme company- wide.

“You can really see the difference as a result of the Energize training: leads collected were up 600% on the previous event. The power of the training lay in its simplistic approach but it simply did the job as the figures show!” - Marta Gehring, Marketing Director, Medtronic Pain Therapies