Client Testimonials
Telecoms & Technology
The programme is the best I have been on by the way, way better than Vodafone and better than companies like Unilever, Coca Cola Enterprises and Whitbread, for all of which I was a first line manager.
Corporate Sales – Global Telecomms Company
So far the feedback from the team has been very good in that Silent Edge are well organised, highly professional, competent, astute and very knowledgeable about sales. They have enjoyed the process so far even though the timescales posed some challenges. The analysis I saw was compelling, and visually easy to read and understand. It was good to see each person compared to sales best practice and I believe you would struggle to find anything better in the market today. I am now looking forward to the next stages where they use the data to deliver bespoke training to my managers and their staff.
Corporate Sales Director – Global Telecomms Company
Silent Edge came in with great energy, enthusiasm and put superb structure in the sales process for the team leader and the team themselves. You don’t realise until Silent Edge works with you how a common sense and structured approach to sales can really make a huge difference.
Telesales Centre Manager – Global Telecomms Company
In terms of delivery and attention, the atmosphere in the room and the interaction of the Corporate managers with the content was extremely high. There were several break-out sessions for activity and at all times, they were actively engaged and participating. I know that our Managers are always professional but it was obvious that they were truly engaged and involved rather than ‘going through the motions’. The direct feedback was very positive and upbeat, with some managers actually stating “best course ever attended”.
Head of Sales Academy – Global Telecomms Company
Excellent content at a good pace which was thorough and professional.
One of the best sessions I have attended at Orange.
Really good two days which I have gained value from.
The last two days training have been excellent, value for money and above all relevant to what we are aiming to achieve.
An outstanding trainer and indeed someone who I would regard as a role model for a great management experience.
The management training was awesome. I’d give the trainer 10 out of 10.
Silent Edge was brilliant for me. It made me realise that I can do my job in a different more effective way, it changed my whole outlook on my job.
Delegates at a global telecomms company
The training was professional and challenging. It has really aided in the way we have structured our sales meetings and approach.
BT Engage IT
When looking for companies that can really help Sales Managers with their ability to coach and drive sales performance no-one could compete with Silent Edge’s objective competency framework, evaluation tools and coaching models which are unique in the market.
David Benjamin, CEO – BT Directories
Silent Edge’s unique approach of using individual evaluation which then enables the correct tailored training to be delivered has had a highly beneficial impact on the team in both tangible sales results and behaviour to sell complete solutions. £2.5m of new business has been directly attributed to the skills acquired from the programme. This has occurred in a time of considerable change in the organisation and in a highly challenging economic climate and marketplace.
Dave Everest, Sales Director – Calyx
Silent Edge transformed my sales force, taking them from £750k a month to £4m a month in six months…. In six weeks we achieved what could normally take four months. The precision of the evaluation data enabled us to make immediate decisions on the development plan for each of our sales people. I have used every training course and well known brand in my career but I have never seen anything like Silent Edge.
Mike Siddon, Regional Managing Director – Cable and Wireless
Silent Edge’s data models and unique methodology was a perfect solution for us. They objectively evaluated every discipline, including sales management against their best practice competency framework of skills. The result of this was that Vistorm’s revenues increased by 30% in 12 months.
Darron Antill, COO – Vistorm
Followed your structure and it worked….What more can you ask for from a day and a half of training?”
Daniel Killeen, Internal Account Manager – Vistorm
When Silent Edge first contacted us it was immediately apparent that they were different, I wasn’t being sold ‘off-the-shelf’ sales training, but rather a thorough review of each member of our team’s strengths and weaknesses. The tailored sales training that followed came out of this. If you are serious about improving your business, making changes where they are necessary, then Silent Edge is the right company for you. I’m certainly glad that we have, because after 3 years of no growth we have increased our turnover by 50% in a year in market growing at less than 5%.
John O’Brien, Managing Director – Sematron
The overwhelming message was that this was the most interesting and informative day which they had experienced in a sales environment. One salesman said that he had learnt more in this one day than on the whole variety of week-long courses which he had previously attended. And this was only the audit day – I’m really looking forward to the feedback from the scheduled training
EO – Sematron
I would like to personally thank Silent Edge for the 3 days of training that you have done this year. I have gained so much from it and really feel that I will be at lot more successful this year, and in the years to come, as a result of the knowledge I have gained from your teachings. I have already noticed the difference from the two days training we did, and I am no longer trying to sell widgets with great features but I am concentrating on solutions with benefits.
Debbie Carroll, Test, Timing & Measurement – Sematron
I was a bit skeptical when I sat through Goal Mapping, but doing a personal and work goal map has really changed my mind! I’ve already tasked some of my staff with mapping their goals, and one in particular is benefiting from life mapping! I’m planning on getting all of them to work through the CD’s/Workbook Brian has left and doing a personal and work goal map – which I’ll review as part of the 1-2-1/Staff Dialogue process.
Chris Robinson – Siemens
I thought the courses were brilliant and found Brian very inspirational and motivating, he will always have a special place in my heart……..Communications mapping was an excellent session and I took away some valuable techniques that I can use in training ( and at home ! ). I think it is great that the Management Team have invested money in their workforce, the hard work should start now implementing some of the techniques and advice we were given.
Clare Bowman – Siemens
We have seen increased levels of motivation – people are now working together and supporting each other without personal reward. Without the work of Silent Edge this would not have happened.
Neal Scrase, Training Manager – Service Point
All in all I would say that we now have a clearer picture of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the sales team. Sales Force Evaluation has provided me with a strong foundation on which to build for the future.
BFI Optilas
Financial services & Insurance
We set 3 financial targets at a 15% increase each for the Silent Edge pilot programme with 300 of our regional directors and relationship managers. The most important measure was an increase in customer satisfaction and we were looking for a 5 point increase in that area. The result some 10 months later is 15% increase in lending, 39% increase in new deposits and a 39% increase in volume. Customer satisfaction went up by 9 points.
Silent Edge were not the only initiative during this period but there is no doubt that their programme had a massive impact on these results. The execution was flawless and managed superbly. We are so convinced that their approach works and returns huge ROI that we are now considering rolling this out to over 900 more people in Barclays Business and will be recommending them to other areas of the bank.
Divisional Director – Barclays Business
There are many people in the industry that claim they can help you grow sales force effectiveness, so deciding who to use is complex and hard. In fact, it’s quite a leap of faith. In Barclays, I chose Silent Edge because there wasn’t much fluff. It was cold, hard facts linked to diagnostic tools. If you are looking to use Silent Edge, then there is a very clear linkage to return on investment, which you don’t necessarily get with others.
Steve Cooper, Sales and Services Director – Barclays
We decided to measure sales performance from December to May 2009 and compare it to December to May 2010. Bearing in mind we had a good year of growth in 2009 we were delighted to see an 18% increase in overall revenue for the comparative period. The Silent Edge sales scores increased 14% in that period and the new business income increased by 13%. Three people’s Silent Edge scores went backwards from evaluation one to evaluation two six months later as did their new business sales. The direct correlations are remarkable. As a consequence we are rolling the solution out across all other divisions and globally next year.
Paul Lee, Regional Director – Ecclesiastical Insurance Group
We got £9 back in new business for every £1 we put into the programme.
L&D Manager – Ecclesiastical Insurance Group
This was the best Sales Management course that I have participated in, in my entire career. The difference with this course is that I have implemented at least 10 things from the programme I received from Silent Edge. The learnings have been practical and relevant and will improve my effectiveness in my role and that of my people.
Karen Osborne, Head of Distribution Partners – AXA Insurance
We felt Silent Edge’s approach was very professional, and perfect for what we were looking to achieve. We’re aware that they work in a number of sectors, but the understanding they showed of our market was extremely impressive. They took an empirical approach to measuring various sales competencies and the ongoing support and development, beyond the initial workshop sessions, has been extremely valuable. Furthermore, the individual approach taken to skills and development has seen clear positive changes. With Silent Edge’s help we have developed sales strategies, processes and people that we can depend on to articulate our proposition and message clearly and in a structured and professional manner.
Tim Wilson , Director – Close Premium Finance
The whole experience has been very helpful … I can genuinely say I have taken more away from this course than from any other in which I have participated.
Merrill Lynch
We chose Silent Edge for its innovation and diagnostics. Judging by the growth in sales we have achieved and decrease in staff churn, it was the best decision we ever made. Silent Edge has delivered best in class with no shadow of doubt.
Head of Call Centre – Financial services client
Transport & Logistics
The TNT Corporate Development team is very experienced in both their number of years in sales and number of years in TNT. Engaging Silent Edge sent a message to the team that TNT is prepared to make a serious investment in them by doing something totally different from anything used before. It moved them out of their comfort zone and motivated them to want to change, which is essential if you want to improve skills in such a team.
I thought I knew the capability of my team. The assessment confirmed some of my thinking, gave me fresh information and proved some of my thinking to be incorrect. In this respect the assessment exceeded all my expectations. The assessment combined with subsequent training, coaching and management helped us to achieve very tough, marketplace exceeding budgets in 2007 in an economic climate that was tremendously difficult. I am not convinced we would have exceeded our budgets as effectively without the work that Silent Edge completed with my team
Bill Thomson, Corporate Development Manager – TNT
Silent Edge’s unique end-to-end solution motivates sales people to improve performance and alters their behaviour to sell real solutions. Our profit increased 13% from £45m to £51m in a market that was trading backwards. I truly believe there is no-one else in the Marketplace capable of delivering sales training and development like Silent Edge. Our growth rate currently stands at 10% compared to the rest of the marketplace whose growth rate is only 2%. We can attribute this growth to the work undertaken by Silent Edge.
Andy Kemp, Group Sales Director – 3663 Food service wholesale distribution
Silent Edge offered us exactly the solution we were looking for and we are so convinced by the results and behaviour change experienced at a senior level, we are accrediting the Senior Managers within our sales organisation. I envisage that Silent Edge will be an integral part of our sales development process for years to come. The people we have come into contact with at Silent Edge have been, without fail, highly professional, easy to work with and contagious in their enthusiasm for what they can deliver to help us within our quest for excellence.
Giles Hawke , Head of Sales – Complete Cruise Solutions
Silent Edge really delivers on its value proposition of motivating sales staff to want to change their behavior. There has been a change in the presentation of action plans by individuals across the business and increased personal ownership of change. This is a marked difference from what we would expect from an organisation like Arval and where we are currently – I would not expect to see this much ownership of change so quickly.
Ian Hastings, Head of Learning and Development – Arval
The team at Silent Edge knows what face-to-face sales is all about. They know what makes sales work; they know all the things that must happen in a sales meeting to get results. They improve performance to deliver better revenues. It’s as simple as that!
Liam Donnelly, Sales Director – Arval
Silent Edge has taught me new ways of thinking about how I look at my Accounts.
Michael Telford, Account Manager – Norbert Dentressangle UK Ltd
The Silent Edge training programnme was completely relevant to my job, both as an Account Manager and Account Process Developer
Charlie Weale – Norbert Dentressangle UK Ltd
Security
Following the merger of Group 4 and Securicor (G4S), we needed to meet an aggressive sales target and change our customer’s perception of G4S. Silent Edge helped to embed our Sales Value Proposition into our sales process enabling us to sell on value and differentiate our offering consistently with customers to protect and grow revenues and margins. There is no question that the SVP Adoption training programme Silent Edge ran with our sales force has had a direct influence on strengthening our pipeline. It was previously £150m and is now £500m strong. This is a fantastic result and we are delighted.
Douglas Greenwell, Sales and Marketing Director – G4S
Like many businesses we were struggling to communicate the value of the Bosch brand to our customers in a consistent and customer orientated way. The Sales Value Proposition process Silent Edge has taken us through has proved very powerful in terms of re-programming the way we think about every possible interaction with our customers. We now have a very powerful value story which we communicate that the customer can actually relate to, and see the benefits for, their business.
Adam Breeze – Bosch Security Systems Strategic Marketing Manager (STGB)
Media & Publishing
The process really allowed us to grow and develop each step of the way – from resistance to acceptance – so many light bulb moments! A great 2 days. I feel very motivated and equipped to put all this into place now.
Charlotte Heyburn, Brand Director – EMAP
There is no doubt that the Silent Edge programme piloted in one of our advertising departments, has proven to be a big hit. The teams are genuinely excited to be part of the programme and the initial results show that they have embraced all the elements of the training, and their level of professionalism has clearly been recognised by their bosses and by the head of market. It is definitely money well spent – so much so, that we are now looking at rolling this out across the rest of the division.
Jacquie Duckworth, Head of Market – EMAP Advertising
Recruitment
I would sum up my experience with Silent Edge as being like strawberries and cream at Wimbledon on a summer’s day, you don’t realise just how good it is til you have it. Thank you.
Glyn Blaize – Adrem
“Silent Edge was brought in to help improve the sales performance of our business centres for 3 out of 15 regions. Despite the adverse economic conditions ,and in less than a year, the programme has delivered 8% growth in revenues and a 900% ROI in the 3 regions they worked with. Consequently we have decided to roll out the solution to other divisions in our organisation”
Ian Nicholas, HR & Training Director – Reed Specialist Recruitment
Retail & FMCG
We are delighted with the effect that the Silent Edge training process has brought to our business. The team is thinking about the sales value proposition before meetings and we’re winning new business as a result. It is very positive as we are going in offering a well considered solution that meets their needs. Clients have also noticed the strength and quality of our pitches. This all means that the team’s confidence level is high and we’re working really well together.
Davin Nugent, Managing Director, C.O.S Brands (Kopparberg)
We all learned a huge amount as individuals and as a Sales Dept. I personally have started to use some of those learnings and I was really pleased at how easy it was to implement and how effective the results were. I have had feedback from team members that they are also putting the learnings into practice and with positive results.
Godiva
Pharmaceutical
We have been using a subjective form of assessment of our sales teams and managers for years but the resulting data did not provide a platform that allowed for a dramatic change in skill set or behaviours in our team. Silent Edge came in and in very short timescales (one month), developed a set of objective best practice scorecards for our market that have given us a huge amount of rich data with which our managers can coach their staff. The change in language and behaviour in just a matter of months has been transformational across the team.
National Sales Director, Endo-mechanical Division – Johnson & Johnson
Academic partners
We have worked with Silent Edge over the years to judge our prestigious award ceremony, British Excellence in Sales and Marketing Awards. Due to the comprehensive nature of their competency frameworks, their methodology is ideally positioned to provide an objective and clear analysis of sales and sales management performance which is always extremely accurate.
Ren Kapur, Deputy CEO (2008) – ISMM
The competencies Silent Edge have defined to benchmark sales people really help drive sales performance. The model can also predict how likely a sales person is to close a deal’’.
Professor Lynette Ryals, Cranfield University School of Management
We were introduced to Silent Edge through the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management as they were judging some of the categories at the British Excellence in Sales and Marketing Awards. We were so impressed with their detailed ability to objectively identify the sales skills and ability of sales people and sales managers, that we have now invited them to deliver a module encasing their work on our Sales Management residential course. I would recommend that any Sales Manager or Director look at Silent Edge if they are considering improving the performance of their sales teams.
Laurence Williams, Director of the Sales Director’s Programme – Ashridge Management College