Ontex is a leading international personal hygiene group that engineers high-quality products for baby care, feminine care and adult incontinence care. The company has its own regional brands, but also offers products for leading suppliers of retailer brands.
Coaching skills needed
The Ontex France sales team (Elderly Care division) is comprised of regional sales managers, who are mainly dedicated to business development, and product specialists – often former nurses who are now responsible for training end users on the use of Ontex products. Both roles have sales representatives reporting to them, and therefore they require elementary management and coaching skills.
Due to recent changes in the Ontex France organization, we had a new and relatively young team of sales managers and product specialists, many of whom had no sales or management experience. I felt the need to develop these skills with my team and provide them with the tools to lead their teams in a non-directive style. Based on our previous experience, Perpetos was the perfect fit to make this work.
says Valérie Della Giustina, sales director at Ontex France
Intervision and blended learning
Perpetos proposed a mix of classroom-based and virtual training sessions – both with theory and practical content – over a period of several months. Three sales managers and five product specialists joined the sessions. The training was led by Perpetos trainer Eliséo Manfron, an ICF (International Coaching Federation) certified coach, who applied a variety of coaching and active listening techniques.
During the two virtual sessions, the trainees used a technique called ‘intervision’, or Codéveloppement Professionnel, a method originating from Québec. This refers to sessions where small groups of participants with similar backgrounds exchange experiences under the guidance of a facilitator. The goal after the training is to use the knowledge again and to learn from the experience of colleagues.
Creating a safe environment
The intervision method is also used to create a safe and reflective environment where everyone involved can speak up to solve a common solution. And that’s exactly what the training participants need to be able to do as well with their own teams of sales representatives.
In our training sessions, we pointed out the importance of creating a safe environment and applying an empowering coaching style. This means not being too directive, but instead trying to enable people to speak up without the fear of being judged or criticized.
says Eliséo Manfron
Valérie Della Giustina acknowledges the importance of this coaching style:
In our sales organization, we work with teams that include people from different generations, who often have different views and expectations about work. It’s important to give all generations the feeling that they are allowed to express themselves at Ontex in all freedom, while at the same time encouraging them to reach their sales goals.
Non-directive coaching
According to Eliséo, the biggest mind shift the training participants have experienced is that there are different modes of managing people. The key is to know which mode to use at the right time and in the right situation.
Sometimes you need to apply non-directive coaching, which means focusing on active listening and asking open ended questions. This non-directive style can be much more motivating and engaging. Other times however, a directive approach can be more appropriate
Eliséo
The feedback from Ontex France on the training sessions was more than positive:
The sessions were very well received and the trainer managed to make a very good connection with its participants. Afterwards, our team was able to effectively apply the intervision methodology with their team, and that was really something that we had been missing in the past.
For example, product specialists now use this technique when they are in the field with their sales representatives. Thanks to this training, they know better now how to guide their representatives and how to make them more aware of their areas for improvement.
Our team has become more comfortable and confident to work together through co-development and they are encouraged to come up with their own ideas and proposals to reach our sales goals. With this training we also want to show our team that we believe in them and that we want them to be engaged for Ontex France in the long run as well.
Valérie Della Giustina
As a result of the training, Ontex France is expecting more efficiency in terms of coaching its sales representatives, which the company hopes to see reflected in the sales results.
