The Client
A leading global markets business within a major UK financial services organisation, operating in trading, financing and risk management for corporate and institutional clients. Front line sales teams engage daily with clients across areas such as Utilities, Infrastructure, Corporate Financing and FX, where credibility, insight and structured selling approaches are critical to building trusted, long-term relationships.
Their Challenge
The organisation identified a number of challenges within their client-facing sales teams that were limiting commercial effectiveness and client perception:
Being reactive rather than proactive in client conversations
Difficulty creating demand or uncovering opportunities clients haven't recognised themselves
Insufficient preparation before client interactions
Trade conversations lacked structure or clear objectives
Limited understanding of client priorities, motivations and challenges
Clients not perceiving the organisation as a strategic partner or trusted advisor
Deals stalled due to lack of stakeholder alignment
Limited political awareness within client organisations
Over-reliance on preferred communication channels
Difficulty influencing client thinking without formal authority
Confidence gaps in senior-level interactions
A need to balance professionalism with authenticity
Objectives
Equip front line sales teams and their line managers with a consistent, structured approach to trade and deal conversations
Build proactive skills to uncover and create client demand rather than simply responding to it
Strengthen preparation, stakeholder mapping and political awareness ahead of client interactions
Improve influencing capability in situations without formal authority
Build senior-level confidence while maintaining an authentic style
Position the organisation as a strategic partner and trusted advisor to clients
The solution
Total Negotiation Group created a bespoke Trade/Deal Optimisation Framework, designed to bring structure and consistency to every stage of the client conversation.
The framework guided teams through five key stages - Preparation, Origin of Client Need, Communication Method, Execution, and Realise the Benefits - underpinned by four core skill areas: Questioning & Listening, Influencing, Stakeholder Management, and Interpersonal Skills.
This was deployed via face-to-face workshops with front line sales teams and their line managers, across teams working with clients in areas such as Utilities, Infrastructure, Corporate Financing and FX.
Outcome
Future