Conference explores The Power of Persuasion

A two-day sales conference produced by Mirage for a global pharmaceutical company offered a thought-provoking experience to equip the sales team with innovative selling techniques.

A multinational pharmaceutical company wanted to change the way they communicated with their UK sales team.

Instead of a one-way flow of product information they needed to empower the team by equipping them with the skills, confidence and motivation to win new business and build on existing contacts.

"The conference had to be more than a simple training day," said Christian Marryat, MD of Mirage.

"We needed to incorporate teambuild, corporate messages and energise and empower the delegates.

"The majority of off-the-shelf sales training packages concentrate on "foot-in-the-door" and "how to close a sale" techniques; these were not suitable as selling to professional doctors is a subtle process, which has to be handled carefully and ethically.

"The answer was to design a totally bespoke conference which left the delegates feeling that they had personally gained from the experience and knowing that their skills were valued".

Mirage suggested a theme, "The Power of Persuasion," to provided a framework for the two-day conference and dovetail with an existing initiative.

The event was divided into four modules whose titles reinforced the existing initiative's teachings.

The Power of Persuasion set the scene and was launched by Jez Rose, one of the world's leading mind readers and psychological consultants.

Rose was on hand throughout the day to provide a focal point using entertaining and dynamic exercises to illustrate what the mind is capable of and bring the ideas to life.

Principles of Persuasion offered delegates the chance to discuss personal challenges and what it would mean to overcome these.

Working as teams the delegates explored how a new approach could affect their daily lives and be used to achieve their goals.

The Art of Persuasion: the following day teambuild activites were used to provide a fun environment where delegates could put their new-found skills into action and experience the results.

The Value of Persuasion: the last module covered the journey they had undertaken and the position they had reached.

They concluded that they had learnt life skills that knew no bounds and which would help them succeed personally and professionally.

Tangible results were soon apparent with the sales team revitalised and equipped to gain new business and overcome daily challenges.

"The conference was a huge success and the feedback evaluation has shown the highest score for 'overall satisfaction' in recent years," said the client.

"I believe that one of the contributory factors to this was the production company we used - Mirage.

"We were all so impressed with their input into our meeting; they provided great creativity and a wealth of new ideas based on our brie".

"Their enthusiasm and desire to exceed expectations was refreshing and, equally importantly, they delivered the brief on budget; I have worked with a number of production companies over the years but rarely have I been so impressed by a company's professionalism and compelling propositions".

Where communication objectives met? Some comments from the delegates: "The meeting has made me do a lot of things differently and is ultimately going to have an impact on my sales".

"Very enjoyable doing life skills instead of sales practice".

"Great meeting, which stands out due to the different approach".

"Excellent blend of interaction and upfront".

"Excellent, really enjoyed and learnt plenty that I will use at work tomorrow".

"Great to do something different".

"The whole conference was very well planned and hugely beneficial".

"A fantastic conference, refreshing and focused on us people".

"The best conference I have been on, more relaxed and interactive; the evening do was fantastic".

"I have never felt so motivated to sell as I have done after this meeting".

Mirage produced the entire conference providing creative input, technical, staging, speaker support, lighting and AV.

They also produced a fun gala dinner.

Feedback and measurement were built into the event to ensure pre-determined objectives were met.

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