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Boulden Management Consultants

Sales Skills  >  1-Day Courses

Trusted Advisor

Training course in becoming a trusted advisor

Develop a trusted advisor relationship with strategic customers

One Day Course

Course Brochure Download
Trusted Advisor brochure
  • Implement a ‘Business Partner Planning’ process
  • Learn key influencing skills
  • Appreciate how to position yourself as an expert

Overview

A Business Consultant, Business Partner or ‘Trusted Advisor’ is someone who the client perceives as an extension of their own organisation i.e. they act in line with the client’s best interests and are seen as a valuable resource that can provide input on a wide range of topics. Being actively involved in the customer’s work processes leads to higher margins and ensures that the barriers to entry for competitors become very high. This programme involves acquiring the knowledge, skills and attitude needed to be successful in this ‘business consultancy’ role.

Learning objectives

By attending this highly participative one-day course you will:

  • Gain an insight into the mind-set of an expert Trusted Advisor
  • Master a technique for assessing your current relationship level with key clients
  • Discover how to set clear goals for developing a ‘strategic relationship’
  • Learn how to design effective services and products that ‘add value’ to key clients
  • Develop the skills to run elegant and engaging client meetings

Who should attend?

This is a training programme for people who have good sales skills and have built up sales volumes of ‘core products’ or standard services with their customers, and now want to learn how to broaden and deepen client relationships.




Day 1

The ‘psychology’ of the expert Trusted Advisor

Reviewing the theories, key concepts, beliefs, values and principles involved in embodying the Trusted Advisor or Business Partner role.

  • Examining your current beliefs
  • Reviewing expert beliefs
  • Making changes that you feel are appropriate for you

Exercise: applying the ‘affirmation’ technique

Understanding consultancy products

Appreciating what additional services can be offered to build a consultancy relationship and gaining insights as to how they can be structured.

  • Four categories of value added service
  • Structuring ‘consultancy’ products
  • The role of Value Propositions

Pairs exercise: developing a high impact Value Proposition

Giving advice

An important part of being a successful Trusted Advisor is giving good quality advice to customers and, of course, having that advice accepted.

  • Acquiring underpinning industry and business knowledge
  • Presenting yourself as an ‘expert’ or ‘authority’
  • Using high impact persuasion strategies

Pairs exercise: using the ‘Trust Builder’ technique

Business Partner Planning Process

A systematic and disciplined Business Partner Planning process is vital to help to guide our actions to deepen and broaden the relationship on an on-going basis.

  • Relationship Analysis
  • Assessing market conditions
  • Highlighting business opportunities
  • Developing an action plan

Group exercises: conducting a Relationship Analysis by mapping the “decision making unit”

Key influencing skills

Outstanding Trusted Advisors, Business Partners or Business Consultants are excellent at developing rapport and are skilled at putting forward their views in a forceful yet courteous way. They send clear messages and are specific about what they want and are able to defuse conflict.

  • Matching and leading values
  • Three-step assertive technique
  • Broken record technique
  • Redefine technique

Pairs exercise: practising matching and leading values using the redefine technique

Conducting the ‘face to face’ client meeting

Mastering a six-part format for running a successful customer meeting when establishing a Trusted Advisor relationship with a customer.

  • Preparing agendas
  • Getting information
  • Making proposals

Pairs exercise: role playing running a client meeting

 


Feedback

Numbers are limited twelve per course to maximise participation in the programme. Each delegate is given a detailed assessment of their Trusted Advisor skills using Boulden skills assessment checklists.

Course Structure

There is an option of following the workshop with a three month long Action Learning project to link the lessons from the training back into the workplace. If this option is selected there is a closure workshop at the end of the project phase where delegates present how they have applied the techniques learned on the course into their daily work routines.


Remote Training

All of our workshops can be delivered as Remote Training via e-learning modules plus Zoom based virtual workshops. Please see our Virtual Training page for more information.


Contact

To talk to us about our range of courses contact
Boulden Management Consultants:
via our Contact form
Tel: 0844 394 8877