Case Studies - Medibank Private

Using SPIN® to Understand Customer Needs Positions Medibank Private for Growth

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OVERVIEW

Medibank Private is Australia’s largest and only national private health insurer. The organisation offers private health insurance for Australian residents, overseas students, visitors to Australia and corporations.

One of Medibank’s business goals is to grow market share through member retention and acquisition, while its purpose is “ensuring members are better off with Medibank Private”.

Better understanding the needs of customers has been recognised as a foundation for achieving both the goal and purpose.

A core component of the business strategy is a highly skilled sales force. Norm Cockerell, General Manager of Business Relationships, knew that if his team could create value for customers through fully understanding their needs, Medibank would be well positioned to find and win new business and build strong relationships.

Norm and his team worked with Huthwaite on a sales excellence program that included:

• introducing a common selling language, processes and tools
• changing the way Medibank works with customers

• improving the way they manage and measure internal teams.

Ongoing benefits of the program include increased sales opportunities and management visibility into sales productivity and pipeline.

SALES CHALLENGES

The Medibank Business Relationships sales force consists of three teams who separately target corporations, educational institutions and migration agents. In all cases the Medibank team needs to first influence the target audience to promote their products and secondly, show value to the end user so that they choose a Medibank insurance policy.

Each team’s sales cycle is different. The education team wins business on a long-term basis, primarily through tender submissions; the corporate team receives inbound leads while the overseas visitors team is often cold-calling.

Norm advised that he wanted an “efficiency and productivity control mechanism. He had no way of measuring how productive the guys on the team were, where they were falling down and what development activities they needed”. He sought a common language for the geographically dispersed sales teams and common processes which can be benchmarked, integrated with their Customer Relationship Management software and analysed in order to improve sales performance.

THE HUTHWAITE SOLUTION

To identify areas for improvement, Huthwaite performed an online pre-assessment of the sales skills of the Medibank Business Relationships team. Based on skill development requirements, Medibank’s team participated in a 3-day Winning Against the Competition™ program which provides face-to-face selling skills as well as account strategies to help salespeople make the most of an opportunity in a complex sale environment. Role plays in the program were customised to replicate real-life selling situations. For ongoing reinforcement of the new skills, participants were given access to the Huthwaite Extended Learning Program™ (HELP). New hires to the team are sent on a non-customised version of the same program so that knowledge is consistent throughout the team. Sales Managers have learned coaching skills to help their sellers continually improve.

THE RESULTS

Implementing the SPIN® Selling methodology has built skills in call planning, questioning and call execution. Prior to meetings, questions are prepared based on problems that customers often face and that Medibank’s insurance policies can solve. A desired outcome for the call is included in the plan. This allows the sales team to focus on areas where Medibank can bring value, which has led to increased confidence, additional sales opportunities and greater pipeline.

Tender submissions are now more focused on the benefits they can provide to customers and Medibank has seen a significant increase in the number of contracts they are tendering for.

Sales management has visibility into pipeline, allowing other teams to plan their resources accordingly. Having their activities documented, tracked and evaluated is motivating the sales team to exceed their targets.

Following the training, Michael Camilleri, National Manager Corporate Business, is pleased that “the sales team is not rushing in with solutions until they have asked the right questions to fully understand the needs. Questioning techniques have allowed them to uncover opportunities they may not have uncovered in the past and increased the depth of opportunities”.

With their new sales skills and methodology, the organisation is well placed to grow market share and ensure that members are better off with Medibank Private.