An inspiration session on customer focus or sales: what does your team get from it?

An inspiration session is an interactive 2.5-hour meeting with your whole team, about customer focus or about sales. We work with your own customers and your own customer journey, and everyone goes home with an action plan for the next day.

That is the short answer. Below you can read what happens in those hours, what it costs and how to get out of it what you put in.

What does an inspiration session give your team?

After a good session I see four things.

Fresh energy that comes from the team itself. You do not have to push anyone.

Everyone joins in. Even colleagues without a sales role see how much influence they have on the customer.

A shared language. Everyone talks about customers, and what they need, in the same way.

And an action plan. Steps for tomorrow, not good intentions.

The clearest example is OCD Opleidingen, a Dutch training company. Micha te Wieske, the owner, gave me a call. They had worked through my first book with the whole team and wanted to go further: an inspiration session, followed by a Sales Excellence programme.

There were eleven people in the session. The plan was that six of them would then follow the training, the six who did sales. Then something happened that I had not expected. The other five went to Micha and said: we have an influence on this too. We want to take part as well.

In the end the whole organisation followed the programme. You cannot impose a fan mindset. Show it yourself, and people want to join in.

How is it different from a training?

A training runs for weeks. You practise, you measure, you adjust. That is where the lasting result comes from.

An inspiration session does something else. It gets a team moving. For one afternoon everyone looks at the customer together, instead of each from their own island. Often the session is the starting point of a larger programme. It also works on its own, as a team leader at Budget Thuis put it afterwards: "The team was super enthusiastic. Lots of interaction, an open and pleasant atmosphere."

What happens in the session?

You choose from three topics: Fans are made together (fewer walls between departments), From customer to fan, or Sales, Honest & Relaxed. If you choose customer focus, the session has three parts.

1. It starts with you. What is the difference between an 8 and a 9 or 10? An 8 is a customer. A 9 or 10 is a fan. We look at your own attitude, with one question that changes a lot: am I here to bring value, or to take something?
2. The customer sees one company. From the first contact to long after the purchase. Where do things go wrong between departments? And who influences how the customer experiences you? It usually turns out to be everyone.
3. 1% better every day. How do you stop it fading? With the scan, with listening to customers as a habit, and with a rhythm you can keep up.

If you choose Sales, Honest & Relaxed, we focus on your own conversations with customers: selling that feels good, for you and for your customer.

There are two exercises I almost always do.

The first takes ten minutes. I ask everyone about the best customer experience they ever had as a consumer. Then about the worst. Everyone has a story. And those stories are hardly ever about the product. They are about whether someone made an effort, whether someone listened. Then I ask the question that turns the conversation: how do we want our customers to talk about us? The answer comes from the team itself. That is why it sticks.

The second is about the gap between what we think and what the customer thinks. Bain & Company asked 362 companies whether they delivered a superior customer experience. 80 per cent said yes. Only 8 per cent of their customers agreed. The room always goes quiet when I show that.

And sometimes I put out an empty chair. The idea comes from Amazon, where a chair at meetings is kept for the customer. What would he think of what we are discussing right now?

Who is it for?

For teams where several people shape what the customer experiences. Sales, service, delivery, the colleague in accounts. For a business owner who wants to bring the team along. For a manager who sees everyone working hard, but each on their own island.

It works best with a group of 12 to 15 people. Then everyone really takes part. Smaller is fine. Larger is possible too, and I adapt the formats.

What does it cost?

Option	Length	Price (excl. VAT)
Inspiration session	2.5 hours	€ 3,750
Inspiration day	Full day	€ 5,750

On the inspiration day the morning is the inspiration. In the afternoon we go deeper with the team and agree concrete actions together.

These prices apply in the Netherlands. For Belgium I make a proposal. The session takes place at your offices, in a beach pavilion in Castricum or at another venue that suits your team.

How do you get the most out of it?

A session without preparation and follow-up is a nice afternoon. That is not why I do it.

The book beforehand. Every participant receives Sales, Honest & Relaxed or the Dutch book Van klant naar fan (From customer to fan) in advance, with one piece of homework: read chapters 1 and 2. Everyone then starts from the same foundation and we can go deeper straight away. You order the books with the session, at a group discount.

One action per person. Nobody leaves without something to do tomorrow.

Then measure or train. Have the team take the free Customer Experience Model scan, so everyone knows where they stand. Or start a training afterwards, as OCD Opleidingen did.

When is it not the right choice?

I want to be honest about that too.

If you expect one afternoon to solve a problem that has been around for years, you will be disappointed. A session sets something in motion. The lasting work is done by the team afterwards.

If the team is in the middle of a reorganisation, or the basics are not in place, such as a product that does not work, then inspiration is not the first step.

And if only you want it and your team knows nothing about it, talk to them first. The session works best when people want to be there.

Not sure? Send me your preferred date, the size of your team and what you want to achieve. I will let you know within one working day whether I can make it.