Senior executive uses MA to boost business
Posted on 01. Dec, 2010 by admin in Business, Sales Management, Uncategorized
As a senior UK executive at Marsh, the world leader in risk and insurance services and solutions (ranked No 1 for the 39th consecutive year by “Business Insurance”), Peter Anscombe has a responsibility for ensuring that the company retains and builds on its diverse customer portfolio, which includes businesses, public entities, associations, professional services organizations, and private individuals. Each customer has different needs and ways of buying risk and insurance services, and the company has a large number of client executives who work with clients to ensure that they get the best from Marsh’s comprehensive choice of solutions.
Peter takes a particular interest in the role of the client executive, and used his MA in Sales Management to examine how client executives could build close and integrated relationships with clients.
He said: “The key to being successful as a Client Executive is to retain clients. Of course, these relationships need to be profitable and the Client Executive probably has sales targets too. But the fundamental building block for success as a Client Executive is to retain the commitment of clients.”
Peter identified that there was very little prior academic research into client relationships in corporate insurance, so he synthesised academic research from other sectors, cross-sectoral studies and books about best practice in business relationships, service quality and the nature of customer engagement to form a foundation for his research within Marsh. Peter then interviewed several Client Executives in Marsh and asked them directly how they did their job and the nature of relationships they struck with their clients. Adding this insight, he built models for Marsh that provide a blueprint for the development of the right competencies for client executives and a programme of action for each client executive to focus on customer commitment. These are now widely used throughout the company.
The dissertation he submitted in completion of his MA Sales Management was well-received. Supervisor Jill Brown, an expert in services marketing, said “Peter was thorough in every stage of his research and wrote a comprehensive, interesting and actionable thesis.”
Course Leader Beth Rogers added: “One of the principles of the MA in Sales Managers, which is a part-time “top-up” degree, is that the study can be used to address challenges in the workplace. It is very gratifying to see how Marsh Ltd has made use of Peter’s work.”
Marsh UK provides global risk management, risk consulting, insurance broking, alternative risk financing, and insurance program management services for businesses, public entities, associations, professional services organizations, and private clients. Marsh is a unit of Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), a global professional services firm with approximately 52,000 employees and annual revenue exceeding $10 billion.
MA Sales ManagementThe MA Sales Management is designed for account managers and sales managers with several years work experience. As the pioneer Master’s programme for sales managers in Europe, this course has acquired a national and international reputation that will enable ambitious sales managers to differentiate themselves and advance their careers. Portsmouth is the only UK business school listed by the University Sales Education Foundation.
