Retention FoundationsThursday 11 and Friday 12 March 2027

First and Foremost, Simon delivered this training in a very down-to-earth, simple and clear manner. His address was universal to all participants. I really love the way we have changed our mindset form Traditional Sales (yuck) to Modern Buying. So much information I will be printing out the slideshow notes and utilising as a blueprint from which to continue to improve and grow as a Customer Experience Officer in the 10% 🙂

I would definitely recommend this training to others. Simon was able to pepper the core message with fun whilst still delivering an excellent product.

My very first call after the training session, using the techniques taught, “Tell me your situation etc” and being able to resolve that for her, my customer said to me, “Thank you I feel you have understood my issue and won’t need to worry anymore, I feel I have finally been heard”. So, it really does work). Thanks Simon!

Simon sets a framework with easy measurable targets of progressing through a standard call/enquiry process. This is not a one size fits all. The processes can be finessed to fit the non-standard call.

The course has behavioral expert advice on improving the telephonic experience for the student by being natural, steering the conversation for the best information sharing experience, understanding and emotional response and checkback to make sure you are aligned with the student’s enquiry.

In our case, given the nature of the product, the motivation for the student to follow through and not just apply and enrol but actually complete the course is out of the initial contact person’s hands. The energy and momentum should be reflected in every aspect of interaction at TAFE.

I thought it was a great approach to delivering training. Simon has a friendly, honest, and engaging style when presenting sales methodology.

One of my key takeaways was recognising that, whether I am speaking with students or members of my team, I can sometimes bring too much of my own experience into the conversation. Moving forward, I will focus more on “letting it ride” with the other person, listening to their perspective, and creating a more balanced discussion.

I particularly liked the concept of bridging, which reminded me of the OSLIQ model we used at Telstra in the early 2000s. It reinforced the importance of guiding conversations naturally while maintaining a focus on the customer’s needs and goals.

I am passionate about making a positive impact on how we approach sales at TAFE Queensland, and this session has provided some additional tools and techniques that I can share more broadly across the business. Many staff are uncomfortable and fear the term “sales”, so I often frame it in terms of conversion, service excellence, and quality student engagement. This training further reinforced that effective sales conversations are ultimately about understanding needs, building trust, and helping people make informed decisions.

Thank you. Mark

Inbound Sales training with Simon. He was an amazing facilitator. Not only is the content great, informative and provides a clear structure for approaching inbound sales calls, he brought in a vibrancy to the training that made 3 hours feel like 1.

He demonstrated the teachings through his own interactions, allowing a deeper drive home to the ideas being learned.

He made us feel comfortable during the training by allowing us to speak first and share our thoughts. I learned a lot about how a customer service representative should handle customers from different cultures.

Having a call guide is especially helpful, as it allows trainers to coach trainees on how to properly handle calls without relying too much on a script and encourages them to be more conversational.

I learned several helpful techniques for building natural and connected conversations with customers. The facilitator (Simon) also gave us opportunities to practice these techniques with guidance, which made the session very engaging and practical. I really enjoyed the training, and it felt quite short—I would have appreciated a longer session to explore the techniques further.

I found the training very helpful and interactive. The skills we covered will directly support my day‑to‑day coaching with my agents, and I appreciate how practical and easy to apply everything was.

The activities during the session also helped me put the key concepts into practice right away. Thank you, Simon, for an engaging and impactful training!

Have learnt so much and was very interested in the psychology of Sales, which Simon did very well explaining the logics to it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this training session as I was able to learn and pick up on new tips to better build the connections with the customers.

Additionally, I found it quite interesting that at the end of the call, we can close of by wrapping up with asking if the customers had any other questions and finishing it off by saying ‘Thank you’ instead of bye (which usually leads to the awkward bye, bye, bye..).

The training session was great . The content was clear, practical and highly relevant to my cold tins role. Simon was very knowledgeable and made the presentation fun and interactive. I enjoyed the role playing , which will assist me in effective communication strategies, negotiation and assist in managing overdue accounts.

I really enjoyed Simon’s content especially the bridging part. Overall great learning session.

Fantastic insight on how to be a point of difference on calls!

Thank you Simon for an exceptional training session. I would definitely recommend this great course as it was informative and enjoyable.

Since doing the CX skills session, I am using the training to have more meaningful, impactful conversations and naturally converting and retaining with ease. It has made a huge difference. Thank you!

The course refined the skills we already possessed while equipping us with data-backed tools to enhance our approach. The trainer was highly knowledgeable and adapted his delivery to suit our individual roles, guiding us through practical strategies to shift conversations constructively.

I especially valued that the content moved beyond clichés like “the customer is always right” or “the company is never wrong.”

Instead, it focused on fostering respectful, transparent, and empathetic interactions—emphasising the importance of timing and language. Since completing the training, I’ve noticed a marked improvement in the success of my phone and email communications.

I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the training – the Team really enjoyed it and were very comfortable in openly sharing with Simon the areas they feel they need to work on. They really related to Simon, and I feel that the training was exactly what we needed and hit the mark!

I shared with Simon earlier, that I hear the Team trying out the techniques and we have seen a huge lift in our supporter saves results. Early days but very positive signs…

Looking forward to the one on ones. I feel that they will only help to cement things further.

Thank you again!

The psychology behind the way we speak to customers was my highlight! And I gained a lot of insight into how I can coach others through this.

Highly recommend Simon, his extensive knowledge and experience makes for really engaging and fun training sessions. He has an absolute passion seeing people excel at phone and sales skills. Highly recommend! Thanks again, Chris.

Great course, very hands-on phone that covered essential and useful skills for phone sales. Interesting information discussed with relevant examples to all types of work. Thanks!

After 17 years in various customer service roles and some of those years in an inbound call centre, I went into this experience sceptical I’d learn much new.

Imagine my surprise upon beginning this training with Simon and his fresh take.

Fiinnnaaalllyy, real-world, adaptable skills that make you sound like a person!

No scripts and no outdated droning statements that, lets face it, grind everyone’s gears like “is there anything else I can assist you with…..”

These skills will elevate my existing skills inside the customer experience bubble but have also already helped me with my social skills in the real world.

Thanks Simon!