CEO Today Management Consulting Awards 2021

ITALY

CEO TODAY MANAGEMENT CONSULTING AWARDS 2021

AN INTERVIEWWITH ANTONIO PANICO

After your early career successes as a manager, what drove you to specialise in business coaching? My career as a salesman and then as a manager in marketing was quite rapid. As a product manager I also had the responsibility of training new sales representatives about the products I oversaw. It was then that I discovered that I had the skills and passion for this line of work. So, at the first opportunity, and at the height of my career in marketing, I asked to take up the position of head of training and coaching, where I had to start from scratch to rebuild and restructure the department. The challenge was exciting because it allowed me to develop new skills while experiencing the pleasure of helping salespeople and managers to grow and achieve concrete results. It was during those years that I developed my idea to start a company of my own, dedicated to coaching in the business field. Today, like yesterday, the thing that guides me in this job is my belief in entrepreneurship, an inordinate passion in seeing my clients succeed, thrive, and grow as entrepreneurs or managers. What motivates you to achieve the best results for your clients? I would say that two things motivate me, one of a spiritual nature and the other of a strategic nature. I think coaching has a lot to do with peopleʼs identity. Coaching is not just a job I do – I am a coach; it is my personality. My guiding values and those of my company are to “contribute” and to “be competent” and therefore the motivation derives from the fact that helping our clients fulfils my personal mission as well as that of every coach on my team. From a purely practical point of view, it is almost certain that an entrepreneur who achieves and exceeds at their goals, thanks to the support of their business coach, will continue their relationship to define new goals. So, making sure my clients get great results means ensuring loyalty and an excellent reputation in the market, and this is a strategic point for my companyʼs growth.

Have you had any recent clients that stood out to you? Can you tell us about how you helped them to develop? I was very impressed by the legal firm CFC Legal, which deals with tax law. During the COVID-19 pandemic this company faced difficulties, but the two partners, instead of being discouraged, focused on coaching to increase the conversion rate of their sales representatives, doing so by investing in their team without hesitation. They knew that it was fundamental to push to the max to bring about significant benefits and secure jobs. What struck me was the sense of belonging and the responsibility demonstrated by these members and their entire team. We worked with the sales department, improving the entire sales process from the target to the sales pitch, from the prospect acquisition method to the consultancy itself. After a few months the average sales conversion rate went from 9% to 35%, and in some cases it even reached 70%. Not only did these changes give the sales team, lawyers, and the entire staff new confidence, but above all it allowed them to avoid closing the balance sheet with losses. They were able to turn the negative situation around and reach a positive result in terms of profit. It was a deeply satisfying outcome that we were proud to be a part of. How have you coached your clients through the business disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic? The first thing we considered was a change of business model, when it was possible. In particular, our main goal was to help them continue with the delivery of products or services, while helping these companies digitise themselves as much as possible. For example, one of our clients, a high-end restaurant, was able to find a way to deliver meals without compromising the flavours and quality of their products. By doing so they were able to increase their margins and acquire new clients throughout Italy, thus dramatically increasing their potential market. Secondly, we worked on company accounts, helping many entrepreneurs to gain tight control over their cash flow, which is often lacking in small and medium-sized Italian companies. Many of our clients also took advantage of this situation to restructure procedures with the intention of restarting in a more structured and efficient way post lockdown, and they have had excellent results. In fact, some of these clients have doubled or tripled their results. Last but not least, we have worked on communication and marketing. The strategy was to increase the share of voice, taking advantage of the fact that our clientsʼ competitors had stopped

“Personally, I view business coaching as a professional support of strategies, tactics, and practical activities, such as business

processes, which allow companies to achieve results.”

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