Viant

The Challenge
Viant is a full-service, high-end technology consulting company based in New York. The company was hit hard by the recession. In the words of a senior VP “ For the first five years the market was so good that we did not sell; we did triage. For the last 18 months, we have had to learn to sell”. The company had downsized and reorganized. While business development people were dealing with skeptical customers, and lengthy, involved decision-making processes, project mangers were fighting scope creep and pressures on pricing.

The Solution
Working with Viant senior executives and the HR manager, Interpersonal Development assessed the training needs. We identified negotiating and client management skills as critical to success. And we targeted all customer contact people for development of the skills. From our library of existing training courses, we created a two-day classroom style course, and customized role–plays and case studies to Viant customer-interaction situations. The course was rolled out to customer relationship managers and project managers in all three Viant locations.