B2B Sales Training Drives 61% Growth in Closed Transactions
Store consultants at a major telecommunications company in Brazil were focused exclusively on business-to-consumer (B2C) sales. But with the incorporation of business-to-business (B2B) sales in stores, consultants needed B2B sales training, technical training, and a shift in mindset to successfully represent the new portfolio.
To address this need, the company partnered with GP Strategies to develop a blended learning journey. In its first six months, the program delivered an innovative learning experience and a significant B2B sales increase, with stores surpassing sales targets by 57% and closing 61% more B2B transactions than before.
Challenge: Turning B2C Specialists into B2B Sellers
As the telecom giant moved to expand its B2B presence, it needed its retail store consultants—professionals trained and practiced exclusively in B2C sales—to take on business clients as well.
After diving into actual store processes, the company and GP Strategies realized that it wasn’t enough to present the B2B portfolio in a technical way. It had to be integrated into daily routines with clarity, simplicity, and purpose—demystifying perceived complexity and revealing real business opportunities. A practical view was essential to transforming knowledge into action.
Therefore, the shift was not simply a matter of teaching the consultants a new set of products. The company needed them to develop a genuine, working comprehension of B2B relationships and to apply new products, processes, and procedures consistently across every store. That meant building a learning program that could change how consultants thought about a sale, not just what they knew about it.
Key Constraints
Skill gap: Consultants trained only in B2C sales needed to build technical fluency in B2B mobile and fixed-line product portfolios from the ground up.
Mindset shift: Employees accustomed to a transactional B2C sales model had to adopt a more consultative approach to B2B negotiations.
Consistency: B2B and B2C commercial areas operated separately, with no unified sales flow for store consultants handling business customers.
Scale: The program needed to reach a large, distributed retail workforce across the nationwide store network without disrupting day-to-day operations.
Solution: A Blended B2B Sales Training Journey
GP Strategies helped the telecom provider create a blended learning journey so retail consultants could gain theoretical knowledge and then practice it in a virtual, hands-on environment. The program was designed in close collaboration with both employees and customers, built using a blended, digital-storytelling approach, and hosted on the company’s new corporate university platform.
To create an engaging, immersive learning journey, the partners produced interactive “onepages,” videos, and podcast-like audio clips, often featuring company instructors trained to deliver influencer-style learning content in the format employees were used to consuming in their personal lives.
Communications before, during, and after training reached learners by email, the company’s online learning platform, and social media, and leadership support from store managers reinforced adoption on the floor. Additionally, a digital knowledge base was created to sustain learning over time, allowing employees continuous access to reference content that reinforced concepts and answered questions.
Phase 1 | Virtual Classroom Workshop
An instructor-led virtual session introduced two consultative frameworks: SPIN, a questioning technique built around a lead's situation, problem, implication, and need-payoff; and BANT, a lead-qualification approach based on budget, authority, need, and timeline. The session was designed to help business managers increase negotiation assertiveness and boost sales conversion.
Phase 2 & 3 | Online Mobile & Fixed Training
Two parallel learning paths ran side by side: one covering the B2B mobile product portfolio, the other the fixed-line portfolio. Both included commercial content, sales negotiation strategies, customer service flows, and practical exercises built around real-world sales scenarios.
Phase 4 | 360° Interactive Sales Lab
An immersive virtual sales lab allowed consultants to combine theoretical knowledge with hands-on practice, including role-play simulations that recreated real-time B2B negotiations. Integrated self-assessments helped consultants refine their skills and cement their comprehension.
Impact: 61% Growth in Closed B2B Transactions
Within the first six months of the program rollout, the telecom provider saw a measurable shift in how its store teams sold to business customers, and in the results those consultants produced.
employees trained across the program’s three modules, with an 80% completion rate for the voluntary training at company-owned stores
increase in closed B2B transactions compared to the six months before the program
average margin by which stores surpassed their collective sales targets
average learner satisfaction rating
Beyond the numbers, this blended learning journey reshaped how the company’s store consultants see their role. Reinforcing active listening, formatting content for different learning styles, and treating the program as an ongoing mindset shift (rather than a one-time training event) made the change stick. The telecom giant now plans to extend the program model to other strategic areas, including digital solutions and enterprise technology, and to broaden its use of immersive, 360° methodologies across other stages of the sales and service cycle.
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