Background

Before 2017, the Sports Medicine division of Smith & Nephew—comprising around 600 sales representatives—lacked a formalised sales process. Within a complex orthopaedic sales environment and a rapidly expanding product portfolio, the absence of a structured approach posed significant challenges to the effectiveness of a largely inexperienced sales force.

The Need for Change

Following a comprehensive needs assessment, Smith & Nephew identified the critical need for a consistent and formal sales methodology to support sustainable growth and safeguard market share. In collaboration with senior sales leadership, the Sales Training team selected Integrity Selling® as the standardised framework to elevate the capabilities of their front-line sales professionals and unify the organisation with a shared sales language.

Implementation Strategy

The Integrity Selling® certification programme was rolled out across the entire salesforce. To ensure buy-in and foster a successful launch, the Sales Training team conducted pre-implementation sessions with managers, field support staff, and marketing personnel. These sessions focused on aligning stakeholders around the most pressing needs of the sales team through root cause analysis and identifying the traits of Smith & Nephew’s highest-performing representatives. The team also introduced the Integrity Selling® model and outlined the post-training reinforcement plan essential for embedding the learning.

Training Delivery

Training was delivered via a blend of structured classroom sessions and interactive practice. After learning the Integrity Selling® framework, participants were required to complete a role-play assessment with a Training team member, who used an electronic scoring system on an iPad to evaluate their performance. This approach allowed for immediate review and feedback. Once the role-play was successfully completed, participants moved on to an electronic knowledge test.

Sales representatives who passed both components were certified in the new sales process. Those who did not were provided with additional support and coaching in the field to reinforce their understanding. To sustain the training impact, sales managers conducted six weekly follow-up calls with their teams, each focused on reinforcing key Integrity Selling® concepts. These sessions were monitored by the Sales Training team to ensure consistent follow-through.

Results

Thanks to the comprehensive approach and strong leadership support, Smith & Nephew’s training programme achieved significant recognition. In February 2018, the company was named to Training Magazine’s prestigious Top 125 Training Organisations list—a testament to the organisation’s commitment to excellence in sales development.