Sirtex

How IA helped Sirtex increase sales during a global pandemic.

The Situation

Sirtex is a global healthcare company whose mission is to provide pioneering solutions that significantly improve the lives of oncology patients. Originally headquartered in Australia, Sirtex now has manufacturers in the U.S., Singapore, and Germany, in addition to suppliers all over the world. Their current lead product is a targeted radiation therapy for liver tumors called SIR-Spheres® Y-90 resin microspheres. Over 100,000 doses have been given to treat patients at over 1,300 medical centers, in over 50 countries.   

Sirtex noticed that their sales teams in certain regions were outperforming others. They wanted to develop ways for globally distributed teams to coordinate with each other in order to close the revenue gap. They believed that if the teams improved communication, they could learn best practices from one another and achieve more consistency. 

Because of their longstanding partnership in the areas of team and leadership development, Sirtex brought in Interaction Associates to support this process. 

“When we decided to design and implement a ‘team coaching’ initiative to build on the best practices of our global sales team, we naturally turned to Interaction Associates,” said Santiago Madrinan, Global Manager, Sales Effectiveness at Sirtex. “IA’s ability to quickly understand our business interest, and then rapidly design and deliver a creative, impactful, virtual program, is why we keep coming back.”

The Solution

From June through August of 2020, IA delivered three virtual trainings for 24 director-level global sales team members. The trainings focused on team coaching and capability development and addressed the areas of collaboration, coaching, facilitation, and collaborative problem solving. This approach offered the cross-regional knowledge sharing that Sirtex believed would pay off in both the immediate and long term.

In addition to these trainings, Sirtex worked with IA to design a two-day leadership summit for their global organization, held virtually in November 2020.

IA was the lead designer, integrator, and primary deliverer of content for the summit, which brought in additional trainings and workshops from other organizations. 

“We integrated the others into the summit and ran two of our own programs: ‘Leading with Purpose and Empathy’ and ‘Leveraging Coaching as a Key to Motivating your People,’” said Ian Lipson, Director of Client Solutions at IA. “The overarching theme of the event was creating ‘One Sirtex’ and building from the vision of their CEO, who spoke about the need to work cross-functionally and leverage each other’s good work. The summit was the first time all teams had come together, and it was considered a huge success.” 

“When we decided to design and implement a ‘team coaching’ initiative to build on the best practices of our global sales team, we naturally turned to Interaction Associates.”

- Santiago Madrinan, Global Manager, Sales Effectiveness at Sirtex
The Results

Impact & Lessons Learned

The initial training programs and the summit received outstanding feedback from the participants. Individual sales team members have reported gaining actionable insights from their colleagues which they’ve put into practice. Sirtex also stated that the global summit exceeded expectations in terms of providing a sense
of being cared for on the part of every participant
and interconnectedness between Sirtex teams across the globe. 

“The work increased their motivation. Sirtex was worried about employee engagement, and the summit helped with that,” said Lipson. He also expressed regard for the way Sirtex responded to the initial problem. “The client was set on providing support to the Global Sales Team in order that sales might meet its revenue goals. Rather than cast blame, the client took an approach that was meant to raise all boats.”

Sirtex reports there has been a positive trend in terms of sales, even through the pandemic – an achievement, especially given the disruption of normal sales processes. “During COVID-19, we have been fortunate to avoid many of the serious problems other companies have faced,” Madrinan said. 

When it comes to collaborating virtually with IA, Madrinan noted, “In this time of the pandemic, IA has proven their virtual work is every bit as effective as their in-person programs.”

Sirtex has continued leveraging IA's expertise by providing professional development opportunities to their employees including one of our flagship programs, Facilitative Leadership®

Sirtex On Demand Webinar
Unlock the secrets of Sirtex's leadership and talent development success; dive into this 30-minute on-demand webinar for actionable insights and strategies to elevate your organization's culture and growth.

Training Solutions

Discover a range of programs offered by IA, including our highly sought-after flagship trainings available in both in-person and online formats. Explore our most popular options below:

Essential Facilitation®
Reduce the instances of unproductive meetings with this popular facilitation training program. We provide tools to guide process, resolve conflict, build agreements, and broker communication.

Facilitative Leadership®
Our flagship program explores the relationship between leadership and participation. You'll learn seven leadership practices for improving effectiveness of teams, projects and organizational leaders.

Action Accelerators
Help your leaders engage a distributed workforce. Give virtual team members the skills and tools to stay connected, productive, and accountable from home and across distances and differences with this online training opportunity.

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