Driving Sales Excellence for Corrigan Collection

Corrigan Collection, a renowned group of award-winning restaurants, bars, and event spaces led by Chef Richard Corrigan, approached Selling Savvy to support its sales team in refining their skills, improving conversion rates, and developing a more strategic approach to business development.
With a diverse portfolio of venues, including Bentley’s, Corrigan’s Mayfair, Daffodil Mulligan, and Virginia Park Lodge, the collection needed tailored training that aligned with its brand values and ambitious growth plans. The objectives included:

• Assessing the existing skillset across the sales team.
• Upskilling team members with targeted training to enhance enquiry handling and conversion.
• Developing a proactive sales culture, particularly for team members with limited prior sales experience.
• Benchmarking performance through mystery shopping and competitor analysis.
• Creating a structured business development strategy to maximise revenue opportunities.
  

By combining training, ongoing assessments and consultancy, our aim was to ensure that Corrigan Collection’s sales approach remained competitive and results-driven.

Selling Savvy designed a multi-faceted approach to help Corrigan Collection achieve its objectives. This included mystery shopping, tailored training sessions, and strategic consultancy.

Mystery Shopping & Sales Performance Analysis

To gain an initial understanding of the sales team’s strengths and areas for improvement, Selling Savvy conducted a round of mystery shopping across all venues. These assessments focused on enquiry handling, conversion techniques, and the overall client experience.
Following the mystery shopping exercise, a Presentation of Findings was delivered to Kathryn Williams, Head of Sales at Corrigan Collection. This report highlighted quick wins and longer-term strategies to improve sales performance.
Ongoing ad hoc mystery shopping was also introduced to ensure that the team consistently applied the learnings from training and remained proactive in maintaining high standards.

Training Programme: Upskilling the Sales Team

To embed a strong sales culture within the organisation, Selling Savvy delivered targeted training sessions over two years. These included:

• Account Management for Reactive Sales Teams - Designed to help reactive sales professionals identify potential long-term clients, nurture relationships, and secure repeat business. The team learned how to track and manage key accounts effectively.
• LinkedIn Training - Helping team members leverage LinkedIn as a tool for both proactive and reactive sales. We provided guidance on personal branding, content engagement, and using LinkedIn for account management and business development.

The training sessions were interactive and practical, ensuring that participants could immediately apply their new skills in real-world scenarios.

Strategic Sales & Business Development Consultancy

Beyond training, Selling Savvy worked closely with Corrigan Collection to develop a comprehensive sales strategy focused on proactive business development. This included:

• Business overview & market positioning - Assessing the unique selling points of each venue, analysing market segments, and identifying key revenue opportunities.
• Competitor analysis - Evaluating the wider events industry and understanding how Corrigan Collection’s venues could differentiate themselves.
• Proactive sales strategy - Outlining a structured approach for targeting corporate event bookers, agents, lifestyle concierge services, and exclusive-use event organisers.
• Account management tools - Providing a Pick-n-Mix action list for Business Development Managers (BDMs) to effectively grow accounts.
• KPI framework for the new BDM - Defining clear, measurable success metrics for the newly appointed Business Development Manager.
  Sales process refinement - Offering recommendations for improving enquiry handling, CRM usage, and business development tracking.

A key outcome of this consultancy was the introduction of the Corrigan Club, an exclusive loyalty programme designed to reward key accounts and encourage repeat business.

The collaboration between ourselves and Corrigan Collection has driven significant improvements in sales skills, conversion rates, and strategic business development.

Increased Focus & Engagement
The sales team has developed a sharper focus on account management, with clearer processes in place to identify and nurture key clients.

Higher Conversion Rates & Stronger Client Relationships
Through the mystery shopping assessments and tailored training, team members have become more confident in handling enquiries, structuring conversations, and demonstrating value to potential clients.

Enhanced Use of LinkedIn for Sales Growth
The LinkedIn training empowered the team to use their personal profiles as a tool for generating leads and engaging with prospects. One team member commented:
"Got an enquiry from my comment on my contact! Can't bloody do it but I jogged her memory when I made the comment! You were great as usual."

Strategic Business Development Implementation
With a structured business development plan in place, Corrigan Collection is now better positioned to grow its corporate and private events business. The introduction of targeted prospecting, refined KPIs, and a dedicated approach to exclusive-use bookings has set the foundation for sustained revenue growth.