O2 academy connects salesforce with customers : Team now sells on value and satisfaction rather than features or price

Purpose – Details how the O2 sales academy has helped to improve the skills of the UK mobile‐telecommunications company's sales force. Design/methodology/approach – Explains the reasons for the setting up the academy, the form it takes and the results it has achieved. Findings – Describes the academy's four competence levels and the accreditation levels that correspond with these. Details the improvements, for individuals and the organization as a whole, that the academy has brought. Practical implications – Reveals that O2's sales people and managers are now better able to engage with customers in a truly consultative way, and that this has had a measurable impact on the company's revenues. Social implications – Describes how to build a sales organization capable of being seen as a source of value by the customer. Originality/value – Provides much to interest companies operating in markets where customers have difficulty differentiating between competing products and services and are driven by price.