In 2006 we asked our Training Manager to find a company who excelled in external consultancy skills. The objective was to develop the consultancy skills of our collaborators who work closely with our customers on the implementation of Amadeus solutions. After meeting with Philip Albon, the MD of Techniques for Change (TFC), we decided to commission him to run a pilot programme. We were pleased with his knowledge of consulting and his commercial approach. The programme covers the entire consulting lifecycle from networking, promoting the consultancy through proposal writing and implementing the service. The pilot was well received and is now a regular feature on our training schedule. Our training people now use TFC on a number of related programmes:

• writing winning proposals
• key account management
• internal consultancy

The follow-up support Philip has offered me in shaping our specific business consultancy offer to travel distributors has been valuable. This has included detailed advice on how we could improve the design of the consultancy services and promote them more effectively.