Developing customer conversation agility simulation for a customer communication platform

Engineering and entertainment software increases productivity by redefining what’s possible in designing, manufacturing and building. It also generates the same spectacularly realistic effects that animate movies and video games. And its widespread application has made Autodesk, a worldleader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, the fifth-largest software company in the world.

Despite Autodesk’s history of rapid growth and its current enviable market position, the company perceived tough challenges ahead, particularly in strengthening its sales force. To build on its success, Autodesk’s top management recognized that a profound shift in its sales approach was necessary. The company partnered with BTS to accelerate the sales transformation.

The Challenge: A New Way of Selling

Selling Autodesk’s high-tech, feature-rich products are a job for experts. 1,900 ValueAdded Resellers (VARs) are responsible for 90 percent of the company’s $1.6 billion in sales, but they are not company employees. At home in a world of complex programs and specialized users, VARs had historically sold Autodesk applications based on their product features and benefits.

Going forward, Autodesk’s executives understood that the company needed to replace this traditional brand of pitching with a more customer-oriented sales technique for the future. “The objective was to transform our sales channel by having them define the value of Autodesk through business results rather than feature sets,” says Tom Kopinski, Director of Competitive and Technical Marketing for Manufacturing at Autodesk. This strategic change demanded a significant shift in the experienced, skilled sales force’s most basic instincts. Instead of focusing on product performance, VARs would instead focus on the customer’s needs—imagining themselves in the customer’s shoes and then walking a mile in those shoes.

The Transformation: A Quiet Revolution

To accomplish this shift, Autodesk’s deep commitment was key. “We certainly haven’t seen many companies willing to invest in training outside traditional employee channels,” reflected BTS Executive Vice President Dan Parisi. But Autodesk understood that only truly transformational measures would produce the kind of change the company desired. With this strong management mandate, BTS developed an intense, customized business simulation that immersed VARs in the customer’s business. “We wanted participants to increase their confidence, competence, and mindset by creating an easy-to use model to expand ‘the sale’,” says Kopinski.

In the high-impact experience, VARs assumed the role of the senior management at an industrial machinery manufacturing company, running the business over three simulated years. Participants were challenged to deal with major businesses challenges, recognize trends and identify opportunities. After experiencing the business from the customer’s point of view, they switched roles, created an account expansion strategy, and made sales calls on the executives they had just played in the simulation. As a result of their increased understanding of the client’s strategic issues, participants dramatically improved the way they positioned Autodesk’s software solutions, leading to equally dramatic improvements in sales outcomes. “It’s practical learning,” says Ken Bado, Executive Vice President of Sales for Autodesk. “You’re putting emotional energy into it—it’s not just pure intellect.” The customized approach to learning is now being extended to simulate another typical client’s business, a construction company.

The objective was to transform our sales channel by having them define the value of Autodesk through business results rather than feature setsTom Kopinski, Director of Competitive and Technical Marketing, Manufacturing, Autodesk

The Future of Autodesk: On Track

In today’s global economy, change is a constant for every company, but for technology-based firms, it is especially difficult for leaders to stay in front. The marketplace is on permanent fast-forward. Autodesk’s work with BTS is the kind of bold innovation that today’s business environment demands. “Autodesk is at the leading edge, along with companies such as Humana and Symbiocity” says BTS’s Parisi. “It’s just as important for the sales channel to have an in-depth understanding of the challenges, key business drivers, and capabilities required for success, as it is for Autodesk’s own employees.”

Client need

Nufarm is a global crop protection and seeds technologies company that helps farmers and businesses meet the global challenges of food, feed, fiber and fuel production. Nufarm brings their proven agility, capabilities and partnerships to help customers in a rapidly changing world. Commercial Excellence is recognized as a core lever in driving value for Nufarm’s customers and shareholders and in particular ensuring that their commercial teams develop and foster the capabilities needed today and into the future.

Nufarm partnered with BTS to create a Commercial Capability Framework—a comprehensive, global platform designed to support and foster capability development and deepened customer insights. The goal: empower teams to deliver consistent, high-impact results while driving deeper customer engagement.

Solution

The BTS-designed Commercial Capability Framework was delivered through a structured, multi-modular program that engaged approximately 500 commercial professionals across North America, Europe and APAC. Tailored to meet the needs of diverse roles, the program provided learning paths for all Commercial Excellence teams—including leaders and field teams in sales, marketing, and customer service.  

The program featured six core modules—Sales Excellence, Sales Leadership, Business Acumen, Key Account Management (KAM), Campaign Management, and Pricing—each available in multiple languages to deliver global common practices while allowing for adaptation to local market realities. Key elements included:

Key elements included:

• Interactive business simulation:
  A custom Go-To-Market (GTM) simulation where leaders tested strategic and operational decision-making in a risk-free setting. Participants evaluated GTM strategies, analyzed financial metrics, and created actionable, market-specific plans that balanced short-term wins with long-term growth.
• Leadership coaching program:
  Aimed at commercial leaders, this initiative developed coaching and communication skills through workshops, one-on-one, and peer learning sessions. It emphasized active listening, empathy, and strategic dialogue to foster cultural and behavioral change.
• E-learning modules:
  Short, interactive modules reinforced a shared commercial language and provided easy, on-demand access for new and existing employees. Video scenarios and quizzes offered real-time feedback, while participant data informed continuous improvement.
• Strategic conversations program:
  Designed for sales and account managers to elevate customer dialogue quality. Using AI-supported feedback, participants practiced balancing operational discussions with high-value strategic conversations. The program will expand to other commercial roles to increase alignment.

The program rollout was aligned with the fiscal planning cycle, enabling teams to integrate learning into yearly strategic kickoffs. Regional capability leads tailored the delivery to meet local needs, ensuring relevance and engagement at every level.

Results

Each phase of the program was evaluated using Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation—measuring participant satisfaction, learning outcomes, behavioral change, and business impact. Feedback enabled ongoing refinements, ensuring the program remained aligned with the organization’s strategic priorities.

The result:

• Enhanced commercial and leadership capabilities.

• Greater consistency in customer engagement and sales processes.

• Actionable strategies tailored to regional market dynamics.

Through its partnership with BTS, the organization not only improved its commercial excellence but also empowered its teams to deliver on the promise of “Evolving Ag.”

Client need

A prominent health and wellness company was experiencing inconsistent conversion rates across its sales teams. Despite their recent investment in a new, robust sales playbook, the rollout fell short of expectations. Many sales reps struggled to adhere to the playbook’s best practices, resulting in missed opportunities and an overall decline in conversions. With an upcoming large-scale marketing campaign, the organization expected a surge in new leads. However, they knew that without alignment to the playbook, sales reps would continue to miss key conversion opportunities, effectively wasting precious leads.

The company recognized the importance of having a clear, consistent sales approach to convert leads into loyal customers, especially with the anticipated spike in lead flow. This meant they needed a solution to overcome three key challenges:

1. Playbook adherence: Sales reps needed to follow the playbook consistently, but they were often missing steps or struggling to integrate the new approach into their conversations.
2. Actionable feedback: To improve, reps needed immediate, actionable insights into their performance. Without clear feedback, adherence to the playbook remained low, as reps lacked a structured way to course-correct.
3. Managerial support: Sales managers were stretched thin, spending hours each week manually reviewing calls and trying to coach reps on playbook adherence. They needed a way to identify team members who required the most help and offer them targeted coaching based on real data.

With these needs identified, the company sought a partner who could not only provide a technical solution but also understood the nuances of sales behavior. That’s when they turned to BTS.

Solution

BTS introduced Verity, an AI-driven sales coaching tool, designed to enhance the company’s sales processes by driving playbook adherence and offering real-time, data-backed insights. Verity was customized to align seamlessly with the company’s unique sales goals and processes, effectively bridging the gap between strategy and execution.

Here’s how Verity transformed the company’s approach to sales:* Integrated sales playbook: Verity didn’t just digitize the playbook; it embedded its core principles into every sales interaction. By doing so, Verity reinforced the intended sales behaviors, turning each sales call into a training opportunity that helped reps internalize the playbook’s methodology over time.

• Automated call scoring with Zoom integration: With Verity integrated directly into Zoom, every sales call was automatically recorded and analyzed. Verity scored each call objectively based on adherence to the playbook’s guidelines. By removing human bias, Verity provided the company with a clear, consistent picture of who was following the playbook and who wasn’t, allowing leaders to track adherence at a glance.
• Real-time, actionable feedback: After each call, Verity offered immediate feedback tailored to the rep’s performance. This feedback included specific examples of what went well and highlighted areas for improvement, making it easier for reps to correct their approach on the next call. This real-time coaching helped sales reps adopt best practices faster than they would have through traditional methods.
• Customized weekly coaching reports for managers: Rather than spending hours manually reviewing calls, sales managers received Verity’s weekly coaching reports, which provided a detailed breakdown of each rep’s strengths and areas for improvement. With this data, managers could spend their time more effectively, focusing on the reps who needed the most help and delivering highly targeted coaching that addressed specific skills gaps. By tailoring coaching based on data-driven insights, managers were able to drive performance improvements across their teams.
• Leadership dashboards for strategic oversight: Verity’s leadership dashboards provided a comprehensive view of the entire sales team’s performance, allowing senior leaders to monitor adherence trends over time, identify potential roadblocks, and allocate resources to support teams where needed. With these insights, leaders could ensure that sales practices were consistently aligned with the company’s overall growth strategy, setting the stage for sustainable success.

Results

After just 90 days, the impact of BTS Verity was clear. The company saw a transformation in both sales rep behavior and conversion outcomes:

• 39% increase in playbook adherence: Sales reps were consistently following the playbook, leading to a more uniform sales approach and improved customer experiences.
• 7% increase in conversion rates: With better adherence, the company saw a meaningful uptick in conversions. More leads were moving through the funnel, ultimately converting to paying customers, capturing previously missed opportunities.
• 26 hours saved per manager per month: By automating call scoring and providing data-driven coaching reports, Verity saved managers time, allowing them to focus on higher-value activities, such as strategic coaching and team development.

With Verity, the company’s sales teams gained the support they needed to consistently execute the sales playbook, ensuring that every sales call adhered to the proven strategies that drive results. This structured approach not only improved sales performance but also enhanced the company’s readiness for future marketing campaigns, as leaders could now be confident that the increased lead flow would be handled with precision and consistency.

Conclusion

The implementation of BTS Verity marked a pivotal moment for the company. By embedding AI-driven coaching into the sales process, BTS empowered sales reps and managers alike to deliver a consistent, high-quality sales experience. With measurable results—such as increased conversions and time savings—BTS Verity proved to be a vital tool in transforming the company’s approach to sales and setting the foundation for long-term growth. Moving forward, the company is well-equipped to leverage its newfound sales efficiency and capitalize on future growth opportunities.

Client need

For a 175-year-old technology company, competitive advantage isn’t just built on technical innovation: it’s built on leaders who know how to get the best thinking from every person around them. That culture of drawing out ideas, developing people, and driving innovation through engaged teams had been a defining feature of the organization for generations. And it depended on having the right infrastructure to keep developing frontline leaders at scale.

In 2020, that infrastructure was disrupted. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the organization to pivot its in-person development to virtual almost overnight, risking the erosion of frontline leadership capability while simultaneously needing to navigate the broader shocks of the pandemic: supply chain volatility, shifting materials costs, and a workforce managing profound uncertainty.  

Stalling frontline leadership development meant risking productivity, employee engagement, talent retention, job performance, and downstream impacts on quality and operating margin, at a moment when the organization could least afford it.

The question now was how to reimagine frontline leader development to equip thousands of global leaders to continue supporting their teams through disruption, and to ensure the next generation of managers could help their people do their best work under any conditions.

Solution

The client partnered with BTS to reimagine frontline leader development from the ground up, equipping leaders globally with the practical skills, tools, and mindset shifts needed to support their teams in doing great, innovative work.

The partnership began in 2019, and over five years has reached over 1,600 frontline leaders capturing 700+ documented behavior change actions. In 2022, BTS collaborated with the organization to refresh the program to reflect their evolving strategy and develop a sharper focus on supporting a culture of continuous improvement and innovation with coaching and feedback.  

The blended program experience combined the following elements:

• Immersive leadership simulations: Scenario-based experiences placing leaders in realistic situations, surfacing Multiplier and Diminisher tendencies in real time and making the learning immediately personal and actionable

• Multipliers and Diminishers framework: A structured exploration of how leaders either amplify or diminish the intelligence of those around them, including specific “experiments” leaders could use to better understand their own leadership approaches

• Custom leadership frameworks: Including a structured, step-by-step process for having significant feedback conversations, a tool to understand and flex to communication preferences, and a coaching approach designed to help leaders guide team members toward their own solutions, building capability and long-term ownership.

• Structured application sessions — on-the-job practice components designed to bridge the gap between the program experience and day-to-day behavior, giving participants specific frameworks to apply immediately with their teams

• Peer networking and breakout groups — cohort-based learning that participants identified as a standout feature, both for deepening the learning and for building cross-functional relationships that extended beyond the program

• A commitment-capture platform integrated into the program to log participant actions and reinforce behavior change after the program ended; over 670 participant actions were captured across the program’s delivery

Throughout the program, leaders examined the impact of their own behaviors, recognizing where they were unintentionally diminishing their teams, and built new habits around challenging, creating space for mistakes and learning, listening, questioning, giving developmental feedback, and creating ownership. The feedback model gave participants a practical process for the positive and constructive conversations that actually change performance.

Results

More than 1,600 frontline leaders and individual contributors have participated in the program—the population closest to daily execution, quality, and operations. A recent impact study told a clear story about the effects of the program across participants:  

100% of participants reported actively applying what they learned. 59% reported producing significant, measurable business impact, with concrete evidence to describe it.

The results weren’t theoretical. One engineering leader restructured how his team developed project plans, creating space for debate and ownership instead of coming in with the answer. His team exceeded their quality target by 10 percentage points and accelerated the project timeline by +4 months.

One production leader used the feedback model to coach a struggling supervisor and cascade the process across his entire leadership layer. His unit reached #1 performance in its division, improving a key quality KPI by more than 18% year-over-year. A department head with over a decade in leadership set new production records after learning to flex his communication style and draw out quieter team members. And a development lab supervisor used the program to clarify her leadership identity, earn a promotion, and coach her direct report to one as well.

The study also confirmed that when managers actively supported participants post-program, the likelihood of significant business impact increased substantially, shaping the organization’s next phase of reinforcement and cohort follow-up.

For an organization whose competitive advantage rests on the innovation and intelligence of its people, the program gave its leaders something technical training rarely delivers: the confidence, the tools, and the self-awareness to make everyone around them better.

Testimonials

“The program gave me greater confidence to try new things as a leader. It helped me realize what I do and what I don’t do.”  - HR Leader

“The skills I learned in the training helped me be more efficient. It helped me do the right thing, right away.” - Production Manager

“Feedback is very important to create a positive environment; and how to [give] feedback is a specific skill I learned from this training and how to share constructive feedback.” - Production Leader

Client need

A large U.S.-based health insurance organization operating at the center of a complex national ecosystem had already made a serious investment in enterprise AI. Leadership was not experimenting at the edges. They were leaning in.

Capability and commitment existed across the organization, but unevenly. Some teams were already pushing boundaries. Others hadn't yet found their footing. Most of the gains had come in personal productivity. Valuable, but the core work itself had not yet fundamentally changed. The opportunity was to go deeper, to move from AI-assisted individuals to AI-reinvented workflows.

Across the health insurance landscape, pressure was intensifying. Medicaid and government program contracts were becoming more competitive. Decision cycles were faster and more analytics-driven. Clinical evidence was evolving rapidly. Regulatory scrutiny was high. Security risks were constant. AI was no longer a future conversation. It was a present expectation.

Inside the organization, world-class experts were still constrained by manual processes.

Specialized teams were synthesizing large volumes of complex, fast-moving information, working to keep pace with an environment where the inputs never stopped changing. The work required deep expertise and judgment, and it also demanded repetitive processing that consumed days when it needed to take hours.

Other teams faced pressure where speed and precision directly influenced competitive outcomes. Manual approaches were creating lag at exactly the moments when faster insight mattered most.

Across functions, the pattern was consistent. Highly trained professionals were spending valuable time on low-leverage tasks, stitching together data, transforming files, and correlating inputs that AI could handle.

Leadership understood that AI licenses alone would not create advantage. To compete in an increasingly analytics-driven insurance environment, expertise had to scale. Insight had to move faster. Teams needed to reinvent how core work happened.

Solution

BTS partnered with the organization to move from AI access to AI application.

Through a series of focused design sprints, intact teams worked on their highest-value workflows using our GROUNDING → EXPERIMENT → BUILD → AMPLIFY methodology. The structure was simple and disciplined. Set context. Experiment quickly. Build against real work. Create a path to scale.

Participants brought their actual work into the room. Analytical frameworks. Competitive and operational documents. Risk and intelligence inputs. Data pipelines.

No generic demos. No abstract hypotheticals.

The turning point came when AI began working on their actual content.

Research syntheses that previously took days began structuring themselves in minutes. Competitive analysis that once required manual review surfaced patterns instantly. Data transformation workflows streamlined in real time.

Skepticism shifted to possibility.

We positioned AI as augmentation, not replacement. In a sector defined by professional expertise and accountability, that framing was critical. The goal was to elevate expert judgment, not automate it away.

Some teams left with working prototypes. Others left with detailed blueprints aligned to enterprise privacy and security requirements. Another team took away a re-prioritized set of additional tools to incorporate into a HIPAA-compliant environment. Every team left with a redesigned workflow.

Results

In five days, more than 100 leaders advanced 30 priority use cases tied directly to operational performance and competitive growth.

Early outcomes included:

• Significant reduction in manual research synthesis and data preparation
• Faster, more structured competitive intelligence to support high-stakes decisions
• Clear implementation pathways aligned to security and regulatory constraints
• A scalable model for continued AI-enabled workflow reinvention

Just as important was the mindset shift.

Participants stopped viewing AI as a tool sitting outside their work and began treating it as embedded infrastructure for how work gets done.

“This showed immediate relevance to our work.”

“Now I understand what’s actually possible for my team.”

“We just accomplished in two hours what used to take us two months.”

In a U.S. health insurance market where insight, speed, and precision directly influence who wins and who grows, the organization moved decisively from AI access to AI advantage.

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Client need

Safety in the transportation industry has often been treated as a set of rules to follow and boxes to check. But one Spanish railway organization saw an opportunity to redefine safety as something far greater, a core value embedded into the culture of their company at every level.

This bold vision demanded more than compliance. It required a cultural transformation to challenge outdated behaviors, inspire teams, and empower leaders to embrace and model a safety-first mindset. For years, the organization had been working to foster a culture that prioritized protection over profit, setting new behavioral standards across the industry.

To accelerate this shift, the organization partnered with BTS to design a leadership development program that dismantled old practices and equipped leaders with the tools, insights, and behaviors needed to bring their vision to life.

• Deconstruct existing mindsets to enable cohesive change.
• Identify barriers preventing progress.
• Equip leaders with practical behavioral knowledge and tools.

Solution

BTS partnered with the organization to design a leadership journey that would reshape not just processes but perspectives, fostering a workplace where physical and psychological safety were paramount. Over eight months, the project team conducted interviews with leaders and focus groups to uncover critical behavioral insights and tailor the program to the organization’s unique needs.

Participants explored essential themes, including:

• Embedding safety into daily decision-making.
• Cultivating greater awareness of safety risks.
• Understanding the influence of their leadership on safety outcomes.
• Leading by example to set a cultural standard.
• Building trust, commitment, and open communication within their teams.

The program unfolded in three distinct phases to drive lasting behavioral change:

1. Workshop preparation
   Participants began with a self-assessment to uncover personal “safety blind spots” and mind traps. This phase, delivered through a custom online platform, helped leaders reflect on their current practices and prepare for the transformational journey ahead.

3. Safety workshop
   The one-day, immersive workshop was designed to spark deep conversations about safety culture, challenge ingrained mindsets, and equip participants with actionable strategies for change. Leaders engaged in real-world scenarios to explore the implications of their decisions and practice new behaviors. The day concluded with collaborative debrief sessions, leaving participants with practical tools to implement their insights immediately.
4. Implementation in action
   To sustain momentum, the post-workshop phase extended over six months, offering six targeted activities. These activities reinforced key lessons, encouraged team collaboration, and provided ongoing support for integrating safety-first behaviors into daily routines.

The leadership program was delivered to 1500 participants over 66 workshops in seven locations across Spain.

Results

To measure results, the project team created a resource map evaluating progress.  

Average completion rate of Activities One–Three: 57 percent. (One: 78.21%; Two: 53. 01%; Three: 40.57%)

A post-workshop survey was sent to participants, reporting on the following metrics:

• Average satisfaction — 4.7/5.
• Trainer’s evaluation — 4.9/5.
• NPS — 82 percent.
• “Saw improvement in safety alignment” — 93 percent.
• “Integrated safety tools in daily roles” — 82 percent.
• “Identified new initiatives for improving safety” — 77 percent.
• “Mitigated team/peer mind traps” — 93 percent.
• “More aware of risk in daily roles” — 98 percent.
• “Identified a normalized risk to work on” — 92 percent.

Testimonials

• “Many of the methodologies and tools not only help to improve safety but can also be used to improve operational or organizational processes.”

• “It has put us in front of the mirror of how we are today in terms of safety culture, opening our eyes to our development areas. Very participative and practical.”

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