Thriving overseas trade in man hours for top trainer

The Wentworth-based company now has offices in over 40 countries. It triumphed in the exporter of the year category. sponsored by thebigwordgroup.

Early on the founders realised that their skills would work internationally and so all of its products were translated into the world’s major languages.

Huthwaite has built an international network of skilled local operatives on every continent, helping it to win a Queen’s Awards for International Trade in 1999 and 2008.

In the past year it has trained up over 14,500 delegates in 65 countries.

Thanks to a long-term contract with Swedish technology company Ericsson, it has managed events in Bangladesh, Ghana, Panama, Serbia, Tanzania and Venezuela.

Under its own steam Huthwaite has added new operations in Bulgaria, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Romania, Shanghai, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.

Unusually, its exports are consultancy man-hours and training room help. This can be done by flying out its UK-based consultants around the world or using its international network.

On top of man hours, the group offers printed versions of its research which come from its in-house printing operation at its South Yorkshire headquarters.

Huthwaite ships thousands of boxes of proprietary materials around the world every year and it has built a web presence for each of its offices around the world. Last year over three quarters of its sales were exports to clients such as Ericsson, LeasePlan, Bard, BP, Carlsson, Covidien, NTT Dimension Data, Exxon Mobil, IBM, Johnson Controls, Medtronic, Rezidor, SAP, Siemens, SKF, UPM, Widex and Novartis.

Huthwaite’s Greek licensee was recognised by the Sales Institute of Greece annual awards in Athens, winning the Sales Excellence Award for the SPIN Selling and Account Strategy project with Siemens Hellas in February 2013 – further testimony of the group’s international success around the world. Huthwaite believes that advanced services, business learning and intellectual property are as much a part of the region’s export economy as other sectors.

The group said its sponsorship of Sheffield’s 2013 Global Manufacturing Festival demonstrates its ability to marry advanced engineering with its expertise in sales and negotiation skills.

Huthwaite recently launched the “myHuthwaite” global online community, bringing its international markets closer together. It believes that it can recreate the live classroom learning experience for delegates in up to nine different locations and time zones simultaneously.

Huthwaite said this has been a significant attraction for international clients such as SAP, UPM and INVISTA.

The firm said that as the UK economy entered difficulties in 2008/9 and has failed to grow noticeably since, its ability to sell in global markets that are faring better has been a key factor in its growth.

This has involved nations such as the Nordics, rather than the BRIC countries, although it is well represented there. Jan Spooren, head of the Global Sales University at hotel company Rezidor, said most of their employees who experienced Huthwaite’s training didn’t realise it was an external supplier.

Rezidor said this pays tribute to Huthwaite’s integration with the firm’s culture, aims and learning strategy.

The group’s average trainer satisfaction score in 2012-13 was over six out of seven. Every summer Huthwaite runs an international conference at one of its global locations.

In December it ran a global business school in the UK for its international colleagues. These events are part sales conventions, part IP updates, and an opportunity for its international community to mix with Huthwaite’s sales, account management, R&D and support staff at the UK HQ.