Building proactive sales capability in business banking
The opportunity
A leading Australian bank engaged GRIST to help strengthen proactive sales capability across its commercial and business banking teams. While technical expertise and client relationships were well established, leaders saw an opportunity to embed specific, repeatable behaviours that would improve consistency and unlock growth.
The goal was to activate the bank’s internal sales and acquisition framework translating it into practical, observable behaviours that could be applied in real-world activity over a focused 10-week period. Leaders wanted to make it easier for teams to focus, practice, and improve with clear links between what people did and the results they achieved.
The approach
The program began with a strategy session and development workshop for leaders. From there, teams participated in a 10-week behavioural application cycle supported by capability coaching, regular team check-ins, and structured reflection.
Core to the program was GRIST’s behavioural design approach. Rather than rely on broad objectives, leaders and teams defined a small number of precise, observable sales behaviours such as preparing with intent, running pre-mortems, asking for referrals, or confirming next steps and applied them consistently across client activity.
Key features of the program included:
• Leadership masterclasses and 1:1 coaching to build capability and alignment
• Behavioural design sessions to translate strategy into high-impact actions
• A 10-week sprint format to focus effort and build momentum
• Peer-led knowledge sharing to reflect, adjust and scale what worked
Leaders tracked progress in their own systems using shared documents and spreadsheets to monitor activity and outcomes. While measurement varied by team, most tracked new opportunities generated, deals progressed, or behaviours practiced. Coaching and team conversations became more regular and more focused, helping leaders and bankers sharpen intent and build confidence.
Results
Teams that committed to the rhythm and stuck with their chosen behaviours saw clear, measurable results.
Other results:
• +122% increase in weeks in pipeline in one region
• +69% increase in pipeline volume for another
• +60% improvement in credit approvals for teams focused on early-stage preparation
• +33% uplift in self-initiated opportunities in selected teams
• +28% increase in funded transactional accounts in a region
• +17% lift in conversion rate for one specialist business unit
• +29% increase in written business volume in another team
These outcomes were achieved not through major restructures or new technology but through consistent attention to small, high-impact behaviours, applied with discipline over time.
Before vs after the program
Why it worked
The program helped leaders and bankers shift from broad intentions to targeted execution. Teams chose behaviours that mattered, practiced them deliberately, and adapted when things didn’t work. With structured coaching and peer learning, teams built ownership, shared what worked, and amplified success across the group.
Leaders gained clarity on how to support their teams not through generic coaching, but through specific focus and deliberate rhythm. Importantly, they saw that capability grows fastest when development happens in the flow of work, tied to outcomes that matter.
What’s next
The behaviours that drove early wins are now being scaled across the division. Teams have stronger habits, a shared language for performance, and greater confidence in their ability to grow capability one focused action at a time.
Client
Big 4 Australian Bank
Audience
Regional General Managers and senior bankers within the Commercial & Business Banking division of a major Australian bank
Program
Acquisition and Growth Behavioural Development Program
Duration
10 weeks following an initial workshop
Purpose:
To embed practical, high-impact sales behaviours that drive business acquisition and growth, and to build sustainable coaching and leadership rhythms that support capability development.
Deliverables:
Strategy sessions and capability-building workshops
Leadership masterclasses and 1:1 coaching
Custom micro-behaviour design aligned to acquisition and conversion goals
Behavioural tracking using existing tools (spreadsheets, coaching logs)
Peer learning and reinforcement through team meetings and leader forums
Share & Celebrate sessions with peer case study presentations
Theories Used:
GRIST’s Psychology of Performance model (Experience → Mindset → Behaviour → Results)
Aggregation of marginal gains (micro-behaviours as the root cause of performance)
TGROW coaching model
Self-determination theory
70:20:10 learning model
