Benchmark Training shares how they use Extended DISC® Assessments to support client success.
Extended DISC: Today I spoke with Justin Justice, VP and Partner, and Ari Justice, Director of Client Services, at Benchmark Training, LLC. They shared with me how Benchmark Training™️ is using the Extended DISC® assessments with their clients and the impact they have had. Tell me a little about Benchmark Training™️.
Justin: Benchmark Training™️ works with various sized organizations to hire, train, and coach salespeople and leaders at all levels within the organization.
We feel Extended DISC stays cutting-edge and is constantly offering new reports and research that we can use to continue to add value with our clients.
- Justin Justice, Vice President and Partner
Extended DISC: What made Benchmark Training™️ decide to use Extended DISC?
Justin: We’ve had experience with various assessments over our careers and Extended DISC is the first assessment we feel truly captures both our strengths and development opportunities in an impactful way that’s hard to argue. The reports are easy to understand and use, while having enough substance to provide the direction needed to apply the results.
Ari: I would agree. The power of a tool is in the application. We feel the Extended DISC® OAR (observe, assess, recognize) Process is the one of the most impactful parts of the report. It provides a guide to understanding the style of others so we know how to strategically adjust our communication for each individual and situation.
The power of a tool is in the application. We feel the Extended DISC® OAR (observe, assess, recognize) Process is the one of the most impactful parts of the report. It provides a guide to understanding the style of others so we know how to strategically adjust our communication for each individual and situation.
- Ari Justice, Director of Client Services
Extended DISC: That’s great. I’m glad you find value in the Extended DISC® 4 Steps to Effective Interactions. It makes the tool easy to understand and apply. Tell me about how you use the tool with clients.
Ari: Sure. We want to show you how Extended DISC can affect businesses big and small, and all the businesses in between. We have 2 client examples we’re happy to share with you today.
Extended DISC: Let’s start with the smaller organization. Tell me more about that client of yours.
Justin: We’ve been working with this client for two years now. It’s a woman-owned business and through our partnership, it’s doubled the size of the team and revenue since we’ve begun working with them. They’ve even been recognized as one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in their area and Extended DISC has been instrumental in their success. It happens to be at the core of all of our coaching and training with them.
Extended DISC: Wow! Tell me how you have used the Extended DISC reports.
Justin: We started first with their senior team. They wanted to work on internally and externally serving their customers better. We used the Extended DISC® Sales Reports with the group. They found the tool so impactful they wanted to make it part of their culture.
Extended DISC: How did you go about making it a part of their culture?
Ari: First, we focused on using Extended DISC with leadership development and in sales. The results were so impactful the organization now makes Extended DISC a part of their hiring process and all employees are given the opportunity to go through Benchmark Training™️ sales or leadership Extended DISC® Programs.
Justin: Yes, the organization uses Extended DISC both internally and externally. They use the tool internally to improve how they operate and interact with one another. Knowing each other’s hard-wired DISC style helps reduce internal conflict and increase productive interactions. We recently did a live team event with them based off of the Extended DISC® Team Culture Report for the entire company. During the event, we dove deep into the fact they are a heterogenous team, meaning their team has a good balance between all the different styles. We asked the participants, “what do you want people to know about your profile?”; it was great to see people’s breakthrough moments involving communication,motivation, and reactions to pressure situations at the organizational level.
We use Extended DISC® in all areas of the company: Mergers and Acquisitions, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Finance, IT, etc., from their senior leadership to frontline professionals.
- Ari Justice, Director of Client Services
Extended DISC: I love when you can see the tool in use. Thanks for sharing that example. Tell me how do they embed the tool into their culture externally?
Ari: They use the OAR (observe, assess, recognize) process to identify the DISC style of their clients and prospects. They even made it part of their prospecting process and client meetings to enter the person’s DISC style into their CRM system after they agree on the potential style. It lets each person in the organization know how best to interact with the client and/or prospect.
Justin: The work we’ve done with this client, using the Extended DISC® reports, has had an incredible impact on the company. A unique way this client incorporated Extended DISC externally is to offer each employee the chance to gift an Extended DISC® assessment to a prospect, family member or friend and complete debrief with one of our coaches as part of our partnership.
Extended DISC: Thanks for sharing that example. It’s great to have quantitative and qualitative data of the impact Extended DISC has had on the organization. Let’s shift gears and hear more about the global organization you work with.
Justin: Happy to. This organization has over $2 billion in revenue so the scope of work crosses business units and continents. We use Extended DISC in all areas of the company: Mergers and Acquisitions, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Finance, IT, etc., from their senior leadership to frontline professionals. We firmly believe this top-down approach works best as most companies of this size, or larger, fail to reach the entire organization with similar concepts, cultural connectivity and the development strategies needed to make a companywide impact.
All of our training programs use Extended DISC® to build a foundation with the group and teach effective communication.
- Justin Justice, Vice President and Partner
Extended DISC: What sort of impact have you seen with this organization?
Justin: In 2020, the organization, like many at the time, was operating in a deficit because of the pandemic and now they are reporting their best year ever. They credit their success to understanding themselves, team and customers better. Their level of trust and communication increased along with their revenue and profit. And of course, at the core of our programs, are the Extended DISC® reports.
Extended DISC: So, after success like that, how do you continue applying DISC with the organization?
Justin: Next year, our focus will be delivering training that will help break down the silos you find at a large organization. Our strategy is to deploy cross-functional programs across multiple departments to make areas of the business work even more fluidly together. A primary goal of using the Extended DISC® reports and programs in this way is to help us remove any friction points between departments while increasing communication flow across the org chart.
Extended DISC: When working with a client, do you find a point where DISC fizzles out?
Justin: No. In fact, we feel Extended DISC® stays cutting-edge and is constantly offering new reports and research that we can use to continue to add value with our clients. Ari: I agree, Extended DISC continues to surprise us with new and impactful reports that we can incorporate into our new programs.
Extended DISC continues to surprise us with new and impactful reports that we can incorporate into our new programs.
- Ari Justice, Director of Client Services
Extended DISC: How often do you recommend Extended DISC when working with a client?
Ari: 100% of our clients take the Extended DISC® assessment. That helps us understand their hard-wiring and helps us to effectively communicate with them. Oftentimes, it starts with Executive Leadership Coaching or Team development in one area of the business, and then springboards from there after the client sees the results.
Justin: Next year, we are adding the Sales Capacity Assessment into our toolbox. The Excuse Index® will be such a powerful addition into our sales programs and will help make the training more robust. Extended DISC is always adding new materials and content and it’s easy to access and use.
The Excuse Index® will be such a powerful addition into our sales programs and will help make the training more robust. Extended DISC is always adding new materials and content and it’s easy to access and use.
- Justin Justice, Vice President and Partner
Extended DISC: Metrics seem to be an important part of what you do. What sort of metricsdo you have around the use of Extended DISC?
Justin: Yes, metrics are important for us to see the impact we have on a business. All of our training programs use Extended DISC to build a foundation with the group and teach effective communication. At the end of each program, we send out a survey asking participants, “How likely is it that you would recommend this program to a colleague?”
Ari: 4.8 out of 5.0 polled “strongly agree” they would recommend our training programs to a colleague. And we are so thankful they usually do.
Justin: I think that speaks volumes to the value of the tools Extended DISC offers and our ability to couple them with impactful programs and coaching that drive results.
Extended DISC: Thank you both for your time today in talking with me. I enjoyed learning about the value Extended DISC® assessments have in your training and the clients you work with.
