CUSTOMER STORY · Deloitte
Turning recognised experts into trusted partners
Cultural change and sales-mindset learning & development, co-created with Deloitte and delivered across the UK & Ireland. More than 3,500 of Deloitte's leaders learned to bring their expertise into client conversations earlier and with greater confidence.
The programme in numbers
3,500+
Leaders trained
Across the UK & Ireland in a single year
+100%
More leads
A doubling of leads from new client contacts
Top-rated
Participant feedback
Among the highest-rated programmes at Deloitte
About Deloitte
Deloitte is one of the "Big Four" professional services firms, founded in London in 1845 and now operating across more than 150 countries and territories.
In its 2025 financial year, Deloitte reported around US$70.5 billion in aggregate global revenue and employed over 470,000 people across consulting, audit, tax, legal and advisory services. This programme was delivered across Deloitte's UK & Ireland practices, spanning Technology & Transformation, Strategy, Risk & Transaction Advisory, and Audit & Assurance.
Developing its people is central to how Deloitte competes: in FY2025 the firm invested more than US$670 million in learning and development. That commitment to capability is precisely where Merlin5's programme created value.
Service lines
Audit & Assurance
Technology & Transformation
Tax
Strategy, Risk & Transaction Advisory
the problem
Deep expertise, waiting to be brought forward
Deloitte's people are exceptional at what they do. The opportunity was to help more of its consultants, advisors and technical specialists carry that same expertise into earlier client conversations — with confidence and authenticity.
Many did not see themselves as salespeople, and so engaged later and more reactively than their expertise warranted. Attitudes like "selling isn't my job" and "I'm not a salesperson" meant expertise was often held back until late, with discomfort in commercial conversations.
Addressing this was not a question of capability; it was a question of belief. A proven behavioural-change model is instructive here: beliefs drive behaviours, and behaviours drive results. Change how a person sees their role in a client relationship, and the behaviour — and the outcome — follows.
THE ApPROach
Built with you, around your people
Merlin5 did not deliver a generic sales course. We partnered with Deloitte's growth leaders to co-create their foundational sales training — built around Deloitte's people, culture and the way they genuinely create value for clients.
The breakthrough idea was simple: help people realise they already do the right things — in delivery. They ask the important questions, give honest advice, and work hard to get it right for the client. The programme helped them bring that same authentic mindset earlier, into pre-sales — not to "sell", but to help clients get it right from the start.
The engagement operated at a senior level throughout — sponsored by Deloitte's growth leadership, a partner reporting to the Chief Executive of Europe, and the Managing Director of Deloitte Ireland — as part of a wider business-change programme.
what we used
Unique Sales Playbook™
Create · Enable · Embed
Behavioural-change model
Co-creation with growth leaders
Baseline & impact measurement
Senior-level sponsorship
Grounded in a proven behavioural-change model, co-created with Deloitte's growth leadership, and measured before and after rollout to prove impact — tailored, not templated.
the solution
Create. Enable. Embed — the Unique Sales Playbook™
The programme was built on Merlin5's core methodology: the Unique Sales Playbook™. Every organisation should create, enable and embed its own — built around its people and culture, not imposed from outside. Rolled out across three of Deloitte's major business areas in a single year.
Create
Co-create a sales approach built around Deloitte's people and culture — tailored, not templated. Rolled out across Technology & Transformation, Strategy, Risk & Transaction Advisory, and Audit & Assurance.
Enable
Equip teams with the mindset, skills and confidence to use it — reframing selling as authentic, partner-led client conversations, and giving technical experts permission to engage earlier.
Embed
Reinforce new beliefs and behaviours until they become how people work — a repeatable, scalable model for commercial capability that continues to be built upon across the UK & Ireland today.
the outcome
Better beliefs. Better behaviours. Better results.
Merlin5 measured the baseline, rolled out the programme, then measured what changed — in mindset, in behaviour, and in the numbers that follow.
01
Mindset changed
A near-universal shift in how people saw selling and their role in client relationships — over 3,500 leaders trained in a single year across three business areas, and rated among the most impactful programmes attended at Deloitte.
02
Behaviours changed
Approximately 50% more customer contacts captured as teams engaged more people, earlier — and a doubling (+100%) of the leads generated from those new contacts.
03
Results followed
A higher win rate, with stronger deals won by engaging clients earlier rather than reactively — turning a mindset shift into measurable commercial numbers.
Scale, reach and participant feedback per Deloitte programme sponsor; pipeline and win-rate figures per Merlin5 programme measurement.
Leadership perspective
In their own words
Build your sales playbook — and the training to embed it.
Co-created sales playbooks and cultural-change training programmes, designed around your people and delivered at scale.
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