“I have known Karen for a number of years and have used her professional training programmes on numerous occasions whilst in my capacity as Business Unit Director.

Karen carried out training on the following personnel in my Division:

• New Veterinary Representatives
• Senior Veterinary Territory Managers
• Regional Sales Managers
• Senior Management Team

I built up a valued and trusted business partnership over the years and have always found Karen to be extremely professional with brilliant skills, delivering first-class training programmes in a positive, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and enlightening way.

I have always received excellent feedback from the participants on all the training programmes she has delivered to my various teams and the results following the courses have been superb leading to further excellent growth of our business.

She has an extensive knowledge of the animal health market both in the veterinary sector, companion animal and farm, and also of the farming trade sector and I would have no hesitation whatsoever in fully recommending her services.”

Veterinary Pharmaceuticals Top 5 Company, February 2019

“We have worked closely with Vital Spark over the last twelve months. In that time, Vital Spark has comprehensively reviewed the sales function in the Companion Animal Business Unit and implemented a training program that has produced significant advances in our coaching, territory planning and sales skills. The working relationship has been excellent and I would like to thank Vital Spark for the great work”.

Companion Animal Business Unit Manager, Animal Health Company

“Having previously worked for a large Corporate Company for 10 years with a strong emphasis and investment in sales force training, I was unsure what to expect when joining my current Animal Health Company 18 months ago. The training service that has been provided by Vital Spark Consultancy has been professional, diligently delivered, well received by the sales force and more importantly, successful.

The key to the success of Vital Spark’s training plans is individuality, Karen invests time in understanding not only the Company but the individuals within it and this allows her to tailor and deliver bespoke training plans which get the very best out of the individual. Karen is energetic and enthusiastic in her approach and this engages a sales force to learn and develop.

Having personally undertaken numerous training courses and workshops through Vital Spark Consultancy I would highly recommend Karen for sales force training of any kind. Karen understands the competitiveness of the Animal Health industry and she understands the need for ever-increasing results within an organisation, Vital Spark’s sales force training plans reflect this”.

Regional Sales Manager, Animal Health Company

“I have worked with Karen Froud-Murray since 2012 till present day.

Whilst I was working for Alstoe, (Animal Health company) Karen was employed to raise the base line standard of the field sales team. This was done through in-depth and focused training on the areas where as a team improvements could be made.

Over subsequent years and changes in company Karen has been involved in improving the sales teams skills, better customer understanding and matching customers “styles”. This has produced some marked improvements in performance plus a better understanding of the sales process.

Karen has also been involved in field-based assessments of the sales team, coaching the coach training for junior managers, and leadership training for junior managers.

I cannot recommend Karen’s training highly enough. Her knowledge and enthusiasm create an enjoyable learning environment for a sales team and really help to improve results. The principles which Karen focuses on work in the real world not just a class room”.

Sales Manager, Veterinary Pharmaceuticals

“Karen was my Sales Manager for almost 3 years. During this time I found Karen to be extremely motivational and understanding. She is not an autocratic manager, neither micro manages. She has the ability to bring out the best in people by being supportive and helpful, with very constructive criticism and a wealth of experience in the field.

Karen also is very well respected in the veterinary market with clients, employees and employers alike. Her knowledge of employee requirements is second to none and I would have no hesitation in working under Karen again, and find as a role model Karen is unsurpassable”.

Senior Veterinary Business Manager, Schering Plough

“Karen Froud-Murray first worked for Janssen Animal Health early in 2006 as trainer for a totally new companion animal sales team. She helped ensure that the new team had a thorough grounding in territory management and basic selling skills. Karen also did a significant amount of one to one coaching with our new sales team. She was well received by individuals, whilst also challenging and mentoring them to reach for stretching new targets.

Some 6 months after starting training courses for us, there was a vacancy for a companion animal sales manager. Karen took on this role on an interim basis 90% of her time for 18 months. During that time, Karen took full responsibility for running the sales team, creating job specifications, interviewing and employing new salespeople, inducting them into their roles and producing excellent sales growth. She set salespeople with clear objectives, including financial targets, monitoring performance and implementing a sales-related rewards programme. She ran some excellent sales team meetings in collaboration with marketing and technical colleagues.

An example project Karen undertook was restructuring of territories using sales potential data from GFK. She also championed the use of our CRM system with the sales team, driving the designer to make changes to it to facilitate its use.

Karen has many years experience in the animal industry and so can rapidly respond with practical, market-focused inputs in this market. However, I am aware that she has worked for clients in other industries and I feel that her training skills could be readily applied in other markets.

Karen brings tremendous enthusiasm and drive to all her work. People become fully engaged during the whole of her training courses. Courses are also well structured and have a good blend of tell and do, so that people’s attention is maintained. If you have issues that Karen believes need tackling, she will not hesitate to tell you and will champion change until it happens. Her outstanding drive and enthusiasm are great agents when you need to create change”.

Peter Williams, General Manager UK and Germany, Janssen

“Thanks to working closely with Vital Spark for two years, I have had the pleasure of seeing our rookie sales team blossom into highly proficient sales professionals. Karen got involved in every step of our sales process, from strategy creation and staff training, to sales appointments and trade show attendance.

Much of SureFlap’s success in the UK veterinary market to date has been due to Karen’s sound guidance and professionalism. I would highly recommend Karen to any company who needs to focus their sales process and motivate the sales team”.

Andy Bank, Commercial Director, SureFlap

“We have worked closely with Vital Spark over the last twelve months. In that time, Vital Spark has comprehensively reviewed the sales function in the Companion Animal Business Unit and implemented a training program that has produced significant advances in our coaching, territory planning and sales skills. The working relationship has been excellent and I would like to thank Vital Spark for the great work”.

Companion Animal Business Unit Manager, Animal Health Company