February 2025 Member Spotlight – Shanon Olsen, VP Business Development, Henley Leadership Group

Shanon Olsen, VP Business Development, Henley Leadership Group

-A conversation with Shannon Minifie, Box of Crayons

Shanon Olsen of Henley Leadership Group talks customization, growth and expansion, and getting clearer about who they best serve.

SM: Can you share a bit about your history with Henley, and a bit about the company?

SO: I am accountable for causing healthy and sustainable growth for our growing company. We provide leadership, team and executive development. What sets us apart is our highly customized and relational approach; co-creating solutions feels rare, and that’s something we prioritize.

SM: How do you scale that level of customization?

SO: We work closely with clients to build out solutions that address their specific needs and pain points. On the backside, we have around 30 core modules that are proven and ready to go. The customization piece is how they are put together and how we set the context for the work.

SM: Are these customizations contextualized to learner profiles?

SO: Our programs and offerings benefit everyone, from individual contributors to the C-suite. The content itself is standardized, but the context for the learning varies greatly depending on the audience. The tools may be the same – but the orientation, the conversations, and the challenges that are presented in relationship to the work are what shift. This approach to the work allows for more people to gain access to a shared set of tools and therefore supports true culture change across the whole organization.

SM: You’ve had a broad range of roles at Henley—how has your experience shaped the company’s approach?

SO: I’ve been a subcontractor, coach, facilitator, and designer. I now hold a key leadership role and focus mostly on business development. The variety of roles and my ongoing learning in the field have given me a whole-system view of the business. I have been grateful to have leadership and owners who are willing to take my ideas and put them into action, trusting my perspective and ability to sense what is emerging in our field.

SM: Got it. How does your current sales approach work—and who does the selling?

SO: Our current sales approach focuses primarily on expanding within current client systems while utilizing marketing efforts and referrals to attract new ideal clients. We are highly relational in our approach, regularly checking in with clients, gathering feedback, and maintaining contact with key executive sponsors. We meet regularly with our coaches, facilitators, and program managers to gather insights and possible leads. This model has led to larger contracts and has worked well, we have a long-term deeply loyal client base, our landing larger contracts and we are thrilled to say 2024 was our biggest year yet.

SM: Congrats on the biggest year ever!

SO: Thanks! It’s been an exciting year of growth. A new experience was experimenting with what I would call “micro-acquisitions.” Absorbing solopreneurs who’ve built strong businesses but are ready to retire adn still want to serve their clients.

SM: Is this an intentional accretive revenue strategy?

SO: Not initially—it landed in our lap. It made sense given our deep ties to the coaching and consulting world. It’s more of a business development opportunity than a formal strategy. But we’re starting to think more about intentionally finding more opportunities like this.

SM: Very smart.

SO: And the other growth driver has just been selling larger contracts. We’re working with fewer clients, but the revenue from each is significantly higher.

SM: How did you manage that shift to bigger contracts—is it a different buyer avatar, how you’re packaging up your offerings … something else?

SO: It was a challenge we took on – to simply stretch ourselves and double the pitch. It was a bit scary at first but we’ve built some real courage around it and are now attracting work that is more focused on organizational change, as well as positioning ourselves as the go-to provider for coaching across entire organizations. The shift has been from working with individuals to engaging with L&D departments. It feels risky because fewer contracts mean a bigger impact if one is lost—but it’s also an exciting direction.

SM: I get that risky downside deeply, but that does seem like a great growth strategy. I’ve been influenced by Peter Fader’s ideas on customer centricity a lot. He distinguishes between “customer service” and customer centricity where the latter is really an intentional strategy that starts with admitting that not all of your customers are created equal, and then identifying who your best customers are, and committing to putting inordinate amounts of resources into identifying and anticipating and innovating around the needs of those clients. And for everyone else, you need to find out the most low-calorie way to serve them—but you don’t transform and build your business around everyone else, just around your “best.” That includes who you’re marketing to.

SO: Yes, that is so great, exactly. This year, we brought on our first marketing person, and that’s been transformative. She’s been a great partner in getting more clear about what we want to attract and landing the right kinds of clients and filling the funnel. Our first marketing hire after 20 years – we are excited to see what this brings in 2025!

SM: Can you share more about your marketing strategy?

SO: With Sam [Crawley]’s direction, we revamped our website to focus on SEO, using data from tools like Ubersuggest to target the right keywords. This isn’t a shift in who we are as a company but in how we talk about ourselves. We’re producing content that’s more aligned with what people are searching for, and we’re also running targeted webinars. The strategy is highly tailored to attract the right audience. Sam’s focus is to build the experience of “community” for our clients – I can’t say enough how excited I am about what is taking shape.

SM: The dreaded question: Do clients ask about measurement? And how do you answer?

SO: About seven years ago, we received a lot of pushback, so we invested in an ROI impact study to gather metrics. But over time, we realized we’re not just about delivering ROI; given development in an ongoing and iterative journey we don’t focus so much on whether they arrived somewhere but rather if they are moving closer toward the organization they are committed to becoming. We find that our ideal client understands this approach and invests in this kind of development because it’s the right thing to do.

SM: So your ideal client profile is companies that will invest regardless of ROI?

SO: Our ideal client knows that developing people impacts the bottom line, they develop people our of a commitment to the vitality of their workplace. And, we have the credibility, stories, and case studies to offer up if needed.

SM: How do you stay updated on trends in leadership development, and how do you incorporate those insights?

SO:. We stay in close touch with clients and coaches through monthly learning calls to capture emerging trends and challenges. What we hear from clients and coaches informs our work more than anything else. We also host monthly writing groups for blog content and attend conferences. One major shift we made was the integration of DEIB into all we do. Courtney, our instructional designer, led a major overhaul over last few years to integrate this context into all of our work—seeing DEIB not as a standalone module but as an integral part of everything we do as leaders. I am so proud of the work we are doing, and our clients are better cared for because of if

SM: What’s been beneficial about being an ISA member?

SO: We’ve been ISA-The Association of Learning Providers (ISA-ALP) members for about 15 years, and there have been pivotal moments at each ABR where thought partnership from other members helped us navigate changes with more ease. ISA-ALP has been a great support in the ongoing success of our business. A most recent example of solid ROI for us is how much membership can accelerate the onboarding of new hires. We brought Sam [Crawley], our new marketing director, to the ABR last year; it was the best investment we could have made for her. It helped her make key connections and deepened her understanding of the industry.

SM: Now look who’s obsessed with ROI!