CASE STUDY

Bomb Proof at FIS: Building Resilience in Outbound Sales

How a global financial technology company brought stand-up comedy's approach to rejection to its outbound sales team

FIS (Fidelity Information Services) is a global leader in financial technology, serving banks, capital markets and merchants worldwide.

Their Business Development Representatives, the team responsible for outbound sales calls, took part in Bomb Proof: Sales Resilience Under Pressure, a workshop built from 15 years of stand-up comedy experience and designed specifically for people who face rejection as part of their daily job.

Especially relevant for: Sales Directors, BDR and SDR Team Leaders, Heads of Business Development, Chief Revenue Officers and L&D Leaders considering how their outbound teams handle sustained rejection
8.9/10
Average rating
for delivery and facilitation
86%
Rated themselves
Satisfied or Very Satisfied
8.4/10
Reported a
likelihood to recommend
8.9/10
Average rating
for usefulness
"Although I was sceptical at first, the link between comedy and sales is stronger than I could have imagined... Keep going, best training I've had."

Amol, Business Development Representative

HOW THIS WORKSHOP CAME ABOUT

A Gap
Most Sales Training Misses

FIS recognised a specific gap in how their outbound sales function was being supported.

Business Development Representatives face some of the highest-volume, highest-frequency rejection in business, and most training addresses what to say before a call, not what happens to a person after rejection lands, again and again, across a working day.

Ultimately, the people who bounce back fastest after rejection are the ones who make the next call, and often win it.

Bomb Proof was brought in to address that gap directly, translating 15 years of live comedy experience, and around 1,800 shows facing an unfiltered room, into a practical framework for staying composed and recovering fast after being told no.

What the Session Covered

A three-hour session was delivered live at FIS's London offices to their BDR team, structured around a simple, deliberately practical arc: Before, During, and After.

Before covered how resilience is built in advance, not found in the moment, reframing rejection itself, and setting up the physical and mental state needed before a difficult run of calls begins.

During focused on real-time recovery, tools for resetting composure between calls, adjusting tone and posture even when nobody can see you, and catching and reworking the internal self-talk that follows a bad call.

After addressed something most training skips entirely, how to close the loop at the end of a session or a day, so rejection doesn't compound or follow people home.

Delegates worked through live recovery drills using their own real rejections, gathered from the room itself rather than scripted examples, a deliberate choice to keep the material honest rather than hypothetical.

Alfie Noakes preparing his workshop standing at a whiteboard in the FUS offices with the We Are Funny Project logo behind him

The Results

Feedback was collected from delegates immediately after the session, with the headline numbers shown above.

One delegate, whose day-to-day role sat outside the core focus of the session, scored it lower than their colleagues, a useful and honest reminder that fit matters as much as delivery.

Even so, they described the session as "very engaging" and took the time to note their appreciation that Alfie had come in to speak with the team.

Infographic showing how stand-up skills transfer to stronger client engagement

This workshop transfers those mechanics directly into a client-facing context. No comedy required.

What People Said

Asked what Alfie did particularly well, feedback included:

"He explained everything well and made it fun."

"Lightened the mood and built a good relationship (with the delegates)."

"I enjoyed listening to his experience and the lessons learnt from his history, comedy techniques that can apply to sales."

Two delegates, independently, gave almost identical answers when asked the same question: that Alfie "warmly interacted with", and "effectively connected with", the audience throughout.

Why This Matters Beyond the Room

This wasn't generic resilience training or motivational content. It was built from a genuinely unusual source, the mechanics comedians use to survive live, real-time rejection in front of a room, translated deliberately for a sales environment.

That unusual background comes with an unexpected side effect. Nobody left this session having been taught how to be funny.

But more than one person left having laughed more than they expected to in a three-hour training session, and that lightness turned out to be part of what made the material land.

Explore more workshops

Bomb Proof is one focus within a wider range of workshops.

If your team needs something different, or something that complements this one, these may be worth exploring.

Confident
Client Engagement

For teams who need to present more confidently, hold the room more effectively and communicate with greater authority. 

Best for: pitches, presentations, stakeholder conversations and client-facing delivery.

Developing
Stronger Ideas

For teams who need sharper thinking, stronger development and better material before delivery even begins.


Best for: idea generation, shaping material, sharper messaging and stronger creative thinking.

The
Levity Works

For teams who want warmer communication, stronger team culture and a more connected way of working.


Best for: morale, trust, everyday communication and more human team dynamics.

Ready to find out if Bomb Proof: Sales Resilience Under Pressure is right for your team

Start with a 30-minute discovery call. No hard sell.

Just a focused conversation to work out whether this is the right kind of help and, if so, exactly what that looks like for your team.

Want to understand the thinking behind this approach? Read the research We Are Funny Project is built on.

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