"It is not enough to be talented to be commercial
Arnaud Guérin and Renaud Allioux, co-founders of Earthcube © Earthcube
EarthCube is a startup founded in 2016. It develops satellite monitoring services for factories, pipelines and other industrial sites, both for malicious acts and natural accidents.
The Toulouse-based company has a staff of 15, including 3 sales representatives.
The company has just completed a €3 million round of financing to support the commercial development of its solutions for automating and improving satellite image processing and analysis.
Arnaud Guerin, one of the two founders and CEO of the startup, contacted Kestio Live on recommendation in order to optimise the entire commercial process.
Kestio : How did you start the collaboration with Kestio?
Arnaud Guérin : In our sector of activity, with a technical and innovative offer, the sales process is very complex, with upstream and downstream phases that require excellent preparation. We quickly realised that we had to review our sales management and that our sales process had to be organised and structured to meet the requirements of our market. But also, we had neither the skills nor the resources in-house to carry out this project. In order to be immediately efficient and not to "learn on the job", we therefore decided to call on external skills. In addition, we also wanted specific training on certain stages such as information research, mapping of key players, etc.
Kestio: What was your problem from a business development point of view?
Arnaud Guérin: To get started and build an initial common base of knowledge, we worked with the entire sales team in face-to-face sessions lasting 2 to 3 hours, which were shortened in time. In particular, we addressed the subject of customer discovery and adopted the Chessboard Method, which is particularly well suited to complex sales processes and which, in particular, makes it possible to improve the transformation rate by focusing efforts where the potential exists. For us, the contribution was fundamental: we had no sales culture to speak of and we realised that it was not enough to be talented to do this job but that it was based on real technical skills and method. Kestio Live provided us with theory and practice, but it is also the regular follow-up that allows the anchoring of the commercial strategy, the change of habits.
Kestio : In relation to your initial objectives, does the formula meet your expectations?
Arnaud Guérin: Kestio It allows you to stay within the framework, not to lose the thread. The principle of telephone or video-conference meetings means that the subjects covered are always active, and so progress is constant. Contrary to what can happen in the case of classroom training, which involves long hours and where the subjects covered are quickly diluted in everyday life as soon as you return to the office, we find that the learning dynamic remains operational. And the formula is very flexible: the time slot is used by one of the three sales representatives according to need, or even by two.
Kestio: More secure than large training blocks?
Arnaud Guérin: Yes, and we will maintain this positive tension for our commercial performance. We are gradually becoming more autonomous, but by going down the pipe we are also discovering new issues. And our topicality also plays a role in the themes we address. Questions such as " how to prepare for a trade fair " or "how to respond to a customer who asks for a free month" emerge regularly and we address them. "regularly emerge and we address them directly with Kestio. Over time, we find ourselves with a toolbox that allows us to be more productive. One of our challenges today is to have a common platform so that everyone can update themselves as they join the company.
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