KESTIO had the pleasure of being approached by Les ECHOS Start, a new media outlet of the ECHOS group aimed at supporting future Decision Makers in their various projects – particularly in their desire to undertake or set up a start-up – to regularly provide them with advice on how to sell and good business practices. As the first result of this brand new collaboration, here is an article for start-ups proposed by Dominique SEGUIN, partner at KESTIO, on the fundamentals of social selling.
Searching for a job, maintaining relationships with your professional network or with "influencers" in your sector of activity, recruiting employees, monitoring topics related to your professional expertise... These uses of networks are well known to all. They can also prove to be extremely effective in the commercial field and help you very concretely to develop the activity of your company, by allowing you to forge a strong link with your customers or prospects. So how do you effectively activate and develop this commercial potential of "pro" social networks? Instructions for use.
1. Build a "good profile" and develop your personal branding 2. Develop your network, it's your most valuable asset 3. Bet on recommendation: friends of my friends are my friends! 4. Be active and reactive
To read the full article “4 key steps to sell (yourself) on social media” on Les ECHOS Start website:
Was this article helpful to you? If you want to learn more, download our free white paper "How to switch to consultative selling in the digital age" to discover new commercial methods to use in the digital age!
Pour la partie organisation logistique et hébergement, vous avez probablement déjà fait appel à un prestataire externe pour gagner du temps et être sûr de faire les bons choix.
Mais avez-vous déjà pensé à solliciter un intervenant spécialisé (formateur, coach, conférencier) pour vous aider à concevoir et animer votre séminaire? Cette opportunité est encore souvent méconnue ou peu activée par les entreprises et leurs dirigeants. Elle offre pourtant de multiples avantages et procure un bénéfice immédiat quant à la mobilisation des équipes ou encore l’apport de compétences.
Découvrez dans son intégralité l’article de Dominique SEGUIN (Directeur associé, KESTIO Paris) publié sur le blog de MyEvent :
KESTIO est une société de conseil et de formation en Performance Commerciale et Expérience Client.
Notre mission : aider les sociétés à accroître leurs résultats et améliorer leur rentabilité en optimisant la conquête et la fidélisation de leurs clients. Cela passe notamment par la formation des équipes commerciales au meilleures techniques de vente et de négociation.
Depuis 10 ans, nous animons très régulièrement des séminaires commerciaux pour nos clients, notamment : Lagardère Publicité, Bolloré Logistics, SANOFI, APRR, Jaeger-Lecoultre et Marchon Eyewear.
Nos expertises séminaire commercial :
– Ingénierie pédagogique (conception du contenu, des supports et du dispositif d’animation, en accord avec vos objectifs et le public du séminaire) – Organisation et animation (animation de workshops et formations : techniques de vente, ventes grands comptes, relation client, management commercial…) – Solutions exclusives d’animation : en parallèle des diverses techniques d’animation proposées (workshop interactif, quizz, animations vidéo…), nous proposons des solutions exclusives de type « serious game » : Kestio System(c)
C’est aussi un moment rare et précieux dans la vie de l’entreprise, car il constitue souvent l’unique opportunité de réunir l’ensemble de la force commerciale (équipe de vente, managers, directeurs commerciaux) et parce qu’il représente un investissement financier parfois conséquent. Autant de raisons qui font du séminaire commercial de rentrée un moment à fort enjeu ! Attention, cependant : c’est aussi un moment à haut risque et vous pouvez passer totalement à côté de vos objectifs, si vous négligez sa préparation… A l’approche de l’événement, petit tour d’horizon des principaux écueils à éviter.
1. Ne pas soigner ses supports de présentation :
Votre séminaire commercial approche et vous avez préparé un support ambitieux, rempli d’informations et de chiffres clés pour expliquer la stratégie commercialeà N+1, mais vous vous êtes un peu noyé dans les graphiques et vous n’êtes pas un as de la mise en page…
Le risque : le jour J, en pleine présentation, vous apercevoir que votre discours suscite l’incompréhension ou l’ennui, et vous retrouver face à des visages perplexes et des soupirs agacés, ou pire, vous apercevoir que les messages transmis ont été compris de travers et que le lancement de votre nouvelle stratégie commerciale annoncé à grand renfort de slides powerpoint part sur de mauvaises bases… !
►► Des slides légers et clairs, contenant uniquement les informations clés et laissant la part belle à l’animation orale seront vos meilleurs alliés. Pensez aussi aux images pleine page accompagnées de mots clés ou d’anecdotes marquantes, qui marquent les esprits et facilitent la mémorisation !
2. Confondre animation de séminaire et cours magistral
Bonne nouvelle : vous n’êtes pas du genre à avoir les mains moites ou le cœur qui bat la chamade quand vous devez prendre la parole en public, et vous pourriez parler pendant des heures de vos enjeux business et du plan d’action commercial, car ces sujetsvous passionnent. C’est une vraie qualité pour animer votre séminaire commercial… à condition toutefois de laisser de la place aux autres !
Le risque : vouloir tout dire, assommer votre auditoire, et surtout ne laisser aucune place aux questions ou remarques (donc, à la participation active) des membres de votre équipe. Une façon malheureusement très efficace de plomber l’ambiance malgré votre enthousiasme sincère, et de vous priver de l’adhésion de vos collaborateurs…
►► Un débit maîtrisé laissant la place à des moments de silence permettra à votre auditoire de mieux vous suivre et de réagir. Pensez également à varier le ton, et n’hésitez pas à insister sur les termes et idées clés. Prévoyez des questions destinées à faire réagir vos auditeurs et à vous assurer de leur bonne compréhension.
3. Mal choisir le thème de son atelier participatif
On ne risque pas de vous surprendre à tomber dans l’écueil précédent : vous êtes extrêmement sensible à la dynamique de groupe et à l’aspect participatif de vos réunions. Super ! D’ailleurs, vous avez prévu de demander à votre équipe de dresser une liste de toutes les propositions qui leur viennent à l’esprit pour améliorer les résultats l’année prochaine, ou des points d’amélioration potentiels dans l’organisation commerciale de l’entreprise.
Le risque : générer des débats collectifs « un peu trop animés » (voir réellement tendus) autour des orientations à prendre, ou des déceptions et malentendus, si aucune des propositions exprimées n’est ensuite jugée digne d’être retenue et appliquée dans la pratique au niveau de l’entreprise.
►► Gardez à l’esprit qu’en invitant votre équipe à donner son avis, vous prenez un engagement tacite : celui de prendre cet avis en compte par la suite. Ne les invitez donc pas à « refaire la stratégie » si cette dernière est déjà définie et non négociable, mais plutôt à imaginer quelle part ils pourront y prendre et comment ils vont la décliner dès demain dans leur pratique quotidienne !
4. Choisir le mauvais « écrin » pour votre séminaire commercial
Bien que cet aspect ne relève probablement pas de votre périmètre, les écueils liés à l’organisation logistique de votre séminaire ont également leur importance, et doivent à ce titre faire l’objet de votre considération : proposer des conditions d’hébergement décevantes à vos collaborateurs peut considérablement gâcher la fête ou pire, leur donner le sentiment d’être déconsidérés, dans un moment à forte charge symbolique.
►► Cela ne signifie pas que vous devez forcément avoir les moyens de leur offrir un voyage à Las Vegas : une cabane dans les arbres peut aussi constituer un lieu d’exception… C’est surtout l’intention qui compte, mais veillez quand même à ce qu’un minimum de confort et d’intimité soit assurés ! Evitez aussi que le lieu de rassemblement soit d’un accès difficile pour les participants, et qu’ils ne retiennent du séminaire que leurs ennuis de transport (grève des trains, trajet à rallonge, départ à 4h du matin pour arriver à l’heure…).
5. Mal doser l’ingrédient « émotion »
Dans le même registre, prévoir une activité team building « à haut risque » sous prétexte que cela crée des liens peut s’avérer contre-productif si la moitié de l’équipe refuse catégoriquement d’y participer. Pensez-y avant de réserver un vol d’initiation à la chute libre pour 75 personnes !
Evitez aussi la soirée festive qui déborde un peu trop, si vous devez le regretter le lendemain : le séminaire peut être un moment de vraie détente, mais on reste dans un cadre professionnel, et les anecdotes amusantes sur les participants peuvent aussi devenir de véritables « boulets » à long terme pour ceux qui en sont l’objet !
►►Adoptez un « dosage » des ingrédients festifs conforme à la culture de votre entreprise, et n’invitez pas vos collaborateurs à enflammer le dancefloor jusqu’au bout de la nuit si vous leur avez concocté un programme ultra-studieux pour le lendemain !
Cet article vous a été utile? Téléchargez notre dossier spécial “SÉMINAIRE COMMERCIAL”.
Vous pourrez découvrir les 5 clés de succès pour réussir vos séminaires de rentrée :
Définir les objectifs du séminaire et les messages clés que vous souhaitez transmettre à vos équipes
Concevoir des supports d’animationefficaces et originaux pour susciter l’intérêt et convaincre
Imaginer et mettre en oeuvre un dispositif d’animation qui assure la participation active de vos collaborateurs
Garantir la cohérence entre les enjeux du séminaire et son organisation (destination, hébergement, activités)
In a turbulent market – that of radio advertising – which has been structurally declining year after year for almost 10 years, the Lagardère Publicité group (Europe 1, Elle, Gulli, etc.) has made the strategic choice to move from selling advertising space to designing increasingly diversified global offers, tailored to the needs of their clients. This is a very strategic evolution of its business model, which is beginning to bear fruit, but also represents a small revolution for the group's sales teams; the latter must develop specific, specialized skills in 'complex sales' to convince major account clients whose decision cycles are long and involve numerous stakeholders: decision-makers, internal and/or intermediary influencers (media, advertising, or event agencies), etc.! And move from a product/brand orientation to a questioning approach oriented towards 'client issues'!
Franck GODIN, Radio Sales Director at Lagardère Publicité, at the head of a team of around twenty sales representatives in charge of the group's 3 emblematic stations (Europe 1, Virgin Radio and RFM), discusses the system implemented with KESTIO to develop the skills of his sales teams. A system subsequently extended to more than 100 sales representatives from the Lagardère group.
1. What triggered your decision to implement sales training?
Franck Godin: Initially, the objective was primarily to acquire new clients: after a complicated period and in a market context that has been quite tense for the media in general for 10 years, we wanted to return to growth and conquest in our market, and we did not hesitate to review our business model for this.
It's not easy, considering that the radio sector – although less affected than the print media and billboards by the difficulties linked to the massive arrival of digital technology on the advertising market – has been experiencing a structural decline in its revenues for several years.
We have more than 500 customers. The renewal rate of our customers is around a third per year on the advertising space purchases, and almost double on the "special operations" (which include an event component, editor's note). The stakes are therefore high.
Our strategy must also guarantee our margins to increase profitability: this relies, among other things, on the development of new integrated offers, based on the very rich possibilities offered by our different media brands. We are constantly creating new solutions, in collaboration with different internal teams and according to the needs of our clients.
The job of a salesperson in our field has therefore evolved considerably in recent years: from sellers of advertising space, salespeople have become sellers of global solutions around a media brand.
We called on KESTIO to support the development of our teams' skills and the implementation of this new way of doing business: we are now dealing with much more complex sales, so we had to build a different sales model.
2. How Did the Collaboration with KESTIO Go? What Training Program Was Implemented?
F.G.: Initially, KESTIO intervened at Lagardère to lead a sales seminar for 45 people (the 20 sales representatives from the radio team, plus the creative and marketing teams).
Subsequently, a 2-day training session on the Chessboard Method was initiated with the team of 20 radio sales representatives, to set the stage and provide the fundamentals of the method.
This was followed by support in the form of individual coaching for a period of one year, at a rate of 2 hours per month, conducted by 4 KESTIO consultants.
Such sales support represents a significant investment, so we started with the seminar as a first step before moving on to the training courses afterward.
Ultimately, the project grew significantly: we presented KESTIO solutions to the human resources department, and the training was extended to all Lagardère Publicité sales staff (press, digital, and TV), totaling around one hundred employees.
3. What objectives have you set for yourself with this training activity?
F.G.: The initial objective was simply to increase the sales representatives' ability to acquire new business.
Next, we moved towards the idea of strengthening the coverage of the « good contacts » by our sales teams, that is, to be able to address not only the Communications Director, our traditional contact, but also other players involved in the decision or prescribers (for example, the CSR manager on an event project related to the environment) and of course all the intermediaries in the chain: media, creative, advertising agencies, etc.
On certain deals, we have up to 4 intermediaries or service providers involved, in addition to our client, each giving their opinion on the final purchase decision!
Beyond the number of clients, we also wanted to increase the share of "special operations" in our turnover (the differentiating operations for our clients, but also the event-driven operations).
All this requires developing an in-depth knowledge of our customers, moving closer to them, and gathering information about their organization and their business challenges.
It's easier said than done, KESTIO's intervention helped us progress and embed these practices thanks to a very individualized approach for each employee.
4. Are you already seeing results from these actions? What are the main benefits?
F.G.: First of all, we measured a real awareness on the part of the sales teams. Initially, the training seemed quite confusing to them.
A salesperson even confided in me after the first training module that they felt like they had to "learn to walk again." The image is powerful, but there was a real phase of destabilization.
Once this was over, the sales representatives naturally began to apply the method. Today, they have a much better understanding of our customers and their needs.
We apply the method to our clients and to the intermediaries already mentioned, with the result that the rate of completion is increasing on the famous complex systems (special operations), because we know how to adapt and be responsive with all the stakeholders in the decision chain.
This improved understanding of our clients' challenges, combined with the diversification of our offerings, also allows us to convince new advertisers.
We are more effective in overall sales strategy: we are fortunate to have a wide range of offers, so it's up to us to find the solution that fits our clients, based on our deep understanding of their challenges.
From a managerial standpoint, the training has also shifted our practices: individual coaching-style sessions based on questioning have been established and systematized between managers and their team members. These individual sessions perfectly complement team meetings.
The involvement of managers in the process is essential to support this transformation of sales practices. It should be integrated as much as possible upstream.
5. What's next? What are the main challenges you face?
F.G.: We now have a strong focus on sustainingthe results of these actions: after having passed a milestone with regard to special operations on the group's three stations (Europe 1, Virgin Radio, RFM), the aim is now to confirm this result over time.
Our main challenge is also to integrate digital more into our media recommendations. We need to convince our clients to use the digital levers integrated into radio systems in their operations.
We still have one step to take to systematize the use of digital tools, and the possibilities are real, for example with a site like Europe1.fr, which is consulted by more than 5 million people per month, on which we can imagine rich and innovative content.
Finally, we also need to convince clients to repeat operations from one year to the next, and have a real support strategy. We are in a profession where clients are highly solicited, we must continue to work on the notion of client effort, by developing our listening skills through open questions, by precisely identifying the contacts, and by being able to approach them intelligently, in short, by having a more systematic approach based on the methods that KESTIO has taught us.
To achieve this, sales teams will continue the process with an increasingly "customer-centric" approach.
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To delve deeper into the evolution of commercial practices in the digital age, download our white paper:
The selection criteria and the vast range of solutions made possible through technology and expertise discourage even the most motivated. However, it is still possible to navigate this jungle successfully with the right guide.
Choosing a CRM solution primarily means addressing a triple challenge:
• First, address business challenges, which means: support the deployment of the sales policy, improve customer knowledge, develop new processes to enhance customer relations, effectively integrate customer data, etc.
• Next, integrate history and anticipate future developments, meaning be sustainable and compatible with the existing information system.
• Finally, respect the budgetary framework and schedule, in other words, remain consistent with actual needs.
So how can you succeed in this challenge and choose the best solution while respecting your constraints?
Best practices suggest organizing a call for tenders based on comprehensive specifications. However, this already represents an investment of time (and therefore money) that will require resources for drafting, distribution, candidate evaluation, and then selection. This is not always compatible with cost and time constraints.
Furthermore, the number of solutions available on the market complicates things (220 solutions identified in 2013). Between general-purpose solutions that are more or less open, innovative challengers, specialized experts, or even reliable values that are not necessarily finely adapted to your specific needs, you are sometimes forced to make a very broad call for tenders or choices that limit the relevance of the responses.
We believe that there are solutions to your specific problems (functional and technical), to your context (knowledge of the business, size of the company) and with which you will want to move forward.
The best solution on the market from the point of view of existing comparative analyses is not necessarily the most effective for you. The best solution does not exist in absolute terms: it is relative to your own situation.
That's why we built the CRM Quick Choice approach based on abenchmark of the 20 most relevant CRM solutions on the market, and a database updated each year. It meets two objectives:
• Formalize a CRM needs assessment based on our functional map of 300 items,
• Automatically filter your best shortlist from all existing solutions.
Over 2 to 5 days, and based on workshops with the business teams, we gather your expectations and needs (from the most common to the most specific), using our exclusive "CRM Functional Map" tool, reviewing over 300 functional items. These workshops are also moments of exchange, during which we present the possibilities offered by CRM solutions, challenge your needs, and contribute to evolving your vision of CRM uses. To identify the most suitable CRM solutions, we use our knowledge base, updated each year on over 20 listed tools. Thus, by comparing our ratings and the levels of expectation expressed in the workshops, you are assured of having a pre-selection of relevant solutions. The final choice is always based on the fit with the project team, the budget, and the ergonomics, which allows for more than convincing feedback: 100% of the applicants on our short-list offer a suitable solution!
To learn more about CRMs and help you with your projects, find all of our methods and tools here:
This is an essential and solid foundation on which to build your action. However, the hardest part remains: ensuring that this strategy is deployed as effectively as possible in the field to bear fruit and achieve your target results. 3 major levers are available to you in this area: team engagement, the translation of your strategy into operational action plans, and the implementation of effective management. What do they consist of?
Guarantee a high level of engagement from your teams
To engage means getting your teams to decide to carry out concrete operational actions, that are effective and measurable. The level of engagement of your managerial and sales teams depends on various non-exclusive factors. How to operate to act favorably on this commitment?
First, by sharing the defined strategy: present this strategy to your teams, clearly explaining the why, the what, and the areas of work defined to involve them in its implementation.
But engaging also means listening to your teams about their motivations and obstacles, in order to address these obstacles, and to strongly involve them in developing the actions to be taken.
Finally, don't lose sight of the fact that you must also "create desire", beyond the constraints, by proposing an inspiring ambition! Annual seminars, in particular, are key moments to act on the commitment of sales teams effectively (we have dedicated an article to best practices for successful seminars and engaging teams)
Translate the commercial strategy into operational action plans
Sales action plansserve as the roadmap for your employees. They determine the key moments of the year (sales seasonality, trade shows, contract renewals, etc.) and the precise planning of actions, resources, and tools to be implemented on a weekly, or at the very least, monthly basis.
They serve as the operational link to the commercial strategy defined upstream: number of opportunities to identify, frequency of visits per customer or prospect segment, type of visit to conduct (needs discovery, identification of decision-makers, closing, etc.).
They ensure the practical implementation in the field of the expected level of effort, coverage, and commercial pressure on their portfolio.
To ensure the implementation and scope of these action plans, however, one last point is crucial: their management, and therefore the management style implemented.
Implement effective sales management.
What are the components of a sales management approach that ensures the effective deployment of your strategy and the implementation of action plans?
Monitoring actions and supporting sales representatives: segmenting accounts in the CRM, planning actions, creating reports and monitoring coverage and sales pressure dashboards, associated with conducting regular individual interviews and co-constructing progress plans to improve results.
Results analysis: monitoring and managing KPIs. For example, during the sales pipeline review, track and analyze volume, value, and time spent on opportunities to optimize the allocation of sales effort.
Regular coaching and training of sales representatives: developing the performance of sales representatives by focusing on skills and competencies. Field support and coaching sessions, in particular, lead to demonstrable results. (Read our article on field coaching on this topic).
It is necessary to act on all of these levers to ensure an effective deployment of the commercial strategy that you have defined and to secure the achievement of your objectives. In some cases, however, it is complex for Sales Directors to act on all of these factors in a coordinated manner, for example in a context of strong pressure on their market. That's why we offer support programs to act successively or globally on each of these levers, in order to accelerate the implementation of actions and optimize their results.
Adopt a tool tailored to your business and expectations: choose the right CRM. To better understand its usefulness and choose a suitable CRM, watch this webinar:
Indeed, with millions of registered members (LinkedIn announced that it had exceeded 11 million members in France at the beginning of 2016 [i], thus surpassing Viadeo), it is possible to find your targets and engage with them. How do you conduct your prospecting on social networks? Do you have a strategy in place? If you are a sales manager, how do you guide your teams to help them use this platform? To succeed in digital prospecting, it is essential to have a structured approach. Discover in this article (the first episode in our series on "social selling") some "keys" to transforming a simple contact into a future client.
1- To prospect with LinkedIn, start by targeting your contacts and stop chasing after connections
Unfortunately, this is a reality, and too many salespeople are adding people they don't know on LinkedIn left and right. What do you hope to achieve by doing this? The law of numbers! Out of 100 people added, one of them will eventually do business with us! Unfortunately, it doesn't really work that way. Worse, frantically adding contacts and competing to be "the one with the most connections" damages your image with your contacts. A salesperson from an unknown company who has 5,000 contacts? These are all signs of heavy-handed prospecting and the promise of unwanted advertising messages. Help!
Adding contacts on the fly, or conducting a basic search and adding people who seem relevant in a few seconds, or "look good," is not a strategy. What happens after this untargeted addition? Generally, nothing. Sending an advertising message right away doesn't work either. In reality, we are bordering on SPAM, the opposite of an engaging conversational approach. Indeed, approving a contact request does not signify an immediate need for a product/service. Some people are looking for help, others are observing, and some are in an advanced purchasing process.
To send the right message from the start, you need to find a communication angle that initiates the relationship and helps contacts build their thinking, regardless of their level of knowledge of your company. You have to support them whatever stage of their research they are at, without rushing them.
We understand it well here, the challenge is not to have one more contact, it is to have one more reader who considers you as an asset for his reflection, one more person to whom you can provide an answer.
In practice:
You shouldn't just randomly connect on social networks. Whenever possible, you should favor a mutual contact who can make the introduction.
Always write a message explaining why you want to be connected with someone. There is nothing worse than an unmotivated request, which has no basis.
2- Get approval for a contact request on LinkedIn
As we have just seen, you can use networking through a mutual contact, who introduces you to a person, or choose to directly contact another user. In either case, use the InMail function, which are internal LinkedIn messages.
In practice:
" Pitch » your request so that your contact sees the benefit of accepting it for them ;
Ask yourself the right questions before writing a message: what problems might this person encounter, what could help them produce more value for their own clients, help them in their daily life...
The contact request is accepted? The work is not finished. On the contrary! Once "connected" via your network or via an InMail, you must not contact the newly added person intrusively.
Build your relationship steadily by helping your new contact and providing them with value,focused on their objectives, not yours.
Offer them a white paper, a customer testimonial, or a relevant article. This is where marketing managers have a key role to play alongside sales representatives, by providing well-thought-out communication materials so that the contacts gleaned on LinkedIn enter the engagement funnel in the best possible way.
Build your credibility and legitimacy, and be seen as an expert. Be patient. You are often in it for the long haul here, not using a pushy approach like traditional outbound prospecting to secure a meeting in minutes. A well-selected LinkedIn contact can bring you business several weeks or months after the first interaction.
Remember, it's far more effective to have fewer contacts with a high conversion rate by building a quality online conversation, rather than sending out dozens of invitations that yield no results!
Discover soon on this blog the following episodes of our series on social selling, which will teach you:
What are LinkedIn groups (really) for and how to run yours
How to develop a sales approach that is "interesting, not interested" and disseminate quality content adapted to your targets.
How to develop and foster an engaged community around your brand values
To go further and learn more about the concept of social selling and the various communication tools, you can watch this webinar:
KESTIO regularly trains the sales teams of many companies in digital prospecting (social selling), particularly in mastering LinkedIn, which is the preferred social network for business leaders and therefore the most suitable for BtoB prospecting.
Levelling of quality downwards, loss of product value and increased pressure on suppliers (On this point, see in particular our previous article Stop the price cuts... Focus on Customer Experience!). Generating profits through increased turnover and improved customer retention: this is sustainable, and it requires focusing on your customer experience. Today, companies that make profits and generate overall value are those that have understood that the customer is their primary asset, and therefore the primary lever to activate.
Wondering how to become a part of it? To achieve this, here are 5 tips to follow, based on the analysis of the winning strategies developed by leading companies in the field of Customer Experience. On your marks, get set... Perform!
1. Personalize the customer experience through intelligent data utilization.
Brands have never had access to as much customer information as they do today. The 'Big Data' buzzword refers to the vast amount of data that companies accumulate, which is still clearly underutilized.
An eConsultancy study conducted in 2015[I] reveals that nearly 80% of consumers say that brands do not know them as individuals.
How to change this observation? By taking ownership of this data and using it to enhance the customer experience. Here are some tips to guide you:
Establish multi-channel campaigns that are no longer solely designed based on the messages the brand wants to convey, but based on data derived from customer knowledge.
Carry out individualized nurturing by paying attention to behaviors, purchasing patterns, and interactions.
Involve your customers in product design, solicit their suggestions, and ask for their feedback on prototypes, using collaborative platforms and social networks.
Continuously improve the customer experience by leveraging the numerous methods of listening to and analyzing the voice of the customer now available: semantic analysis of comments made on social networks, real-time on-site observation, satisfaction surveys and cold statistics, predictive analysis of behavioral data, etc.
This personalization effort must be combined with an effort to rethink the messages and marketing pressure you will exert. Personalizing the customer experience increases the trust your customers place in you, and therefore their loyalty.
2. Be "responsive": master multi-channel to adapt to customer choices.
Consumers today have the possibility to access your products and services wherever they want, at the time they want, through the channel of their choice. Multichannel is no longer an option, but a reality.
Therefore, your entire company and all of your services must become "responsive"[II]:
Your strategy, first and foremost: adapt your offer according to the demands and new uses of your customers. Test small series, adjust and multiply.
Yourcustomer service, of course: after-sales service and technical support must be consistent (in terms of discourse and identity) and easily accessible by all means: from the website to the telephone, via chat, video tutorials and paper instructions. Adapt the messages and service delivery according to the media, but always with a concern for overall consistency of the customer experience.
Your services, finally: your customers like to order online and pick up in store or vice versa? Give them this option. Only a third of brands (34%) allow their customers to start a journey on one channel and finish it on another[III]. However, this practice is essential for better fluidity of thecustomer journey.
3. Foster a community of clients
Your customers are eager to be involved and want to share their experience! Don't believe it? However, in the age of collaborative consumption, and with digital word-of-mouth having a multiplied impact (both positive and negative...), there are real opportunities to integrate customer groups and unite them around shared emotions, passions, places, or desires.
The key to this community marketing is to encourage exchanges between consumers of a brand, around common values. Communication takes place between 'supporters' of a brand. Not only via social networks: also consider creating 'quality groups' with representative customers to constantly rethink and improve their purchasing experience.
Offering your customer community the opportunity to develop a connection based on passions or desires, and not just raw information about your products, is a very strong loyalty driver, much more powerful than loyalty cards. The customer feels « engaged » with the brand and therefore becomes your most effective ambassador.
Going beyond the reward logic linked to the level of purchase, creating a feeling of belonging to a group that loves and shares the same interests, developing a real community relationship... these are all levers that will engage the customer by your side.
4. "Delight" your customers: simplify and script the customer journey
A good customer journey is a simple journey! The trend, particularly with the contribution of new technologies, is towards consumer « relief » via journeys that are increasingly easy to understand.
According to the 3rd AFRC Customer Effort Barometer[I], across the 9 different sectors studied, 69% of the journeys assessed by French people did not require any particular effort.
A sign that brands are making progress in resolving issues. There is no shortage of examples of simplified purchasing processes, regardless of the channel used.
This reduction in customer effort through optimization of key steps in the customer journey helps to remove constraints that hinder purchase or limit loyalty. An efficient customer journey is a satisfying customer journey!
This wave of simplification will continue to intensify in the months and years to come with the arrival of connected objects. Because they are destined to enter consumers' homes, some connected objects will serve as a link, a bridge between the brand and its customers, to quickly resolve a problem, intervene, provide information... or reorder!
Enhancing the customer journey also sometimes involves small gestures, based on personalized marketing: your customers appreciate the small attentions you give them. A surprise box added to a package, a humorous message placed in an aisle, a unique ambient scent... These small touches will offer a surprising customer experience, a source of delight.
Hence – again – the need for particular attention to the proper use of collected data! Customers know they are entrusting you with personal data: they can be delighted by a relevant message sent at the right time... but conversely, an overly intrusive message, which shows a clumsy use of data, risks causing a resistant attitude.
5. Consider the customer as a true company « asset »
You must consider your client as an asset of your company, in the sense of a resource, in the financial sense of the term. The discourse heard, read and seen everywhere, which consists of « placing the client at the heart of concerns » must be translated into reality, because the impact of the customer experience on the acquisition and retention of customers, and therefore, in fine, on the revenues of your company is indeed real (as a reminder on the link between the quality of the customer experience and stock market performance of companies, reread our article: Stop the price cuts... Focus on Customer Experience!)
Companies that claim such a concern in their annual report and do not offer connected customer journeys, or do not use the customer data collected, are making empty statements that no one believes. Not even themselves.
How does a company truly demonstrate its willingness and ability to make the shift that positions the customer as an asset? Through projects and investments focused on improving the quality of thecustomerexperience (especially on the various topics covered previously) and by establishing, monitoring, and analyzing real performance indicators and return on investment.
The pursuit of continuous improvement of customer experience can only be achieved by adopting these indicators, which allow the company to adopt a strategy and make decisions based on facts. Quantify and qualify your efforts. Equip yourself with indicators to measure your progress, adapted to the objectives you are aiming for, to your sector of activity and to the maturity of your company in the face of customer experience.
[ii] Se dit d’un site internet au design responsive, c’est-à-dire qui a la faculté de s’adapter au terminal de lecture pour être consulté sur plusieurs supports différents.
For 10 years, KESTIO has been assisting companies – from SMEs to large corporations – in enhancing their Customer Experience to optimize customer loyalty and acquisition. We offer tailored support programs and exclusive methods to:
Traditional outreach methods (such as 'cold' calling) are facing increasingly diminishing returns. Digital channels (especially social media) can help counterbalance this trend and boost the entire sales process, provided you effectively integrate this new component into your sales process. So, should you choose between traditional methods and digital techniques? And how can you best leverage the latter to generate leads?
Here are some answers based on our operational expertise and feedback from our clients.
Sales process: traditional methods are no longer sufficient
Have you developed sales techniques internally? Do you have "recipes" for generating leads that are known to the sales team and deliver satisfactory results? Excellent. So why not stick to these methods? Because they are no longer enough. They are no longer sufficient to convince your contacts, who have become better educated in sales techniques and are sometimes resistant to "marketing" designed to generate mass demand. These classic techniques are sometimes no longer sufficient to meet contact and sales objectives, or, when they do, they involve high costs and a significant time investment.
The number of appointments obtained through phone calls is steadily declining. The ever-decreasing costs of telecommunications for businesses, and the proliferation of prospecting services, generate a flood of calls that we all often try to avoid. In addition, the information used for these calls is poorly tracked and very short-term oriented.
The way buyers operate has evolved. The internet has become a preliminary or parallel step to any 'real-world' interaction. People gather information on blogs and official websites, and 'Google' a whole host of things. Ignoring this new step in the customer journey is doomed to failure.
Companies with a clear distinction between the marketing department, which generates leads, and a salesperson who exploits and converts these leads, lack an overall vision. Interaction strategies must be considered as early as possible to bear fruit and provide quality leads. We must move beyond a simple view of the salesperson who is 'fed' by marketing. They must become involved from the pre-sales stage.
So-called classic sales methods should not be abandoned. Simply be aware that they are no longer sufficient to achieve results objectives or even to stand out in an increasingly competitive environment. To improve the financial efficiency of prospecting, and rediscover that little extra that makes the difference, you need to integrate digital technology and consider new customer behaviors. This effort to digitalize the sales process will initiate a transition towards a more radical change that is inevitable in the long term. Don't see digital as a constraint or as your enemy! Classic and digital methods are complementary. The new methods are an evolution of the classic methods; the entire profession does not need to be reinvented. On the other hand, work needs to be done on the substance so that the focus is no longer solely on the brand and its products, but rather on the benefits provided to the customer.
Initiate a "commercial digitalization" process: essential steps in the journey
Revamping sales processes, touching them, and evolving them by injecting a bit of digital (website that encourages contact requests, white papers, mobile application, etc.) is the most difficult part. This digitization has a fundamental effect on how tasks are performed, and thus permanently changes certain processes.
Let's take an example: if you embark on a process of better lead qualification, and you decide to use predictive analysis, it will be easy to implement the tools that enable these changes. However, it will be much more difficult to change the way your employees use this data and integrate it into their daily tasks.
So you need a roadmap. A shift in mindset internally should allow priorities to change: everyone needs to get involved and think about customer benefits and the real expectations of consumers. How do you launch this transformation? Through change management support and gradual implementation, according to the characteristics of your company.
Start with a clear definition of lead segmentation, criteria, and the scoring process, as well as scenarios and conversion funnels to qualify these leads and deliver them to the sales team at the right time (maturity, progress in the purchasing decision-making process);
Define key performance indicators (KPIs) for better monitoring of these different stages. Take care of the internal processes of tracking, storing, and using contact data. This is a raw material not to be neglected, and you must ensure its quality.
Define lead assignment procedures and "transmission" to salespeople according to criteria specific to your business.
However, digitizing sales processes is not limited to defining procedures and operating diagrams. It also requires integrating a "marketing" approach upstream (i.e., pre-sales) and involving sales representatives. They must be present at all stages. They have knowledge of the products and customers, as well as a concrete vision of the needs. They must be involved in defining the themes and "content" intended to attract and engage leads. This represents a real shift in paradigm and way of working for them.
Support should be offered to them in this context (training, very educational explanation sessions, group work between departments) to facilitate adaptation. It is necessary to communicate more than usual to explain the changes in progress and their purpose. Comprehensive support is needed, which mobilizes the various internal stakeholders, in the service of commercial efficiency and the customer experience... digitized!
We can see that lead development strategies via interactions on social networks or websites gradually bring a future customer closer to the company in prospecting. This approach does not conflict with the traditional approach of making appointments by telephone or canvassing in the field. Salespeople must be an integral part of the digitalization process and the addition of new tools that do not break their profession but, on the contrary, help them to reclaim it. Digital technology makes it possible more than ever to maintain conversion with its prospect over time, to build a relationship over time and to adapt to all expectations, whether the interlocutor is already mature or in the discovery phase. A 'better' way of working and winning orders that you must explain to your salespeople to win their support.
Selling is a sport. It requires behavioral and methodological skills and demands perseverance. An external perspective through a coach (most often, the sales manager themselves) allows you to reconnect with performance and/or improve an already established sales technique: we have observed a 20 to 40% improvement in the results of sales representatives following the implementation of on-the-ground coaching.
Why is this type of support in real-world situations essential to your teams' success? What involvement does it require from you as a Manager or Sales Director? And above all, how can you make it successful in order to reap all the benefits? Here, we provide you with some keys to success based on our field coaching assignments.
1- Field sales coaching must be integrated into the company's recurring practices
In a manager's role, field sales coaching should be a major practice. It is indeed the only way for a sales manager to be in touch with the practices of their sales teams "in real life", but also with the reality they face on a daily basis: that of their customers' expectations. In terms of management, this is an essential complement to the monitoring of quantified indicators and the reporting carried out by the sales representatives themselves, and enables much better results to be achieved.
To do this, field coaching must be established, almost "automated," with regular check-ins and follow-up appointments. Field coaching should not be used on an ad hoc basis, but rather as part of an ongoing process to provide the most beneficial effects.
Also, be aware of strong reactions if coaching is only "sprinkled" occasionally. Some salespeople may tend not to accept this coaching, potentially perceived as a "punishment" if it is not integrated into the company's logical processes. Out of ego, and fear of external scrutiny, rejection reactions are common. These are limited if the support is presented as an advantage offered to all (see the next point), and not as a patch in case of underperformance.
2- Coaching should apply to all salespeople
The mistake made by many companies is to "reserve" sales coaching for only some of the sales representatives. However, this support is for everyone. Whether it's someone in the process of integrating into the company, a sales representative who is well-established and achieving good results, or someone experiencing a slump, coaching can and should support them all in their mission.
But what's the point of supporting the best? Isn't there a risk of over-qualification? Remember that some salespeople are good because they have genuinely good practices and solid experience, but others may show good performance thanks to a combination of factors and a significant amount of luck.
Personalized coaching aims to identify the influence of these irrational and unknown factors, to build upon already excellent performance with solid and lasting elements.
Even the best need a coach! Take Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, as an example. He uses a coach because he knows he must do everything to maintain his excellent performance level and even improve in certain areas. He leaves nothing to chance.
This also applies to sales representatives. Supporting an already good sales representative will help them confirm their strengths and work on their areas of difficulty, helping them become even better.
Coaching is therefore not only there to point out areas for improvement, but it also serves to develop the confidence and commitment of the people being supported. A true HR tool!
3- Coaching isn't there to help you "win" deals... at least not immediately! 😉
Sales coaching involves helping someone progress, regardless of the outcome of a sales meeting or a negotiation. The goal is to capitalize on what is seen and heard, exchange ideas, and find ways to improve. Whether the order is secured or not is secondary here… unlike pure sales support, which is when a manager supports an employee to help them win a contract.
Don't get the wrong objective. When you are in a coaching approach, disconnect from the commercial aspect and the purpose of the order. Bringing back the contract is not the priority in this context! Not always obvious: you will attend appointments that go badly without being able to intervene, and therefore potentially lose business... Difficult and frustrating? Yes, but that's precisely what will allow you to identify the mistakes made by a salesperson to prevent them from happening again!
You have to accept losing a deal and missing an appointment, to be able to give your salesperson the means to win the next 10 deals alone!
Do you find it hard to stay calm and not intervene? You need to work on yourself to remain in observation, because intervening at this stage would be counterproductive and would disrupt the coaching.
4- Coaching must have a specific objective
Before achieving tangible results and providing relevant solutions to salespeople's needs, coaching must have a specific objective. This could involve improving their sales pitch, refining client interactions, or enhancing physical presence. Regardless, it's crucial to communicate the goals to achieve and the areas that will be observed with the salesperson beforehand. Without this clarity, they may feel globally evaluated.
Furthermore, we need to move away from the classic evaluation scheme with the post-visit report that lists the negatives and the good points. There are techniques for better exchange, initiating discussion and prompting questioning. Delivering what is wrong all at once does not help a person become aware of their faults and correct them. It is essential to question a person properly to get them to express knowledge.
5- Coaching must be a long-term commitment
Coaching must be integrated into a continuous process (which relates to our first point) and, to that end, leave a trace. It is important to formalize observations in writing and record them in a reference document. This will serve as a common thread to track the evolution of objectives over time, and remind everyone of the progress of the support. Because words fly away but writings remain, take the time necessary for this step. This will also allow you to measure the progress made and to evaluate the scope and results of this support over time, which represents a real investment. So it's not a waste of time, on the contrary!
This is also an important point for the motivation of the sales representative, who can refer to the elements put down on paper: not only will they be able to recall the concepts discussed, but they will also have the satisfaction of seeing that they benefit from real follow-up and genuine involvement from their manager in order to succeed.
And how do you help your sales representatives achieve their goals?
Did you know that 95% of your success is linked to your state of mind? To learn how to manage your emotional load more effectively, discover the Triad method in this webinar:
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