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 sustaining the 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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