{"id":31427,"date":"2023-05-23T05:53:06","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T05:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/perpetos.com\/?post_type=reference&p=31427"},"modified":"2023-05-24T15:22:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T15:22:41","slug":"from-purchasing-a-crm-to-a-commercial-excellence-trajectory","status":"publish","type":"reference","link":"https:\/\/perpetos.com\/en\/reference\/from-purchasing-a-crm-to-a-commercial-excellence-trajectory\/","title":{"rendered":"From purchasing a CRM to a commercial excellence trajectory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Pieter<\/figure>
\n

Lecot has a brilliant track record, currently with around 85,000 buying customers. These impressive figures suggest there is no immediate need for a commercial excellence trajectory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

That\u2019s right, we\u2019ve already come a long way. Our network of stores has expanded significantly and our revenue is continuing to rise steeply \u2013 largely thanks to our sales department\u2019s dedicated efforts, among other things. The question is how to maintain this growth and prepare the organization for the future. When I started at Lecot, I tried to have as many in-house conversations as possible, despite the pandemic. I wanted to get a feel for how the organization was structured, where there were still opportunities, and what challenges everyone was facing.<\/p>\nPieter Morisse<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

We want to tap into new sales opportunities by approaching our customers more as a team.<\/em><\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The conclusion of these discussions was that there is still a lot of growth potential. This expansion does not necessarily need to be synonymous with more stores, however. You can also achieve growth by approaching the customer in a different way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

There are still a lot of cross-selling opportunities, for example. Our sales representatives do everything they can to serve \u2018their\u2019 customers as well as possible using their own methods and expertise, which has worked brilliantly so far, but customer expectations are changing. In the future, we want to approach our customers more as a team, using a mix of expertise to help us tap into more new sales opportunities.<\/p>\nPieter Morisse<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

CRM technology can be a great help in mapping out and realizing customers\u2019 full potential \u2013 as long as there is a uniform approach. Otherwise, it becomes an expensive investment that yields little or no results. But achieving \u2018one way of working\u2019 like this is not easy within a large organization, such as Lecot. And that\u2019s why they enlisted the help of external partner, Perpetos. The initial request was to support Lecot in preparing the tender and selecting the CRM supplier, and helping to clarify the objectives of the CRM tool and outlining a change trajectory for its implementation was an essential part of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CRM implementations often follow a very process-oriented approach, but sales is not a linear process.<\/em><\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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CRM implementations are often led by IT people with no sales experience. They work in a very process-oriented way and think in linear processes, which then becomes the accepted way of working. But sales is not a linear process, and I also don\u2019t want to create any barriers by getting rid of the way our people have always worked, and worked well, in the past. With Pascal Persyn, chief strategist at Perpetos, we brought in someone who knows sales inside out. He helped us to formulate answers to the core questions of where we want to go as an organization, and what the CRM system needs to be able to do to make this possible.<\/p>\nPieter Morisse<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Asking these core questions ensures that a CRM implementation starts from a future perspective rather than the existing situation. <\/strong>Morisse believes this is a crucial factor: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Rolling out a new CRM system takes time and money. So it needs to be future-proof if you want your investment to pay off, and this can only be achieved by starting from the \u2018to be\u2019 rather than the \u2018as is\u2019 situation. We didn\u2019t just want to improve the current approach; we wanted to shift from thinking solely in terms of revenue to also considering potential \u2013 from \u2018my\u2019 customer to \u2018our\u2019 customer. This allows us to increase our performance in a structed way and get the most out of our commercial resources, and the new CRM system must be able to support us in this.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Creating this thought exercise meant we could integrate the \u2018to be\u2019 situation in the tender, which added lots of value. On Perpetos\u2019 recommendation, we drew up the requirements in a very pragmatic way, with a concrete part on one hand and an open question on the other \u2013 giving potential suppliers the opportunity to show what they could do. And, because the Dutch-speaking aspect was important to us, we ultimately ended up with only two eligible suppliers. They both scored well on the first part, but the open demo strongly suggested Salesforce as the better partner overall. CRM is their core business, after all \u2013 and you can tell.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We opted for a Minimum Viable Product instead of a big bang.<\/em><\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is still a long way to go between selecting a supplier and rolling out the new CRM, let alone optimizing its use. Perpetos\u2019 expertise proved invaluable in this regard as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

We got together to find a basic way of working that fitted in with Lecot\u2019s current approach \u2013 a Minimum Viable Product, let\u2019s say, rather than a big bang. This ensures we can bridge the gap between the \u2018as is\u2019 and the \u2018to be\u2019 more gradually, and avoid people leaving. Pascal had various conversations with sales directors to assess their drive and business, to help determine what an MVP should include. The input from these meetings was also important for putting together the pilot group, and this group then helped us to prepare and implement the rollout in stages. As well as spreading the investment over time, this also makes it easier to get people fully on board with the change process.<\/p>\nPieter Morisse<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

2 important takeaways<\/em><\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The rollout is still ongoing, but Morisse already has two takeaways that can help other companies looking to set up a CRM project: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Be patient (but not too patient):<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though we opted for an MVP instead of a big bang, it still took longer than expected to get the pilot group fully on board. Ultimately, it\u2019s about changing a mindset, and that\u2019s always difficult. In this case, you have to get rid of the idea that CRM is a reporting tool that allows you to check whether your salespeople are using their time effectively every hour. It\u2019s about customer contacts, so you have to coach your people much more from an opportunity perspective rather than an activity perspective. That\u2019s why, in parallel with training on the new CRM tool\u2019s functionalities, we also coached our sales leaders in changing their approach. And we worked at different speeds: some got on board straight away, and others needed a bit longer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Surround yourself with the right partners:<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe success from rolling out a CRM tool doesn\u2019t come from going live with the software, but from everyone being able to use it effectively. And that\u2019s why you need partners who feel involved \u2013 not just working towards launching the tool so they can check it off their list, but thinking together with you and regularly checking in along the way to get feedback and make adjustments where necessary.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Pieter Morisse joined Lecot as Deputy CEO at the end of 2020, changing the CRM system was one of his first tasks. He gladly took on the assignment because it would allow him to learn how the organization worked right from the off. He had one condition, however: it should not only be about choosing and implementing a CRM package, but also about setting up a commercial excellence trajectory. 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