CRM hits the headlines at Publiprint
Publiprint is the advertising arm of the Delaroche group. It sells advertising space for all the group’s publications. Publiprint called on Selligent to inject a dose of professionalism and efficiency in its relations with clients.
Michel ConyGeneral Secretary
“Each department had its own approach and they needed to be harmonised. This was one of the key benefits of implementing the Selligent solution”
“Making the teams more proficient is just as important as the ROI per se. Today, I believe that not having a CRM tool is taking the risk of being unprofessional in front of a client or prospect. And to be unprofessional implies the risk of losing a certain number of contracts – in the face of increasingly virulent competition.”
Publiprint recently became part of the Est Républicain concern, France’s leading regional daily press group. It manages all advertising space for the Progrès, the Dauphiné Libéré and the Télé Lyon Métropole, as well as all the thematic supplements and Web sites of the Delaroche group. The advertising space offering is very broad, ranging from small ads to television spots, from job ads to corporate advertising, and targets a disparate audience, from individuals to major companies. Advertising represents 40% of receipts for the group’s regional dailies, that is, an annual revenue of around 90 million euros. One of Alain Champagne’s first decisions following his appointment as Publiprint president, was to equip his sales force with a CRM solution to render its client contact more professional. Michel Cony, general secretary in charge of sales administration, management and IS, was in a hurry to see a CRM tool installed. It was to Selligent that Publiprint turned for its solution.
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A tough choice
Cony recalls, “we had a very precise idea of what functions we needed. We also knew what our competitors were doing with their systems. But we did not have formal specifications. Making the right choice was difficult. All the CRM suppliers will tell you that their solution can be adapted to your needs. But how were we to know which one would be best suited to cover our needs and be the easiest to adapt? It’s not so easy to discern the differentiating factors, and we had no landmarks.” Finally, three suppliers were short-listed – a specifically press-oriented tool, a regional solution and Selligent. Selligent won the bid. In part, because its solution was already installed with other advertising companies – which meant that Publiprint could see it at work in a context similar to their own. In part, also, because it enabled other units within the group to cover needs which went beyond the sale of advertising space – distribution and subscription management, for example.
Very reassuring
Once the executive committee had made its decision towards the end of 2003, a project steering committee was set up to define the configuration needs. Under the leadership of Michel Cony, the steering committee was made up of IT specialists, the sales directors, two departmental directors, two advertising managers (responsible for selling advertising) and the marketing director. It sat for a sum total of 10 days. “It was during these meetings that we determined the real specifications, in the presence of the actual users,” Cony points out. “And that allowed us to come up with a tool that was perfectly suited to our needs. The project manager designated by Selligent had an excellent grasp of the product. So he was able to guide the committee in its considerations and its choices. By listening carefully to our needs and by helping us to articulate them, he succeeded in getting a consensus on each of the points. That was very reassuring.” By August 2004, work on the configuration was complete. Roll-out started in the October. And since February 2005, all the Publiprint sales people, office-based and mobile (that is, 285 employees out of a total workforce of 360), have been equipped with the system.
Harmonising sales approaches – a must
Above and beyond the classical aspects of contact management and client follow-up, Publiprint uses Selligent to prepare and manage its Sales Action Plan. This consists in defining a target population of clients and prospects with a view to achieving a specified communications budget in a given month. “This was no doubt the most delicate part to implement,” Cony emphasises. “Effectively because it had an impact on the sales approach. The thing is, each department had its own approach and they needed to be harmonised. This was one of the key benefits of implementing the Selligent solution.” Specifically, the advertising manager prepares his activity a few months in advance. He makes phone calls, sets up appointments and signs contracts. Some actions have a knock-on effect, and all these actions, as well as all contracts, are stored in Selligent. Then, the sales management software takes over and processes the order, thanks to a bi-directional interface. The interface also allows already existing client data to be transferred to the Selligent database, as well as statistics on billing and reservations. Other than its Sales Action Plan, Publiprint also uses Selligent to manage competitive media analysis.
Main obstacle: resistance to change
Even though the project was not set up in any way to monitor the advertising managers’ work schedules, Publiprint had to take time out to remove a few doubts and concerns – as in any CRM project. Cony explains that “we are all required to work just as much as before, if not more, in less time. Our objective was to enhance the effectiveness, proficiency and productivity of our employees by providing them with appropriate resources. But adopting such a system is not always smooth. It’s a constant effort, both to remind users of the benefits of the system and to convince new employees of its necessity.” For Publiprint, the schedule is no more than the result of actions taken by the employee. Similarly, the requests used by the departmental directors to follow up the business were designed to help the sales person progress, not to monitor him or her. The fact that the project had the full support of management and that users were involved in the steering committee contributed significantly to user adoption. Cony confirms that “today, the sales people are starting to appreciate the benefits of the tool. It is true that the time invested up front is considerable. It is also true that the pressure on the advertising managers does not exactly incite them to take the time to prepare months in advance. But they have to accept to invest a little time now, despite their tight schedules, to gain a lot of time later. Most employees have now understood the why’s and wherefore’s of the new approach and have started to enjoy its benefits.
Defining targets: a simplified operation
At the end of 2005, Publiprint added a new brick to its solution to facilitate the definition of sales targets. As Cony explains, “in the past, the advertising managers’ targets were defined each year - in a rather outdated way - before being consolidated at group level. It was a laborious exercise, sometimes requiring figures to be inputted all over again. Thanks to Selligent, the sales people have taken control of the process by simulating targets for the following year. These are then discussed with their manager before being approved. Then comes consolidation of targets by department, and then at company level.”
The real ROI: making the teams more proficient
Publiprint has not made a precise estimate of the increase in productivity and revenue, because, for Cony, “the link between implementing a CRM solution and the growth in revenue is not always obvious. However, it is now fairly easy to see what issues and flaws would have occurred if we hadn’t introduced such a tool.” The best way to listen to clients is to store as much information as possible about their needs so that they do not have to repeat the same things each time they are contacted. Cony concluded by saying that “making the teams more proficient is just as important as the ROI per se. Today, I believe that not having a CRM tool is taking the risk of being unprofessional in front of a client or prospect. And to be unprofessional implies the risk of losing a certain number of contracts – in the face of increasingly virulent competition.”
