As the advertising arm of the Delaroche group, Publiprint 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. Publiprint has called on Selligent to inject a dose of professionalism and efficiency in its relations with clients.
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.
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."
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.
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."
Other than its Sales Action Plan, Publiprint also uses Selligent to manage competitive media analysis.
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."
CRM hits the headlines at Publiprint
Hintergrundinformationen
Selligent Unternehmensprofil
Selligent ist ein internationales Unternehmen, das hochleistungsfähige Lösungen für den Vertrieb, Marketing und Kundenservice bietet.
Der besondere Erfolg der Lösungen von Selligent bei den mehr als Anwendern ist das Ergebnis der intensiven Unterstützung durch Coaching und Training während der Implementierung sowie der flexiblen Konfigurationsmöglichkeiten der fortschrittlichen Web-basierten Technologie. Diese zwei Komponenten garantieren einen schnellen Return-on-Investment (ROI), eine hohe Anwenderakzeptanz und niedrige Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Selligent konnte, aufgrund dieser Vorteile, eine für die CRM-Branche außerordentlich hohe Kundenbindungsrate erzielen.
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International press Contacts:
- Patricia Duponcheel
- Selligent SA
- Tel:+32 71 25 80 80
- Fax:+32 71 25 80 90
- patricia.duponcheel@selligent.com
