Overview of the Situation
The brand was moving from an enterprise position to now providing products aimed more at consumers however had to change their positioning to engage individuals to invest in them. Our field team were very capable in representing the brand to everyone they met, however there was now a need to change the language and way the portfolio was sold.
The Problem They Faced
Whilst the core proposition was a simple one, the solution itself was more complex. The brand had only three products in a market of around 100 similar items. The challenge was to demystify the brand for store teams so that they were able to present and offer the products to the customer without fear. The hardest point was giving them the skills to ask customer the best questions to get them into the thought process about our clients’ brand.
The Causes of the Problem
The complexity of the product set up and the heritage as an enterprise product made the potential leap into the consumer world quite a scary one. Sales team in stores loved the brand and the portfolio but initially struggled to see how their excitement would be matched by general customers who might perceive the product as too complex or too much versus their requirements.
The Impact of the Problem
Failure to reduce the perceived complexity in the product, combined with a lack of ability to engage customers with the ecosystem would result in a loss of potential sales as well as a lot of wasted investment in consumer marketing. This in turn would result in an inability to grow volume, value and share against competitors who were innovating at a similar speed.
The Promise / Plan
We agreed to:
- Design, develop and implement a strategy that trained store teams on the proposition for consumers
- Work to reduce the customer journey and avoid presenting the offer as complex
- Deliver the training message in a simple 3-4 step process
- Get the same message delivered across every retail outlet covered, across Europe, within six weeks
The Outcome
Our process enabled us to:
- Increase the potential to sell for store teams from ~3% to 100% of our client brands using just three customer questions
- Standardise the marketing message across Europe
- Reduce the mystique of the brand, making it a leading consumer tech business
- Set the scene for multiple double-digit growth over the next five years
