A subsidiary of the Saint-Gobain Group, a global leader in the housing and construction markets, Saint-Gobain Abrasives offers a wide range of abrasive solutions in many international markets for polishing, cutting and shaping all types of materials. With more than 10,000 employees and approximately sixty factories in 27 countries, the company is now a global leader in abrasives.
The context
In the spring of 2020, the health crisis linked to Covid-19 and the protocol for resuming operations at Saint-Gobain Abrasifs disrupted the customer relationship culture within the Group.
Since remote customer relations are now preferred, the sales forces, which have historically been attached to being close to customers, have been forced to severely limit their travel.
The Saint-Gobain Abrasifs commercial department therefore wanted to help sales teams quickly adapt their sales techniques and methods to reengage their customers remotely.
The objectives
In the face of this crisis situation, talenco proposed to support the Saint-Gobain Abrasifs sales representatives in three axes to better manage the transition from a human relationship in person to a digital relationship at a distance:
- Reestablishing the relationship with their customers remotely after the end of the lockdown,
- Reengage customers remotely and help them envision the next few weeks,
- Renew their sales techniques to finalize sales via videoconference.
Our support
The talenco team designed and implemented a training program for Saint-Gobain Abrasifs. 7 tailor-made webinars, each lasting 2 hours, on 4 complementary topics:
Each 2-hour virtual class was conducted live on the Zoom platform by a specialized consultant drawn from our community of experts.
Concrete deliverables (interview templates, practical guides, personalized action plan…) were handed over to the participants at the end of each module.
In total, More than 50 sales representatives, These groups of 10 people were divided into groups to promote learning and interactions, and they were accompanied throughout this process in June 2020.
The results
The device proposed by talenco has made it possible to lift the brakes on sales people around the remote customer relationship, by adapting their prospecting and sales techniques to a « remote » to continue to be effective in a context of crisis.
Our support has also enabled questioning the «rituals» established over many years Between the sales teams and their clients. Salespeople in particular have become aware of the relevance of a customer interview via videoconference, rather than in person, at certain stages of the customer relationship.
Thus, the commercial profiles at Saint-Gobain Abrasifs were able to be implemented new remote client rituals, now permanent, With time and productivity gains, but also increased well-being for the teams.
« Thanks to this training, I was able to continue to achieve the development goals I had set before the Covid crisis with some of my distributors.«
Pascal, sector manager
« This training has reinforced my approach to working with my clients over the phone since the beginning of the lockdown. It will be very useful if, for time constraints, my client is unable to see me in person.«
Tony, sector manager
Our solution for Saint-Gobain Abrasifs
Course «Re-engage your customers and conduct a sales interview via videoconference»
