Constructing a robust setup for top-notch sales and customer service with Salesforce
Lecot is a large Belgian player in building materials, tools, and related products. The family business has become a cornerstone in the construction industry, providing essential supplies to fuel the growth of diverse projects. Navigating the dynamic world of commerce, their sales processes run through multiple channels, such as brick-and-mortar stores, direct B2B sales, and their webshop.
As Lecot continues to shape the future of the building materials industry, it's dedicated to transforming its family business into a modern and digital organization with excellent customer service. This is where Customer Link got involved: by the implementation of Salesforce Sales and Service Cloud, we’re building them a 360° of their customers across departments and tools for top-notch customer service.
You can’t make bricks without straw
In the past, all sales and account management happened in Lecot’s ERP system. This system contains all data related to accounts, orders, opportunities, and sales numbers. But Lecot needed a more harmonized CRM system: Salesforce Sales Cloud.
The main objective of Sales Cloud is to streamline processes and to improve reports of sales performances. Furthermore, Lecot wanted to provide external salespeople with new and more in-depth insights to define a smart selling strategy before visiting or contacting the customer.
Sales Cloud building blocks
Let’s have a look at the different Sales Cloud tools we implemented:
→ Visit reports: Lecot representatives regularly visit customers. Thanks to a custom object called ‘Visit Report’ they can now document these visits and outline future steps. This not only creates a comprehensive record for each visit but also updates the visit frequency information, automatically calculating the next visit date.
→ Opportunities: Opportunity records track details about deals in progress, including which accounts they’re for, who the contacts are, and the number of potential sales. With the customer object ‘Site’, we created two distinct opportunity types: ‘Account Opportunities’, created for a single account and unrelated to a construction site, and ‘Site Opportunities’, which are always related to a site.
→ Salesforce Maps: Sales representatives utilize Salesforce Maps to efficiently plan weekly customer visits and visualize construction sites and their associated opportunities. With multiple layers, the tool displays customers to be visited soon, using marker colors to indicate overdue visits while preventing visit overlap by identifying customers scheduled by multiple representatives.
→ Reporting & CRM analytics: To uncover sales opportunities and speed up decision-making by sales representatives and managers, Lecot can now use Salesforce reports and several CRM analytics dashboards. We implemented these dashboards so representatives can find insights into personal performance, customer visits, conversions, and purchasing behavior of their customers in Salesforce.
Rome wasn’t built in a day
Thanks to the Salesforce Sales Cloud implementation, we created a more harmonized CRM system for Lecot. But our journey didn’t stop there! Next up: the implementation of Salesforce Service Cloud. The main objective of Service Cloud is to optimize Lecot’s customer service by:
→ Improving customer support and back-office for sales processes.
→ Smoothing communication with customers, partners, and suppliers.
→ Resolving inquiries and handling complaints by customers, partners, or suppliers.
→ Increasing customer and service satisfaction.
→ Obtaining more efficient internal processes.
The construction of a qualitative Service Cloud set-up
We started the Service Cloud project with a pre-discovery phase in which we challenged the scope of the Minimum Viable Product set-up to check if the requirements were sufficiently defined. This was followed by the discovery phase, in which we translated the requirements into use cases, high-level user stories, and scoping for the Service Cloud MVP.
After the (pre-)discovery phase, it’s time for the Salesforce Service Cloud implementation, executed through two sprints employing a collective testing approach. This way, we ensure the highest standards of quality assurance.
A dedicated gatekeeper oversees the quality of testing, while the adoption of a separate QA sandbox facilitates quick feedback to the customer during the development phase. Additionally, upholding the '4-eye principle' ensures a thorough examination of the setup's precision and reliability, and the inclusion of the Architect Board emphasizes impact management and efficient decision-making processes, adding a layer of strategic oversight to the implementation journey.
Let’s keep up the good work
Our commitment to supporting Lecot’s digital transformation and enhancing customer service remains strong. The combination of Salesforce Sales and Service Cloud is the key force driving Lecot towards a future filled with innovation, efficient sales, and outstanding customer service, shaping a successful digital journey ahead.
If you're looking to bring your CRM system and customer service to the next level, Customer Link stands as your trusted partner. Contact our experts and find out what Salesforce has to offer for your company.