Data is the decisive resource in the digital age. In order to retain existing customers and win new ones, CWS is already relying on data-driven sales today. This means that customers can receive answers even before they have asked the question. The model: anchoring Service as a Solution in marketing and sales.
"We use data to better understand our customers, to target them better and to advise them even faster, more efficiently and more effectively," says Heike Seltmann, Director of Group Sales. "We are currently converting our sales to a hybrid way of working that combines digital and analogue. This allows us to serve all customers the way they want to be served." Many sales staff have already received training in this new way of working. Targeted address data supports the acquisition of new customers.
A prerequisite for data-driven sales is having all the customer data and assigning it to market segmentation and classification. This means that CWS assigns its customers to different target groups that are defined according to industry, geographical location, size, revenue or other characteristics. The advantage: customers who belong to the same target group are likely to have the same or similar needs and interests. "Segmentation therefore enables us to identify market opportunities at an early stage," says Adriana Nuneva, Chief Digital Officer and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer. "By analysing our target groups, we can inform CWS customers in advance and provide them with individual advice."
"We must not ask ourselves: What do we want?" explains Heike Seltmann. "We have to ask ourselves: What do the customers want? And they want to be addressed in the simplest way today, through their individually preferred channel." Adriana Nuneva adds: "We have to be where the customers are. That's why we are starting to communicate not just through one channel, but through a variety of channels." The collection and analysis of data that flows into CWS's enhanced CRM tool also helps with this. The new tool rests on newly set-up processes that have already been launched successfully in Switzerland. The German market is to follow by September.
In short: CWS' Sales Department is ready for the future. Because the best strategies are always based on solid data.