Better customer engagement using a rep-first CRM

Quick hit summary

The problem: VP of North American Sales, Andrea Eckberg knew there was work to be done at Thibaut Designs – and this started with selecting the perfect CRM for her sales team.

The solution: Knowing 100% rep adoption was the only way to success, Andrea saw Map My Customers as the CRM solution that would be easiest for the reps to use and adopt.

The results: Thibaut now has a system that tracks customer engagement and rep activity. Reps see more accounts, leadership has better visibility, and Andrea gets to stay closer to the customer journey.

The problem

Andrea Eckberg was ready for a career change. But not for the reasons you might guess. She loved her current role as a regional sales manager for a home furnishings company. She was comfortable and happy with her team, her leadership supported her and she had a great work-life balance. But something about the role at Thibault Designs called to her.

“I had a real, once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity where I could roll up my sleeves and really make an impact for positive change,” Andrea says.

And roll up her sleeves she did – because there was work to be done.

“We had a lot of challenges: our service wasn’t stellar, we had a lot of frustrated designer-clients,” Andrea explains.

“We’re a very transactional business. We know the more you show up, in front of a designer, face to face, the more successful you are. So, we really had an opportunity to define what the client journey should be.”

Unfortunately for Andrea, however, there was no CRM in place for her to track what that client journey was for her to improve it.

“When I got to Thibaut, there was no CRM. I had never worked for a company that didn’t have a CRM. I had no idea what to do without a CRM to organize and keep our team on task.”

But she knew the goal: define the ideal customer journey.

Now, she needed a system to measure her ideal customer engagement metrics:

What interactions lead to success?
How many interactions?
To which customers?
Are these the right customers?
Are we meeting them at the right frequency?

So, Andrea’s challenge was two-fold:

Define what the ideal customer journey with Thibaut should be.
Get a system in place for measuring that journey using customer engagement metrics as the barometer.

The solution

“I knew right away that Map My Customers was going to be the easiest to adopt. I was adamant that we needed 100% adoption from day one. There was no other way for success. Map My Customers was an easy choice for me. I knew my team would embrace it from day one and they did.”

Andrea had leadership buy-in on a CRM implementation when she started, so she took the responsibility of choosing the right CRM seriously. She had worked with other CRMs in the past, but knew Map My Customers was the right choice immediately.

Knowing 100% rep adoption was the only way to success, Andrea saw Map My Customers as the CRM solution that would be easiest for the reps to use and adopt.

As Andrea points out, “You need to be very clear about what the benefit is for the rep personally, otherwise adoption will not be where you need it to be.” Andrea knew Map My Customers would bring value to the rep first. “Something as simple to use as Map My Customers gives our reps time back in their day. Anyone in sales knows the most valuable thing is time and we never have enough of it!”

With the choice made, Andrea put Map My Customers in the hands of her sales team.

Realizing a crawl, walk, run approach was best, she let reps just use the tool with no requirements for the first 6 months. Then, Andrea and the leadership team introduced requirements slowly: “We now track conversation quality and quantity across our entire team.

With this tracking in place and consistent, Thibaut now tracks KPIs that are not only measurable, but also coachable.

The results

In short, Map My Customers has transformed the Thibaut sales team. Reps not only use the app, but enjoy using it.

One of Andrea’s reps – who has handled many CRMs before – said (with a smile), “This is the best tool I’ve ever had. It doesn’t feel like additional work, it feels like a tool that makes your job easier.”

There are three important aspects that help Thibaut’s reps strategically attack their territory.

Pin colors that designate sales volume of individual designers and showrooms. This makes it easy for reps to see how their A, B and C level accounts are performing and growing.
The routing tool helps new reps get around their territory more effectively.
The Lead Finder tool highlights new designers and showrooms in a territory. This was so important for Thibaut because designers tend to switch firms or open their own agencies frequently.

What this has all meant for Thibaut is trackable customer engagement.

Reps see more accounts, leadership has better visibility, and Andrea gets to stay closer to the customer journey.

As Andrea says, “I can stay close to the customer, close to the designer and funnel those insights back to leadership teams.”

While your sales team might not be visiting interior design firms, if they’re going out in the field, they need the right tools to do their job better. Book a demo with our product team today to see how Map My Customers can fit into your outside sales operations.