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At a Glance
TAK Products and Services (TAK), a leading interior brand with local and regional presence enhances employee engagement with customers through active learning and discussions with internal and external stakeholders resulting in an increased ability to confidently engage customers as well as increased sales targets by 21%.In support of this objective, TAK embarked on a Learning Enterprise Alliance (LEA) project under the NACE@IAL initiative in 2019.
Achievements
The project team together with support from Management and inputs from IAL's Certified Workplace Learning Specialist, achieved the following:- Increased ability and confidence to persuade customers to use products. For example, among the newly joined sales executives, Natalie is able to present to more than 10 customers confidently and persuasively and Jun Hao is able to independently resolve issues with customers.
- Achievement of increased customer engagement resulting in higher sales targets by 21% in the month of August 2020.
"TAK joined LEA as it aligns with our company's customer-first approach and continuous learning culture."
Mr. Tan Aik Koon Andrew, Chairman and Managing Director
Challenges
Being part of the Trade and Connectivity industry, specifically Wholesale Trade, selling to key customer segments such as Contractors, Architects and Designers with differing scale and scope of projects was a challenge, as multiple smaller players are all competing for the same market share of customers.To increase sales, TAK hired more employees but there was no direct translation to increased sales or market share. The low sales figures despite higher headcount was an indicator of weak customer satisfaction and engagement.
Hence, it is imperative for TAK to maintain and expand market share through enhanced customer engagement and experience for customer retention and sales (as it is more cost effective to retain than acquire new customers) through the use of technology coupled with enhanced soft and hard skills of sales employees.
Interventions
The project team organised sharing sessions to discuss and evaluate better customer management interventions:- Discussion with team members to learn through weekly sharing of common questions, concerns, answers and evaluate better customer management techniques
- Evaluation of customer feedback and proposal of suggestions for improvements
- Achievement of better customer engagement through active learning with customers, vendors and partners by asking questions and reporting in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system or team meetings
- Empowerment of staff to enhance knowledge via online resources to meet online learning KPI