Cutting Costs While Increasing
Sales: Giant Philips Lighting Employs ETI for Account
Management
Having thousands of customers might sound like
a blessing to today’s recession-pounded
companies, but managing the sales of such an
organization is a challenge of unparalleled
proportions. Just ask John Rooney, Director of
Sales Development for Philips Lighting Company.
Philips, like most companies, experiences the
80/20 rule, and salespeople are encouraged to
cultivate the larger opportunities. This leaves a
tremendous number of accounts in need of
attention. The solution: Tele-Sales Account
Management.
Counting Costs
"Having a full time sales representative
physically call on smaller volume customers in
extremely expensive, with costs of sales
currently running in the 6-9% range",
comments Rooney. "Perhaps even more
significant is that it is unnecessary. Our goal
was to move the management of those accounts to
another format."
Rooney was familiar with account management
techniques in a previous position, and set out to
install a similar system at Philips. Lacking the
human resources to staff a fully fledged
tele-sales department, he decided to outsource
the project. ETI Sales Support was selected
because of their sophisticated technology
capabilities and their ability to implement a
comprehensive Tele-Sales account management
program.
"There are hundreds of companies that can
perform telemarketing, but ETI was virtually
alone in offering dedicated high quality account
management, experience and skills."
Achieving Goals
According to Rooney, the goals for the first
year were to maintain volume and increase
profitability. While both goals have been
measurably achieved, maintaining volume continues
to be a challenge.
Cutting costs, maintaining quality, and
improving sales is usually textbook rhetoric at
Harvard Business School, but Rooney maintains
that all three have been achieved.
Maintaining Lifeline
"One of my major concerns at the onset of
our relationship with ETI was whether our
customers would be treated appropriately on the
telephone. The reality is that when our customer
calls 1-800-328-BULB, the phone is answered
“Philips Lighting” and ETI’s
trained personnel become Philips Lighting
professionals. Nothing is more important to me
because our customers are our lifeline. I had to
feel confident that they are being treated with
the highest degree of customer service and
respect."
Making Money
The costs of the program have been covered
every month by the sales volume generated,
according to Rooney. "It is a managed cost,
and one that I can chart against sales each
month. There is no question about it -- our
account management program with ETI is profitable
and productive for Philips."
