€1.5 M+ saved in customer service

Too little known about the customer on the call

Pehkonen realized their sales and customer service were not running smoothly enough, threatening LocalTapiola’s core promise of service. Internal processes took too long and customer meetings were inefficient, because employees knew too little about their customers. Secondly, booking new meetings was an area where new sales opportunities were lost due to a lack of information. Jari Peltola, LocalTapiola Capital Region’s Customer Relations Director, is responsible for 70 insurance salespersons looking for new B2C and B2B customers, and daily more than 500 staff hours go into contacting new potential clients. Before Vainu, those hours were spent calling through static lists of companies, with the same pitch from company to company, and several daily possibilities were missed for lack of customer knowledge. For an experienced director, the situation was not sustainable.

Our first call resolution has gone up from 75 percent to around 90 percent. Also, our contact volume has gone down about 20 percent, and our net benefit can be counted in millions. And we’re just getting started.

Company data in BI and CRM, and segments worth calling

LocalTapiola spent three months pinpointing the issue and ultimately understood they simply needed more data on their customers. Vainu provides LocalTapiola with corporate data and analytics integrated with their own BI and CRM data, combined with an AI-powered technology called Vainu View, which provides a comprehensive look at the customer when contacted. As Pehkonen puts it, they now know how a customer’s business is going, what is written in the news, and whether new people are coming into the company, all of which gives them a lot to talk about. On the booking side, the solution was formed in cooperation with Vainu and LocalTapiola staff and started by identifying the most profitable target segments. Three distinct segments were identified, salespersons were interviewed to find the best ways to convince decision-makers in each, and Vainu CEO Mikko Honkanen wrote three pitches to fit every target group. Vainu’s company information then supplied the list of companies, divided into the new segments. Starting from the first week of the new way of booking, hit rate increased by 23 percent, which statistically means 40 more meetings per quarter for LocalTapiola Capital Region and an estimated 200,000 euros increased yearly revenue with the current closing hit rate. Contact volume has gone down about 20 percent.

The solution brings us completely new ways to take care of our customers’ needs.

Sakari Pehkonen, Financial Director at LocalTapiola