Information checkedInformation unaudited Information geprüft Information ungeprüft Efficient sales management with Salesforce

In June, we are entering a new era of efficiency and client satisfaction together: The introduction of Salesforce, a modern customer relationship management platform, will sustainably change the way we work. Find out more about the future of client

By Cornelia Zeh

Customer relationship management – CRM – helps companies to centrally manage all client interactions in sales and marketing in one place. After an intensive period of preparation, the time has come for us to introduce Salesforce in June. As a first step, Direct Clients Liechtenstein & Switzerland will receive Salesforce, followed by other client segments. What is this project about, what preparatory work has been done in recent months, and what does the introduction mean for our client advisors? These are the questions we asked Joschka Kleinmann, Multi Channel Business Analyst for Salesforce, and Edi Zorc, Head of Direct Clients.

Joschka, you have been working on the CRM project since 1 September 2023. From your perspective, what have been the greatest challenges?

The greatest challenge was certainly that there was little internal Salesforce knowledge. This knowledge was conveyed by external partners, who first had to get to know the bankʼs processes and our systems. We were able to solve this problem thanks to our internal Avaloq experts, however, who passed on their knowledge and learned Salesforce themselves during that process.

What are the specific advantages of Salesforce in terms of efficiency?

Salesforce offers the crucial advantage of being able to process customer queries efficiently and transparently. It constitutes a new, constantly improving ecosystem in our bank. Through continuous development, Salesforce is becoming faster and more powerful all the time. Salesforce is also gradually being extended to all of sales, which brings additional efficiency gains for all front-office employees. This not only gives us the opportunity to serve clients effectively, but also provides an ideal basis for the step-by-step integration of AI applications, which offers numerous interesting opportunities in Salesforce.

What opportunities does Salesforce offer for our sales teams?

Salesforce lets us view most client information at a glance in an intuitive environment. From a technical standpoint, this simplifies the daily work of the sales team. Training new employees also becomes simpler: In the long term, they will no longer have to be trained on the complex Avaloq system to the same extent.

How are client advisors being trained?

The client advisors working with Salesforce are trained by internal bank employees. A Salesforce expert and a power user from each team will lead the training sessions. During training, specific cases from the departments will be run through, and it will be shown interactively how to solve these customer queries in Salesforce. Q&A sessions and explanatory videos on the intranet will also be offered.

Edi, client care will change with the introduction of Salesforce. Can you give us a few examples?

Client care as such will not change. Our ambition has always been and will continue to be to offer our clients high-quality service, both inbound customer service and when providing advice. Salesforce will provide our client advisors with crucial support in implementing this ambition more easily and efficiently in future. In Salesforce, all relevant client information and client interaction will be quickly and clearly accessible, forming the basis for an excellent client experience. This comprehensive customer view is one of the most important elements of any CRM system, including Salesforce.

What new opportunities does Salesforce offer client advisors?

Client advisors have access to the client history with just a few clicks. They can see where, when, and with whom the client has had contact at the bank, what their concerns were, and what was discussed. They can also see at a glance what is currently pending and which customer queries are open. Salesforce also offers the option of graphically displaying client groups (via authorisations and powers of attorney).

In sales, Salesforce will significantly increase effectiveness and efficiency for providing advice and closing sales opportunities – i.e. next best action.

Are there functions in Salesforce that help you to process customer queries faster?

By simplifying complex processes, Salesforce will certainly help to process certain customer queries more quickly. This is thanks especially to the fact that Salesforce bundles the various input channels such as telephone, email, e-banking messages, etc., optimising the response to customer queries. But I think the greatest advantage is in the more comprehensive advice and the more targeted exploitation of potential. This is thanks to the bundled information available to client advisors in Salesforce.

Where do you see the greatest challenges when introducing Salesforce?

This summer, a minimum viable product (MVP) will be introduced. This first release will by no means exploit the full potential of Salesforce, and much will also be new and unfamiliar. But it will be the beginning of a journey in which the work of our client advisors will receive better and better support over time. Expectation management is accordingly a very important task. In April and May, we will be providing all Salesforce users with detailed training so that they are optimally prepared when they start using Salesforce.

What are you looking forward to?

For years, we have been talking about introducing a modern CRM system that efficiently supports our advisors in creating an excellent client experience in service and advice. In June 2024, we will finally reach the first milestone with the introduction of Salesforce in our direct client business – thatʼs something Iʼm looking forward to!