Slashing lead times and reducing cost-per-sale for Ireland's largest telco operator

“The PSI platform was an instant improvement, not only are our reps better equipped, but I now have instant insight into sales. I can see which bundles are selling well, which regions are hitting their targets and the progress of orders. All in real time. Ultimately using PSI has helped us reduce the cost of each sale.”

Overview

Founded in 1999, Eir is Ireland’s largest telecommunications operator. Their extensive portfolio of includes mobile, landline and broadband telecoms services for residential and business customers.

Working in partnership with an outsourced marketing and sales organisation, Eir operate a network of 70 field sales reps, across six geographic regions.

The Problem

  • Paper forms took 24 to 48 hours to arrive back at head office
  • Customers had to be re-verified by phone once the paperwork arrived at head office
  • Sales process was time intensive, costly and prone to error

The field sales team is responsible for converting leads and signing up new residential customers to one of Eir’s telecoms packages. The six regional managers would assign a batch of leads to their team, and each rep would make a house call to complete the relevant paperwork.

The paper-based application was relatively quick to complete while on site, but the process slowed to a crawl as soon as the rep left the customer’s house. Forms took 24 to 48 hours to arrive back at head office — an unacceptable delay for customers expecting their new telecoms service to begin quickly.

There were further complications when it came to processing direct debit details. Although customers completed the relevant details as part of the sign-up process, they would have to be re-verified by phone once the paperwork arrived at head office. The entire process was time intensive, costly and prone to error as information was entered into Eir Billing, the contract management platform used to track customer contracts and accounts.

The Solution

Deciding that the paper-based system was preventing the field sales team from achieving maximum productivity, a management decision was taken to replace it with an electronic equivalent — PSI. Issued with Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets, giving Eir reps instant access to survey and sales tools.

Outcomes

  • Connection lead time reduced from 48+ hours to 25 minutes
  • Significant reduction in data error rates
  • Significant reduction in customer outreach due to missing or incorrect data
  • Customers are better protected due to payment details being collected digitally
  • 15-20% increase in daily targets

The PSI toolkit helped Eir achieve their initial goal — to speed up the customer onboarding process — and delivered a number of additional benefits in the process. Data is more accurate and more transparent, allowing the sales team to monitor performance and enact improvements in real time.

The Eir field sales team is also better equipped to meet the needs of their customers, thanks to instant access to training materials and documentation. If they have a 3G mobile signal, they can upskill themselves, improving their chances of closing more deals.


“The PSI platform was an instant improvement. Not only are our reps better equipped, but I now have instant insight into sales. I can see which bundles are selling well, which regions are hitting their targets and the progress of orders. All in real time. The simplicity of the system should not be ignored either. The PSI interface is simple, data is easily accessible, and the customer sign-up wizard straightforward. This means that our reps can give more of their attention to clients, further smoothing the sales process and raising the quality of service we give them.”

– Mark Higgins, Head of Field & Affiliate Sales