How to improve the efficiency of a business network?
The impact of Aster at PRÉVOIR
Discussions during individual meetings are more qualitative because they are dedicated to action and not to sharing information. This sharing is done asynchronously and enables more decisions to be made during the meeting.
The 600 members of the sales network share the same meeting practices. The data reported is thus harmonized and more easily exploitable.
The use of this reliable data that reflects the reality of the field helps management to make better decisions for the entire hierarchy.
Reducing administrative time lets sales teams spend more time delivering value.
PRÉVOIR in a nutshell
French insurance company founded in 1910. Prévoir is a family-owned group that offers provident, savings, retirement and health insurance for individuals and professionals. It has 1,200 employees.
The managerial structure of the PRÉVOIR sales network is pyramidal. Several layers between the sales manager and the advisors bring together the 600 members of the sales management. Thus, the network covers the whole of France.
The stakes
The size of such a network generates frictions that impact the performance of the PRÉVOIR sales network:
- Lack of visibility on the implementation and monitoring of the sales action plan
- Lack of reliable and qualitative information from the field to make decisions
- Difficult operational management: no follow-up of results and actions to be taken from one week to the next
- Considerable non-sales time, especially for weekly and monthly individual meetings. These require time-consuming research and consolidation of information.
The solutions
In order to overcome these issues, Charles Dupont-Vernon, business activity director at PRÉVOIR, focuses on the lever of individual interviews. They form the backbone of the sales network. Indeed, each manager has a weekly and monthly individual meeting with each of his or her employees, between 6 and 8 per manager. These meetings concern the 600 members of the business network and are very structuring for their organization. They review the past period and allow for the joint implementation of action plans.
The choice of Aster was motivated by several elements:
- The impact of the solution on meeting efficiency
- The simplicity and speed of implementation of this turnkey solution, integrated with Microsoft Outlook and Teams
- The ability to automatically load Aster reports with visuals from the Qlik Sense data visualization tool, which enables teams to view their metrics
- Positive feedback from one of our existing customers
The strategy implemented meets 4 objectives:
More collaborative management
Harmonization of meeting practices
Better information flow
Reduction of administrative time
More collaborative management
The deployment of Aster is first and foremost part of a process to improve co-construction in the managerial relationship. It is important to them that the person being managed is as involved as the manager in the development of action plans. This is a guarantee of commitment and success. PRÉVOIR’s ambition is to increase the quality of exchanges during these meetings. The goal is to focus on the action plan for a target to be reached rather than on the search for information before the meeting
“With Aster, co-construction is much more qualitative because the preparation time is optimized. Actions and solutions are more easily identified and achievable.”
Charles Dupont-Vernon, Business manager
Christine Jenni, who supports Charles as an expert in business studies within the sales department, also emphasizes the strength of Aster in the animation of the interview with the disappearance of this feeling of undergoing this ritual:
“We become actors of our 1to1. ”
Harmonization meeting practices
PRÉVOIR deploys Aster on these weekly and monthly individual meetings. This concerns the 600 members of the sales network. Weekly meetings on such a network represent 600 meetings per week, or 27,000 meetings per year. By harmonizing them, we harmonize more than 27,000 meetings and working hours! To compensate for the lack of feedback from the field and to ensure that these meetings cover all the necessary subjects, we guided them in the creation of a meeting model.
“Harmonizing 1to1 practices is a key success factor for us. The model we have created provides a uniform feedback.”
Charles Dupont-Vernon, Business manager
The same model ensures that everyone focuses on the same indicators and leaves with clear actions at the end of the meeting.
Better information flow
The uniform feedback Charles talks about is essential to the efficiency of the sales network. All along the line, thanks to Aster, information is centralized and shared.
“With Aster, there is an improvement in employee monitoring and business performance. There is no longer any reason to ignore an employee in difficulty. The situation is identified and reported. The sales department can then follow the success plans put in place for these employees.”
Christine Jenni, Expert in commercial studies within the sales department
This circulation also makes it possible to capitalize on actions that are successful in a region or a sector and that can be duplicated elsewhere.
Through a more global vision, this improved circulation of information provides better management of the network.
Reduction of administrative time
The preparation phase of these interviews is very time-consuming, particularly with regard to the search for and consolidation of data. The data comes from several data visualization tables, in this case the Qlick Sense tool. The strong point of the preparation on Aster is the integration of these data visualization elements directly on the meeting support. When you know that a manager has between 6 and 8 employees, you can easily imagine the 50% time saving thanks to the consolidation of data on Aster.
“The entire preparation phase is thus reduced and the business time is optimized.”
Charles Dupont-Vernon, Business manager
If that's all you have to remember
- Discussions during individual meetings are more qualitative because they are dedicated to action and not to sharing information. This sharing is done asynchronously and permits more decisions to be made during the meeting.
- During the meeting, the manager and the employee co-construct the action plan for the next period based on the same figures from a data source.
- The 600 members of the sales network share the same meeting practices. The data reported is thus harmonized and more easily exploitable.
- The use of this reliable data, true to the reality of the field, helps management to make better decisions for the entire hierarchy.
- The reduction of administrative time enables sales teams to devote more time to the sales force.
- Through individual interviews, the entire performance of the network is monitored and improved.
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