Aiming for genuine purpose and added value
Customers and companies alike benefit from automated processes in Marketing and Sales, which Pfeifer is initiating and developing at a fast pace according to a clear strategy. Prime example: With its continuously optimised service portal, Pfeifer is transferring the B2C advantages to the B2B sector.
As a result of more and more digitalisation, the purchasing behaviour of customers is also becoming increasingly digital in the B2B sector. The change in sales itself is closely linked to this development. Especially with interchangeable products such as wood products, the sales concept and service quality play an increasingly important role when it comes to competing for customers. In light of this, Pfeifer is pushing the automation of the two departments of Marketing and Sales, which work closely together and still remain flexible. The aim of the digitalisation strategy: to win new customers, increase loyalty among existing customers, provide customers and interested parties with optimal information and enable the best possible order processing. Michael Pfeifer, CEO of the Pfeifer Group, sets the course:
Michael Pfeifer
CEO Pfeifer Group
“Establishing contemporary digital communication and sales channels in a traditional environment is a major challenge. We want to use this to create concrete benefits and real added value for our customers and the company.”
Pfeifer Sales Team members can thus simply record and qualify the data of customers and interested parties using the Sales App.
Despite the digitalisation offensive, personal exchange between customers, interested parties and the Pfeifer Sales Team remains a central component of work in Sales. Individual contact persons and face-to-face communication make it possible to exploit the potential of existing customers, convert interested parties into customers and boost the image of the Pfeifer Group on the market. “We also use these conversations specifically to learn more about the wishes and needs of our customers and subsequently tailor the digital offer to them,” says Florian Singer, Head of Digital Sales & Marketing, explaining the firm's strategy. Introduced in 2020, the B2B Service Portal, for instance, will be continuously upgraded with services and functions. Availability as an app and truck tracking are just two examples of how Pfeifer is responding directly to customer demands and transferring familiar advantages from the B2C to the B2B sector. “Our 'road map' records all important development steps over the coming years. As a pioneer in the industry, we want to keep improving – it’s basically a never-ending process,” Singer emphasises.
Florian Singer
Head of Digital Sales at Pfeifer
“We want to provide our customers with the right information at the right time at the best possible quality – and we want to do it automatically.”
In addition to analogue order processing, Pfeifer customers can order a growing range of products online via the service portal. The SAP system guarantees the requirements regarding data quality are met – Singer describes the connection of the portal to SAP as a “milestone in putting service ideas into practice”. Via interfaces the platform now communicates with the Pfeifer merchandise management system live, providing customers with all the information they need in real time (product prices, availability by location).
After order placement, the customer can download all relevant documents and – in the future – even track their delivery in real time. If desired, Pfeifer also wants to offer the option of connecting the Pfeifer platform to the customer's merchandise management system in the next expansion stage. Orders that the customer initiates in his own system will then be transferred directly to the platform and on to the Pfeifer system. This automated order process massively reduces the time required for all parties involved.
“Everything has to happen quickly nowadays. With our services, we effectively and sustainably help our customers save time in their daily business,” Singer emphasises and continues: “The platform is already an integral component of Pfeifer's sales work and we are creating internal resources to constantly develop it further.” After establishing the platform in the DACH region and Italy, it is scheduled to launch on the French market in 2022.
Currently, pellets, formwork products as well as Euroblock pallet blocks and packaging timber are available online. Our goal is to expand the service offering to the entire product portfolio.
There is also a clear motivation behind marketing automation. “We want to provide our customers with the right information at the right time at the best possible quality – and we want to do it automatically,” Florian Singer sums up the basic idea. In marketing automation, lead and customer contact data is stored. Then, they are continuously provided with relevant information via e-mail. In addition to information on events and company news, interested customers also receive information on product availability and promotions in compliance with data protection regulations. This type of demand-oriented information is controlled by algorithms and artificial intelligence. Another example of how the human element and digitalisation can work together to lead to success.
1. On shop.pfeifergroup.com existing and new customers get access to a secure customer section using a user name and password. Request help & demo videos at shop@pfeifergroup.com
Florian Singer studied Timber Technology at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences and Marketing at MCI Innsbruck. After heading the Marketing Department at another large timber industry company, he took over this role at Pfeifer in 2012. Since 2020, he has also been spearheading Digital Sales at Pfeifer.