Situation
To win in a highly competitive retail environment requires top-of-mind product awareness and premium product placement—and also demands that retail sales representatives demonstrate a superior level of product knowledge. Lexmark International, a leading manufacturer of inkjet and laser printing technologies, faced the challenge of training a retail sales force of 60,000 Gen Y reps, who make 85% of buying decisions for the customer. Adding to the challenge was a high rep turnover rate and a product lifecycle of only six to eight months. The company was vying for brand recognition in a market space full of trenched competitors. The approach to achieving these objectives was to build loyalty quickly with sales reps and their customers, and also build incentives for sales staff to learn product technology. Lexmark needed to motivate the sales reps by tapping into generationally relevant behavior (young, intelligent, technology-enabled gamers).
Solution
n-tara interactive collaborated closely with Lexmark to create a custom guided selling retail sales training experience with a twist: the online training application not only teaches the sales representative product information but also instructs the rep to guide a customer to a “buy” decision through informed interactions. In the retail environment, armed with the decision tree, reps then personalize buying decisions for the customer based on the product knowledge acquired. The website trains reps through animated visuals and multiple points of interaction and rewards the reps for completing the course. The training pits reps against each other and among stores to encourage friendly competition. Powering the website is a robust backend application that tracks participation, performance, accumulated points and store rankings, and offers a unique set of communication tools for the Lexmark retail team.
Success
The Lexmark Training Website generated a very positive 800% return on investment and was re-launched with updated features and an enhanced user experience. The site rapidly increased product knowledge while significantly lowering costs for both Lexmark and its retail affiliates. The training activities directly resulted in $1.2 million in additional sales, while subjective results include a stronger, more recognizable brand and increased brand loyalty.
The website was redeployed as one of the first Enterprise Adobe AIR applications. The success of this original application has driven the need to re-engineer for the “occasionally online” environment of a geographically diverse sales force.
Read the Lexmark Retail Training Website Case Study (PDF) >>