Tasked with helping to fix the IBM sales funnel, we were sent to speak to IBM employees across the globe to observe them in their natural habitat, understand their processes and investigate any problems they were encountering.
IBM Design
Lead development tools for the IBM sales teams
Services:
Lead UX, Service design, Design direction
The problem
Given free rein to engage with sales representatives from around the world, we embarked on an extensive 3-month discovery project, beginning across the pond during the harsh mid-winter in Toronto, where temperatures plunged to -24°C to Dublin where the guiness flowed freely, and New York where the big apple delivered.
Persistent complaints from clients and a noticeable increase in lost leads were being reported consistently across multiple sales teams, and it became essential for us to uncover the root causes behind these challenges.
The process of discovery
Context
We conducted workshops and research in Toronto, Dublin, LA, New York, and Texas, and launched our developed product in each of these localities.
Thinking about the environment in which the sales representatives worked we shadowed them on client calls, reviewed how they captured information, and documented their day-to-day process from the moment they arrived at the office to when they went home.
Uncovered problem
There was no way for an IBM salesperson (LDR) to know which of their colleagues had been speaking to which prospective customer, this led to multiple LDRs calling the same customer. There was no single source of truth for historical data on current and prospective customers.
To solve this we ideated a suite of apps for the global IBM sales teams to display an overarching view of existing and prospective customers, their interactions with IBM, interests, and relevant cross-sell opportunities.
Pencil to Low-fi
After reviewing the journeys, pain points, and frustrations the salespeople had we began to ideate on a few solutions, iteratively testing the ideas with the sales teams both remotely and in person in Dublin.
From this, we started to formulate ideas based on the sweet spot of feasible and desirable.
The solution
Desktop MVP with a simplified stretch target app for use on the move by the sales teams.
A tool that enables the sales teams to understand their priorities for the day, and the right content to send to customers at the right time to increase engagement and drive up conversions.
Activity and focus
A high-level view of the number of responses and associated activity gave the sales reps a snapshot of the last week.
They also wanted a simple way to understand where their focus should be directed for that day.
Callbacks
This tab shows which callbacks the salesperson has coming up, and any notes that have been made on the account..
Customer details
The brains of the system, showing the ‘next best offer’ relevant to the customer based on previous interaction with details of previous interactions with IBM.
Promo animation
Short animation promoting the benefits to the sales teams.
The outcome
The ultimate application was the highest rated for user experience and ‘likely to recommend amongst the global IBM Studio’s portfolio.