Wildix presented its new Sales Elevate Lab at its recent two-day partner event held at Silverstone, where members of the senior management team, including Rob Loakes, country manager, UK and Ireland, were in attendance.
The programme was developed by Alberto Benigno, the company’s chief sales officer, and brings together sales training methodologies from Gartner, Harvard Business School and Wildix’s own framework.
On the first day, Benigno told attendees that the new offering enables partners to improve their sales outcomes and long-term growth through affordable and comprehensive training and ongoing mentorship. He explained that the sales academy covers the entire sales cycle, from securing the first meeting to service kick-off.
Benigno said that the long-term support includes bi-weekly strategic reviews, deal guidance and performance monitoring, thus ensuring continuous development. Through the programme, he said that partners will also receive additional support on non-Wildix solutions in their portfolio.
“As sales processes become more intricate and competitive, traditional training often fails to deliver sustained impact,” said Benigno. “I created the Sales Elevate Lab to address these complexities by providing a solution rooted in scientifically-backed, field-tested strategies.”
Partner strategy
Also presenting on the first day, Jason Uslan, VP of sales at Wildix, talked about the company’s partner strategy. He said that Wildix remained 100 per cent channel-focused, with no competing with partners for direct sales, thus giving them full control of their margins.
Giving an overview of Wildix’s financials, Uslan said that the company had achieved 558 per cent revenue growth over five years, with a 38 per cent year-over-year increase in monthly recurring revenues. He said that these numbers reflected the success of Wildix’s channel-only approach.
Retail solution
Ian Rowan, CEO of x-hoppers, kicked-off the second day with an overview of the company’s retail communication solution. He began by sharing his insight into current retail customer trends and challenges.
Rowan said that retailers currently face the dual challenge of tackling the recent crime rise and continuing to make their in-store products readily available to customers. With 1,000 attacks on retail staff in the UK every day and five out of eight shoppers having witnessed a theft, he said that companies are increasingly looking for ways to better protect their workers and stock.
On the flipside, Rowan said that, due to heightened security with many high value items now being kept under lock and key, it takes longer for the customer to access them and, in many cases, they don’t even bother to ask to see them because of the inconvenience involved. Then there’s the issue of trying to find a staff member in the first place, he said.
“We launched x-hoppers to address these key challenges,” said Rowan. “The technology enables businesses to increase sales by 35 per cent, reduce shrinkage by 60 per cent and halve their staff training time.
“Through the simple use of a headset, employees can communicate more quickly and effectively with each other and ensure that the customer is served by the right person at the right time, equipped with the right knowledge. It also ensures that they work together more collaboratively and productively.”
Rowan said that by using AI to monitor behaviour and gestures, staff can pinpoint customers who need help and allocate the right resource to assist them. An added feature, he said, is the Bluetooth beacon, which sends a message through the headset to alert employees to previous customers and, therefore, enable them to approach them and make suggestions for future purchases.
“Customers have to be ready in order to be sold to, so you need to catch them at the right moment,” said Rowan. “We empower staff to do this through the use of smart intelligence delivered via our headsets.”
In terms of security, Rowan said that by using a large learning model the product can detect theft and provide the user with a video of the activity to verify. He said the person’s face can then be added to the facial recognition system, so that if they return to the store they can be refused entry.
Capabilities that have been added this year, said Rowan, include the use of an employee’s voice and password to see who is using which particular headset, and the ability to analyse who is speaking to customers. Other additions, he said, include smart notification queue, which enables tasks to be allocated to individual workers and queue detection.
Online channel
Next up, Steve Yates, senior channel manager, and Steve Clark, partner development manager at Wildix, presented its x-bees online communication solution. Yates said that x-bees enables customers to increase their sales and profits by engaging and closing deals quicker, as well as to keep track of leads through CRM integrations, predominantly Salesforce, and build client relationships.
“It enables partners to stay in contact with their customers, keep them updated on everything they need to know and offer them relevant services that they may need,” said Yates. “The end result is more upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
“Partners can also monitor factors such as customer satisfaction levels. Additionally, the solution can identify the customer’s contact details so that they can be connected to the same agent they were dealing with initially if they make contact with the company again.”
This article was included in our December 2024 print issue. You can read the magazine in full here.