A CHILLING CHALLENGE FOR THE BEN & JERRY’S BRAND
For years, Ben & Jerry’s franchise department was using an old school sales approach of overnighting brochures to prospects. After the materials arrived, sales executives would call to make the pitch. Despite being dull and boring, it was costly and it didn’t jive with Ben & Jerry’s overarching goal to be paperless. Chuck Jones, Global Franchise Sales Manager, wanted to decrease costs, speed up the process, be paperless and increase sales.
CUSTOM EXPERIENCE FOR AN UNCUSTOMARY BRAND
Creative brands require creative ideas. The solution was a password-protected presentation website, rich with audio, video, relevant animation, and all the stylized illustrations you would expect from the world-famous brand. The process became interactive and fun, undoubtedly a much better reflection of the Ben & Jerry’s brand.
With the presentation site, the sales process is simple. In 5 different calls prospects are guided through an online presentation that provides all the selling points, data, and applications to turn a prospect into an authorized franchisee. Each of the sections is password-protected, so sales executives can control the flow and timing of information.
CHUCK JONES EXPLAINS:
Now we’re completely paperless, we no longer have to mail materials out. It helps us shorten the sales cycle, because there’s less time between calls. It saves us money, because we don’t have to pay for postage or someone to put the packages together. Our candidates are totally impressed, we come across as a world-class organization, and it really says something about the company we are. In the end, our candidates are better informed.