Have you ever heard of a sales-enablement platform that enables a 100% conversion rate? Neither had I, until I spoke with Andreas Mors, head of Project Management for SYNCPILOT Group, who told me the story of Live Contract, now available on SAP App Center.
As Mors explained it, Live Contract digitalizes complex sales processes, enabling agents to execute the entire consultation and transaction from end-to-end, with all the information they need close at hand. Live Contract is a cross-industry solution in use in telecommunications, automotive, energy, finance and insurance, and the public sector. What’s similar across these sectors is the requirement for intensive consultation during the sales process. And each has industry-specific workflows.
Live Contract incorporates those workflow processes to enable sales agents to work together with customers in an online session until every T is crossed and every I dotted. The legal contract is e-signed on the spot. And that is how Live Contract delivers a 100% conversion rate without any media disruption.
Signing on the Dotted Line – Online
I asked Mors what problem Live Contract solves and how the company came about.
“Imagine that you’re selling health insurance policies by phone,” he explained. “Nine out of 10 people who said yes on the phone will not send their contracts back. You’ve typically spent at least an hour building a relationship with the customer and building their confidence in making a purchase decision. How fast you can get the contract signed is critical – to avoid the time lapse during which people can change their minds.”
That’s how the app was born in 2015, he said, when the company’s founders developed an app that securely handles the entire document- and contract-processing function online.
Mors used the example of a customer who wants to discuss the configuration of a new car. They can consult with a live agent to select options and understand how each choice affects aspects of performance, appearance, comfort, and, of course, price. Once they have made all their decisions, they can discuss financing considerations and finally, purchase the car with a signed contract.
Following Sector-Specific Workflows
Since the process of automotive sales is so different from, say, insurance, I was curious to know about how long it takes for the SYNCPILOT team to understand the intricacies of a specific workflow to develop an app for a new industry.
“That’s resource-intensive work that can take from two months to a year,” Mors replied. “However, in the current COVID-19 environment, our timelines have accelerated by necessity. In April, we had two major customers in Germany that were using the app for a proof of concept. Suddenly, their sales force needed to switch from in-person to online consultation, literally overnight.”
That required a fast scale-up and extensive user training. “One of the bricks in our offering is the SYNCPILOT Academy that supports user adoption,” he noted. “Even in ordinary circumstances, in most cases, sales agents are highly experienced and have been working in the same fashion for years. Even though the app greatly simplifies their lives, they need to get comfortable with doing things differently.”
One way that Live Contract simplifies their work is integration with SAP solutions, including SAP Marketing Cloud and SAP Sales Cloud. Customer data is linked with internal processes for a collaborative customer experience. Live Contract is simple to deploy and works on any mobile device and web browser.
Sealing the Deal with SAP Partnership
I asked Mors about the company’s relationship with SAP, how the partnership began, and how it’s going. “It started with a friend, who introduced us to an SAP partner manager three or four years ago,” he recalled. “SAP has a lot of great solutions for consultants in SAP Marketing Cloud, but not necessarily for the last mile to the customer. So, it was a perfect match. But then the main step began – product certification and the readiness check. That was the hard part, but we had a lot of help through the SAP PartnerEdge Build program.”
Now, SAP partner managers work closely with the SYNCPILOT team to discuss use cases and the potential to build product suites with other SAP solutions, as well as opportunities to present internally at SAP.
Any thoughts for other partners coming online on SAP App Center? “My advice is to take all the help you can get from the SAP team,” he said, “especially when it comes to developing the content and understanding partner management processes. And I recommend building a network with other partners to share ideas and best practices.”
If your organization focuses on one of the industries covered by Live Contract – what are you waiting for? It’s a great way to enhance the customer experience and help your sales team improve their conversion rates.
Bill Rojas is senior director of Business Development and Partner Alliances for SAP Digital Commerce.
