Raisio started the journey towards more customer-centric data-driven sales

Raisio chose Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud to support its sales organisation. By going agile, they have achieved measurable results in less than a year.

The data does not help if it is not actionable

At the beginning of 2024, Raisio started a project to create sales processes for field and chain sales and integrate them into Salesforce’s CRM system. Loikka Solutions was chosen as the partner.

In Raisio, a typical situation of today had come to light: there was no lack of data, on the contrary, there was too much of it and it was scattered.

“It’s not just the amount of data that helps, it’s what you can do with the data in different places, such as sales, marketing and customer service, that drives results. This is what we call data activation,” says Aki Sopanen of Loikka.

Jouni Aura, Raisio’s Country Director for Finland and the Baltics, says that Raisio wanted to grow its business based on data together with its customers. For Raisio, investing in data and analytics is a key way to create competitive advantage.

Data and analytics enable salespeople and sales teams to succeed.

“Data and analytics enable salespeople and sales teams to succeed, and [Raisio] is passionate about developing people’s knowledge and skills and using data to empower them to succeed in their work.”

The challenge has been that it has been difficult to extract information from the rich and fragmented data in a way that could be used to take action.

“How to use data to do the right things at the right time and in the right place in a consumer- and customer-centric way – that’s data-driven selling at its best. A certain kind of technology is just the solution to that,” explains Aura.

A functional CRM is created by building it together

In collaboration with Loikka, Raisio implemented Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud.

The first steps were to create everyday sales processes for field sales and chain sales. Those processes were then integrated into Salesforce.

Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud helps salespeople plan their activities and drive sales processes by providing information at the right points. It has enabled Raisio to really start activating data. Specifically, Salesforce gives sales reps, for example, insight into when to visit customers and where, and how to prepare for a sale with each customer.

In concrete terms, Salesforce gives salespeople information on when to visit customers, where to visit them and how to prepare for a sale with each customer.

It was clear to Raisio that a big project like this needed the right partners, vision and direction. The journey with Salesforce is just beginning, but Aura says that with Loika, the project has progressed at an agile pace. In less than a year, the sales organisation’s processes have been sharpened and are already up and running:

“This has been a good learning journey for me. In the past, I’ve encountered CRM projects that took several years, but here CRM was up and running in a month, and then we started to develop it in an agile way. It wasn’t a case of someone building something and then seeing if it worked, but rather a system that was constantly being developed.”

Growth in outlets, rotation rates, coverage and customer satisfaction – in less than a year

Although Raisio’s journey towards more customer-centric data-driven sales is still in its early stages, the results have been significant and promising. Aura reports positive developments in terms of outlets, product turnover rates and distribution coverage. In addition, a recent customer satisfaction survey for field sales shows that the trend in customer satisfaction has improved dramatically.

We don’t just look at what has happened, we also try to understand the next step, which is why something happens.

“The results are influenced by doing the right things in-store with customers, but at the same time using data to see what our marketing is doing and the impact of that marketing. We’re not just looking at what’s happened, we’re trying to understand the next step, which is why something is happening,” says Aura.

Now that Raisio has fine-tuned its processes and put Salesforce in place to drive day-to-day operations from a sales organisation perspective, the next steps in the project are related to multi-channel customer care and the opportunities it offers. The aim is to bring data more broadly to customers, so they can use data to improve sales and stay on top of where they’re going.

Raisio has a constant improvement and development mindset, so from their point of view, it’s never finished. The goal is always moving:

“Customers’ needs and expectations are constantly changing and raising the bar, and we always strive to meet those expectations. Of course, we want to constantly improve our processes to make them more efficient, but technology is also evolving rapidly and offers opportunities. It is important to remember that you have people, you have processes and you have technologies, and if you strive to develop them all in an agile and simultaneous way, you can maintain a competitive advantage in a changing environment.”