"We find 90% of new opportunities through the Outlet Census" or how Mattoni 1873 successfully overcame Covid

In a nutshell:

• 90% of new prospects are found thanks to the Outlet Census
• Better ROI on each acquisition
• Streamlined business travels for sales reps
• A lot of saved time on managers' and sales reps' parts
• More effective resources allocation

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Challenge: How to weather an unprecedented crisis

Mattoni 1873 is one of the most important producers of carbonated beverages in Europe (also an official producer and distributor of the PepsiCo beverages in several European countries) and exports its broad portfolio of brands, built since 1873, to 20 countries around the world. However, with the advent of the 2020 covid crisis, it too has had to cope with a critical drop in demand due to the closure of virtually the entire on-trade channel and struggle for every liter of its drinks sold.

Sales Director of the Czech on-trade channel Pavel Fuksa, therefore, decided to introduce some important changes. To capture the pandemic market dynamics, it was no longer enough to rely on the experience and information from the salespeople in the field, even though the company has several dozen of them in the Czech Republic alone. There was a need to start leveraging accurate, comprehensive and actionable information about the on-trade channel. 

As the covid situation slowly improved, Mattoni 1873 started thinking about the future of the on-trade channel and looking for a tool for sales reps to save time and target outlets that would be profitable in the future. That's why Pavel Fuksa turned to SharpGrid, and shortly thereafter the company started using Outlet Census.

Mattoni 1873 did have a dedicated team for customer servicing and acquisition (or “Hunting”) but without a more specific focus. Salespeople relied on their own experience and intuition when it came to targeting outlets and acquiring new customers. Outlet type, size, potential, growth trend and other parameters were not addressed enough at the strategic level. All this was about to change.

"Covid taught us that the market is evolving. When we saw what was happening in the on-trade channel, we started to see SharpGrid's data products as an opportunity," says Pavel Fuksa, describing the beginning of the collaboration between Mattoni 1873 and SharpGrid.

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Solution: Accurate data for outlet targeting and effective team management

The Outlet Census is a complete and up-to-date database of all on-trade outlets on the market with dozens of indicators to determine, for example, the potential of the non-alcoholic category or the reason why people primarily visit an outlet (e.g. good beer, quality coffee or active entertainment such as live music, etc.).

"With the Outlet Census, we can hyper-focus our team. Either locally, for example on cities with great potential, or segmentally on a specific type of outlet. And that's exactly what we were looking for," explains Pavel Fuksa. "It also allowed us to see how big our market actually is, and to understand how we can find new market opportunities."

At Mattoni 1873, sales reps receive pre-filtered information from the Outlet Census based on the segment and category potential in the given outlet they focus on.

"Our sales reps understood very early on that Outlet Census is not a tool to hassle them, but instead could help them significantly in their work," adds Sales Operations Manager David Liška, who was responsible for implementing SharpGrid data into Mattoni 1873's internal systems and ensuring its usability within the team.

But it doesn’t stop at targeting and opportunity hunting. Outlet Census has served Pavel Fuksa as an excellent tool for strategic decisions. "I can now allocate my people and their time much more effectively," he explains. "I can set better goals and react to market changes. This has helped me a lot, for example, with the decision to focus my people on various office or factory canteens."

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Results: Greater efficiency on all fronts

"Our growth this year is double-digit compared to our original target," says Pavel Fuksa, adding that they devised the plan for a so-called healthy year without covid measures. "Compared to last year, it is in triple digits."

With the help of the Outlet Census, Mattoni 1873 has managed to set more ambitious targets and meet them. Thanks to precise targeting it now earns more on each acquisition than before and has even managed to achieve pre-Covid numbers already, something many other big players are still waiting for.

"SharpGrid helped us plan and quickly start hunting after the worst of the covid waves and the aftermath had subsided," explains Pavel Fuksa.

For sales representatives, Outlet Census (after initial setup and getting used to it) makes their jobs a lot easier. "Our sales rep can immediately see where the best outlets are and what their potential is without any complicated and time-consuming research. He simply filters it and knows where to go in an instant," says David Liška. The Outlet Census therefore considerably streamlines business travel. "You can send people directly to specific outlets instead of them wandering around cities and wasting time searching," explains Pavel Fuksa.

Outlet Census has thus become standard equipment for every sales representative in charge of hunting. "I can say that more than 90% of all new prospects we have found have come from SharpGrid," sums up David Liška, adding that feedback from Outlet Census users has been universally positive.