Book selling reimagined via digital transformation

Visually Engaging Pitch Decks & DSRs Revolutionize Modern Book Selling

Global publishing powerhouse subsidiary accelerates revenue and market share growth through digital transformation of their PDF-driven selling process.

Five Key Objectives

To overcome technical obstacles impeding sales:

1. Pre-call planning killed seller productivity.

There were multiple dimensions to this issue, all netting out to extensive manual labor that limited the number of sales calls per rep per week. Sellers needed to look up past order histories, filter through lists of newly released titles, make educated guesses which books would be interesting to their customers and then manually download PDFs of books to present. Reps taking over accounts relied on even more guesswork. For new or more experienced reps, call planning was arduous and time-consuming.

2. Content overload.

With tens of thousands of book titles, it was impossible for reps to know how best to choose offerings for each customer. Reps were further impeded by the inability to effectively search for titles to present, either during preparation or in front of the customer. Opportunities to sell more were lost.

3. Boring customer engagement materials.

PDFs offered minimal information and were lackluster. If the customer asked for a book not in the set of prepared PDFs, the meeting came to a standstill while the rep scrambled through the Marketing database.

4. Manual, error-prone order taking.

After a meeting, reps had to manually enter any notes and follow-up actions. This led to errors and delays in both reporting and submitting customer orders.

5. Poor follow-up.

After an order was taken, reps rarely had the opportunity to meaningfully collaborate with the customer. The cost? A defecit of customer insights and feedback for future selling opportunities.

The Pitcher Solution

Pitcher completely transformed the Publisher’s selling process via a single, intuitive application that integrates with key back-end systems: CRM, PIM, Order Management, Marketing, and Finance. Seamless integrations enabled Pitcher to provide access to essential customer data for personalized, engaging selling without the manual lifting.

Pre-Call Planning Takes Minutes, Not Hours.

Reps simply choose the name of their customer they intend to meet from a drop-down bar and in seconds Pitcher displays a synopsis of the account and suggests an agenda for the meeting. From the CRM and other backend systems, Pitcher suggests which books are of most interest for the customer. Reps edit and then confirm the agenda.

Automatically-Generated Digital Pitch Books.

A single click creates a compelling, customer-specific pitch book comprising a single digital page per book. Everything a buyer needs to know is created in the view, including the cover image, ISBN information, and an AIwritten summary. As importantly, multiple product lines can now be combined in a single presentation–a first for the Publisher. Further, pricing and the ability to order is integral to the page, streamlining the purchasing process.

Customizable Pitch Books Meet Real-Time Customer Needs.

When customers enquire about books not included in the pitch deck, reps are able to instantly call up similar AI-powered, rich pages for any of the tens of thousands of books across the catalogue. The selling experience is more meaningful, tailored, and proceeds without interruption.

Page-by-Page Orders Are Automatically Summarized.

Customers can add books or change quantities as needed. Pitcher automatically applies the customerspecific discounts, and a single click submits the order for processing.

Personalized DSRs Effectively Continue Customer Engagement.

The DSRs comprise everything that was presented during the meeting, plus marketing information about future titles, promotions, etc. to set the stage for later selling opportunities. Reps can update these DSRs as needed, collaborating and building the selling relationships with their clients. Customers can forward DSR links to their colleagues, fostering internal communication and collaboration.

DSRs Generate Customer Insights for Future Sales Efforts.

Customer metrics are captured in the CRM for every forwarded link, page read, hyperlinks clicked, etc., generating a wealth of information in support of future selling efforts.

The Results

Within days of going live, Publishing Company realized the following outcomes:

Significantly More Calls/Day Per Rep.

Pitcher slashed call preparation time, enabling reps to dramatically increase the number of customer engagements per day. Three months into the implementation, the number of calls continues to increase as reps master the modern selling landscape.

100% Adoption Rate.

Through comprehensive training and support to all reps and integrating Pitcher into sales processes, Publishing Company quickly drove full adoption across the sales organization.

100,000 Publications in Catalog.

With Pitcher, reps now have easy access to all Publishing Company’s market-ready titles in just a click.

A More Agile Sales Process Experience That Drives Results.

Publishing Company has consistently increased daily orders since implementing Pitcher; now reps navigate content with ease and leverage auto-management for on-the-spot orders.