Press

March/April 2006
INTERVIEW WITH ALEXIS NERGUISIAN

En-Contact: Selling tyres is a trade in itself...
Alexis Nerguisian: I created Pneus-Online because I was thinking of people like me who buy tyres like they do their shopping and want to save money. Pneus-Online's customers are made up of people in the trade and the general public. They are located in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg, Austria, the UK and Spain. Our telephone sales advisors must therefore not only be qualified, but multilingual as well.

EC: Is there anything they don't know about tyres?
AN: They are trained up when they first join the company and then receive regular training from tyre trade specialists. I am in the fortunate position of being able to call on a large network of people in the trade which I do when I need to. However, given that the telephone sales advisors are rarely tyre specialists per se, they do not have all the answers. But we do make one thing absolutely clear: it is better to suggest customers seek the advice of a tyre trade professional than to talk nonsense. The credibility of our company depends on what they say...

EC: How do you reconcile the quality of a sale with the speed of its execution?
AN: It's essential to have a clear and precise discussion and to know how to handle calls rapidly and concisely. Each customer must be treated in a professional manner. The telephone sales advisers need to listen to our customers and show commercial initiative and they need to drive the sale when needed. In order to bring about lasting improvements to the quality of the sales dialogue, we pay particular attention to recurring questions. These are subsequently added to our FAQs and training documentation.

Extract: En-Contact - Pascale Decressac - N°31 - March/April 2006