Dastia as a company
Dastia-Siivous Oy is a nationwide business premises service provider that focuses on corporate customers. Dastia's customer base consists of chains of different fields and SMEs. Dastia is known for its customer orientation, dynamism and sustainable personnel policy.
"We were local in the early 2010s and grew very organically. We had a vision that we would be a nationwide player in the future. In 2015, we started to implement our vision and the development of sales work became clearly topical," says Sampo Lehtinen , Business Director at Dastia.
Executing and managing sales work was challenging
The company struggled a lot to get good sales. The quality and activity of sales work was often uneven and erratic. Lehtinen recalls that they tried a little bit of everything. Sometimes they bought sales services from a booking company and sometimes they hired their own sales managers.
"Finding good salespeople was difficult and sales incentives were challenging to define," Sampo says. Traditional sales operating models were difficult to make work.
The starting point for increasing sales was challenging. Sales management was hard. To succeed, it would have required more expertise and time. Dastia's industry did not make it any easier to find good salespeople either. The cleaning industry did not attract people. In addition, incorrect incentives could lead to customerships that were wrong for the company.
A holistic customer relationship instead of quick wins
The growing company wanted to find customers who fit the strategy. Sales work was not done just because of the sales.
"Sales managers and booking companies offer short-term solutions. For Dastia's business, long-term sustainability is more important than quick profits," Lehtinen points out. It is important to go through different options with potential customers, not just get their name on the paper.
"Not all customer conversations have to lead to deals. The fact that we get to talk to the right customers is worth a lot more to us than a contract of low value. We want to get the opportunity to educate our customer base, and tell them that such an option exists," Lehtinen says.
Due to the challenges of sales work, Lehtinen and his partner Jussi Haapaniemi have mainly made sales themselves. However, ambitious growth plans took a significant amount of time to implement, and they did not have the resources to sell comprehensively.
"I realized I can't be responsible of our sales forever."
"Sellai's sales consultant immediately realized our business model and understood what kind of sales work supports it," Lehtinen recalls. "That was a match."
Sellai became a key part of the company's growth strategy
Cooperation with Sellai began through the Business Network International-business network. Doubts about Sellai's sales level and expertise quickly dispelled with the first joint workshop. Lehtinen especially praises the business management expertise of Sellai's sales consultant.
Sellai's sales consultant deals with meetings and possible visits to the site. Sales consultant also handles the prospecting and initial offers for Dastia's sale. Dastia is the one that signs the binding offer.
Sellai's consultant may ask Dastia's experts for help during the sales process. Sellai's sales consultant has since become a key part of Dastia's staff. Lehtinen says that all of Dastia's staff perceive Sellai's sales consultant as part of the group, even though Sellai pays his salary.
Results have been made quickly. With long-term sales work, the value of Dastia's individual customerships is even greater.
"Sellai has opened several potentially big customers for us. In addition, the cycle of entry into competitive tenders has accelerated considerably."
Sales work shaping customer experience
As a result of the cooperation, Dastia's sales services have gained more structure. Sellai's inspired sales consultants not only acquire customers, but also play a key role at the beginning of the customer relationship, and potentially act as contacts later.
In terms of customer experience, the cleaning industry is challenging. A customer company can take cleaning for granted, and think that the quality of the service is even and it does not require special expertise to achieve it. In addition, the production of the service often takes place in such a way that the customer company is not there to see it. This means that Dastia's cleaners often do their jobs in the evenings or at night. Due to the limited customer encounters, Lehtinen believes that the importance of sales work is emphasised in business premises services. According to the business manager, Sellai has understood that the cleaning industry does not sell a resource, but a service.
"We must be a strategic partner for the customer," Lehtinen sums up.
According to Lehtinen, cooperation with Sellai has improved Dastia's customer relationships. This is also supported by Sellai's core business idea, where the most important measure of sales is customer satisfaction.
"Sellai's sales consultant immediately realized our business model and understood what kind of sales work supports it," Lehtinen recalls. "That was a match."
Sellai's sales consultant deals with meetings and possible visits to the site. Sales consultant also handles the prospecting and initial offers for Dastia's sale. Dastia is the one that signs the binding offer.
Sellai's consultant may ask Dastia's experts for help during the sales process. Sellai's sales consultant has since become a key part of Dastia's staff. Lehtinen says that all of Dastia's staff perceive Sellai's sales consultant as part of the group, even though Sellai pays his salary.
Results have been made quickly. With long-term sales work, the value of Dastia's individual customerships is even greater.
"Sellai has opened several potentially big customers for us. In addition, the cycle of entry into competitive tenders has accelerated considerably."
Flexibility of the sales service was emphasised during the exceptional situation caused by the coronavirus
Because of the coronavirus epidemic, Dastia decided to put the contract with Sellai on hold for a while. According to Lehtinen, the temporary interruption of the service had not been as difficult as the lay-off of the personnel. In this way, the need for new recruitments and the resources involved could also be avoided.
"The consensus to put the agreement with Sellai on hold was strong."
After the first wave of the epidemic, cooperation with Sellai continued. The aim was to continue the partnership as soon as the effects of the coronavirus on the business were visible, as the companies had been doing the groundwork for several months on a long-term basis.
Lehtinen recognizes that not only expertise but also person-drivenness and, consequently, continuity are Sellai's assets. Professional sales are the best targeted advertising a company can produce.
"Cooperation with Sellai has definitely helped us achieve our goals. Our net sales are growing despite the corona crisis," Lehtinen sums up.
In terms of customer experience, the cleaning industry is challenging. A customer company can take cleaning for granted, and think that the quality of the service is even and it does not require special expertise to achieve it. In addition, the production of the service often takes place in such a way that the customer company is not there to see it. This means that Dastia's cleaners often do their jobs in the evenings or at night. Due to the limited customer encounters, Lehtinen believes that the importance of sales work is emphasised in business premises services. According to the business manager, Sellai has understood that the cleaning industry does not sell a resource, but a service.
"We must be a strategic partner for the customer," Lehtinen sums up.
According to Lehtinen, cooperation with Sellai has improved Dastia's customer relationships. This is also supported by Sellai's core business idea, where the most important measure of sales is customer satisfaction.
"Sellai's sales consultant immediately realized our business model and understood what kind of sales work supports it," Lehtinen recalls. "That was a match."
Sellai's sales consultant deals with meetings and possible visits to the site. Sales consultant also handles the prospecting and initial offers for Dastia's sale. Dastia is the one that signs the binding offer.
Sellai's consultant may ask Dastia's experts for help during the sales process. Sellai's sales consultant has since become a key part of Dastia's staff. Lehtinen says that all of Dastia's staff perceive Sellai's sales consultant as part of the group, even though Sellai pays his salary.
Results have been made quickly. With long-term sales work, the value of Dastia's individual customerships is even greater.
"Sellai has opened several potentially big customers for us. In addition, the cycle of entry into competitive tenders has accelerated considerably."
