Skeljungur
Skeljungur fuels stronger customer connections with Salesforce
The energy industry is undergoing massive change, and companies like Icelandic provider Skeljungur need to adapt to survive. As sales of fossil fuels decline, Skeljungur needs to diversify its products and services to respond to demand for more sustainable options.
To take the guesswork out of meeting evolving expectations, the energy company needed to get closer to thousands of individual and enterprise customers. Thanks to Salesforce, Skeljungur is now ready to become a truly customer-centric company.
“To achieve our long-term goals, we need a platform that gives us 360-degree visibility of our business and customers and the agility to react to the changing energy landscape,” said Davíð Örn Halldórsson, Head of IT at Skeljungur.
“To achieve our long-term goals, we need a platform that gives us 360-degree visibility of our business and customers and the agility to react to the changing energy landscape”
Nurturing diverse customer relationships.
Skeljungur has been supplying oil and fuel across Iceland and the Faroe Islands for nearly 100 years. Its 70 petrol stations sell both petrol and diesel to drivers, with an increasing number offering multi-fuel options such as hydrogen, methane, and electric charging points.
Skeljungur also has a B2B division, which provides fuel to companies with fleets of vehicles, including trucks, ships, jets, and logistics vessels, as well as fertilisers for agriculture.
The energy provider had already taken steps to help maintain and nurture customer relationships. As Halldórsson explained: “We were moving towards unmanned petrol stations a few years ago, but realised we’d be missing an opportunity to interact with the people buying our products. We now operate retail stores alongside our fuel pumps and have a loyalty programme offering discounts to repeat customers.”
Strong user adoption fuels CRM success.
Implementing a more sophisticated feature-rich CRM platform was key to Skeljungur’s customer-centric strategy. And Halldórsson was determined to make the initiative a success, so he turned to the people on the front line. “When CRM projects fail, it’s rarely because of system or implementation issues; it comes down to poor user adoption,” he explained. “A lot of people in our sales and service teams had used Salesforce in previous roles and were convinced it was the best choice for our company.”
Skeljungur went live with Sales Cloud and Service Cloud in early 2019 and the 30-strong team of Salesforce users couldn’t be happier. “We got the sales and service teams up and running really quickly, which unlocked the 360-degree view of the customer we wanted,” said Halldórsson. “Strong user buy-in has been the biggest success factor for our CRM transformation.”
Better visibility drives greater efficiency.
Sales Cloud underpins the whole B2B sales cycle, helping the team to secure repeat business with its enterprise customers and nurture prospects.
For example, Skeljungur services large cruise ships visiting Iceland. These ships often schedule port berths long in advance. With Sales Cloud, the B2B sales team can create an opportunity, which triggers operations planning and customer engagement much earlier than in the past. Equipment to support fuel delivery can be reserved in Sales Cloud and stakeholders given status updates on key processes, such as the start and finish times for fuel pumping.
With smarter processes and richer reporting, it’s not just the sales team benefitting from better visibility. “Senior managers can tap into sales insights to see where we can increase efficiency and track how customer relationships are developing,” said Halldórsson. “We’re currently using this information to help reduce customer churn within our B2B accounts.”
Aligned teams deliver more seamless customer experience.
Collaboration between sales and services teams is also easier, which results in a more joined-up experience for Skeljungur’s customers. For example, account managers can see if there are any open service cases before setting up a meeting with an enterprise customer.
Skeljungur’s seven-strong service centre team support both consumers and enterprise customers. With Service Cloud, they ensure an efficient response to cases, which are logged via email, telephone, and live chat. Skeljungur has also empowered its service and sales team with a custom app built on the Salesforce Platform.
“We want to offer maximum value to our customers,” explained Halldórsson. “The app makes it easier for people to navigate our different discount and loyalty schemes and ensure people get the best deal on our products.”
Online community empowers farmers.
This commitment to value also extends to Skeljungur’s agricultural customers, who buy around 10,000 tonnes of fertiliser every year from local agents.
“In every region, we have farmers who act as agents and sells products to other local farms,” explained Halldórsson. “With Community Cloud, they can take orders, negotiate prices, and raise invoices in a central place, which reduces the administrative overhead and increases transparency.”
The community, which can be accessed via a mobile device or desktop, is integrated with Skeljungur’s ERP system.
Encouraging continuous improvement and innovation.
Halldórsson and the IT team are closely monitoring feedback from the different uses of Salesforce to help optimise and enrich the user experience on an ongoing basis.
“We haven’t started measuring the impact of Salesforce yet, but happy users deliver a better customer experience. Salesforce gives us the agility to keep innovating and optimising the platform to meet user needs,” added Halldórsson. “For example, the sales team wanted a central dashboard to show a customer’s purchase history, so they could see if there was downward or upward trend.”
Halldórsson is already planning the next wave of innovation and hopes to use Marketing Cloud to send out more targeted multi-channel communications. “We don’t want to overload our customers with communication; we want to send them information that’s relevant and personalised,” said Halldórsson. “For example, we could use Marketing Cloud to inform drivers there’s a discount waiting for them next time they fill up at the pumps, which could encourage repeat purchases.”
Skeljungur gears up for growth in a greener world.
Building stronger relationships and boosting customer loyalty will help
Skeljungur to continue to grow as its industry adapts to a low carbon world. “Sustainability is a huge issue, and we need to be prepared to react quickly to changing customer expectations while still meeting their needs today,” said Halldórsson. “With Salesforce, we can respond more rapidly to market changes and offer a richer customer experience.”
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