From China to Brazil, from Europe to the USA, COVID has spread across the planet and has significantly disrupted the world; containment being one of the most visible manifestations of the upheaval we have experienced. Unither like all companies was also affected. And yet all our customers’ orders have been delivered and patients benefiting from the products we manufacture have been able to continue their treatment without any interruption. Outstanding performance – which has been noticed and praised, and the credit goes to the commitment and involvement of everyone. Containment for a commercial division is also a real challenge. How can we maintain a privileged link with our customers and active prospecting without travelling, or participating in various trade shows, congresses or planned events? The first action was to communicate very regularly with our customers to reassure them. Having clearly become aware of the situation, Unither has deployed appropriate action plans for the protection of its employees and the continuation of the activity. Then, thanks to the performance of the IT resources, we were able to continue and intensify the exchanges by organizing the famous BRM (Business Review Management). As participation in these meetings is no longer subject to travel constraints, the number of participants in these meetings has increased sharply; up to 25 people. It must be noted that we had to be adaptable to the availability of our clients (remote courses, childcare…): the sequence of conference calls has created the need for rigor with respect to schedules. The extremes of the day and lunch hours were often the preferred slots for one-on-one exchanges. These approaches have created personal services contracts. Fewer distractions and a focus on the essentials has been the expectation for this new way of operating to increase efficiency. This flexibility has certainly been a relationship creator. Innovation has also been a value utilized in customer prospecting. Barretos plant has set up a real-time remote tour of the factory. An initial assessment shows that all commercial actions have produced interesting results with all the group’s sites. Files that have been under discussion for several months have been concluded and new clients have joined us. Let us build on this momentum and ensure that the factors of success continue.
