Bloomberg
Improving sales tools to enhance customer relationships
ROLE
Research and Design Lead
COLLABORATORS
Bloomberg Sales Team
Bloomberg Design Team
MHCI Faculty
INTRODUCTION
Bloomberg had tasked Annecto, a team of five Carnegie Mellon University students, to evaluate and design Bloomberg's internal Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This project was an eight month design effort that focussed on evolving sales tools to be more transparent, unified, and intuitive.
PROBLEM
Bloomberg's flagship product, "The Terminal", has over 350,000+ users worldwide. And to sell and maintain these client relationship, they had over 2000 sales representatives. The tools available to the sales representatives were inefficient and outdated. Our task was to rethink the sales tools and simplify them so that the sales representatives can focus on the most import piece - their customers.
Hunt Statement
Improve the sales force experience and enhance client relationships through a solution that is focussed on transparency, simplicity, and unity.
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
We had a monumental task ahead of us in trying to understand the Bloomberg culture and lingo within a short amount of time so as to truly empathize with the sales reps. We conducted 34 Contextual Inquiries with the users across the globe while in the background we looked at available Literature and worked on Competitive Analysis as a team.
FINDINGS AND VISIONING
After analysis all the data that we collected, we gather over 200+ issues with the current tools which we categorized into 7 main categories.
1. Time Sinks
Sales reps spend a significant amount of time on documentation. Redundant transcriptions are common and wastes time.
TAKEAWAY: Less documentation = More time with clients = More terminals sold
2. Barriers in Understanding
Internal tools do not meet sales reps' mental model.
TAKEAWAY: Sale reps will be more efficient if they have an accurate mental model of their tools.
3. System Limitation
Current system automation is inadequate and counterintuitive. System data does not get richer when it is exported.
TAKEAWAY: Inaccurate automation can create more work for the sales reps. And data loss leads to missed opportunities.
4. Short-sighted Information
Sales reps find it difficult to get a macro-level picture of the clients and prospects.
TAKEAWAY: Lacking rich visual data interferes with sales reps' workflow. And they need to compensate by using third party tools.
5. Data Loss
Over reliance on memory leads to data loss.
TAKEAWAY: Minor amounts of data loss can have large impacts to business
6. Differences in approach
Differences in team culture create tension.
TAKEAWAY: Time and effort is spent internally rather than on selling
7. Costly Interruptions
Interruptions from peers negatively impact sales reps' efficiency.
TAKEAWAY: By limiting interruptions, sales reps could get through more tasks.
DESIGN PHASE
After creating high level visions to solve the discovered issues, we decided to narrow down our focus to three of the main categories: Short-sighted information, System limitations, and Time sinks.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Introducing FUSE: Two core functions re-invented into one cohesive experience. Fuse combines the "Calls-to-make" screen (left) with the "Contact record" screen (right) to present an overview of the client at a glance but also allowing for quick deep dive into a client's interaction.
PREVIEW PANE
" So, at a quick glance, you see what's going on with this person, so when you're making the call, you at least have some clarity on what's been spoken about, what their usage is.
Usually, you have to bring up another screen or it tends to be more difficult." - Conrad
CALLS-TO-MAKE
"I liked the ease of use, the filters. I like how you click on a note, you don't have to open up in a brand-new page. It kind of shows you it in that existing page. It's very intuitive. It’s nice to structure your calling session, so you know who's more important to call." - Lucy
CONTACT RECORD
"This system has a lot more information and is a lot more intuitive compared to the current system." - Dwayne
