Meeting as equals
Sales director Roland Nicolussi on trust, openness and the secret of success
Roland Nicolussi has been part of NaturalLook’s core team since 1992. He started out as a warehouse employee – today, as sales director, he leads a team of 11 employees and 17 sales representatives. We talked to him about sales strategies, building long-term customer relationships and the importance of effective market segmentation:
Attentive service plays an increasingly important role in the sales process. How important is it to build a close, long-term relationship with customers? In your opinion, which factors are essential to successful customer loyalty?
A long-term business relationship requires openness; you have to be honest with each other and meet as equals. That is crucial for successful customer loyalty. And you have to do your homework: be attentive and have a vision – but also rigorous answers to the customers‘ questions, i.e., be competent. Then trust is built. A certain speed in answering questions and processing enquiries is also important, precisely because it is actually a matter of course these days and is virtually taken for granted. But for me, the most important thing is to be empathetic and able to listen.
How do you put this into practice? What are your personal strengths, and what are those of NaturalLook?
I’m pretty good at laying my cards on the table. (laughs) I like to call a spade a spade and tell it like it is. That contributes to a good business relationship because it conveys reliability. And that is one of our core values.
What can you tell us about the structure of the sales division? Which distribution channels does NaturalLook use?
The keyword at NaturalLook, especially in sales, is omnichanneling – that is, we aim to connect the digital world with the physical world through various channels.
Our sales channels differ by sector: for example, we offer a multi-brand online shop for consumers and mono-label online shops for some of our brands. In addition, we promote our products in brick-and-mortar retail – which is still the most important sales channel. In the B2B sector, trade agents, trade fairs and showrooms continue to play an important role, supported by our B2B portal, where our trade customers can view the inventory of all our products and order the desired goods immediately.
What special services do you offer your customers?
Over the past decades, in addition to building up a very stable, capillary distribution network, we have also acquired comprehensive know-how in the fashion and comfort shoe sector. This benefits our clientele, to whom we offer an extensive range of services: we are always on hand to offer advice and support, from consultation to buying and selling. In doing so, we always focus on long-term relationships: we invest in a healthy, growing market instead of going for the quick buck. One of our real strengths is the fact that we are always able to supply our customers with the latest merchandise quickly and smoothly, even in the middle of the season. That is definitely not a matter of course.
How important is market segmentation in your industry – and how does it contribute to the success of NaturalLook?
We started market segmentation quite early on – there’s no getting around it now, it’s practically the order of the day. Different markets and customers have different needs. Segmentation allows us to provide the appropriate target group with useful information and suitable products. In principle, segmentation also means the right product for the right business partner with the right customers.
In your opinion, is this the secret of NaturalLook’s success?
What else makes the company a unique, particularly desirable business partner?
It is a complex process that significantly increases the visibility of the individual brands and enables us to look after many customers in parallel but at the same time very individually – with tailor-made offers. Crucial to our success – and thus also to the success of our customers – is the knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the company and, by extension, of the products we sell. Only then can I develop a vision and, based on that, a successful sales strategy. After all, honest, well-founded selling points are always the best way to reach people – that is the path NaturalLook has always taken.
