The solar technology pioneer based in Regensburg, Germany, has boosted its sales success by geomarketing with RegioGraph. An interview with Sonja Vogel, who works with RegioGraph in Iliotec's strategic marketing division.

What is ILIOTEC's status at the moment? What are you particularly proud of?

ILIOTEC is one of Germany's first TÜV-certified solar technology companies and is a market leader in the provision of comprehensive solar technology solutions including installation, maintenance and insurance. Founded in 1998, the company now has 220 employees and 7,000 customers. We're particularly proud of the recognition we've received, including "Baveria's highest growth company" and the "Grand Prize" award by the Initiative Mittelstand.

How long have you been using RegioGraph and for which tasks?

RegioGraph has been providing support for our strategic marketing division for about a year now. We use RegioGraph to evaluate our five business locations, plan the incorporation and work area of new sales representatives and restructure our sales territories. We create sales territory boundaries and representative assignments on the basis of purchasing power and household figures. RegioGraph also helps us fairly divide advertising costs among our locations: By geocoding the locations of customer inquiries following an advertising campaign, we can immediately determine the locations that especially profited from distributed brochures.

Who are your target groups?

Our target groups range from end consumers and farmers with private installations to companies and public authorities. By the middle of this year, we plan to incorporate additional GfK market datasets to help us precisely locate our various target groups using RegioGraph. The purchasing power data included with RegioGraph convinced us of the value of making decisions based on objective information rather than best guesses!

Which challenges did RegioGraph help you solve?

We've profited most from the software's ability to quickly and clearly illustrate our sales territories. RegioGraph has also played an important role in providing support and clarification for staff discussions as well as a measuring tool for the efficiency of sales force members. We also use RegioGraph to evaluate our marketing actions, such as the places of residences of visitors to our in-house trade fairs. This data is already recorded in our CRM system, so all I have to do is import it into RegioGraph. Insightful map analyses can then be produced in a very short span of time.

What's your favorite program function?

I most enjoy generating new sales territories, such as the one recently required for the construction of our new site in Augsburg, Germany. RegioGraph makes it possible to fairly distribute and assign postcodes to our sales representatives: We can ensure that all created territories have equal chances of success by using RegioGraph to optimize them according to purchasing power index per inhabitant, total purchasing power in millions of euros or households with a net monthly income greater than €2,000. We can then carry out more targeted marketing campaigns on the basis of this information. I'm always amazed at how RegioGraph can generate tremendously valuable results with a minimum investment of time and energy. Also, I genuinely enjoy working with the software!

Many thanks for sharing your impressions and we wish you continued success!

Interviewee: Sonja Vogel, ILIOTEC, Marketing, sonja.vogel(at)iliotec.de