Lithion Recycling has been working with Gestisoft since 2019. Following their Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales implementation project with the standard sales management approach, Jean-Christophe Lambert agreed to share his experience.
Read his testimonial below to discover the impact the solution has had on his daily life and that of his team.
Lithion Recycling: a revolutionary process
Lithion Recycling has developed a hydrometallurgy process for recycling lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are the most widely used batteries in electric vehicles and all portable devices.
The process enables batteries to be processed in a sustainable and eco-responsible way. Above all, it enables Recyclage Lithion to provide new recycled materials for the manufacture of new batteries with critical materials such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium.
The recyclate that Lithion produces reduces the need to mine these critical materials. Also, these materials are active and contaminate the soil if present in a landfill. In the past, companies burned batteries, which also had an impact on the environment. This pyrometallurgical process recovered around 50% of the materials.
With a standard lithium-ion battery, Lithion Recycling can recover over 95% of the components.
The process was developed in 2017 by sister company Seneca, an engineering firm specializing in industrial process development.
Structuring business development
When Lithion first started out, the company relied on a shared Excel file to manage their customer base. This system, although rudimentary, enabled them to classify their customers according to specific columns such as type of business, level of priority and follow-up required. Each customer has a sub-tab for further details.
This process worked as long as the company had few customers and was in its start-up phase. However, as Lithion grew, this method became inefficient, making information management increasingly complex.
“When I joined Lithion in 2019, it was clear that CRM software was needed to structure our processes optimally.”
By using Dynamics 365, Lithion could bring together and automate the management of their customer relationships. This made it easier to get to and keep track of information that was important for growing their business.
Data centralization and continuity
n a company like Lithion, the history of customer communications is crucial to business development. It was essential to centralize this information and preserve it, especially in the event of employee departures.
“At the time, without a CRM, I was lucky enough to receive a good transfer of information from my predecessor, which is not always the case in companies.”
The absence of a CRM can seriously hamper a sales team, especially when one person manages all business development contacts and decides to leave.
Thanks to Dynamics 365, Lithion centralized customer data, guaranteeing the continuity and efficiency of their sales operations.
Prioritizing business development
To maximize efficiency and success in business development, Lithion has implemented a clear qualification process. This process makes it possible to precisely define the time to be devoted to each contact, according to their position in the sales cycle.
Jean-Christophe Lambert, Director, Growth and Business Development
"With a CRM like Dynamics 365, I can easily identify where each contact is in the process and prioritize the necessary actions. This allows me to manage my time optimally and ensure personalized follow-up for each potential customer."
Lithion can focus on the best chances for success. They have a clear plan and understand what needs to be done. This also lets them keep giving great service and interacting with all their contacts. This level of prioritization and organization is essential for business development, providing sustained growth and maximum operational efficiency.
Conquering the use and evolution of CRM
Initially, the training provided by Gestisoft gave us a good base from which to start, but our real learning took place during the monthly meetings with our Customer Success Manager. These sessions were invaluable moments when we could discuss ideas and challenges we were encountering. Together, we found solutions as we went along.
Jean-Christophe Lambert, Director, Growth and Business Development
"Initially, it was difficult for us to clearly explain to Gestisoft the customizations we needed, as we didn’t yet understand all the platform’s possibilities. We honestly didn’t know what we were going to do. Some things have changed over time. Their fast implementing approach enabled us to start with basic assumptions and we put them into the CRM. Two months after implementation, we looked to see if it really made sense in our day-to-day work."
Gestisoft’s real strength lies in their ongoing support with their Customer Success manager. Lithion’s reality changes rapidly and continues to evolve. Year after year, the company transforms itself in terms of sales, operations, and more. The team needs a partner who can support them through these changes.
“Having an external point of view is always relevant. Gestisoft provides insights that we wouldn’t necessarily have had.”
Mesurer l’efficacité d’un CRM peut être un défi, surtout quand le cycle de vente est long. Chez Lithion, les projets sur lesquels ils travaillent peuvent parfois se concrétiser six ans plus tard, rendant la mesure des KPI plus complexe.
Jean-Christophe Lambert, Directeur croissance et développement des affaires
"A good part of business development is also outreach and making ourselves known to our customers. For example, we use marketing campaigns in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales to assign prospects to our efforts and events."
Thanks to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Lithion can now see the return on investment of their sales and marketing actions. This was particularly problematic before the implementation of CRM, as Lithion used to attend many events and find interesting contacts and prospects. However, without a system to store information in an orderly fashion, they found themselves searching for contacts they’d met in person years before.
With Dynamics 365, Lithion can centralize and organize lead information, track where it came from and measure the impact of each campaign.
This enables them to maximize ROI and better plan future strategies. This data visibility enables informed decision-making and optimizes business development efforts, providing sustained growth and increased efficiency.
Gestisoft's partnership approach
In 2018, Gestisoft developed a solution and approach to help SMEs take control of the powerful CRM, Microsoft Dynamics 365. Our goal was to enable our customer to use most of Microsoft’s CRM functionality with the least amount of implementation effort. We also wanted to implement, by default, best practices for business development, account management, and sales management.
As a result, our Sales Management offering enables our customers to get started quickly, master the Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution, and work on its ongoing evolution.
We’re delighted to count Recyclage Lithion among our clientele, and to see the impact the company has had and will continue to have on our company with their revolutionary process.
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February 16, 2024 by Lukas Vézina by Lukas Vézina Brand & Communications Manager
Working at Gestisoft since 2017, where I moved from project management to brand management. This journey made me grow in ways I could never have imagined, and I'm just getting started!
