Tatak Experto: Building the CEMEX experience for frontliners

Recognizing the tremendous impact retail frontliners have on influencing purchase and creating brand loyalty, CEMEX designed the Tatak Experto workshop program to address different real life customer scenarios frontliners face in their daily work.

“CEMEX wants to build a community of cement experts who approach selling as a key component in building a branded customer experience,” said CEMEX Philippines Marketing Manager Jen Valenzuela-Laurio.

“Our CEMEX brand has been built on two key messages— that we are the cement expert and that we are a trustworthy partner. These differentiate us from competition,” she added.

A Tatak Experto workshop is conducted in an interactive format to encourage participants to share what they have learned and found to be effective at the store front. Best practices are shared through role playing exercises. Essentially, Tatak Experto is not only regarded as a program that improves professional selling skills but also as an opportunity for frontliners to enhance their interpersonal communication skills.

Four years on and about 3,000 CEMEX frontliners from across the country have benefited from the Tatak Experto program.

Those who have attended like Ceferino Isio from Xandenmir Enterprises said that “Tatak Experto builds confidence in frontliners in a fun learning environment.”

Malou Soriano, a frontliner for DS2S Trading, made a strong point when she termed the sales cycle as “customer courtship.”

“Nais namin na makahikayat pa ng maraming customers. Maganda ang tips na binahagi ng programang ito pati na rin sa tamang pag-handle ng cement bags. Pati, masaya ang event dahil marami kaming nakuha na ideas and knowledge,” said Soriano. [We want to attract a lot of customers. The tips and information like how to handle cement bags were very useful. Plus, the event was fun. All in all, we gained a lot of ideas and knowledge.]

Dominic Cruz, owner of Jeraldom Enterprise, shared that the training taught him the differences between Type 1 and Type 1P and even the practical skill of how to hold a cement bag.

“Marami rin akong maituturo sa aking mga empleyado lalo na sa pakikitungo sa mga pang-araw-araw naming kliyente,” said Cruz. [I learned a lot about daily customer interactions that I can pass on to my employees.]

For CEMEX Philippines Commercial Manager Yasmin Alih, the Tatak Experto program has been reinforcing the support the company is offering to its customers by bringing it further to the first touch point of end-users— the frontliners.

“It brings the frontliners to a position that is a notch higher from their individual roles through knowledge sharing. We want them to improve on their skills and to let them know that CEMEX values them,” Alih explained.

CEMEX is in the process of designing specialized modules which continue to build expertise across the different customer segments. Valenzuela-Laurio shared that as the workshop topics progress to other professional selling skills, CEMEX is also continuing to diversify its approaches towards other customer segments such as contractors and masons.

CEMEX Philippines produces and markets the cement brands APO and Rizal. Visit www.cemexholdingsphilippines.com for news and updates or follow CEMEX Philippines on social media.