What is Excelia?

Excelia is a prestigious institution with an international reputation, offering a range of programmes through its business, tourism, digital/communication and language courses. Founded in 1988, it now welcomes over 6,000 students on its four campuses in La Rochelle, Tours, Paris and Orléans.

With a strong network of 230 partner universities in 55 countries, Excelia is dedicated to providing a global education experience.

What were their challenges?

Excelia turned to Onepilot because of the complexity of handling the volume of leads it received, despite using a contact centre managed by one of its former students. The main objective was to provide a responsive, high-quality service to attract potential students.

Excelia faced significant challenges in managing the influx of leads generated by its website and student fairs. Its previous supplier was unable to organise its business to meet reachability and qualification rate targets. Although the first supplier's agents performed well, the project team's management and communication was poor, leading to dissatisfaction with overall support and a lack of alignment between teams. They turned to Onepilot for a more agile and efficient solution.

What about the in-house team?

Excelia's in-house sales and promotional team is made up of around ten people dedicated to prospecting throughout France. This team includes promotion managers who spend a lot of time at trade fairs and on the telephone, in direct contact with prospective customers.

Onepilot's agents support this team by qualifying the leads they collect, enabling the in-house teams to concentrate on already-qualified leads and maximise their time. This ensures that student prospects receive the time and attention they need to make informed decisions, without feeling under pressure. Onepilot agents also act as the first point of contact for prospects, answering basic questions and passing on more complex questions to the in-house team if necessary.

How was onboarding?

The onboarding process with Onepilot was collaborative from the outset. Excelia, and more specifically Michael, who manages CRM matters, co-created the knowledge base (KB) with Onepilot. He also wrote the initial script, which Onepilot optimised, a contribution much appreciated by the Excelia team.

Excelia uses Aircall, a tool that Onepilot seamlessly integrated into its platform. The ability to monitor agent performance, review conversations and adjust strategies in real time has been a major factor in their satisfaction. Thanks to daily monitoring and the use of a CRM tool (OscarCampus), the integration process enabled Onepilot's agents to quickly familiarise themselves with Excelia's processes, ensuring smooth communication and effective lead management.

Summary of the collaboration in figures?

Onepilot's work for Excelia included follow-up calls to different types of prospects, particularly those who had recently entered the system (from fairs or the website) and were eligible for entrance exams. To increase the likelihood of reaching potential students, calls were made at specific times not covered by the in-house team - weekdays after 5pm and Saturdays from 11am to 7pm. Seven agents were specially trained to work exclusively in French during these hours to ensure effective communication.

Some key KPIs from this collaboration:

These results exceeded Excelia's expectations, particularly the conversion rate: 

We didn't expect such great results," said Julien Rivet, CRM Manager and Data Analyst at Excelia

What are the strengths?

Since partnering with Onepilot, Excelia has seen a significant improvement in prospect management and engagement:

• Improved relationship management: Excelia's marketing team, represented by Julien, Data Analyst and CRM Manager, really liked the fluid communication with the Onepilot team, which contrasted with the methods they had been used to.
  
  

• Increased control and efficiency: Michael, CRM manager in the sales team, can complement the ongoing opening of the collaboration with International Recruitment, emphasised that the Onepilot platform enables real-time feedback and monitoring of agent performance. The ability to leave comments on calls has been crucial in refining communication with potential students.
  
  

• Higher engagement rates: Excelia has seen an increase in response and qualification rates, which has been particularly important during key registration periods.

What does the future hold?

For the future, Excelia is looking forward to a strong and ongoing partnership with Onepilot. 

We appreciate the transparency, agility, and responsiveness of Onepilot, which gives us confidence in the future of our collaboration," said Julien Rivet, CRM Manager and Data Analyst at Excelia

Excelia appreciates the development of the skills of Onepilot's agents, who can stay with the campaigns over the long term, ensuring consistency and depth of knowledge in dealing with prospects.

As Excelia prepares for future high-volume inbound lead seasons, it is confident that Onepilot's flexible contact model will continue to meet its evolving needs.

For now, Excelia feels that Onepilot is delivering on its promises and looks forward to continuing to build on the success they have achieved together.