OnCall Global Marketing :: New Business Development

The Challenge
A global healthcare capital equipment company with more than 100 sales reps across the U.S. was challenged with finding a more efficient solution for creating a centralized sales, marketing and quotes management system. Although their legacy system, ACT, was installed on the field rep’s laptops… technical issues and a lack of mandated usage had created a condition where valuable client and prospect data had become silo’d on laptop systems across the country.

Our Solution
A strategy was developed to assist the client’s field sales team to extract their data from ACT and Outlook. Our team then cleansed and standardized their legacy data and deployed a web-based sales and marketing management system to the corporate and field sales team. The web-based nature of the system enables 24x7x365 data access from anywhere in the world. The system’s Outlook integration also allows easy synchronization of email, calendar and contact data between Outlook and the online system.

The Result
Within 30 days of deployment, our client had successfully centralized and secured all prospect and client information into the web-based system. Within 90 days, they standardized all quotes utilizing the quote generation tools and the Sales Opportunity module within the System. Over the last 24 months, our client has successfully grown system adoption and has begun extending the system’s usage to their national distributor network… passing leads to dealers through the system and capturing 360 degree feedback on lead status, sales forecasts and sales success.

Sales & Marketing System Success #2

The Challenge
A U.S. based Safety Products Manufacturer with more than 50 direct sales reps (managing hundreds of Sales Distributors) across the U.S. was limited with the sales management functionality of their existing ERP System and sought an improved approach to lead tracking and sales force management. This client had concerns that their sales team was “non-technical” in nature, thus the System deployed must be easy-to-use on a daily basis and easily accessible through a Sales Rep’s web browser. In addition to the technical concerns, the System had to support detailed Distributor Account profiling, provide full visibility into each territory manager’s sales progress on new leads, as well as being capable of providing weekly Management Summary reporting to Regional and National Sales Managers on sales call activity with all existing Distributor and End-User accounts.

Our Solution
The OCGM team, working with the client’s project management team, developed a phased approach to rolling out our web-based Sales CRM System… focusing on making the daily process for a Sales Rep as quick and simple as possible. Over a 4 week period of time, our team executed a project that cleansed and standardized their legacy ERP data, customized the Sales CRM System around the client’s account profiling & management reporting needs, fully deployed the System to the field sales teams via web-based online training sessions and provided a series of weekly “best-practices” sessions to assure successful field sales team adoption.

The Result
At the recent “12 month System Benchmark” review meeting, our client reports that their field sales team has made “remarkable” progress in adopting the System to their daily routine. Regional Sales Managers report that, although slowly embraced in the first 2-3 months after deployment, the field sales team today has become 100% compliant with the daily sales call reporting requirements and an increasing number of “old-dog” type Reps have commented how valuable the System has become in their approach to territory management. Recent System enhancements by the OCGM team include rolling out an interactive Sales Forum, secured within the Sales CRM, which enables real time blog-style business intelligence reporting, competitive updates, inventory alerts and more.

Sales & Marketing System Success #3

The Challenge
A global Building Products Manufacturer with nearly 100 direct sales reps across the U.S. was faced with increasing competitive pressures and sought a solution to speed the development, distribution and engagement of qualified sales leads through their national distributor network. The System needed to be web-based, tie corporate marketing/field sales/distributor partners together, provide “C-Suite to Street” visibility to results and be capable of deployment within a six-week deployment window.

Our Solution
Working with our client executive sponsor, the OCGM team quarterbacked the collaboration with the Inside Sales, Marketing, IT and Field Sales Managers to develop a rapid deployment plan for a lead distribution and lead tracking System. The strategy developed involved streamlining the lead capture process to start moving all lead capture, lead distribution and lead activity reporting to our web-based Sales CRM System. Phase I involved structuring the System to enable call Center leads to be fully profiled, then distributed through the Sales CRM to field sales reps. The System was structured with business rules to provide daily email lead summaries of HOT and URGENT leads to be sent to sales rep’s hand-held devices within 24 hours, enabling rapid sales engagement with high priority prospects. Other leads coded as WARM or NURTURE are assigned to field-based territory managers, who then review and distribute leads out to their Distributor Partners on a daily or every other day basis. The System was optimized to provide simplified email lead distribution and full tracking capabilities for all leads assigned down to Distributors.

The Result
Six months after the Phase I Sales CRM deployment, our client reports they have seen marked improvement in lead tracking and lead management among their direct sales team. Based on the success of Phase I, they have moved ahead with enhancements to the System to reduce “priority” lead distribution time… targeting the goal of having the System send lead notifications in near-real time. Additionally, based on feedback from the field sales team about the System’s user-friendliness, the decision was made to give full access to the Sales CRM System to their top 20% of national Distributors who receive more than 80% of their leads… successfully accomplishing the implementation of a full 360-degree closed-loop lead management process.