Learn how manufacturers and distributors are meeting customer demands faster
Now more than ever, customers are expecting a lot more from Manufacturers and Distributors. Delivering on these expectations becomes increasingly difficult when you have siloed systems and processes between sales and operations.
Aligning your sales and operations teams creates a pathway to help meet demand faster, win more deals, improve internal efficiencies and enhance the customer experience.
So how do you align your sales and operations teams?
By incorporating Salesforce, a customer-centric CRM platform into your technology stack and integrating it with your Pronto ERP solution. Salesforce is widely known as the best of breed cloud-based CRM. It is the enabler of making better connections with your customer by putting them at the centre of every transaction.
Many Australian manufactures and distributors use Pronto as an ERP solution. Pronto is best in class for ERP because it is centred around your products and is essential for operations teams to manage the back end of the business. However, sales need a solution that is going to put the customer at the centre and help them be closer to their customers – particularly in current times when customer demands are shifting rapidly.
Whilst Pronto does have a CRM module, we believe that the functionality is far richer for your entire company as well as your customers if Salesforce and Pronto ERP are integrated instead.
By integrating both Salesforce and Pronto, you can align and best facilitate your Sales and Operations teams on the one platform.
We spoke with three leading Australian manufacturers & distributors from all different departments on the reasons why they integrated their Pronto ERP solution with Salesforce and the impact it had on their business.
Learn how these businesses were able to:
- Take ownership of their customer data
- Alert the sales team of when the best time to take action and find new business
- Create a single view of the customer to enhance the customer experience
- Increase opportunities for cross-selling & up-selling
- Improve efficiencies and streamline processes
Find out how you can do the same:
CEO of Audio, Lighting and Staging Solutions:
They found that before using Salesforce, their Sales reps owned the relationship with their prospects and customers, not the business. Business-critical information was not being stored in a centralised and accessible location which meant the business had no visibility of it.
Adding Leads, Contacts and Accounts into Pronto was a manual and time-consuming process that was regularly missed. The sales team were instead keeping physical copies’ black books’ full of valuable customer information or storing details in emails or excel. The tenure of staff at the company was 12 years, and the business recognised that this method was not a scalable solution, mainly if people leave the business.
Implementing Salesforce meant that all vital customer data was stored in an easy to use and centralised location allowing them to track and maintain relationships. Now all best practice sales techniques and experience is stored in Salesforce to ensure scalability for the future.
By moving away from the physical ‘black books’ and putting the valuable customer data in Salesforce allowed the business to set standards on how to profile their clients and prospects consistently.
Automated prompts were created to guide the Sales team when was the best time to take action – rather than previously relying on gut feel. These alerts, as well as customised page layouts with priorities, tasks, opportunities and call list, helped the sales team prioritise and manage their pipeline resulting in finding more revenue in territories that previously were believed to be exhausted.
From putting data into Salesforce and getting valuable insights in return, the business has been able to grow over the last two years from $50M to $100M without requiring any additional headcount.
National Customer Care Manager of Kitchen Appliances and Consumer Products
Before implementing Salesforce, the business was using Pronto as a CRM, and it was not effectively showing a full picture of how the customer (partner or end consumer) was interacting with the business. When using Pronto, each interaction with a customer created an individual case which was difficult to ensure that it was properly resolved.
For example, a case could not be automatically escalated if it had not been resolved within the appropriate SLA (service level agreement) required or if it needed to be assigned to an external contractor it could be weeks before the agent was aware that the case had been actioned. Case history did not exist in Pronto which made difficult to track the status of a case.
By integrating Pronto and Salesforce, they could utilise the strengths of each solution. Pronto was the lead for the back end accounting and inventory management. Salesforce was utilised in the front end for its strength in customer relationship management allowing users to get a complete view of the customer’s lifecycle and in turn, improve the customer experience.
By leveraging Salesforce, the customer care team can now improve the customer experience by
- Proactively communicating with the customer
- Seeing the customer’s purchases through a customer lens rather than a product lens
- Ensuring that every case has been raised, worked on and closed within the appropriate SLA period
- Collect feedback from customers on their experience with both the service agent and customer service agent
Previously the business had been entering a lot of free text-based data into Pronto. The business lacked useable and consistent data on their customers or products that could be used for planning or improving the customer experience.
Using Salesforce to help collect more consistent, standardised data has opened up opportunities for cross-selling, and up-selling to customers making the service team become more service & sales oriented. It has also meant that the customer experience has improved as the service team now have a full picture of the customer based on what they have purchased they can offer more value in return.
Technical Architect of Dental Equipment
This business had many departments (sales, marketing, purchasing, customer service & field agents) that were all interacting with the customer. Capturing all the different transactions, activities and additional information with a customer was difficult to record in Pronto.
By integrating Pronto and Salesforce, the business was able to create a single view of the customer and efficiently collect data required for all departments which could be accessed anywhere whether it be in the office or from a remote location via browser or from the app.
Integrating both Pronto and Salesforce has allowed for processes to become streamlined for different departments and efficiencies made across the business.
By having a clear distinction of what is required in each system, integrating Pronto & Salesforce removed the need for double entry of records with all master accounts created in Pronto and then pushed to Salesforce.
The clear purpose of Salesforce was to provide a single view of the customer where all interactions and activities were recorded and could be accessed by all – this level of information was not needed to be pushed into Pronto.
Customer service significantly improved with the use of Salesforce due to tracking and audibility. The use of workflows and automation, particularly with leads and cases meant that nothing was lost or forgotten. When previously managing customer service through emails, by moving to automated email-driven cases, everything is actioned and tracked.
All three companies agreed that Pronto ERP was essential to the running of their business; however, there were limitations on what it could do to help them be closer to their customers. This is why they added Salesforce, to their technology stack. Since integrating Pronto and Salesforce it has become easier for their Sales and Operations to collaborate and meet their customer demand.
Why should you consider integrating your Pronto ERP solution with Salesforce?
Your sales and operations teams will not be aligned if you are only using Pronto ERP as this is primarily focussed on your product.
By integrating your Pronto ERP solution that is essential for running the back end of your business with Salesforce which puts the customer at the centre of every transaction, you will align your sales and operations team onto one platform.
Incorporating Salesforce into your technology stack is key to help your businesses make better connections with your customers faster.
Fullcrm understands the Manufacturing and Distribution industry is more than product production and order delivery – it’s about connecting with your partners, supplier and end customers. Now more than ever making these connections is imperative because if you don’t, you will be left behind. By using Fullcrm to integrate both Salesforce and Pronto will give you a cost-effective solution, and with preconfigured templates is delivered quickly. We ensure that you are getting the best out of both systems.
