AMPLIFYING SALES
REAL WORLD SCENARIOS
Volume 2Cases 5 - 8
DRIVING SALES EFFICIENCY
MANAGING OPPORTUNITIES
LEVERAGING MOBILE PRODUCTIVITY
IMPROVING DECISION MAKING
MANAGING YOUR PIPELINE WITH PRECISION
AMPLIFYING SALES
Successful sales organizations are transforming the way
they sell. The best teams are equipped with the right tools
to win. These tools must provide efficiencies for internal
processes and help advance initial relationships into
profitable customer accounts and strategic partnerships.
Salespeople must know their customer. Having the most
up-to-date information can make a difference between
being ahead or behind your competition. New technologies
are making it easier for teams to manage documents and
share information in order to become a connected selling
organization. Mobile solutions ensure that your teams are
able to access information they need anytime, anywhere.
The tools needed to become insightful, connected, mobile
and productive will amplify sales and give organizations an
edge over their competition.
The following case studies illustrate how Columbus has
helped many companies address these issues using
Microsoft Dynamics together with appropriate tools from
the ColumbusServices solution set.
Case 5:Driving Sales Efficiency
Issue
A beverage distributor was struggling to increase
productivity. Their ability to efficiently manage customer
data was lacking. Employees were using spreadsheets to
track and manage customer information, and too much
time was being spent on administrative tasks rather than
on selling. In order to keep up, the company needed to
transform their business processes.
Problem
The distributor was using several different solutions
to track sales information. Customer records were not
always up-to-date and salespeople struggled to manage
accounts with ease and accuracy. Sales managers were
unable to collaborate and connect with their teams. The
company lacked a complete view over their customers and
relationships.
Remedy
After evaluating several different customer relationship
management (CRM) solutions, they chose Microsoft
Dynamics CRM and were able to strategically align all of
their Microsoft solutions in order to increase sales and
productivity. Now, all of their customer data is available
from anywhere, and sales managers can connect with
their teams to keep sales unified and collaborative.
Quotes, proposals, invoices and other sales documents
are now streamlined with Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s
centralized document management capabilities.
Benefits
Once Microsoft Dynamics CRM was deployed, several
benefits were realized:
By automating processes, productivity has
increased allowing the company to handle more
growth without adding more staff.
The sales team is now able to integrate social media
in to their sales process in order to gain updated
customer information and more targeted sales
conversations.
In order to stay connected, team members are
utilizing tools such as, Lync, Yammer, Skype, and
activity feeds.
Sales now has a 360-degree view of their customers
at all times, enabling them to better understand
their customers’ needs.
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Case 6:Managing Opportunities
Issue
A national manufacturer sold candy to retailers around the
world. They were growing rapidly and struggled to keep
up with the increased growth. Sales people were having
difficulty following up with leads and managing all of their
opportunities.
Problem
With such an increase in growth, they needed to be
able to improve lead handling. The company needed to
streamline their sales processes in order to manage their
opportunities efficiently.
Remedy
The company decided on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and
was able to combine all of their data in to one central
location allowing sales to track all of their activities.
They were able to spend time with the right leads and
prospects and established consistent follow-up processes.
Benefits
The company now has a streamlined, reliable, and highly
automated solution for managing leads that:
Allows sales managers to easily convert leads and
automatically route them to the appropriate sales
person.
Effectively positions them against the competition
with seamless competitor tracking.
Streamline proposal creation with embedded
document management capabilities.
Instantly segment their customer database to
identify new leads.
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44
Case 7:Mobile Productivity
Issue
An insurance company with independant agents was
growing the size of their sales team. They recently added
new lines of business and wanted to streamline processes
to create an efficient working solution for their continued
growth.
Problem
Each of the sales agents maintained their own hardware,
software, connctivity, and used a variety of smartphones.
The company needed one fully integrated solution that
would drive productivity among agents while delivering a
complete sales infrastructure.
Remedy
In order to meet their needs, they selected Microsoft
Dynamics CRM. The company now has the ability to
access Microsoft Dynamics CRM whether they’re in their
office, traveling, or at a customer site. Agents can access
the solution from any mobile device with a familiar user
interface for quick adoption. The company is now able to
operate in a seamless multicarrier environment.
Benefits
Adopting Microsoft Dynamics CRM allowed the insurance
company to customize all aspects of the solution to
fit the many internal departmental needs, ultimately
increasing their competitiveness. They have experienced
a multitude of benefits including:
Access to real-time data from any web-enabled
device.
Better preparedness for customer meetings via
real-time account details.
Ability to respond rapidly to customer requests
while on the road.
Updating and receiving leads 24/7, enabling them
to continuously work and close deals.
Discovering new up-sell opportunities right on the
spot.
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Case 8:Improving Decision Making
Issue
A manufacturer and distributor of tractor equipment was
using a content managment solution that allowed their
field sales team the ability to track and record customer
information. However, the solution never fully met the
company’s needs and they quickly outgrew it.
Problem
The outdated solution created many problems for the
business. Sales data was often lost or not readily available,
and dealer databases were unable to integrate with the
solution. Sales managers eventually stopped using it and
relied on spreadsheets to manage sales pipelines and
analytics. This gave the managers only a partial view of
sales force activites.
Remedy
To address these issues the company deployed Microsoft
Dynamics CRM. The company was up and running quickly
and the solution proved to be extremely cost-effective
compared to other solutions they looked at. Microsoft
Dynamics CRM integrates with the company’s already
existing data warehouse giving sales managers a rich
reporting resource with extensive, current customer
information. Users adapted quickly to the new solution
and began increasing their sales effectiveness
immediately.
Benefits
Adopting Microsoft Dynamics CRM allowed the company
to better analyze their sales and customer interactions.
They are able to improve upon sales decisions with the
ability to:
Gain insight with flexible dashboards and data
visualization into customer information, sales
numbers and targets.
View key performance indicators in real-time.
Create detailed sales reports, workflows, forms,
views and more without the help of IT.
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6
ColumbusServicesThe issues and challenges presented here and many more
are addressed by ColumbusServices. We’ve developed
deep industry expertise in meeting the unique needs of
service organizations across an array of industries including
entertainment, marketing and advertising, financial services,
manufacturing, and other demanding disciplines.
ColumbusServices helps service organizations achieve better
control of processes and improve the ability to exploit new
business opportunities. This powerful solution brings your
people, operations, and project management processes
together to help manage the complexities of a global
network. Our solution takes a holistic focus, taking into
account both administrative and operational requirements.
This ensures that information sent to the employee in the
field, is also used for billing and monitoring, projects, and
contracts.
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ColumbusServices allows you to utilize the solutions and
functionality you need. To learn more about the various
components, visit www.columbusglobal.com/us
> Microsoft Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL
> Microsoft Dynamics CRM
> Columbus BI (Business Intelligence Software)
> Columbus Development (SharePoint Services)
> Integration Tools
> Columbus SureStep+
7
Introducing ColumbusSureStep+At Columbus, we have the very best people working
with our world class solution to ensure your success. Our
proven SureStep+ methodology ensures a faster and less
expensive implementation.
A successful implementation means:
> Your business will be able to reap the rewards of
your new solution with value delivered early
> Your project will be delivered on time
> Your project costs will be managed with no
unforeseen overspend
> Your users will be proficient and excited about their
new solution
> You will improve the operational efficiency and
increase the competitive advantage of your
business
SureStep+ has been developed from years of product,
industry and implementation experience. We have taken
the standard Microsoft Sure Step methodology and
significantly enhanced it based on over 6,000 Columbus
projects.
SureStep+:
> Ensures that all member of the implementation
team are aligned and working towards the same
goals and expectations
> Ensures that everything is well documented
> Includes a number of different project types so
that your implementation methodology fits your
implementation
> Is a methodology that Columbus uses across all the
40 global offices to ensure consistency
8
AbOut COLuMbuS:
Columbus currently employs over 1,000 dedicated professionals working out of
41 offices in 21 countries. With more than 20 years experience and 6,000 successful
implementations, Microsoft recognizes Columbus as a top global partner and has
presented the company with virtually every award and certification available.
’Columbus’ is a part of the registered trademark ‘Columbus IT’
For more information on Columbus, our client’s experiences
and our solutions, please visit www.columbusglobal.com/us
The ColumbusServices Real World Scenario Series
DELIVERING EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER CARE
REAL WORLD SCENARIOS
Volume 1Cases 1 - 4
BUILD THE FOUNDATION
STREAMLINE SUPPORT CASES
GAIN A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
kNOw yOUR CUSTOMER
wINNING THE HEARTS OF yOUR CUSTOMERS
AMPLIFYING SALES
REAL WORLD SCENARIOS
Volume 2Cases 5 - 8
DRIVING SALES EFFICIENCY
MANAGING OPPORTUNITIES
LEVERAGING MOBILE PRODUCTIVITY
IMPROVING DECISION MAKING
MANAGING YOUR PIPELINE WITH PRECISIONoptimizing marketing efforts
reaL WorLD sCenarios
Volume 3Cases 10 - 14
improVing lead generation
driVing marketing effiCienCy
managing Campaign lifeCyCles
email marketing
measuring suCCess
transforming marketing CommuniCations
Volume 1Cases 1 through 4
Volume 2Cases 5 through 8
Volume 3Cases 9 through 13