CRM in Action: Simplify Business Processes

Simplify Business Processes The Challenge: Increase customer face time The Solution: Dresser Measurement of Stratford, CT, wanted to turn around a distressing trend: "We were making it very difficult for the customer to do business with us," says Darren Maxwell, sales program manager of the industrial pressure and temperature instrumentation company. Too many layers of disconnected paper processes had added up and the sum total was not good. The situation inside the company was not much better. "The amount of time our territory managers were spending on reportage instead of being in front of the customer was not in proportion with what we expected them to do," Maxwell says. Dresser also was frustrated by the lag time getting leads into the pipeline and following up effectively. Intrigued by the cost benefits of a hosted solution, but still interested in a system that could be operated remotely via Palm handhelds, Dresser engaged Selltis LLC of Mandeville, LA, in late 2002 to deploy a sales automation and reporting system. Among the immediate benefits is a snapshot view of all outstanding issues at a particular customer--in the past the 35 members of the outside sales force relied on fax, email, or word-of-mouth reporting to stay aware of customer service issues. The Payoff: The Selltis program manages direct sales and distributor relations, which gives sales, manufacturing, and the distributors the same view of a particular order or service process. "If it's a shipping or a quality problem, or another opportunity, everybody is on the same page and we don't have to go through emails and faxes." Dresser recently completed the rollout of the Selltis system to its entire sales staff, and is working to integrate the system in the entire customer service and product management group. One of Maxwell's top ROI targets is using the Selltis system's advanced reporting system to slash his current six-figure outlay on paper reporting in half. Dresser is also hoping to reduce customer service encounters through higher-quality interactions at the sales level: better meeting customer needs with a better product match.