CRM in Action: Keeping Up With Growth

Keeping Up With Growth The Challenge: Support a growing sales force quickly The Solution: Orphan Medical Inc. turns orphan drugs into accepted antidotes. The firm, which buys, earns approval for, and markets drugs for inadequately treated or uncommon diseases, increased its sales 10 percent in 2001, recording a respectable $11 million in revenue with only 70 employees. So it is no wonder the company wanted to expand it sales force. But to do this Orphan Medical executives realized they needed a sales tool to support its growing sales force. After some research Orphan Medical chose to pilot a CRM system from StayinFront Inc. The system includes Visual Elk, which is designed to manage and integrate all points of a customer interaction for field sales forces, as well as Panorama, a data analysis and decision support tool, to provide managers with real-time information on sales activity and effectiveness. The Payoff: According to Pamela Stahl, vice president of commercial operations at Orphan Medical, StayinFront provided a compelling combination of healthcare experience, flexible technology, excellent references, and top down commitment that could meet the company's aggressive time frames.