The Next Act! for an Acquisition

When a small, family-owned company is scooped up by a bigger one, retaining proprietary customer information is crucial; well-managed opportunity data is even more important. UCSC, a roofing and insulation manufacturer and supplier in Phoenix, was recently acquired by polyurethane systems provider Bayer-BaySystems.

In addition to its expertise in spray wall-foam insulation, UCSC also brought along a valuable customer management system—something it didn’t always have. Before opting for Sage Software’s Act!, UCSC had its customer data and lead information scattered across spreadsheets and paper files. If a salesperson left the company, the employee’s client information would go, too. There was no formal tracking system and no higher view of the sales cycle.

The initial implementation of Act!, three years ago, delivered payback in the tracking of marketing campaigns, but later, with more emphasis on pursuing sales opportunities, UCSC began to see tremendous return on investment (ROI)—enough to earn the 2008 Nucleus Research ROI award.

Bayer is now on its fourth upgrade, with Act! unifying all customer information, and has been able to start analyzing how long opportunity information was in the cycle. That gave management some visibility in monitoring the performance of its sales force. In the three years since deployment, sales have doubled. UCSC calculates that the data loss cost an estimated $1.8 million in missed sales each year. Now, its
sales processes are a strength for the organization, rather than a weakness.

“It’s the reason we were acquired by Bayer,” says Stephanie Gssime, who was marketing manager of UCSC and now of Bayer-BaySystems. “[Act!] helped us to follow opportunities and drive sales. We have a very locked-down lead administration and inside sales team.”

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