Making A Telemarketing Group More Efficient And Effective
Corporate Profile:
Sutter's Mill is a manufacturer of high-quality executive gift items designed to help corporate clients build lasting relationships with their customers. These gift items are sold direct through the company's in-house telemarketing group.
Their premier product is a gold-plated golf putter that they personalize for recipients. They also carry watches, pens, and even a full range of advertising specialties to provide clients the best solution for their specific need. Sutter's Mill is a valuable resource for marketing executives trying to provide exceptional gifts to recognize customers and prospects.
Business Need and GoldMine Solution:
Sutter's Mill needed a software solution that would help make their 20-person telemarketing group more efficient and effective. Speed, ease-of-use and the ability to train new users were important factors in their decision. The management team reasoned that if the sales workflow could be automated, it would allow their more seasoned staffers to effectively handle a greater number of customers and help new trainees develop their own client base faster.
Sutter's Mill had been using the DOS version of GoldMine for years. When the Y2K problem forced substantial hardware and software upgrades, it was a logical time to upgrade to GoldMine version 4.0. They had been pleased with GoldMine's performance in the past and were looking forward to having the enhanced functionality of GoldMine 4.0, including increased ease of use, customizations, and new Internet/Web connectivity.
Sutter's Mill turned to A4 Sales, whose specialty is using GoldMine as a platform for sales and workflow automation. A4 Sales is a Platinum-level GoldMine Solutions Partner with a strong training, programming and technical staff. Apart from their GoldMine expertise, they offer Web design services and incorporate GoldMine's Web import feature with a number of their implementations. This was key as Sutter's Mill was determined to develop an Internet presence to enhance their customer/prospect communication.
Another selling point for A4 Sales was its affiliation with Computer Concern, Inc., who provided the network and hardware upgrades. This gave Sutter's Mill a single point of contact for all of their computer needs.
"A4 Sales' conscientious efforts in all aspects of the project, from design to training to the actual implementation, resulted in a custom application that we were able to run from the first day," says Michael Butler, President of Sutter's Mill. "Our staff was so well trained that we had virtually no questions from the end-users after the first two days. I was very impressed by their patience, through research of our processes, and their complete willingness to go the extra mile to make our application user-friendly and efficient. The diligence they exhibited in the design process allowed us to completely automate our sales processes, which has cut our normal new user training in half, and has freed our experienced sales staff to increase their daily calls by 30%."
A4 Sales analyzed Sutter's Mill's sales process, along with the company's management and sales team. They also included experienced sales reps in the planning process that were able to help flowchart the actual steps that were being taken while servicing their clients.
Due to GoldMine's flexibility, A4 Sales and Sutter's Mill designed a custom toolbar, which parallels and even simplifies the sales process. It includes a series of icons and multiple-outcome dialog boxes. The icons signify the stage of the sales process, while the dialog boxes offer response options for the customer interaction. This setup has reduced transaction time to a minimum.
The toolbar was so intuitive, that all of the sales reps were up to speed by the end of the first day. After the second day, almost all of the questions died out. Training for new reps was almost instantaneous. "GoldMine's customizable toolbar is a silent partner in my sales process," says a top Sutter's Mill salesman. A4 Sales also provided a sales process manual, which gave a step-by-step explanation of how a sales rep could use the system.
In the past, writing orders was a time-consuming process for Sutter's Mill sales reps and was often high in mistakes. In addition, sales reps had to look up a customer's previous order history in the accounting system, before taking the order, which took far too much time. A4 Sales provided a custom screen for orders and programmed the system to insert order information into GoldMine's profile records. Because this is a one-to-many relationship, each contact record can contain an unlimited number of order history records.
The new Sales Order procedure saves the average rep 30 minutes per day. One Sales Manger estimated that errors and order kickbacks have been reduced by 80%, freeing even more time for focused selling. Having the sales order information available at a keystroke keeps the sales reps out of the accounting system.
GoldMine enhanced the accuracy of Sutter's Mill's shipping process with the ability to store multiple permanent and/or temporary shipping addresses in a contact record (a function that is lacking even in some commercial accounting programs).
GoldMine's InfoCenter is used to store information that is important on a company-wide basis such as production literature. This information had previously been provided to each sales rep in three-ring binders. The InfoCenter now eliminates the cost and time it takes to update and distribute new information.
"GoldMine is so simple, that after I had been using it for a week I laughed at myself for ever being nervous about the new system," says a rep who had felt threatened by the new technology.
A part from its ease of use, GoldMine has helped increase the accuracy and efficiency of Sutter's Mill's sales staff. Due to GoldMine's flexibility, A4 Sales was able to provide personalized customizations that have provided amazing benefits for Sutter's Mill. "The diligence that A4 Sales exhibited in the design process allowed us to completely automate our sales processes, which has cut our normal new user training in half, and has freed our experienced sales staff to increase their daily calls by 30%," says Michael Butler, President of Sutter's Mill.