CRM - October 2007 - (Page 45)

firms the size of OutClick. “OutClick is a very small business split into very small entities,” Cheong says. “Although [the entities] share characteristics it was good to be able to easily categorize them and then designate each salesperson’s responsibilities and duties.” Once the decision was made, it was critical to smoothly transition OutClick’s staff from their individual systems. That’s when Cheong discovered another benefit. “Getting people to sit in on the training was the most difficult part, but that is one of the best things about Entellium,” he says. “The trainer was thorough and very patient and the training process was excellent.” For Cheong, the transparency that Entellium provides into people’s activities is a major plus. “From a sales perspective, that’s what a lot of people find beneficial about Entellium—you can actually see the progress,” Cheong says. “Our sales process isn’t complicated, so for us, it’s a checklist that allows us to easily qualify where prospects are in the pipeline.” OutClick now has complete and accurate visibility regarding leads, their quality, and their progress through the pipeline and sales cycle. That visibility has enabled the company to increase its close rate and revenue. The data has also improved OutClick’s ability to forecast sales activity. “Since we installed Entellium our revenues are up 35 percent, so clearly it’s helping us be more efficient,” Cheong says.“Before, no one knew what was going on. There wasn’t even an active update of who our clients were. We’ve seen a substantial improvement in close rates since we implemented Entellium. It helps us close the ones that are just lying out there by continuing to market them, and gives us a better idea of forecasting, too.” —Marshall Lager By implementing Entellium, OutClick Media was able to: have a unified sales database to track activities; forecast more accurately; follow leads through the sales cycle better; and increase revenue 35 percent. True-Blue Service Documentation A technology-infrastructure specialist saves about $60,000 in one year by implementing a Web-based service management application from BlueFolder he name alone makes quite clear product, integrated with QuickBooks, that Merino Computer Concepts enables MCC to export all service-ticket (MCC) is in the high-tech arena. data—including engineers’ notes—into A 10-year-old network- and computer- the accounting system, creating moresolutions provider, MCC relies on its net- detailed client invoices while streamlining work engineers (the company now has the billing process and ensuring accuracy. six) to serve its coverage area, Northern As a result of the more-efficient accountCalifornia’s Central Valley. Despite tech- ing process—a reflection, in large part, of nological proficiency, however, MCC was the BlueService-QuickBooks integration—the company saves 10 saddled with a manual, multihours per week in invoicing tier strategy for its service- The Web-based and pushes invoices out to documentation efforts—and customers at a quicker pace. was searching for an upgrade. product enables Customers can also retrieve MCC engineers at a client Merino to export all their histories via a Web porsite had to complete paper tal. “Before, when we had work orders—in triplicate. service ticket The engineer would then give information into the customers ask us questions about a particular work order one copy to the customer and or service request, it would bring two copies to the office accounting system. take us a day or two to put that manager, who manually keyed the information into MCC’s QuickBooks information together,” Merino says; the accounting package. Then the office staff had to locate the customer’s folder manager filed one copy in the customer’s by searching through paper files and then send a copy of the requested information. file and the other in a file cabinet. “It was very inefficient and costly,” says “Now, the customer can access it online; Joseph Merino, MCC’s president. In fact, it’s always readily available for them.” According to Marc Fey, parent firm the company shelled out $3,600 annually printing the three-copy forms, and $1,100 BlueFolder’s chief operating officer, Blueper week in staff time completing the Service offers team scheduling functionlabor-intensive service-documentation ality, the ability to export invoices to an process and noting details about client accounting system like QuickBooks, and service. Worse, it took “two to three days a comprehensive view of all upcoming before an invoice would actually be gen- and completed work. The combination of erated against a work order,” Merino says. these features, Fey says,“solves major opA partner suggested that MCC evaluate erational issues for our customers.” In addition, MCC achieved a full ROI a particular service management system. But, as Merino simply puts it, “we really in just weeks, and saved about $60,000 weren’t impressed with it,” noting that the in printing costs and time savings in product lacked an intuitive user interface. one year, which helped pay for another After a Google search on Web-based engineer. —Coreen Bailor service management software and MCC’s evaluation of a handful of vendors, Since deploying BlueFolder’s MCC tapped BlueFolder, which specialBlueService application, Merino Computer Concepts was able to: izes in service team automation. MCC went live with BlueFolder’s flagship apreduce printing costs and time costs by about $60,000 a year; plication, BlueService, in June 2006. eliminate 10 hours per week in its Team members turn to BlueService to invoicing process; schedule appointments, view customer achieve a full ROI in weeks; and histories, track client hours, and log perbolster customer-response times. tinent client-visit data. The Web-based CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | OCTOBER 2007 T www.destinationCRM.com 45 http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - October 2007

Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity Coupons Without the Clipping Something Special in the Air Oracle’s Name Game Market Focus: Sports & Entertainment: CRM Scores for Sports Franchises Statistically Speaking The Pulse Required Reading Are We There Yet? Help Them Help Themselves The Chain Gang Pay Day OutClick Media Gets a Second Opinion Best Kiteboarding Makes a Splash with NetSuite True-Blue Service Documentation Secret of My Success The Tipping Point Re:Tooling Pint of View

CRM - October 2007

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