RightNow Helps Graco Boost Sales Staff Productivity
Goals
- Deploy a complete, flexible contact management system
- Ensure protection of critical sales data
- Optimize visibility into sales activity
- Enable salespeople to tailor system to their individual requirements
Achievements
- Increased sales staff productivity due to elimination of downtime
- Zero data loss
- Complete and detailed reporting on all aspects of sales activity
Every company has its own sales processes, which it develops based on its specific business strategy and target market. At some companies, individual salespeople are allowed to have their own personal way of doing things too—especially if that way delivers results. That’s why flexibility is often a critical characteristic for a sales automation solution.
Nowhere are the benefits of such flexibility more clearly evident than in fluid handling equipment leader Graco’s implementation of RightNow. RightNow supports the inside sales staff of Graco’s contractor equipment division, known as “Advantage Sales Representatives” (ASRs) to deliver significant improvements in efficiency and productivity. In fact, as a result of the implementation, Graco has been able to increase revenue while gaining a new level of visibility into all aspects of sales activity.
“We’ve been able to easily adapt RightNow to both our business model and our individual work styles,” says Graco’s sales automation project lead Jeanne Habstritt. “With it, we’ve increased the productivity of our ASR team and the level of service we provide to our distributors—while gaining a system that’s extremely reliable and easy to manage.”
Selling Effectively Through Distribution
Rather than selling direct to end-user customers, Graco sells its contractor equipment through distribution. That’s why many classic sales automation functions such as lead and pipeline management aren’t applicable to its needs. Instead, Graco needs to provide its inside sales reps with access up-to-date information on active distributors and end-user marketing programs—along with quick links to standard business forms. With a continuously changing array of products and promotions, it’s essential that complete information about purchasing incentives and coupon promotions be built right into the ASR desktop application.
Graco’s previous sales automation software could not fulfill these requirements. The application was not functionally stable and crashed frequently; causing ASRs to lose essential data. Eventually, the ASR team had had enough.
“It’s very frustrating when the system you’re relying on to run your day-to-day business loses critical contact data,” says Habstritt. “We needed a system that could offer us rock-solid stability and reliability.”
Another division of Graco that had achieved great results with RightNow brought its CRM solutions to the attention of the company’s contractor equipment division. The users of that CRM system vouched for the stability of the software, its ease of use and its delivery of tangible business benefits.
“They had a lot of good things to say about RightNow,” recalls Habstritt. “And it was very clear that with the on-demand model, RightNow would be able to protect our data even better than we could ourselves.”
Just as important, the flexibility of the system allowed Graco to add special tabs that now keep ASRs informed about all active marketing programs. RightNow's CRM solutions also made it easy for the ASRs to tailor their desktop environments to meet their individual needs—with little or no support from IT.
Optimizing Sales Rep Performance
With RightNow, Graco’s ASRs have each distributor’s complete contact history at their fingertips. They can see what the topics of their preceding conversations were and what outstanding issues still require action. They can also create their own “ticklers” to ensure they stay on top of each account by scheduling calls on a regular basis and/or in conjunction with limited-time promotions.
“Thanks to RightNow, the ASR team is able to give distribution highly personalized attention on every call,” says Habstritt. “This builds stronger relationships, which can lead to higher sales volume.”
RightNow automates communication tasks such as creating letters or sending emails, saving ASRs time and enabling them to increase the number of calls they make.
RightNow also provides Graco’s sales managers and the ASR team with comprehensive activity reports, along with the ability to automatically send roster updates to Graco’s outside account managers.
Because Graco’s RightNow CRM system is hosted by RightNow, ASRs no longer have to worry about lost data. And Graco’s IT department doesn’t have to concern itself with data backups, server management or application security. RightNow simply delivers the application as an on-demand service.
“RightNow has been a very effective and reliable contact management system for us,” Habstritt says. “We’ve gained the business benefits of a complete, customized sales automation system without the burdens of conventional software ownership. It’s definitely a solution I’d recommend to anyone looking for an easy, customizable way to manage their sales operation.”
Graco Support Site | Graco Homepage
About Graco, Inc.
Founded in 1926, Graco Inc. offers systems, products and technology that set quality and production standards in a wide range of fluid handling applications including spray finishing and paint circulation, lubrication, sealant and adhesives, processing, as well as power application equipment for the painting contractor industry. The Wall Street Journal recently ranked Graco as a top performer in the Diversified Industrials category of its 10th annual Shareholder Scoreboard.
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