The Story of 3 Manufacturers and Salesforce

The manufacturing industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Today, companies in this vital sector of the economy are going beyond assembly lines and adopting novel product design and production methods. Automation of processes, use of robots and 3D printing are just a few groundbreaking technological paradigms that are skyrocketing efficiencies of manufacturers and redefining the way they work.

The use of technology is not only improving the productivity of manufacturing firms but also powering new trends in customer demand - the new-age client expects much more than the mere delivery of a high-quality product; he expects manufacturers to provide excellent engagement throughout the buying journey. A survey by Salesforce shows more than 4 in 5 online purchasers of B2B products feel the quality of customer experience provided by a firm is as important as the product it provides.

So, how can your manufacturing business delight its clients? What does it take to satisfy the 21st century customer who demands seamless, fully-connected experiences of consistently-high quality, no matter when and how he connects with your organization? You need to use a powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. A good CRM system helps you deliver top-notch experiences across all customer channels and touchpoints, with minimal effort and expenditure. It helps you harness the immense potential of data to personalize each customer journey with high efficacy, and needless to say, this results in excellent customer satisfaction.

Today, we’ll see how 3 manufacturers utilized Salesforce, the world’s most popular CRM platform to deliver first-rate customer experiences.

How a Large Manufacturer of Air Conditioners Utilized Salesforce Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Tool to Build Strong Revenues

A well-known consumer appliances manufacturing company faced serious problems with its 25-year-old partner management system - the system was very cumbersome and broke down quite frequently. The manufacturer had a lot of problems providing updates to its dealer network spread across 55 countries. Its people spent several precious workhours entering data into the legacy system. The company was in dire need of a new, robust IT platform to enhance efficiencies and maintain strong relationships with its dealers.

The manufacturer soon found a solution to its woes - Salesforce PRM system. The Salesforce solution allowed the firm to communicate with its global network of dealers in a hassle-free manner and get total visibility of the channel business data. It also empowered the company to exercise full control on partner sales, enabling it to maximize its revenues. Furthermore, the organization could centralize maintenance of sales information facilitating its effective usage, beside automating its partner on-boarding and de-boarding process with very high levels of efficacy.

How a World-renowned Maker of Heavy Electrical Equipment Leveraged Salesforce’s Novel Solutions to Gain a 360-degree View of Its Clients and Reduce Time to Market

A global manufacturer of switchgear and other heavy electrical equipment lacked the big picture of all its client data. The company suffered from poor integration of disparate customer data management systems of its vendors in 125 nations with its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform; this resulted in productivity taking a beating. Sales reps of the company had to often grapple with missing information, due to the absence of a Single Source of Truth (SSOT). Making things worse, the volume of customer data kept multiplying at a furious pace. The manufacturer urgently required a single, powerful system to manage its client data with high efficiency.

The company evaluated various CRM tools, and finally, decided to go in with Salesforce Sales Cloud. The decision paid handsome dividends. Sales personnel of the heavy electrical equipment manufacturing firm can now access all information pertaining to customers with just a few clicks. Field sales reps can update information from anywhere, anytime using Salesforce’s mobile app, and this goes a long way in providing the right insights at the right time to close deals effectively. Salesforce also helps various teams of the organization to share information pertaining to leads and status of orders in real time, facilitating smooth collaboration. Needleless to say, Salesforce has taken the productivity of the manufacturing firm to new heights.

How a Leading Manufacturer of Refrigerators Unleashed the Power of Salesforce Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) to Skyrocket the Efficiency of Its Quote-to-Order (Q2O) Process

The sales reps of a multinational manufacturer of refrigerators had to spend countless hours going through fax messages and e-mails and clearing heaps of documents; this resulted in a profound negative impact on their ability to close deals. The company’s team also suffered from poor visibility of its Q2O cycle, and this resulted in several missed opportunities. The refrigerator maker badly needed a solid CPQ software tool to fix its problems.

The firm searched for the right CPQ system, and it was not long before they decided to go in for Salesforce. The robust solution enabled the manufacturing organization to automate generation of quotes very effectively and ensure high levels of transparency. All teams involved in the preparation of quotes now access the same information from a centralized data repository and collaborate smoothly to close more deals successfully. No wonder the sales revenue of the organization grew significantly.

Thus, the three manufacturing firms harnessed the immense potential of Salesforce to enhance their productivity and increase their revenues in a big way. At Solunus, we help you use cutting-edge Salesforce solutions to meet your business goals. We have served manufacturing companies of all sizes, and this rich experience coupled with our strong emphasis on comprehending your unique needs helps us deliver the perfect solution that provides the best ROI on Salesforce.

Hope you liked this post. How do you use Salesforce in your manufacturing business? We’d love to know.

About Solunus

Solunus is a leading Salesforce consulting company, based in Dallas, TX, USA. Our proven ‘needs-first’ approach coupled with our unrivaled expertise of the Salesforce platform enables us to provide the perfect solution to help you deliver delightful services to customers and achieve rapid growth.