Client Type: SMB Engineering and Professional Services
Solution: Quick Start Salesforce Implementation + Training and Transition
Results at a Glance: Salesforce Sales Cloud live in 90 days; 2 sales reps + 30 engineers/account managers off spreadsheets; targeting a 6,000-engineer US audience.
Situation
The General Manager and Managing Partner of a fast-growing specialized Engineering firm selling complex consulting and engineering deals needed to move his team of 2 sales reps and 30 plus senior engineers and account managers off spreadsheets and into Salesforce.
Challenge
The company had grown organically through their engineers’ Rolodexes. They were selling very specialized solutions to a finite audience of 6000 engineers across the US and sales were being managed from spreadsheets and home-grown project management software.
The GM and Managing Partner needed to implement Salesforce to be able to manage the sales process, support the sales effort and get visibility into the sales funnel to accurately forecast. This would help them ensure their capacity to close business, recruit more talent for growth and forecast revenue.
Solution
Company hired Gabriel Sales to implement Salesforce to meet their specialized needs and then train and transition their staff for ongoing use and management. Gabriel Sales executed their Quick Start + Transition Sales Implementation Solution.
Month 1
Gabriel Sales met with the GM, Managing Partner, Sales Reps and several representative engineers to understand:
- Who is using the system?
- How are they using the system?
- Success Criteria?
- Sales Process and Stages
Gabriel Sales also conducted an audit of multiple databases and home-grown project management software.
Month 2
After plan was approved GS kicked off the technical implementation including:
Technical Set-Up
- Custom Fields
- Lead Sources
- Sales Stage Mirroring
- Sales Tasks
- Custom Page Layouts
- Enhanced Components/Plug Ins
- Third Party Email Systems
- Lead Assignment Rules
- Email Systems Integrations
- View and Access Permissions
Custom Views
- Lead Views
- Contact Views
- Opportunity Views
Database Import
Gabriel Sale then normalized the existing database and loaded into the system.
Month 3
Training
Gabriel Sales trained a core team in the use of the system and worked with the GM to train the trainer. This included:
How to Use to Manage Sales
- How to navigate and access Lead Lists
- How to use Views
- How to Complete Tasks and Log Activity
- How to leverage Email System
- How to track progress and view individual reports
How to Access Basic Reports
- Lead Reports
- Lead Conversion Reports
- Activity Reports
- Opportunity Reports
Results
Sales Team and Engineers started using after 3 months.
After the team used for a quarter and with live data now flowing through the system, GM and Managing Partner circled back for some minor optimizations for increased visibility and insights including:
- Sales Activity Dashboards
- Forecasting Dashboards
- Conversion Dashboards
- Automated Task Triggers and Reminders
About the Company
An engineering firm specialized in Circuit Board Design and electrical engineering with 100 employees serving companies across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
About the Engagement
Company wanted to quickly implement and start using Salesforce.com to tighten their sales processes, effectively manage their growth and increase visibility for General Manager and Managing Partner.
Written by: Carol Springer – Co-Founder Gabriel Sales, Head of Salesforce, Account Engagement (Pardot) & Marketing Cloud Next Consulting
