7 Problems Solved with Microsoft Dynamics CRM - Professional Services Firm

Prior to implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online , our client had several challenges that many businesses face with remote locations.  They lacked visibility using systems that are not integrated.  This client is a large consulting and professional services firm with offices across the US and all over the world.  Their remote business development departments were scattered across several locations and were struggling with spending too much time on unproductive administrative tasks.  Their lack of automation and integration was getting in the way of focusing on revenue generating activities.   This team’s primary responsibility was to support management or individual associates in the firm with proposal generation to help close new business.  This team was also responsible for managing a number lead generation campaigns.  They needed an efficient way to track direct marketing efforts for a large number of potential prospects with all the major marketing initiatives across the multiple office locations.  It was very labor intensive and error-prone managing these tasks in spreadsheets and Access databases. There was no easy way to find out what campaigns were working the best because it was nearly impossible to associate new business with a particular marketing campaign.  .

7 Problems Solved with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and The TM Group:

1. Disjointed Remote Locations - The business development branches were  working as isolated silos could not see that they were  often duplicating   efforts
2. Lack of Communication and Collaboration - Since the branches had no means to easily communicate they missed out on valuable collaboration and communication regarding complimentary initiatives.
3. No Centralization - There was no central place to enable collaboration, to log, plan and/or store communication efforts with clients and prospects.
4. Multiple Systems - There were multiple data entry points for the same information, including systems that did not communicate and multiple spreadsheets used for reporting purposes
5. Lack of Access to Material - There was no universal access to a library of marketing materials and forms. 
6. Low Visibility on the Status of Proposals- The business development staff did not know the status of where a specific proposal was in the proposal creation process. This loose and disjointed process resulted in lost time trying to track down the status o proposals.
7. Poor ROI tracking – They could not track ROI (return on investment) for their marketing campaigns and determine the success or failure because they could not track the campaign along with the new business.

The TM Group, utilizing Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, helped them design and implement a new system where all their offices would be using a common CRM database.  Yet, it was important that  each office would  only  have access to the  information for their own business unit. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online’s flexibility with security allowed our client to keep all office communications and sales proposals separated and then roll-up sales reporting for the corporate office. We also implemented a custom workflow so the business development team could now manage all proposal requests, know the current status of any specific proposal, and could finally report to management a more accurate sales opportunity pipeline.

The client is thrilled that marketing initiatives are now also managed within Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  Individual marketing programs were set up as Microsoft Dynamics CRM marketing campaigns and all direct communication is now tracked to a contact level.  Even better, marketing campaign results are linked directly to individual sales opportunities, which is invaluable information for the marketing team.  They now know which marketing campaigns were the most successful. Our client can now plan, deploy and measure their marketing all in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which makes life much easier for both the marketing and sales teams.

Written By The TM Group, a Michigan Gold Certified Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ERP partner