Client

$7 million consumer products good manufacturer

Industry

Consumer products – Heat therapy, novelties & gifts

Business Objective

• Improve utilization of Salesforce.com CRM system
• Generate new business using the web

Background

Our Client, like most consumer goods makers, sampled their products to buyers at chain retailers, distributors and other sales channels. However, there was no closed loop feedback on what happened with the samples that were shipped out. The process for sampling was an essential expense and was very ineffectively managed.

Solution overview

Evergreen defined and implemented the go-to-market process for qualifying new accounts, sending them samples and tracking each sample shipped to its logical conclusion.

Each sample that was sent out was recorded as an opportunity in the Salesforce.com CRM system. These were followed-up on using a systematic process so that the efforts of the sales organization could be monitored using dashboards and the results generated measured.

The process identified crucial steps that were being missed in the existing process and were needed to covert a sample request or inquiry into a purchase order. Product sampling as a business process was converted from being an ad hoc marketing expense into a business development investment. The returns from the sampling investment were monitored and improved.

Online survey forms were designed and implemented to capture results from product sampling. This identified product features that reviewers liked the most, new usage scenarios that were not originally conceived and also indentified key areas for improvement.

Once the closed loop cycle from sampling to sales was established, a web based marketing strategy was implemented that included web based market research, creation of product micro-sites and search engine marketing to generate customer interest and more sample requests. With sample to order processes successfully implemented this resulted in a virtuous growth cycle.

These activities had a significant impact on the top and bottom line and the business generated a year over year sales growth of 20% despite the fact that consumer spending during the same period declined and the economy headed deeper into recession.

Services rendered

• Business Consulting
• Salesforce.com implementation
• Web based marketing (Google Adwords, Analytics and conversion tracking)
• Microsite web development