|
 Ticomix has helped many organizations successfully implement and upgrade GoldMine software solutions. We provide GoldMine software sales, consulting, services,
support, training, upgrades, and more to companies of all sizes
nationwide. Call Ticomix today at 866.842.6649 or email us at
\n
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
to discuss your CRM needs.
 GoldMine Case Study: Walk4Life
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Walk4Life Steps Up Sales, Efficiency and Customer Service Effectiveness with GoldMine
Company Profile
In recent years, a simple activity done every day – walking – has gained momentum as a popular way to stay fit and healthy. A leader in the walking revolution, Illinois-based Walk4Life provides high-quality pedometers and movement-centered programs to raise awareness and activity levels for individuals and groups at corporations, educational institutions, health clubs, medical facilities and senior centers. Formed in 1999, the company has grown worldwide, helping millions take steps to a healthier lifestyle.
Business Need
In 2002, looking to get its name out, Walk4Life planned a busy schedule of trade shows and outreach efforts. However, without a system for tracking prospects and follow-ups, the company found its hard work often didn’t pay off as anticipated. Lack of an integrated contact management system affected not only sales, but customer service and office efficiency. Staff members had to search files for information and go through cumbersome steps to get orders out.
In fact, when a story mentioning the company ran in a major publication, the resulting 200 to 300 orders a day nearly shut the company down. With manual, disconnected processes, it was hard pressed to keep up.
“All we had was a huge pile of spreadsheets and our QuickBooks® database,” said Jeff Murrow, Director of Operations. “We were using QuickBooks® as our contact manager, so everyone in the organization had to go into the accounting system to get customer information. We needed another way to manage prospects.”
Solution
Walk4Life put several contact management programs through their paces. After careful evaluation, the company chose GoldMine mainly because its greater flexibility would enable Walk4Life to customize the application for its business needs and integrate it with other key office applications.
To that end, Walk4Life called in Ticomix, a nearby FrontRange Solutions Partner. The partner studied the team’s specific business processes and goals, and responded with plans for customizing GoldMine.
“What impressed us was their ability to think through it,” Murrow said. “They were able to show us how we could fit our own business processes into GoldMine.”
The company integrated the solution with QuickBooks® and the UPS™ shipping program to enable single data entry, and brought in QuoteWerks™ software to take the place of Excel spreadsheets for creating and storing quotes. As a result, GoldMine has become the single interface for everything the company does, with information easily pulled into Walk4Life’s other critical business applications.
Today, nearly every Walk4Life employee actively uses GoldMine, from sales to shipping. Seven remote sales reps stay connected with the rest of the team with regular synching of customer data. The company logs every detail about prospects and customers in the software, and can access it in seconds when needed.
Before GoldMine, Walk4Life struggled to coordinate mailings and outreach to customers and prospects. With an integrated contact management system, the company now schedules at least a dozen targeted direct marketing campaigns throughout the year and follows up with every lead and customer. It leverages GoldMine features such as Automated Processes to ensure regular communication with important contacts. For example, if 30 days pass and no one has contacted one of the company’s designated “top 100” customers, GoldMine alerts the sales manager.
The software has also eased trade show planning and follow-ups. The company’s trade show coordinator relies on unique custom views in GoldMine to manage the many details and contacts for each event. Recently, the company exhibited at a show with 70,000 attendees. Before the event, it used GoldMine to target a mailing of 35,000 postcards to show attendees, announcing a special offer. Nearly 10,000 contacts returned the cards – a phenomenal 25-30 percent return. Plus, attendance at the Walk4Life booth increased significantly over past shows. After such shows, the company enters a few hundred leads into GoldMine and automates the process of staying in touch with every contact.
Success
With GoldMine serving as the hub linking all of the company’s systems, Walk4Life has immediate access to valuable information about contacts and orders, and cuts out steps in its order processing cycle.
UPS tracking information is linked to GoldMine contact records, as is relevant accounting information from QuickBooks® such as credit holds and all quotes provided to customers via QuoteWerks™. As a result, the company has made huge strides in efficiency, sales, order processing, inventory management and customer service.
Walk4Life reduces the amount of time it once spent searching for information and processing each order. “We used to have a two to three day turnaround because processing was so cumbersome,” Murrow said. “Now, if we get an order today, it ships today.”
Such efficiency has enabled the company to stay operationally lean as it has grown sales continuously the past three years. Since then, it has gone from seven employees to 25, however, all of those have been added in sales and customer service rather than in back-office roles.
Murrow also credits GoldMine with spurring Walk4Life’s ongoing sales growth. “It has helped us focus and go after deals. We can now better differentiate between a prospect, suspect or new customer,” he said.
With GoldMine reporting, the sales manager can forecast expected sales, which in turn lets Walk4Life more accurately plan its inventory and cash flow. In response, the company reduced its on-hand inventory.
But Murrow points to enhanced customer service as the main driving factor behind the company’s success. Everyone in the company knows exactly where a customer stands. Walk4Life scored high marks in a recent customer survey, and its “I love you” wall of testimonials from customers continues to grow at a fast clip.
“In the world of pedometers, as a company, we’re a small fish,” Murrow said. “But as far as the pedometer market share, we’re second or third in the industry. We do that with our customer service. Whoever interfaces with customers does so intelligently. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, the leaders of Walk4Life pin all that on GoldMine.”
GoldMine Downloads
- GoldMine Demos - Download GoldMine software demos on sales, marketing, and reporting.
- GoldMine Case Studies - Read how Ticomix has helped companies successfully implement and deploy GoldMine.
- CRM White Papers - Review white papers on customer relationship management (CRM), sales, marketing, and GoldMine.
- CRM Articles - Read articles about GoldMine, sales, and CRM.
- CRM News - See what's happening with the GoldMine product line and Ticomix.
Learn more about GoldMine...
- Register now for our upcoming GoldMine Forums in Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
|
