The Bell Group has learned a thing or two during its 60 years of business success. Experience has taught The Bell Group that customers are the very core of its business. In light of that, The Bell Group truly recognizes the value of an effective customer relationship management (CRM) solution. Accordingly, The Bell Group has positioned Oncontact Software's CRM system at the front of its business and technology infrastructure.
About The Bell Group
The Bell Group is primarily a business-to-business manufacturer and distributor to the jewelry industry. The company also has a business division that services the high-tech ceramics industry. The Bell Group has a wide range of products, varying from 1mm gemstones to 1,000-lb. casting machines. The company outfits jewelry retailers and manufacturers domestically and around the world with jewelry materials and supplies.
The Bell Group, which has been a family owned and operated business since 1944, began as a vision of better serving the jewelry industry. What started out as a small operation has grown into an international distribution center for over 125,000 active customers. The Bell Group's vision remains much as it was when the company was founded, with customer service and satisfaction the basis for all business conduct.
The company puts as much stock in its employees as it does in its customers. The Bell Group's corporate structure is unique, to say the least. The company works entirely in a team environment with no hierarchy and no bosses. Team members are collectively responsible for managing their group's role within the company, using a series of sophisticated tools developed to ensure strategic management. The Bell Group's system works because everybody in the company is a stockholder and can therefore experience financial gain and take personal pride in the company's success.
The Bell Group Discovers Need for Technology Revolution
The Bell Group's business is comprised of thousands of details, which calls for a high degree of precision in developing and executing its business practices. The company manufactures and distributes more than 23,000 products. Those products are detailed in four separate catalogs, all branded Rio Grande, which are distributed to a combined audience of over 225,000.
The Bell Group was relying on bits and pieces of technology to manage the complexities of its service to the jewelry industry. None of those systems, however, spoke to each other. As a result, The Bell Group had to rely on paper communication to run its business, a process that was cumbersome, inefficient and costly.
As The Bell Group's customer base and product lines grew, the company soon recognized the need to revolutionize its business through technology. Because customer service and satisfaction are the basis for all business conduct at The Bell Group, CRM software was the driving force behind the technology revolution. After seeing the flexibility, vast functionality and high scalability of Oncontact's CRM application, The Bell Group was confident that Oncontact Software's CRM solution was the perfect product to serve as the focal point of the integrated system. The Bell Group also liked the idea that Oncontact Software's CRM system would be able to improve performance among its diverse sales teams, aggressive marketing campaigns and fast-paced customer support, which includes repairs and returns.
The Bell Group's vision called for integrating the entire scope of The Bell Group's customer-facing technology - including its CRM, accounting, warehousing, field service, manufacturing and shipping systems - to achieve maximum efficiency in its business processes. The integration would, in turn, ensure customers that each experience with The Bell Group would be a pleasant one. One that would make them want to be Bell Group customers for years to come.
The Bell Group was already using Great Plains for its financial management, manufacturing production management, warehousing, field service and supply chain management needs. Oncontact's CRM Software was a good fit for this reason as well because Oncontact integrates natively with Great Plains.
Technology Revolution Named: The Joshua Project
As The Bell Group's technology vision evolved, it began to develop a personality. The Bell Group team saw a parallel between the Biblical story in which Joshua's vision leads the Israelites out of the desert and into the Promised Land, and their own story. They joked that their Legacy system had gotten them out of technical slavery, but they needed a new technology vision to get them to the Promised Land. And so The Bell Group's vision came to be known as The Joshua Project.
The Bell Group's approach to implementing The Joshua Project is no different than its team-oriented corporate structure. To ensure The Joshua Project team would have a global view of the integrated system, one key team member was chosen from each area to focus solely on implementation of The Joshua Project. Each team member left his/her regular job to devote undivided attention to The Joshua Project. The Joshua Project team was comprised of one representative from each of the following areas: customer center, customer service, warehouse, returns, shipping and product management (which includes Oncontact CRM and Great Plains).
Each team within The Bell Group participated in the research to select the CRM software package that would best suit the corporation's needs. Prior to making the final decision, the teams mapped out their processes to gain a full understanding of what the technology would have to accomplish. The teams evaluated their businesses processes and examined how they could use technology to make them more efficient.
Joshua Comes to Life
Execution of The Joshua Project began with the launch of The Bell Group's manufacturing systems. Joshua's next breath was rollout of The Bell Group's financial system. That was followed by the launch of Oncontact's CRM application for key account management teams.
A customer receives one of The Bell Group's Rio Grande catalogs and calls the toll-free number to place an order. That order originates in Oncontact's CRM application. The customer center rep retrieves the customer record in the Oncontact CRM software and creates an activity. The rep also enters notes to record any questions that were answered or product interests that were expressed.
The Bell Group has customized Oncontact's CRM application with a special screen that identifies each call as an order, special order or quote. Oncontact also tracks the source and media of the sale, in addition to the cost of materials sent to that customer or prospect. Once the order is completed in Oncontact, it is transferred to Great Plains where all product information is stored. Oncontact Software relies on Microsoft's Active X technology to alert Great Plains of a new order. When Great Plains receives that signal, the order automatically populates the Great Plains screen so no information has to be re-keyed. Great Plains configures all order detail, such as stock number, method of shipment, applicable tax and payment terms.
The Bell Group's warehouse team pulls the order from the Great Plains warehouse management system using a handheld or voice-activated radio frequency device that tells them which product the order is for, where in the warehouse the product is located and the volume needed. Once the warehouse team confirms stock availability, they scan the product's barcode and the order is deducted from The Bell Group's inventory.
Once an order is pulled, it is then sent to the shipping team where it is invoiced, packed and manifested. The Bell Group uses Clippership, a stand-alone shipping system widely used with many warehouse management systems. Their integrated warehouse management system (Radio Beacon) has a packaged interface with Clippership that makes it easy to take advantage of Clippership's functionality. The information then feeds back into Microsoft Great Plains where the order is posted. And the order is sent out to the customer.
Oncontact's CRM Application: Joshua's Heartbeat
The Joshua Project unites the entire Bell Group enterprise. That wouldn't be possible without Oncontact's CRM application. Thanks to Oncontact, The Bell Group knows each customer like the back of its hand and is able to tap The Joshua Project to provide them with unparalleled service throughout every interaction with the company.
The Bell Group uses Oncontact CRM software to follow up on sales calls, track customer activity, share information in real time, monitor marketing programs and gauge customer needs in order to serve them better. Team members no longer have to struggle to remember every business process because Oncontact CRM software provides automated templates for them to follow. Oncontact CRM software also generates reminders for follow-up activities, allowing users to record future tasks then rely on the system to remind them at a later date.
Each Bell Group team is interdependent with the rest of the company and maintains valuable customer information of universal importance. Oncontact CRM software stores that information so that anyone who has access to the system can familiarize themselves with a customer in a matter of minutes. That's a huge bonus for new employees. Before Oncontact's CRM application, the process of bringing a new Bell Group employee up to speed took nearly five weeks of training. Since implementation that time has been reduced to three weeks.
CRM Software from Oncontact Software gives The Bell Group the power to analyze customer behavior. Oncontact is equipped with robust analytic capabilities that allow The Bell Group to examine buying patterns and illustrate findings using Oncontact's built-in reports. That intelligence dramatically enhances The Bell Group's ability to provide outstanding customer service and embark on successful sales and marketing initiatives.
The Bell Group is a progressive company that is always willing to learning new processes. However, more than 50 years of experience has enabled The Bell Group to hone many of its winning strategies. The Bell Group really liked the fact that Oncontact CRM could mirror its tried and true processes and successfully capture the extensive detail surrounding its customer base and product line.
Previously, The Bell Group was only able to maintain records for customers who had placed an order. The Bell Group had no way to capture information about prospective customers, even if they had contacted The Bell Group in the past. Oncontact CRM has changed that. Oncontact helps The Bell Group know a prospect just as well as it knows customers. As a result, The Bell Group is well equipped to develop strategies to transform prospects into active customers.
Joshua's Impact on the Bottom Line
Joshua has been working overtime to produce an array of benefits for The Bell Group. The company has witnessed increased efficiency throughout many departments. Benefits include:
Modules of the Oncontact CRM system utilized by The Bell Group:
Great Plains Integration
Oncontact CRM seamlessly integrates with Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise to create a single integrated system that gives users a 360° view of the customer. Users have all the customer intelligence they ever need - contact information, activity history, service records, sales history, year-to-date purchases, credit terms - at their fingertips in one easily accessible location.
Sales
Oncontact CRM Software gives your sales professionals, from associate to executive level, the tools they need to effectively manage prospects and customers. Oncontact CRM provides a detailed snapshot of the complete customer and prospect relationship, including account history and organizational hierarchy. Oncontact CRM software contains a complete history of interactions with customers and prospects on an individual or company-wide level. The OncontactCRM interface is completely customizable, which allows users to decide how they want to manage their customer and prospect relationships.
Marketing
Oncontact CRM handles the entire scope of a company's marketing needs. Oncontact CRM helps marketing professionals create, execute, manage and track successful campaigns that increase leads and generate sales. Oncontact CRM software also helps marketing pros know their customers like never before. Oncontact CRM creates a detailed profile of each customer and provides marketing pros with extensive data mining and report capabilities that allow them to develop successful marketing strategies with all the information they've captured.
Customer Service
Oncontact CRM is a complete customer service solution that helps support professionals deliver fast, accurate problem resolution. Support professionals have at their fingertips all the resources they need to track incidents, research incidents in the knowledge, solve problems, return merchandise and manage contracts.
Call Center
Oncontact CRM helps companies make the most of their call center operations. Call center reps can use Oncontact's CRM application to qualify and assign leads to sales reps, fulfill literature requests and survey customers and prospects. Managing these activities from the call center gives the sales team more time to pursue leads and close deals.
