By Swatil Binte Mahmud, Blogger, Lava Protocols
It is 2021, and is your company still handling data manually? Do you have your client’s information handwritten in diaries? Are your customer complaints and queries written on sticky notes? Many companies, big or small, do not invest in technology because of a lack of information on the cost and process of it. What many businesses fail to grasp is how much your life can get easier with the right tools, expertise, and technology.
For example, one of Malaysia’s automotive logistics pioneers was managing customer data manually. The company specializes in freight forwarding of vehicles by land/sea, provides quality transit storage, and handles facilities for the import and export of many automobiles in Malaysia. However, what they needed was a system that could help them shift their customer-related data online from the existing offline practice. That is where Lava Protocols came in. Founded in 2007, Lava has a proven track record of implementing, extending, and connecting cloud applications and platforms such as Salesforce and Google for a broad range of industries in Malaysia ranging from telecommunications, healthcare, oil and gas, aeronautical, education to the government sector and more.
Challenges faced by the company:
- Customer inquiries were managed manually by the team.
- Time-consuming for the sales team to go through inquiries.
- Possibility of data loss due to manual handling of data.
- No visibility of pre-sales activities and whether they are being followed up on time.
- No system in place to track the sales performance by the management.
Here are the ways Lava helped this client achieve a competitive edge using cloud computing technology and applications:
Lead capturing for Enquiries from Customers
Lava enabled channels such as web and email to automatically capture inquiries coming in. This allowed data to be followed up by the client’s sales team to filter inquiries that are likely to request quotations. Upon the request for a quotation, the leads are converted to account/contacts. Thus, converting the customer inquiry system into an online platform.
Moreover, Salesforce provided the client with insight into the channels from which new inquiries were coming in, reminders on any unattended leads, how many leads were closed, and how their sales team performed.
Additionally, to keep track of pre-sales activities, now admins can run a report on lead status or lead source to check whether the leads are being followed up with and which channel brings in the most leads for the team.
Account and Contact Management
Lava helped this client create an account and contact management system. When a lead has been converted to an account and contact, an address is also created and copied over automatically. Once the client reaches the stage of creating quotations, Salesforce customizes an Account and Contact Management template within Salesforce, which pushes the Customer Details into their main system. This was done to avoid users having to create two separate entries of customer details into Salesforce & the client’s system. This ensures that the account, contact, and address information are pushed to their operation feedback system, where the sales team will issue a quotation to the customer. Therefore, all customer inquiries are stored, processed, and followed up seamlessly.
Integration to the operation feedback system
Business accounts with contact and address information of clients and customers of the automotive company are immediately pushed to the operation feedback system and the record is created/updated on the operation feedback system. Also, individual accounts with address information are immediately pushed to that system and the record is created/updated for each of them. Any changes done on Salesforce for the account record will also be synced with the system.
Now, this client of Lava can easily keep track of the customer inquiry information and follow up with them immediately through emails. Employees of this logistics company can now create standard reports which can be generated instantly based on real-time data. Overall, Lava has helped them increase efficiency and enhanced the operational data management capabilities of all users of the system.
Lava has assisted some of the biggest names across the Asia Pacific region build solutions powered by cloud applications and platforms. One of the successful examples of an online solution is the work Lava conducted for this company which is a leader in their industry. Lava’s client portfolio consists of successful companies like Malaysian Airlines, CIMB Bank, Sunway University, Heineken, etc. If you are convinced that online solutions are the future for your company’s growth, you can contact Lava Protocols today!
Lava Protocols is an authorized Salesforce Partner. Want to manage your CRM better? Drop us an email to schedule your demo: hello@lavaprotocols.com.