Helping businesses manage that critical "last mile" is what USCO Logistics does. Working primarily with customers in the high-tech, retail and pharmaceutical industries, the company offers customized integrated suites of services, including warehousing, transportation and information management solutions.
Sales Force Buy-in Vital
USCO had been using ACT! by Sage, the popular contact manager solution from Sage Software, for several years to manage their outbound direct mail databases. By 1997, USCO was accessing seven different ACT! databases, containing tens of thousands of records, for every campaign. The company's director of new business development, Mary Ann Jacob, recalled that one database had about 26,000 contact records in it. "We knew we were stretching the system's capabilities and we really needed to find another way to track our relationships."
In the course of her search for the right CRM solution, Jacob investigated GoldMine, Onyx and Siebel. Because the company had been successful with ACT! thus far, they also contacted Sage Software and learned about Sage SalesLogix, a natural progression for ACT! users that have outgrown contact management and need CRM.
Bob Whyte, a Sage SalesLogix Business Partner from Brainsell, demonstrated the product's ease of use and customization capabilities for USCO's account tracking activities and performance measurement needs.
"It was obvious that Sage SalesLogix had the capability to grow with us," said Jacob. "And, we also liked the fact that we had a dedicated CRM advocate in Bob as our needs changed and evolved."
Similarities between the Sage SalesLogix and ACT! interfaces made Jacob confident that USCO's salespeople could be productive with the new system immediately. “We knew the only way we could succeed was with acceptance from the field," she said. "For that to happen, we had to make their processes better. One of the first customizations included the automation of a complicated reporting process. This provided management the ability to create and store complex price quotes in Sage SalesLogix, streamlining the review, revision and approval process.”
Pipeline Visibility Aids Strategic Planning
Before implementing Sage SalesLogix, the view USCO had of the sales pipeline was very limited. "We did not have the visibility that allowed for future business decisions, however, now I can look at prospects with closing dates a year or more away," said Jacobs. That kind of visibility is available throughout the company — to 140 Sage SalesLogix users in a half-dozen USCO business units. Finance shares contracts and customer information with Operations. Transportation uses the data to manage rate structures for small-parcel customers. And, marketing tracks which programs are bringing in which leads.
"Sage SalesLogix has enabled our company to communicate more effectively with current customers and prospects."
- Mary Ann Jacob, Director of New Business Development
USCO
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"USCO employees use the system via traditional LAN connections, from remote offices, and over the Web," Whyte noted. "For example, before Sage SalesLogix, the company's five locations in Mexico operated essentially as a separate company," said Jacob. Now, those locations are tied into the same databases used to manage the U.S. operations. With Sage SalesLogix, USCO is now a more truly unified company.
"We're Light Years Ahead"
"Sage SalesLogix has enabled us to communicate more effectively with current customers and prospects," said Jacob. "We've replaced our ineffective processes with the streamlined efficiency of Sage SalesLogix."
"We are light years ahead of where we were, in terms of being able to manage and share critical information, quantify and target our marketing campaigns. Sage SalesLogix has really revolutionized our operation."
