GoldMine reseller walks the CRM walk

Cape-based FrontRange Solutions certified partner, End 2 End (E2E) Business Solutions, is realising ongoing business benefits with GoldMine.

Internally, says E2E director David Lees, the CRM package allows the company to communicate relevant information to its database of 1 800-2 400 client contacts. This ensures annual support billings details are correct, and permits it to take advantage of potential upgrade sales opportunities.

In addition, GoldMine enables an almost paperless environment, allowing staff to access all data relevant to a particular client they are visiting, while they are out of the office.

Lees says the software, business and auditing consulting firm made the decision to operate all its systems electronically at start-up. "We imported our data from another database into GoldMine and have been developing it as our customer base grows," he adds.

E2E signed up as a GoldMine partner on 1 March last year, before the institution of the formal programme operated by FrontRange.

"Since the inception of the company approximately 18 months ago, one of our primary goals has been to provide superior customer service levels. Thus, while we are a FrontRange solution partner, we also have a clear requirement to use a software tool ourselves to ensure that we transact efficiently with our client base, as well as with each other.

"Implementing GoldMine 5 has enabled us to achieve extremely high levels of knowledge and communication with our client base. One of our primary areas of business, aside from implementing CRM solutions at our clients, is the supply and support of a range of auditing software tools. Our database in this respect comprises approximately 600 firms of accountants and auditors, with an average of 3-4 contact persons per organisation."

Using GoldMine, E2E has recorded the following information for each:

• Contact people and their details, including e-mail addresses.

• Complete history of every contact with every client, including phone calls, appointments, e-mail messages (in and out), and forecast sales.

• Links to every document sent to every client, including proposals, quotations, invoices and statements.

E2E has also categorised its client base according to type using the user definable fields in GoldMine. This enables it to filter its database and send relevant information to selected categories of clients.

"In respect of software and documentation, we communicate exclusively using e-mail. GoldMine`s e-mail centre and ability to interact intelligently with Microsoft Office enables us to personalise messages to our clients and thus project a professional image," Lees says.

Previously, E2E corresponded with its clients via "snail mail", which - besides being slow and costly - meant there was not as much information flow as is currently possible. "It was a major exercise to send a mailshot to our clients every time we wanted to tell them something," Lees says.

E2E uses GoldMine exclusively for all messaging and appointment scheduling therefore, in effect, its office is almost paperless.

The directors of the company all have laptops and GoldMine has been configured to synchronise with the machines, so when directors are out of the office, they have full access to the company database and can schedule any required actions while at a client.

Any issues raised in meetings can be answered on the spot. In addition, directors can make appointments without having to return to the office to check schedules.

Says Lees: "One of the great spin-offs of this situation is that all client history is available while at a meeting. In addition, personnel who are working in the office are usually able to assist customers who are on the phone, even if the client`s regular contact person is out at the time of the call."

All new records are updated to the office network as soon as the remote user returns to the office.

E2E has customised the GoldMine database to enable it to record details of every product a company has purchased, as well as the date of any relevant transactions and correspondence with clients.

"This is vital to us as some of the products we distribute are linked to annual support contracts," says Lees. "Using GoldMine, we can activate a filter based on dates and use the resulting data set to ensure that our annual support billings are correct."

This brings with it indirect financial benefits. For example, using this information E2E can check exactly which customers are using which products and which of these are older versions, thereby identifying possible upgrade sales opportunities.