Strongco sells rents and services mobile industrial equipment to sectors that include construction, road building, mining, forestry, utilities and municipalities.
Volvo Construction Equipment recognized Strongco as its largest volume dealer in North America for 2008. In addition, Volvo Financial Services recognized Strongco as its largest producer in North America of financing at the retail level. Strongco also represents leading equipment manufacturers Case, Manitowoc, Cedarapids, Fassi, Allied, Gomaco, Taylor and ESCO.
- Consolidated numerous quoting spreadsheets
- Multi-currency quotes
- Accurate pricing and product details by vendor
- Improved field sales visibility and pipelines
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration
Challenge
With more than 600 employees providing industrial equipment retail services at 27 branches located from Newfoundland to Alberta, implementing a CRM software program complete with a quoting configurator solution was an immediate requirement in order for Strongco to maintain its competitive edge in the market.
Quotes and cost sheets were being handled manually using Excel by the sales staff and any supplier pricing structure changes were communicated separately and often inconsistently to each sales team across Canada.
“We were looking for a powerful quote and order configurator tool to reduce the risk of pricing errors and we wanted to enhance pipeline visibility for everyone in the sales chain. Our customer quotes needed to be available to management and all sales coordinators and we needed to be on top of machine warranties and expiration dates.”
Salespeople handled quotes and cost sheets manually using Excel.
Supplier pricing changes were communicated separately to sales teams across Canada.
Management and sales coordinators needed better visibility into customer quotes and potential sales.
Strongco needed a better way to stay current on machine warranties and expiration dates.
Quotes, cost sheets, vendor pricing changes and product information were distributed across spreadsheets and individual sales processes.
Product and service options, rules and pricing are maintained in one intelligent configuration environment.
Solution
“We evaluated other software packages but found that Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Experlogix Configurator was superior. The seamless integration of Experlogix with Microsoft Dynamics CRM eliminates the requirement for redundant data entry as quotes and orders generated by Experlogix create corresponding records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.”
“The innate flexibility of Experlogix accommodates our varied equipment and attachment suppliers and allows us to use both standard and non-standard pricing structures. Completely customizable, Experlogix gives us the ability to maintain and push through updates in-house and to keep our sales staff current on pricing and product information.”
Quotes and orders generated in Experlogix create corresponding records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
The configuration environment supports Strongco's varied equipment and attachment suppliers.
Strongco can work with both standard and non-standard pricing structures.
Pricing and product information can be maintained and pushed to sales users internally.
Result
“In the past, quotes and cost sheets were done manually in Excel and stored on individual laptops. Any supplier pricing structure changes were communicated separately and sometimes inconsistently to each sales team across Canada,” explains Sgro.
Since going live with the Experlogix Configurator, Strongco has consolidated their product and service options, rules and pricing into a single intelligent system, eliminating the need for catalogs and cumbersome-to-maintain spreadsheets.
“Having a centralized and updated configurator system reduces the risks of pricing/quoting errors - including machine warranty and expirations. The integration with Dynamics CRM gives everyone along the sales chain a forward view of the potential sales pipeline.”
Strongco’s sales force relies on Experlogix with Dynamics CRM to create proposals while traveling, including at job sites where network connections may not be available. Pricing and product-rule updates are communicated to the field so salespeople can create accurate quotes in multiple currencies.
“Our offline developed quotes are synchronized back to our central Dynamics CRM server, providing great visibility into sales activity and accurate pipelines. The Experlogix Configurator has assisted us in conquering all our quoting hurdles.”
Product and service options, rules and pricing are consolidated into one system instead of numerous spreadsheets.
Field sales teams can create equipment proposals in multiple currencies.
Pricing and product details can be maintained according to Strongco's varied equipment and attachment suppliers.
A centralized configurator reduces risks associated with pricing, quoting, warranties and expiration information.
Dynamics CRM gives management and sales teams a forward view into potential sales activity.
Quotes developed outside the office can be synchronized back to Strongco's central Dynamics CRM environment.
“Our offline developed quotes are synchronized back to our central Dynamics CRM server, providing great visibility into sales activity and accurate pipelines. The Experlogix Configurator has assisted us in conquering all our quoting hurdles.”
Anna Sgro Vice President Multi-Line DivisionSpeak with one of our experts or download the complete Strongco customer success story.
