Savoye builds lifelong
customer relationships with SugarCRM

And Savoye would be the first to agree! As a provider of warehouse automation and logistics management solutions, this market leader works for distributors and manufacturers through an offering split across three entities: A-SIS, INTELIS and PRODEX.

With these three complementary brands, Savoye meets a wide range of needs and covers every logistics process for goods: automated warehouse equipment, software, order receiving, storage, sorting, packing…

The list goes on! Choosing a logistics partner like Savoye requires careful thought up front. And for good reason: projects of this scale can take several years to come to fruition!

In other words…

Savoye’s sales and marketing teams face major challenges. On the one hand, they need to win over and convince prospective customers for months, sometimes years. On the other, they are tasked with upselling and cross-selling to existing customers.

Today, this logistics engineering and consulting specialist with 650 employees can take pride in excellent customer relationship management. But getting there took time!

Individual Excel files

Savoye’s offering relies on solutions that are as complex as they are sophisticated, which makes it hard to manage each customer’s needs without a dedicated, high-performance tool.

Savoye’s sales, marketing and customer service teams number no fewer than 100 employees, and at the time each of them worked with their own Excel files.

This siloed approach made it difficult, and often impossible, to get the information needed to manage sales effectively and run high-performing marketing campaigns.

Yet precise, clear communication matters a great deal to our customers and prospects, and it is often decisive in winning a project. That’s why we badly needed a new solution!”

Faced with these challenges, Marie Merckaert and her colleagues set out to find a new customer experience platform.

Building an action plan

In recent years, customer experience solutions have flourished on the market, giving companies a wide choice of high-performing tools. But above all, Savoye knows how vital it is for its users to adopt the chosen tool.

So throughout its decision process, the company kept one thing in mind: a CX platform can only succeed if the people it is designed for actually use it.

So while decision-makers wanted a solution that could break down silos, bring teams closer together and consolidate customer data, they also knew the transition would have a real impact.

The repercussions for employees across the group’s various entities, each with its own culture and methods, would be significant. This was anything but a decision to take lightly.

The best way to make sure people use the solution? Involve them in choosing it.

In search of the ideal solution

Savoye quickly identified Sugar as the ideal solution. Beyond the vendor’s global presence, the teams were won over by “the strong fit between Sugar’s features and Savoye’s needs.”

But what truly sealed the deal was the strong bond between Sugar and its integration partner Synolia. Savoye saw Synolia as the ideal advisor to guide the group through rolling out a platform that would meet the needs of its three brands.

“Synolia understood who we were, and the specifics of our company and our industry,” explains Marie Merckaert. “Synolia answered all our questions and gave us many recommendations throughout the project. That’s the real added value of choosing this partner for Savoye.”

Today, all 100 members of the sales and marketing teams rely on Sugar every day, and there are plans to extend it to users in other departments.

Sales teams use Sugar daily to track long sales cycles, manage and monitor performance and spot upselling opportunities. Meanwhile, marketing teams can now build targeted campaigns, measure their ROI and pass high-quality leads to sales.

“We build long-term relationships with our prospects and customers. Decisions can take years, which is why it is important to stay in very regular contact with them. A lot depends on the customer experience we deliver.”

Information that is accessible and shared across departments enables precise follow-up, so customers can be notified as soon as it is time for them to update or upgrade.

Sales teams can now easily spot a customer who could use a new option from Savoye’s solutions, and every user can communicate directly and meaningfully with any customer.

“Savoye has a portfolio of three complementary solution brands. It’s not unusual for our customers to need all three. Thanks to Sugar, it’s easier for our teams to identify and promote the right solutions from our product range.”

Building lasting customer relationships

“We used to be reactive. We didn’t have all the information we needed. Sugar frees up time for the marketing and sales teams to build higher-quality relationships with customers and prospects.”

With such strong results in both sales and marketing, Savoye quickly decided to extend Sugar to other departments. Next step: getting better visibility into sales activities.

New enhancements and integrations are underway to improve financial reporting and forecasting. “We want everything centralized in Sugar.”

Have a strategic plan

“You need to build a real action plan. Without one, you don’t know where you’re going.”

Get everyone on board

“The biggest risk is investing in a solution that people end up not using. That’s why it’s very important to involve the managers and directors who will be responsible for driving adoption, as well as interviewing employees to understand their needs. Everyone has to be on board!”

Find the right partner

“Choosing a good solution isn’t enough. You also need a long-term partner to guide you through deploying and configuring it. Companies don’t always think about this, but it’s very important.”