Remmers Gruppe AG: Full digitization of contact data capture at trade shows, in internal sales and in the field
Under the motto "Get things done!", 1,600 employees in over 30 countries work every day at Remmers Gruppe AG to put their customers and partners at the center of everything they do. The independent family-owned company specializes in the manufacture of construction chemicals, wood paints and varnishes as well as industrial coatings.
We spoke to Bernd Eilers, Project Manager at Remmers Gruppe, in an interview. He is responsible for all topics relating to the SAP CRM system: User administration, training, further developments, and the introduction of useful tools such as snapADDY VisitReport and snapADDY DataQuality.
Optimization of lead capture at trade shows and field sales
Remmers Gruppe recognized the potential of digital lead capture at trade shows and customer events several years ago. The associated optimization of the existing lead management process was quickly initiated for the following reasons. The initial lead capture on a piece of paper and pen meant enormous effort. After the trade fair visit, all the collected lead sheets and business cards were loaded together with the trade fair stand and then viewed and sorted internally on arrival and passed on to the relevant sales representatives. This manual process significantly delayed post-processing. Remmers Gruppe therefore decided to introduce a lead app: the recording of the generated leads could be digitalized and thus accelerated. However, the app was not entirely convincing, as key functions such as automated lead follow-up and the option to work offline were missing.
In his search for an alternative, Bernd Eilers came across snapADDY VisitReport. The lead app provided the desired functions - automated follow-ups and offline availability - and was therefore quickly introduced.
“We are very satisfied with snapADDY VisitReport, the offline availability was an important criterion for us, because internet reception at the trade fair stand often leaves a lot to be desired. It works brilliantly!”
Bernd Eilers, Project Manager
snapADDY VisitReport has since been used at each of the 35 trade shows held annually. For the leading trade fair BAU, not only dynamic but also standard questions were added for the first time, which help with segmentation in order to improve the subsequent management of marketing activities.
“With the help of dynamic questions, the questionnaire and the sales employee adapt optimally to the course of the conversation. Capturing and maintaining trade fair leads is now very quick and easy.”
Automation of manual sales processes improves CRM data quality
It's an open secret: sales employees don't like entering and maintaining contact data. The office and field staff had to enter all contact data manually into the CRM system. If the contact details changed, such as a new extension number or position, the data record had to be updated manually. However, this ignored an important and high-quality data source: Contact data in email signatures. This is where snapADDY DataQuality came to the rescue. The smart application captures contact data with just a few clicks and updates the CRM automatically. Incoming email signatures are checked, new data records created, or existing ones updated. The introduction of snapADDY DataQuality even increased acceptance of the CRM system, as all data is now complete, up-to-date, and correct where it should be - with significantly less effort.
Quality in the SAP CRM system is also an important and ongoing issue for Remmers Gruppe: "With clean contact data, we can now carry out email marketing much more easily and in a more targeted manner. If a customer makes a purchase based on a marketing e-mail, the sales department can track many things more easily and therefore understands the importance of complete data," explains Eilers. Further optimization lay in the fact that the right contacts now also receive the right information. The bounce rate has also been significantly reduced thanks to correct email addresses.
Successful pilot phase and utilization of snapADDY DataQuality
The pilot project with snapADDY DataQuality started with a group of ten key users. The aim was to find out whether the tool is suitable for everyday use and can create real added value for employees. The test weeks were very promising, all users were very satisfied and immediately noticed a reduction in workload when maintaining existing data and creating new contacts. After the successful test phase, licenses were rolled out to 128 additional employees.
“The snapADDY tools are easy to use and work very well for us. The very good recognition rate of scanned business cards or other sources should be emphasized.”
Taking employees by the hand: User training and on-site support at trade shows
In order to get the tools into regular use, all employees concerned had to be taken by the hand: Targeted product training sessions were organised for all users, either in person or remotely. The functions were trialled together, benefits were discussed, and the app was set up. Bernd Eilers accompanied his trade fair team to BAU to answer any queries directly on site. This ensured fast and effective utilisation shortly after implementation.
Further automation potential with snapADDY DataQuality
With snapADDY DataQuality, almost complete automation of contact data capture should be possible in the future. Bernd Eilers is already eagerly awaiting the new "Data Quality Automation" feature: depending on the use case, the updating of contact data will be further automated so that only certain changes are suggested to the sales department for checking. All other contact data can be automatically recorded and updated by snapADDY DataQuality. This will enable the Remmers Gruppe to become even more efficient in master data maintenance in the future. Eilers is delighted: “I think this is yet another step that users will really appreciate!”
We would like to thank Remmers Gruppe for giving us an insight into their day-to-day work and look forward to working with them in the future.