BMC turns to CRM to unify sales team

Challenge: It’s easier for salespeople to do their job if they’re closer to the customer, but once they leave the main office, keeping in touch with colleagues and sharing leads become more difficult.

This is the conundrum that systems management software provider BMC Software faced. The company wanted more of its 6,100 employees—especially salespeople—out in the field, but managers knew they might lose incremental sales if employees weren’t communicating.

Solution: BMC installed Siebel Sales, rolling it out to more than 1,800 employees in North and South America, said Mark Meyer, BMC’s former director of CRM who recently moved over to the company’s worldwide marketing and communications department.

"We told our salespeople, ‘We want you to collaborate on your contacts. Use the tool and put all your opportunity data in it.’ That’s the real benefit for the direct-sales channel—their ability to team in real time on the opportunities for customers," Meyer said.

Results: Customer contacts and information are available to salespeople in real time; as soon as a lead is generated, it’s accessible—even to those on the road.

In addition, it’s easier for employees to generate proposals and customer communications. Because Siebel Sales automates those processes, salespeople can pull proprietary data into their reports from wherever they are in the world. "It cuts out search time and phone calling. Salespeople have all the materials they need in one place," Meyer said.

Customers benefit because they aren’t bounced from salesperson to salesperson. This is crucial because BMC salespeople often support their customers through the entire process. And because salespeople can analyze each customer’s unique business needs, they can upsell and cross-sell them additional products and services.

Members of the sales management team also benefit from the new Siebel software. Now, they have better visibility into opportunities, which helps with sales projections and future development. Marketing is streamlined, too. Because data are entered into the system in real time, marketing managers can track the success of a given campaign and associate it with response and conversion rates based on lead generation.

"We can see if a campaign is bringing in qualified opportunities and how many sales we’re closing. That lets us tweak campaigns effectively," Meyer said.

BMC was so happy with the results it expanded its Siebel rollout. Today, BMC Software employees in Europe and Asia-Pacific are using Siebel Sales, too.

"The software is like a light shining out of the front of the car when you’re driving through the night, rather than driving looking in a rear-view mirror," Meyer said. "We can anticipate changes and illuminate our customers’ needs and wants."

—Karen J. Bannan