Watson-Marlow aligns CRM implementation project with strategy

1. Choosing Columbus and implementing a CRM solution

2. Solving the challenges facing Watson-Marlow

3. Outcomes

4. Evaluating the value of the prepare phase

5. Working with Columbus

With Watson-Marlow always working to stay at the forefront of innovation, in 2022 the company made a strategic shift towards becoming a customer solutions provider. To successfully make this transition, they prioritised implementing the aforementioned Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

The new CRM implementation has resolved numerous challenges, bringing significant benefits to the company, particularly for its sales engineers who work on the road. It’s also contributed to improvements in key business areas such as data quality, accuracy and pipeline visibility, helping the sales team to work more efficiently.

The company also expects significant enhancements in marketing capabilities with the implementation of the new system. It’s anticipated the new CRM will provide better insights into the entire campaign journey, allowing for a more thorough assessment of critical metrics such as customer reach, lead conversion rates, and overall campaign effectiveness. This, in turn, will enable Watson-Marlow to make more informed, data-driven decisions and optimise marketing strategies more effectively, improving the measurement of the true return on investment (ROI) for each campaign.

Together with Columbus, Watson-Marlow achieved several successes:

Improved sales performance

Watson-Marlow has developed a dynamic sales process (DSP) that has seamlessly integrated into its CRM system. This integration has enabled sales teams to navigate the sales process smoothly into their daily operations.

The company’s outside sales team can now quickly and easily access the critical information they need. Watson-Marlow now has greater visibility and control over territory planning and opportunity management, ensuring its salespeople can focus on high-priority tasks without the burden of manual tracking.

With this CRM integration, Watson-Marlow can generate various types of quotations within minutes. From simple product quotes to comprehensive proposals, the system has streamlined the quotation process, saving time and ensuring consistency across sales documents. This efficiency has also translated into improved customer experience, with more cohesive customer interactions and faster response times.

Increased marketing effectiveness 

Moving away from shared inboxes, Watson-Marlow has consolidated all communications and purchase orders into a centralised platform. This has facilitated smoother communication between sales and supply teams, ensuring a comprehensive 360-degree view of customer interactions. 

It’s also expected to enhance the marketing team’s ability to create and manage campaigns effectively. By consolidating lead generation and tracking conversions, the team aims to gain more valuable insights into campaign performance, enabling informed decision-making and resource allocation for future marketing efforts.

Additionally, Watson-Marlow has integrated its website forms with its CRM. This means when customers reach out, their inquiries are directly routed into the CRM system.

The marketing team aims for this connection between customer data and sales team data to enable them to better spot patterns in customer behaviour and interactions, helping identify cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. Additionally, the marketing team is currently making strides in email personalisation, targeting customers with products that resonate with their needs.

Outside sales engineers can now access a mobile sales app, where they can access all the crucial information they need and perform actions such as:

• Send quotes instantly
• Revisit customer records on-the-go
• View when a customer was last quoted for a certain product
• See when they were last in contact with Watson-Marlow

Enhanced operational efficiency 

Deployment of the CRM across supply sites has streamlined communication and collaboration between sales and supply teams. This means improved planning and forecasting, leading to more accurate lead times and enhanced efficiency in production processes.

Also, increased visibility into pipeline data and opportunity information has enabled Watson-Marlow to have better demand planning and resource allocation.

Strategic business insights 

Executives, including the managing director and divisional directors, have more visibility into the sales pipeline and future potential. This improvement is expected to enhance decision-making and strategic planning, ensuring alignment with business objectives and priorities.

Before diving headfirst into a full-scale project, Watson-Marlow recognised the need to gain a deeper understanding of its needs and challenges. It wasn’t just about implementing technology - but embracing business transformation.

Readying the business for change

• Watson-Marlow decided to run a three-month Explore project with Columbus that would lay the groundwork for the subsequent main project.
• Involving 60 key Watson-Marlow stakeholders, 12 workshops were conducted to pinpoint value and identify necessary organisational changes.

Shifting the organisation’s mindset

• Continuous engagement and communication were prioritised to ensure every member felt engaged and involved in the transformation process
• Development of a value dependency network allowed Watson-Marlow to gauge the success of guiding individuals through each phase of change

Invaluable lessons for the main project

• Prioritising engagement and empathy, Watson-Marlow recognised that change is about people and emotions
• The Explore project laid a strong foundation for successful CRM implementation, fostering collaboration, understanding, and alignment across the organisation, delivering tangible value

Read more about the Explore stage of the project in more depth by watching this video.

Andrew Jones, Head of Sales Excellence & Governance at Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions, explains why Columbus emerged as the preferred partner in the selection process. “We underwent a thorough evaluation to find a partner aligned with our values. Columbus shared our core values, understood our business and connected with our people,” says Andrew.

Andrew elaborates on how Columbus supported Watson-Marlow in better understanding their manufacturing and change management challenges. “We knew we had a big culture change to go through, which was new for us. Being able to work with Columbus and have them take us through their change management process, engage in discussions, and learn from their past implementations with other customers, was invaluable.”

Further reflecting on why Columbus was the right choice for Watson-Marlow, Andrew says, “change is all about people, and the only way you can start that change journey is if you’ve got that strong relationship with the partner that’s going to help you to work through that change. That for us was the biggest area that set Columbus apart from other partners – their change management process and dedicated team. That reassured us that we’d made the right decision.”