"With one click I can get a report on any campaign I want. "
National Foods Case Study - NetSuite CRM - NetReturn
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| At a glance | |
| Company: | National Foods |
| Location: | Corporate office in Melbourne, locations Australia-wide. |
| Industry: | Consumer goods – food and beverages |
| Challenges: |
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| Software switched from: | Microsoft Excel |
| Results with NetSuite: |
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The Challenge:
Consumer foods giant National Foods Limited is one of Australia’s largest food companies, selling milk, dairy products, juice and specialty cheeses.
The company was created in 1991, following the amalgamation of several dairy and food related businesses and owns famous brands such as Pura Milk, Big M, Yoplait, Fruche, King Island Dairy and Berri.
The National Foods telemarketing division was set up in late 2004, initially as a pilot programme. The idea was to reduce the cost of sales – with the telemarketing proving hugely successful.
Where previously territory managers visited various customers (such as supermarkets, milk bars and delis), the telemarketing team began selling direct over the phone. In just three months, telemarketing increased sales significantly resulting in National Foods establishing a permanent outbound sales team.
Selling over the phone had proven a more cost effective solution for National Foods, but they lacked an integrated CRM system to make it truly effective. When telemarketing team leader Sean de Fry joined National Foods three months into the pilot programme, he realised “we needed a CRM tool with complete transparency.”
After working for a large telco in Australia and America’s second-largest internet network, de Fry wanted a simple, effective CRM solution. His telemarketing team relied on Excel spreadsheets for customer information, a useful interim solution, but clumsy when trying to manage the huge range of National Foods’ product lines. As is often the case, the telemarketing team were expected to come up with the best solution – using the least resources and with the lowest cost!
The Solution:
After searching on the internet, de Fry found NetSuite. It seemed like the right fit for National Foods, and he was eager to try it out.
“It’s browser-based, so it’s easy for me to manage. Best of all, because it’s hosted there is no need for IT support, giving us a lot of autonomy,” he said. National Foods now use NetSuite for outgoing calls, with a full CRM cycle from lead to prospect and sale. A complete customer history is held on NetSuite, allowing de Fry’s team to see sales and order history, any outstanding orders or problems and demographical statistics (i.e. what the customer might want to buy) in seconds.
Because NetSuite is a fee-based service, there was no requirement to buy new software and no need for National Foods’ IT team to spend hours setting up the system. The application “sold itself,” according to de Fry.
The Results:
Sean found NetSuite gave him much more control over how his team worked and, importantly, sped up and streamlined previously complex business processes. “Excel lacked the flexibility and reliablilty that an ASP like NetSuite could offer us.
It became mission critical from a reporting and cost analysis perspective we implement a solution that was aligned with our 3 year business strategy focussed on reducing cost and driving productivity.” Now, using NetSuite, “with one click I can get a report on any campaign I want, all in less than 30 minutes.”
The three-person telemarketing team is about to take on another person. A further advantage of NetSuite is its dashboard interface, meaning as de Fry’s team expands they will need minimal training to begin using the system.
After global food and beverage company San Miguel took over National Foods last year, the parent company has been examining existing software and considering what to do with legacy systems, some of which are up to 10 years old.
Only the telemarketing team are making use of NetSuite right now but, says de Fry, NetSuite is a tool that can be used in areas outside sales. With future success National Foods may expand the use of NetSuite into other areas of the business. It’s certainly proved a tasty CRM for the telemarketing team.
Find out more: contact NetReturn on 1300 886 025 (AU) or 0800 543 371 (NZ)
