In a nutshell…
- System Integration
Growing a business requires an effective marketing strategy and constant attention to ensure that new leads are nurtured and converted. Yet most businesses fail to follow up new leads. Squirrel Business Solutions implemented a customer relationship management (CRM) system for iClean Facility Services that helped iClean to manage and remain in constant contact with new leads. This ensured that iClean would be front of mind when the time came for their leads to renew their existing cleaning contracts.
The CRM also helped iClean to manage and maintain contact with their customers and improve their day-to-day efficiency using task automation. In addition, it enabled them to send and follow up on professional proposals quickly and easily.
iClean
iClean Facility Services have been supplying commercial cleaning services to schools, offices, hospitals, industrial facilities and retail stores in Melbourne for more than 10 years.
The brief
iClean were seeking to grow their business. They had purchased databases to obtain new leads and planned to run marketing campaigns to nurture these new leads as well as their existing customers. They needed a system for managing and delivering these campaigns.
iClean were using spreadsheets to store customer and lead information, but had no way of tracking who they had or had not been in contact with. They were using Xero for invoicing, and updating both systems manually. They were using Outlook Calendar to remind them when tasks were due. Their area managers were conducting periodic site audits for clients, which were complicated to schedule, and producing cumbersome paper-based reports. They were using Word to prepare proposals for potential clients and sending them by email.
iClean realised that a CRM would help them to stay in touch with their leads and customers, store all their lead and customer information in one place and streamline day-to-day operations.
On the advice of their business coach, they called on Squirrel Business Solutions to help them find and implement the right system and customise it to meet their needs.
The solution
- Pandadocs
- Xero
- Zoho CRM
After a thorough consultation and gaining an understanding of iClean’s systems and needs, Squirrel Business Solutions carried out the following processes:
Zoho CRM implementation
- Implemented Zoho CRM, importing iClean’s existing customer and new lead data from spreadsheets into the system.
- Implemented a nurture campaign consisting of a series of emails that would be automatically sent to new leads over a period of three months.
- Customised reports to provide insights into when leads were converted – and, ultimately, the return on investment derived from different marketing campaigns and channels.
- Set up workflows for automating tasks such as sending welcome emails to new customers.
- Set up reminders of when annual and bi-annual cleans are due a month in advance, so that the business owner can assign teams in good time.
- Set up site audits in the CRM so that cleaners and supervising staff can complete them onsite on their iPads or phones, send reports directly to the client and to management, and keep a record in the CRM.
Integration
- Integrated iClean’s CRM system with their Xero accounting system, allowing customer details to be pushed from the CRM into Xero for invoicing. It also means that customer accounts are automatically updated in the CRM once they’ve been marked ‘paid’ in Xero.
PandaDoc implementation and integration
- Implemented PandaDoc for creating and sending proposals to prospective clients. This was integrated with Zoho CRM to allow customer data to be auto-filled.
The benefits
Sales and marketing
- iClean have been able to implement an effective and efficient leads-nurture email marketing campaign. They approach at least 40 new leads each week and remain in constant contact with them to ensure that they are front of mind when leads are reviewing their existing contracts.
- iClean have a complete record of all the contact they have made with leads and customers – by phone, email, and direct marketing – conveniently stored in one central place. Ultimately they will be able to monitor the results delivered by each channel.
- iClean have clear visibility of all the leads and opportunities in the pipeline at any one time, what stage they are at in the campaign and when they are converted.
- In the process of setting up their marketing campaign, iClean have identified the key stages in their sales process and also streamlined the process.
Day-to-day efficiency
- Existing customers’ and leads’ details are now stored in one central location, where they can be managed and kept up to date easily.
- Any updates to customers’ details are automatically pushed from Zoho CRM to the Xero accounting system, eliminating manual entry and double handling, reducing error and saving time. In addition, there is now only one source of truth. Furthermore, everyone in the business has visibility of every customer’s history in the CRM, which they can access via mobile.
- Automating processes such as sending welcome emails to new clients has improved efficiency and saved time.
- By making it possible for area managers and cleaning staff to log site visits and record audits on their iPads or phones while onsite, and send reports directly to clients and management, the new system has eliminated paperwork and saved time.
- By making it possible to monitor audits, highlighting issues to be followed up by iClean management and providing reminders to do so, the new system has improved efficiency and customer service.
Professional proposals
- The implementation of PandaDoc has enabled iClean to produce personalised, interactive proposals with features including video introductions and testimonials. These can quickly and easily be swapped in and out according to the industry of the recipient. The proposals not only look more professional but also take far less time to produce than the Word documents previously used by iClean.
- PandaDoc also enables iClean to see when a prospect has viewed a proposal and follow up promptly, as well as obtain online sign-off on proposals.
With the CRM we can now keep all our clients’ details in one place, and our staff can record everything online while onsite, which is so much more efficient. More importantly, we can manage and keep in regular contact with our leads. Squirrel were very patient and supportive and provided solutions we hadn’t even thought of.
Jenni Flach
business owner
iClean
Ask Squirrel
Could your business benefit from a similar solution? We’d be happy to help you find one. Book a free consult today.
Squirrel Business Solutions implements and integrates CRM and other cloud-based systems, and provides training and support, for small and medium-sized businesses all over Australia, including Melbourne, Bendigo, regional Victoria, Tasmania, Sydney and Brisbane. This empowers them to automate their processes and improve their efficiency.
Elizabeth is our resident customer engagement lady. She checks in with our clients regularly to help the team at Squirrel efficiently deliver what’s important. She’s a bit of a wordsmith too!