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FreeAgent for Manufacturing Part 1: Optimizing Your Sales Process and Improving Customer Service

A CRM can help manufacturers optimize their sales process and improve customer service.

The manufacturing industry is always changing. Shifts in consumer needs, changes to government regulations, technological advancements, the impacts of pandemics and wars — all of these things and more create an ever-evolving business landscape.

To get ahead in this competitive space, companies need insight and flexibility. Anticipating demand, maximizing opportunities, and optimizing talent are all critical to success.

Fortunately, the tools needed to adapt and thrive in this environment are available. Customer relationship management (CRM) software, inventory management software, and business intelligence (BI) software all provide key resources that give manufacturers an edge.

FreeAgent CRM lets you work your way

FreeAgent CRM is a work management system that combines the benefits of these various tools into a single platform. 

With FreeAgent CRM, you can manage your entire customer journey, from lead nurture and order fulfillment to account management — all in one place. 

You can:

  • Send quotes 
  • Manage inventory
  • Automate complex processes
  • Track and monitor team activity 
  • Collaborate across departments
  • Use data-driven insights to forecast demand
  • Produce detailed reports for in-depth analysis

To give you a better idea of the many ways FreeAgent CRM can help you have work days full of impact, let’s look at some real-world examples from actual customers.

GP Reeves centralizes their sales and production processes and aligns teams to serve customers better

GP Reeves was founded on innovation. They are problem-solvers and outside-the-box thinkers who provide custom dispensing solutions to simplify the day-to-day operations of their customers.  

As a team that focuses on streamlining processes and improving systems through technology, GP Reeves was quick to identify areas within their own business that could be improved. 

Communication and alignment 

The first area GP Reeves wanted to refine was sales. Their team was talented and productive, but they operated like mavericks, relying on individuals to get the job done. 

GP Reeves wanted a system in place that could align their efforts and codify their processes to be trackable, trainable, and repeatable.

Meanwhile, GP Reeves’ product team faced communication challenges. Inefficient hand-offs and approval delays created bottlenecks during production that extended delivery timelines.

The GP Reeves leadership team knew that finding a platform they could all work from — one that helped teams communicate across accounts and departments — could help them solve both issues.

FreeAgent helps you communicate across different teams

One platform for all 

FreeAgent provided GP Reeves with a work management platform that met the unique needs of all of their teams.

For sales, this meant centralized access to all their accounts. With just a click of a button, their team could see the entire history of an account as well as recent communications, pending and previous orders, and notes left by other team members and departments.

This not only saved time spent preparing for sales and support calls, but it also aligned messaging across the board, creating a consistent customer experience

What’s more, the increased visibility allowed for real-time budget updates and forecasting, leading to better, more informed decision-making.

FreeAgent helps you speed up sales cycles

On the product side of things, FreeAgent’s powerful workflow engine eliminated much of the administrative friction that caused GP Reeves’ engineers unnecessary frustration. 

By using automations and task alerts to notify team members of status updates and approval requests, transitioning from one phase of a project to another was faster and easier.  

Additionally, FreeAgent served as a centralized knowledge base that the product team could use to store and access important information. 

Tech specs and the like could be accessed easily, from the same platform used to update a project’s status. 

Thanks to role-based access controls, all of GP Reeves’ proprietary information was protected.

By aligning messaging, improving collaboration, and streamlining production, GP Reeves was able to serve their customers (and potential customers) better, faster, and more consistently.

Activity timeline for project management

“FreeAgent gave us the ability to have our data connected. We wanted our leads, opportunities, and projects to be linked together in a way that gave us a macro view of our operations while still allowing us to zoom in on a micro-level.”

   — Christine Melvin | Marketing Lead | GP Reeves

Moley Magnetics uses data-driven insights to improve sales processes and deliver better customer experiences

Moley Magnetics has been serving their community for more than 30 years, providing top-of-field equipment and fabrication services for the scrap, demolition, and recycling industry. 

Much has changed in that time, including the demands of running a business. When Nick Moley took over the day-to-day operations of the company from his father John, he recognized that if the Moley Magnetics team was going to continue delivering the best service possible, they would need to change with the times.    

The right tools for the job

Nick Moley had a plan for where he wanted his company to go. To enact that plan he would need the right tools and systems in place to support his vision and his team.

Nick’s plan, much like his father’s, began with customer service — one of the founding principles of the company. 

Nick wanted his team to be aligned and organized in a way that ensured consistent experiences for every Moley customer, while at the same time relieving the burden on individual team members.

Additionally, Nick wanted to identify areas that the company could expand into, but he needed data-driven insights to support his assumptions.

Make better data-driven decisions with FreeAgent

Putting the pieces in place

FreeAgent recognized Nick’s vision and offered all the tools Moley Magnetics would need to move forward.  

First, FreeAgent helped simplify Moley’s sales process. The systems Moley Magnetics had used in the past were cumbersome, requiring redundant data entry and regular upkeep.

With FreeAgent, the whole Moley Magnetics team could work from a single, easy-to-use platform. 

Suddenly, their entire team was on the same page and they were all saving time, which they used to reduce their customer response time significantly.   

Next, since every activity, lead, deal, and communication was captured and tracked in real-time, a full-picture view of the entire sales funnel was finally possible. 

Now, they could identify and share best practices and sales strategies, improving performance and customer interactions.

Lastly, the same visibility that allowed for the refinement of Moley Magnetics’ sales and service processes also provided Nick the green light he needed to expand into other markets. With this data in hand, the Moley family of services has continued to grow. 

With FreeAgent, Moley Magnetics has grown revenue, cut their customer response time down to minutes, saved their team several hours a week, and expanded their offerings.

FreeAgent helps you improve manufacturing processes

I’m a very data-driven person so I wanted a platform that could track our sales activity. We can now go into FreeAgent and look at the opportunities, the quotes, what’s won, what’s lost, and what’s open. It’s important to be able to view the history and understand what’s going on with our customers so we can make informed decisions. 

   — Elizabeth Moley | Director of Administration | Moley Magnetics

A CRM can help you manage your sales processes and improve the customer experience

The customer stories of GP Reeves and Moley Magnetics are just two examples of what can be achieved with the right tools in place. While their stories are unique, the challenges they faced are not.

Every day, businesses across the US struggle to overcome similar challenges. That is why FreeAgent CRM is on a mission to improve people’s lives through technology and lead the way to a better workday.

To learn more about how FreeAgent can help you refine your sales processes and drive better customer experiences in manufacturing, try it out for free today.

FreeAgent for manufacturing, GP Reeves, Moley Magnetics

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