Geislinger GmbH

Geislinger GmbH has been using SMARTCRM since 2020 and has taken advantage of the CRM system in in-house and field sales as well as in service. The Austrian mechanical engineering company decided to implement a CRM system to improve the transparency of its data and to gain a 360° view on its customers. Contact data management was also to be optimized. The final decision came down to SMARTCRM. “Right from the start, we had the impression that SMARTCRM was a very good fit for our company and our requirements,” explains Uwe Merl, Sales Manager at Geislinger.

Multiple locations, multiple clients

During the selection process, SMARTCRM impressed the customer with its multi-client capability, thanks to which the American subsidiary can access the CRM system as its own client. This means that the employees at the Salzburg headquarters and in the USA only see the information they need for their work. But of course, given the appropriate permissions, a view of the data across all clients is also possible. SMARTCRM is used at both locations with an English interface.

Interface to SAP R3 and SAP Hana

In addition, we scored with our SAP interface expertise. Initially, Geislinger used SAP R3 which was connected to SMARTCRM over an interface. The subsequent switch to the SAP Hana system and its connection to the CRM solution was also successfully implemented. Via the interface, SMARTCRM imports customers, contacts, product groups as well as sales or order backlog items, incoming orders per client on a monthly level and open items. SMARTCRM prepares the figures and provides them in a variety of up-to-date reports at any time at the press of a button. Some of these overviews were not available before the CRM implementation or were complicated to create as for instance the analysis of the development of customer sales. In addition, the information on incoming orders, like other data, was painstakingly maintained into Microsoft Excel tables and had to be updated manually. Today, it is automatically transferred from SAP to SMARTCRM via the interface and prepared in an overview for the sales staff directly on the start screen, the SMART Board.

Optimal opportunities management

A special advantage for the sales team is the overview of projects – called Opportunities in SMARTCRM at Geislinger. The company manages all opportunities from the inquiry to the order in the CRM system. All addresses and contacts involved are centrally bundled in the opportunity file as are related documents such as calculation. The participants can be assigned their respective roles in the project and the documents can be attributed to specific categories.

Two sales funnels analyze leads and opportunities directly on the SMART Board: “Seeing the open opportunities and your own customers on the start screen is very helpful for every sales representative. There are also some overviews for department heads and management that significantly improve transparency.” Quotations written directly in SMARTCRM are automatically stored in the file and sent by e-mail from the CRM solution. The Microsoft Office connection makes it possible. Tasks and reminders guarantee optimal quotation tracking in SMARTCRM.Organizer. Incoming e-mails are automatically imported via Microsoft Exchange from the local Outlook accounts into the corresponding customer or opportunity file, where they complete the activity history. Forecast evaluations complement the all-round view, so that Geislinger can always track the history of opportunities, their status and the forecast for the future in SMARTCRM.

Always up-to-date even in the field

All this customer-related information and evaluations are always available to field staff. Indeed, if they are on the roads, they can access all important CRM data via their smartphones using the SMARTCRM.App and enter new information directly in the app. If there is no Internet connection, SMARTCRM’s offline capability allows the viewing of the entire database via notebook. As soon as a connection is re-established. The notebook version is automatically synchronized with SMARTCRM main installation so that field and office staff are kept informed.

Service also takes advantage from CRM

The service team also works intensively with SMARTCRM. Before the CRM implementation, the company used a document management system in the service department, which was replaced by our CRM software. Today, Geislinger manages all tickets and service offers in the CRM solution. For this purpose, a separate file is created in SMARTCRM upon each request. The service offers are created in SAP and transferred to SMARTCRM together with the offer volume. If an order has been placed or an inquiry has been resolved, the status of the file is set to “completed”. Overviews on the SMART Board indicate which service offers and tickets are still open or due at the present time.

Outlook

Employee satisfaction with SMARTCRM in sales and service is high because maintaining activities and opportunities has become significantly easier, more efficient and transparent. At the same time, sales manager Uwe Merl sees potential in the use of the CRM solution: „There are still many features that we don‘t use yet, we have to work on that.” And the connection of further branch offices in Asia is also planned. The mechanical engineering company is also very satisfied with the fast and competent support provided by SMARTCRM team – whether project management or hotline.