Why software development and customer collaboration equals Brainworks CRM success

Michelle Ackerman

The Bulletin (Bend, Oregon) came to the Brainworks development team for two very distinctive needs: wanting additional tools to analyze revenue opportunities and ways to enhance email functionality for mass emails about its community grant program to the paper's customer and prospect base.  

“Rolling out the Brainworks CRM as part of our Brainworks installation was one of the most important and impactful decisions we made through a year of transition. We approach the CRM as a way for our teams to manage their book of business and run their territories as their business. Mastering each feature over the last year has allowed us to adjust our training, minimum standards and client contact to improve results,” shared industry leader Dena DeRose, advertising director at The Bulletin, Central Oregon Media Group.

“We can't thank Michelle Ackerman and Tammy King enough for helping us with our numerous questions and some fun customizations they helped us work through. We appreciated and depended on the Brainworks CRM before COVID and now that we are working mostly from home as one sales rep said the other day, 'What would we do without having Brainworks?' It keeps us focused and in touch with what we need to do.”

The Bulletin shared the following ways sales reps have been utilizing the CRM features from home to maximize revenue:

• "Utilizing Opportunities with the new Detailed Opportunity Report: Utilizing opportunities helps reps and managers see what stages individuals and revenue categories get stuck in. Now with the new Detailed Opportunity Report, we have even better insights. The activity recording and reporting shines a light on how sales activity translates to sales and also allows us to keep track on staying in regular touch with accounts.
• "Using History and Mass Email Templates: Reps use the History frequently to determine if an account is open to call on or if someone else is working it. As we say, 'if it is not in CRM it didn't happen.' Recently, we have begun to utilize the Email Templates for mass emails. This feature was hugely beneficial in the roll out of our Community Grant Program."

Connect with me directly at MAckerman@brainworks.com to hear more CRM solutions and ideas for generating revenue.