Project Overview
Shackletons, a family-owned furniture manufacturer supplying the care sector since 1959, was relying on ageing spreadsheet-based systems to manage its sales processes. With external sales teams on the road and no easy way to access customer information, follow up leads or develop opportunities, the business needed a modern solution to give its people the visibility and tools to do their jobs effectively.
Transparity ran a thorough discovery process before Shackletons selected Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, going live towards the end of 2024. With Power BI reporting integrated directly into CRM, the full sales and customer care teams now manage their pipeline from anywhere, the board has trusted data for planning, and Shackletons has a single source of truth replacing its legacy systems.
The Challenge
The initiative to replace ageing spreadsheet-based systems with a state-of-the-art sales system was driven by the lack of visibility for Shackletons’ external sales teams.
“Our sales teams were hampered by the lack of information available to them when they were on the road, reducing their ability to respond to new enquiries, follow up leads and develop opportunities into sales orders. We needed a solution that would allow them to easily collect new information and join up the engagements with existing and potential customers.” — Jade Cox, Head of Customer Care, Shackletons
Shackletons undertook a rigorous assessment of various offerings in the market, settling on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, largely because of the approach adopted by Transparity during the selection process. Transparity ran several workshops, involving the Head of Sales and other senior sales staff to understand Shackletons’ business model and specific needs.
“Transparity really listened to us and demonstrated functionality that was relevant to our business. They were very supportive, even giving us a test environment to explore what the solution could do for us.” — Jade Cox, Head of Customer Care, Shackletons
The Solution
Shackletons implemented Dynamics 365 Sales, going live towards the end of 2024. Currently the system is used to support sales leads and opportunities, as the first step on a journey to roll out the full solution. The full sales and customer care teams are using it daily to manage their sales and opportunity pipeline. An early win was the development of a Power BI report in CRM that includes all outstanding sales orders and 5 years of historical data for customers, so that sales teams on the road can access this data without having to return to the office to interrogate the ERP systems.
“Our commercial director is also armed with much more data than before, using the solution to produce forecasts for board and bank meetings, so it’s rapidly becoming an invaluable tool for the business.” — Jade Cox, Head of Customer Care, Shackletons
Missed opportunities are now a thing of the past as sales teams have all the interactions with a customer at their fingertips, wherever they are, and can proactively manage their relationships with customers and leads from initial contact through to orders and delivery.
“We even record things such as dietary requirements so that when our customers come and talk to us, we provide the right refreshments, which they are very impressed by. It’s all about the customer experience.” — Jade Cox, Head of Customer Care, Shackletons
Dynamics 365 Sales provides a single repository of information about a customer or lead, giving full visibility of all interactions with Shackletons, detail of the sales pipeline and financial forecasts. The board now has full confidence in the data, enabling them to better plan the business.
“We are also able to analyse any lost opportunities and categorise them by reasons such as price, product or lead time, helping us to improve our customer care all the time.” — Jade Cox, Head of Customer Care, Shackletons
Marketing campaigns have also benefited from the enhanced, high-quality data within Dynamics 365 Sales, enabling more precise audience targeting.
The Outcome
Increased visibility
Shackletons’ sales and customer care teams now have full visibility of sales pipelines and customer interactions from any location, enabling a higher level of customer experience and lead conversions.
Improved management reporting
Shackletons’ Commercial Director is able to incorporate sales data into key reporting to the company board and other stakeholders, providing trusted forecast data for business planning purposes.
Access from anywhere
With its cloud-based architecture, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales gives sales and customer care teams remote access while simplifying maintenance and upgrades for Shackletons.
Single source of truth
The replacement of legacy spreadsheet systems means Shackletons now has a single, trusted source of sales and CRM data within the business, enhancing business planning and performance.
Future proofing
Dynamics 365 Sales provides a solid platform, enabling further rollout of functionality and automation to support growth at Shackletons.
Better marketing campaigns
The improved and more comprehensive data in Dynamics 365 Sales has already improved marketing campaigns at Shackletons, targeting the intended audience more effectively and efficiently.
