Danfoss Semco optimizes processes with global ‘Sales Pipeline Project’

This article is based on the presentation held by Lars Sørensen, Management Consultant at BestAnswers ApS, at SuperOffice CRM Dagen 2018. Updated March 2019.

Lars Sørensen is project leader. He was involved in rolling out the project in Danfoss when he was Business Excellence Manager.  Now, the program, involving sales leaders, managers and sales support people worldwide, is also implemented at Danfoss Semco.

The project involves refining internal processes, optimizing use of SuperOffice CRM, and rolling out Business Analyze for analytics and sales reporting.

Better insight into sales

The ‘My Pipeline’ project is part of the broader company-wide strategy to optimize sales and customer experience. During fact-based coaching sessions, the pipeline and/or single opportunities are discussed in detail based on data from CRM and ERP systems.

Better insight into the development of the sales pipeline – several quarters ahead – reduces the chance of unwanted surprises and enables the company to act pro-actively.

– Danfoss Semco is well aware of how important pipeline management is for steering the company, but having an accurate view of past and future pipeline developments is easier in theory than practice, says Sørensen.

– Sales teams have different needs and ways of working with CRM systems. Everything needs to be aligned.

– By defining this as a global project, sales optimization and customer experience stay in focus; even when, understandably, there are many other activities that require people’s attention.

Leaders have a dedicated forum to discuss what’s working and what isn’t on a high level.

Danfoss Semco uses Business Analyze to help them analyze data from their CRM system, improve reporting and monitor key metrics.

– Business Analyze has proved to be a good tool allowing upper management, sales, finance and production insight into future sales projects.

Lars describes important aspects of the project:

Measure KPIs

– We set sales targets and measure progress for all different units, segments, time periods, divisions etc.

– Individual and team targets are connected to the broader company goals. This builds a mutual understanding about the business and its culture, and the importance of each person.

– Sales performance, hit rates, sales cycles time and other metrics are visible on dashboards.

Focus on pipeline quality

– If data isn’t accurate, a ‘full’ pipeline creates a false feeling of safety. We therefore look at issues such as: overdue opportunities, old opportunities without any activities or stage changes, and ‘stuck’ opportunities, in order to have a healthy, reliable forecast.

– We have a set of dashboard reports that address each of these topics. Each report ensures relevant opportunities are analyzed and either rejected or followed up.

Analyze opportunities from several views

– Managers have several views the pipeline, past developments and movements. The ‘change report’, shows, for example, opportunities that have changed stage, close date, value, probability to win etc.

– One example is the report showing all open opportunities, per stage and per month. This gives better control of sales several. In fact, it might be the most important report. Danfoss Semco can look into the forecast with good reliability at least 3 quarters ahead.

Use dashboards actively in meetings

– The sales teams review reports from Business Analyze in their weekly sales meetings.

– We urge people to come up with ideas how to make things better and more efficient.

– We adjust and develop SuperOffice and Business Analyze as we go. Most of the changes are done in-house, so it’s not far from idea to implementation.

More unified approach to sales management

The overall result is a more unified approach to sales management. With better forecasting and opportunity management, it is easier to prioritize resources, manage pressure and be proactive.

The next step in this journey is to connect data between Navision ERP, SuperOffice and Business Analyze.

There are many ways to create a better end-to-end customer experience by connecting data together.

Analyzing customer data and turning it into customer value is continuing to be high priority for Danfoss Semco as they enter 2019.

Danfoss Semco can be reached at https://semsafe.danfoss.com/ and you can reach out to Lars at https://BestAnswers.info