Aerospace Composite Products expands into new markets with the Sales Cloud and Force.com

Challenge

• In response to rapid growth, Aerospace Composite Products, a composite materials distribution and manufacturing company, needed a sophisticated yet simple CRM solution to manage sales and marketing
• Founded in a garage in 1984, the small company lacked documentation and a centralized repository for contacts and documents; a rudimentary pen and paper system failed to adequately track the sales pipeline
• The company’s product lines had expanded to include everything from composite parts for the aerospace and defense industries (its initial business) to carbon fiber x-ray detector covers for the medical industry as well as archery-focused carbon fiber laminates for bow making and other sports & recreation products
• The owners sought a flexible solution that could be easily customized to fit their rapidly growing business

Solution

• Selected the Sales Cloud and had it up and running in 7 days
• Information on vendors, customers, and company processes is now in a centralized location and accessible on demand
• Integration with Google Calendar lets the owners manage the company’s production schedule and track employee projects
• Integration with Google AdWords makes it easy to track leads from AdWords’ campaigns and identify which key words are working best
• Web-to-lead functionality automatically identifies visitors seeking customer service
• Custom tabs such as Projects, Parts, and Calendar let the company quickly tailor Salesforce to its processes
• Built several applications using the Force.com platform:
• a full tracking system for return material authorization (RMA) – built in only 30 minutes
• a corrective action system for quality assurance
• a production scheduler

Results

• Controlled costs during challenging economic times by building required functionality in Force.com rather than buying new applications
• Generated new leads thanks to the ability to track opportunities that were delayed for macroeconomic reasons
• Increased productivity because employees can log in and work from anywhere
• Improved communication—everyone on the shop floor has access to scheduling information through a regular browser so employees can see at a glance how many parts are required for a particular project and manufacturing schedules stay on track
• Increased customer satisfaction because information about the status of returns and corrective action is instantly available
• Quick-start videos and online Salesforce training bring new employees up to speed quickly