“Salesforce is always at the core of what we’re doing to innovate. Customer Success Group helps us do what we want to do faster.”

Nicole Rothermel, Director of Sales Solutions at Penske Logistics, left Dreamforce 2016 feeling inspired to lead her team’s move to Salesforce Lightning.

Rothermel is an innovator. Her mission is to help the sales team sell faster and better. Her team had been using Sales Cloud since 2011. At Dreamforce, she saw that Lightning offered the innovative, new features her sales team wanted — a more intuitive user interface, flexible page layouts, and kanban views that provide key information at a glance. 

To help her organization move to Lightning quickly and successfully, Rothermel used change management strategies and teamed up with Salesforce experts from Customer Success Group.

“Salesforce is always at the core of what we’re doing to innovate,” Rothermel said Customer Success Group helps us do what we want to do faster.”

Penske Logistics is a leading provider of supply chain and logistics solutions to market-leading companies in the automotive, manufacturing, and food and beverage sectors around the globe.

For Penske Logistics, technology is the key to driving growth and innovation. From exploring blockchain to creating smartphone apps for truck drivers, Penske stays ahead of technology so its customers can focus on their core businesses.

The company’s sales technology has also evolved over the years. Sales reps moved from tracking deals in spreadsheets to using a sales solution developed in-house. In 2011, the company turned to Sales Cloud to give its sales team a consistent way to track deals.

Rothermel believed that Lightning would help her sales team continue to innovate with Salesforce technology. She returned from Dreamforce in 2016 ready to help her organization make the move. However, the move presented some challenges. Several divisions in the company used the same Salesforce organization; some groups had complex customizations and weren’t ready to switch.

 Rothermel used change management strategies to ensure the transition went smoothly: Her team got support for the change from senior leadership, ran a three-month pilot with a small group to understand and resolve questions users might have, and communicated the benefits of Lightning well in advance of changes.

In addition to change management, Rothermel’s team also relied on Customer Success Group throughout the shift to Lightning. Success Cloud offers resources and expertise to help Salesforce customers achieve their goals faster. 

Rothermel worked with a success manager, a benefit available through Premier Success Plans. The success manager reviewed Penske’s objectives and helped the company develop a vision and strategy to get the most out of Salesforce.

The success manager also connected Penske Logistics to Salesforce experts who provided valuable tools and insights for the migration to the Lightning transition. Success specialists guided Rothermel’s team to the Lightning Now Community and helped the team establish metrics to ensure Penske Logistics was getting value from Lightning.

Since rolling out Lightning to more than 500 users in 2017, Penske Logistics has seen 12% more sales activities logged in Salesforce. Thanks to the Lightning features available in mobile, the sales team’s mobile adoption has increased 41%. 

“We’ve given them a lot more tools with Lightning to be nimble,” Rothermel said. “They don’t have to wait until they’re back in the office to start putting in all of their activities in Salesforce.”

Rothermel’s team plans to continue rolling out Lightning to more users in 2018. And they’ll continue to partner with Customer Success Group.

“It was a seamless transition for us because we got the right resources, and we wouldn’t have had that without our Customer Success Group team,” she said.