Godrej & Boyce Lifts Customer Experience to New Heights with Salesforce

When customers approach Godrej Material Handling (GMH), they aren’t just looking for high-quality forklift trucks. They also expect seamless and personalised experiences across sales and service. As always, GMH delivers.

Through a unified view of customers, GMH sales reps can proactively predict and fulfil customer needs, while service agents can address service requests faster. Eventually, customers across all 14 business units under the Godrej & Boyce umbrella can look forward to connected and consistent journeys across touchpoints.

Godrej & Boyce (G&B) has many firsts to its credit. It patented the world’s first springless lock, built the first indigenously manufactured fire and burglar-resistant safe, and even invented a purely vegetarian soap. Today, the engineering giant has 14 different business units, ranging from Aerospace and Construction to Appliances and Intra-logistics.

“For 125 years, we’ve pioneered progress and touched the lives of millions of Indians,” says Poorav Sheth, Chief Digital Officer, G&B. “Over the next 125 years, our focus will remain on customers. We don’t just want to offer great products; we also want to deliver great solutions and experiences that keep customers coming back for more.”

This customer-centric commitment guides everything the company does. Even its digital transformation journey towards smarter manufacturing, hyperconnected supply chains, and next-generation workplaces is targeted towards ensuring better customer experiences. 

From this same customer focus came the company’s ‘One CRM’ vision.

Salesforce is currently being rolled out across G&B in a phased manner. Among the first business units to go live with the platform was Godrej Material Handling (GMH). The forklift truck manufacturer exports to 40 countries and serves 1,000+ customers every day.

“We’re seeing two trends in the material handling and larger logistics sector,” says Anil Lingayat, EVP and Business Head, GMH. “One, customers are buying experiences, not products – so, how can we deliver the experiences they desire? Two, customers are adopting digital as a way of life - so, how can we engage with them better, digitally? Salesforce is helping us find those answers.”

Jumpstarting CRM with a fresh approach

Initially, G&B’s 14 business units used different CRM systems. So, their view of the customer was fragmented. Plus, their CRM processes weren’t standardised to deliver consistent customer experiences. 

This prompted G&B to implement a single CRM program and platform across all business units. 

“We chose Salesforce as our one CRM because it would help us connect the entire customer journey – from marketing, to sales, to service – on one platform,” explains Sheth. “In addition, Salesforce’s out-of-the-box features, scalability, and flexibility make it a great long-term choice.”.

Also Read: Godrej & Boyce adopts A One CRM approach that delivers connected experiences

With Agentforce Sales, GMH can act on leads faster, understand customer needs better, and provide more meaningful solutions. 

Leads generated through various online and offline marketing platforms are captured in a single source of truth. Here, they can be categorised, qualified, and tracked to closure. Users also gain visibility into marketing ROI.

A mobile app acts as a portable sales office. So, sales reps can log calls, check tasks, and respond to hot leads from anywhere. A unified view of customers helps them proactively anticipate and fulfil customer needs. For instance, they can see how many SKUs a customer ordered based on a previous month’s offer. So, the next time the offer is made, those SKUs can be kept ready at the dealership to be shipped to the customer the moment their order comes in.  

“Our sales reps are faster and more agile,” says Lingayat. “They have all the data they need at their fingertips to respond quicker to customer needs and win more mindshare.” 

Thanks to real-time integration between GMH’s third-party call centre and Salesforce, teams are able to respond to leads in less than two hours. What’s more, opportunity-to-order conversions have increased by 10%.

GMH also uses Agentforce Service to resolve equipment service requests faster and smarter. These requests, which come in through various channels like call centres and dealerships, are captured in one system for better visibility.

“With unified data and automated service processes, our first response time has improved by almost 8%,” says Lingayat. 

Channel partners also have a complete view of customer orders and service history that helps them deliver prompt and connected service. They can go deep into the data to understand why certain issues recur – be it due to a fault in the equipment, a lack of field technician training, or even a lack of customer training.

“Now, when we suggest a training program to a customer, it’s backed by facts,” says Lingayat. “Customers can see how the training will minimise their service issues, and enhance productivity – so, they trust us more.”

By democratising information, GMH has made sales and service insights available at the click of a button. 

“From the leadership team downwards, everyone can directly access the reports they need, and drill down into any piece of information,” says Sheth. “Teams love this shift to self-service.”

Adds Lingayat, “With powerful analytics, we know exactly where to improve the team’s productivity, or close skill gaps.”

The leadership team also has a unified customer view to make better-informed decisions. So, if a customer has ordered only five SKUs out of 10, the leadership team can determine why. Was it because of a pricing or availability issue in the remaining five SKUs? If so, how can it be fixed? 

Easy access to such insights is just one of the reasons why Salesforce adoption rates are as high as 98%. 

“Adopting a new tool can be challenging, but our learning curve has been short, thanks to Salesforce’s intuitive user interface and Trailhead learning platform,” says Lingayat. “All our teams – ranging from our channel partners and technicians, right up to senior management – are now working smarter and faster.”

Carrying forward a legacy of trust

Supporting GMH’s Salesforce deployment was the Salesforce Professional Services team.

“The Salesforce team’s immense product knowledge helped us ensure a smooth and quick implementation,” says Sheth. “We’re now using the Salesforce success framework and KPIs to scale up performance.”

Going forward, GMH plans to adopt advanced AI/ML analytics to help them predict conversions and determine which markets to target next. Meanwhile, the parent company – G&B – is working towards getting all 14 business units on the same platform, as part of its ‘One CRM’ vision.

“We’re constantly innovating to deliver solutions and experiences that make a difference to newer generations of customers, as well as partners, dealers, and employees,” says Sheth. “Salesforce is integral to that effort.”