Sennheiser

Challenge

Significant global business growth and channel diversification made it clear to Sennheiser executives that they could no longer rely on homegrown solutions that kept data in isolated silos. Instead, they saw the need for a robust CRM that could give a globally distributed work force a comprehensive view of the customer. The CRM would need to accommodate Sennheiser’s diverse sales channels, and would need to expand to encompass customer service and marketing.

Solution

Sennheiser determined Sugar was the best fit for its complex requirements:

• Support for a globally distributed user and customer base
• Ease and cost effectiveness of integrating Sugar with ERP, business intelligence and social media
• SugarBPM™
• Support for B2B and B2C sales, Customer Support and Marketing
• On-premise deployment to ease integration and comply with government data security regulations

A world leader in manufacturing, distributing and selling microphones, headphones and wireless transmission technology, Sennheiser prides itself on shaping the future of the audio industry. The family-owned company operates two divisions: Consumer Systems, which accounts for nearly 50 percent of sales; and Professional Systems, which provides microphones and headphones to performers, venues, studios and broadcast outlets, and audio solutions for conference in enterprises and conference centers. The company won an Emmy Award in 2013 for engineering.

Results

Global Deployment, Multiple Sales Channels: Since selecting Sugar, Sennheiser has deployed the solution to users in 40 countries. Sugar was used first to support B2B sales relationships, then expanded to manage B2C sales through retail centers, ecommerce and partnerships. Sugar has become instrumental in managing a diverse customer database across multiple business units, providing sales and marketing insights that enhance revenue.

Customer Service and Marketing Expansion: More recently, Sennheiser has expanded Sugar into customer service, collecting data about the customer lifecycle that helps identify new sales opportunities. Commercial customers have surfaced as personal users, leading to successful cross-selling.

Enhanced Business Intelligence across the Customer Lifecycle: Because Sugar helps Sennheiser chart the customer lifecycle, the company is leading competitors by establishing commerce at a personal level. Sales staff, working with mobile devices, easily enter sales or call notes, call up schematics and performance reports for clients – and even show prospects how other people or venues are using Sennheiser equipment.

Looking forward, Sennheiser is planning to rely on social media for marketing and lead generation, and is creating workflows for the process. It recently developed enhanced forms for case management.

Integrations

• IBM Connections: Intranet collaboration
• JD Edwards Enterprise: ERP
• MicroStrategy: Business intelligence
• Spredfast: Social media monitoring
• Evalanche: Marketing automation
• Skype4Business: Customer calls