By Selina J Eckersall, Account Manager

Finding a company that really “gets it” when it comes to event marketing and CRM is sometimes a difficult task. And finding a company that both “gets it” and “does it” is an even taller order! Often times, B2B marketers know what they “should” be doing, but they simply subscribe to a vision of where they want to be, without actually taking the steps necessary to get there.

Broadview Networks is an organization that has been taking those steps for five years, and as the #1 ranking Microsoft Partner in Manitoba and 10th in Canada out of 9400 partners, it’s obvious that those efforts have paid off.

*Shine interviewed the three owners of Broadview Networks: Michael Orloff, Tyson Choptain and David Reimer regarding their CRM strategy and proven success with demand generation.

*Shine:
What are Some of the Reasons why Broadview has been so Successful in Generating Demand for Events?

BN:
Our CRM system is why we are successful with generating demand. Having CRM in place & having the extensive history of information and records available is key for us. Each and every customer interaction is captured and stored in our database for us to call upon at any time. Our centralized CRM system contains all current and future prospects and includes a 5 year history of records.

*Shine: Who are the Right Prospects to Engage for Broadview Events?

BN:
We usually look to target business decision makers or an IT Manager. Our events are primarily Product focused, so we look to engage anyone who has expressed an interest in the product at any time, and any company who we feel is a good fit. We pull this information from our CRM system.

*Shine: Can You Tell Us About How You Build a Targeted List?

BN:
Primarily by mining our internal CRM database. We analyze response and interest captured from a prior mail piece or sales call. Building any kind of productive list, boils down to leveraging a long history of recorded activity. We’ve found that as our company has grown, we’ve changed our focus. We’ve always placed a high importance on acquiring a large amount of data. Capturing data internally has always been a priority for us, and now we have a substantial amount of records to leverage.

*Shine: Describe How CRM has Become a Competitive Advantage for Broadview?

BN: Essentially we have been able to take a cold call and turn it into a warm call because we have a substantial amount of data to leverage within our CRM database. When a name comes up, we can recall any relevant information and history which will greatly assist us with that call. We build on one call after another, which ultimately builds strong relationships that stem from a customer history. People get to know each other very well.

*Shine: What is Your Definition of "Lead Generation" and How Does Broadview Define a Lead?

BN:
Lead Generation to us equals 1st time contact. As long as a company has an IT infrastructure, they’re a target of ours. We always look for new companies to our geographical area, we’ll check out the business papers, classifieds, and industry magazines. We generate lists and couple that with our CRM tool to make those leads very effective.

*Shine: What is Broadview’s Approach to Turning Leads into Sales Post-Event?

BN: You never want to let a single conversation or interaction with a prospect or a new lead, go to waste. If you can build a relationship from a contact, that’s what you want to do. Building on the previous conversation and capturing the conversations is key.

*Shine: What is the Key to Achieving a High Level of Customer Satisfaction?

BN:
CRM – Customer relationship management. Managing all angles. Sales, to service, to service delivery. Looking at the customer lifecycle. CRM allows us to manage the life cycle, leverage that customer base and turn them into opportunities again the 2nd time around. Dedicated service calls with Microsoft, phone calls, and sales visits. All of that information goes back into CRM. You can track a customer from the time we have talked to them, all the way through the lifecycle.

To find out more about Broadview Networks, visit their website here.

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