This is a summary of one engagement. The client is a brand in plastics and polymer products manufacturing, and we have withheld its name. The figures below were reported by the client's management and by HRBS from the system's own activity records. They describe this engagement only.
The situation
The company sold through two business verticals, each with its own team, products and customer types. About 400 people worked in the sales organisation across field and desk roles. Every salesperson sent a daily sales report (DSR) by email. Managers copied these into spreadsheets to see who had visited whom, which follow-ups were due and which orders were close.
By the time that picture was compiled, it was a day old and often incomplete. Leadership could not compare the two verticals on one basis, and order visibility depended on what individuals chose to report.
The problem
- No single view. Each vertical tracked its pipeline in its own way.
- Reporting took selling time. Writing and compiling a daily email used time that belonged to customers.
- Plan and actual did not meet. Visit and call plans existed, but the process did not show, day by day, how much of the plan had been done. Discipline stood at about 70%.
- Orders were seen late. Managers learned of expected orders when someone reported them.
The root cause was the lack of one shared system and one shared measure, not a lack of effort. A tool placed over two different ways of working would have recorded the same confusion more neatly.
Before and after
What HRBS did
The work followed the HRBS method: diagnose, design, deliver and sustain. Select a step to read more.
1. Diagnose
We mapped how each vertical sold, what each report contained and which fields leadership used to take decisions. We separated what was common and essential from what was local habit.
2. Design
We defined one sales process with common stages and definitions (lead, opportunity, follow-up and order), and allowed vertical-specific fields only where the business needed them. We fixed the measure: for each person, planned customer activity against actual activity recorded, then the average across the team.
3. Customise and build
The CRM was configured to the organisation: roles and approval levels, vertical-wise views, activity planning, daily activity capture, follow-up reminders and manager dashboards. The online record replaced the DSR email completely.
4. Roll out
About 400 users were brought on in phases, reaching go-live in roughly three months. Salespeople and managers received role-based training, and managers were trained first because they decide whether a system is used.
5. Sustain
Managers reviewed plan against actual results in weekly sales meetings, using the dashboard instead of emails. Gaps were discussed in the same week. Data rules were kept short so entry took minutes, not an hour.
What changed
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily reporting | Each person wrote a DSR email | Activity recorded in the CRM as work happens |
| Consolidation | Managers compiled spreadsheets | Dashboards update on their own |
| Plan versus actual | Not visible day by day | Visible daily by person, team and vertical |
| Order visibility | Depended on individual reports | Pipeline and expected orders visible to managers |
| Leadership view | Separate by vertical | One view, comparable across verticals |
Results
- Fully online. All sales activity moved into the CRM and the manual daily DSR email was discontinued.
- Discipline rose from about 70% to above 90%. The measure is planned activity against actual activity for each individual, averaged across the team.
- Better order visibility. Managers could see the pipeline and expected orders earlier.
- Sales growth. The client reported 24% growth in quarterly sales within two quarters of go-live, measured against the same quarter of the previous financial year. Sales depend on many factors, including market and product, so we do not claim the CRM alone caused this growth. We credit it with the discipline and visibility that supported it.
What made it work
- One process with local flexibility, not two processes inside one tool.
- A measure people understood, reviewed every week.
- Managers who used the dashboard in their own meetings.
- Data entry short enough for the field.
- Training by role, with managers first.
What this does not show
This is one engagement. It does not promise any particular improvement for another business. The result depended on leadership following through on the review rhythm and on the quality of data entered.
Is this relevant to you?
If your sales team still reports by email or spreadsheet, or leadership cannot see plan against actual by team, this is a problem we have worked on. A 30-minute call is enough to tell you whether a CRM is the answer or whether a process change is the better first step. You can also start with the free HR Self-Assessment or read about Digital HR Transformation.