The NZ Marine Industry, World leaders in Technology. But where is the CRM?

John Fredrickson, 09 March 2012

It could be debated that if you do not have a CRM system in today’s competitive market, you are just not in the game. I am of that belief as follows.

About 12 years ago I started a new career as a sales rep. After training I was let loose on the company’s customers. I asked the sales manager where the customer list was to which he suggested I walk up various streets and look for a display stand that represented the company. This is what prompted me to investigate a better way of doing things. Since that day I have adopted a personal passion for CRM software and have customised and installed several systems.

Fast forward to a personal experience involving the Marine industry a bit over a year ago. I went to my local Marine maintenance company to book an annual service on my pleasure craft and was surprised that even though I had been using them regularly that I was treated like a new customer. The company was very professional and friendly but had no idea of my past business with them.

As you’d expect I suggested they take a look at a CRM package. “CRM package! We do not need one of them” And that was end of that discussion. The recession came and the two directors of this company being true entrepreneurs, soon realised that if they were going to survive, a custom CRM package was essential to maintain growth within. I also realised it was more appropriate to call their system a VRM (Vessel Relationship Management) to better reflect their industry requirements.

I started working with them to understand their business and it was clear that they had issues with the following:

• Unproductive time for the Mechanics and engineers
• Information hard to find on a customer’s vessels
• Or no information held at all
• Managing multiple owners of a Vessel
• Dealing with Vessels under contract management
• Directing information requests to the right person

This was just for starters. At this point I was getting excited as I knew that this list was going to be easily addressed as it was standard for a CRM/VRM solution. I presented a flow chart to the two directors outlining how I thought it should be set up. Almost immediately their enthusiasm took a lift and new ideas started to fly faster than I could write. This was one of the best meetings I have ever had as I was able to watch the unconvinced change to total commitment.

In future blogs, we will explore the steps to implementing such a system for your business.