CM.com: A real-time CRM and higher conversion with company data from Dun & Bradstreet
Now listed on the stock exchange, CM.com started in 1999 with great foresight by connecting companies with their customers through a simple text message. This year, they celebrate their 25th anniversary and focus mainly on the business market, helping companies to better serve their customers, often consumers.
1. The Challenge
Duplicate accounts and sales disruption
“Before we started working with Salesforce, we faced a lot of administrative issues. A lot of duplicate accounts kept popping up in our CRM, making it unclear which one was the correct one. Our customer data was quite chaotic and we had too little control over it. You can easily imagine that this was a nuisance for all users and that we lost valuable time and even made mistakes,” adds Pim Camps.
Pim continues: “To supplement the missing data, we had to conduct an online search and contact the customer directly. This process was time consuming and less reliable. At the same time, customers often created an account on our website for self-service or to get their bearings, after which our sales also created an account for them. This led to duplicate accounts. Yet, the accuracy of this data is precisely what is crucial to us, given our focus on communication with our customers.
We were looking for a solution that required direct integration with Salesforce. We were already a customer of Altares Dun & Bradstreet for various data solutions and were made aware by our contacts of the possibility of linking company data directly with our CRM system. The global coverage of first-party data was a key criterion in our decision-making. The depth of the data linked to the DUNS number is also important for the various stakeholders within the organisation. "
Piet Goorden adds: “Not all data that enters our Salesforce is visible to all colleagues, but precisely because we can link this to our internal systems, the data is exactly where it should be. Other vendors we assessed often had company data limited to Europe or did not own the data. Dun & Bradstreet's DUNS number is unique worldwide and provides the opportunity to enrich existing accounts and requests via the website. We wanted to de-duplicate our current system and prevent the future occurrence of duplicates. Our wish was that creating a customer would result in a comprehensive customer account: complete and user-friendly.”
CM.com is also known as a sponsor of the Zandvoort Formula 1 race track. The Zandvoort circuit sponsorship is a perfect illustration of how CM.com's services can be combined. Not just the ticket sales and supply of information to visitors, but all local payments also go through the payment applications, cash register systems and PIN terminals of CM.com.
2 The solution
Salesforce integration Dataxess for enriched customer data
“We hired a third party to set up the implementation of Dataxess in Salesforce. The solution acts as a plug-in that integrates into our own CRM environment, which is quite simple. The technical installation can be done remotely. We configured beforehand the fields that we do and do not need, in consultation and on the advice of Altares Dun & Bradstreet. They are the ones who have to set this up afterwards," Piet explains.
“We have 250 sales people worldwide whose job involves entering and validating customer data every day. Creating accounts is now easier and more transparent, because the link with our internal systems immediately shows which accounts with the same or almost the same company name already exist. The mandatory fields in one single screen make it clearer for the user. Many of the mandatory fields are already filled by the DUNS number. An automatic notification is triggered by data validation if, for example, the account already exists."
Pim Camps explains: "At CM.com, almost every colleague has to deal with Salesforce and therefore with the Dataxess solution. We have even implemented it in such a way that from the very beginning, customer requests come in via our website with Dun & Bradstreet data. In 2015 we introduced a Direct+ API, the so-called 'type ahead' solution, which runs on our web forms. The applicant is presented with a drop-down menu and then selects the correct entity. The Dun & Bradstreet data enriches this intuitively, ensuring that a complete customer profile is received right away and in real-time. This has increased conversion, because registrations are completed more often and we are also sure that clean data enters our system. We then use this data for onboarding (external), but also for market analyses and segmentations to feed the Customer Data Platform (CDP) with the right customer data.”
Self-service is a core component of CM.com that is reflected in their own solutions; the type ahead function adds instant value to the customer relationship. Experience the feature on the CM.com website.
“We are extremely satisfied with the solution and it does what we expected. The real-time data we receive about our customers is comprehensive and accurate, allowing us to confidently make the right decisions,” says Pim.
18
operations in 18 countries
7.2 Billion
messages sent
14.6 Million
tickets sold
3. The result
The whole family tree at our fingertips
Piet Goorden: “Our customers notice that we have all the information about them at our fingertips. From the GUB (Global Ultimate Parent) and the DUB (Domestic Ultimate Parent) to the entire family tree, which provides insight into which entity we do business with, where the head office is located and who is authorised to make decisions there. For some time now, our goal has been to know exactly who our customers are, where they are based, how many offices there are, how much turnover they achieve, the hierarchy and holding structure, and who is responsible for managing the account. The availability of this data makes working with our CRM a lot more enjoyable! Previously, we sometimes had five account managers working at the same organisation, while now we can better categorise entities and determine which ones come under the same family tree.
CM.com operates in 20 countries worldwide and offers various conversion solutions across almost all imaginable online channels. Chances are today you'll find yourself using an application on your smartphone that runs on CM.com. For large companies such as BMW Group and Vattenfall, CM.com solutions have become indispensable in achieving their objectives. In addition, Altares Dun & Bradstreet itself is a customer of CM.com. The technology behind our chatbot on the website is also from CM.com.
We train our sales people to approach entities within the same organisation. Combining all this knowledge gives us more leverage.”
About the prospect of future collaboration, Piet says: “We will continue to improve our internal processes and look at how functional expansions can support our people and processes. Last year we started de-duplication and preventing the occurrence of duplicate accounts. This means we know exactly where we stand. Ultimately, we want to achieve one account = one customer.”
What other customers say
"As a company with an international focus, it is important for us to have a stable solution available based on global data."
'Every new customer we want to check. It sleeps much better for everyone if you know that companies you are owed money from can actually pay it.'
"To make sure we are sourcing good, reliable dealers everywhere, we need the expertise of Altares Dun & Bradstreet"
"We can now act proactively when it comes to credit risk"
"We had another business information provider, but in testing we found that with their data we were only covering 45 percent of our customers"
"Doing business based on current, complete and accurate data"
"Only by automating can we make substantial gains"
"Improved customer insight and optimal service"
"'For Barco, it is important to support your strategy and decisions with market data"
"Altares Dun & Bradstreet's Marketing Insight solutions have provided ten times higher conversion from 'suspects' to 'prospects' in the Benelux"
"Altares Dun & Bradstreet understands the data and the business. Together we will take steps toward the sustainable future"
"We obviously don't want to do business with individuals or organizations that are subject to sanctions"
