HubSpot CRM, Sales & Service Pro Implementation creates cross-function visibility. 

MacDonald Industries, specialists in commercial plumbing product design, manufacture and distribution, held a stalwart 55-year track record of excellence supporting architects, plumbers, and engineers to build Australasia’s hospitals, schools, universities & prisons. In 2021, a new leadership team looked to futureproof the business for the next 50 years by creating a centralised communication platform to align sales, service and operations and re-design their customer service experience to meet the needs of their wide array of stakeholders. 

THE CHALLENGE

• There was no CRM in place; Technical Consultants relied on their own Excel spreadsheets to keep track of projects, leads and prospects, with other customer data sitting on multiple different platforms. 

• The team struggled to connect the dots between their activities and outcomes, leaving management without key reporting. This hindered the business’s ability to manage stock, long freight times, and understand macro-trends. 

• The Service team, responsible for managing a high volume of inbound enquiries, relied on a distribution list email address. This was identified as a risk with the potential for things to slip through the cracks or duplication in communication. With the business’ growth and more service team members coming on board, it would be difficult to understand what email correspondence had been responded to, what hadn’t, and who was accountable for responding to what types of communication. 

• The business relied on paper-based forms to manage warranty claims & product return queries, which meant customers had to follow a clunky process to request the form they needed, print it, complete it, scan it and then email it. Forms could get lost between departments internally, as multiple checks and balances were needed to complete processes. This also contributed to long wait times for a response and frustration on the customers’ behalf. Technical Consultants couldn’t see their customers' service processes, leaving them open to managing conversations reactively rather than proactively.

TURNING THE LIGHTS ON FOR TECHNICAL CONSULTANTS & MANAGEMENT 

• Sales pipelines were designed to mirror the business' sales process and milestones.

  Data from multiple platforms was cleaned, segmented & brought into HubSpot. 

REDESIGNING THE SERVICE EXPERIENCE TO DELIGHT CUSTOMERS 

A ticketing system was designed for the business to improve the customer service experience. 

• Paper service forms were migrated to online HubSpot forms, ensuring all information was captured in the CRM 

• 3 x ticket pipelines were created to reflect the different service processes based on the differing types of issues. Depending on the issue category, a ticket would be created in the appropriate pipeline and allocated to a team member to help.  

• Automations based on the movement of tickets into different stages were created to notify relevant team members. 

• A service ticketing Dashboard was created so the team could measure response times, and see any recurring issues with the view to reflect on how adopting new processes could resolve these.

SERVICE SOLUTION MAPPED

MacDonald Industries now has a centralised communication and contact management system, improving its sales process's efficiency and consistency. They have visibility on their pipeline of activities and are empowered to make data-driven decisions. 

• The team are able to forecast and understand their expected revenue better.

MacDonald Industries’ is now positioned to achieve its long-term goals and remain a leader in their industry.